A/N: Thanks to all reviewers. From now, you will learn who removed the tenebrarum and why Snape deceived Draco. The story is due to finish in under 40 chapters. Warning: death of major characters at the end. R/R please.
Chapter 34: Draco Mala Fides – Dragon of Bad Faith
The room was warm.
Hermione had the pleasant sensation of lying in a soft bed and being covered by soft sheets. She felt like she was on the waking edge of a dream…some sort of dream about being wearing a white uniform and playing with a blonde baby…but as with most dreams, when she tried to return to it, it faded from her.
There was a familiar smell in the room- something like pine logs burning and wood polish. She was so comfortable she didn't want to wake up, but finally, she opened her eyes.
The first thing she saw was a window filled with grey morning light. It was framed with dark green curtains. The hangings around the four-poster bed were of dark green velvet as well. There was a desk by the side of the room facing the window, it was covered with books and a quill and parchment lay tossed carelessly over the top of the books.
The pine logs and wood-polish smell were so familiar…then she knew where she was. This was Hogwarts. This was the Head Boy's room- Draco's room. She wondered what time it was… breakfast would be soon and she would have to be on duty at the Gryffindor table.
Automatically reaching out for the clock at her side, she read the time as six thirty…there was a whole hour and half more before breakfast.
She was aware of someone breathing gently next to her. His silver-blonde hair was spread out on the white pillow next to her, his pale but muscled torso gleamed gently in the morning light. She snuggled back down in the sheets and moved towards him so that her head lay in on his shoulder. He murmured and kissed her gently.
As she looked at Draco's pale, pointed face, she couldn't help but think that there was something different about him this morning. He looked a little…tired. But she supposed it was Auror training wearing him down. She hoped he had managed to finish his Charms essay the night before, Professor Flitwick was always severe about Deadlines.
What was that dream she was having? She liked to tell Draco about her dreams in the morning, and he would tell her his. She was wearing a white uniform…it had been a sad dream…there was a small blonde baby…. A ring like a snake… It was all jumbled up in her mind and slipping away from her.
"Morning, Mione" Draco drawled as he pulled her towards him. She wrapped a naked leg around his.
"Morning, sleepyhead." Hermione whispered. So many mornings they had woken up like this, greeting each other the same way. She always liked to tease Draco about being a sleepyhead because since he had started Auror training, he always liked to sleep late. It was hard living more hours in a day with a time-turner. Hermione knew because she had used it to take double-lessons in the third year.
Draco rolled over to face her, his gray eyes appraising her naked upper body. There was a gleam in them.
"How do you feel?" he asked rather abruptly.
Hermione smiled, "All right. I had a really dream-filled night…but I can't remember anything much…I dreamt I was wearing a white uniform and there was a blonde baby…but I can't remember anything else."
Draco smiled.
"Nothing else? You always could remember your dreams, Mione."
Hermione kissed his cheek gently, "No, not always. I only tell you the ones I do. Strange, I feel incredibly sleepy this morning…but I suppose we should get up and get ready for breakfast. If you're late at the Slytherin table, the first years might start a food-fight."
Draco swung on top of her and began to kiss her. They shared a deep kiss. She grinned happily when he pulled back.
"What are you doing Draco? Wasn't last night enough?"
"It's never enough…Mione. You know me." He said smiling and moving his lips down towards her chest. She sighed as he sucked on her gently.
Draco felt the old excitement rushing back into him. Her body was as soft and inviting as always. Nevertheless, he tried to control himself even as he began to grow hard. He gasped as he felt her grasp him firmly. Slowly, he moved his slim fingers down over her stomach, parting her thighs gently and feeling her open herself to him. She began to groan.
Hermione liked to think of Draco throughout the years at Hogwarts as he made love to her. It excited her to remember his pale face on the Hogwarts express looking at her- he told her that since the second year, he had always made it a point to walk past her carriage because he had thought she was very beautiful. She liked to think of him after Quidditch matches- his Quidditch uniform clinging to him after matches in the rain, when she would watch him secretly, not daring to let the other Gryffindors know that she thought the Slytherin seeker a complete hunk. Of course, he had still been a prat towards her and the other Gryffindors, but now she knew his whole story, she found it extremely erotic.
