CHAPTER 20
"What was that?" Hermione asked Draco.
"He said he's gunna die this weekend, and by that he meant now, I guess," Draco answered.
"Should we go up there?"
"Do you want to?"
"Um, yeah, I guess. We should at least have a funeral or something. He was my father. He wasn't the best father, hell he wasn't even close to decent, but he was my father none-the-less, and I should at least give him a funeral," Hermione said.
"Fine, let's go." Draco took Hermione's hand and led her out of the room.
"Where are you going?" Lucius asked. He was too far down the table to hear their conversation.
"We're going to see my father," Hermione answered. "I owe him that much."
They continued walking until Draco came to the room where he had been before. Sitting there in a chair, with an evil grin spread across his face, was the lifeless body of the man so many wizards and witches had feared their whole lives. His legacy was now over and passed onto his daughter and soon-to-be daughter-in-law.
Draco levitated him downstairs and called on some house elves to prepare him for the funeral. They did as they were told. Voldemort was buried that day behind the palace. It wasn't a proper funeral, but it was still a funeral.
"Are we permitted to return now?" Draco asked Lucius.
"Yes, but you may want to apparate to the clearing behind the forest first. It'll be a shorter ride, and easier for you."
Hermione looked worried. "Don't worry," Draco reassured her. "I can apparate the both of us together. Just take my hand and don't let go."
Hermione did as she was instructed. They were at the clearing behind the forest in less than a second.
Soon they were up in the air, and Draco asked, "How do you plan on ending this all? The Death Eaters aren't going to give up that easily."
"We're gunna call a meeting, and we're to use the strongest memory charm possible. I'm hoping that Cephius and Elana will help us out; it will be much quicker and much easier. We have to owl your father right away, and tell him to have the Death Eaters to meet us at the same spot next Saturday night. We will set up either two tents or four tents (depending on Cephius and Elana), and we're gunna say that we're doing an evaluation of some sort. We will divide them among us so that it will take less time. They'll walk in, and then we'll hit them with the charm. We will then take them to a separate tent because more than likely they'll be screwed up. After they're all taken care of, we'll send them home with a note to their families," Hermione explained as if it were nothing.
"Wow, you've got this all planned our."
"Yup. It's been that way since he told us that he thought he was gunna die."
"I'll carry through with that plan. We gotta talk to Cephius and Elana right away."
As soon as they got back to Hogwarts, Hermione went up to their common room so Draco could put his broom away, and then they headed to the dungeons. When they got there, Cephius and Elana were making out in a corner.
Draco walked up to them, and they didn't even acknowledge his presence until he yelled really loud, "BREATHE!"
They jumped about a mile, and saw Draco smirking and Hermione laughing her head off. "What?" they asked together.
"We need to talk to you back in our common room," Draco whispered. "It's about.you know."
"We're coming," Cephius answered pulling Elana with him.
They walked in silence all the way up to the common room. Once they were inside, Hermione began speaking. "I'm guessing that you didn't see us at all this weekend. We were not here. Actually, we were taken to my father's palace. He died this weekend and wants me to take over where he left off. Draco and I decided that we are going to end everything. We're gunna need your help. Do you wanna help us, or would you choose to carry on this insanity?"
Elana and Cephius looked at each other. It was like they were speaking to each other through their eyes. After a few minutes, they turned back to Draco and Hermione. "We'll help you," they said together.
"Good," said Draco. "We're going to use a very powerful memory charm on all of the Death Eaters. We'll be setting up four tents and say we'll be doing an evaluation to see if they are really qualified. When they walk into the tent, we'll hit them with the charm and then lead them out to another tent. After they've all been hit, we'll send them home with a note to their families."
Cephius and Elana nodded. "So when are we doing all this?" Elana asked.
"I'll owl my father and tell him to have all the Death Eaters meet at the clearing behind the forest on Saturday. I think that should give us enough time to figure out what we're doing."
"Will someone eventually find out what's going on? The people have a right to know that they don't have to fear him anymore," Cephius answered.
"Well I figured after the meeting, I'd write an anonymous letter to the Daily Prophet explaining that I had witnessed everything," Hermione explained. "I won't say how, when or where I witnessed it."
