I'll have you know

Chapter 12

Lady Roa

'I need a place to fit the requirements of a friend. I need a place to fit the requirements of a friend. I need a place to fit the requirements of a friend.'

Hermione paced in front of the door, thinking furiously. Finally, it appeared. Hermione blinked and stared at the small red door, which barely reached her hip. It had a small, hooked black handle, and a warslot on the top. It clearly boar the cryptic scrawl:

Ginevra Weasley, Hermione Jane Granger, conspiring liar.

The 'conspiring liar' made her smirk.

Getting on her hands and knees, she clenched the handle, which gave a great "CHNK!". Frozen, Hermione stared at the door as loud grinding and mechanical groaning, clinks, clangs, bangs, metal on wood, and a rhythmical squeak came from it.

Then, it simply clicked open.

Reaching behind her, she dragged her bag through by the strap, and shut the door, which had a mind blowing amount of black metal and locking equipment on the back. As soon as she shut the door, it slid back into place.

"It's 7:01." A dry voice mused.

Hermione turned around to see Ginny perched innocently on a deep purple pillow. The room was round, and stone. It had no windows, no chairs, no lamps. There was a scrubbed table, which she could only use properly of she were sitting on a pillow, because of it's low height.

Pillows of various shapes, sizes, patterns, materials and eras were littered everywhere.

There was a couple hook with 12 different cauldrons.

A cupboard Hermione assumed held ingredients.

A knife, spoons, mortars, pestles. Jars.

In the middle of the room, was what looked like a pool of water, which glowed and eerie aquamarine, throwing the room in a comfortable blue-green, watery shadow.

"Ginny." Hermione said, still looking around.

"Have a seat." Ginny said graciously, sweeping upwards as Hermione sat. She hurried over to the cupboard and opened it. Bending backwards she looked at Hermione upside down and offered a mega-watt smile.

"Poison? Bones? Beetles? Can I get you anything?"

Hermione made a face.

"Answers?"

Ginny rolled her eyes, straightened and bent into the cupboard, rear sticking out. Her muffled voice came from inside.

"I see my place has accepted you into my plan. What with your name on my carefully designed door and all."

"I offered. You agreed."

She backed out of the closet, jars, cups, spoons and a knife in hand, dumping them on the table beside Hermione.

"You can't honestly think I'm going to admit everything." Ginny said smartly mashing up unidentifiable stuff from the jars in a bowl. She greatly reminded Hermione of Mrs. Weasley cooking.

"No. Not really." Hermione said, digging in her bag. She pulled the book out.

Ginny stared at the back, completely lost.

"But" Hermione said seriously, slamming the book down "I believe you about the drugs. You're using them in a potion with black magic, aren't you?"

Ginny's face flickered for a second, before she slipped a mask back on. An evil smile spread on her face.

"Well, I expected something far off the mark. You give nice head."

Hermione couldn't help but laugh at Ginny's attempt at the muggle phrase. And how horribly she'd gotten it wrong.

"You mean I hit the head? The head of the problem." She corrected.

Ginny smirked.

"Did I?"

Hermione made a disgusted face this time.

"Gin? You're very…Slytherin-ish…"

At this, Ginny's features darkened, her face falling.

"I'm sorry." She said quietly.

"It wasn't an insult! Gin?"

The girl had fallen silent and was staring into the so-far-pointless pool.

"I've joined the Death Eaters, Hermione." Ginny said suddenly.

A silence.

Hermione's brain picked up on death eaters, her name, and I've. The 'joined' part was jamming the system, and she wasn't getting a result. Then, came the realization.

Complete and utter shock.

A breathless, heart pounding shock.

Then, doubt. Not Ginny. She wouldn't. That's not true. They wouldn't let her in! Voldemort has a thing against Weasleys! Of course they wouldn't let her in! What the hell was Ginny doing? Death Eaters? Death Eaters! No! She couldn't have the mark. She'd be thrown in Azkaban. Forever! Her family? What about Ron? She could die! The Death Eaters will kill her! It's not true! It's not possible. Ginny? Her little Ginny? When? How? WHY?

Why, why, why ,why, why, why?

"Why?" Hermione asked. It was a whisper compared to the screaming and confusion going on in her head. Then, fear. She was in the room with a Death Eater. Voldemort's puppet.

"So I can kill them."

Ginny's voice hard gone hard, and steely. Emotionless and full of hatred. Her eyes were slits as she glared at the water, and her fiery red hair seemed to burn.

