Chapter 9: Trust Issues

"Then I have to go with you."

"Why? I mean nothing to you, you can walk away and not deal with any of this."

"That's not true. You do mean something to me Hermione."

"Miss. Granger. I thought I heard you, please come with me." A voice in a black cloak said as he emerged from the shadows.

"That's Vincent Avery, Avery's dad." I whispered into Hermione's ear, as I held her close to me.

"You too Draco, I am sure everyone will be…well somewhat thrilled to see you again."

Hermione looked at me and I knew from her eyes that she was mentally begging me to come with her. I took her hand and we followed Avery Sr.

"Malfoy." Avery Jr. nodded to me.

"Avery. Any guesses as to why we are here?"

"Well I know why Granger is. Why you are is still a mystery, however I think it is becoming clear." He said motioning towards Grangers hand that I was still holding on to.

"Is the girl here?" A loud voice asked as we emerged underneath the Arc.

"Yes Pescuro, she is here and so is the young Malfoy boy sir." Avery Sr. said.

I leaned close to Hermione, "Malus Pescuro, he was one of the followers of the Dark Lord. He was a new one, from Italy, head of the Wizard family there, but I never thought the Dark Lord cared much for him. He always gave him meaningless tasks and he never was let in on anything too important." I told her.

"Well I guess with almost everyone else in Azkaban he saw the opportunity to rise to power."

"Bring her forth!" Pescuro said and Avery motioned for Hermione to move closer.

OOOOOOOOO

I let go of Draco's hand and started to walk towards this Pescuro figure. Draco followed close behind me.

"Miss. Granger, we meet at last." He said as he emerged from behind one of the columns. He was on the shorter side with jet black hair and eyes. He was dressed like a Muggle with a camera around his neck as though he was just here for the photography opportunities.

"Well I enjoy the location, the company however is not my taste." I said, trying to calm my own nerves.

"Ah, the girl is witty. Wonderful, it is always nice to keep the excitement alive. I am Pescuro. We have not met, I admit that the Dark Lord was a little hesitant when it came to me. I however am the Dark Lord now and I need some help taking hold of the power Tom Riddle never managed to grasp. I will succeed where he has failed, however I am not after blood. Especially not Potters. My goal is to have everyone cooperate with my ambitions."

"And how do you suggest doing that?"

"By threatening the thing they love the most. You see that is where Tom made his mistake. He sought for blood when he could have had the boy and the power. I simply show people what they love the most, like so…" He flicked his wand and my parents appeared in a cloud form, eating dinner at a restaurant, smiling and laughing, "and simply advise the person not to go against my will. The Grangers are such lovely people, and well trained dentists. I had such a pesky filling that came loose and your dear Father was kind enough to fix it for me this afternoon at a dentistry clinic. Would be such a shame for them to suffer now wouldn't it."

I clenched my fists together and breathed deeply. "And what exactly would you need me for? You have a nice little team here." I said while looking around at all the people. They seemed totally unaware of what was happening. Whether he made them that way I am not sure.

"Ah yes, my team. Well to be honest they are not the most top notch people. And certainly none of them have your brains, right Avery?" He glanced at Avery junior.

"Brightest witch in our class." He said through gritted teeth.

"I am sure you can find someone else to do whatever it is you need done Pescuro." Draco spoke up.

"Oh Draco, I forgot you were here. Well now that you mention it I could use someone else and since you are here you can help Miss. Granger. You two seem to be getting a bit cosy. Although I did not have eyes inside Miss. Granger's bedroom that night you visited her. I can only imagine what happened."

"Nothing happened. And we are not that close. In case Avery didn't fill you in, we are not friends, despite what you have witnessed it was all just an act. My mother wanted me to be civil." He said, and he sounded very convincing I almost wondered if it were the truth.

"Well then you can be civil a bit longer because I need you two to deliver some things to some places."

"A little vague, don't you think?" I asked.

