Your Joking, Right!
Chapter 13: So it begins!
(A/N: just so you guys know the 1 quotation marks ('') are thoughts, the double quotation marks (" ") are speech!)
Hermione tried to turn and run but by the time it took her to register the fully alive and sneering face of Lucius Malfoy, he had her in a full body bind, anti-apparation jinx, and 'quietus' charm. She was stuck and she knew it, Lucius Malfoy was standing right in front of her, out of jail, completely healthy, and he also appeared happy for he had the traditional Malfoy smirk plastered on his pale face, his silver- blonde hair was pulled back in a pony tail as to keep it out of his way.
"Well, well, well Ms. Damenzla, I believe, how are you these days?" he sneered.
Hermione wanted to wipe the smirk off his face, just as she had actually done to Draco in third year.
"We shall be off now, the Dark Lord is probably waiting.", he grabbed Hermione's arm and she felt the familiar, lung-crushing sensation, of apparation.
XoXoXoXoXoXoXo
When she felt her feet land firmly on the ground Hermione opened her eyes to see her surroundings, which were vaguely familiar. She had never been here but Harry had told her every little detail about it, this was the graveyard in which the Riddle's tomb rests, this was the graveyard in which Lord Voldemort had risen to power once more, in which Cedric Diggory took his last breath. Hermione, who still had the body bind on her, shifted her weight to the right as best she could and let out a silent scream of terror, there were about 10 death-eaters, conversing in low whispers, about four feet to the side of her. One was chancing glances at her.
'What do they want with me?' she thought.
Her question was soon answered, Lucius Malfoy came toward her, removed all of the spells he had placed on her, and led her toward the group of death-eaters, she wondered if Draco was amongst them, she knew for a fact, he had become a death-eater in sixth year. Maybe if Draco was with them he would be on her side, she didn't trust him that much though.
XoXoXoXoXoXoXo
Lucius led her to the center of the circle of death-eaters, right where, as she assumed, Voldemort was seated.
"Well if it isn't the little bookworm Ms. Hermione...er... Damenzla I believe" Voldemort sneered "Your parents were really never of any importance but you, you can be very useful you know!"
Hermione stared at him "Yeah right, like I would turn my back on my best friends, on my side!" Hermione laughed in his face, yes in Lord Voldemort's face, but in truth she was terrified, this was the most feared wizard in the ages and here she was, laughing in his face.
"Why we have ourselves a little back-talker here" Voldemort said, causing his minions to laugh, one in particular, Hermione noticed, did not.
'Draco' Hermione thought, that must be him 'Thank goodness'
"Nott, teach her to respect her superiors" Voldemort said.
A death-eater, Nott, stepped out of the circle, "Crucio" he yelled, pointing his wand at Hermione. Hermione felt pain beyond her wildest beliefs, scorching hot knives were piercing every piece of flesh on her body, but she tried not to show weakness, and kept her mouth shut even though she wanted, so badly, to scream.
"We have ourselves a strong one here" Voldemort said.
"Yep" Hermione smiled proudly.
Voldemort stood from his chair and approached Hermione who stood in the middle of the circle, arms folded across her chest, glaring at the wizard whom was feared by almost everybody in the wizarding world.
"We will just have to see about that won't we Hermione?" Hermione winced at the sound of her name coming out of his lips, Voldemort laughed, then pointed his wand at the girl. "Crucio"
Hermione tried her very best not to scream this time, Voldemort's spell was much more powerful then Nott's spell had been, it was almost 10-times worse and Hermione wanted so badly to yell at the top of her lungs, but she refrained once again not wanting to show any sign of weakness. Voldemort lifted the curse and stared down once more at Hermione,
"Im impressed, none of my death-eaters could stand up to the curse without letting out a scream of agony but you, Voldemort laughed, you really are something Hermione, That will be all for today, Lucius, Crabbe, Goyle take our young Ms. Damenzla to her sleeping quarters." Hermione tried to kick out at her captors and managed to hit one of them in the knee-cap but know sooner had she done that then Malfoy put the full-body bind curse on her once more.
XoXoXoXoXoXoXo
The three death-eaters took Hermione up to a small house on a large, steep hill a short distance away from where they had been in the graveyard. Malfoy kicked open the door and the three led her up a short rickety staircase and down a long corridor until they reached a door at the very end. They shoved her into the room, put on a few protection spells, then shut and locked the door. Hermione took the opportunity to exam the room they had drug her into, it was rather large and pretty fancy,
'Voldemort must really be playing for my affections.' Hermione thought.
She laid back on the four-poster and tried sorting out all her thoughts which were presently spinning in her head.
"What would Voldemort want with me?" she asked herself, voicing the question aloud to thin air.
She jumped up from the bed and began to pace the spacious bedroom.
"Maybe Harry and Ron will notice I am gone, they would be smart enough to inform Dumbledore wouldn't they, the Order would come for me, im sure Harry would know where to go"
"I highly doubt that!" a voice said.
Hermione turned to the doorway and found none other then Draco Malfoy leaning against the frame, still dressed in his black signature death-eater robes. She was a little relieved he was there, she felt safer with him, he wasn't bad to look at either, Hermione had to admit, she had become quite fond of the youngest Malfoy.
"Draco, you are here then!"
"Of course im here, you knew that" he replied, "You were staring right at me for like 5 minutes."
Hermione turned on him, now a little angry, "Oh cut the crap and tell me what the bloody hell Voldemort wants with me, why me, why not Harry, or Ron?" she yelled, stomping across the room and sitting on her bed, tears flowing down her face.
