Never Say Never
Chapter 23 – May It Be
Disclaimer: the plot is all mine, but the characters all belong to J.K Rowling, except not Daniela and Marc Lestrange…
A/N: This chapter is for the people who responded to my Author's Note. This is dedicated to you guys! =)
[damn the Order of the Phoenix! Stuffed up all my plans! =P]
Hermione's POV
I woke up feeling all warm and cosy, it seemed to be a perfect day; the sunlight was streaming lazily through the windows, and the forest greens covers were snuggly flowing around me. It felt like bliss to lie here in this bed… Draco's bed?! The grey eyes which were looking intently at me confirmed my suspicions, and the broad, mischievous grin made me completely melt inside.
"I see you've finally woken up." He said in a low voice and I was suddenly aware that his arm was around my waist, pulling me close to him.
"Yeah…I didn't realize I was in your bed, I had such a dreamless sleep that I forgot that I was here, instead of being in my own room." I replied with a smile, leaning against his shoulder.
We just lay there for a few moments before Draco made to get up and with a shock I looked at the elegant clock on his bedside table, it read 'twenty past ten' in the morning. I felt Draco's warmth slide away as he got out of bed, walking straight to the bathroom.
"I'll be out in a moment alright?" he said cheerfully, before disappearing.
"Draco! We're going to be late! Voldemort said that He was going to take us around the estate today!" I exclaimed loudly, hoping that he could hear me from behind that heavy oak door.
I reluctantly left the toasty bed and hastily smoothed out my robes, which I had slept in before making my way to the bathroom door. I knocked on the door a few times before Draco finally responded.
"Did you hear what I said before?" I asked him.
"No. What did you say?" he replied, opening the door abruptly. I smiled at the sight in front of me, he was wearing a dark green robe made of toweling material and his hair was still disheveled and wet, meaning he had just stepped out of the shower. I don't think I had ever seen him look so alluring and by the sly smirk on his face, I realized that he intended to make me think that.
"Well, I was saying that we're going to be late because Voldemort said He was going to take us for a tour around this place and we were supposed to meet Him in the Tulip Pavilion at ten o'clock." I said clearly, hoping he hadn't seen the look in my eyes which would've told him that I found him very good looking at this very moment.
"Alright then. I'm done in here, I was just about to step out and get some real robes on, and by the way, you should too. Your robes from yesterday are really suspicious looking after spending a night in bed with me." He teased, narrowly dodging the playful blow I was about to give him. He gave me a wink before darting to his wardrobe and pulling out a set of silvery grey robes.
"What do you think of these?" he asked nonchalantly.
"Anything, anything… just hurry up!" I replied, and he gave me a glare, which made me add, "Alright, they look great on you ok?"
He smiled and stepped back into the bathroom to get changed, and when he emerged, I had to say that he really did look pretty good in them, it brought out the colour of his eyes. [how cliched]
"Are we going to drop into your room to get some decent robes on you too, Mione?" he asked quietly, taking my hand in his warm one. He opened his door and shut it lightly behind me.
"Yeah, I think that would be a good idea." I answered, steering him in the right direction and after walking briskly through a maze of corridors and going up a few flights of stairs, we were at my room.
"Can I come in?" he asked softly, holding the door open and I nodded, making a beeline for my wardrobe.
I just randomly chose a set of robes, since all of them were so pretty, and I was satisfied with the dress robes of a periwinkle blue colour, fitted in the same style as the robes I had worn yesterday. I shyly darted past Draco into my spotlessly white bathroom and quickly changed.
When I came out I threw my old robes onto the armchair in the room and then fleetly took Draco's hand and ushered him out of my room, it was already half past ten and I didn't know how angry Voldemort would be if he found out that we were late because we had spent our night together…
"Hurry up, Draco! Can't you go any faster?!" I exclaimed, feeling frustrated, while Draco dawdled behind me, looking quite unconcerned.
"Don't worry Mione, He won't be mad at us. We're His heirs after all." He responded calmly.
"Can you still hear my thoughts?" I asked quietly.
"Yeah. Sometimes, I think it's when you're feeling most desperate, or urgent that I can hear them. Like you know when you lost your necklace, I heard you swearing and thinking how could you have lost it!" he replied with a small smile.
