Chapter 9:

"Missy? What are you doing here? I thought you were in France?" Draco barked as he jumped up, pushing back his chair. His eyes were as wide as saucers as he strained in vain against the magical ropes that bound his hands to the table.

Both Harry and Hermione instantly trained their wands at Missy, their disbelief at the unfolding events evident in their eyes. "Drop your wand" Harry warned Missy, as he took a small careful step towards her.

She giggled unexpectedly and spun around to face Harry, now pointing her wand straight at him. "Oh look! It's the world famous Boy-Who-Lived. "

Hermione covertly tried sliding towards Missy but was forced to stop when Missy faced her as well and scoffed "Mudblood, stay right where you are if you value the life of Harry Potter."

"Missy, listen to me", Draco pleaded, his eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. "I don't know what Travers has told you but you are making a stupid mistake. You don't have to do this. Look, I can get you out of whatever situation you're in. Just drop the wand and we can talk".

"Shut up, you weakling" spat out Missy, gritting her teeth, her wand unwavering as she pointed it at Harry.

"There is no way out for you. There are two wands pointed at you, Margaret. Juts listen to Malfoy." Hermione whispered, her eyes intently following Missy's every action.

"I said shut up. One more word and I'll have no trouble killing you instead. It will accomplish the same damn thing. And my name is MISSY, you STUPID LITTLE MUDBLOOD!" Missy screeched, sparks shooting out of her wand .

Harry instantly reacted by casting an Expelliarmus at Missy, which Missy swiftly deflected. Her face expressing acute hatred, Missy then shot an unfamiliar spell with an intent to severely harm her opponents. A dangerous looking deep purple wisp shot out of Missy's wand reaching towards both Harry and Hermione. Hermione shot up a Shield charm that temporarily protected both of them from the wisp. However it looked like the spell used by Missy was Dark Magic as the wisp had now turned into black tendrils that were enveloping the shield. Harry strengthened the Shield charm while trying different spells to slow down the expanding tendrils. Hermione gasped as one of the ends came dangerously close to her eye. She cast a Confringo at it, which temporarily blasted the ends off but the wisp continued to grow, sprouting new tendrils that continued to envelope them in a cocoon.

Missy in the meanwhile, with an evil scoff, turned away and sauntered back towards Malfoy "Looks like they are going to be busy for a while. It's just you and me now. Just. Like. Old. Times" she punctuated.

"What in Merlin's name is that spell?" Malfoy grunted, ignoring her statements as he writhed against the invisible ropes that tied his hands to the table.

"Really, that's what you want to know?" Missy looked surprised. "I thought you might care more about why I want to kill you?"

Malfoy furrowed his eyebrows. "You made it pretty clear that you do not want to talk. But, presumably this is your way of repaying me for helping you out?"

"Helping me out? Hahahaha, so that's what you thought you were doing? You..., you destroyed my life and now I'm here to take yours."

Malfoy quickly threw a glance towards the wisp. Harry and Hermione appeared to be struggling to contain it. Every spell they threw at it, seemed to have no effect. Realising that he needed to work with them on this, he addressed Missy in an awe-struck but scornful tone "How do you know such magic? What kind of spell is this?"

Missy giggled. "Aww stop the flattery. I was interested in you back then, when you were the youngest Death Eater ever, but now.." she scoffed meanly.

"Well, YOU were never THIS good back then" he snarled, straining his head to better observe the black wisps that now more closely resembled climbers hanging over support structures.

"Just a trick I learned. It is Dark Magic of course. A cooler version of Devil's Snare don't you think?" she snickered, drawing closer as she slipped her left hand inside her robes.

"DEVIL'S SNARE? Aaaah very cool." Malfoy engaged in a strange neutral and loud tone. "DEVIL'S SNARE" he yelled again, pointedly staring at Hermione.

Missy looked up at him in confusion, just as the room became enveloped in bright bluish white flames which vanished the snakelike tendrils and extinguished the dark purple wisps floating around. Malfoy ducked as a spell came flying near his head from the centre of the explosion. Harry stood with his hands stretched as he cast one spell after another towards Missy, holding her attention. Hermione, used the opportunity to surreptitiously slink along the walls at the back of the room as she made her way towards Malfoy.

