Hermione emerged from the bathroom, fully expecting Draco to be waiting for her, but the room was empty and there was no sign of her errant boyfriend. She could have sworn she'd caught a glimpse of his reflection in the bathroom while she was in the shower, but if he had arrived home, he hadn't stuck around to talk to her.

"Coward," Hermione muttered, towelling herself off and stepping into her flimsy underwear.

The previous day, Draco had nipped out and hadn't returned. After several hours, a note had arrived at the manor saying he'd ran into Blaise and was spending the night with his best friend. Hermione didn't begrudge her boyfriend spending time with his friends, but since Draco had promised her a romantic evening before he went out, she wasn't impressed that he hadn't returned. She was even less impressed that the note was addressed to his parents, and he didn't even have the decency to send her a message.

Once she was dressed, Hermione contemplated heading downstairs to see what her father was up to, but in the end she headed into Draco's library and settled down with a book. If her father wanted her, he would send for her, as he was well aware that she would be somewhere in the manor. Hermione didn't spend every holiday at Malfoy Manor, as her act as a muggleborn and friend of Harry Potter meant she had to spend time with the Order, but she'd chosen to spend the Easter holidays with her family.

One of the reasons Hermione had chosen to spend Easter with her family was to discuss how to get her away from the Order. Hermione had attended Hogwarts as a muggleborn for her own safety, and befriending Harry had been too good an opportunity to miss out on when they were sorted into the same house. Once her father had returned at the end of fourth year after several years of plotting and careful planning, it had been decided that it would be best for her to keep up the pretence. However, with school nearing the end, there was no need for the pretence. It was time she returned to the heart of her family and the dark, and discussions were in place on the best way to do that.

Hermione thought she should just leave and let the Order know exactly who she was, but her father liked a bit of drama and he thought there were other ways to get her away from the Order which would devastate them just as much. His two options were to fake her kidnapping and have the Order fall as they tried to rescue her, or fake her death and devastate the Order so much they were easy to take out. Personally, Hermione didn't think either option was necessary, but she loved her father and she would go along with whatever he decided to do, even if she thought it was overly dramatic and unnecessary.

Hermione didn't have a problem with indulging his father in his dramatics, as she was just grateful to still have him in her life. Hermione had barely been two years old when her father had heard about the prophecy about Harry and had gone to put an end to it, which resulted in him being vanquished for several years. Hermione had already lost her mother, a French witch who had died in childbirth, and with her father gone, she'd been left without a family. Fortunately, Voldemort had confided in the Malfoys about her existence and when he'd vanished, they'd taken her in and raised her.

Thanks to Lucius's mark, they'd known Voldemort wasn't dead and finally he'd managed to get a message to them letting them know what state he was in. In fact he'd been in such a bad way that Hermione hadn't been allowed contact with him when she was younger. It was only as she was preparing to start Hogwarts that she finally met her father. In the years that followed she was in regular contact with him as he and Lucius worked on a way to restore him to the strong, powerful wizard he was. It took a long time, but eventually they found a ritual to do just that and with a lot of planning, they managed to perform the ritual at the end of Hermione's fourth year. Since then Voldemort had been content to keep quiet and grow his numbers in private, ready for the day he would have to face the Order.

Hermione had kept up her act as a muggleborn on her father's instructions, and she'd been able to provide him with valuable information once the Order was reformed. Voldemort now knew every single person who was part of the Order, and every thought and plan they had. Destroying them would be easy with the knowledge Hermione had accumulated, and the fact they trusted her so implicitly made it all so easy. Hermione knew she could deliver Harry on a plate if Voldemort so desired, but he was adamant that he wasn't going to strike at Harry until Hermione was safely away from the Order.

With only a few months of school left, Hermione was beginning to look forward to the time when she could shed her good girl image and embrace her true self. Of course part of looking forward to the future was being with Draco, and not having to hide their relationship. She and Draco had been friends forever and had grown up together, but romance had blossomed once they reached their teenage years. However, given the circumstances they'd had to conduct the whole of their relationship in secret, and the only time they could truly be together was at home at the manor. Their time at the manor was scare, especially since Hermione had to spend so much time with the Order, which was why Hermione was so annoyed that Draco had blown her out for Blaise.

Now Draco was back in her thoughts, Hermione began to get angry with her boyfriend again. She was still simmering with anger when she heard someone enter the room behind her. Turning around she expected to find Draco, but instead she was confronted with his father, Lucius.

"Lucius," Hermione greeted with a nod. "Draco's not here, if you're looking for your son."

"I know he's not here," Lucius replied. "He's downstairs with your father, or at least someone pretending to be him is in my study with The Dark Lord."

"Someone pretending to be Draco?" Hermione questioned with a frown as panic set in and a cold feeling curled itself around her heart. "I don't understand."

"I was with your father, and I was coming to see if Draco had returned," Lucius explained. "Just as I left my study, I spotted Draco. However, it quickly became clear we weren't dealing with Draco. He was confused when your father mentioned the ideas of how to proceed with you, and he then called you a mudblood. Just before I left, he even suggested that we should kill you."

"I take it the imposter doesn't realise we're onto him."

"Of course not. The Dark Lord acted as though he was interested in what he had to say. When I left, the fake Draco was about to explain why we should kill you."

