I woke up the next morning fully dressed under a what felt like a fluffy cloud. I didn't move or open my eyes, trying to take stock of the situation. I decided Dolohov must have put me to bed last night. Did he stun me or was I really that tired? Either way I seemed to be unscathed.

I couldn't hear or feel anything besides some insanely comfortable sheets. So much for super-spy tactics. I cracked an eye and saw an empty spot next to me where someone had clearly slept in the bed. Sitting up slowly, I scanned the room. It was deserted. I wrapped a blanket firmly around myself to ward off the morning chill and crept towards the bathroom. Not hearing any sounds from within, I cracked open the door and peeped in. It was empty too.

Not that I wasn't pleased with this turn of events, but where in the world was Dolohov? After a few seconds of indecision, I decided that I might as well go ahead and get ready for whatever I was going to face that day. The bathroom was beautiful, with a soft brown floor and walls that appeared to be made of live, red-barked trees. The green pine needles formed a ceiling through which light filtered. It was an amazing piece of magic, and I couldn't repress a smile as I walked in.

I pulled off my jumper and took a good, hard look at myself in the mirror. My face was surprisingly clean and bruise-free, although there was still an impressive green and yellow pattern across my ribs. I regarded my face with confusion, turning it this way and that to catch the light. I couldn't understand how there wasn't a hint of a bruise, when I knew for sure that the Death Eater who snatched me had hit me with a wild haymaker in retaliation for my trying to claw his eyes out.

Although it seemed odd, Dolohov must have healed me. I stared confusedly at my expression in the mirror, trying to recognize the surprisingly humane treatment I'd received from him with the man who'd almost killed me in the Department of Mysteries at 16. I shrugged, wincing as the movement stretched some sore muscles in my back. I attempted to run a hand through my disastrously frizzy mane of hair, but found to my disgust that there was blood caked in it. Deciding to save my curiosity about Dolohov's kind treatment for a later moment, I let my jeans fall to the floor and stepped into the shower.

As I stood under the waterfall shower rinsing shampoo out of my nest of hair, a snarky voice interrupted my shower.

"Tisk tisk Hermione, just getting up at 11 are we?"

I squeaked and grabbed a towel just as Snape walked into the bathroom.

"What the hell, Severus?" Snape's eyebrow raised in a sardonic smirk.

"Apparently marriage brings on sloth. Get moving. I need you in the lab."

"Really?"

"Indeed. I have told the Dark Lord your assistance would be invaluable for my potions work."

"Brilliant! I can't believe I'm allowed out of the room. Where's Dolohov?"

"Lovestruck already are we?" I hurled a bar of soap at him, which he didn't duck fast enough. "Touchy, touchy. He's on assignment, back tonight".

"Thank goodness! Let me put my clothes back on and I'll be right with you." I looked at my pile of dirty clothes, covered in whatever had been on the floor of Malfoy Manor last night. "I don't suppose I could use my wand?"

Snape laughed sarcastically. "Not a chance in hell. In addition to that, you will be bound within 10 feet of my person at all times outside this room. Trust me girl," he added at the look on my face, "I don't relish the thought any more than you do."

He turned his back to leave, and then turned back to my pile of clothes.

"Scourgify!"

...

In the subterranean potions laboratory, I carefully added Eye of Lionfish to the potion at regular 40 second intervals, which gave me plenty of time to ask questions- one of my favorite ways to pass time. I had already discovered that I was in the Lestrange Manor, that Moody was fine, and that Harry had been given three doses of calming draught so far.

"Madame Dolohov, you are as inquisitive as ever." Severus snarked. I shot him an angry look. I'd been trying all day to avoid thinking about the fact that I was married to a Death Eater for the rest of my life, or at least until one of us managed to kill the other.

"That is your name now, girl, and you would do well to remember it, as it will complicate your mission. Dolohov does not share. There are Death Eaters who would have been content to have their mistresses on the side, and let you do as you please. I suspect Dolohov is not one of them. He guards fiercely what he considers his."

"We haven't even slept together yet."

Snape raised an eyebrow in surprise, "Nevertheless, it would be exceedingly dangerous to have him find out that you are…. carrying on… behind his back. And that need for secrecy raises other concerns."

I nodded, quick on the uptake as always, "That means that other Death Eaters could hold our affairs over my head as leverage, or expose me in a ploy to embarrass Dolohov."

"Precisely. His insecurity is a weakness for both of you."

I snorted wryly. What type of messed-up world did we live in where wanting your spouse to be faithful was a liability? We were both quiet for a while as we strategized.

At last, Snape nodded. "What you need is something public, something that will make it clear to every man here that being caught with Dolohov's wife will a fatal mistake, regardless of who initiated it."

"But how am I supposed to do that without losing Dolohov's trust?" I ignored the pang in my chest at the though of betraying the man who had been oddly kind to me. I tried to tell myself that I was just concerned for the success of the mission, but self-delusion's never been a strong point for me.

Snape treated me to his best sardonic smirk. "You're the brightest witch of your age, aren't you? Think of something."