"Ginny? This can't be…you…you didn't!" Hermione finally wailed in despair.

Ginny was now watching Hermione push the heels of her hands into her eyes to stop the tears from flowing.

"I know how it sounds. But, I've got a plan." Ginny said, now trying not to come off as homicidal as she had 20 seconds ago.

"I don't believe you!" Hermione said harshly, pulling away.

Ginny looked sad as she rolled up her robes, and the ugly mark came to light. It was smoky and faded, but still there. Evil, disgusting, revolting, and there. Burnt into the pale flesh on Ginny's small arm.

Hermione let out a silent sob, ruthlessly wiping at her tears.

"What. Are you going to do now?" She asked, her voice shaking with effort to stop crying and help, like she'd promised.

"Kill them. One by one."

"And this potion?"

"It's for the King himself."

Hermione took a deep breath, trying to sort out this information and keep her system from falling apart. In…Out. In…Out.

Dear, god. This was dangerous. Huge.

"I'll help you. To save Harry…"

"And humanity." Ginny said firmly, earning a look from Hermione. Hermione stood up and paced around the room. She tapped her finger to her lip, still shaky. She was wary of Ginny, but the thirst to do something as courageous as the youngest Weasley was getting stronger.

"You have to let me know everything. Everything Ginny. I mean it. I don't mean to be all threatening and everything, but I can't help if I'm not up to my forehead in knowledge." Hermione said, pointing to said body area.

Ginny nodded.

"You have to promise to keep this nil." Ginny said, looking desperate. Hermione sat across from her. She made an X over her heart, and Ginny gave a small smile.

"I joined to find out what they were up to. You wouldn't believe what I had to go through to find a hookup. I couldn't very well go to the Slytherins, could I? I found a guy in Ravenclaw. It took a lot of work to get them to believe me. Horrible things, Hermione. I did horrible things. I'll never be clean, even in death. Ever. The final thing was to kill the hookup. Then they'd initiate me." Ginny began, surprising Hermione with a full account.

It clicked in Hermione's head.

"Oh, god. Ginny. Oh god. You…Oh god."

The tears came now, dripping on the desk as she sobbed. The disbelief in her head was strong. The pounding was unforgivable.

"I had to. I didn't want to. But, he was the real thing. He'd killed his sister to get in. That's how I consoled myself."

"By convincing yourself it's okay to kill people that you consider lower than you?" Hermione gasped, her tear streaked face shiny. Her harsh snap, made Ginny look away.

Then, Hermione remembered. The kids in Ravenclaw, looking confused for a week. One girl crying. The fact that they cut themselves off from the rest of the school in a sneaky frog-in-tepid-to-boiling water approach.

"It was Cyle Weeks. The Ravenclaw 5th year. Oh god, Ginny." Hermione said, a little anger seeping into her revultion, and she hit the table with her hand.

"They let me in. I've slowly been climbing the ladder. Digging. I've had to practice everything to keep it all away from the Dark Lord. He's like a dog that can sniff fear, disgust, lies, and procrastination. I've had to set up walls, practice spells, and take potions. All to keep my cover. The Zonko's heist. The Gringott's hold up. I had to take out ministry members my father works with." When she said that she sounded like she was going to start tearing too.

Hermione stayed silent.

"I've slowly found out plans. Set up my own to start annihilating Eaters. I have careful plans. I've even got Ron working on the strategy, though he doesn't know it. Voldemort is going to go after low ranking members of the ministry. When he takes over the majority, it'll be no problem taking over the authority. He'll have 67 of the ministry under his control, and most of them will be secretaries, workers, mail carries, flooers, and guards. I've warned my Dad of little things. I'm keeping an eye on him, even though I'm not supposed to. Voldemort is getting better at thinking things through. He's not aiming for high power now. It's majority.

Taking over kids, in families. House elves."

Hermione let out a strangled cry at the last two.

"He's then going to move up, silently, swiftly. The next waves of first years will be completely under his control, and he'll be invading Hogwarts. If he catches you, he's going to keep you, Hermione. You need to know this. You'll be a slave for their sick little pleasures. They'll keep Ron. They didn't say what for." Her voice was tight, scared and high.

"And Harry. Oh god. They're going to kill Harry in the most sick, unimaginable way. He's got people working on a potion based a Keklepot's venom."

