Note: We do not own Harry Potter and never will.
Chapter two
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I listen
All your secrets are safe with me
I plan
So cunningly I plot out your end, my friend
I attack
And so our time together is through…
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Previously: "Hold your tongue, child," Hermione hissed at him, even though her form didn't appear much older than his, "or you will learn true pain."
Draco's eyes widened, before he smiled brightly. "Right… pain, on me?" He shook his head, still laughing to himself as he walked past them, letting the door swing closed. "Follow along now and don't get lost."
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Hermione smiled softly to herself, murmuring a spell under her breath, holding her wand under her robes. The spell instantly took affect; Draco's robes began to shrink painfully tight at an alarming rate.
Draco turned around quickly, eyes narrowing at Hermione. "What do you think you are doing?" He watched his robes shrink dramatically before saying, "Well, stop them now. Joke's over. Haha," he said sarcastically.
Hermione raised her eyes to look at him, gazing at him with a mild, innocent expression. "What do you mean? I didn't do anything." She turned to look at Ron, who looked about ready to burst into laughter. "Did I do anything?" He only shook his head 'no', unable to speak unless he wanted to let peals of laughter fall from his lips.
"Look, if you don't reverse this spell…" he mumbled through clenched teeth, as the robes began to get extremely tight.
"Yes?" Hermione asked, taking a taunting step forward, her eyes roving over him. "My, my, my," she said, clicking her tongue playfully before looking up at him, "the German men at the gay club must really appreciate seeing you in there every Friday."
Draco tried to cross his arms, but the constricting fabric wouldn't allow it. Scowling, he ignored her, glancing anywhere but at her face.
It was in that moment, that, "Holy shit, Draco?!" could be heard from the hall. "Man, what the hell are you doing?" A young man with black hair tied back in a short pony tail pranced up, a wide smile on his face. He caught sight of Hermione; still smiling he jerked a thumb at Draco, and said, "You do this?" The man was still laughing as he shook his head, "You shouldn't mess with him like that," he whispered toward her, his green eyes laughing with mirth. "Draco, here, can hold a grudge."
"Blaise, stop her, or I will throw you into the dungeon when I get loose," Draco said in a tiny, almost girlish whisper.
Hermione still smiled innocently, feeling a sudden liking toward the boy. He looked familiar...probably a fellow Hogwarts student. "Me? I didn't do anything," she said, innocently batting her eyelashes at the newcomer.
Blaise laughed softly, "You hear that buddy," he wrapped his arm around Draco's shoulder. "We don't know who did it; therefore, we can't stop it." He looked down at Draco's robes, which looked ready to burst at the seams.
Ron let out a strangled sound between a laugh, cough, and choke. He then whispered to Hermione, "I think you should reverse it... I am starting to see the outlines of things I was hoping to never see from Draco."
"Yes, reverse," Draco shirked, face a painful grimace.
At this, Blaise doubled over in laughter, putting out his hand to steady himself against the wall. "This was something I never thought I'd see," he wheezed out. "I'd never have the guts to do that to him."
Hermione grinned before tilting her head to the side. "Well, Malfoy? Have you learned your lesson? Will you be utterly polite to me from now on?"
It seemed to take all of Draco's will power for him to nod his quickly reddening face which only caused Blaise to fall into another fit of hysterics.
Hermione grinned, thoroughly enjoying herself. It wasn't every day that she was able to torment someone as ruthless as Draco. "Are you sure? You look awfully red. When my brother gets that color, I can't trust a thing he says."
"Yes," he wheezed, barely able to breath. "I-am… sure," the sure came out on a puff of breath, after which he gasped deeply for air.
Blaise pushed himself of the wall, at the first sound of a ripping seam. "Hmm, I wonder where that was?" He eyed his friend, who was gasping for well needed air and was about to accidentally flash the whole hall.
Hermione smiled, casually pulling her wand out, murmuring the counter curse. His clothing slowly regained its original shape and Hermione returned her wand to her cloak.
As Draco's face returned to the normal color, he quickly whipped out his wand pointing it at Hermione.
Ron then stepped in front of Hermione, glaring at Malfoy. "Put it away," he said harshly. "Now!"
Draco spun around, angered, "Crucio."
Blaise fell to his knees, the curse ripping a scream from his throat. His hands convulsed on the tiled floor, reaching blindly for stability, for release.
"Draco Malfoy," a voice hissed from behind them.
Hermione whirled, coming face-to-face with a black, hooded figure. She gaped, seeing glowing red eyes through the darkened hood of the cloak.
"I would expect better from you, Malfoy," the Dark Lord said angrily.
"I'm sorry, My Lord," Draco fell to his knees, releasing Blaise from the curse as he dropped. "I don't know what I was doing, blinded by anger I suppose."
The dark Lord merely flicked his hand and a long, deep gash appeared on Draco's cheek. Bone was visible under the cut. "Make sure it never happens again."
Hermione and Ron, by that point, had regained enough sense to sink to their knees, bowing respectfully to the 'master'. "My Lord, we were called here by these mysterious marks." She pulled her sleeve back, showing the Dark Mark.
Draco rose to his feet, taking a moment to collect himself and his dignity. He cast one glance at Blaise, who was still on the floor, slick with sweat and panting softly. His black hair had come out of his pony-tail and now floated around his face. Draco, not offering help or support to his fallen friend, left the room without another comment.
Voldemort smirked, although the girl could not see it. "Really, now? Come with me and we will discuss this further in my throne room."
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Everything was going according to plan. Ron and Hermione had rehearsed their lines perfectly and flawlessly; they had been marked as children and had grown up no knowing what the marks meant. Now they were willing to carry on Voldemort's legacy.
At dinner, Ron and Hermione found themselves sitting alone at a long, elegant table. Food was strewn about in lovely arrangements and Ron couldn't help but drool at the sight of it all.