"You reckon we can kind of harness the power?" I said out loud, speaking my thoughts.
"I don't think that it was written in the 'Wacky Ways of the Wizarding Mind' that we could master it. But hey, we're not normal people are we?" he answered arrogantly. I scowled at him.
"Well do you want to try then? I daresay that it will be very useful…" I continued, before opening the wooden doors opening out to the Tulip Pavilion where we were going the meet Him.
"Let's talk about it later." Replied Draco in an undertone, signifying that the Dark Lord was probably around and listening.
We walked together through the courtyard leading to the Pavilion and already I saw the outline of Voldemort, standing patiently on the steps of the Pavilion waiting for us. He was twirling His wand sedately in His long spindly fingers and with every step that we took towards Him, my feeling of dread grew.
'Why does He scare me so much when its obvious that He wont be killing me or Draco anytime soon? We're the safest people in the wizarding world.' I thought hurriedly to myself, trying to submerge my fear of Him. I didn't even know why I was suddenly so afraid, I mean He had been nothing but short of kind to us, and seemed to have no notion of harming us. Perhaps it was just natural instinct, after all He was dangerously powerful.
Draco was holding my hand and the expression that he wore on his face was so composed and devoid of emotion that it worried me, it was the face that he wore when he taunted Harry or Ron and the face that he had when he used to tease all three of us. I hadn't seen that face for so long, that it had become foreign to me.
But when he turned to me, and smiled, his face took on a complete change and warmed up, and the gentle squeeze that he gave my hand was reassuring, not to mention hearing his voice inside my head comforting me.
'The Dark Lord can smell fear Hermione. If we ever want to make it out of here alive, we have to be strong.' He said to me. I nodded resignedly and we continued to advance upon where He was standing.
"Good morning, Draco and Hermione." Voldemort said pleasantly, motioning for us to come closer to Him.
"Good morning my lord." We replied in unison.
"What has kept you both? I have been waiting for the past half-hour, and when I sent Wormtail to your rooms, he could not find you. Where have you been? For you weren't at breakfast either. I have been most worried." He asked severely, with a trace of a hiss audible in His voice.
"Well, last night after the dinner Hermione came back up to my room and we just talked for awhile… and she ended up staying for the night, which probably explains why Pettigrew couldn't find Hermione in her room, also because we woke up quite late this morning, so I'll like to apologize for keeping you waiting, my lord." Answered Draco smoothly.
Voldemort seemed to glow at hearing his explanation, and seemed to be most pleased at the news that I had spent the night in Draco's room. He smiled jubilantly at us and though that showed that He wasn't angry with us, it still unnerved me… it was as though He was up to something behind our backs.
"I'm sorry too." I mumbled. The Dark Lord just gave me a gentle pat on my shoulder and began to lead us out of the Pavilion and back into the courtyard from which we had come from.
"This is what we call the Rose Courtyard, can you see all the different types of roses here, the array of colours is beautiful." He gestured around the courtyard, and it seemed as though the buds suddenly bloomed as He was talking, though I wouldn't put it past Him to have really done it.
Draco and me politely nodded and then we proceeded along to the next part of the estate that He was going to show us. I found it quite strange that there were so many flowers around, it kind of frightened me… after all I associated flowers with tender loving care, not with Dark wizards.
"You're mother was quite a gardener, Hermione." The Dark Lord suddenly remarked, "She loved these Muggle flowers, when she wasn't by my side, she spent her spare time gardening.. it was her passion, and no matter how much I tried to discourage her, she wouldn't give in."
That comment struck me hard. Daniela Lestrange liked to garden…?! I couldn't imagine someone who enjoyed killing Muggles, torturing them and hurting them would love to tend to her garden. I looked around, and indeed the flowers did look as though they were very well taken care of…
I thought back to Isabelle Granger, her clean, organized approach to everything, her professional businesslike air about her, the way she handled things so correctly but not passionately. She would never spend her spare time gardening, no, she would be on her computer making sure all the records at her dental clinic were in order.
And then, without warning, I saw Daniela gently pruning her roses, taking so much painstaking care with each one, looking delicately at them.
