The Dark Lady
Chapter 17 – Angel

By gracie5412


Shout outs to –

sever-case-of-insanity,
Ice-Phoenix-Tears,
kendra is cheese,
Goddess of life and death,
JKIJ


"Very well, I shall do this on one condition. I will take away her soul for you if you get me an angel."

"An angel?" Draco asked, "Is that even possible?"

"You will make it so if you want my help." Lucifer stated, "You have exactly a week to hold to your end of the bargain. If you have what I want when I return then I shall take this girls soul for you."

With a crack the Devil disappeared and all the candles relit themselves. An excited buzz went around the room and soon the conversation volume grew and everyone started to question what had happened. Luckily no one seemed very put out that these questions were not ready to be answered and were happy to leave in until the morning after Draco had ordered them all, rather harshly, to leave.

Soon the only people left in the hall were Draco, Athena and Hermione. With a flick of his wand Draco cleared away he remains of the child that was still lay on the table and got rid of the blood that had dripped onto the floor.

"Now for you to hold up to our deal." Athena said forcefully with her hand out stretched.

Draco pulled a wand out of his robe pocket and placed it into her awaiting palm. She gripped it tightly and smiled.

"Thank you Malfoy, if you ever need to call upon the devil again you know who to call." She said as she walked to the door.

"You're leaving?" He asked; he had wanted her to stay and help with the next task at hand.

"Yes I am. I have what I came for, the devil is dangerous, even in his human form, be careful that there's no small print to what he is saying." She warned before walking from the room.

Draco walked over to where Hermione was still chained and with a flick of his wand the cuffs undid and she slumped to the floor. He hoisted her up over his shoulder in an undignified manner and walked from the room also.

-

Later that night he lay on his bed starring intently at the ceiling, as though he was waiting for it to answer some very important question, and thought about the situation. It seemed, to him, quite laughable. In stories containing the devil wasn't the bargain usually struck in order for the mortal to keep his or her soul? Obviously this time it was not the case.

How on earth was Draco going to be able to catch an angel in order to hand it over to the devil? And with only a week to do it? It seemed quite impossible. He groaned and rolled over, burying his head into the pillows in an attempt to block out his present thoughts. It did not work, of course, but luckily he soon found himself awash with drowsiness and falling into a light sleep.

As daylight broke through the gaps in the shutters Draco awoke and for a few pleasant seconds lay before the worries of the night before rushed to the front of him mind and occupied his thoughts. How on earth was he going to handle this one?

In the past he had always gone to his father for advice but his father had been killed last year in a spat between him and another deatheater, so that was not an option. He headed back down to the vast library, grumbling at having to spend another day of research, he would have to do it of course as he didn't trust any of the other deatheaters with the task. They would quite happily let Hermione stay the way she is and have a new leader elected. But Draco couldn't have that happen.

If Hermione were killed now there would be a chance that he would not be chosen to take her place. If her brought her back to power and remained her loyal right hand man it would ensure him a much better chance of becoming the next in line.

-

Twenty hours later when all hope was diminishing, along with the light from the candle that had burnt all the way down to a tiny stub, Draco finally came across a passage that would be of use:

Angels are most commonly found in the mortal world when guiding the soul of the dead to the afterlife. They appear in the brief moment that it takes the individual to die before disappearing once more.

Draco flicked his wand and in an instant all the books flew back onto the appropriate shelves. He left the library and quickly found the person he was looking for. Sean Thornally, a young lad in his early twenties, very smart. Joined the deatheaters' ranks fours years earlier and since then had specialised in set-ups: just what this murder would need.

"Thornally. The Dark Lady requires your special talents." Draco said in a patronizing tone as he walked into Sean's room, without knocking.

"And what is it you were thinking?" Sean asked with a glare.

"This is who I need killing." Malfoy said as he held up a recent picture of Ginny Weasly. "And this is who I want it pinned on." He held up a picture of Neville Longbottom. "Can you do it?"

"Of course I can do it." Sean snapped "But what are the circumstances? What's his motivation?" He asked picking up the picture of Ginny.

"Jealousy. He loves her but she's with someone else. Won't give him the time of day. And we need it done tomorrow."

"Tomorrow? You're asking a lot."

"Well let's just see how good you really are. Oh and one more thing! I'll need to tag along and pick something up from the murder scene." Draco smirked before turning to leave. "Tomorrow, seven o'clock, Hogsmade. Be there, be ready."

-

Ginny was sat in her room thinking about Hermione it was quite late and she had been unable to sleep. The house had been cast into darkness since they found out what had happened to their old best friend. Harry was angry, Ron was in shock and Ginny was unsure what to do. She partly blamed herself for this happening. She had had a feeling something was wrong for a long time but she had done little about it. If she had looked into it in more detail maybe she would have been able to stop this. She sighed and went to sit at the redwood writing desk to look at the notes she had made from the memory charms book she took out of the library weeks before. She knew she was close to breaking it, last time she had tried she nearly got there but in the end it proved too strong for her. Ginny was hoping that by breaking it they would find out some more information about Hermione and what she was now really like.

A few minutes later she was startled by a knock at her window. She turned to see an owl she did not recognise flapping in mid air the other side of the glass. Opening the window the owl hooted as it flew in and circled the room a few times before landing on the desk and dropping the letter. Ginny picked it up and opened it.

Dear Ginny,

I heard about Hermione just yesterday and am devastated that it happened to such a wonderful person. But I am writing to tell you that I bumped into her a couple of weeks ago and she was acting very odd. She said a few things that didn't really make sense to me and I was wondering if they would be of any use to you.

I shall be working near the Shrieking Shack until seven tomorrow, if you'd like to meet me there then I was thinking we could go over what she said to me.

Your friend,

Neville Longbottom.

Ginny turned over the piece of parchment and quickly replied to Neville's letter before sending the owl on its way. A glimmer of hope appeared in her eyes and she was finally able to curl up in bed and get some sleep.