Bargaining With the Devil
Wand to Wand
25. October, 2005
With a very faint pop, a slim, hooded figure appeared out of thin air on the edge of the River Thames. A cat that had slunk down the bank to nose hopefully at some an old fish-and-chip wrapping in the tall grass had frozen, wary green eyes fixed upon the stranger. There was no sound apart from the whisper of the black water and heavy rain. Here and there, a lightning bolt lit up the face of Draco Malfoy, and the following thunder shook with the ground, echoing in the night's stillness. He seemed to takecatch his bearings forafter a few moments, then set off with light, quick strides, his long cloak rustling over the grass.
With a second and louder pop, another two hooded figures materialized. Draco spun around, spotting Crabbe and Goyle. Sighing with relief, he gave them a sign to stay there whilest he walked up the small hill, his feet slipping and sliding on the sodden grass. Crabbe and Goyle weren't the best of wizards, but when it came to the killing curse, they knew what they were doing,; that's why he felt safe with them behind him. If someone would trytried to trick him, he would be ready.
When he finally reached the top, he stood on an empty road, still being attacked by a hundreds of big, heavy raindrops, he stood silently on the empty road. Curtains of rain were sweeping the whole road. He looked down at the note in his hand that arrived to himhe had received this afternoon. It was written by a neat handwriting, tThe words already blurred from the rain. It read, in neat handwriting:
The war is reaching its climax. Both sides are weak, and one can never trust his own brother. You need help, and you are aware of that. The help I can offer you can decide on the fate of us all, because my help may be the most important. If you're brave enough, meet me at the London Bridge at midnight.
Draco stowedstuffed the note back into his pocket and looked down at his gold watch; it was three minutes past midnight. He clutched his wand in the inside pocket of his robes and waited,. He was anxious to know who had sent it. Who had offered their help, and why would it be the most important he could haveone?.
The questions whirled inside his head, and Draco couldn't help but feel worried. His every step had been watched;, if he were to disappoint the Dark Lord again, he would meet a terrible fateterrible fate would meet him. He couldn't afford something like that. The war was really reaching its climax, and even when though they had killed many innocent people orand important wizards, they were actually getting nowhere.
The Dark Lord clearly wanted too much from him. He had assigned him a very difficult task, to bring him to Harry Potter. How was he ever to do something like that when hePotter was well hidden, dozen of wizards guarding him all the time. It was almost impossible.
Muffled sounds of footsteps tore the thread of his thoughts. He drew out his wand in a second and turned towards the shadows.
"Who's there?" he asked, trying to keep his voice steadystraight. Peering through the dark toward the source of the footsteps, he waited for a some sort of a response… but none came. Suddenly, as he took a step closer, a figure walked slowly out of the shadows., Draco sharpeneding his gaze on it. The figure was not very tall, but not short either. It seemed to be thin. Draco could guess that it was probably a woman. She wore a black cloak over her shoulders, the hood pulled low over her ears, so that her face couldn't be seen. Draco loosened the grip on his wand because he noticed that she hadn't drawn hers. "Who are you?"
"I sent you that note." It was a woman. Her voice was soft, but straight and strong. It sounded kind of familiar to him., iIt recalled strange emotions and memories, but he ignored them because they weren't important at all at the moment.
"I know that, but do you have a name? Or... how about revealing your face?"
"Not yet," she said shortly and Draco thought that it would be useless to argue with this woman. Well, if he couldn't see her face, he would at least take a look at her mindthoughts. He focused his mind on only one point: her thoughts. He shut his eyes and tried to break into her mindhead. He was there, but his head ached. It felt as if he had bumped into a brick wall. Her Oocclumency were better than he had anticipated.was the cause. "Do not try this on me," she said darkly.
"How am I supposed to trust you then?" Draco asked, massaging his temple.
"You will have to. Face it, Draco; you don't have any other choice. I am keeping my mind private whether you want it or not."
"I want to face you," he said briskly and heard her chuckle.
"Fine, just don't kill me right on the spot when I pull that hood down. Remember, people change." She moved her hands up to her hood, and Draco's body tensed. The tiny hair scatted on the back of his neck rose up, and he felt goose bumps all over his body. He stood his ground, ready for anything that would come. Something told him that it would be very shocking.
The hood slipped down, and the first thing he noticed werewas thick, bushy brown hair. Then the empty brown eyes that showed no sign of emotion. He gasped in horror when he recognised the woman standing in front of him.
"You!" he hissed. "Petrificus Totalus!" The jet of light flew from his wand in form of a snake with long fangs, but Hermione was fast enough to draw out her wand.
"Protego!" A blue shield erupted all around her, sending the curse back to Draco. He ducked and it missed his head by a few inches. Hermione's blue shield blinded him with its sheer intensity: because its glow was so intense that he felt it was as if he had sat directly in front of some sort of a blue sun. Slowly, it faded away, but his eyes took a moment to adjust. When he opened them, Hermione was already making her way toward him, raising her wand. He raised his wand as well, and they stopped, standing close across from each other, their wands at each other's necks.on the other's neck.
"Move and I'll kill you," Draco gritted through clenched teeth. Hermione's lips turned to an evil smirk, and she didn't seem frightened at all.
"If you kill me, I will as well."
"Oh come on," snorted Draco, "you wouldn't kill anything. Not to mention perform the Killing Curse. You don't have the guts for that!"
"Oh really? Try me," she said and Draco couldn't believe his own ears. There was no sign of fear or a lie in her voice. She could not possibly play this so well. She meant it, but Draco refused to believe that. It could not be.
"What are you doing here, Granger?"
