Note: We do not own Harry Potter.
Beneath the Masks
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We all do things we don't want to over our lifetime.
Sometimes we regret them,
Sometimes we don't.
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Previously: Ron's hand wavered. He lowered the wand to his side, jerking his head to the side. "I'm sorry," he choked out. "I wasn't thinking. I was mad, maybe a little jealous."
Hermione gave him a comforting hug. "It's okay… but try not to point that thing at me again, alright?"
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At Voldemort's summons, Hermione entered Voldemort's throne room. Crabbe, Goyle, and Draco were there, all glowering. "My Lord," she said, voice solemn. She got to her knees, head bowed, hair falling around her face. "You wished to see me?"
"You have a mission," he said, voice waspish. "That is all you need to know. You are still a new hand and we thought we would train you in the ways of killing. Draco here has the address to a certain wizarding family. You are to kill all members of the family."
Hermione felt her throat tighten. "Yes, master," she managed, feeling bile rise in her throat.
Draco smiled at her wickedly, turning and exiting the room.
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Draco watched his breathe freeze and rise in the air in the form of a foggy mist. He rubbed his gloved hands together to keep the warm. His blonde hair was slicked back in its normal gelled state. His grey eyes, full of contempt, stared across the snow at the woman dressed in blood red robes.
There was something about her that drew him to her and it was that that made him hate her all the more. He glanced away focusing on her foot steps in the snow.
Crabbe walked up beside Draco, "Sir, the address?" His voice was gruff, wind tearing at the coat he pulled up around his neck to keep warm.
Draco stuck his hand in his pocket, retrieving the slip of paper with the scribbled address. "We're taking Portkey."
Goyle walked up, mumbled something through his thick scarf, and held out a harmless looking flashlight; their Portkey.
Hermione walked up, staying silent. She was going to have to kill people. What if there were children? Oh god, she couldn't kill an innocent child.
Draco looked into Hermione's eyes as he stepped up to the portkey. "Ready?" He grabbed the portkey, saying his destination: "1015 Mulberry Lane, London." Draco disappeared.
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Hermione followed Draco into the quaint cottage, her throat still tight. She watched his black-covered back as she walked, her sweating hands curling around her wand. Crabbe and Goyle were outside, patrolling and making sure no one interfered.
When they entered the master bedroom, there was a couple lying in the bed, snoring lightly. Hermione lifted her wand, saying the killing curse in a hard voice. "Avadada Kadavra," she said, pointing her wand at the woman. She went still without a sound. Swallowing hard, she repeated the curse. The man went with a soft sigh.
Draco glanced at her, "Not used to killing, are we?" He walked towards the bed, "Don't worry these deserved to die. Damn Weasleys. They were a disgrace to the wizarding world."
Here eyes widened. She turned away from Malfoy, feeling the bile in her throat rising. The Weasleys?! She ran into the bathroom off of the bedroom, practically throwing herself onto the floor in front of the toilet. She bowed her head over the bowl, feeling her dinner come up in a swarm. Countless minutes after, she remained there, her forehead pressed against the cool porcelain. She tried not to think of who she had killed. She tried not to, but the thoughts refused to let her be.
A soft rapping came at the door, "Rose?" Draco Malfoy was leaning against wall outside the bathroom door, smirking. "Are you okay in there? We really should be going." He smiled as Goyle and Crabbe, who had just entered, snickered in the background. "Don't want to get caught." He glanced inside the bathroom at the woman lying on the tiles, looking pale and distraught. "It wasn't as if they meant much. They were, after all, in the Order. You could have been next on their death list."
"Shut the fuck up, Malfoy," she hissed. "Stop talking to me, or I swear you will end up like those poor fools," she said, waving her hand toward the bedroom. She pulled herself up, running water over her face. It was pale, making her big brown eyes look sunken. "Let's go," she muttered, walking out of the house and holding back tears.
Draco stared in the mirror, long after she had pushed past him and he heard the distant sound of the door slamming. Crabbe placed his hand on Draco's shoulder. "Are you coming, Malfoy?"
Draco glanced back into the room and then to the mirror. He could still see Rose's face lingering there. Her brown eyes standing out dramatically from the sick paleness of her face was vivid in his mind's eye. He'd seen those eyes before… "I'm coming," he choked out.
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The fire in Hermione and Ron's fireplace glowed green as Hermione sobbingly told Fudge what had happened through the floo network.
"Damn shame," he said, ticking sadly. "Did you tell Ron yet, Hermione?"
"He's out on a mission," she choked out, trying to keep her voice from rising in hysteria.
The door was pushed open, clunking into the wall hard enough the make the wall shudder. Blaise stood there, looking amazed. "You…." He closed the door slowly, "you're not a Death Eater. I know who you are." With a flick of his wand, Fudge's face disappeared from the fireplace. "You're an Auror."
Hermione felt herself shrink back, feeling her back hit her bed. Her wand, damn her luck, was out of reach and lying on the table next to Blaise.
"Hermione… I've heard that name before…Draco's mentioned you." Blaise stepped towards her, wand pointed at her chest.
"We were all in Hogwarts together," she whispered. The cat was out of the bag, might as well tell the truth and save her conscience. "I was the brainy one with poofy brown hair in Gryffindor. Harry Potter and Ron Weasley's friend."
"Oh… Oh my God, you're Hermione Granger." He nearly fainted into the desk. "I feel faint. I think I'm hyperventilating." He started waving his hand in front of his face. "Don't tell Draco I slept with you. Please, please."
Hermione blinked, confused. "What… Aren't you going to kill me?"
"Are you kidding? You think sleeping with you is bad… if I killed you, he would tear me limb from limb…Oh, my God." Blaise rose from the desk. "You really don't know how bad he liked you in school. I mean, have you ever wondered why you couldn't get a guy to go with you to the dances… that was him. Of course, he threatened them not to tell and told them it was to hurt your feelings… but all the same."
Hermione's eyes widened even more. "You're kidding me! Draco?! I read it in his journal that he liked me, but hell!" She shook her head before reaching for Ron's bottle of tequila. She took a big swallow, wincing at the taste, before passing it to Blaise. "Come sit. Let's talk about this insanity for a while."
&Ron staggered into the room, eyes already glazed over and bottle hanging from his hand. "I just… just," he stuttered, not even registering that a Death Eater was sitting next to the Hermione on the floor. "… Mass murder of…I killed…" Ron raised the bottle to his mouth, but it was empty. "Got any more alcohol, 'Mione?"
"N-no," she slurred, leaning back against the bed. Blaise had his head resting on Hermione's shoulder, drunk but awake. Hermione finished the last of the tequila. "I just killed… oh god… Ron, please… don't yell at me… I just… 1015 Mulberry Lane…"
"What?" Ron's eyes seemed to become clearer as he slumped into the door. "You…" His eyes began to water. "You killed them…." His voice came out in choked sob.
"Ron," she began, her own eyes beginning to mist. She pushed Blaise unceremoniously away before running over to Ron. She pulled him into the room, closing the door, and then hugging him tightly. "I'm sorry, Ron, oh God, I am sorry. I didn't know… I didn't know until they were gone, I…"
He pushed her away. "How could you not know? You killed my parents!" He looked down at the man on the floor, "… and who the fuck is this? Your comfort to help you through the pain? Goddamn it, they loved you and what do you do?" He opened the door backed out of the room, whispering softly, "you murdered them."