Family Secret.
Standing in front of the mirror in his bedroom, Draco Malfoy, perfected his hair and gave an approving nod to his reflection. Draco wasn't exactly modest, and he knew he looked good. He'd inherited his parents best features and at seventeen, Draco was one of the best looking wizards at Hogwarts. But tonight, he wasn't aiming to impress his fellow students. Tonight was all about family.
When he'd returned home for the summer a week ago, his parents had informed him that since he was seventeen he was old enough to be informed of the big family secret. Although up until his parents mentioned the secret, Draco had no idea there even was one. Not that they would be drawn on what the secret was, and they'd told Draco he would find out over dinner that evening. So for the last week, Draco had been contemplating what big secret his parents had been hiding from him his entire life.
"It better not be a bad secret," Draco muttered to his reflection. "At least I know I'm not adopted," he chuckled. After all, there was no denying he was Malfoy through and through.
Hoping that whatever his parents had to tell him wasn't about to change his life in a bad way, Draco headed downstairs for dinner. Dinner was always served in one of the three dining rooms, but which one changed depending on who was going to be present. When it was just the three of them, they used the smallest dining room, when they had a small handful of guests they used the dining room at the rear of the manor, which offered spectacular views of his mothers rose gardens, and they only used the largest and fanciest dining room when his parents were hosting a full-on dinner party. Peering into a couple of the dining rooms, he found that they were dining in the rose dining room, which meant they would be having guests.
"But who?" Draco mused as he headed towards the living room which his parents used to entertain guests.
With his parents about to reveal a big family secret, it made sense that their guests would be family, but Draco wasn't sure which family it could be. His father's parents were dead and Lucius was an only child. His mother's parents were also dead, and while she had two sisters, neither were in a position to be joining them for dinner. Draco had never met his Aunt Andromeda after she'd been disinherited from the family after marrying a muggleborn, and his Aunt Bellatrix was a wanted criminal.
"Or maybe it is Aunt Bella," he muttered.
Back when Draco was just young, both his father and aunt were involved with the notorious dark wizard, Lord Voldemort. Shortly after Voldemort had mysteriously vanished, his aunt had been arrested and it had looked certain that she would end up in Azkaban. But then during her trial, Bellatrix had somehow escaped from the Ministry and had been on the run ever since. Draco had always suspected that her parents knew exactly where his aunt was, but they'd never told him. Maybe now he was seventeen they were about to bring him in on the secret as to where his aunt had been all these years. And maybe that was the family secret he was about to be brought in on.
Eager to see if the family secret involved his aunt, Draco hurried into the living room. However, when Draco entered the living room it wasn't a witch sitting with his parents, it was a dark haired wizard. There was something about the wizard that made Draco uneasy, and when he spotted that he had red eyes, he realised exactly who was going to be dining with them that evening.
"Ah, I see your son has worked out who I am, Lucius," the wizard cackled.
"Of course I have, My Lord," Draco replied deferentially.
The dark wizard, Lord Voldemort, might have vanished all those years ago, but a couple of years ago he had used his nemesis Harry Potter to return, and now he was here about to dine with the Malfoys. Even though Draco had never met The Dark Lord, or at least if he had he'd been too young to remember, he knew that was who he was speaking to as Potter had been very thorough in his description of the dark wizard, and one feature that had been remarked on were Voldemort's red eyes, which according to Dumbledore was a sign of his use of dark magic. However, he'd been back for a couple of years, and Draco had to wonder why they were only meeting now.
"Sit down, Draco," Lucius ordered his son.
Draco sat down on the sofa next to his mother, aware that Voldemort was watching his every move. He did wonder if he was going to be initiated into the Death Eaters, but since he still had another year at Hogwarts to go, he had to wonder what use he could really be to the dark wizard's cause.
"Can you keep a secret, Draco?" Voldemort asked.
"Yes, My Lord," Draco replied.
"He can be trusted," Lucius assured the dark wizard, who was still studying Draco.
"Please," Narcissa said softly. "We've always agreed to tell him once he was old enough."
"Is this the big family secret?" Draco questioned.
"It is," Narcissa said. "You're old enough to know the truth, Draco. And we trust that you can keep this news to yourself."
"Of course I can," Draco promised his mother. "But what is this big family secret? Does it involve me?"
"And there's Lucius in him," a feminine voice chuckled from the doorway. "I warned you Cissy, these Malfoys are always thinking of themselves."