They all sat in silence for a while before Cephius spoke. "You know, there are rumors going around about why you haven't been seen all weekend. People are saying some really horrible things about you two. They're all like, 'The Head Boy and Girl, some example they're setting.' If I didn't know you guys, I would've believed the rumors to be true."
"People are assholes. They don't know anything. I'm actually surprised that people pay attention to what we do and realized that we were missing," Hermione laughed.
"You sure take things lightly, 'Mione," Elana said. "If it was me, I'd be pissed."
"Why should I be? I know what happened even if they don't. Nothing they say can affect me in any way. They don't even know a quarter of what's going on in my life." ~ The next day, Draco and Hermione were getting weird all through breakfast, and heard a few people saying, "Look at them, talking and laughing like nothing even happened. They're not even slightly embarrassed about anything. And they'd probably deny them if we asked them about it."
Throughout the day, Draco and Hermione were able to ignore the rude comments from most of the student population. When they got to Transfigurations, they sat in the back corner where they usually sat. The Gryffindors walked in and shot them death glares.
"Hey, Malfoy, you and Granger have a good time this weekend?" Ron asked.
"Actually, the weekend sucked," Draco smirked. "If it had been up to me, Hermione and I would've done other stuff."
"Oh so this a female dominated relationship?" Harry said.
"No one is dominant, Potter," Hermione sneered. "We talk about things and then we compromise." She was smirking now too.
"So you talked before you did anything this weekend?" Ron inquired.
"We didn't have a choice in the matter this weekend," Draco answered. "We were forced to do what we did."
"Who the hell would force you to sleep together?"
"We made that decision ages ago. We've been sleeping together since Christmas." Draco's smirk was plastered on his face.
"You've been screwing sine Christmas," Harry yelled.
"Calm down, Potter," Hermione said. "We've never done anything like that. I sleep in his bed because that's where I feel safe at night. We've never 'screwed' each other as you put it."
Everyone in the room was in total shock and a murmur could be heard around the room. It didn't last very long, though, because McGonagall came in and began the lesson.
Draco and Hermione were taking notes on everything McGonagall was saying. Draco became bored very quickly, and when her back was turned, he leaned closer to Hermione and wrote, "Bitch" with an arrow pointing at McGonagall. Hermione gave him a smile and reached over to his paper and wrote, "Assholes" and drew two arrows pointing at Harry and Ron.
This went on for a few minutes before McGonagall heard giggles coming from their corner and called out, "Mr. Malfoy, Ms Granger, would you mind telling me what is so funny that you had to disturb my class?"
"Sorry, Professor," mumbled Hermione. "It's just that, we couldn't help but notice how incredibly adorable Weasley and Brown look together. I mean, look at how close they're sitting." This gained snickers from the Slytherin portion of the room and death glares from the Gryffindors.
"Mr. Malfoy, Ms Granger, that's ten points from Slytherin and a detention tonight. You will not put down fellow students. You of all people should know that."
"I beg your pardon, Professor," Draco said. "But you weren't in here before class started. Your precious Gryffindors were implying that Hermione and I were doing something that is immoral, and a very dangerous thing to do as Head Boy and Head Girl." The Slytherins muttered agreements.
"Well, I heard nothing such as that," she answered sternly. "You will meet me after class to discuss your detention." With that she went back to the lesson.
"Hypocrite," Draco mumbled.
When the bell rang and the class filed out, Hermione and Draco walked up to Professor McGonagall's desk. Draco put on an innocent smile and said, "You wished to see us, Professor."
"Yes. You will be serving your detention tonight at 8 pm. You will clean the entire trophy room without magic. It hasn't been done in a few years. You may leave."
"Yes, ma'am," they answered.
"I expect better of you in the future. With the titles you hold, you should have a bit more respect."
They didn't respond, just walked out of the room. "Told you she was a bitch," Draco mumbled under his breath. Hermione just smiled. ~ Their detention wasn't so bad. It only took them two hours to finish, and they didn't really mind. They had each other's company." ~ The rest of the week went by quickly with no problems. It was 5 pm Saturday evening and Cephius, Elana, Hermione, and Draco were heading out towards the clearing.
