Hermione rolled her eyes for what felt like the 10th time within the hour. She was trying to convince Kingsley to let her talk to Draco, but of course he was concerned about the safety risks and what not. She was sure if Harry had offered he wouldn't have faced this much discouragement.
"Kingsley, as much as I appreciate your concern for my well being, I don't appreciate being seen as unable to defend myself. Who do you think teaches Harry all his technique and defensive spells? I'm not sure if it's because I'm muggleborn or because I'm a female but it's really bugging me that everyone around here sees me as some fragile being. I can relate to Malfoy, he wont feel threatened by me because I'm just a muggleborn, and I'm excellent at reading him," She ranted, slowly getting louder until she was just short of yelling out her fustration. She knew the mention of her upbringing and gender would sway Kingsley into letting her go because he wouldn't want to be seen as biased.
His gaze flickered to her left arm where she still had mudblood etched into her skin. She refused to acknowledge the scar on her arm and he sighed heavily before running his hands over his face. "Ok Hermione fine, but you will have backup and the second something goes wrong you send up red sparks and they will swoop in, understand?"
"Yeah okay, " she answered distractedly.
Kingsley wrote up her mission and put it up on the board of the meeting room for the order, with a space for people to apply to be backup. She knew it was likely there wouldn't be many volunteers any way considering the point of the trip was to convince Draco to side with them by giving him whatever he wanted, and she knew not many people in the order would enjoy that sort of trip. Harry and Ron still wanted to skin him alive after what happened to her in his home. Only she knew that he had looked at her with the utmost empathy and helplessness when she had been carved into. He had mouthed something to her in those moments. She had been looking to him desperately while in the worst pain she had ever expeeienced and she remembered him mouthing "I'm so sorry," to her from behind his father. It was that act that had allowed her to hold on and not give up. It had shocked her that much that she had been able to ignore Bellatrix for a short time. It was what had allowed her to hold onto her sanity for just a tiny bit longer so that Dobby could rescue them.
Hermione left Kingsley with a few papers on Draco Malfoy documenting everything they knew about him and how he became Alpha, as well as his routine and any noteworthy behavior.
She met Luna at her room and they headed to the main meal area together. The meal area was a large room with high ceilings and a kitchen much like a cafeterias with the long bench of food running along the outside of the kitchen where people were lined up to load their plates with food before sitting down at a table.
Hermione and Luna both filled their plates and received an extra bread roll each from Mrs Weasely who always cooked with whoever volunteered to help her that day. They sat down and Hermione spread the papers about Draco Malfoy between them and they got down to business. Luna helped by pointing out bits of information that may be useful in an encounter with Draco that Hermione would not even have thought of.
"So he became a werewolf as a punishment for his father's mistakes?" Hermione asked herself out loud. She thought back to the Draco she had always known. Despite being a bit spoilt and prone to tantrums, Draco had always possessed a formidable air of power about him. She would have thought twice about trying to degrade Draco for she did not underestimate him. He was second in almost everything only to her, which meant he was a force to be reckoned with. She couldn't believe that Voldemort had been so stupid. He should have known that by turning Draco into a werewolf that he would assume leadership almost immediately and turn against him. Then again maybe she was able to predict his decisions so well because she knew him so well. They had been enemies in school which meant she had spent a lot of time studying him.
"Hermione?" Luna questioned whilst still reading something.
"Yes? " Hermione replied, snapping back into her focused state.
"It says here that Draco's pack only has two females in it," Luna trailed off tapping her chin with her finger, obviously deep in thought, "that can't be right can it? His pack has around 20 members in it at last check in, " she looked up at Hermione at the end of her sentence questiongly. Hermione thought it through quietly. It would make sense, female werewolves were rarer as they needed to be strong of mind to live through the transformation. Males would live through the transformation regardless but for some reason there were more requirements of a women if she wanted to survive the transformation.
"I think that's right Luna. Remember that the pack was originally Voldemort's and that females have to be of sound and strong mind to survive the transformation. The females in the pack were part of the pack before they were forced into Voldemort's rule by Grey back. I doubt Voldemort had a lot of strong, intelligent women lying around that he could turn into werewolves. Draco killed all the men that actually supported Voldemort so now the pack is solely loyal to him. " Hermione replied with the notes she had read about the pack.
"Hermione, I know this might sound a bit... savage or cold hearted, but maybe you could offer a trade?" Luna spoke slowly and carefully, looking Hermione in the eye meaningfully.
Hermione blanched momentarily. Luna was insinuating she offer Draco women to join his pack for his assistance. In theory it was an excellent idea. Once part of a pack, werewolves wanted only what was best for their pack. An offer such as this would be hard for Draco to ignore.
"I'll keep it as a last resort, " she responded calmly. Luna nodded seriously before commenting something about wrackspurts swarming Hermione again. She had taken to partially ignoring Luna's odd comments about imaginary creatures.
" A gathering like this could mean you're about to find true love or that something unpleasant is heading your way, " Luna commented on the apparent wrackspurt gathering.
Hermione snorted at the total opposites Luna had just presented her with. Only Luna would fail to notice how contradictory her statement had been.
Hermione had just settled in to read more of her notes when she heard Luna utter "oh no, definitely the second one, " quietly.
Hermione glanced up at her only to realise Luna was looking past her. She turned to look at whatever Luna was looking at and spotted Harry and Ron barreling towards her, red in the face with their hands clenched. Hermione sighed dramatically and rolled her eyes before turning her whole body to face them, crossing her arms in front of her self and waiting for their outburst.