"Bella," Narcissa scolded lightly, smiling at the stunningly attractive witch who had appeared in the doorway of the living room.
"Behave Bella," Voldemort ordered. "Come and say hello to Draco."
"You've certainly grown since I last saw you," Bellatrix said with a smile as she walked over to Draco and embraced him as he got up to greet her. "And you're very handsome. I bet the girls are all fighting over you."
"I've had my moments," Draco replied with a slightly smirk.
"You really are a miniature Lucius," Bellatrix chuckled. "He always had a sizeable ego."
"Among other things," Lucius joked.
"I wouldn't know about that, you were always resistant to my charms," Bellatrix retorted with a pout.
"I was always worried about being cursed by your father if I took you up on your numerous seductive offers," Lucius replied with a slight smirk.
"You were scared of granddad?" Draco questioned with a frown. Of his two grandfathers, it was Lucius's father who had been the formidable one not his mother's.
"And this is the big secret, Draco," Narcissa said. "Technically, Bellatrix isn't your aunt."
"I don't understand," Draco muttered with a slight frown.
"Bellatrix is my daughter," Voldemort announced.
Draco was so taken aback by the announcement, that he couldn't formulate an excuse. He'd never even heard a whisper that Bellatrix wasn't a true Black, and he'd certainly never heard any rumours about The Dark Lord having children.
"I think we should explain," Bellatrix said with a low chuckle. "Poor Draco looks confused."
"Not confused exactly, just shocked," Draco said. "This was not what I was expecting."
"And the shocks will keep on coming," Bellatrix remarked. "But more on that later. I'm assuming you want to know the full story."
"That would be nice," Draco agreed with a nod as Bellatrix settled down on the other side of Narcissa.
"I won't bore you with the details, but when I was younger I had a fling with a witch and she ended up pregnant," Voldemort began. "I was still fairly young and trying to build up a following, and quite honestly the prospect of being a father wasn't one I relished. The witch I was involved with also made it clear that being a mother wasn't something she was prepared to do. It was clear that I was going to be left holding the baby. I had a choice to make, and I decided that what I needed was a loyal family to step up and take care of my child while I was busy."
"And that was gran and granddad?" Draco questioned with a frown. The Blacks certainly wouldn't have been his first choice of family to raise a child, and his mother often said that her parents weren't really cut out to have children.
"They considered it a great honour," Voldemort replied with a chuckle. "I made sure they were well rewarded for raising my daughter."
"And did you always know?" Draco asked his aunt. "And what about your name? It follows the Black family tradition."
"I allowed the Blacks to pick Bella's name," Voldemort said. "We wanted everyone to believe she was truly their daughter."
"And yes, I did know," Bellatrix added. "I've always known who my father was."
"And did you know?" Draco asked his mother.
"Not until I was seventeen," Narcissa admitted. "I'd always believed Bellatrix was my sister."
"I am your sister, Cissy," Bellatrix said, smiling at the younger witch. "Biologically we might not be related, but you've been my little sister since the day you were born."
"Does Andromeda know?" Draco asked.
"No, she never found out before she was disinherited," Bellatrix answered. "And given how close her daughter now is to The Order, it's a good thing she didn't know the truth. If she knew the truth, not only I would be in danger, but so would my daughter."
"Daughter?" Draco spluttered. "Where has this daughter come from?"
"Do you really need a sex lesson?" Bellatrix asked with a laugh. "Most boys your age know all about sex."
"I know about sex," Draco replied. "And I definitely know where children come from. I just didn't know you had a daughter."
"It's another part of the family secret," Narcissa replied.
"And she's the reason you haven't known the truth before now," Bellatrix said. "I would have happily told you about my heritage sooner, but I had to make sure my daughter was safe. But your parents assure me that you can keep the secret, and even my daughter believes you can be trusted to know about her."
"How can she possibly know that I can be trusted?" Draco questioned with a frown. "I'm a stranger to her."
"No, you're not," Bellatrix chuckled. "You actually know my daughter. She goes to Hogwarts with you."
"That's impossible," Draco said with a shake of his head. "I know all of the Slytherins, and none of them can be your daughter."
"She's not a Slytherin," Voldemort said. "Much to her chagrin, I might add."
"Why isn't she a Slytherin?" Draco asked. "Surely it would be her natural house given who her mother and grandfather is."
