October 15th
Draco didn't ask Hermione where she went when she returned to his flat. She was glad that she didn't have to come up with a suitable lie. If pressed, she wasn't even sure where she would begin. The entire meeting with Rodolphus still made her head spin the next morning. After tossing and turning all night thinking over every single word he spoke, every single move he made, the only explanation she could come up with was Rodolphus had finally gone completely insane. Antonin always said that when it came to the elder Lestrange brother, one man went in to Azkaban and another came out. Perhaps the horrors of spending so many years having the dementors sucking out all of his best memories and feeding on his emotions finally got the better of him.
She didn't believe that Rodolphus was in love with her. The very idea was preposterous. If anything, he saw remnants of the woman his late wife used to be tucked inside Hermione. Antonin and Augustus both seemed to believe that he manipulated her mind in order to mold her into his perfect ideal. His love for Bellatrix had been obsessive and very unhealthy. When she was killed by Molly Weasley in the final battle, he'd been inconsolable for months. Even the Dark Lord didn't seem to mind when he disappeared for weeks at a time to hide at the bottom of a bottle. Hermione wanted to ask him more questions about what he did to her mind and why, but the very thought of being back in his presence again filled her with a dread she couldn't shake. The next time she approached him, he might never let her leave again. He was unpredictable and clearly unstable.
All through breakfast Hermione could feel Draco's eyes on her. He was desperate to ask her questions, but not nearly enough to risk another row. It wasn't her intention to return to his flat when she left Saturday night. She'd planned to find somewhere, anywhere else to hide. But in her worries and fear after rushing out of Rodolphus' house after the very confusing kiss, she didn't even hesitate to return to Draco's home. He met her at the front door to welcome her back. Though they were both alone in the flat for most of Sunday together, he didn't broach the subject once. Likely he was hoping that she would bring it up first. She hated to disappoint him. She had no intention of doing so.
In order to keep her mind occupied and to keep from blurting out what she didn't want Draco to know in her frustration, Hermione read over the morning edition of the Daily Prophet. She had to laugh to herself. It wouldn't be a proper Monday morning without an article written by Rita Skeeter tucked away inside the paper declaring that Madam Dolohov was insane. Truthfully, she was surprised that they hadn't run out of ways to call her crazy yet.
She knew that she had Albert Runcorn to thank for the relentless coverage of her mental health. He'd always made her feel like she was less than everyone else, like she was rubbish that had no business even speaking to the other members of the regime. But, of course, that didn't stop him from trying to get under her skirt when he'd been drinking which only grew more frequent as the years wore on. As one of Rodolphus' top supporters and high on his list, she wondered if she could figure out a way to use him for her own purposes. Or if she could just get rid of him. No one would shed a tear at his death, least of all his poor wife.
"I'll be back later."
Hermione was out of the flat before Draco could even respond or ask her where she was going. Not that she would've told him either way. Apparating to Diagon Alley, she directed her steps towards the main offices of the horrible newspaper. It was past time that she had a visit with the editor in chief. Monday mornings were typically a busy day as the reporters and the rest of the staff decided their weekly assignments. Hermione pushed the main doors to the office open, startling several within.
She still felt a great deal of satisfaction in seeing that there were those who were still afraid of her. Despite printing all of the lies they wished about her mental health, many of the souls gathered on the ground floor of the building stared at her with wide eyes, fearful of what she might do next. It was tempting to just start cursing the wretched beings, but she stopped herself. The last thing she needed was to get caught in violence she couldn't get out of or arrested.
"Madam Dolohov, may I help you?"
The young witch at the reception desk practically squeaked when she spoke. Hermione bit back a laugh.
"I'm here to see Albert Runcorn."
"I don't see that you have an appointment."
"I don't need one."
She wasn't about to let some chit at the front desk keep her from her goal. There was a very important discussion she needed to have with the arsehole who was in charge of the newspaper. Ignoring the trembling girl's requests that she wait, Hermione pushed through towards the offices. It wasn't the first time she'd been there. She knew exactly where she could find Albert.
Halfway to the Editor's office, she was stopped by a smirking Alecto Carrow emerging from her office. When it was determined after the war ended that she was complete rubbish at being a professor and would likely cause more harm than good to students if allowed to continue in her position, another job was found for the horrible witch. It suited everyone, especially Alecto, just fine for her to be away from children. She loathed every moment she was back in Hogwarts. Alecto pointed at the cut underneath Hermione's eye.
"Who should I send a bottle of fire whiskey to to thank for that?"
Hermione wasn't in the mood for a verbal sparring match with the witch who would undoubtedly lose every single time. Once it was made evident that Alecto was simply using her and pretending to be her friend, she no longer felt the slightest bit of loyalty to the bitch. Plastering a smile on her own face, Hermione lowered her voice so none of the curious onlookers could hear what she was saying.