Blaise, the man from earlier, lowered himself in front of Hermione. "Hey, you'll have to excuse Draco for this afternoon. Once you get to know him he's really fun to be around." He took a sip of the wine out of the glass he held in his hand. "When he's not cursing you of course," Blaise added with a good natured shrug.
Hermione grinned and decided to play her role for all it was worth. "Oh, and what about you?" She leaned over a bit, the low cut of her robes giving him an excellent view. "Are you fun to be around?"
Blaise smiled, leaning forward. "I suppose I am, but you'll never find out here." He looked around the hall, at all the milling death eaters.
Ron watched them, his eyes wide. "Rose," he said softly, using the name she had made up for herself, "I don't think you should be flir-"
"Oh hush," she said, casting him an annoyed look. She turned back to Blaise, cocking an eyebrow, a smile spreading across her face. "Oh? Then where could I learn a bit more about you and your fun level?"
"Oh, I don't know. I'm sure I could find some place, if you're – ah- willing to come along."
Hermione grinned before leaning back in her chair. "Well, I don't know about that... I'd hate to wander too far in an unknown mansion..."
Blaise smiled, "Of course," he pushed back his chair, standing. "If you change your mind, ask around, someone will point you to me."
"Oh, but won't you stay for dinner?" Hermione asked, raising an eyebrow. She took up her glass of wine, glancing at Ron out of the corner of her eye. He looked... angry. Or maybe it was just the effects of the wine that made his face flush so. "Maybe after that we can talk more about this...fun."
Ron stood up quickly, causing his chair to topple down. "When you two are done deciding whether or not you want to fuck one another," he began, tone angry, "I will be in our room waiting for you, sister," he hissed. With that, he turned, walking out. He left the chair where it had fallen.
Blaise grinned, "Well, that was something else." He sat back down in the seat, "I guess I'll stay, but I don't like to linger too long at these dinner sessions." His voice dropped to a whisper, "You don't tango with a drunk Draco." He shook his head, face completely serious.
Hermione turned her gaze from where it had been focused on the door in which Ron had disappeared behind, looking over at Blaise again. She raised an eyebrow. "A drunk Draco?" she repeated. She seemed amazed. "Does our Lord allow such a thing?" Although she was amazed at the thought of Draco getting drunk, her mind was taunted by other things. Why had Ron ran off so quickly? Did he honestly think she would permit Blaise, a real-life Death Eater, to touch her?
Blaise smiled, "Yes, our Lord allows such blasphemy. Why not? Draco would be quite comical if he didn't have sudden violent outburst; and you can never tell one will come up, because he acts completely fine until then. Or as fine as a drunken Draco can act."
Hermione forced a smile, trying to imagine a drunken Draco... it was near impossible. "Well," she said softly, running a hand through her now long, straight black hair, "I am beginning to regret ever holding Malfoy in high esteem. I thought he, of all people, would be able to manage himself around alcohol."
"Well, I guess you can never tell with some people-" His words abruptly broke off; his eyes widening.
"There you are," Draco slurred, placing his hands on Blaise's shoulders. "I looked all over the castle-" long pause, "to find you… so I could tell you that… that…" Draco looked puzzled. "You know, I can't quite remember."
Hermione's eyes widened when she saw how...close... Blaise and Draco seemed. Were they...? "Um... should I... leave?" she asked softly, feeling a blush rising on her fair, pale cheeks.
"No," Blaise stood, knocking Draco's hands from his shoulders. Draco swayed slightly, and Blaise caught him to keep him from falling to the ground. Talking about Draco had been less embarrassing then having Hermione witness the whole scene. "I have to escort Draco to his room," Blaise explained, with an incline of his head. "Excuse me, see you around."
Hermione smiled softly before getting to her feet. "Might I come with you?"
Blaise frowned, "I guess you could if you wanted to." Blaise spared a momentary glance at Draco, before shrugging. "If you're coming, hurry up." He started to lead the intoxicated Draco out of the Hall.
Hermione ran after him, grinning slightly. She caught up to him, glancing over at Draco. He looked... happy. A large grin was spread over his face and he kept squinting as if his eyesight was bad.
Blaise led Draco down the hall in silence. When they reached their destination, Blaise fumbled to unlock the door, but Draco knocked his hand and the key away from the door. "I can do that!" he yelled in a slurred voice as the key clattered to the ground.
Hermione let out a snort of laughter. She bent down, taking up the key, and leaning over in front of them both, quickly unlocking it. "There you are," she said, handing the key to Draco. "Don't lose it, now, you hear me?"
Draco glared at her, "I could have done it." He pulled out of Blaise's grasp, stumbling into his room.
Hermione watched him, crossing her arms over her chest, grinning at the comical sight.
Blaise shook his head, "Ignore him, please." Draco was going to be pissed in the morning when he found out Hermione had seen him act like such a fool. He pulled Draco's door shut, after he saw him fall onto the couch, practically asleep.
Hermione smiled charmingly at Blaise, trying to look as innocent as possible. "Is everyone here so charming while they're drunk?"
"More so than when they're sober, you just have to get to know everyone."
Hermione laughed, pushing away from the wall she was leaning against. "Well, what do you usually do at this time of night?" she asked, her tone innocent. "I mean, you said you never eat dinner in the dining hall... so where do you go?"
"Honestly, I usually go back to my room. Get away from it all," Blaise started walking down the hall; however, he did stop and wait for her to catch up.
Hermione took a deep breath, remembering what Fudge had asked her in their private meeting last Sunday. "Do you really think you're up for it, Granger? You have to get close to one of them; hell, maybe even all of them. Infiltrate the base, learn their secrets, become one of their allies, find out when they plan to attack."