Chapter 2 : Protocol
Sirius Black was playing with his food in his residence. "Mate, your pacing is utterly disturbing and unnecessary."
"Leave him be Padfoot. What would you feel if you ran and hide for a good part of a decade?" Remus sat across him as they watched a younger wizard pace from corner to corner. "Harry, do please sit and eat."
Harry sighed and did as told. "I honestly thought the information on the Resurrection Stone was legitimate."
"There'll be other leads." Remus tried to calm him down.
"Every night I remember her face." Harry stood again and started to pace. "It's been eight years. She could be dead."
"You're taking it hard for someone you barely know." Sirius tried to argue, "Dumbledore died the same year yet you only think about losing her."
"She literally swapped our fates. She could've escaped but she stayed to hide me from the Death Eaters." Harry argued.
"Harry, if the Death Eaters got to you, she knew everything would be over." Remus chimed in.
"Her name was Hermione Granger." Harry almost shouted.
"Her again," Ron Weasley waked through the door.
"She was in our year." Harry was obviously upset.
"We barely knew her. Nobody wanted to be her friend."
"I regret that as well." Harry turned his friend.
Ron rolled his eyes. "Ministry's a mess. We'll soon be in a war against the Americans."
"All the more reason to expedite our plans." They could feel the urgency from Harry's voice.
"Not until we find the Resurrection Stone" Remus pointed out.
"With the looming war, I can't hide anymore." Harry argued. "I'm supposed to be the chosen one, I should fight back."
"Shall we gift wrap you before we send you to Voldemort?" Sirius asked sarcastically.
"I can't hide anymore." Harry shook his head.
"Sit and eat so we can discuss this as mature adults." Remus pleaded.
Harry did as instructed.
It was going to be a long night of discussion.
Hermione woke the next morning excited to do her chore. She couldn't remember the last time she held a book.
On the other hand, the last time she held a wand was very vivid in her mind.
She saw Harry Potter duelling with Bellatrix. He was good in deflecting her spells.
Hermione barely escaped her own duel with the help from McGonagall.
She kept her eyes on her fellow Gryffindor. Then she saw it, that slight distraction that caused his defeat.
Hermione instinctively marched to him. 'You can't die. You're the chosen one.' She thought to herself.
Luckily, Bellatrix seemed to have moved on as another quite young death eater took her place. Hermione attacked the young death eater with a spell that sent him flying across the room. The noise captured the attention of several death eaters nearby. She knew she couldn't protect Harry and have time to survive on her own. She made her choice quickly. She acted fast. She casted a protective shield around Harry ensuring that his wand was within his reach. She casted another spell that caused the ceiling to fall on top of Harry. She then went to fight the smallest of the incoming death eaters for her life.
She went to take a bath early before anyone else rose from their cells. Once done she tiptoed back to her cell careful not disturb anyone.
Inside, she saw that her slave uniform was hanging in the corner. She was provided with normal clothes which were stocked underneath her bed. Apparently, Draco's extremely careful in hiding what happens inside his Manor to outsiders. All of the cells were just for show just in case there would be an inspection.
Hermione folded her dirty clothes and piled them in a corner. She only felt a presence when she turned around. "Dean."
"You're up early." Dean smiled at her. "I've been meaning to talk to you."
"About what?"
"Hogwarts. We were retreating together. You were even ahead of me and then you disappeared. "Dean recounted one of his darkest days, "What happened? You could've escaped with us."
"Escaped? But you're here." She avoided his question.
"I was caught about a year later. Passed between two families until they saw me more as trouble than servant and finally got auctioned. I remember I was Draco's first 'slave'. He didn't know what to do with me. I'm here now but believe me; I made his life miserable and tried to escape."`
Hermione thought about her experiences with her first mistress. She fought hard back then. She took in all the torture and punishment but she would retaliate subtlety. When her mistress couldn't handle it, she was sold. Hermione fought as hard with her remaining masters, until she finally met her match with Bane.
"What happened next?" Hermione was in awe about her new master and wanted to learn more.