As soon as they got there, they set up the five tents. The four that Draco, Hermione, Elana, and Cephius were going to be using were set up next to each other, and the other was farther behind them.
At eight, the Death Eaters started to arrive and make a circle as they normally would, but they were all very confused. When everyone was there, Draco began speaking. "Last weekend, Lord Voldemort died. He asked Hermione and myself to carry on his legacy. If anyone of you dares to overrun our authority, you will die a slow and painful death." He paused to let his last sentence sink in. "Now, Hermione, Cephius, Elana, and I will conduct a test to make sure that you are faithful followers and that your loyalty will not waver."
"We have come up with a quick and easy way to do this," Hermione informed them. "Each of us has a list with some names on them. You will go into the tent of the person that calls you. Any questions?" There was no response. "Diana Martin, come with me."
"Lucius Malfoy," Draco called.
"Crabbe," Cephius said.
""Nott," Elana motioned for him to follow.
Draco made Lucius sit in a chair. "What's this all about, Draco?"
"Obliviate!"
When Draco said the charm, Lucius' eyes glazed over and a huge grin spread across his face. "Ooh, look at the pretty sky." He was looking at the floor of the tent.
Draco did all he could to hold back a laugh. "Follow me," Draco commanded him.
"Where are we going?" he asked.
"We're going to another tent. You will get to play with all of your friends there. Won't that be fun? Come on, let's go."
Lucius followed Draco to the other tent. He looked very calm; Draco had never seen him like that before. Just then Cephius, Elana, and Hermione came out with their "patients."
"They look so happy," Elana commented.
"Yeah they do," agreed Hermione. "I wonder why no one thought of this before."
They walked back to their tents to "fix" the next four Death Eaters. It took about an hour to give every Death Eater the memory charm and put them all in the tent. They were all grinning like they had just been given loads of candy.
Although they had lost most of their memory, they still knew how to apparate back to their houses. Before they left, they had all been given a letter to explain to their families what had happened. Draco, Hermione, Cephius, and Elana waited until every one of them had left before they returned to the castle.
"What was that?" Hermione asked Draco.
"He said he's gunna die this weekend, and by that he meant now, I guess," Draco answered.
"Should we go up there?"
"Do you want to?"
"Um, yeah, I guess. We should at least have a funeral or something. He was my father. He wasn't the best father, hell he wasn't even close to decent, but he was my father none-the-less, and I should at least give him a funeral," Hermione said.
"Fine, let's go." Draco took Hermione's hand and led her out of the room.
"Where are you going?" Lucius asked. He was too far down the table to hear their conversation.
"We're going to see my father," Hermione answered. "I owe him that much."
They continued walking until Draco came to the room where he had been before. Sitting there in a chair, with an evil grin spread across his face, was the lifeless body of the man so many wizards and witches had feared their whole lives. His legacy was now over and passed onto his daughter and soon-to-be daughter-in-law.
Draco levitated him downstairs and called on some house elves to prepare him for the funeral. They did as they were told. Voldemort was buried that day behind the palace. It wasn't a proper funeral, but it was still a funeral.
"Are we permitted to return now?" Draco asked Lucius.
"Yes, but you may want to apparate to the clearing behind the forest first. It'll be a shorter ride, and easier for you."
Hermione looked worried. "Don't worry," Draco reassured her. "I can apparate the both of us together. Just take my hand and don't let go."
Hermione did as she was instructed. They were at the clearing behind the forest in less than a second.
Soon they were up in the air, and Draco asked, "How do you plan on ending this all? The Death Eaters aren't going to give up that easily."
"We're gunna call a meeting, and we're to use the strongest memory charm possible. I'm hoping that Cephius and Elana will help us out; it will be much quicker and much easier. We have to owl your father right away, and tell him to have the Death Eaters to meet us at the same spot next Saturday night. We will set up either two tents or four tents (depending on Cephius and Elana), and we're gunna say that we're doing an evaluation of some sort. We will divide them among us so that it will take less time. They'll walk in, and then we'll hit them with the charm. We will then take them to a separate tent because more than likely they'll be screwed up. After they're all taken care of, we'll send them home with a note to their families," Hermione explained as if it were nothing.