"It would be her natural house, if she wasn't posing as a muggleborn," Bellatrix replied.
"A muggleborn?" Draco queried. "Why would she be posing as a muggleborn?"
"As you know, I was married shortly after leaving Hogwarts," Bellatrix said, shooting Voldemort a less than impressed glance at the mention of her marriage.
"I still say Rodolphus could have been a good match," Voldemort muttered. "How was I to know he wouldn't have the balls to stand up to you?"
"It doesn't matter now," Bellatrix said with a shrug. "What matters is that I was married and unhappily so. Anyway, I ended up having a fling and got pregnant. I had my daughter in secret, and not even Rodolphus knew about her. But then as you know I stupidly got myself arrested and had to rely on your parents to save me."
"You arranged the escape?" Draco checked with his parents. Even though he'd long thought they'd known what had happened with Bellatrix, it had never occurred to him that they were behind the escape.
"We did," Lucius replied with a nod. "We got Bellatrix away to her daughter, and they've been living in hiding ever since."
"Hence the muggleborn act," Bellatrix said. "I had to hide my daughter, and even though it pained me to do it, the safest place for her was in the muggle world. And since father was still missing coming up to the time she would be going to school, we decided the only way she could attend Hogwarts was as a muggleborn."
"Did you arrange that as well?" Draco asked his father.
"I had some help there," Lucius answered with a chuckle. "Luckily I happen to know one of the Professors at Hogwarts and he helped us."
"Severus," Draco muttered, thinking of his godfather, Severus Snape. "So does this mean he knows the family secret?"
"No, all he knows is that the witch he helped get into Hogwarts isn't who she appears to be," Lucius replied.
"So who is this witch?" Draco asked. "Do I get to meet her? Isn't she sort of my cousin?"
"Sort of," Bellatrix chuckled. "And she's coming to dinner. You're going to meet my daughter. She wants to ask for your help with a plan she's got brewing."
"I'll help if I can. What is this plan?"" Draco questioned.
"I'll leave that for her to explain," Bellatrix answered. "Although I will warn you that if you can't, or won't help her, next year might not be so pleasant for you."
"Why? What would she do?" Draco frowned, wondering if he should be nervous about meeting Bellatrix's daughter and what she could possibly want his help with.
"Who knows with my daughter, but it would certainly make being head students together pretty awkward," Bellatrix chuckled.
"Head students," Draco muttered, getting a sinking feeling as he started to put the pieces together. A muggleborn, who wasn't in Slytherin, yet was smart and cunning and was expecting to be Head Girl, it could only be one person.
"I think he's getting there," Voldemort laughed.
"Granger," Draco stated. "Your daughter is Hermione Granger."
"She is," Bellatrix answered with a smirk. "Now, I know you've never gotten along, but I do hope you can make a fresh start."
"Don't worry Aunt Bella, I won't cause problems," Draco vowed, even though he was still struggling to reconcile Granger with being his Aunt's daughter. "I'll be nice to your daughter."
"There's no need to be too nice, Draco," Voldemort cautioned. "I love my granddaughter, but she's rather a bossy little thing. Sometimes she needs someone to stand up to her, just like her mother does."
"I raised my daughter to be strong, and she won't let herself be walked over," Bellatrix said proudly.
"But what's the situation with Potter?" Draco asked. "She's really close to him and Weasley, and I'm sure he's only alive because of her. Without her, he would have died from stupidity long ago."
"Getting close to them wasn't the plan, but we've used it to our advantage," Bellatrix said. "Although with school coming to an end, it's nearly time her act was over. But for now, we want her cover to stay in place."
"So where do I fit in?" Draco asked.
"Hermione will explain it all over dinner," Bellatrix said as she rose to her feet to go and get her daughter.
As Bellatrix headed off to fetch her daughter, Draco braced himself for meeting the real Hermione Granger. He hadn't expected her to be part of the big family secret, but he had to admit what he'd found out was truly fascinating. In a way it sort of meant he was related to The Dark Lord, and he was hoping the family's closeness would pay off for him in the future. After all, surely only good things would come from being so close to Voldemort's family.
Hermione nervously paced the floor in the living room, wishing that her mother would hurry up and let her know everything had gone alright at the manor. It would be nice to finally get to see the legendary Malfoy Manor, and to meet the family that she was sort-of related to. Even though there was no blood connection between her mother and Narcissa, she knew Bellatrix still thought of them as sisters. And maybe if things had been different, Hermione would have grown up knowing the Malfoys and they would be as close as family.
