Disclaimer: *sobs* they're not mine, I wish I had the honor of owning them but sadly *sobs again* I do not! Oh! Woe is me!
Hey I wanted to try and update sooner but I guess I never got to it, I didn't have much inspiration to write this chapter, so its kinda hard, you all know how that is, but anyway here it is!
Purple spotted Hedwig- Yes, I supposed Lucius did come in rather abruptly but, he had to come in eventually and that sounded as good a time as any other.
Padfoot the mst king- It would be scary to submit my fic!! But I'll consider it
Pyrope- Thanx so much!
Dudet- thanx for the review, I think I will Bring Ginny into the story, she's a really cool character, I'll try and tie her into this one
A little over a week had passed since Lucius's visit, without so much as a minute of thought about it from Hermione and Draco because so many things were going on. Their head duties were increasing, and the teachers were piling on the homework. Draco had a ton of quidditch practices, and Hermione had a ton of homework from the extra classes she was taking. They also made a point to go down and talk to Professor Snape once a week, their training was over but they liked talking with him. And when they finally had some free time, they'd spend it together, confiding in each other, and laughing, and just having a good time, the thought of seeing the other brought them through their days. They were now known as an official "item". The hufflepuffs were pretty much indifferent about the whole thing, but were curious as to why Hermione Granger best friend of Harry potter was dating the son of a deatheater Draco Malfoy. The teachers held the same position, well except for Snape and Dumbledore, they were the only 2 that knew about them being a spy. It took a little getting used to, but Dumbledore didn't seem worried and they all trusted him, and let it slide. The ravenclaws, most of them being very logical and intelligent had come up with their own theories coming very close to the real reason why the 2 were together, but who would believe it anyway? The Gryffindors all felt betrayed, except for Harry, and Ginny. Harry still had no clue what she saw in Malfoy, but he knew that Hermione was a big girl and could take care of herself, and he figured it was just a school girl crush that would amount to nothing, and he wanted to support her since no one else was. Ginny, was just happy for Hermione, Ginny knew the signs of a woman in love, and Hermione was definitely one of them, Ginny only hoped that she would find someone like that someday. But the Slytherins were the worst of all, picking fights with Draco, and playing pranks of Hermione. Pansy was constantly in the library looking up love potions and charms, so she could rescue her Drakie, which was quite a change, because Hermione was almost never in the library anymore. And when Pansy wasn't in the library she was thinking of plans to humiliate Hermione. That would soon change though, once they found out just who she was.
It was a Friday afternoon, and both Hermione and Draco were done with classes for the weekend. They were sitting in Hermione's room deciding what they should do.
"I think we should go swimming" said Hermione
"Well swimming is okay but, I don't know if I want to…let's watch the 5th wheel" Hermione rolled her eyes.
"Again? We've watched the 5th wheel for hours, I swear you're addicted"
"I'm not addicted"
"Yep there's denial, I'm gonna help you get past that, pretend I'm a shrink, tell me your feelings"
"I'm not"
"Right" Draco looked at Hermione sitting across from him on the bed, she had a smile playing on her face.
"Now, tell me your feelings" Draco snorted.
"My feelings are that… you look really hot, lets just stay in tonight, we'll have some fun" he wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
"Draco, are you trying to seduce me?"
"Why no, I wouldn't do such a thing."
"Hmm, now tell me, do you usually go for shrinks?"
"Nope" Draco smirked "Only you" Hermione smiled, Draco could see the laughter in her eyes. In one quick movement he moved his body so he was kneeling in front of her, and started tickling her. Draco loved this game, when he was tickling her he got to "accidentally" touch *cough* things, and she didn't care or notice, one of the two. Hermione started wiggling, and cracking up.
"Draco" she gasped for air, and started laughing some more "Stop*laugh* ahhhhhh" Hermione had a tendency to drool when she laughed to hard, and that's not something she really wanted her boyfriend to see, but alas she could not control it. Draco grinned when he saw her drooling, and laughed, and stopped tickling her.
