Chapter 9: And the Plot Thickens
When they got back to he room, Hermione looked at Draco in frustration. "Our parents won't approve of this."
He laughed. "Since when did you care what your parents did or did not approve of? I thought that any opportunity you could get to challenge yourself would make you giggle with glee, tickled with joy."
She tapped her foot with impatience. "Don't patronize me, Draco. And you and I both know that if they found out then we'd be in deep trouble, especially with Voldemort."
"Oh I forgot," he replied with sarcasm evident in his tone of voice. "You NEVER get in trouble. This may put a mark on your untouched record. Come now, Hermione. What's one more adventure?"
"I'm not going against the Dark Lord, Draco. You and I are getting our Dark Marks soon. I don't want to be an auror." She stormed off into the bathroom and he began to think.
The old Hermione would never have turned down this opportunity, even at the age of seven. And Granger had always made it known that she wished to be an auror.
Suddenly, he wanted his old Mia again. The brave adventurous type.
He then decided to apparate to the Reins Manor and have a chat with her mother.
As Hermione was taking her shower, she felt a strange light headed feeling course through her. She then slipped and hit her head on the wall, causing her to become unconscious as she fell to the floor.
When Draco got back, he heard the water still running and he became nervous. She had been there when he left and that had been about an hour ago.
"Hermione?" he called, walking towards the bathroom door. "Are you all right in there?" There was no response. He waited a few minutes and asked again. Still no response. Then he got out his wand and said, "Alohamora," to unlock the door. Why she used such a simple locking spell was beyond him.
When he entered the room, he found Hermione passed out on the floor. He screamed her name in fright and quickly knelt down by her side. He said some basic healing spells to help the cut on her head.
Then he picked her up and brought her to the bed, making sure she was comfortable. Her eyes opened slightly and he smiled. "Don't move," he instructed. "You might have a concussion."
She sat there but the look on her face told him she wasn't happy about it. "Would you like to explain to me why I passed out in the shower?" she asked as she grabbed the blankets around her and covered her naked form in them. Draco smirked.
"I was doing you a favor."
"By what? Knocking me unconscious?"
"Your parents had you charmed to be the perfect ideal teen pureblood bride. I went to them and I told them I wanted the real you. I had to beg them to lift it. You have no idea how much begging I did for you."
"Those bastards," Hermione mumbled to herself. "Who the bloody hell do they think they are changing me like that! I may have lost my best friend now and I'm sure Dumbledore thinks I'm a twat!"
"Relax, please," Draco requested. "Merlin, you're so selfish. Nothing like a, 'Gee thanks, Draco, for breaking the spell and helping me be myself again and saving me from a life of bitchiness.' Where's the gratitude?"
She scoffed at him. "Now who's being selfish?" She laughed as he cracked a small smile. "What time is it?"
"Nearly three in the morning and Dumbledore wants to meet us for breakfast at 7:30. We'd better get some sleep."
"I definitely agree." Draco brought her over some pajamas and watched as she got dressed. Hermione didn't notice that but she did however notice when he got into her bed. "No! No, no, no, no, no."
"What? I can't even share a bed?"
"YOU, Mister, are on the couch. I may have slept with you before but I still don't trust you." She threw a pillow at him and demanded that he get out.
Patrice and Narcissa sat in the living room of Reins Manor having a spot of tea. "Those kids haven't even realized yet what happened when they made love," Patrice laughed. "It's just so cute."
"I feel a little bad for your daughter, though," Narcissa commented. "I mean, Draco would have done it without question but Mia...well you and I both know that without the help of that lust spell we gave them, Mia would have never gotten within ten feet of my boy."
"I know but you remember what our Lord said. He told us it had to be done then. The baby is to be his vessel."
"I still don't get it. Explain to me how it will work again."
"The Dark Lord needs something both dark and light but conceived of pure blood and primal instinct. A baby. A baby between his two most loyal families, though sometime long ago, one Reins did defy him but that's irrelevant to this story. The point is that once Draco and Mia's baby is born, the Dark Lord will perform a grand ceremony and become reincarnated in the baby. The power he will possess will be beyond anyone's belief. Your family's power, my family's power...and the power of the Dark Lord himself. It will be unstoppable.'
At 7:30 A.M., the four gathered for breakfast. After sitting down and sleepily greeting one another, Dumbledore asked them the question. "So what do you all think?"
Draco yawned and Hermione sympathized with him. They really needed more sleep then they were getting. Stress and exhaustion was not a very pleasant combination.
"I'm in," Harry declared with fake energy. It was obvious that he had been up all night too. The bags under his eyes gave him away. "I want to be an auror. I want to be in the Order. I want to bring Voldemort down." Hermione looked at Harry and could tell he was still intensely angry. He was probably prepared to lose one of his best friends. But she wasn't.
"Of course I'm in too then," she smiled. "I'll follow you into any danger you lead us to, Harry." Harry was surprised but tried not to show it.
"Count me in as well," Draco smirked, surprising everyone. "As long as we don't need to have parental consent." This brought a smile to everyone's face as they shared a small joke.
"I must admit that I'm not surprised with any of your choices," Dumbledore stated. "All of you are brave and cunning, some of the brightest minds I've ever had the pleasure of teaching. Now for today, you will be tested in many different categories."
