A Fate Worse Than Death
By West Dean
Disclaimer as per previous chapters.
Chapter Five: Meetings and Puzzles.
As the shock of recognition sank in, Hermione shrank back against the mossy bark of a small pine tree. She peered carefully through a frond of hanging pine needles, trying hard not to dislodge the snow, and watched the scene unfolding before her.
Lucius and Draco Malfoy exchanged a brief and awkward embrace. Then the younger Slytherin swung the heavy backpack off his shoulders and set it on the snow-covered floor of the forest. Father and son knelt carefully on either side of the bag and Draco now appeared to be showing the contents to Lucius, lifting various containers and bottles up to display them.
Lucius Malfoy's hair gleamed in the weak winter sunshine, but there was no doubt that he was displaying signs of having been in Azkaban .His face was paler than usual, the fine cheekbones were more prominent and the grey eyes more lined. Azkaban might now be without its Dementors but that had obviously not made the experience of being incarcerated there any more pleasant.
He was however, clearly very pleased with his son – he smiled and reached out a gloved hand to pat him gently on one cheek.
All this time Hermione was trying to calm the beating of her heart and puzzle out the scene before her.
What was Lucius Malfoy doing here in the Forbidden Forest? He was supposedly in Azkaban, guarded by top Aurors, handpicked by the Ministry of Magic to guard the dangerous prisoners ever since the defection of the Dementors some months before.
If he had escaped it would have been in the 'Daily Prophet', 'The Quibbler 'and every other wizarding publication. Even 'Witch Weekly 'would have cleared its front page, of knitting charms for that "Special Jumper that shows you Care", of the latest Beauty Potions "Guaranteed to knock 120 years off your age!" and pictures of the latest "hot" wizard, in order to warn its readers.
The news would have been all over Hogwarts and Draco would surely have been at the centre of all the speculation. The Order of the Phoenix would also have been seriously concerned at such a breakout – long feared by Dumbledore – and Hermione would surely have been informed of a meeting having taking place to discuss the implications.
The last time that Hermione had seen Lucius Malfoy had been in the depths of the Department of Mysteries the previous summer. He had been ordering the Death Eaters under his command to seize Harry and the precious prophecy and to kill all of his friends, Hermione included. It had so nearly come to that.
She remembered heavy books tumbling about her head and shoulders, but still managing to throw a Silencio charm, then Harry successfully petrifying a Death Eater – and then a slice of magic had cut through her chest leaving only a memory of icy cold.
A movement in the glade brought her back to herself.
Draco had now retied the bindings of the backpack and was handing it to his Father. What did the elder Malfoy want with the ingredients for a Love Potion? She could understand why Lucius might come to Draco for rare Potion ingredients. He could hardly wander into Knockturn Alley or visit any other wizarding suppliers as an escaped fugitive, but why these particular ones – was he taking them to Voldemort or was he acting independently?
Did Snape know he was free? She reproached herself immediately for that thought. Snape had always had Dumbledore's trust and, despite Ron or Harry's misgivings, had never betrayed it. She knew this deep in her heart and had constantly defended him for it although his treatment of her had always been so abysmal.
This meeting between the two Malfoys was therefore a direct indication that Draco had known that Snape had been called away to Voldemort's side on the night of the Full Moon. More importantly, that Lucius had not wanted Snape to know either that he was free or that he was after Potion supplies. Surely he otherwise would have contacted him directly Death Eater to Death Eater or even as a friend in a time of need? She remembered the detestable Umbridge mentioning that Lucius always praised Snape to the Ministry.
Didn't this also suggest that Snape might have been compromised in his vital role as spy against Voldemort?
SsHGss
Lucius now took up the backpack and, with a last look at Draco, set off into the depths of the forest. Draco watched until he was out of sight and then turned back in the direction of Hogwarts, passing near to the tree where Hermione was hiding.
There was a sad smile on his face and a solitary tear on his cheek. This shook Hermione who had only seen Draco responding with anger to the imprisonment of his father, and indeed with hatred towards Harry. She had not really considered that he might truly miss him.
Hermione watched Draco's figure disappear into the distance. She realised that she was trembling violently, partly from the cold, from the shock of seeing Lucius and the memories that seeing him had brought back. She headed back towards the edge of the forest making sure that Draco stayed far ahead.
ssHGss
The teaching glade was now empty but Hermione could make out the heavy tread of Hagrid's beaver-skin boots across the snow, accompanied by two smaller sets of footprints, and followed them towards Hagrid's hut. She knocked on the door with trembling hands and it was immediately swung open by the half giant.