"Wow, you've got this all planned our."
"Yup. It's been that way since he told us that he thought he was gunna die."
"I'll carry through with that plan. We gotta talk to Cephius and Elana right away."
As soon as they got back to Hogwarts, Hermione went up to their common room so Draco could put his broom away, and then they headed to the dungeons. When they got there, Cephius and Elana were making out in a corner.
Draco walked up to them, and they didn't even acknowledge his presence until he yelled really loud, "BREATHE!"
They jumped about a mile, and saw Draco smirking and Hermione laughing her head off. "What?" they asked together.
"We need to talk to you back in our common room," Draco whispered. "It's about.you know."
"We're coming," Cephius answered pulling Elana with him.
They walked in silence all the way up to the common room. Once they were inside, Hermione began speaking. "I'm guessing that you didn't see us at all this weekend. We were not here. Actually, we were taken to my father's palace. He died this weekend and wants me to take over where he left off. Draco and I decided that we are going to end everything. We're gunna need your help. Do you wanna help us, or would you choose to carry on this insanity?"
Elana and Cephius looked at each other. It was like they were speaking to each other through their eyes. After a few minutes, they turned back to Draco and Hermione. "We'll help you," they said together.
"Good," said Draco. "We're going to use a very powerful memory charm on all of the Death Eaters. We'll be setting up four tents and say we'll be doing an evaluation to see if they are really qualified. When they walk into the tent, we'll hit them with the charm and then lead them out to another tent. After they've all been hit, we'll send them home with a note to their families."
Cephius and Elana nodded. "So when are we doing all this?" Elana asked.
"I'll owl my father and tell him to have all the Death Eaters meet at the clearing behind the forest on Saturday. I think that should give us enough time to figure out what we're doing."
"Will someone eventually find out what's going on? The people have a right to know that they don't have to fear him anymore," Cephius answered.
"Well I figured after the meeting, I'd write an anonymous letter to the Daily Prophet explaining that I had witnessed everything," Hermione explained. "I won't say how, when or where I witnessed it."
They all sat in silence for a while before Cephius spoke. "You know, there are rumors going around about why you haven't been seen all weekend. People are saying some really horrible things about you two. They're all like, 'The Head Boy and Girl, some example they're setting.' If I didn't know you guys, I would've believed the rumors to be true."
"People are assholes. They don't know anything. I'm actually surprised that people pay attention to what we do and realized that we were missing," Hermione laughed.
"You sure take things lightly, 'Mione," Elana said. "If it was me, I'd be pissed."
"Why should I be? I know what happened even if they don't. Nothing they say can affect me in any way. They don't even know a quarter of what's going on in my life." ~ The next day, Draco and Hermione were getting weird all through breakfast, and heard a few people saying, "Look at them, talking and laughing like nothing even happened. They're not even slightly embarrassed about anything. And they'd probably deny them if we asked them about it."
Throughout the day, Draco and Hermione were able to ignore the rude comments from most of the student population. When they got to Transfigurations, they sat in the back corner where they usually sat. The Gryffindors walked in and shot them death glares.
"Hey, Malfoy, you and Granger have a good time this weekend?" Ron asked.
"Actually, the weekend sucked," Draco smirked. "If it had been up to me, Hermione and I would've done other stuff."
"Oh so this a female dominated relationship?" Harry said.
"No one is dominant, Potter," Hermione sneered. "We talk about things and then we compromise." She was smirking now too.
"So you talked before you did anything this weekend?" Ron inquired.
"We didn't have a choice in the matter this weekend," Draco answered. "We were forced to do what we did."
"Who the hell would force you to sleep together?"
"We made that decision ages ago. We've been sleeping together since Christmas." Draco's smirk was plastered on his face.
"You've been screwing sine Christmas," Harry yelled.
"Calm down, Potter," Hermione said. "We've never done anything like that. I sleep in his bed because that's where I feel safe at night. We've never 'screwed' each other as you put it."
Everyone in the room was in total shock and a murmur could be heard around the room. It didn't last very long, though, because McGonagall came in and began the lesson.