She was kneeling in front of me, in front of a bed of them, and seemed oblivious to me standing there watching her. With a start I realized that Draco and Voldemort weren't there either.
"Danie-" I never finished calling out to her when I saw a toddler with curly brown hair waddle towards her. She scooped her up in her arms and tickled her nose playfully, while I stood there looking stunned; that kid was me.
"Hermione!" I heard an urgent voice say. I opened my eyes and realized that I was standing where I was before, in front of that rosebush except there was no Daniela Lestrange and everything was clearer, though also in colour. Had I just had a flashback? But it was so vivid… I was sure that she was here just a moment ago.
"Hermione." The voice repeated, and I saw that Draco was looking concernedly at me, "What happened? Do you have a headache or something? You just closed your eyes and started biting your lips."
"What? Oh… nothing… something just happened, I don't know what though. I'll talk to you about it later." I said weakly. Draco put his arm around me and held me close to him for a moment.
"Don't worry about it. Just be strong." He whispered in my ear.
"Hermione? Is there anything wrong?" Voldemort asked coolly, smiling amusedly at me in Draco's arms.
"No, I'm just fine. Shall we continue the tour?" I replied in a firmer voice.
Voldemort just kept smiling though He turned His back and moved on, taking us to a small river running under a beautifully crafted wooden bridge that lead to a grove of lemon trees. As we crossed the bridge, I felt the world sliding away and Marc Lestrange was standing in front of me looking over the railing of the bridge wistfully at the water.
"My lord." He suddenly said, turning to the figure standing behind him.
"Marc, my faithful servant. Why are you here alone? Where is Daniela?" asked Voldemort imperiously.
"She left me." Replied Marc bluntly.
"With the child?" continued Voldemort.
"No."
"You lie. Don't try to protect her when she isn't loyal to you, tell me where she is." Hissed Voldemort harshly.
"I don't know…"
"Crucio"
Screams of pain and agony echoed through the still air and I had to restrain myself from crying out as I saw my father being tormented. The screams slowly subsided as he was released from the curse and he struggled to get the words out to Voldemort.
"She has gone to the double crosser."
"Snape?" Marc nodded.
"So she has tried to escape with what she loves the most… is she afraid of what I will do with her child?" snarled Voldemort. Again Marc nodded, "Well she will live with the consequences. She will be brought back and punished."
"No, my lord. Don't punish her. She was only doing what any woman would've done in her situation. It is only her motherly instinct, not her loyalty to you. If it weren't for the child, her allegiance would've never wavered. Please forgive her this time." Pleaded Marc. Voldemort looked thoughtfully at him, and then His expression softened.
"Very well, Marc. I understand your distress, but something will have to be done about the double crosser...we will rescue your wife and child, then deal with him. But not a word to the rest of them, not even Lucius, about this ever happening, I want everything to be going according to plan." Sneered Voldemort, before Disapparating.
And suddenly Voldemort was before me, peering intently into my eyes with his cold merciless ones. I jerked away from him, startled by the sudden change of context; everything was much clearer, more in focus than in my vision, and of course there was no Marc Lestrange either.
"Hermione? Are you feeling alright? Is there anything troubling you because this is the second time you have acted like this." said Voldemort steadily, giving me a piercing gaze.
"No… I think I will be fine. It's just a minor headache I think actually." I said staggering to my feet, for some reason this time I was on the ground.
The thoughts that were racing through my head really were giving me a headache as I sorted through them – my mother tried to take me away from Darkness, afraid of what Voldemort would do to me, [so she was loving and caring] and ran off to Snape?! Secondly, Voldemort knew that Snape had betrayed him back then...so how safe was Snape now? And thirdly…no one was immune from the wrath of Voldemort...even my father, his loyal servant wasn't spared.
"Very well, but do tell us if you feel as though the headache is worsening." The Dark Lord responded, His black robes sweeping after Him as He continued to lead us through the Lemon Grove, until we reached what seemed like a summerhouse on the far corner of the property.
It was ominously painted black and the dark windows with no curtains only served to make the summerhouse even more out of place in this gorgeous estate. It was the only place that seemed to be really Dark, and as we got closer to it, I got the feeling that I had felt when we were meeting the Dark Lord this morning.