"Try to feel secure in your position all you want, Allie. You're not important. You've never been important to anyone and that's never going to change."
"Fucking bitch."
Alecto moved her arm, posed to strike Hermione across the face. Her intended victim was able to stop the act with a simple spell that left her arm frozen in the air. She smiled even wider.
"Do I have to remind you, Allie, that Rodolphus' orders were to leave me unharmed? See? I'm important to him."
The sudden arrival of Albert Runcorn to the room stopped any further conversation. Hermione removed the spell on the furious Alecto's arm and gladly followed Albert when he invited her into his office. Not content to let her walk away without getting one last threat in, Alecto followed them to the door.
"This isn't over, bitch. I'll make you pay for what you did to my brother, orders or not."
"Oh, sweet Alecto, I'd love to see you try."
Once inside Albert's office with the door locked, Hermione felt some of her confidence begin to slip away. Something about the wizard always put her on edge. She wasn't sure how he was able, but somehow he'd always made her feel like she was a helpless fly caught in a sticky spiderweb. The smile he gave her across the top of his desk did nothing to dispel her worries. Maybe she'd made a mistake coming to see him.
"To what do I owe the pleasure of your company this morning, Hermione? It's rather unexpected, is it not?"
"I'd like to file a formal complaint against your journalists. I'm not crazy."
His laughter should've been a pleasant sound. Perhaps there were women who would find it charming, but Hermione knew him too well to be fooled. He was dangerous and not someone that should ever be discounted.
"Really? Are you certain about that? Because your past decisions would seem to indicate otherwise."
"And are you ever going to move on, Albie? That was fifteen years ago."
Nothing annoyed her more than when the past was brought up to be thrown into her face. They had a history. Years earlier when the Dark Lord was insistent that his followers find a suitable mate and begin procreating for the good of the regime, Albert approached Hermione with a marriage proposal. He wasn't in love with her. Far from it, really. She didn't think he even liked anything about her. He was simply a man who was interested in making a lucrative business arrangement. As the Dark Lord's favorite, she could assist him in his rise to the top. She'd almost been tempted to accept his offer. After all, he was an attractive man and there was a certain allure to him that she found interesting. It was during the three year period when she and Augustus weren't together. No one else was knocking on her door offering marriage. But because she believed the Dark Lord would never force her to marry, she turned him down. He ended up marrying someone else to satisfy their master's orders like a good, little soldier. A couple of years later she was ordered to marry and Albert was no longer available. It made him bitter and angry towards her ever since.
Albert was the sort of man to desire something, or someone, only because he was denied. Over the years she'd known many men just like him. It was predictable and sad really. Though they'd never shared more than one heated kiss after they'd both been drinking over a decade and a half before, she'd seen him staring at her across many rooms ever since. She wondered if she could use that to her advantage. He was just a scorned man with hurt pride after all. Those were her speciality.
"Why are you really here, Hermione?"
No longer content to sit across from him, she stood up from her chair and moved around the large desk. Perching herself on the edge of his desk, only a short distance from him, she could tell that he was trying not to appear affected by her proximity.
"The articles you keep printing about me are untrue and they're upsetting my son."
He smiled, removing his eyes from where he'd been ogling her thighs to look into hers.
"The public is very interested in your mental health, especially after what happened so publicly at the Dark Lord's funeral."
"That was an unfortunate incident beyond my control. I was drugged."
His laughter made her skin crawl. She didn't want to be in the same room with him for much longer. Her patience was wearing thin.
"Convenient, wouldn't you say?"
"Not especially. Certainly not for me. One of your employees was responsible. Ask Alecto about it. I'm sure she'll be glad to tell you all of the details."
Albert leaned back in his chair making it no secret that he was looking her body up and down. She suppressed a shudder. Why did he have to be so disgusting?
"If I stop printing articles about you, what do I get in return?"
She forced herself to put on the most flirtatious smile she possessed. Leaning forward, she ran her fingers down his arm.
"My gratitude."
The grin that split his face made her feel even more like helpless insect caught in a trap. She couldn't allow herself to forget for even a moment that he was a very dangerous man.
"Surely we can think of something better than that."
Hermione hopped off of the desk and leaned over to whisper directly into his ear.
"Stop printing them for a few days and we can negotiate some sort of deal that I imagine we can both find satisfactory."
Following up her request with a kiss to his cheek, she rushed out of the room, eager to be free from the confines of the wretched building. Outside on the pavement, she rubbed at her lips in a vain attempt to get the feel of the man's skin off. She only hoped that she was right in the fact that cultivating him as an asset would be to her benefit. She'd hate to think that entire display was for nothing.