"Ok, Ok Calm down Hermione, gees!" Draco said, sitting down on the bed next to her and wrapping a comforting arm around her shoulders. "First of all, I have no clue what his plans are, second, I don't really think you want to stick around here and find out, do you?"
Hermione stared at the blonde "Did you know about this? Did you know your father was setting me up? Huh? Did you Draco!" she yelled, angry tears spilling down her cheeks as she stood from the bed once more and crossed the room, her back to Draco, who was sitting on the bed, shocked.
"Of course not, I would never let my father hurt you, never!" he replied, crossing the room and turning the trembling girl towards him "Gosh Hermione, haven't I earned your trust yet? Haven't we decided to become friends?"
"Ok, ok, im sorry I doubted you Draco" Hermione said, wiping tears from here eyes "Im a little tired now, im going to go to bed, see you tomorrow I guess" she crossed the room and laid down on the bed, in truth she was rather angry with the blonde at the moment.
"Ok, Goodnight Hermione" he replied, heading for the door.
"Yeah sure.."
XoXoXoXoXoXoXo
Hermione was awoken by a pounding on the door and a loud voice yelling for her to get her lazy arse out of bed and that the Dark Lord will get angry. She slowly pulled the covers off of herself and stood up to stretch, she placed her wand on the little table by the side of her bed, then she did a glamour charm on herself and then proceeded to open the door, almost getting hit on the head by Lucius who had been just about to bang on her door again.
"Its about time, the Dark Lord had been waiting and he does not like to wait." he grabbed her by the collar of her robes and drug her to, what appeared to be, a family room.
"Oh sleeping beauty has finally awoken" Voldemort sneered, nobody laughed this time, probably because they hadn't a clue who sleeping beauty was.
"Im up aren't I?" she replied, if she had learned anything from Harry it was to never show fear, especially not to Lord Voldemort.
"A lot like your best friend, Harry Potter, aren't you?" he asked,
'What is he a mind reader?' Hermione thought 'I wasn't making eye contact' so she replied "He is my best friend, and a great wizard."
Draco, who was standing in the circle of death-eaters, felt a singe of jealousy at her words about Saint Potter.
"On with the plan, you, my clever friend are going to join the ranks of the death-eaters and help my followers, to keep me safe." Voldemort said, rising from his chair and approaching the girl.
'So that's his plan!" Hermione thought, "No, I don't think so, I mean, what's in it for me?" she replied, crossing her arms and glaring at him, she immediately regretted this, Voldemort's skin grew even paler, if possible, his cat-like red eyes narrowed, and his mouth curved into a sneer.
"Your going to regret that, Avada Kedavra" Voldemort cried.
Hermione, thankfully, dodged this spell and made a dash for the stairs, dodging the spells sent by death-eaters. She took the stairs two at a time, ran full speed down the long hall, and slammed into her room. She dashed to the side of her bed, grabbed her wand, opened a window then ran into the large closet, left the door open so she didn't look suspicious, then cast an invisibility spell on herself. She had waited about 5 minutes before voices rang into the room,
"Where did the little brat go?" she recognized this voice as Lucius Malfoy once again,'What do they think I prefer him to come get me every time?' she thought to herself.
"Maybe she went through the window?" she recognized the second voice as Peter Pettigrew.
"I presume so!" Lucius said, Hermione then heard them shut the window and leave the room.
Hermione sank down to the floor "Thank God" she muttered quietly, just in case.
"Your not safe yet, you know." came the voice of Draco, who had just stepped into the closet. He proceeded to shut and lock the door, mutter a 'quietus' spell, cast lumos, then remove Hermione's invisibility spell.
"How did you know I was here?" she asked.
"Oh easy, I know how clever you are Hermione, the window thing, I can't believe my father fell for that, plus I heard you talking to yourself, but like I aid before, your not safe yet, Voldemort will see right through your little plot."
"Yeah your right, guess im finished, tell Harry, Ron, Ginny, Blaise, and my sister I said goodbye" Hermione joked, but she was the only one in the closet laughing, Hermione glance over at the blonde boy who was sitting on a box with an appalled and worried expression on his face, 'Wait worried?' Hermione thought.
"Oh my gosh Draco are you worried about me? Im a big girl you know." Hermione said.
"My gosh Hermione are you that dense?" Draco got to his feet and walked a few inches until he stood over Hermione, who was peering up at him, "haven't you figured it out yet, I like you Hermione, I really, really like you, I've liked you since the past summer, not just because of all the changes you have gone through because I got to know the real you, not just that act you put on at school, and I don't want to see anything happen to you." Draco finished.
Hermione sat in shock on the floor, Draco Malfoy likes me.
'You like him too'
'Do I?'
'Of course you do'
'Then tell him'
She jumped to her feet and hugged the tall blonde who still had a mortified look on his face 'I can't believe I did that' he thought.
"Oh Draco, that is such a relief, I like you too"
"Really?" he held her at arms length so he could look into her honey-colored eyes.
"Yes, Draco, I do." Hermione smiled and Draco wrapped her in another hug, a grin on his face.
"What a relief, I thought I had just made a total fool of myself."
Hermione looked into his eyes and pulled his head down to meet hers, she rested her forehead on his and stared into his silver- blue eyes.
"I really do like you Draco", then she did something nobody ever would have expected her to do, not even herself. She kissed him.
(A/N, Yay! I hope you guys are all happy, I have started on Chapter 14, I was arguing with myself on whether to add the first 2 pages onto here, because at first I didn't plan on it but then I said maybe I will just add it on, now I decided not to because I thought this was the absolutely perfect-est (lol) ending. I will try to get chapter 14 up by Wednesday! XoXo NiCoLe OxOx)