Sugar is sweet and so are you.
But the roses are wilting, the violets are dead
The sugar bowl's empty and so is your head.
If you have not learned what I strove to tell,
I don't own Harry Potter, so go to hell.
~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`~`
Falling Head Over Heels
The Story of Hermione Granger and
Her relationship with Draco Malfoy
By: Befuzzled
Chapter Thirty-Two ~ Check Mate
"Wake me up inside. (I can't wake up.)
Wake me up inside. (Save me.)
Call my name and save me from the dark. (Wake me up.)
Bid my blood to run. (I can't wake up.)
Before I come undone. (Save me.)
Save me from the nothing I've become.
Now that I know what I'm without
you can't just leave me.
Breathe into me and make me real.
Bring me to life."
~Evanescence
Lucius Malfoy stood to go after the fleeing and crying girl, but he was halted by his master.
"Let her go Lucius."
"But, Sire, she –"
"Give the girl time; she's been through a lot in the past few days. You have to consider what I just told her, it would be telling you that you have to leave like a muggle for your remaining days. We both have never really been partial to friends, well more likely who could get us what and where in life, but this girl has always been surrounded by people who care for her and that she cares for herself. Give her until tomorrow to understand that while she is helping herself to become far greater then anyone could imagine she has to leave behind the things she is comfortable with.
"She'll come around eventually, but as we know we can get more information out of a willing participant than a girl who feels like a slave. Let her cry, get all her emotions out. She can't hurt us, she had no wand, the worse she could really do is tell us that she doesn't want to, and then we give her an ultimatum. We have plenty of time…nobody knows she here."
"Yes Sire, as you wish. I have informed her that Narcissa will be returning tomorrow, do you think it would be wise if we had my wife speak with her? It would an impartial point of view and hopefully the girl could relate to her, being a woman and all. Narcissa can be quite comforting when she wants to be, plus she's always wanted a little girl."
"Yes that would be a good idea, indeed. Just tell Narcissa what is going on so she can speak with her armed and prepared."
"My Lord, there's just one other thing."
"Yes Lucius?"
"The girl has expressed loneliness; she misses her friends and her classes."
"She always was a smart girl and we wonder why, her drive is unbelievable. She stands in front of the Dark Lord and she just wants to go back to school, not because she's scared but because she misses learning, amazing simply amazing. I cannot risk returning her to the school, just yet we have to be assured she is on our side, but I suppose we could provide her some books to read up on, if it would help."
"Yes, M'Lord I shall show her the library when she calms down, thank you for the idea." Lucius Malfoy turned to leaving bowing out of the room.
"And Lucius, don't forget to feed our guest, I haven't seen her take more than sip of tea in the time that she's been here. Some soup might be relaxing."
"Yes, Sire."
Lucius pulled the study doors closed and made his way to the library so he could sort out all the books that he didn't want the girl to see. He was lost in thought, he had never seen his Lord act like this, and it was highly confusing. He was actually paying attention to how the girl was feeling, how she was reacting to things and genuinely making an attempt to make her happy. He even sugar coated what he wanted from her and why she was so important. His entire speech was laced with compliments.
He had never heard that many addressed to the entire inner circle of deatheaters in the seventeen years he had been a member. Either this girl was more special and gifted than anyone he had every imagined the possibilities for or the Dark Lord wanted her for more then he was letting on. There were no deatheaters in the inner circle that were female, and in fact there were fewer than thirty female death eaters in the whole lot, and those women were all closely associated to the higher ranking deatheaters.
This girl was going to be seen in history books no matter what side she chose, Lucius had already decided. She could already be well known if it weren't for her uncanny ability to live in the shadow of the people around her.
Lucius let his thoughts wonder as he continuously piled books on to a cart than he would later lock in his office. Books like History of the Dark Arts, Constant awareness: A Guide to Escape Aurors, and The Malfoy Family History: Links to the Dark Arts were not title that he really wanted the girl to have a chance to see.