"I went easy on you before, but you can forget about that." Harry yelled angrily as he aimed multiple curses at Missy in succession. Missy appeared to be struggling but she held her own against Harry until she caught sight of Hermione. In shock that Hermione had almost made it to Malfoy, Missy screamed and threw up such a large shied up that it blasted all of them off their feet. Before either Hermione or Harry could get up, Missy began screaming and ran towards Malfoy, at the same time reaching into her robes and drawing a small, sharp, curved dagger. Hermione hastily cast a Jelly-Legs curse at Missy, causing Missy to stumble. Having bought herself a few seconds and leaving Harry to deal with Missy, Hermione quickly sped towards Malfoy and threw herself on the table as she hastily tried to release his binds.

"Expelliarmus" Harry shouted, successfully retrieving Missy's wand. Wand-less and with jelly-locked legs, Missy finally looked defeated.

As Hermione continuing casting various spells at Malfoy's magical binds, she cast an eye at Missy and said "Margaret, drop the dagger, it's over."

Harry tiredly walked towards Missy, holding his wand out, watching her movements carefully. Malfoy breathed a sigh of relief. Whatever bizarre event had occurred, it appeared to finally be under control.

"Nice pointer with the Devil's Snare" Hermione whispered, sparing a glance at Malfoy.

Malfoy grunted in response, angling his body away from Hermione. Her position on the table was such that her hair constantly tickled his neck. Her knee was pressed against his ribs as she held his left arm and cast various incantations with her wand. Malfoy didn't ever remember being this close to Granger before and in his current state, he felt embarrassed and uncomfortable. He pulled away, his eyes wide as she leaned closer to his chest, her concentration entirely on the magical binds on his arms. She smelled fresh and divine to his tired, disheveled, prison self.

"Stay still Malfoy. Don't you want to be free?" Hermione snapped at Malfoy, readjusting her position and grabbing onto his upper arm to stop him moving.

Malfoy wearily glanced away from Hermione and looked up at Missy, who was staring at the ground despondently. He watched as her expression slowly but surely changed to one of pure unadulterated rage. He noticed suddenly that she appeared to be clutching something under robes. In panic, Malfoy opened his mouth to shout, but before he could warn the others, several things happened at once.

There was a huge bang, as the door to the room opened and several Aurors filed in. Unfortunately, they were trained to contain situations and so immediately upon entering, they attacked poor Harry as he was the only one holding an outstretched wand. Missy, took advantage of the confusion to run and jump towards the table, her arm extended, curved dagger in hand. Hermione who was sitting on the table between Missy and Malfoy, was directly in the line of attack. As Missy lunged, Hermione screamed as she felt a massive force shove her off the table.

Hermione looked up to see Missy in chains. The Aurors had finally captured her. Harry was standing at the end of the room with Auror Rubbards. Hermione quickly checked her shoulder and body for any damage as she stood up and was relieved to find that she was fine.

She glanced back at Harry before she noticed that something was wrong. Harry's face was white and panic-stricken. She glanced at Missy who was now sporting a maniacal grin. "You'll be dead in the next hour" she laughed. Hermione felt a chill pass through her spine as she realised that Missy was no longer holding the dagger. With horror, she glanced to her side at Malfoy. One of her spells must have worked for his hands had been released from the ropes that bound him to the table. He was sitting, no... he had slumped on to his chair, his hands blood soaked as he held them against his stomach trying to still the blood flow. At the side of his stomach, sat the golden hilt of the curved dagger. Malfoy's eyes appeared closed and his breathing laboured.

Hermione stared transfixed in shock - Malfoy had been stabbed.

It was only after the Aurors had carried Malfoy's body away to the healing unit and Harry had reached her side that Hermione realised something even more strange - Malfoy had been stabbed because he had shoved her away from danger.