"Hermione! There yeh're. I was about ter send Fang out ter get yeh."
She found herself ushered towards the roaring fire, a somewhat smelly blanket draped around her shoulders and a huge chipped mug of stewed tea placed in her hands. Harry and Ron were already sitting in the fireside settles clutching mugs of tea. Ron was carefully trying to move the slobbering head of Fang off his foot and both of the boys were giving her puzzled looks.
" T-Too Many Layers." Hermione stuttered, a reply to their unspoken query, guaranteed to stop any male asking further questions of a girl who had spent too long on a trip to the bathroom.
Hermione sipped her tea and tried to get her thoughts and trembling under control. The surroundings of the cosy hut were already helping her to relax a little. She allowed the chatter of Hagrid and the boys to wash over her and spent a moment just inhaling the familiar fuggy atmosphere. A mixture of wood smoke, wet boarhound and a gamy smell that originated in the pheasants, hams and other unfamiliar shapes hanging from the ceiling reminded her of the many good times that they had shared here with the Hogwarts groundskeeper.
She now looked across at her two best friends deep in conversation with Hagrid. If she told them all what she had just seen only a few hundred yards from where they were now sitting, what would happen? Her imagination suggested that it was most likely that Ron and Harry would hare off into the woods in pursuit of Lucius, possibly accompanied by Hagrid and Fang, but more likely to charge ahead of their protection. This was a risk that she was not prepared to take.
She had to tell someone! The most obvious person was Professor Snape, senior member of the Hogwarts staff and of the Order of the Phoenix. Events suggested that his role in the battle against the Dark had been compromised. She had already told him of the theft of the ingredients – perhaps he had already traced this to Draco and was ready to take action. It was surely vital that she tell him that possible Death Eater activity was going on without his knowledge and that one of the young students in his charge was now ensnared deeply in a deadly game.
Unfortunately the image rose to her mind's eye of the curl of his thin lips, the sneer in his silken voice and the coldness of his black eyes as he had cast aspersions on her sexual experience at the door of his office. She definitely could not face an encounter with an antagonistic Snape so soon after that comment.
Why did he dislike her so much? Was it because she was a Gryffindor? A friend of Harry Potter? Or was it because she constantly undermined his attempts to intimidate the students over their lack of Potions knowledge compared to his own?
It was a shame because, at the bottom of Hermione's heart, hidden as an unswerving defence of a Professor in the face of his faults - as with Gilderoy Lockhart long ago - Hermione liked the Potions master.
She often finished her Potions task long before the other students in the dungeon and had frequently passed the time by speculating on the powerful wizard who commanded such obedience from the students. She had only had glimpses of his magical power used directly in spell casting but many examples of his Potions skills. How powerful a wizard he must be to walk the Forbidden Forest alone at night or to face the wizard whose mere mark had sent people fleeing in panic at the Quidditch World Cup.
What would he be like without the sneer, the ability to only apparently feel the emotions of anger, jealousy, frustration or hatred?
She speculated on what he would be like if he could express the emotions of kindness, affection or even …love. What would those amazing hands of his feel like? At this point Snape yelling a waspish rebuke at a hapless student usually dispelled her daydream and she would concentrate on tidying her work area and try to hide her blushes.
So who should she go to with the knowledge that was burning inside her?
There was, of course, the Headmaster, Albus Dumbledore, but he had rarely been in the School lately and almost seemed to be avoiding Harry and his friends when he was present.
Suddenly she thought of the perfect person to tell about her forest adventure and almost breathed an audible sigh of relief.
Hagrid proffering a bowl of some sort of stew to her disrupted her musing.
"Try this 'Mione. It's ready so yeh don't have to trek up ter the school fer a bite ter eat."
The steaming bowl appeared to contain some sort of meat but had a strange aroma. Hermione sniffed at it cautiously and Hagrid chuckled.
"Ah! Yeh've smelt the special ingredient. I've added the slug milk, gives it an extra special tang."
Oh No! "That's lovely, Hagrid." Hermione murmured weakly, taking the bowl and a rather grubby spoon.
ssHGss
Lessons had just ended for the afternoon and although Hermione was famished and longingly thinking of the Great Hall - she had only sipped at Hagrid's latest culinary masterpiece while exchanging horrified looks with Ron and Harry - she had made her way as quickly as she could to the Defence against the Dark Arts classroom.