Although there were a lot of things that Hermione knew would have been different if only her grandfather hadn't temporarily been put out of action when she was just a child. It was her grandfather's disappearance that had led to her mother's arrest, and it was only thanks to Lucius and Narcissa helping her escape that her mother hadn't ended up in Azkaban. But even then she'd still been a wanted criminal, and it had been too dangerous for them to remain in the wizarding world. Which was how they'd ended up in the muggle world – just the two of them.
At the beginning her father had been around, but his relationship with her mother had never been serious, and he'd left them when Hermione was only small. Since then, she'd seen him occasionally, but he'd never been the sort of wizard she and her mother could rely on. In reality they'd only had each other, and Hermione didn't think they'd done too badly.
Hermione's only real problem was that she had no real friends, nor had she ever had any real friends. Even though they'd lived in the muggle world for years, they'd tried to keep themselves separated from the muggles that surrounded them. So that meant Hermione hadn't attended a muggle school, and had never had a chance to make friends. Instead her mother had home-schooled her, and from an early age Hermione had been initiated in the ways of the dark arts.
Even starting Hogwarts hadn't given Hermione the chance to make real friends, as she'd been forced to carry on her pretence as a muggleborn and hadn't been able to be sorted into Slytherin. And even though she'd somehow ended up friends with Harry and Ron, she was very aware that at the end of the day they were enemies and it wouldn't be wise to get too close to them. After all, Harry was the reason her grandfather had been missing from their lives for so many years, and he was the wizard prophesied to bring down her father. And Ron was from a family who were well known blood traitors and staunch supporters of her grandfather's greatest enemy, Albus Dumbledore. Even the other Gryffindors would likely be her enemy once they knew the truth about who she was.
For once, Hermione would just like to have someone who knew the truth about her, and she was hoping that Draco would turn out to be that person. To be honest she had hoped Draco could have been brought in on the secret when they'd first started Hogwarts, but her mother had insisted that they were too young to be able to hide the fact they knew each other. At the time, Hermione had been adamant that she could have done it, but now she would admit that the game could have easily been given away by one of them. She'd struggled enough over the years to keep her secret, and even though it would have been nice to have someone else in on it, it would have just been another secret to keep as it wasn't as if she and Draco could ever have openly been friendly.
Although the longer her mother was taking to return, the more Hermione began to worry about how things were going at the manor. She'd been banking on the Malfoys being on-side for the coming year, especially when she'd retuned from school with some very valuable information. Information they could certainly use to their advantage, if only Draco would help her. Although with any luck the delay in her mother returning wasn't bad news, it was hopefully just taking some time to explain everything to Draco. After all, it was rather a lot of information to take in.
Fortunately before Hermione could start to worry too much, the fire lit up and her mother stepped from the emerald flames.
"Sorry I've been so long," Bellatrix apologised. "Draco had a lot of questions."
"I did think he would have," Hermione replied. Even though she didn't know Draco very well, she knew enough about him to know that he would want to know as much as possible about what he'd just been told. "But did he take it well?"
"He won't be causing any problems," Bellatrix assured her daughter.
"But will he help me next year?" Hermione asked.
"If he doesn't, then the boy is a fool," Bellatrix said with a smile. "And from what I've seen of Draco, he's no fool. He's ambitious, and he won't risk upsetting the granddaughter of The Dark Lord."
"So you think he's only going to be help me because of who I am?" Hermione pouted. Of course she knew who she was would be a factor in his aiding her, but she'd also hoped he would be eager to do something for her grandfather's cause.
"You're going to get that, Hermione," Bellatrix said with a shrug. "Do you not think it's the same for me being his daughter?"
"But no-one knew he's your father," Hermione countered. "You became a Death Eater on your own merits."
"Not many people thought that," Bellatrix chuckled. "Most people thought I got to where I was because I was his lover."
"Eew," Hermione muttered, wrinkling her nose in distaste.
"But the principal still applies," Bellatrix replied. "I was still treated differently because of my connection to him. I even got a husband based on the fact I'm his daughter."
"You're not going to force me to marry someone I don't love, are you?" Hermione questioned. She'd never met her mother's husband, but she knew it was no love match and had been arranged by her father.
