Chapter 20-Impressive

Another's note

Thank you to those of you who have taken the trouble to review. Thank you to my most resent reviewer-Notsosecretgeek-who did raise the question I've been wondering too- i.e. why more people haven't reviewed? It is rather discouraging when so many are reading and so few review. Please review!

Hermione broke the seal on the parchment she had been handed. Draco's beautiful cursive hand stood out in perfectly parallel rows showing his absolute command of his quill. She hardly dared to read it.

Hermione, my beautiful wife,

By the time you read this I will have gone. Deserted you after only one night of married bless, although I go to an uncertain fate my greatest fear is that you will never forgive this…

Hermione impatiently scanned his words seeing only random phrases

I have returned to Malfoy Manor…I have gone undercover to help the Order…Voldemort may not trust me…I cannot rely on my families support…the Dark Lord may punish me…

What had begun as slivers of tears turned to floods. She could barely see through the haze of tears to discern his words.

Remember what I told you, no matter what role I might be forced to play, I love you. Always remember that.

Hermione dropped the parchment unable to read any more. He had planned this all along she told herself, he knew he was going to leave her. She crumpled the parchment in her hand caught somewhere between fear and anger.

"No," was the single word she uttered before she began to sob violently.

Narcissa gasped at Voldemort's words even as his father dared to interfere.

"Draco, what?" Lucius began

"Silence!" Voldemort hissed with low menace before collecting himself, "silence Lucius let the boy speak." Voldemort turned to Draco again, "what was your relationship with the Mud-blood Granger?"

"My Lord, there was no relationship," he told him whilst fighting to keep Voldemort out of those memories he dare not share, "she was a means to an end, a way to earn enough trust to escape My Lord- it took time she was not so easily swayed."

"You're hiding something from me Draco!" Voldemort said his voice sinister and accusatory, "curio."

Although Draco had expected it when the pain came it seemed only heightened by anticipation. The curse burned through his veins causing him to convulse in agony. Dimly he was conscious of his mother's muffled protests as his Father struggled to keep her quiet and calm. Through the scorching fire in his veins he managed to focus on one small thing, the scent of her skin, the fragrance of Jasmine.

Voldemort began to laugh, if that was truly the name for the sound he made.

"Well, well young Draco, I sense a little confusion," Voldemort moved forward running a caressing touch down Draco's flushed and bloodied face. "I know," Voldemort continued his monologue, "they can be so alluring, so tempting." He paused for a moment's thought before he could speak again a vase flew from the mantle and shattered into pearl like fragments. Voldemort turned to Draco tilting his head to one side; "Did you do that boy?" the Dark Lord enquired looking puzzled.

"No," Hermione screamed "Draco," she appeared to be reaching out to some unknown spectre her fists clenched as her hair began to crackle with raw magic. "Don't touch him," she yelled at an unseen assailant, "don't you dare touch him."

"Hermione what is it?" Andromeda asked with clear concern. There was no response, the young witch seemed to have slipped into a trance like state. For a moment Hermione seemed to flicker as if she were between dimensions.

"No!" she let out a scream so violent it ricocheted around the room shaking plates in their racks and the very bones in their bodies. Before anyone could recover there was a blinding flash of blue light, like lightening running through a summer sky.

Temporally blinded it was a moment before Remus recovered enough to realise that the young witch was collapsed at his feet.

The crystal in the chandelier began to tremble; the lights flared and then were extinguished by a wild witch wind that spun like a tornado through the room.

Voldemort rounded on Draco; "stop that boy!" he demanded

Draco simply shock his head in denial, it wasn't him then he heard it; her voice,

"Draco," she screamed, the keening sound of her voice calling to him chilled him to the bone, was she hurt, he worried. Even in the confusion he barely dared to give voice to that idea. He fought his emotions, told himself he must shut them down before it cost them both their lives.

Voldemort stood for a moment, unmoving, they all held their breath.

"Impressive," he concluded before turning briefly to Draco; "you need some rest, take him away I may have use for him yet."

"Draco," his mother asked him cautiously, "tell me what you have done." Narcissa Malfoy was an extremely powerful and intelligent witch. Although she had often been content to hide in her husband's shadow she was no fool she recognised blood magic when she saw it.

"Draco," she grabbed her only son by the shoulders and shook him violently, "what have you done?"

Draco had been stunned by what had just happened it was a moment before he felt he could speak. "Not here," he hissed at his mother. Narcissa stilled focusing instead on getting Draco to the safety of his own rooms. The heavy double doors closed behind them with a resounding thud. Narcissa immediately rounded on her son.

"What have you done Draco," she demanded for a third time.

"You know what I've done," he hissed, "you know that I've married her why else did I need you to distract Father for me?"

"Draco!" Narcissa exclaimed in shock, "You know this cannot be undone."

"Yes Mother, that was entirely the point," He told her sharply a note of bitterness creeping into his tone.

"Why?" she demanded.

Draco turned to his Mother and looked her squarely in the eyes before he answered;

"Because I love her," he told her.

Narcissa didn't say anything she simply reached for her son's hand and patted it gently. There was a long moments silence before Narcissa broke it.

"How much do you know about the Black and Malfoy family blood magic Draco?"

"I know it protects both partners in a marriage." He confessed

Narcissa huffed, "Only at a basic level, but if you truly love each other it will make you both more powerful and if you are truly soul mates it is said that little can stand against you but that your power might become so great it might drive you to…" Narcissa paused leaving Draco to fill in the gaps for himself. "Hermione Granger is already a powerful witch," his mother began again, "her marriage to you allows her to tap into the ancient blood magic of our families and it would appear-if that exhibition was anything to judge by-that her power is further amplified by her love for you. Who knows what she might now be capable of?"

"Does my Father know this?" Draco asked.

"Of course," Narcissa scoffed, "the real question is will he reveal what he knows? You must talk to him Draco I do not know if he will protect her, you know his views of mud…muggleborns."

Draco shivered violently.

"Take some pepper up potion and sleep," his mother told him, "I will do what I can with your father."

Author's note

and so the pieces start to fall into place...