Wow, it's been over 3 months since I last updated. I'm so sorry about that. I feel really kinda bad, but it's not entirely my fault. Hopefully I can keep up with my life long enough to be able to update as soon as possible. Well, I hope you enjoy this chapter. It's kind of the sad/climax/anger-causing chapter of the story, which I can't tell if that's bad or good. Enjoy!
(Mega-super-cool beta'd version! Whee!! I'm in such a good mood at the moment and nothing seems to be bothering me, so not only am I going to be posting this new and improved version, but I do believe that I will finish up the next chapter right now also. Yay! Once again, thanks very very extremely much to Emilia, my beta. You rock! and so do all my reviewers of course *wink wink*)
The Greatest of Secrets
Pain and Regret
Written by Kate Potter (MF)
Wednesday, October 30, 2002, 11:31 p.m.
Draco watched as his father pointed his wand inside the closet and stunned Hermione. A moment later, she floated out, under the control of Lucius' wand. Her face, Draco noticed, still had a look of terror upon it, while Lucius had a look of triumph upon his own.
"Good work, Draco," Lucius said to him. "But for a moment there, I thought you had backed out. Next time, don't hesitate."
"Yes, father."
Draco's feelings of regret were soon washed away by those of anger towards his father. The things I put up with. Just wait until I graduate...be rid of you forever.
"What are you staring at boy? What's wrong with you?"
Draco hadn't noticed that he had zoned out while looking straight at his father.
"Nothing."
"You should get that problem fixed."
Draco chose not to reply.
A man wearing a dark cloak appeared in the doorway leading out of the Slytherin common room.
"All clear!" he announced before disappearing down the hall.
Lucius nodded and turned back to his son.
"Well, I'll be seeing you on holiday then," he said to Draco as if he was just leaving after having a cup of tea.
"Of course."
Then, without warning, Lucius and the floating Hermione disappeared with a 'pop', leaving Draco staring at nothing.
***
The first thing Hermione realized when she regained consciousness was that her head and her shoulder were extremely sore. After a moment, she realized she was lying on a cold, hard floor. She sat up without opening her eyes and rubbed the back of her head. A large swelling underneath her hair told her that she must've hit it when she was stunned. Then she realized that she had been stunned. Instantly her eyes flew open, but she didn't see much. She was sure she was in a room of some sort since there was a small window across from her that was letting in a bit of moonlight. She narrowed her eyes, but she still couldn't see. Fear was washing over Hermione as she thought about the position she was in. That was definitely a Death Eater that had stunned her and since she was a Muggleborn...she winced inwardly when she thought about it. But why didn't they just kill her right away? They'll question you first, and then kill you.
Hermione tried her best not to cry out loud and focused on something else. She felt how stiff her legs were from sitting for hours. She tried to stand up, but as soon as she got to her feet, searing pain coursed through her and she fell back to the floor.
"I wouldn't keep on doing that if I were you."
Hermione whipped her head around and stared into the darkness that the voice had come from.
"...Hello?" she said in a tiny squeak.
"Hi."
For a long time Hermione didn't even know what to say. All she knew was that the voice belonged to a male, and, by the sound of it, he was around her age.
"Um...where is this place?"
"Shh...they're coming."
Hermione was about to ask "What?", but just then a door across from her had opened and a tall, cloaked silhouette stood. A second later, Hermione could see even more of the cloaked silhouettes behind the first. The stood for a few seconds as if scoping out the area, then one spoke.
"Get the girl."
Hermione suddenly felt the invisible chains on her wrists and ankles jerk and realized they had disappeared completely. Two of the cloaked people walked up to her. As one picked her up harshly, the other jabbed a wand into the middle of her back.
"If you even try to run, we won't hesitate to kill you, wretch!"
Hermione was frightened to tears as they marched her out of the building. Outside it was freezing cold and extremely windy. She could see other small buildings to the sides and wondered where on earth she could be. They marched for nearly five minutes before they came to the front steps of a grand house, but instead of a feeling of awe, Hermione felt extremely nauseous. When they got to the door, Hermione could see that it was already open. In the doorway stood Peter Pettigrew, or as most people called him, Wormtail.