"No Hermione, you'll be free to choose your own husband," Bellatrix chuckled. "If of course you even want one. A witch does not need a wizard by their side to be a success."
"Of course she doesn't," Hermione agreed. Her mother had raised her to be independent, and even though she hoped for love one day, she wasn't going to live her life depending on the affections of a man.
"Now are you ready to head to the manor?" Bellatrix questioned. "Everyone is eager to meet you, and that includes Draco. Us Slytherins might tend to look out for ourselves, but we're also extremely loyal. And I think that if given the chance, Draco could be loyal to you. And not just because of who your grandfather happens to be."
"I hope so," Hermione said. "Now let's go."
With Bellatrix leading the way, Hermione made her first trip to Malfoy Manor. The pair arrived in a room designed for floo travel, but Hermione barely had a chance to take in her exquisite surroundings, before her mother led her out of the room, across a large hallway and into another lavishly decorated room. This room was clearly the main living room, and Hermione smiled as she spotted her grandfather.
"Narcissa, come and meet my daughter," Bellatrix urged as her sister got to her feet. "Hermione, this is your Aunt Narcissa."
"Hello Hermione," Narcissa greeted with a wide smile.
"Hello," Hermione replied. "It's very nice to meet you at last."
"It is," Narcissa agreed as she pulled Hermione into her arms and gave her a crushing hug.
"And this is Lucius," Bellatrix said as Narcissa's husband joined them. "Ignore his flirtations, he can't help himself," she warned with a playful smile.
"As if I would flirt with a young girl, Bella," Lucius tutted, before he turned to Hermione and greeted her by taking her hand and kissing the back of it. "And you my dear, are every bit as beautiful as your mother."
"I told you, he can't help himself," Bellatrix chuckled.
"It's a curse I've learned to live with," Narcissa laughed.
"And it helps that he knows that if he does more than flirt Narcissa will hex his balls off," Bellatrix informed her daughter.
"I know my place," Lucius said with smirk.
"And this, is Draco," Bellatrix said, taking hold of Hermione and turning her to face the other person in the room.
Since she'd entered the room, Hermione had been aware of Draco watching her. Not that she was sure what he was thinking as he was a master of hiding his emotions. For all she knew, he could be appalled to even be in her presence.
"Say hello, Draco," Narcissa hissed as her son just stood in front of Hermione in silence.
"Hello Draco," Draco said cheekily, his face breaking into a smirk.
"Idiot," Narcissa tutted.
"Granger," Draco said to Hermione.
"Malfoy," Hermione returned, still not sure what Draco thought of her.
"For Merlin's sake, you're not at school now," Voldemort remarked. "Use each other's first name."
Doing as Voldemort said, the two teenagers greeted each other for a second time, using their first names. No sooner had they done that, then Narcissa announced dinner was ready and everyone headed into the fancy dining room. Hermione found herself sitting beside Draco and opposite her mother, and at Bellatrix's silent urging she started a conversation with Draco as the starter was served.
The conversation consisted of small talk, but Hermione took it as a good sign. Draco didn't seem to hold any sort of grudges against her, and he seemed keen to do what he could to help her.
"So what exactly do you want my help with?" Draco asked as the main course was served, deciding to venture into more substantial territory.
"Before we finished school last year, Harry, Ron and I had a meeting with Dumbledore and he told us about his plans to enact and old tradition of the head students sharing dorms."
"I remember that," Lucius said. "But there was some fuss in my fifth or sixth year about the head students getting caught together by Dumbledore. He ended the tradition, claiming it was encouraging sexual intercourse between the students."
"The old man was an idiot," Bellatrix snorted. "Of course the older students were going to have sex. For merlin's sake, he's got a bunch of hormonal seventeen and eighteen year olds cooped up in that castle. Sex is inevitable."
"Well he thought private dorms added to the temptation," Lucius said. "I would have loved a chance to have a private room like that."
"To corrupt my little sister," Bellatrix tutted. "Maybe it's a good job the tradition had stopped by then."
"It wouldn't have made a difference, he'd already corrupted me by then," Narcissa laughed. "Besides, Lucius never quite made Head Boy."
"Only because Dumbledore hated my guts," Lucius protested with a pout. "I was penalised for being a Slytherin. He wouldn't have even had Slytherin prefects if he could have gotten away with it."