Hermione felt sick. Keklepot venom. One bite from a Keklepot and you live for 5 years. But, every day, you slowly die. And people around you die. Bad luck in its extreme follows you, kills your loved ones, workers, bosses. Eventually, you die by coughing up bits and pieces of yourself. You digest your own stomach. And get suffocated by your own lungs.

"But, they're gonna make it worse. They're going to kill everyone in front of him. They're going to show him Voldemort's memories of murdering people he loves. His parents. Hermione, they're going to torture him."

Finally, Hermione thought up a question.

"The order? Your family? What can we do?"

"Close the school, not accept any more members and watch closely." Ginny said.

Hermione breathed into her hands.

"How far along are we?"

"We're still in stage one."

"We've got time, then."

Ginny picked up the book Hermione brought and flipped it open. She snorted.

"Pansy Potions. They're won't even burn his ass. Let alone kill him."

"How are you planning to do this?" Hermione asked, confused.

"Take him out. Without a leader, they run around like idiots. I've seen it." Ginny said reasonably.

Hermione shook her head. Ginny lifted a brow.

"The last thing he'll be expecting is to have his plan used against him. We should take down the strong ones, and bewitch the weak."

"Who's this WE, white man?" Ginny asked pointedly.

"Your front, my shadows, Gin. That's how we can do this." Hermione said determinedly. Ginny nodded.

"Go on."

"False information. That's what we need to feed them."

"They're not looking for information, Hermione, they're looking for dominance."

Hermione let out a grunt of frustration.

"Then go ask the Dark Lord if he's a top or a bottom!" she snapped.

Ginny stared, then paled. Then, she got it. And started laughing.

"Ew…ahaha…Oh, ew…Ahahahah…"

Hermione waited until the redhead's laughing fit was over.

"Ew, that's so sick." She said, letting out a giggle and shuddering, then giggling again.

Hermione nearly pulled out her hair. Where had THAT come from? She knew she'd never say anything like THAT two weeks ago. She'd be mortified if she'd even thought it, let alone say it.

Hermione slipped out of her robes, and pointed to the pool.

"What's that?"

"It's an OgniSpecchio."

Hermione stared at her from the lip of the pool, which wasn't more than 50 inches deep.

"Bless you?"

"It's Italian for every mirror. It can do nearly anything. Transportation, freezing, storage, fire, summaries, and can see people and what they're doing. It's expensive, rare, and I love it." Ginny explained, circling it.

Hermione noted it, then went back to business.

"What are the muggle drugs for?"

"Intended use."

"What?"

Ginny looked at her like she was stupid.

"Drugging him?" she said.

"It won't work." Hermione said.

"What?"

"Have you ever seen Harry drunk?"

Ginny mouthed soundlessly.

"No? And why haven't you?"

"'Cause the man can hold his booze!" Ginny proclaimed.

"And whose blood did your master use to be basically resurrected?"

"Harry's." Ginny said pointedly.

"Exactly."

"SO? What does that have to do with it? Just because the guy's liver is better than every one else's doesn't mean the dark lord can't get high!"

Hermione rubbed her eyes.

"Yes…but…"

"Hermione! You're telling me I can't drug He-who-won't-be-tamed, because Harry can hold his alcohol. Ever tried Harry on drugs, Hermione?"

Hermione looked affronted.

"Of course not!"

"We'll there's about 70 words worth of arguing wasted!" Ginny snarled.

"Fine."

"Fine."

"Fine."

"Fine."

They were silent a minute.

"Gin, I'll see you in the morning. I'm going to go sleep on this."

Ginny shrugged. Hermione felt drained, bone tired and wide awake.

"Oh, Hermione?"

She turned around, seeing Ginny taking off her shoes and stepping into the pool, which left a bit of knee from the surface to her skirt hem.

"Yeah?"

"I'm sorry. I really am. But it has to be done, and no one was doing it. And I can't waste my life waiting for people to get their asses moving. To get this room again, think what's on the door."

Hermione smiled, and nodded.

"I forgive you Gin. I know I'm gonna have to be doing a lot more work than I thought I would."

She opened the door, waiting for the locks to undo so she could open it, crawled through and stopped.

"Ginny?"

"Yeah?" Ginny's voice echoed above the splashing of water.

"Does Malfoy know about the plan?"

Ginny looked up, confused.

"Hermione, Malfoy isn't a Death Eater."

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Hello muffins! I felt inspired this morning. PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE REVIEW! I posted this chapter before the reviews for yesterday's stopped coming, so I'm hoping you'll all love me and keep 'em coming for this one!