Draco and Hermione were taking notes on everything McGonagall was saying. Draco became bored very quickly, and when her back was turned, he leaned closer to Hermione and wrote, "Bitch" with an arrow pointing at McGonagall. Hermione gave him a smile and reached over to his paper and wrote, "Assholes" and drew two arrows pointing at Harry and Ron.
This went on for a few minutes before McGonagall heard giggles coming from their corner and called out, "Mr. Malfoy, Ms Granger, would you mind telling me what is so funny that you had to disturb my class?"
"Sorry, Professor," mumbled Hermione. "It's just that, we couldn't help but notice how incredibly adorable Weasley and Brown look together. I mean, look at how close they're sitting." This gained snickers from the Slytherin portion of the room and death glares from the Gryffindors.
"Mr. Malfoy, Ms Granger, that's ten points from Slytherin and a detention tonight. You will not put down fellow students. You of all people should know that."
"I beg your pardon, Professor," Draco said. "But you weren't in here before class started. Your precious Gryffindors were implying that Hermione and I were doing something that is immoral, and a very dangerous thing to do as Head Boy and Head Girl." The Slytherins muttered agreements.
"Well, I heard nothing such as that," she answered sternly. "You will meet me after class to discuss your detention." With that she went back to the lesson.
"Hypocrite," Draco mumbled.
When the bell rang and the class filed out, Hermione and Draco walked up to Professor McGonagall's desk. Draco put on an innocent smile and said, "You wished to see us, Professor."
"Yes. You will be serving your detention tonight at 8 pm. You will clean the entire trophy room without magic. It hasn't been done in a few years. You may leave."
"Yes, ma'am," they answered.
"I expect better of you in the future. With the titles you hold, you should have a bit more respect."
They didn't respond, just walked out of the room. "Told you she was a bitch," Draco mumbled under his breath. Hermione just smiled. ~ Their detention wasn't so bad. It only took them two hours to finish, and they didn't really mind. They had each other's company." ~ The rest of the week went by quickly with no problems. It was 5 pm Saturday evening and Cephius, Elana, Hermione, and Draco were heading out towards the clearing.
As soon as they got there, they set up the five tents. The four that Draco, Hermione, Elana, and Cephius were going to be using were set up next to each other, and the other was farther behind them.
At eight, the Death Eaters started to arrive and make a circle as they normally would, but they were all very confused. When everyone was there, Draco began speaking. "Last weekend, Lord Voldemort died. He asked Hermione and myself to carry on his legacy. If anyone of you dares to overrun our authority, you will die a slow and painful death." He paused to let his last sentence sink in. "Now, Hermione, Cephius, Elana, and I will conduct a test to make sure that you are faithful followers and that your loyalty will not waver."
"We have come up with a quick and easy way to do this," Hermione informed them. "Each of us has a list with some names on them. You will go into the tent of the person that calls you. Any questions?" There was no response. "Diana Martin, come with me."
"Lucius Malfoy," Draco called.
"Crabbe," Cephius said.
""Nott," Elana motioned for him to follow.
Draco made Lucius sit in a chair. "What's this all about, Draco?"
"Obliviate!"
When Draco said the charm, Lucius' eyes glazed over and a huge grin spread across his face. "Ooh, look at the pretty sky." He was looking at the floor of the tent.
Draco did all he could to hold back a laugh. "Follow me," Draco commanded him.
"Where are we going?" he asked.
"We're going to another tent. You will get to play with all of your friends there. Won't that be fun? Come on, let's go."
Lucius followed Draco to the other tent. He looked very calm; Draco had never seen him like that before. Just then Cephius, Elana, and Hermione came out with their "patients."
"They look so happy," Elana commented.
"Yeah they do," agreed Hermione. "I wonder why no one thought of this before."
They walked back to their tents to "fix" the next four Death Eaters. It took about an hour to give every Death Eater the memory charm and put them all in the tent. They were all grinning like they had just been given loads of candy.
Although they had lost most of their memory, they still knew how to apparate back to their houses. Before they left, they had all been given a letter to explain to their families what had happened. Draco, Hermione, Cephius, and Elana waited until every one of them had left before they returned to the castle.