"Draco?! Really?" Ron exclaimed when he reached her.
"What were you thinking?" hissed Harry angrily.
"He doesn't deserve our help and he's a death eater Hermione, you aren't to go anywhere near him, " Ron spat venomously whilst pointing a finger at her threateningly.
"Absolutely not, he's filth and he will kill you, " Harry agreed with Ron.
Hermione stood slowly. She turned her glare on Ron and then Harry who she saw twitch in discomfort. "Well thank God I don't need your permission. I'm perfectly capable of handling Draco but thank you for showing me that you have every confidence in me completing my task. And for your Information Harry Potter I was thinking that this would give us the numbers we need so that you can defeat the dark lord. I don't see anyone else here coming up with any other solutions so shut it and stop acting like petulant children," she snapped dangerously, her magic making her hair rise slightly in anger.
With that she turned on her heel and stalked away.
Before she was out of ear shot she heard Luna inform them that Hermione had made sure neither of them could accompany her on the mission and Kingsley had approved since they were much too prone to acting without thinking due to them being emotionally driven.
She smirked to herself before heading out the doors and up to her room. Her mission started tomorrow, she was to head out with whoever had signed up by then. They would trek through the forbidden forest and search for Draco's pack. There was a specific way one had to request a meeting with the Alpha which she would comply with.
Hopefully everything went smoothly. She knew Luna at least would be coming which have her a sense of comfort. Luna had become something of an advisor to her. She always double checked things with Luna now days as she genuinely liked the girl and she felt she was underestimated. Luna was very wise for her age. Regardless of the child like air about her, Luna gave invaluable advice and knew exactly what to do or say to put Hermione at ease. She would be a great asset in tomorrow's mission.
Luna joined her in the room a few hours after the whole debacle with the boys and she had her sketchbook and pencils with her. Luna's pencils scratching on her sketchbook as she drew all the imaginary creatures she supposedly saw as well as ordinary everyday objects, was one of the most comforting sounds for Hermione now.
"Do you really think that theres nothing else we could offer Malfoy? " Hermione asked curiously, wanting to bounce her ideas off of Luna.
Luna tapped the pencil she was using against her lips as she looked up in thought. "Not necessarily the only thing we could offer, but definitely the one offer we know he couldn't refuse. My opinion is that we should offer him all the other deals we can think of before suggesting that. But at least we can sleep easy knowing we have a guaranteed way of getting him on our side if nothing else works,".
Hermione agreed that at least she could relax her mind a bit knowing that at the end of the day she had a sure fire way of winning Draco's packs cooperation. She wondered how she would even execute that deal if it came to it. Would they ask for volunteers or would random women fighting the cause be chosen to submit? The feeling made her sick but she also knew that if it came to it then she didn't have a choice. In that circumstance it would be the only way and lately Hermione had become a 'win by any means possible' type of girl. So she did was she had been doing for months now and swallowed any guilt or morals that she felt to deal with after the war was over. If it was ever over.
The next morning she woke earlier than necessary so that she could read over all the ideas her and Luna had written down last night for the meeting with Draco. They would attempt to offer protection, especially for the females of the pack. They would also try offering supplies and even promising revisions to werewolf laws if they won the war. Hermione had a sinking feeling in her stomach that none of these options would be accepted as enough for the sacrifices they would be asking of the werewolves but she had to give it a try.
She went through her normal routine of washing her hair and then her body more thoroughly then usual. She always did this before a mission as you never knew what could happen. You could be stuck with no facilities for a while if something went wrong so she always made sure she was clean and had eaten as much as she possibly could. She also had transfigured her beaded bag from the wedding that seemed so long ago into a small utility bag that clipped around her waist, on top of her cargo pants. She packed some extra food, a change of clothes, books and weapons into her tiny bag with the undetectable extension charm on it. She felt a small genuine smile tug at the corner of her lips when she thought of Harry and Ron's faces that night that they had fled from the wedding and she had been pulling whole outfits out of a bag the same size as her palm in a dingy alley of London.
She decided to practice some of her suggestions on Luna on her way to the meeting room. Luna trailed along next to her in a white singlet and Khaki colored shorts that reached just above her knees. Luna smiled and assured Hermione that she had the delivery down perfectly and to remember that Dracos arrogant and cruel demeanour might throw her off but she needed to keep eye contact and her chin raised to establish some kind of dominance or else he wouldn't acknowledge her as being of importance. She silently thanked the lords that Luna was so well versed in how to deal with magical creatures.
When she entered the meeting room she was not surprised at the small amount of volunteers. Her eyes swept over everyone taking them in one by one and assessing whether they would aid or hinder her in her mission. Hermione didn't think she'd really need any help but she was still prepared to throw anyone out who she felt would not cooperate with her instructions. There was Theo Nott, Alicia Spinnet, Parvati Patil, Michael Corner, Dean Thomas, Seamus Finnegan, Anthony Goldstein and George Weasley.
Hermione paused at the red haired troublemaker who only gave her a very fake innocent smile. She rolled her eyes but was secretly glad she would have another person she trusted on the mission. Not to mention he made her laugh, especially when she was anxious.
"Alright everyone buddy up," Hermione announced to the room, she glanced down at her clipboard before speaking again, "looks like we are going to the Forbidden Forrest, " she declared with a slight grimace. She saw some of the girls shudder and the boys frowned. One by one they paired up and apparated to Hogsmead. Finally Hermione and Luna were the last two people. They clasped hands and just as Hermione whispered "I hope this works," Luna whispered "It will all work out, ".
They shared one last look between them before they too apparated to Hogsmead.