"He was incredibly patient. He gave me space. Not before long, Alecia arrived kicking and screaming. Imagine the chaos here." Dean chuckled. "Draco gave up. He opened the doors gave our eggs and asked us to leave."
"He did?" Hermione was more puzzled. "But you stayed?"
"We quickly found out that there's nowhere else to go especially without a wand."
"Do you know why he's doing this?" Hermione wanted to argue about throwing away their freedom but she didn't want to upset her master's trusted circle.
"Dunno."
Alecia cleared her throat. "Let's get some grub?"
Hermione smiled. "Can I sit with you guys again?"
Dean put his arms on the witches' shoulders. "Come on."
Draco arrived late once more and sat in his usual seat, glad to see Hermione seated next to Alecia.
"Must be Mindy?" Draco guessed by the sausages on the table.
"You feeling pressured yet Draco?" Dean teased.
"Is it he's turn tomorrow?" A young wizard called across the room.
Alecia laughed. "Eat enough for two days." She warned.
"Fine if you insist, I am willing to move one day to include Hermione in the round."
Hermione's face turned pale.
"Noo! Not consecutive days." Alecia protested.
Hermione turned to Dean with pleading eyes.
Dean smiled. "Nasty trick mate." He shook his head directing his comment to Draco.
Draco smiled smugly. "How about it Hermione? I remember you doing well with potions as well. You think you can translate those skills into cooking?"
"I am inclined to accept but you have more experience in cooking."
Alecia snorted. "If you can call that cooking?"
"Ignore them. What do you say Hermione? Slytherin versus Gryffindor?"
Her heart ached. She longed for those days where all she had to worry about were her classes and earning house points.
"Hold on. If this is about house pride, you have to let me stay today." Dean argued.
"You have your new chore. I need you for that." Draco insisted.
Dean turned to Hermione. "I'll write you a recipe. Follow it to the letter."
"Okay." Hermione nodded nervously
"It's in the bag. Go Gryffindor!" Dean was very enthusiastic as this ignited his competitive side.
"We'll see." Draco seemed confident.
After breakfast, Hermione made her way to her favourite place in the Manor. She reached the portrait and stared at the boy who refused to look her in the eye.
"Sorry, I had a few instructions I needed to tell Dean." Draco reached her side and realized her trouble. "My younger self is stubborn, smug and doesn't know better." He tapped his portrait. "You listen to her okay?" The portrait glared at him.
Hermione tried to capture the gaze of the young wizard.
Draco tapped louder.
"Odd thing for you to use that animal for your password." She was continuously trying to catch his portrait's gaze.
"I thought no one will dare call me that animal inside MY Manor." Draco was irritated. He was careful not to use the password to teach the portrait that it was okay for Hermione to enter his library.
"You didn't think Dean would abuse it? Draco, I left something in the library. Ferret. Draco, Alecia asked me to get a potions book from the library. Ferret." Hermione smiled as she pictured Dean's face.
"So glad you find this amusing Hermione." His eyebrows were twitching.
"I apologize." She bit her lip.
"Come on boy. Look and listen to her." He instructed the portrait who finally complied.
Hermione locked eyes with the portrait. "Ferret."
They finally entered the library. Draco plopped himself at one of the couches by the window. "Don't mind me. Do what you want."
Hermione nodded and went to the shelves. "Draco?"
"Yes?"
"You said I can practice magic."
"Under my supervision."
"But it would be impossible without a wand."
"I'm afraid I can't lend you my wand. These things get audited."
"So technically, I only get to learn these spells in theory alone?"
"You can do wandless spells." Draco could see the error in his plans. "Wandless magic requires more practice and dedication."
Hermione sighed. "May I ask why do you do this? Buy slaves and then make them practice magic? For what purpose?
"I got bored." Draco summoned a book to read. He avoided her questions.
Hermione frowned but didn't press on. She searched for a book on wandless spells. She took it and sat on a desk preparing to do magic.
The two kept to themselves for the first hour. Draco closed his book to watch her concentrating on a pen. He could see her frustration and wanted to give her a break. "You think you're ready to cook for us tomorrow?"