"Here let me help you" he looked into her eyes, they were full of life, and he brought his lips to hers. In the middle of their snogging session they heard a knock come from downstairs, Draco reluctantly broke apart from Hermione, she gave a little cry of protest and stuck out her bottom lip in a pout. But He told her he'd be right back, and went down stairs to answer the door. Meanwhile Hermione fixed herself up into a sexy position, laughing while doing it. That was the thing you always heard about in corny romance novels. She put on the most seductive face she could muster while shaking with laughter and waited. But the look on Dracos face when he walked back in, made it quickly go away. He was pale, more than normal, and he had a worried expression on his face.
"Lucius Is here" he said quietly. Hermiones turned pale and her heart fell.
"Well, I guess somebody has already decided what we're going to do tonight huh?"
"I guess so" Draco walked over and helped Hermione up and pulled her into a tight embrace. He could feel her slightly shaking.
"Just remember everything we've learned from Snape, it'll be okay." She pulled away calming herself down and put on a casual face like this was nothing new to her.
"Let's go" he took her hand and they walked down the stairs, both of them looked totally relaxed but if you went a centimeter below the skin you'd just see that they were really really good actors. They approached Lucius, and Draco broke the silence.
"Here she is father" Lucius looked at their intertwined hands, and smiled, he would have to congratulate Draco.
"Ms. Granger, or do you prefer Hermione?" he held out his hand, and Hermione took it, wincing inside but smiling on the outside.
"Hermione's fine, Mr. Malfoy"
"Yes, well now that that's all settled, I have a proposition for you" Hermione inclined her head to the side, in a gesture of interest and he continued. "I know that you're a relative of Merlin" Hermione pretended to be shocked. "I saw the mark when you were In the hospital wing, but anyway, as you know your powers are very… useful. And I want you to come work for my master, the dark lord." Draco squeezed her hand, and she looked very thoughtful for a moment as if she were considering it.
"It would be a pleasure." Lucius smiled.
"Well perfect, though I never imagined you'd give in so easily, being friends with Harry Potter, and after all the Dark Lord did kill all of your parents, although I assure you he'll be like a father figure to you, you have great power, and he will reward you."
"Yes, well I'm aware of all that, and I don't care, if being with the Dark lord gives me a chance to be great I'll do it, too bad for Harry if he isn't as powerful as me, besides he picked the wrong side, he'll never win" Hermione remembered the prophecy and made a note to tell Draco about it, it would be important for him to know. Lucius was very pleased with the girl.
"The dark lord will be very pleased, there will be a deatheaters meeting tonight, you shall be initiated." Hermione smiled.
"Wonderful, let me go turn off my stereo and get a coat and we can go." Hermione let go of Dracos hand and walked back to her room, and almost burst into tears when she got there. Hold it together she thought.
"So Draco, I assume you had a big part in getting her to our side, is she your girlfriend?"
"Yes, father as soon as she knew who I was I set out for her. I knew you'd be very pleased and so would the dark lord"
"Yes, you may very well create his heir, tell me did she tell you how long she's known about well her real parents?"
"She said that when we killed her adoptive parents this summer, the concealment charm that her real parents put over her broke"
"Oh, well very good job." Hermione walked back down the stairs at that moment and they flooed to the leaky cauldron so they could apparate to the meeting. Lucius went first, and when he was gone, Hermione hugged Draco.
"I'm scared"
"I know, I am too. But it will be okay" he gave her a quick kiss and they left. When they arrived Dracos dark mark started to burn, Hermione held onto him as he touched it and they both disappeared. They were one of the first to arrive at the meeting, and they talked quietly, Draco was trying to get her mind off of things as much as possible. Hermione got a few curious glances from a few of the others, but finally the meeting started, and they all pulled up their hoods. Business went on as usual, and Hermione was starting to wonder if Lucius even told him that she was here. But as quickly as that happy thought appeared it disappeared.
"We have a new member amongst us tonight, my loyal followers. Treat her with the utmost respect, her name is Hermione Granger, a relative of Merlin, please come forward." Hermione took small hesitant steps into the middle of the circle.