"Maybe we should go and find out what this fake imposter has to say," Hermione said, feeling her temper beginning to rise as she contemplated what an imposter meant for her boyfriend. All this time she'd been angry at Draco for blowing her out, when clearly it had been the work of the Order and they had him somewhere.

Leaving Draco's library, Hermione and Lucius made their way down to Lucius's study. When they entered, Hermione saw the shock on the fake Draco's face at her appearance. From there it wasn't hard to work out just who the imposter was, and while he wouldn't confirm it, Hermione was positive they were dealing with Sirius Black. Sure enough when the polyjuice potion wore off, it was Sirius sitting in Lucius's office dressed like Draco.

"I knew it," Hermione snarled, glaring at Sirius as he returned to his normal self.

"Now we just need to work out how many of the Order were part of this plan," Voldemort said.

"I'll do that when I get back to them," Hermione said. "I should go and pack."

"Not so fast," Lucius said, stopping Hermione before she could leave the room. "I want Draco found as much as you, but we have to be careful. Give the Order time to stew about Black's disappearance before you go to them. It'll be easier to work out who's involved if they're already worried."

"And what about Draco?" Hermione questioned. "Every hour I stay here, is an hour he's in danger."

"Believe me, I know that," Lucius said with a sigh. "But I have faith in my son. He's strong Hermione, he'll hang on until we get to him. You never know, we might be able to break Black and you might not need to return to the Order."

"I'll give you until tomorrow lunchtime," Hermione said reluctantly. She hated waiting twenty four hours before she made her move, but she had to admit that Lucius had a point and her task could be made easier if whoever else was working with Sirius was already worried.

"It won't do you any good," Sirius sneered, faking bravado he really didn't feel. "I won't talk. No-one will talk. You won't find Draco."

"You underestimate us, Sirius," Hermione snarled, grabbing Sirius by the hair and yanking his head roughly backwards. "I've pulled the wool over everyone's eyes for over six years, do you really think I won't be able to get to the truth? All I have to do is return to the Order, and someone will tell me something. We will find Draco, and when we do, he won't be happy. I'm sure Harry and Ron have told you he's harmless, but he's not. There's a dark side to Draco, and I'm sure you and everyone else involved in this plan will get to see it."

"I'm sure they'll get to see a lot of dark sides before this is over," Voldemort said. "Lucius, get him down to the dungeons. I'll pay Mr Black a visit in a while, for now, I want to talk to my daughter."

Hermione stonily watched as Lucius grabbed hold of Sirius and disappeared with him. With Sirius being settled down in the dungeons, Hermione turned to her father, letting the fear show in her eyes. As long as Sirius was in the room she'd kept up her angry front, but now he was gone, she could let her defences down. Even though she didn't believe the Order had it in them to torture and kill, she would still rather have Draco out of their clutches. Besides, there was no telling what they would do once Sirius failed to return.

"We'll get him back, Hermione," Voldemort said reassuringly. He knew Draco meant the world to his daughter, and he would do whatever it took to reunite them.

"I know," Hermione replied with a firm nod. "But I think it's time we ended this charade. Once I've found Draco, we need to take the Order out once and for all."

"I agree," Voldemort said. "But Draco is our priority. If we don't get anything out of Black, you can go back to the Order and find the truth. Everyone involved in this plan is on borrowed time. Once we've dealt with them, we can focus on the rest of the Order and bringing Potter and Dumbledore down."

"There's a chance Harry's involved in this," Hermione warned. She'd been thinking about who could be involved, and she couldn't see Sirius pulling off such a stroke without the help of either Harry or Ron, or quite possible both of them. "Sirius is mad enough to come up with a plan like this, but he couldn't have done it without input from someone who knows Draco. Granted Harry and Ron don't know him well, in fact what they know is just what he shows people, but they would consider it enough knowledge to help Sirius. They were probably hoping he wouldn't run into anyone as he was poking around."

"If Potter's involved, he'll pay," Voldemort said. "Before you go back to the Order, I've got something to give you. Something that will help you get the culprits back to the manor for us to deal with."

"What?" Hermione questioned.

"Some handcuffs, Lucius and I have been working on," Voldemort replied. "You'll just have to clap them onto someone and they'll be transferred to the manor dungeons, sort of like a port key. It'll leave you free to get Draco back here."

"Do the handcuffs work?" Hermione asked.

"They just need a final test," Voldemort answered. "We can do that before you leave tomorrow. But now, I have a wizard to go and see. Would you care to accompany me?"

"I would," Hermione replied with a smile as she left the study with her father.

She'd heard stories about her father and what he was capable of, but she'd never witnessed him in action. It would be a privilege to see what he could do, and what sort of pain he could inflict on Sirius. Hermione also knew that if anyone was going to break Sirius and make him talk, it would be her father. It was time to see The Dark Lord in action, and Hermione wouldn't want to be Sirius Black for the next couple of hours. The wizard was in for a world of pain, but Hermione had no sympathy for him. He deserved everything he got for what he'd done to Draco, and everyone else involved in his fiendish plan would get the same treatment when they were caught. And they would be caught, Hermione would see to that. She would find every last person involved in this plan and make sure they paid for messing with the love of her life.