Hermione sighed when her concentration was broken. "I'll just follow Dean's recipe."
"I once thought that it was that easy too." Draco teased.
"Why do you cook though? You have enough of us to cook for you."
"I have my reasons." Draco smiled.
"Where's Dean going? You mentioned a change in chores? Does that happen to everyone?"
Draco smiled again. "I don't know if I can trust you with that information yet."
"I have my cuffs. You can order me not to repeat it to anybody else."
"I could but can I trust that you are trained in Occlumency?"
"You can teach me."
"Maybe in the future." Draco was correct in thinking that her love of knowledge will help her recover.
A couple of days passed and the mini competition between Draco and Hermione ended.
As a treat for enduring both equally inedible meals, Dean volunteered to cook the following day. Thankfully it was Saturday and he did not need to leave the Manor.
Everyone was eager to eat a decent meal that the dining room was full as early as 6am. Even Draco was there.
Draco sat in his usual seat with Alecia on his right and Hermione on his other side. It wasn't long until Dean appeared with the help of other wizards and started dropping meals per table.
"Finally." Alecia immediately took some quiche into her plate. "You two should never be assigned consecutive days."
Hermione blushed. "It was my first time."
"And what's your excuse Draco?" Alecia teased.
"I thought it slightly improved." Draco argued as he took a quiche as well.
"Not even the slightest." Dean sat next to Hermione. "Actually, I'm surprised with you Hermione. I wrote the recipe in detail. I even described how to cut the meat and their colour as they cooked. What happened?"
"Those herbs are very confusing." Hermione started to explain then turned to Draco. "Cooking is so different from Potions."
"I told you." Draco smirked.
"In potions, if you make a mistake, you can correct it by adding ingredients that will offset the effects."
"Right, but in cooking, when you add a herb to correct a mistake it can have adverse effect because of another spice."
"It's too complicated." Hermione agreed.
Alecia was proud, her task was done.
"So who won?" Draco asked loudly.
"We all lost." Alecia answered which was followed by concurrence from everyone in the room.
After breakfast, Draco and Hermione headed for the library. On the way, the couple teased each other at how bad each other's meals were.
They arrived at the Draco's self-portrait shortly. Hermione had no trouble in opening the room.
She went straight to the shelf and pulled a red book. Hermione was so absorbed in reading she didn't notice Draco staring at her.
"Hermione." He called.
She closed the book and looked at him. "Yes?"
"I can't always come here with you. I have other things to do. I have a company to run."
"That means I can't practice magic?"
"But you can still read and when I'm free, I'll come find you."
"Okay. Can I come here anytime?" Hermione wanted to know the limitations.
"Sure. However, I do hope you interact with everybody else in this Manor. "
"Okay. So can I stay here all night?"
"Do you want to finish reading everything here in a month?" He teased.
"Or less." She teased back.
"Seriously though, I don't think it's a good idea. For one, I don't want people to think that I'm giving you special treatment."
"I understand."
"Second, I told you that information is hard to get. You'll get bored if you finish everything. I might not be able to add to the collection as quickly as you'd read them."
Hermione smiled. "Okay."
The following day seemed normal. Everyone went to the dining room to be fed. After eating, they went their separate ways.
Hermione was eager to do her chore. She went to the library even when others stayed in their cells to rest.
It was a peaceful weekend until a bell rang.
Alecia turned serious and started barking orders. "This is not a drill. You know what to do." She went to her cell and changed into the brown sack-like clothing she truly hated. "John, get Dean to set up. I'll get the eggs."
Alecia checked her cell making sure that no one would think she had a cheerful life. She then left to get the eggs. On her way up she noticed Hermione's empty cell. She cursed under her breath. She grabbed Hermione's brown sack and rushed upstairs. She went directly to the library and screamed the password. She entered the room only to shout her orders. "Hermione, change into that and make your way back to your cell. Quickly!" She threw at her the brown sack and left to get the eggs from Draco.