"I sent you that note; I thought I had already mentioned that. Are you scleroticI really can't tell what you meant this word to be, Draco?" she asked with mock sympathy. Draco felt the tip of her wand touchon his neck, and he couldn't help but feel nervous. This was surely beyond his expectations. He didn't know what to do. The right thing would be to kill her immediately, but he couldn't.
"Oh really?" he retorted with a snort. "Then I don't want your help. First, I will never work with a Mudblood." For the first time, he felt her body tense before him. "Second, if you really thought I'd believe this lie, you must've gone mad." Hermione sighed, looking like she had expected this to happen.
"I knew you wouldn't trust me. After all, you don't have a single reason, right?" Draco didn't reply;, instead, he tried to catch a hint of lying in her cold voice. He eyed her closely, trying to find the truth there, but it was no use. "Just as I said in my note, I want to help you. I want to work as a spy for you." At these words, Draco nearly fell over. This seemed like a dream to him. Nothing more than a silly, impossible dream.
"Do you really expect me to believe that?"
"No," she said calmly. "But you will believe me," she added in a small, brisk voice.
"Why should I? You're Potter's best friend and he's our top enemy. Why in the world would you want to betray him and everybody else?"
"Finally. yYou're asking the right questions. I am a Muggle-born."
The corners of Draco's mouth twitched, and his eyes darkened.
"Harry's side is weaker than yours. I will never gain what I seek if I stay there. I don't want to be only a Mudblood, likeas you would say. I want wealth and power. I don't want to stay in the shadow anymore. I have many other personal reasons for betraying them. They don't deserve my loyalty anymore, but I am willing to promise my loyalty to you because I know that you can give me more than any of them will ever be able to. That is why I want to betray them. Is that enough for you?"
She raised her eyebrows, taking down her wand. "See?" She dropped it to her feet and rose up her arms. "See? I am not going to attack you; there is nobody here to help me. I really mean this, and it's up to you to believe me or not. Don't make the biggest mistake of your life. You don't want another dead parent, do you?" Hermione flew backwards as Draco's angry curse hit her. Her stomach ached and her back throbbed painfully. Draco picked up her wand and looked down at her.
"Shut up! I don't believe you! I don't! I am not stupid. You are only trying to fool me!" he yelled furiously.
"No!" she cried angrily, collecting all her remaining strength to stand up. "Believe me, Draco! People change! I changed! This is the last time I am offering my help to you. Take it or leave it!" Draco was at the loss of words. He stared at her as she clutched her stomach and screwed up her face in pain. His hand shook, and he had to restrain his anger, so he wouldn't do something he might regret later.
"Fine, fine! Give me one reason to believe you and I will. Reassure me and together we will destroy Potter, and the Dark Lord will reward us, but give me one guarantee," he shoved his index finger in front of her face as he knelt down across from her. "One good guarantee," he said, his voice quiet and dangerous.
"Don't you get it? This is a perfect plan. A fantastic opportunity for both you and me. Harry and the others will never suspect me to be the traitor. I can give you all the information you need because I move in the closest circles of Harry and the Order. You will have to trust me; my word is the only guarantee I can give you. I know that we've hated each other in the past, but the past is behind us; and it is the present and future that matters." She at him,bored her eyes into his and he felt as if she had completely taken him over him. It was tempting,; it really sounded like the perfect plan, but it just couldn't be.
However, sometimes you had to risk something in order to win. Was this the moment for risking? Hhe asked himself.
"Well?"
He looked away, breaking their intense eye contact and standing up. She followed him with her eyes and hHis extended hand surprised her.took her quite unprepared. She took it. and Draco's squeezed it tightly as if he wanted to break it. It hurt her, but she had done her best to bore her nails deep into his skin.
"I will put you to a test," Draco said resolutely and his eyes shone with triumph when he noticed that she had not expected this at all.
"What test?" she asked nervously. He let go of her hand and put his hood on. He didn't know what cause it would have because his blond hair was wet already.
"You'll see. Meet me here at five o'clock in the afternoon. I am sure it will be no problem for you if you are who you claim to be."
And without any further ado he apparated away, Crabbe and Goyle following. Hermione stood there in the rain, shivering. The cloak wasn't good enough to prevent her from being soaked through. Another clap of thunderlightning shook the ground with her, and she felt terribly weak. The whole pretending and acting took so much energy that she had barely stoodcould barely stand on her own two legs. Her head ached more than her stomach. Her heart was beating fast, and her eyes were suddenly filled with tears. All the restrained emotions came crashing onto herout, like aan pileavalanche of bricks, and Hermione let out an anguished sob as she leaned against the lamppost near., allowing that to support her weight, since she felt she was no longer able to. Her shoulders shook with silent sobs as she slowly slid down to the wet ground until she was sitting on the wet ground, weeping into her hands. She wanted to apparate away from this horrible place, but she just wasn't strong enough.
Hermione forced herself to take in a few deep breaths, desperately trying to regain some form of composure as she shakily pushed herself back up, gripping the lamppost for support. Wiping away her tears, she staggered on wobbly legsher legs wobbled as she staggered to pick a rock from the ground and pointing her wand to it.
"Portus," she said, pointing her wand at the rock.her voice broken. A blue light surrounded the rock andas it rose into the air, only a couple of inches above Hermione's hand., and t Then it fell back. As soon as it made contact with her skin, she felt herself being pulled away by an invisible hoop back into her house. She rammed squeezed her eyes shut, focusing on nothing but the blackness behind her eyelids as she continued to take in deep, calming breaths, letting them out slowly.
She was going to be put to a test and it wouldn't be easy.; Sshe had to get ready for tomorrow. She would bBargaining with the devil and the outcome of it could be dangerous, even deadly, but she was going to risk it.
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