She knocked and entered and, as she had hoped, Remus Lupin was still there engaged in packing the last green spindly fingers of an escaped Grindylow back in its tank. Splashes of water on the floor and the general disarray of the classroom indicated that a group of third years had come off worst at the little creature's hands
"Hermione! An unexpected pleasure." The sandy haired teacher smiled at her, his lined and scarred face breaking into the nearest that he ever gave to a smile these days.
Hermione had put what was almost too cheerful an expression on her face as she normally did nowadays when greeting Remus. There was a palpable air of sadness that had hung about him ever since the loss of Sirius the previous summer. Harry, once he had been able to talk a little to Ron and Hermione about what had happened in the room of the Veil, had told them how broken Remus had seemed after the event. Hermione, who had been quietly watching the DADA Professor with concern since his return to Hogwarts, guessed that this was due to much more than just grieving the loss of a friend, fellow Marauder and outcast. She suspected that they had been lovers too.
"Um – Professor Lupin."
"Call me Lupin outside school hours Hermione, I think we've been in too many scrapes together now to need to be formal."Lupin sat on the edge of a desk as Hermione approached him.
"Lupin, I saw Lucius Malfoy in the Forbidden Forest today! He was receiving Potion ingredients from Draco that were stolen from Professor Snape." Her pent up news tumbled from her breathlessly.
"Whoah! Slow down a little Hermione. Did you say Lucius Malfoy – that is impossible, he's in Azkaban. You had better start at the beginning. Perch yourself on this desk and tell me all the details."
Under Lupin's reassuring gaze Hermione told the whole story, starting with her trip to the Dungeons on the night of the full moon. She carefully omitted Neville's role and the way in which Snape had later dismissed her from his office.
Lupin frowned at her when she had finished.
"I will check the situation in Azkaban immediately through the Order. Tonks is probably best placed to check this out.
"This is bad news Hermione. Malfoy must have escaped a few days ago as it looks as though he's been in contact with Draco for a while. Don't tell me that the Ministry of Magic has made another major cock-up.
"I'll warn Snape to be on his guard and to keep an eye on Draco. It may be a good idea for me to also let Harry and Ron know what has been happening. I suspect they will be upset with you for not telling them what has been worrying you these past few days so I'll find a way of telling them without bringing up your involvement."
Lupin now looked at Hermione with a far too appraising a gaze for her liking.
"You have been taking risks Hermione, even though I understand your reasons. But you've had a few unnerving and anxious days and still seem a little shocked from this morning's events. Well I can do something about that."
He slid off the desk and motioned her to follow him up the stairs to his office where a few moments rummaging in a drawer produced that most powerful of remedies against the Dark Arts – a large slab of Honeydukes best chocolate.
Hermione soon had a comforting mouthful of chocolate. Her evident hunger was bringing a smile to Lupin's face. His guess about how anxious she had been about what she had seen in the Forest had been very near the mark. She had also dreaded Harry and Ron finding out that she had been keeping such an exciting secret from them, especially as Harry had forcefully declared that he had "had it with people keeping secrets from me!"
"What I really don't understand is the Love Potion bit?" She mumbled, spraying chocolate crumbs everywhere
"Well, Professor Snape is assuming that it is a Love Potion based on his knowledge of the ingredients and his long experience with the students. It is possible however that it could be something else. I'm afraid I'm no expert in this field – answers might be found in the Library though I suspect it would be the Restricted Section." Lupin was looking at her again, his eyes serious.
"I have an idea that might help you cope with your anxiety while I'm making a few enquiries. I know that your first response to tackling a crisis is usually to head for the Library." He was smiling gently at her and not making fun of her propensity to grab every book in sight to solve problems. "It has served us all very well in the past. The Order of the Phoenix is stretched very thinly at the moment and I think I can safely assign you the task of checking the nature of the Potion that Malfoy may be intent on creating."
Lupin now reached for a small role of parchment and a quill and scribbled a few lines before presenting it to Hermione. She unrolled the parchment to reveal an open pass to the Restricted Section of the Library and gasped.
"I am aware how rare a privilege this is, but you are among the most trustworthy of students and I know you will not abuse this. If Madame Pince raises objections to it please direct her to me. I do suggest that Professor Snape remains unaware of your research otherwise I suspect we will both be the subject of some withering scorn."
Hermione left Lupin's classroom with his promise to take immediate action on what she had told him ringing in her ears. That took care of the Snape problem she thought to herself.
The precious piece of parchment was clutched in her hand and she meant to make good use of it straight away. Pausing only to grab a sandwich in the Great Hall, Hermione headed purposefully in the direction of the Library.
T.B.C.