Without warning, Hermione was pushed through the door, which slammed behind her once she was inside. The room was very large and heavily decorated, but Hermione had no time to take in the scenery. She was transfixed on the back of a large, red, velvet upholstered chair, which was facing a blazing fireplace. She watched as Wormtail, who looked just as scared as her, slumped over towards the chair and spun it around. Hermione had the sudden urge to scream as Lord Voldemort stared at her, but she couldn't find her voice.
"It was easier than I thought to get you here."
Hermione winced from hearing Voldemort's voice.
"But with the help from a certain person, I should have known better."
Hermione tried her best to hide her confusion with fear.
"Someone you've grown rather fond of over the months. You know who I'm talking about yet?"
"It can't be…he wouldn't…"
"Oh yes, he would." Voldemort chuckled evilly. "Do you really think that a pure blood would ever love a piece of filth like you?"
Hermione started to cry, but not of fear.
"Now, you are not here to be killed, not just yet." Voldemort said in a very serious tone. "I needed Draco to lure you here, now I need you to lure someone else here. Particularly, Harry Potter."
"…Never…" For the first time for a while, Hermione summed up the courage to speak.
"Oh, you don't have to necessarily, but there will be some consequences involved."
"I don't care if you kill me. I'm not going to be the one responsible for Harry dying." Hermione's mind was full of mixed emotions; above all fear, but also anger and pain. How could Draco do this?
"That's all well and good, but do you care if they die?"
With a wave of Voldemort's arm, a cloud of smoke appeared in front of Hermione. At first it did nothing, then, as if looking through a window, Hermione saw her parents. They were watching television and laughing. There was a flash inside the cloud that looked like lightning and it showed Mr. And Mrs. Weasley as well as Fred and George. Hermione's eyes grew wide and teared up and she stared at the floor. She was speechless.
"They don't have to die, you know." Voldemort hissed at her. "Only Harry."
"…You're evil." was all Hermione could mutter.
"You'll do it then? Wonderful," he said in a sickeningly cheerful tone. "I suppose it's about time we sent you back."
"What are you talking about?" Hermione finally looked up at the Dark Lord.
"You can't lure the great Harry Potter here when he's surrounded with Aurors and ministry wizards and above all Albus Dumbledore?" Voldemort explained to her.
He remained quiet for a moment to let everything he had said sink deeper into Hermione. She had been trying to hold back her tears to look braver, but there was now nothing to stop them from coming. No matter what she did, she would be the reason someone would be killed.
"My lord," a cloaked man by the door started, "the mark."
"Oh yes, I almost forgot."
Hermione looked up at him again and saw the dark lord pointing his wand straight at her.
"I can't have you running around and not be able to keep an eye on you," he said menacingly. "I need to know when you are or aren't obeying me and if you need to be disciplined."
Even though at that moment and at that place there was no way of escape, Hermione couldn't help but try to get away. Her legs, however, felt differently and made no attempt to move.
Without even a word or wand movement, a red light burst from Voldemort's wand and stuck Hermione in the middle of her forehead. Her head felt like it was splitting in millions of places. She could feel Voldemort putting part of his mind into hers. When Hermione opened her eyes, she saw blinding red flashes. When she closed them she saw white. Just when it felt like it would go on forever, it stopped, though the pain was still there.
"It looks as if that was too much for you," Voldemort said. "But nothing you can't live through."
Hermione had had her eyes closed most of the time. She could tell her forehead was wet with sweat and some of her hair was plastered to her face. When she opened her eyes again, she saw a white-gold color. It took her a moment to realize it was her hair. The spell Voldemort had cast on her must have been extremely strong. Before Hermione could comprehend what had happened, Voldemort spoke again.
"I believe you'll find your 'mark' on the back of your neck."
Hermione immediately placed her hand on her neck, but it stung and filled her head with a piercing pain and pulled her hand away.
"Remember the deal. You have the urge to report this, and your family, your friend's family, and you die. You don't talk, and you do as I say, Harry is the only one that you'll never see again. Not to hard to decide."