"Are you okay, Harry?" Hermione passed Harry a cup of Hot Chocolate as they waited in the waiting room of the Healing unit. Apparently the interrogation room had been under observation by several Aurors including Rubbards in an adjacent room, however they had been unable to come to Harry's aid in time because someone had spelled the walls of that room to shrink. One of the Aurors, had ended up seriously injured and was also being treated at the moment. Farringer had apparently been walking Kingsley to the Portkey room where Kingsley had returned to France and so neither of them had had any inkling about the situation.

"I'm... I just thought... things would be normal now that Voldermort is dead."

Hermione sighed deeply. "I know what you mean. Clearly someone at the Ministry wants Malfoy dead."

"Not just him. She was going for you." Harry shivered at that thought. "And you? How are you doing?"

Hermione smiled grimly at Harry. "That did puzzle me though. Why was she trying to kill me?"

Harry shared what Malfoy had told him before. How Malfoy would be given the death sentence if they couldn't find someone to marry him.

"I guess she knew that you were his..." Harry paused, as he realised the implications of his statement.

"I'm his only hope." Hermione finished simply.

"No, we'll find someone else. I won't let that happen." Harry shook his head vehemently. "There has got to be another way."

Hermione sipped her drink quietly. "I need to get to a library. Find out more about this Poena Magnus thing. We'll figure it out." She smiled weakly at Harry.

They sat quietly for a few minutes. Harry was growing increasingly restless as he constantly tapped his wand against his knee. "Do you reckon he will be okay?"

Hermione bit her lower lip and stared at the ground. "I.. I hope so."

Farringer chose that moment to appear. "Mr Malfoy is going to be okay." He chuckled inappropriately. "Phew, saved us from a media disaster." He continued chuckling to himself missing the looks of disbelief on Harry and Hermione's faces.

Hermione hadn't even thought of the outcry that would accompany this incident. She suddenly felt small and helpless and entirely unlike herself. They had almost died and that was apparently not the priority or concern for the Ministry.

Unaware of Hermione's internal turmoil, Farringer continued, "But we need to come up with a story. The media is waiting outside and we need to present a united front."

Harry scoffed loudly. "You've got to be kidding me! You spent a week doing checks on Margaret and you didn't find out that she was a psycho assassin. I'm not presenting anything with the Ministry."

Farringer dropped his facade and scowled. "Mr Potter, you are ultimately responsible for this outcome as the other party of this deal. You are incredibly lucky that Mr Malfoy survived and we did everything we could to help you and save him." He moved towards Harry imposingly while sparing Hermione a glance "Talk some sense into your friend, girl".

Hermione jumped to Harry's defence, reservations and insecurities forgotten. "Councillor, we have fought the Ministry before and we are not afraid of doing that again. I would be careful with my words if I were you when addressing the Chosen One, after all the entire world is indebted to the Boy Who Lived." She breathed in deeply, content with the shocked expression on the misogynist's face. "But..." she continued, turning towards Harry, "we do need a cover story."

Hermione, drew Harry aside, throwing up a Muffliato charm. "Harry, you are going into Auror training soon, this is not the time to piss off this jerk. We need to keep working with these men while being on guard. From what Percy told me last week, the Ministry will release Malfoy as long as there is a potential match decided. I think I should just commit to being his fiance. That way you get to honour the deal and they will release Malfoy. We can keep him safe with us while figuring out what's going on. He knew Missy, so maybe he know's who's behind all this."

"But Hermione, you cannot marry Malfoy. That's crazy."

"I won't let it come to that. We just have to say that we'll honour the deal so that they grant him bail. According to Percy, we can get a year's time before I actually need to marry him." Hermione scrunched her face up at the thought.

Harry contemplated Hermione's suggestion while watching Farringer struggle with the buzzing sound that filled his ears. Hermione touched Harry's shoulder gently.

"Look if it helps, I'm fairly certain that Malfoy is going to hate the idea of marrying me more than either of us. He could barely stand me touching him today. Think of how annoyed he will be." she grinned before continuing seriously, "It's a temporary deal. With his help, we can get around this. I'm certain. Once you are inside the Ministry, it may be easier for you to get the inside scoop as well."