Draco was in the lobby looking annoyed at the same time vicious. The same face he wore outside the manor, for Aurors and other Death Eaters.
He took out five eggs from his pocket and handed them to Alecia. "You guys ready?"
"Almost." Alecia opened an egg and watched the snake turn into a cuff.
"Let's hope it's just one of their routine inspections." Draco straightened his robe.
Alecia nodded and hurried to their cells.
Dean stood by the doorway waiting for her. "Did you find Hermione?" He asked as he fumbled with his egg.
"She's not yet here?" Alecia threw three eggs to John, Mikey, and Stella who all opened them to be cuffed.
"Haven't seen her." Dean walked to the end of the hallway were chains were hanging. He nodded to John, who put the chains on Dean's wrists and feet.
Alecia had half a mind to fetch her but thought against it. "Everyone, lock yourselves in." She watched as everyone closed their cells except for John who opened a box by Dean's right foot. When smoke started to come out, John quickly went to his cell and closed it.
Draco opened the door for an Auror who did not wait for an invitation to get inside. "Let's make this quick."
Draco closed the door and turned to him. "A standard notice is protocol."
"Here I thought you preferred weekend visits." The blonde Auror knew the Manor well and started walking towards the cells.
Draco frowned as he followed suit.
"Draco." Hermione sneaked behind him.
Draco's face remained annoyed and angry but his heart raced. "Do not speak to me, mudblood."
Hermione was taken aback. She bowed confused. Her mind was brought back to her previous life with her previous masters. She was never allowed to be alone in a room. This prompted her to follow her master.
Upon nearing the cells. Hermione heard whip lashing and moaning. This brought her back to her tortured years. Her eyes widened her pace slowed and her ears started to ring.
Upon their arrival into the dungeon, the Auror made a quick look and noted that all the slaves were inside the cage looking dazed. At the end of the hall was a slave moaning from pain. A few feet from the slave was a whip magically lashing him.
Draco walked and waved his wand. The whip disappeared. "Satisfied?" He posed the question to the Auror.
"I think you're losing your touch. Allowing that mudblood to run through the halls and calling you by name."
"She's new and has a lot to learn."
"I want to be there when you start disciplining her."
"I will owl you." Draco was keen on getting the Auror to leave.
"Actually, I've been stressed lately. I want a go at him." The Auror motioned to the chained slave.
Draco summoned a whip and handed it to the Auror who declined. "Crucio!" The Auror laughed as the slave squirmed and shouted in pain.
"Enough." Draco interjected.
The Auror arched an eyebrow questioningly.
Draco swung his whip rendering a crisp sound. "My slave, my punishment." He swung his whip this time hitting the slave.
The Auror glared at being bested in front of the slaves.
"You," Draco pointed at Hermione. "Show our guest out." He swung his whip again.
Hermione did as instructed. A blank stare reflected on her face as she walked back to the dungeon. She arrived with the dungeon in disarray. The cells were open. Draco removed the chains from Dean while John caught his limp body.
Draco turned to find Alecia. "Get the potion." He barked his order.
Alecia walked past Hermione as she left the dungeon to get a healing potion.
Hermione walked towards her master. Her head still bowed down.
Draco sighed. He lifted her head to meet his gaze. "Hermione?"
She didn't respond.
She repeated her name. "Hermione?"
There was buzzing around the halls.
"Look at me." Draco ordered. That's the only time her eyes met his.
"Yes, master." Her voice matched her gaze which was devoid of feelings.
"Stay in your cell. Alecia will be with you in a moment."
Draco turned his attention to Dean. "Mate. How are you doing?"
Dean groaned. "I don't think I can go to work tomorrow."
Draco snorted. "Lazy prat."
Dean scoffed.
Alecia arrived with a blue potion. Draco took the bottle and offered it to Dean who smirked before drinking the potion.
"Stay with Hermione." Draco ordered Alecia who followed without question.
Draco stayed with Dean; watching his wounds slowly heal.
Alecia came to Hermione who was distant. A coping mechanism, Alecia deduced.