He would take her some soup and crackers after an hour passed and then he would offer to take her to the library. Hopefully it would be enough distraction to keep her mind away from her friends so he could get her, or Narcissa could get her to realize just how special she apparently was and how great she could become in such a short amount of time.
Many deatheaters had for years, even decade tried to become apart of the infamous inner circle and forever had floundered and been dismissed. Some of the more bold or the was stupid enough to directly approach Lord Voldemort were made to be lessons on learning your place, or perhaps that one might be grateful for who they are and what they have. A good simple killing was always a great reminder for the group at just how expendable they are.
He was getting kind of mad thinking about how long and how much he had proved before the Dark Lord had noticed him, and how by hiding in the shadows this girl, a mudblood, had attracted his attention.
She was special, he knew that much, he could have picked up on that just from the conversation she was having with him. She was deathly beautiful and that was made all the more appealing because she refused to believe it or just didn't realize it. Coupled with her intelligence, she would be a great catch for any guy out there who could real her in.
He shook his head – he was a married man and twice the girl's age, but she could still be fun. Right now he had soup to deliver.
~*~
Narcissa Malfoy was headed home and evening earlier then what she had told her husband. She had gotten this funny feeling that she needed to be there, and that someone was desperate for her help. So stead of spending the extra evening for sleep she hired someone to take her home.
She had been having a nice vacation away from all the dark haunting colors away from the Malfoy Manor, visiting some female friends at their estates on Europe's main land. But now, her visiting time was up and she found herself eager to return home. Home to her husband, in a short amount of time home to her Draco, and home to the respectable role of Malfoy hosting lavish parties and galas, any way to occupy her lonely time as a house wife and have the rare opportunity to brighten up the house, if only just a few rooms.
She tried to force herself to sleep on the journey home, but she could not get that funny feeling out of the pit of her stomach, and it was plaguing her mind. So with an air of unknown desperation she told her driver to speed home, making use of any sort of shortcut he could think of.
She knew it had something to do with Lucius, it always did, these feelings did. Usually he would be hosting one of the blasted Deatheater meetings, or a sporting event of watching some poor muggle girl being rape, or maybe even perhaps an entire muggle family.
Narcissa did not approve of such vulgar action for someone as high upon the social latter as the Malfoy clan, and did her best to refuse to allow any such happenings from occurring while she was at home, so Lucius would send her on many weekend get away, visits to random friends, old school mates, even the spare relative. She knew what was going on, but could not do much about it.
Lucius was stronger and powerful and had the backing of his many friends and of course his other family. He would curse at her and hex her every time she mentioned her dislike for the Dark Lord or what ever excursion he was on at the moment. It was a steep price to pay, as long as Draco saw that he could say no and still be loved by at least one parent in his family.
The bruises faded the curses wore off and
They had spent most of the day forcing them selves to sleep, forcing their eyes to stay shut, and forcing their breathing to be smooth, shallow and relaxed. They had covered their faces with cloaks to block out the sun; they had supported their head in their arms or reclined against a tree, adjusted every so often to get more comfortable on the uneven floor.
They rotated the shift of the watcher more often then necessary when one could no longer keep their eyes shut and needed the excitement of looking out among the grounds, watching the birds and some magical creatures move about them. They had each taken at least three shifts each lasting no more than forty-five minutes before the next person would make their claims that the previous was getting too tired and had to be strong and rested for the night's events.
They had eaten at one point. Some preserved food that Remus was most intelligent to shrink down and bring along with them. Every one else for the most part had assumed that it would be a barge in operation and they would be in and out with Hermione with no more than a few cuts and bruises that could all be magiced away by Madame Pomfrey upon their arrival back at the castle.
Their adrenalin had been pumping so much that they hadn't realized the had skipped breakfast but by the mid afternoon, the rumblings and gurgles of their protesting stomachs were echoing in their hide-a-way, well mostly everybody's; Draco was still so consumed with worry that all his energy was focused on Hermione that he had completely neglected every other part of his body. He didn't want to eat, what if Hermione wasn't being fed? Eventually after many talks and a lot of pressuring the other in the group got Draco to pick at a sandwich and some crackers.