She gave herself up to his gentle stroking and began to fall into deeply relaxed state. Draco Malfoy was a very good lover.
"Hermione…" he whispered to her. "I want you to feel good."
"Mmm. God Draco, don't stop."
His gray eyes searched her face. Although he was aroused, he was also in control. He had to find the right moment. He kissed her gently.
"Hermione, tell me about your dream. Try and remember."
Hermione groaned again as she felt comfortable and safe. She remembered… "I was wearing a white uniform,…I think I was a mediwitch. That was nice."
"Go on, my love. You always wanted to be a mediwitch."
"I was carrying a blonde baby. I don't know whose- maybe it was our future child Draco."
She felt Draco tense for a moment, and she giggled. "Don't worry Draco, I doubt I'm pregnant or anything."
He kissed her. "Tell me more…what happens to this baby."
"I can't remember…wait…I lose him, in the corridors of Hogwarts."
"How?"
"I don't know. There are some people carrying him. It's very sad. I don't think I want to remember."
Draco kissed her again. "It's just a dream, my love. Tell me, maybe it means something…we can ask that old bat Trelawney."
Hermione smiled. "It's very sad…there was a huge ring.…lots of people…oh, I know who they are…Albus Dumbledore is there and Professor McGonagall and…no, surely not…Neville! Neville Longbottom is in my dream! It's terribly sad, I can't remember…Neville isn't telling me something. I'm asking him, begging him…he's gone…a voice, I'm trapped!"
"Good girl."
She felt Draco press her arms down but was too weak to resist. His grip was unnecessarily hard.
"Draco, that hurts…"
She felt him swing himself over her, his breath hot on her cheek.
It felt like she was falling down a black hole.
Hermione's eyes snapped open.
"DRACO!"
She was lying on a cold stone floor in pitch darkness. It was extremely cold again, this time more so because she realized with a shock that she was naked. She felt around her and could feel a piece of cloth near her feet. She explored it with her fingers and realized that it was a dress of some sort. There were the sleeves, and the zip…she slipped it over her head quickly. Around her was the rank smell of her prison cell that she had smelt earlier.
What had happened? Some sort of nightmare or dream about being back in Hogwarts. That wasn't unusual- ever since leaving Hogwarts, she dreamed about it often.
"Oh no…oh my god…"
Hermione felt her head go light as the blood drained from her face. She sat down on the floor, her head in her hands. It wasn't a dream. It had been real. A trick… some sort of elaborate confusion charm…and she had foolishly revealed the name of the Secret Keeper…..
It was then she noticed the soreness. It was very slight, just a dull throb, but she knew what Draco Malfoy had done with her …done to her… when she had blacked out. In that moment, Hermione knew that Draco had really turned against her. She had better think of a way to escape, to warn Neville and save her baby. But what? Her Gryffindor determination rose within her- she had to escape. Please god, she prayed, let me escape.
Hermione was not a Gryffindor for nothing. Clearing her head except for thoughts of escape, she stood up and began exploring the dark dungeon with her fingers. From what she could remember of the brief glimpse she had had of it yesterday, it was about ten feet square and the wooden door was in one of the walls. The walls looked like they were made of thick stone with hardly a crack in between. The floor was paved smoothly. If only she could find a chink somewhere, she might even be able to do some undirected magic without a wand and blast her way out.
But as her fingers searched along the cracks of the walls, she found the entire dungeon sealed as tightly as a stone drum. She finally felt wood with her fingers. It was the oak door. In despair, Hermione leaned against the door. There really seemed no way out. Where in the world was she? What was this place?
Suddenly, her foot kicked against something, which rattled as it rolled over the stone floor. She froze for a second before bending down and feeling for it with her fingers. There was a moment when she thought she wouldn't find it but then her fingers came into contact with a slim wooden stick.
Hermione's heart leapt. It was a wand! A WAND! With trembling fingers, she gave it a little wave and muttered, "Lumos"
The little dungeon lit up with a pale yellow light.
She inspected the wand carefully. It was made of black wood and about fourteen inches long. She thought she recognized it from somewhere. It wasn't Draco's wand, which she knew was made of brown wood or Lucius' either which she had noticed had a silver band around it. It certainly wasn't hers. How did it get here? She crept towards the oak door and felt around it with her fingers. She noticed that at the bottom of the door, was a tiny gap between the wood and the stone floor. Whoever it was must have pushed the wand under the door into the dungeon.