"Patience Miss. Granger, you will get more information as you go along. For now, your task is simple. Please return this book to the National Library. I am just so busy that I do not have time to do so myself. I'm sure you can find out where it is, after all it seems like a place you would like to visit."

I took the book, it was about Napoleon, "Napoleon?"

"Yes, he built this magnificent structure, or had something to do with its construction I think, and was quite the man. Wanted to rule the world. Well unfortunately he failed, maybe if he was more than just a Muggle he would have succeeded. History teaches us many things Miss. Granger. I wish you a pleasant night. And the sunset would look wonderful from the top don't you think?" He said as he motioned for the others to follow him up the stairs to the top of the Arc.

I stood there, unable to move. I felt like the book was a death sentence. Draco came up and took it from me.

"Let's go. We will bring it by tomorrow." He said as he put his arm around my shoulder and led me into the tunnel to apparated to the hotel.

We ended up in my room, where he put the book on the dresser and sat down on the chair and put his head in his hands. He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair, "What do you think the book is for?" He asked.

I sat down on the bed, "I don't know."

"Well I doubt he took it out to study for a French History quiz so maybe there is something inside." He said as he reached for it and started flipping through the pages.

"He knew I was here the whole time." I said.

"Yes, that is a creepy fact I could have gone without knowing. He could have been spying through the window. What do you call that a Poking Tim?"

"Peeping Tom."

"Yes, thank you." He said. "Well I cannot find anything in here. Did you want to look?" He asked.

I shook my head. "Ok," he said, "well do you have any theories as to why he wants us to bring back a book to a library? Is this the way he wants to become minister, by appeasing the bookworms? Is minister even is goal? Maybe we should look into this guy's past. Like I said, I don't know much about him and to be honest I didn't think he had what it took to be a death eater. My tattoo hasn't been acting up so he hasn't managed to take control of that yet. I'm surprised he didn't kill me on the spot, I mean it is not as though my family invited him to dinner. In fact I think they all ignored him. Maybe I should ask my mother, she might know more. What do you think?"

"I don't know." I said.

"What does that mean?"

"It means, I don't have an answer. I know, I am Hermione Granger, I have an answer for everything but this time I don't ok. I don't know who he is or what he wants. I don't know why he choose me or how he found me or if he has been spying on me," I stood up and started walking around, "I don't know if I should leave or send my parents away. I don't know if I should tell Harry and Ron or what the stupid book means. Maybe he wants to be Emperor of the Wizarding World, or the whole world. I have no idea if he is serious about not killing me or my parents or Harry. I don't know what to do and I don't know who to trust."

"You can trust me."

"Can I? Can I really?"

He stood up, "Yes Hermione, of course you can. I told you I had nothing to do with this." He tried to reach for me.

"Don't touch me."

"I don't know how else to prove to you that I have changed, that I am on your side."

"What about all that stuff you said to Pescuro, about not liking me, it was only for show, and so on? How can I trust you when you say keep saying different things?"

"I said it because I thought it would help. Obviously he is smarter than I thought and he didn't believe me. I was trying to protect you."

"Why? What the hell do you have to gain from protecting me? I wasn't sure if you were going to turn on me out there, I was half expecting you to walk over to the other side with them."

"Is that what you really thought? Merlin Hermione, if you can't even give me a chance. I have proved over and over again that I am with you, I have changed and I don't know how else to prove it."

"Well neither do I." I said.

OOOOOOOOOOO

I grabbed her arm and pulled her towards me. She tried to resist ever so slightly but wasn't putting up much of a fight. I put my hand on her cheek and kissed her before she could register what was happening and back away. I was expecting her to push me away, and maybe hit me. But when she didn't struggle to get away I kissed her harder and put the arm that grabbed her around her back to bring her closer to me. I felt her one arm reach up to rest on mine and I felt her kissing me back.

And that is where I will end this chapter. Let me know what you think :p