"Please show everyone your mark" Hermione lifted her sleeve, and several bodies came forward to look closer. Hermione was really glad that she had a hood on over her face otherwise she thought she would have blown it all. Voldemort came to her and took her right arm, getting ready to perform the ritual. She knew she had to be strong, she thought about how this was going to help Harry, and the whole wizarding world, and the knife ripped into her arm. She held the tears back, and her throat was starting to hurt from holding back the sobs. I'm gonna give Harry really good information and he's gonna kill this bastard and everything will be okay, I'm doing this for Harry, and Draco's gonna be there too. Everyones gonna be proud of me, I'll be a hero she thought. And then the pain finally ended right as she thought she was going to collapse. Applause met her ears, and a grinning voldemort met her eyes. She walked back to her place next to Draco, or she thought it was Draco but couldn't tell because everyone had their hoods on. Voldemort dismissed the meeting, and she took her hood off.
"Draco" and she fainted and a strong pair of arms caught her, no one else witnessed this but Draco from across the room, and the person who caught her. Draco took his hood off and sprinted across the room.
"Gavin, what happened?"
"I don't know dude, she just fainted" Draco took Hermione from Gavins arms, and took out his wand and woke her up. Hermione slowly opened her eyes, and saw Draco.
"Oh Draco" he could tell she was about to fall apart soon. She kissed him passionately trying to pour out all her emotion in it, and just be held by him, to be safe. When she broke the kiss, she still held on tightly to him.
"Don't I get a kiss like that for catching you?" Hermione turned around and saw someone she didn't know.
"Who are you?"
"I'm Gavin your knight in shining armor" he laughed. "I go to Durmstrang"
"Oh, well thank you Gavin."
"My pleasure, I don't get to catch someone as beautiful as you everyday." She felt Draco tense beside her.
"Oh really, I think we should go Draco"
"But why?" asked Gavin
"Well, see we're heads, we have duties to attend to" Draco cut in
"Oh that's sweet, I wish I was a head."
"Ya it's great" said Hermione " We even get our own quarters" she looked at Draco and winked hoping he would play along.
"The headmaster approves?"
"He was the one that suggested it" said Draco.
"Of course, he doesn't know that we transfigured the beds into one big bed" she paused for a moment "It's been a wonderful year, anyway that bed is sounding really good right now, so we're going to go" before she turned around she saw Gavins jaw hanging down, but she didn't see the look of jealousy that crossed his face, when she leaned in to give Draco a kiss as they were walking away.
When they finally got back to the school, Hermione took a look at her dark mark, and collapsed onto the couch in tears, she tried scratching the ugly mark off, but Draco quickly came over and took her hands, and held her. His heart was breaking more for her with each sob that escaped her fragile body. After a while, her cries got softer, mostly because she had no more energy or tears left. Soon there was a knocking on the door, and Draco got up, to answer it. It was Dumbledore so he showed him in. He offered Hermione a piece of chocolate and she took it, he sat in a chair across from them.
"I think you are the 2 bravest students I've ever come across, and I'd like to tell you now that if you want to back out and use the fidelius now is the time to use it."
Hermiones heart fluttered at hearing this, she wanted that so much, but she couldn't back out, not now. Dumbledore felt a tear in the corner of his eye as he watched these 2 remarkable young teenagers struggle with the decision. Hermione and Draco looked at eachother, and had an unspoken agreement.
"We do not wish to back out, professor" said Draco, and the glimmer of hope disappeared in his heart.
"Very well then, there is not words to describe how… like I said I can't even describe, but just thank you, this information is much needed, and I wouldn't have asked you, but the positions you were in made it happen like this. If there is ever anything you need don't hesitate to come to me. It breaks my heart to see you two struggle like this, you shouldn't have to carry this burden, but it's written in the stars, and that must be a little encouraging. Hermione how about you two floo to the leaky cauldron and get some warm butterbeer, to take your mind off things, but hurry, it will be closing soon." Dumbledore showed himself out, and Draco picked Hermione up and kissed her.