There was absolutely nothing else in the cell.
However, Hermione was already filled with hope. She was the cleverest witch in Hogwarts. With a wand, Hermione Granger could escape from practically anywhere. Her mind went over an enormous wealth of magical knowledge as she planned her escape.
The first logical thing to do with a wand was to try to apparate. But as she suspected, it was impossible to apparate from the dungeon. She whispered fiercely, "Hogsmeade! Hogsmeade!" to no effect. Finally, she knew she would have to escape the hard way. Hermione pointed the wand at herself and said, "Disillusion"
She had become a human chameleon. Her body looked exactly like the walls of the dungeon. Walking towards the door, Hermione tried an alohomora spell but it didn't work. No, it would have to be a more complicated charm. "Diffindo" The door stayed stubbornly shut. Hermione calmly tried an increasingly powerful series of opening charms, but the door stayed shut.
Don't panic she thought. If I can't open the door, I must find some way to get around it. She pointed the wand at herself. It was an unpleasant charm to use and she hated doing it, but she saw no other choice. She closed her eyes – "Reducto" She felt like she was on an extremely fast roller-coaster ride. The walls and ceiling rushed away from her. She opened her eyes and saw the door about a mile away from her. Quickly, she began to run towards it.
Once outside the door, Hermione removed the Reducto on herself and found herself in a dark corridor. She was in the basement of some building. She heard the familiar creaks and bumps around her and the air was chilly. Which way out?
She must get to Hogwarts. She must warn Neville.
She blessed whoever had given her the wand, gripping it tightly, Hermione made her way cautiously along the corridor.
**************************************
Madam Rosmerta had the shock of her life when a pale, blood-caked young woman stumbled into The Three Broomsticks. The lady looked ill, she was breathing hard as if she had just run from something. Perspiration poured off her face.
"Oh my goodness!" Madam Rosmerta ran to catch her as she swayed. Fortunately, it was the middle of the day and the bar was empty. "Miss Hermione! Is that you?" asked Madam Rosmerta, recognizing the girl from her Hogwarts days. She looked very different now- not only was she sickly and ragged, her clothes were filthy.
"Hogwarts…quick….they are coming for me."
"Who is, my dear?" asked the pretty bartender, looking suspiciously into the street.
Hermione winced in pain. It was then that Madam Rosmerta noticed fresh blood staining Hermione's already filthy dress. There were angry bleeding sores on her- she had been severely hexed.
"Merlin!" exclaimed Rosmerta, hurriedly shutting the door to the pub behind her.
Hermione collapsed on the floor. The black wand still clutched in her hand.
"Hogwarts. Albus Dumbledore." She whispered. Madam Rosmerta grabbed her purse from under the purse counter. This was an emergency. But how to get Hermione safely to Hogwarts? Madam Rosmerta grabbed a pot of floo powder and stuck her head into the fireplace. She prayed that Albus Dumbledore was in. "Albus Dumbledore's Office, Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry."
Albus Dumbledore was just reading an owl when he heard a *pop* in his fireplace followed by a lady's anxious voice calling for him.
"Dumbledore! Dumbledore! Oh, where in the world are you!"
Hermione felt somebody rubbing ointment onto her legs. They felt immediately better. She heard a familiar voice say "She's coming round, Albus, it's just fear and exhaustion. She must have warded off the more severe curses. The poor thing."
"Thank you, Madam Pomfrey."
Hermione sat up violently in bed with a cry. She must not waste time. She saw Albus Dumbledore, Poppy Pomfrey and Minerva McGonagall standing by her bed. "Professors! He knows! They found me….Draco told Lucius…They know about Neville….my baby…where is he?...I tried to escape… where is Neville?....I need to warn Neville."
"There, there" said Pomfrey, gently, pushing the girl back into the bed.
"Neville is in danger!" Hermione began to cry…she had not cried since the day before, despite the horrid events of the day. "Dumbledore…please…go to Neville!"
"She needs rest" said Poppy. "She's raving."
"NO!" Hermione struggled against the mediwitch's hands.
"It's all right, Poppy" said Dumbledore. "I think we need Miss Granger to explain things to us. It sounds very serious."