"I don't really trust Malfoy either, but I guess he's the known evil. Alright Hermione, let's do this. I'm sorry you are in this position though. I feel that it's all my fault."

"Harry, he saved my life even though it was my fault for putting him at risk. I picked Margaret... I mean Missy and she tried to kill him. Even if you refuse, because of Dumbledore's will, I am tied to his fate. It looks like I'm meant to help the tosser get out of his deal after all." Hermione sighed as she continued, "It's not like I'm really going to marry him. This is just us, honouring this stupid deal." She repeated, "stupid deal" under her breath although it looked like she was trying to convince herself more than Harry.

Harry nodded gently. Putting an end to the charm, Harry turned back to face Farringer. "Alright Councillor, you're on and here's what we are going to do."

Hermione sat on an uncomfortable waiting stool outside Malfoy's room. A mediwitch from St Mungos' had emergency flooed in with the required antidote to the poison and evidently Malfoy had recovered incredibly fast. Well atleast fast enough that he could have a lucid conversation with Harry. Part of their agreement with Farringer, was that Harry would get to talk to Malfoy before the Ministry released him, the other part of the agreement was Hermione's statement to the press after the magical acceptance of the deal. Chewing her bottom lip in concentration, she reached into her beaded bag, to find a parchment where she could jot down a rough statement in preparation for her press meeting. She pulled out the first paper she could feel and was shocked to find an envelope from Mrs Malfoy. It was the letter that she had received from Narcissa more than a week ago. She had ignored it then but now, she felt an overwhelming need to read it. It almost felt serendipitous as she opened the letter with quivering hands.

Dear Hermione,

I have attempted to write this letter more than a dozen times now and have realised that the request I ask of you can not be justified by any means. You do not owe me anything and my family has wronged you several times in the past. My actions to save Harry Potter were selfish in nature and Mr Potter and you have repaid me very well during my sentencing and by appearing for Dracos'.

But I am a mother and I will do absolutely anything for my boy and I implore you to please help Draco out. I will admit that I have know for a while now that Draco would be offered a deal out but we have been taken advantage of. We had no inkling that the deal would involve a Matriomonium clause. This is more proof that there are forces in the Ministry who not only want us destroyed economically but also destroy our social image. Please do not misunderstand my statement to imply that we are prejudiced. There just happens to be a social structure in this world and such a marriage or even a suggestion I'm positive, is meant as an insult.

But I hardly care about any of that because I fear very deeply for the life of my son. One of the strongest evidences I have is that the deal barely hurt the Malfoy vaults. Even the control over the company according to the deal is bare minimum. But if something were to happen to Draco, Merlin forbid, which is possible given the lower security at the Towers, the Ministry could take over the whole of Malfoy Industries and I would be unable to stop them since I have given up my claim when I let Draco take over. I have no way to prove this of course, but my instinct makes me fear the worst. I will do absolutely anything to save Draco and you are the only one who can.

Please,

Narcissa

Hermione read the letter over and over again. Narcissa had known that this was going to happen. The letter was obnoxious and rude and the bit about her saving Harry had clearly been thrown in there to make her feel guilty and it had worked. But most impressively, Narcissa had known! Known that an attempt would be made on her son's life. Hermione wondered if at the very moment, Harry and Malfoy were talking of similar things. She felt incredibly guilty. At least she and Harry had settled on a good plan a few minutes before. Once they get Malfoy out, they needed to have a proper chat with his mother.

Although, she was still apprehensive of the statement she would have to make to the press, she was now determined and focused. Hermione grabbed a large parchment and her best quill, once she started writing her speech, the words just seemed to flow out. Hermione smiled as she continued to craft her statement. If she was going to go ahead with this charade, she was going to make her performance award worthy.

Author's note: Sorry for the long delay. The current situation has had me relocate across the world and thrown all my plans into the trash can. Hopefully, this chapter will make up for the delay. Thanks for reading and please review. If anyone is interested in being a beta, please let me know.