Disclaimer: We don't own Harry Potter.

InsidiaeWe don't have a beta. I laughed when you said there was a difference between the first few chapters and the rest. There is. The first two or so we wrote about a year or so ago. We were messing around on my computer when we stumbled upon the old document and decided to finish it. Thanks for the encouragement about the reviews. J We appreciate your comment.

Beneath the Masks:

Chapter five

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Does love ever fade? Or does it stay with us, somewhere deep in the creases of our heart…?

….

Previously: "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."

….

"No, Ron," she whispered, walking toward him. She put a hand on his cheek, feeling tears coursing down it. "Please, stay, we can talk this through. I didn't know! They were asleep, it was dark, Draco didn't tell me-"

"Shut the fuck up, Hermione!" The alcohol was making his anger worse. It was riling him up. "This mission is screwing with your head." He pushed her away, storming off down the hall.

Ron shoved his hands in his pockets, tears welling up in his eyes. He was blindly wandering through the halls of the castle. His parents were dead. Gone, and Hermione was the one who killed them.

Of course, it was partly Draco's fault, the bastard, not telling her who they were. Ron sighed; he needed to contact his family. Tell them the news.

A scream echoed through the hall, causing Ron to jerk his head up. He didn't know where he was, didn't know how he got there. But the scream was too desperate for him not to aid the cry.

He rushed into the room that the sound seemed to be coming from. A woman he recognized as a witch from the Order was chained to the wall. Her robes were tattered and her face bruised.

"Adrian," a voice came from behind him. Ron spun around to see Draco Malfoy's glittering grey eyes smiling at him. "I finally remembered where I saw you from. Ronald Weasley, the annoying best friend become Auror. Searching for fame all you own."

Ron hadn't returned that night.

The next morning, Hermione, in a fit of despair and hungover, went to the darkened library in the western quarter. She sat at a desk with large, dusty tombs, plunging herself in them as she used to do at Hogwarts. She hadn't bothered taking a shower or running a brush through her unruly, frizzy black hair. She simply didn't care to deal with cosmetic beautifiers at the moment.

Draco, seeking to remember the ingredients to a special draught Voldemort had told him to prepare, entered the library to come face to face with reality. Hermione Granger was Rose. He couldn't believe he didn't realize earlier.

The feelings he had, her eyes, the sickness because of killing the Weasleys and Ronald. God, how stupid he was? He made her kill her best friend's parents. And now, here she was, her bushy haired self, sitting in the library. The thought almost made him smile. Almost.

He walked towards her table, collecting ingredients on the Truth potion forgotten. He lowered himself in front of Hermione, staring at her. He didn't make a noise, just waited for her to notice him.

It took quite a while. She was so immersed in the book she had been reading that she hadn't noticed him for close to ten minutes. When she did, her brown eyes were startled. Her face was still pale and, framed by her black hair and doe-brown eyes, she looked almost ghostly. "Malfoy… what are you doing here?" she asked, trying to put on a front… trying to return to her Rose position.

"Watching you," he said softly. "You know, you had me going there. I was convinced you were some evil woman out to destroy my perfect way of existing. Then I began to notice things, like your eyes, you didn't change them. They're still that big, brown that I always found… so beautiful. That was the first thing that clued me in, but I shrugged it off. Then, I began to remember things, small things. Until Ron… but what really got me was this. You with the bushy hair, sitting in the library." Draco Malfoy smiled wickedly, "You didn't do good enough hiding yourself from me."

Hermione looked away quickly, her eyes going downcast. "I…" she swallowed, gazing up at him in defiance. "I don't know what you are talking about. I think your obsession with this 'Hermione Granger' is going a bit too far. My name is Rose-"

He slapped his hands down on the table, causing her books to thump. "Don't lie to me. Don't ever lie to me." He leaned forward, brushing a finger across her cheek. "I know who you are."

She pulled her wand out in one fluid motion. "Draco Malfoy, I know how to use this wand better than I did back in school," she said, voice soft and deadly.

"Kill me, Hermione," he whispered softly. "If it will make you feel any better about what you did to your friend's family," he shrugged. "Go ahead… but I'll have you know, you won't live very long afterwards. Every Death Eater in here will be after you."

"Where's Adrian?" she snapped.

"Oh, Ron, he's in the dungeon. Enjoying a nice stay there, of course at the time I didn't know he brought you along. Figured he would be more careful with his precious Mudblood," he said sarcastically.

Hermione replaced her wand, head dropping into upturned palms. She felt tears coming to her eyes. It was over, the fat lady had sung. She and Ron had been found out by none other than a pissed, jealous Draco who thought there was something between her and Ron.

Draco rose to his feet, dragging her along with him by he sleeve of her robe. "You are coming with me to see Voldemort."

"Just kill me now," she said softly. She wiped the tears away with the back of her hand, furious at letting him see her cry. "Kill me, damnit, it's the least you can do! To repay me for the shit you put me through all during school!" She jerked out of his grasp, voice raising. "For pretending to hate me! Did you know I worshiped you for the first two years of Hogwarts?! For Christ's sake, do you want to see what I wrote in my journal?"

Draco blinked, but his eyes went cold. "If I kill you now, how will Voldemort ever know that I was telling the truth? That you, Rose, are Hermione Granger, one of the best Aurors of our time. I would never get the respect from him I deserve for turning you in, love."

"I hope you die and rot in the deepest pits of hell!" she screamed. In reply, he simply grabbed her arm and dragged her toward Voldemort's throne room.

Hermione was completely and utterly distraught. She would be tortured to death, that much she knew for certain. She wouldn't tell them anything, though, no matter how they punished her. She would not bend to them and she sure as hell would not break.

Draco kept glancing at her out of the corner of his eye. This was Hermione Granger. The Hermione Granger he had fallen in love with during third year. Whether by accident or fate, he had promised himself then that one day he would marry the woman.

But time had a funny way of altering things. He went into the family business, she became an Auror. There was no way she would look at him now. Not that he ever thought she would, or even had for that matter. After the way he treated her and her friends in school.

But, here she was, confessing she had once liked him and what was he doing: feeding her to the dogs. Straight to Voldemort was where he was taking her, to claim his respect and regain his dignity from the floor where it had shattered at Voldemort's feet.

She was crying. He could still hear her whimpering as he told her Ron was in the dungeon. He looked up to see Voldemort's door looming into view. "Idiot," he stopped in the hall, glancing over at her bowed head.

She kept her head down, stayed resigned. She let the small, silent tears roll down her cheeks. Her black hair hid them from view, so who could tell if she cried her heart out for a while?

He turned toward her and almost wrapped her in his arms. He pushed her back into the shadows, stopping himself from wiping at the tears he knew were coursing down her cheek. "We will be attacking Potter in two days time, around noon… at the ministry."

She looked up at him, eyes wide. What was he saying? "Draco, I don't-"

"Go, go tell whoever you have to tell. Warn your precious Harry Potter," Draco stepped away from her. "Do it quickly. Get whatever information you need here and get out. I think Voldemort suspects you."

"Draco…" She reached for his hand, pulling him back. "Thank you," she whispered, laying a feathery kiss on his cheek. She quickly pulled away, running back in the direction of her room.

Draco watched her go, before lowering his eyes to stare at the flagstone. Rocks melded together and smashed under feet trampling it over the ages. He was so caught up in his thoughts of Hermione and how he convinced himself that he did the right thing that he didn't hear the door shut behind him.