Madam Pomfrey looked doubtful but let Hermione go. She made her drink something cool and Hermione felt instantly refreshed.
McGonagall looked sadly at her favourite student. She was cut and bruised and had obviously been through a terrible ordeal.
Dumbledore sat on the edge of her bed and held her hand. She noticed he was holding the fourteen-inch black wand that she had used to escape. "Miss Granger, calm yourself. I cannot understand what you are saying. How do they know about Neville being the Secret Keeper?"
Hermione almost shouted at him, "Because I was TRICKED into telling Draco! You must hurry….Lucius wants the child's blood for the stone…I don't know why!"
Dumbledore nodded. "I am prepared to look for Neville personally myself right after you answer one more question."
"What?"
"How did you come by this wand?"
Hermione stared wildly at the professors. McGonagall looked grim.
"I was locked in a dungeon in Malfoy Manor….I thought I was trapped but I found this wand stuffed under a crack in the door. I don't know who put it there, but it was the only way I could escape….why? Whose wand is it?"
Dumbledore and McGonagall exchanged looks.
"This wand belongs to Severus Snape" said Dumbledore, turning it over in his fingers.
"Snape!" gasped Hermione. "Is he at Malfoy Manor? Did he help me?"
Dumbledore inspected the wand carefully.
"We don't know what has happened to Snape…he has been missing for two weeks and I have not been able to contact him. This is the first sign of him we have received."
Hermione shook her head. "What's going on?"
"I wonder…." Said Dumbledore, shaking the wand gently. "Priori Incantatem"
To Hermione's surprise several wisps of smoke came out of the wand, flashing green…
"Stunning spells….rictus sempra….a protego…very advanced ones, Miss Granger. Did you perform these?"
Hermione nodded. At the last part of her escape, she had had to hex Draco and Lucius as they ran after her. She watched in fascination as more wisps of silver smoke emerged from the wand.
"Ah, reducto…now, what's this a diffindo opening charm,,,alohamora…" more colourful wisps of smoke came out of the wand which Dumbledore appeared able to read because he nodded and muttered.
Suddenly, a wispy shower of dust emerged from the wand tip and settled like snowflakes in the room before vanishing…
"The Finite Tenebrarum !" gulped McGonagall "Severus removed the Tenebrarum!"
Hermione couldn't believe it, but she remembered the deep male voice yelling the Petrificus at her in her house. It was Snape's voice!
"But if Snape removed the Tenebrarum and delivered me to the Malfoys…why would he give me his wand?"
Albus Dumbledore's brow was knitted in deep thought. He began to reason aloud…
"Snape can't escape…he knew you might be able to….he had to take that chance…and his wand could tell a story of what had happened….Severus is trying to tell us something. He is in grave danger!" finished Albus Dumbledore. He stood up from Hermione's bed. "Minerva, please look for Remus and Sirius. They are somewhere in the castle, ask them to be ready to go to Neville's home in ten minutes."
McGonagall nodded and hurried out of the room, not before patting Hermione's shoulder.
"Hermione, is there anything else you would like to tell me before I leave you to look for Neville?"
Hermione's eyes filled with tears.
"Draco's turned against me. He's turned against us…he did something terrible…I don't know what made him like that."
Albus Dumbledore patted her hand again. "Do you believe that Draco is all bad, Hermione?"
Hermione had to think a while. "I guess not."
"Then you see him as I do. Do you remember our talk on Christmas Day, what I told you about Draco?"
Hermione nodded. "You said it would be hard…but to never give up on him."
Dumbledore nodded, "I also told you, that good people are always worth fighting for. Go on loving him, child"
Hermione thought about the headmaster's words once he had left her. She hoped that they would be in time to warn Neville. Everything seemed to be going wrong.
********************************************
"Nothing here" Sirius Black kicked open the door to yet another empty room. Every piece of furniture in the room had been torn apart, the contents of every cupboard, every drawer, strewn across the floor. Albus Dumbledore picked through a huge pile of papers and cracked ornaments.
"ALBUS! SIRIUS!"
Remus Lupin's frenzied shout echoed through the ransacked house.
Sirius and Dumbledore hurried to the room Lupin was in. Lupin's face was white as he strained to pull a large cupboard off the floor.