"Come on let's go, it'll make you feel better."
"What can I get for you two? And it's on the house, on Dumbledores request"
"2 butterbeers please" said Draco. He was starting to gain a very deep respect for Dumbledore. He sat thinking watching Hermione, she looked so empty, and sad, and he had an idea.
"I'll be right back" He quickly walked to the jewelry shop, he remembered he'd seen a bracelet there last year, and thought he would give that to the woman he loved someday, and while he wasn't sure that he loved her just yet, he knew that it would make her happy. He found it after a moment of searching glad it was still there. The cashier thought Draco was joking when he asked to buy it, not many people could afford things like that.
Draco walked back into the leaky cauldron and to the table. Hermione still looked sad, the butterbeers were already there.
"Where did you go?"
"I'll show you" He gently took Hermione's right arm, and put it on the table, then he pulled out the box, and took the bracelet out. Hermione's eyes bulged out of her head, as she watched him put it over her dark mark, it covered it perfectly and it was the prettiest thing she'd ever seen. It was a delicate white gold chain, with emeralds and rubies, and in the middle was a charm of a rose made of emeralds for the stem and leaves and a ruby for the petals.
"How… why…" words failed to come to her
"Because I wanted to, I really care for you Hermione, it broke my heart to see you like this, and now this bracelet will cover it up so no one will figure it out" Hermiones eyes watered, words still wouldn't come to her, so she did the only thing she knew how at that moment, and reached over the table, and grabbed him to her so she could kiss him. And through this kiss she got out all that she wanted to say. After a lot more butterbeers Draco decided they should head back to the school. Draco didn't know how many butterbeers it took before you became a drunk but, Hermione was almost there, or maybe it was just all the emotional turmoil of the day, he wasn't sure, but she looked a bit tipsy. In fact she fell asleep as soon as she walked out of the fireplace and he had to carry her up to her room, he lied her down on the bed and he lied down next to her, holding her, and falling asleep.
Hermione was visited by her father that night, it was the first time for awhile. Hermione smiled when she found herself in the white room, her dad was sitting in an armchair across the room. She ran over to him and gave him a hug, before sitting in the other chair.
"Hi daddy!" at first it was weird for her to call him that, but now it was a natural thing.
"hello Mione, I'm very proud of you, so is everyone else, I know you must be frightened, but stay strong. You know that Draco will take care of you, stay strong for him, he needs you as much as you need him, stay strong for Harry, if you fail, I don't want to even imagine what would happen, and find a friend other than Draco you'll be needing one. Anyway the real reason you're here is well now you're a spy, we need to get some things done. Tomorrow morning when you wake, go to Gringotts, and go to our vault" he handed her a key "Look for our research, we need you to continue our research, if you want to kill Voldemort, and feel free to take any money, now that you have the key. It might be confusing at first but you'll get it."
"Okay" Hermione felt herself slip away. "Bye daddy"
A few hours after the dream she woke up, with a new energy, a new confidence, she was holding the key in her hand. She heard the bath running and decided to play a trick on Draco. She put her swim suit on, and concentrated on making all of her molecules split so she could go invisible. When she could no longer see her hand in front of her, she walked into the bathroom. When Draco was looking the other way, she slipped in careful not to make any splashes, and she inched toward him, he had his eyes closed, leaning against the wall. When she got to him, she wrapped her arms around his waist. His eyes flew open.
"Who's there?" there was panic in his voice "show yourself" he demanded. Hermione started to become visible again, and he relaxed.
"Jesus Hermione, you scared the shit out of me" she laughed at him, and kissed him, slowly bringing her lips away from his mouth and down to his neck. There were enough bubbles in the bath, so she decided to take her suit off, and threw it to the side. The only thing she was wearing was the beautiful bracelet Draco had given her. She pressed her body against his, and he felt her naked breasts, he reached out to touch them and Hermione brought her lips back to his, she let him play with her breasts for awhile but then pulled away, she didn't want to get lost in the moment and do something she'd regret. Draco looked a little disappointed, but realized that she was right.
"So, you're feeling better than?" she giggled.