It was the early evening when they all started completing the final development stages of their plan. Now it was up to Draco to give them detailed descriptions of his house, not an easy task. He had to give them the layout of the floor plan as well as the details on where curses and hexes were placed.
Draco had relayed what Hermione was feeling earlier. He couldn't tell whether it was because she was scared or lonely no matter how hard he concentrated on her. That unnerved him slightly; other then the tightness around his ribs earlier he had not experienced anything that would lead them all to believe that Hermione was in any immediate danger, but yet she still had cried..
The girl was strong, and the first to conceal their emotions, well after Draco, so it was odd that she would cry over something such as loneliness. Of course she had never before been in the position where she was a captive, more often then not, she would just follow Harry into some strange battle, even if it was just for mental support.
Now she had to act alone, keep her self sane enough to be able to figure things out for herself. She was probably busy gathering information, trying to casually talk information out of the right people. She usually acted shy by nature but was not afraid to make a statement if she was feeling defensive; she was very opinionated and liked to get the last say whenever possible, and if you really wanted her company you usually let her have it.
Draco gave a soft chuckle as he remembered some of the stupid arguments he had overheard between her and Ron, and then he realized that he had had many of the similar type of arguments with her. He guessed that he would no longer to be able to hold that over Weasley's head anymore.
After receiving many nasty glares for not paying attention to what Remus and Sirius were saying about different spells and other tactics to be sneaky, Draco was back on topic; they had after all not been Marauders for nothing.
By sun set their plans were all set and the each knew their point of entrance and what task they were going to execute, Remus had even copied the idea of the muggle Walkie-Talkie and charmed stones that they could all carry in their cloaks so when Hermione was retrieved they could all be alerted and the operation and themselves not put at anymore risk than necessary.
Moments before they were going to start heading the direction of the Manor they heard a coach making its way along the path in the same direction. They had to check to see if the person would interfere with their plans and sure enough Draco recognized his mother sitting in the back.
He ran out to it with just a brief mention that he would be right back. After a few moments of talking and numerous hugs Draco motioned for the rest of the group to approach the carriage.
"Mother I would like you to meet Professor, erm former Professor Remus Lupin, the first Azcaban escapee Sirius Black-"
"Yes, I remember them from school, darling, they were after all in my year. It a pleasure seeing you again, though from what I hear I wish it could be on different terms." The two grown men nodded in agreement.
Draco continued on with the formal introductions even though they all had met at one point or another. "And these are as you know the infamous Harry Potter, and Arther Weasley's youngest son, Ronald."
"Oh Yes I believe we were introduced at the World Cup match. It's nice to see you again, boys. I am truly sorry about your friend. We shall do our best to return her to you all."
"Thank you Mrs. Malfoy. Your help really means a great deal to us, Hermione means a great deal to us," Harry answered. "What do you suppose we do? I mean, do you have a plan?"
Narcissa Malfoy looked among them all, study each face, locking to her memory how each had looked, so hopeful, scared, anxious. It was obvious how special this girl was, she had manage to even make an impact on her son's life, for that she would be eternally grateful. 'I believe I have a few ideas. Draco you know that room off your father's study?"
~*~
"Lucius? Lucius, I'm home, darling," Narcissa called as she entered the manor and directed the house elves where to put her belongings. She had spent the past forty-five minutes in the driveway going over plans to rescue the poor girl, and she really believed that it would work.
~*~
Okay Okay
I'm sorry, flame me do what you want….I` know this chapter is unfinished to the point of being boring but I just
started school, and I have football practice and chemistry, algebra, Latin and English
homework, and I know those are a bunch of lame ass excuses., but I'm
sorry. I wasn't very inspired for this
section either.
I will try to type up the rest of this chapter in the following week and
hopefully post it by Thursday and then work on what I think will be the
remaining two chapters for this story but there might be one more then that.
So anyway flame me, hate me, but know that I'm sorry