"Stand back." Said Dumbledore to Lupin, "Wingardium Leviosa" the cupboard flew away from the floor.
"Bloody hell" cursed Sirius as he dropped to his knees beside a badly crushed Neville Longbottom on the floor.
Lupin was trembling. "He's dead! He's dead, Albus!"
Dumbledore knelt down beside Sirius and moved his wand over the boy. A faint blue light showed up over his body but mixed with a lot of red light.
"No, he's not dead, Remus. But he's very badly hurt."
"I'll kill him" muttered Sirius. "Only one person could have left a human being to die slowly under a cupboard….I'll kill him, I swear…."
"Sirius, now is not the time for revenge, Neville needs medical attention. Help me."
"I hate him…" said Sirius, his eyes glazing over. "He killed my brother, he killed Tonks…he killed Andromeda…I will kill him. I will KILL him!" Sirius smashed his fist into the wall above Neville.
"Sirius, if you cannot control yourself, I must ask you to leave!" said Dumbledore angrily. Sirius got up mechanically and left the room. His fist bled where he had hit the wall.
"Dum…dor…?" Neville spoke weakly, blood trickling from his nose and mouth, his lungs had obviously been crushed by his ribs when the cupboard fell on him.
"It's all right Neville, We're here to help you." said Dumbledore soothingly. Lupin muttered a few painless charms over Neville.
"I…didn't….tell…"
"I know you didn't Neville. You did an excellent job. Don't go to sleep."
Neville's eyes clouded over.
"Remus!" Dumbledore shouted at Lupin. "The boy is slipping away. We need him."
Remus Lupin muttered more furiously, his wand pointing at Neville. Neville floated back to consciousness and his eyes opened.
"Neville, my dear, you have to tell me now. If you don't, we may lose the identity of the child forever. Where is Noel Malfoy?"
Neville blinked, his round face turning a sickly pale-green colour, it was an enormous effort for him to speak.
"…Burrow…"
Dumbledore nodded and stroked Neville's forehead.
"Remus, put the boy under the suspendio. He can't afford to get any worse…only Madam Pomfrey can help him now."
Remus Lupin nodded and performed a Suspendio on Neville. Neville's face relaxed and he slumped into Dumbledore's arms.
"Will he live?" asked Lupin quietly.
Dumbledore's face was grim. "He has been subjected to worse than a falling cupboard. His nerves are raw from the cruciatus curse. I also see signs of the cruoris curse. He is bleeding from within."
"What are you saying?" said Lupin fearfully, as he put a mobilicorpus on Neville's body.
Albus Dumbledore sighed. "When I asked Neville to be the Secret Keeper, he told me that he would die for Hermione. She was the kindest person to him in Hogwarts. I only hope that he doesn't have to repay her in this way…but it doesn't look good, Lupin."
"ALBUS!" they heard Sirius shout from the next room.
Going over as fast as they could with Neville suspended behind them, they came upon an ashen faced Sirius Black holding a small red-bound leather book. "I found this…open…they know…"
He tried to continue speaking, but he couldn't, Sirius felt panic overtake his senses. He handed it over to Dumbledore who inspected the book. Printed on the front was the cheerful face of a toad with the magical words "NEVILLE'S DAILY PLANNER" glowing brightly and spinning out of its mouth. It looked slightly ridiculous in the circumstances.
Sirius snatched the book from the headmaster and flipped it open to the first section, "IMPORTANT THINGS TO REMEMBER" and thrust it at Dumbledore.
Scrawled halfway down the page between, "Order Trevor's food every month" and "Grandma's birthday is on August 5th" were the glaring words, "Noel is living with Percy and Penelope Weasley at The Burrow."
"Oh dear." said Lupin weakly, reading it over Dumbledore's shoulder.
Sirius found his voice and turned red. "That-pathetic- boy….can't even remember a simple thing like that! Longbottom always had the worst memory in Hogwarts….what a stupid thing to…"
But Sirius was silenced by a strong hex from Dumbledore's wand. It hit him right between the eyes and knocked him over. The headmaster stood over Sirius as Lupin helped his friend up. Albus Dumbledore looked every inch the powerful sorcerer that the wizarding world knew him to be, his hands trembled with rage.
"Never put Neville Longbottom down again." was all the headmaster said as he gently levitated the still form of Neville from the room.