They all ate their breakfast with a light conversation. Draco seemed awfully quiet though. The only things he actually would contribute to the conversation would have been his usual insults and he knew Hermione would not appreciate that. So he stayed silent.
After they finished, Dumbledore led them to a restricted section of the boat that had a sign saying 'Authorized Personnel Only'. Dumbledore led them inside.
The first person to greet them was Ron. He was quite pleased to see Harry and Hermione. "Dumbledore told me he wasn't sure you guys would go for it."
"He lied," Draco said nonchalantly, not even looking at Ron but instead taking in his surroundings. There were weapons all over the room such as swords, crossbows, and fighting staffs.
"HARRY! HERMIONE!" Neville screamed, running down a long corridor to the new arrivals. "I'm so glad you two are here. We haven't started training yet. We were waiting for you guys."
Hermione gave both Neville and Ron great big hugs. "It is so good to see you both." She then turned to Harry. "I never really said hello, did I?" He shook his head no and she gave him a huge hug as well. "I missed you so much." Tears formed in her eyes.
"It was only a month," Neville stated in confusion. "I mean, I missed you all too but I don't think a month qualifies for tears." She looked at Harry and he seemed to understand what she meant. She was sorry and he forgave her.
"Up until about a week ago, I was having the worst summer of my life. When my parents told me the news, I was devastated." She knew Draco wouldn't be happy with her for telling them but she had to. "The news was unbearable and then they said I was betrothed to Draco. Then they told me the wedding was in a week. But then something happened. The night we got married, we started getting along. He's not such a bad guy."
Draco stopped looking at an ancient sword and looked up. "Don't be ruining my rep, love. I've worked long and hard for that. I'm no softy."
Hermione laughed. "I was just kidding, guys. He's an evil little git."
"But what was going on yesterday?" Harry asked ignoring the bond he just saw between Hermione and Malfoy.
"Her parents thought I would appreciate it if they made her more like the average pureblood wife. And while it WAS fun for a day, I'll have to admit that all I WANT is my Mia."
"Stop calling me yours!" Hermione said with anger. "You're so possessive."
"I'm a Malfoy, love. I truly am the spoiled little prat you always told me I was. When I want something, I've just got to have it and when I finally have it, it's mine and no others. Just - like - you.' He leaned over and their lips touched in a possessive yet gentle kiss. It made Hermione go weak in the knees.
"Don't snog in front of us!" Ron screamed.
"I'm confused," Neville confessed once more.. "Why is Hermione kissing Malfoy? Doesn't she know he's...evil?" He whispered the last part into Ron's ears so Draco couldn't hear but as it turns out, Neville couldn't whisper very well.
"If I were evil, why would Dumbledore invite me here?" Draco asked smugly, hanging his arm over Hermione as if she was his. "And by the way, she's kissing me because she's my wife." Hermione shirked his arm away and grimaced.
"Must you remind us?" Ron asked glumly, looking as though he was about to be sick.
"Get over it, Ron," Hermione replied. "I understand that you don't like him but you'll have to deal with it. I didn't choose to get married. It was forced upon me. But the thing about it is that I was friends with Draco when I was younger. I LOVED him as a child. I think I could possibly begin to feel the same about him again eventually, given time."
Silence filled the room.
"Either I'm losing my mind or Hermione just said she's falling in love with Malfoy," Neville said, breaking the silence.
"Are you all ready to begin?" said a deep voice behind them. It was Remus Lupin. "If you'll all follow me, we need to test on physical strength."
Everyone except for Draco was pleasantly surprised to see their old teacher. "Remus!" Harry shouted. The man was like an uncle to him. Hermione, Ron, and Neville also greeted him much the same. Draco stood back and leaned against the wall impatiently.
"Let's be off," the older man said. "We have a full day planned." He led them down a cold corridor with weird paintings on the wall. The paintings were just scenery. No one inside.
At the end of the corridor, there was a door. It was a light colored wood with the words, 'Enter at own risk,' written on it.
As soon as he opened up the door and the kids walked in, they saw a huge obstacle course. Wiring to crawl under, tires to run through, and walls to climb over. "After you go through the course, you'll run twenty laps around the room. That's two miles," Remus informed them. "I'll give you exactly 20 seconds for you to get in workout clothes and then I'll be timing you. We need to see how fast you can do this. Twenty seconds starts...NOW." They all took out their wands and transfigured their clothes. It took Neville a little longer than everyone but he got it right before the twenty seconds was up.
When they were all finished with everything, Remus smiled. "I'm impressed. Hermione had the fastest time."
"I try to stay in shape," she informed him. "I work out every day for at least an hour."
"That will help out in the long run. Now we'll move on to mental training. If you have anything you're hiding from anyone here, speak now because we'll be learning a lot about you all today."
Hermione looked around the room while biting her lip. "I...I...I think I'm pregnant!" she told Harry and Ron with fright.
"YOU WHAT!" they both screamed in unison.
She never realized how bad they would take it. After all, he was her husband and stuff like this happened all the time to married people even if they used contraceptives...right?
A/N...Enjoy! Review! Thanks for all your reviews from the last chapter by the way. I appreciate them.