"This, my heirs, is where some of the instruments are kept, though I can not show them to you now, though you both are soon to follow in my footsteps and begin to put my Grand Plan into action...glory will soon come, and it will because of you." He smiled a lipless smile and I shuddered, seeing wicked delight dancing around in His red eyes.
We passed by the dark summerhouse and continued on our tour, seemingly heading back to the mansion already, though Voldemort kept on speaking to Draco in a low voice, and helplessly knowing they weren't paying any attention to me, I felt myself being sucked into a pitch black world…
The Magical Law Enforcement Squad from the Ministry of Magic were swarming around the mansion which was illuminated by many lights inside and they were all clothed in black as camouflage. I could hear a child crying from inside the house and I assumed that it was me.
The leader of the squad motioned for five of the personnel to follow him to the back of the mansion, and I saw them slip in through a side window while the others waited outside, prepared for assault.
A moment later, a shrill scream rang through the air as I saw Daniela being seized by a few members of the squad while there were a lot of curses being exchanged by my father and the leader of the squad. But I saw a curly brown head held in his left hand and I knew that he was holding me while fighting off the leader with his wand hand.
Soon, the leader used a kind of subduing spell on my father, and I saw myself fall from his arms where the leader caught me. My mother had already came out of the front door all the while trying to free herself from their grasp. She was screaming like a banshee and my father soon followed bellowing hoarsely at them to let go of him.
Suddenly, Dumbledore Apparated and he was standing with his back to me. I wanted to reach out to him to ask him all the questions going through my brain, but I knew that he was little more than a vision. He swiftly moved towards the leader of the squad and extended his arm to carry the small bundle he had in his arms.
"I'll take of her now." I heard the words clearly and watched in wonder as Dumbledore cradled me in his arms and then Disapparated.
I woke from my vision, and I saw a fleeting image of an angel pendant with a blue crystal set in the middle of it before I sank into darkness and collapsed.
Hey everyone!
Thanks everyone so much for your encouragement for me to continue this story on without changing everything that's supposed to be Hermione's background, especially who helped me finally make up my mind, oh and I apologize for the delay…I just wasn't sure what you readers wanted me to do =)
OMG I am so sorry for the delay again [ I hate it when my fave stories don't update as well], but I really needed to think about where I wanted this story to head…and yeah, I was reading Order of the Phoenix…hmm grr how could they kill that person?! And how could it have been so disappointing?! =( Anyway, enough of my rambling, the important thing is to thank all the people who responded to my Author's Note. Thank you guys so much! Alright, here's a shout out to all of you.
Brokenflower, [sorry I didn't bother to change the names…I hope you still like the story anyway!]
Iceprincess [thanks for pointing out that this is fanfiction =)]
Brandi [I'm glad you like it the way it is!]
Meg [honey I am so happy you have the same opinion on OotP as me! Oh and just a question, do you write fanfic too? Coz I read a story about HP by a Meg as well and its pretty good. Thanks again for the encouragement!]
Little Witch [thanks for your encouragement too =) I still can't get over the book and the one who died =(]
Hey or anonymous [yeah, I agree, book five didn't really have the touch. Hope you like the chapter that you begged for =)]
Divine Sorceress [thanks for your comment…it made me quite happy =) yeah, I will try to add some of the spells in…but hmm…I think I will have to read OotP again for that =(]
GinnyRules890 [here's your update, and thanks for your comment! I will do the 'pre OotP universe' thingo when I have time ok?]
Beth [wow, you're quite imaginative you know? I'll think about it, I'll try to incorporate some of your idea into the ending alright? Thanks for your comment.]
Lea [lol, you haven't read it yet? Well, you're not missing out on anything, lets just say…well thanks for your comment and encouragement =)]
River-star [thanks for your comment too, and I hope you like the new chapter!]
Fairypicnic [hmm your first review? Does that mean that there will be more to follow?! *smiles hopefully* haha, thanks for your comment, and I'm happy that you like the story!]
Oh and thanks to everyone who reviewed chapter 22 as well -
Stacy, Valkyrie Nienna Helyanwe, Samantha, Brandi, Luza, Little Witch and FoxyChic4u.
Thanks for all your support!
Enjoy the chapter, and don't forget to review!
psychohart