The tears had begun to sting Hermione's eyes.
"I'll be calling on you soon."
Hermione barely had time to take in what he said before a white flash blinded her. She closed her eyes and could still sense the brightness through her eyelids. When she thought the light was getting darker, she opened her eyes. The wooden floor, which she had been kneeling on, had turned to cold stone. The large, exquisite room had turned into a dimly lit corridor that she recognized as one in Hogwarts. He had sent her back.
Hermione, who was still on her knees, swayed side to side as if threatening to fall over. She placed one of her hand down on the stone floor to keep herself balanced. She sat there for a few minutes before attempting to stand up. She got to her feet just as her legs gave out. With a small yell, she grabbed onto a stone sticking out of the wall to stay up. Evidently, someone had heard her.
"There's someone down this way! Hurry!"
Hermione looked down the dark corridor and heard the fast paced footsteps of several people coming towards her. A few seconds later, she recognized Professor Snape, who was closely followed by another professor as well as two other seventh years.
Forgetting what had happened to her hair, Hermione was surprised when Snape first asked her who she was. She stared at him for a second. She felt as if she were going to pass out any moment.
"What, you don't recognize me?"
Snape looked confused, the other professor looked scared. Hermione was getting dizzy from standing.
One of the seventh years behind the professors stepped forward and Hermione saw it was Harry.
"Hermione?!"
Harry caught Hermione in his arms just as she passed out.
***
Draco and another seventh year from his house, accompanied by another professor, walked up and down the corridors, looking for injured students. Just minutes after his father had left, dozens of ministry wizards and Aurors had arrived and managed to get rid of the last of the Death Eaters and calm everyone down enough to organize search groups.
Draco, however, knew better than to think that anyone got seriously hurt. Besides Hermione, that is. He knew that the whole raid was just a distraction. One very large distraction in order to get one girl. And now, because of him, she was most likely going to die along with Harry Potter. Right when Hermione had disappeared in front of him nearly two hours before, he regretted what he had done. He had been ordered by Voldemort himself to get Hermione to trust him. Then, with Hermione, Voldemort could lure Harry and do what he had wanted to do for seventeen long years.
Draco had been brought up not to show emotion. His father always told him it was a sign of weakness, therefore, instead of hiding emotion, Draco learned to just not feel them completely. That is, until this year with Hermione. He had tried to keep his feelings at bay, it didn't matter what he did or how hard he tried, he couldn't help but fall in love with her.
And with a jolt of pain within, Draco realized something.
"I just sent the one person I've ever loved to her death."
***
Hermione woke with a start. By what she could tell, she was lying in a bed in the infirmary. It was very dark around the room and there was a window opened a crack that was letting in a soft, cool breeze. If she hadn't known better, she would have thought that it was a beautiful night. But it was a night that was everything but. It was a night of despair, tragedy and deception. She thought of Draco, and tears welled up in her eyes once more. Angry with herself, Hermione wiped away at her eyes, adamant to keep herself from bawling.
She spun in her bed and hung her legs off the edge. She put pressure on her feet, and felt that she could get up. She slowly stood up from the bed and walked towards the window. Everything looked ironically calm. She turned away and started walking towards a mirror that was hanging on the opposite side of the room. Using the little bit of moonlight that was coming in, Hermione could see that all of her hair had been turned eerily golden white.
Hermione just stared at her reflection while her eyes got used to the darkness. She turned to go back to the bed, but just as she did, it dawned on her. She turned back to the mirror and looked at her reflection once more. She was the girl in her dreams.
***
So, what did you think? Once again I'm sorry for taking so long. I'm deeply deeply deeply deeply deeply deeply deeply deeply deeply sorry. I can't stress how sorry I am. Oh well. Since it's a tad late around here, I can't go online now, since it would wake everyone up (I have a very annoying and LOUD dial-up internet), so the thankyou's for the last chapter will be posted on my next update along with any thankyou's for any review I get for this one. Phew…I'm so glad to be back on track. =D Toodles!
-Kate Potter (MF)