"Yep, and we have a mission to go on, so turn around and close your eyes so I can get out of the bath. She got a towel on, and then closed her eyes so Draco could put his towel on. After they were both dressed they met in the common room.
"We have to go to my parents vault, so I can get their research, shall we floo, we could go to diagon alley and then walk to gringotts."
"Okay, lets go then." They walked out of the common room together Dracos arm around her waist. They decided to get something to eat before they left.
"Where is everyone? The halls are less crowded than normal?"
"It's hogsmeade weekend."
"Oh, we got to go last night!"
"Ya and you proved me wrong, you can get drunk off of butterbeers"
"I was not drunk"
"Keep thinking that"
"Whatever"
2 hours later, they flooed back to their common room, Hermione with a huge stack of papers and books in her hand and her pocket bulging with money.
"I'm richer than you are, Draco" Hermione had a dumb grin on her face, as it turns out; she had enough money to buy the whole African continent if she wanted to, and probably more. It was the Merlins fortune.
"We could conquer the world if we got married." They both snickered.
"Imagine, me queen of the world. I like it!" she laughed but then got serious. "I'm gonna get to work"
"Mmmkay, I'm gonna go do some homework in my room."
"Okay" after about an hour of reading Hermione's brain was fried, this was very advanced research so she decided to go take a walk. She was walking by the great hall in a daze when she ran into something.
"Hermione?" asked Ginny "You okay?"
"Oh ya fine, I was just in another world I guess" Ginny sighed. This girl was really in love she thought, and she doesn't even know it yet.
"How are things going with you and Draco?"
"Oh wonderful, look" Hermione lifted her sleeve to show Ginny the bracelet. Ginny gasped.
"That must have cost a fortune, wow"
"I know, and ya know what else I found out today, I have more money than he does"
"No wonder, he probably went broke after buying that"
"No I mean, I have the merlins heir,oooh Ginny we should go shopping together for clothes I'll buy you a new wardrobe"
"Really, Hermione?"
"Of course, you know I love you Gin."
"I love you too" Ginny was still looking at the bracelet and caught site of something black underneath it.
"Whats that? Did you bruise yourself or something?" Hermione remembered just what that bracelet was covering and let out a sigh.
"You wouldn't believe me if I told you"
"Sure I would"
"Okay, but Ginny just understand, I love you so much okay and everyone else, but certain things have happened to cause this, I can't explain them now, but someday you'll see, just don't tell anybody, please?"
"Okay" Now Ginny was really curious. Hermione moved the bracelet back forward and Ginny gasped.
"You're right I don't understand, but I know that you wouldn't have gotten that unless you had to, I can see it in your eyes. You poor thing, don't worry, I'll stick with you no matter what" Ginny thought that Hermione got that just so she could be with Draco, otherwise his father wouldn't approve, Ginny just hoped that Hermione wouldn't do anything stupid. Hermione threw herself onto Ginny for a hug.
"Thanx Gin, I think you and Draco are going to be the only ones that stick with me"
"Only if they find out, that's why Draco bought you that bracelet huh? To cover it"
"Ya that's why"
"Wow Hermione, help me find a guy like that."
"I'm sure we could arrange something like that. How about next weekend, since its another hogsmeade weekend we can go shopping for clothes and dress robes, can you believe it the ball is 2 weeks away? Anyway then I can get Draco to bring along a 6th year slytherin boy and we can have a double date. I'll make sure he gets one that's not a deatheater, not everyone in Slytherin is bad ya know? For some of them they just get placed in their for their cunning, but anyway, I'll ask Draco" Ginny squealed with delight, and they spent the rest of the afternoon talking and having a good time.
Yay I finished the chapter, and isn't Ginny cool? I love her in the 5th book but anyway, I saw some pictures that are supposed to be from the 3rd book, and Draco's hair isn't all slicked back, *drools* it's so much better that way. Lol, but now review and tell me what you think, questions comments, anything, even if you just want to rant about how hot certain guys are I'm open to it all! Okay love you all, till the next chapter!