"Hermione? It's me Alecia." She softly stroked Hermione's hair. "You're safe now."
Hermione closed her eyes for a minute remembering where she was. "Alecia." She said as she opened her eyes.
Alecia squeezed her hands. "My fault, I wasn't able to prepare you for this."
Hermione freed her hand and got out of her cell. She found Draco on the ground with Dean and John. "You!" She marched towards Draco, Alecia right behind her.
Draco sighed as he stood to face his accuser.
"You promised safety, that no one will hurt us." Her voice shaking with every step toward him.
"I did." Draco staring at her.
"You promised all that but here you are torturing your right hand man. Hypocrite!" Hermione shouted.
Draco matched her stare and waited until they were inches apart.
Hermione's eyes were watery by the time she got near him. "You're no better than them. You're probably worse by acting like you care. Then you give us chores for your benefit. I haven't figured out the purpose but I refuse to do it for you." She clenched her fist and started pounding on his chest. "If you can do this to your most loyal servants I can't imagine what you'll do to us." She continued to pound on his chest.
"That's enough Hermione." Alecia called from behind.
"You're probably right." Draco answered.
Hermione started sobbing.
Draco collected her in his arms waiting until her breathing was back to normal.
He then motioned Alecia nearer. "Take her to the den."
Alecia nodded and led the sobbing witch out.
Draco focused back on Dean. "Sorry mate."
"You don't need to apologize." He forced a smile. "I'll talk to her later." He promised.
Draco shook his head. "No need."
Alecia tried to calm Hermione for Draco's arrival.
"This is entirely my fault. I should've prepared you." Alecia comforted her.
"You weren't the one torturing Dean." Hermione argued.
Alecia touched her hand. "It was all for show."
"His screams were real."
"Technically yes..." before Alecia could explain further Draco arrived slamming the door as he entered.
"Leave us." Draco ordered.
"Remember, it's still better here than where you came from." Alecia whispered.
"So that's how you justify his actions." Hermione retorted back.
Draco closed the door before Alecia could respond.
"I don't think anyone's told you about our protocol when an outsider comes to visit." Draco walked towards her
"What was it? Draw lots on who gets tortured for the day?"
Draco sighed. "I never meant for anyone to get hurt. We had a script. Everything went on as planned right until that Auror used that spell."
"So Dean agreed to be punished for no reason?"
"Nobody expected the Crucio."
Hermione was getting irate. "It's not just the Crucio. He was being whipped long before the Auror came. That's all you."
Draco took a deep breath. "The screams and sounds from the lashes are from Dean's memory."
"Pensieve?"
"Sort of. I went through his mind and stored it in a box. I found a way to magnify them so that a whole room can watch it."
"How?" Hermione couldn't believe his words.
"Technical, I'll explain later." He took her hands in his. "Are we okay?"
Hermione shook her head and withdrew her hands. "You whipped him in front of me."
"Stella helped me conjure that whip." Draco smiled at the memory. "It's made of echoes and sounds. Once it was swung and created a noise, the tip vibrates at an incredible speed that it loses its solid form. It shouldn't hurt."
Hermione's face softened but she was still unsure if he's telling the truth.
Draco read her actions correctly. "I can show them to you; the whip and the memory."
Hermione processed everything in her mind.
"Are we good?" Draco was hopeful.
"I..." she sighed. "I can't answer that yet."
"That's understandable." Draco smiled. "I chose Dean because he's well-rehearsed. He could win a best actor award if I was handing out awards.
Hermione forced a smile.
"Believe me; I do not want to harm any of you." Draco gazed into her eyes and added sincerely, "Please believe me."
Hermione burst into tears and leaned on him. Draco welcoming her in an embrace. "We haven't talked about what happened to you. I really wish you would let me in."
She stayed in his arms until she calmed down. "I'm sorry." She stepped away from him. "I should've trusted you."
"I'd like to earn that trust one of these days." Draco smiled. "Why don't you check up on Dean? He should be resting now."
"Okay." She nodded before leaving the room.