"It's the same now," Draco remarked. "I know I don't stand a chance of getting the Head Boy's position."
"That's where you're wrong," Hermione said with a smirk. "Dumbledore told me that I would be Head Girl, and that you would be Head Boy, and we would be sharing dorms."
"That makes no sense," Draco said with a shake of his head. "Dumbledore would rather I wasn't at Hogwarts, let alone be Head Boy. I know for a fact that Severus fought to get me my prefects position."
"It does seem a rather odd decision," Voldemort agreed, even though he knew the full story and knew what the old headmaster was up to.
"I thought so as well, until he explained his plan," Hermione said. "He views Draco as a leader among his friends, and from what I've seen, he's right. Where you lead, they follow. And in this case, Dumbledore wants to prevent them from following you to my grandfather's side."
"How is he planning on doing that?" Draco questioned.
"By making sure you don't join my grandfather's ranks," Hermione answered. "He wants me to befriend you and turn you away from the path of darkness."
"And he thinks I'd turn my back on everything I've been raised to believe in, because of a friendship?" Draco snorted. "He's nuts."
"Dumbledore did have a quiet word with me and pretty much told me to do anything, no matter how drastic, to get you on-side."
"Are you saying he told you to shag me?" Draco gasped, gobsmacked that even Dumbledore would go that far. "He's basically asking you to prostitute yourself."
"Pretty much," Hermione confirmed with a nod of her head. "Of course, he only mentioned that in private and he said no-one needed to know what methods I used to get you on-side. But his message was very clear. Apparently my virtue isn't worth as much as getting you on-side."
"Crazy old coot," Lucius muttered with a shake of his head. "So what are you planning to do?"
"Play the old goat at his own game," Hermione replied with a devious smirk. "I want Draco to play along with the game. Together we convince him that I'm winning Draco over, and that he's willing to join the light."
"I can do that," Draco agreed happily. "How far will we have to go? Will I have to join The Order?"
"We haven't made any firm plans on that yet," Bellatrix said. "Obviously, there are benefits to having Hermione with The Order, and it would be good to know she had some moral support in you if she needed it. But we were hoping to end this charade sometime soon, so that Hermione could return to her normal life."
"It's hard work pretending to be someone I'm not," Hermione said.
"I don't know how you've done it," Draco said. "Your act was perfect. I never would have suspected you weren't who you always claimed to be. And I certainly would never have guessed who you were related to."
"I take after my father in looks," Hermione said. "If I'd been more like Mum, it might have been trickier sending me to Hogwarts. I think someone would have noticed me if I was a Bella look-alike."
"Someone would have noticed that," Draco agreed with a chuckle. "So how were you thinking of ending things with The Order?"
"We're thinking over various options," Voldemort answered. "It would be very easy to fake a kidnapping or even a death."
"I'm sure it would," Draco agreed with a respectful nod.
"But," Hermione prompted, sensing that the blond wizard had more to say.
"But neither of those options would truly free you," Draco said. "You would either be thought to be dead, or a prisoner. You would have no real freedom."
"So what do you suggest?" Voldemort asked, eager to hear what the young wizard had to offer in terms of ideas.
"A big betrayal," Draco replied. "Some sort of big showdown where Hermione's true identity is revealed. We could even find a way to tie it into what we're doing. Turn the tables on hem and instead of me joining the light, reveal that Hermione is with us. That way she would be free to be herself, and to top it all off, it will break Potter and Weasley. It'll hurt them more to know they've been betrayed to think she's either dead or being held prisoner."
"Draco has a point," Hermione said with an eager nod. "Revealing the truth is the only way I get to be free, and if we do it right we can break the heart of The Order."
"I'll think about it," Voldemort said. "But we've got all year to find the perfect way of releasing Hermione from her act. For now, I want the pair of you to focus on the task of convincing Dumbledore that Hermione is turning Draco to their side. For now, let The Order think they've got the upper hand."
With plans for the upcoming year sorted, attention turned to the Malfoys getting to know Hermione. Sometime soon she would be back with the dark full time and as Bellatrix's daughter she would be part of their lives. What they didn't yet know was that her and Draco's plan was going to go so well that a genuine relationship would develop, and the year they would spend pulling the wool over Dumbledore's eyes would just be the first of several joint operations they would embark on to ensure that the dark side emerged victorious and The Order of the Phoenix were well and truly defeated.