I took a bit of break, so this update comes a day late. (Sorry!) Here's the sixth one.
Chapter Six InvestigationPansy kept an extremely annoyed Hermione in her arms for what seemed like hours afterward, sitting on the living room couch and talking to her like she was a baby. After that much unwanted cuddling, Hermione was relieved when Pansy let her down.
"I'm going to bed now, Moggy," she said, and then she walked out, closing the door behind her.
Hermione went back behind the couch and curled up to sleep herself, not knowing what else to do. She closed her eyes, and before she knew it, it was morning.
But it wasn't much better. She stayed locked in until Erkki took her to eat breakfast, which was a dish full of leftovers and scraps. Hermione stared at it for a minute, until her stomach roared. She looked through the pile of food until she found a few pieces of kipper and ate those.
Erkki let her out again, and again she bolted down the street to the lamppost. There were no new posters. The picture of a grinning, human Hermione still looked down at her. She turned and looked around for something else to give her a clue as to where she was, but found nothing. Again, she returned to Malfoy's home.
She spent the rest of her day napping (now that she had been here for a bit longer, she found she was surprisingly sleepy much of the day), searching through her food, and trying to sneak into the office where the mysterious book lay.
That was another thought: if Malfoy didn't even let his house elves in there to clean it, then why was Pansy allowed in there? Of course people are more prone to showing the one they love a secret than they are to show their house elf, Hermione thought. But honestly, since when has Malfoy loved anyone but himself?
She tried waiting in front of the door and scratching at it once. Pansy walked by, saw her, and thought she wanted outside. "No, Moggy, the front entrance is downstairs."
I know that, Hermione thought. Do I look stupid?
Pansy scooped her up, carried her downstairs, set her in front of the door, and opened it to let her out. "There you go, Moggy!"
Hermione glared at her like she'd lost her mind.
"Oh, did you change your mind? That's awight, Moggy…"
She patted her on the head lovingly, shut the door, and went back upstairs. Hermione was so sick of her that kitchen scraps didn't sound too terribly bad at the moment.
She slept behind the couch, and then woke up to Erkki, who took her to breakfast. She went outside and still no new posters had been put up. She retreated to the house, tried to get back in the office, and failed, then went to sleep behind the couch again…
The next day was the same, and the next… Hermione got sick of this routine all too quickly. It seemed to have been several weeks or maybe months before she saw Malfoy for the first time since Snape came, walking down the stairs in the morning, fully dressed.
"I'm going out with some friends," he said to Erkki. (Yes, a little morning murder before lunch, I suppose, Hermione thought bitterly.) "I've rescheduled that party for tomorrow evening."
"Yes, sir!" Erkki squeaked. Malfoy walked out the door then, leaving Hermione to her usual, monotonous day.
She never saw him return; he must have come back late when she was already asleep behind the living room couch. In any case, he came down the stairs, gave his usual goodbye to Erkki, and left.
When Hermione went up to try to get into the office again, a couple of house elves, neither of them Erkki, went by looking frantic.
"Who are the fifty on the guest list, Oggy?" one of them asked.
"Fifty-two," said the slightly taller one, evidently Oggy. "Blaise Zabini is coming with Amanda Chrysoprase, then there are, of course, Vincent Crabbe and Gregory Goyle…"
Hermione could have clawed the door to shreds. She didn't know an Amanda, but she most certainly knew Crabbe, Goyle, and Zabini, and she didn't like a single one of them. And now she was going to be in the same house with them for who knew how long? How many other Slytherins and Death Eaters did he invite?
"Damn," Hermione growled.
Time passed, and outside the window in the living room (which Hermione had come to know as her bedroom of sorts) the sun set and the light faded. Malfoy had come home and put on very attractive dress robes with silver threads sewn around the neck and hem. The house elves were rushing into the ballroom carrying silver dishes and goblets. Soon Erkki was opening the door and welcoming guest after guest after guest… Hermione was revolted just thinking of who these wealthy looking people really were… A bunch of pureblooded, Dark wizards and witches…
She didn't want to, but as usual, she felt it to be her duty to investigate for the Order. She crept into the dining room and from there went into the ballroom. It was a huge room, with a high ceiling and a balcony that wrapped around the area, and wide windows through which anyone could clearly see the stars. Many people were gathered inside, talking with each other.
Hermione went and sat beside the nearest group, pretending to wash her face with her paw, thought they didn't seem to notice her anyway. She didn't get much information; all that she found out was that some Matthew had a new girlfriend. How utterly boring…
She moved on to the next cluster of talking guests. To her dismay, one of the witches noticed her and picked her up to hug her. After what seemed like hours of even more unwanted cuddling from her and several of her friends, Hermione was finally able to go over to the next group.
This time it was Malfoy, with Pansy and who Hermione recognized as Crabbe, Goyle, and Zabini. Pansy saw her and lifted the cat up into her arms.
"Oh, look, it's Moggy!" she said. "Malfoy, don't you want to pet little Moggy?"
"Uh…" Malfoy started. "Sure…" He reached out toward Hermione, who bit his hand as hard as she could before he could touch her.
"Damn…" he hissed to himself, snapping his hand back toward him. Hermione was filled with a feeling of great triumph as Zabini snickered. She assumed that the woman he had his arm wrapped around was Amanda.
"Isn't she adorable?" Pansy cooed, as if she hadn't seen a thing.
"Yes, very…" Malfoy said. "Now, what were you saying, Zabini?"
"Just wondering…" Zabini began, lowering his voice, "about that little operation for the Dark Lord."
Hermione listened attentively.
Malfoy frowned. "Ah, yes, I am supposed to… take care of Weasley."
Goyle, who had been sipping some of his wine, suddenly choked. Crabbe patted him on the shoulder. "You alright, mate?"
Hermione couldn't help but notice he sounded a bit like he was scolding him. Goyle waved his hand indifferently. "I'm fine, just went down the wrong way. Carry on."
Malfoy looked at him strangely. Zabini cut in by saying, "By Weasley, you mean the one that's always hanging around Potter? There's so many of them I can't keep track."
Amanda giggled a little. Malfoy turned his attention back to Zabini.
"Yes, the younger one… What was her name… You know, the girl."
"I believe it was Ginny," Crabbe said, sounding aggressive. Malfoy stared at him. "What's the matter with you?"
"Nothing, sorry, just got a bit of a headache," he said quickly, as if he'd just remembered something.
Malfoy continued to stare suspiciously for a minute, and then he said, "I have to go talk to the other guests. C'mon, Pansy."
Pansy set Hermione down on the floor, patting her on the head briefly, and then she walked off arm in arm with Malfoy to another group. Zabini, Amanda, Crabbe, and Goyle stayed glued to the spot, looking stressed.
"Watch it next time," Goyle muttered.
"He wants to kill my girlfriend!" Crabbe hissed. He was gripping his wine glass so hard it could've shattered. Hermione immediately realized what those words meant… If Ginny was his girlfriend, then that couldn't really be Crabbe…
"Well, she's my sister!" Goyle said, looking depressed. "So we'll both have to defend her."
"I think we're done here," Zabini said, still talking quietly. "The Potion's going to wear off soon anyway. Tonks, you okay doing reconnaissance here?"
"I'm just fine," she said. "I'll see you later, Lupin."
She squeezed his hand and then went off to where Malfoy had gone. Zabini, Crabbe, and Goyle began to march toward the exit, and Hermione, realizing that this could be her only chance at getting out of here and back to the Burrow, quickly ran after them…