Hi, sorry for the lack of updates. Exams are coming, I really want to work hard and get good grades. For once in my lifetime, I love studying. I just finished all my essays and half of revision, but I still need to study more. :D
This summer is going to be a lot busier than last year's. I need to earn money so I can fly my parents to here and let them attend my graduation ceremony. Air tickets are very expensive, especially when they live far far away. I will also need to earn enough to afford a nice hotel for them to stay for a week or two. So this summer I devote myself to work and hope for the best. My father is going to retire so I will be the sole breadwinner of the family.
Due to Hermione's pregnancy, she was not permitted to go anywhere out of the manor. To be more precise, she was not allowed to anywhere apart from her room. Occasionally she could take a long slow stroll in the garden, but everywhere she went, she would be closely monitored by ten Altruists, much to her annoyance. She wished she was allowed to touch the books in Lucius' study, they could occupy her mind for quite a few months. She also wished she was allowed to play the piano downstairs at the parlour, but in this household, and in this world, she was too "inferior" to play instruments.
One evening, the household was informed that the Notts received their very first post-war child. Ginny stayed in the hospital and Healers had been giving her Tranquility Potion so she would not struggle or do any harm. The Malfoys decided to pay a visit, and they brought along Hermione so she could do a check-up in the meantime.
After the check-up, they went to Ginny's ward and greeted the Notts. Mrs. Nott was busy chatting with Narcissa, while Theodore's Maiden, Lisa Turpin, was bottle feeding the baby.
"It's a baby girl," said Mrs. Nott. "We are going to ask the Seer for her name. This is the first girl of the family, and she's both magical and Pure-blood, which is the best part of her."
The two wives were so occupied in their own little conversation that they had completely forgot Hermione. Hermione went over to Ginny's bed and whispered,
"How are you feeling?"
"Alive," replied Ginny bleakly.
Theodore poured a glass of water for Ginny, his eyes never left Ginny.
"Theo my dear, Mrs. Malfoy wants a word."
Theodore stood up and quietly walked to his mother. Mrs. Nott still had not looked at Ginny, not even sideways. Hermione felt terrible. Ginny seemed to have noticed her discomfort, she said,
"This is our fate, for being Maidens."
"She didn't even glance at you—"
"And there's nothing I can do."
The suppressed fear in Hermione broke out, she began wondering if Narcissa would do the same thing, only treating her as a tool of reproduction. This was the duty of a Maiden, to be their tools. Her child would not call her mother, and she only exist on Lucius' bed. Apart from that, she could only spend her time in the Ed Centre or her room.
The chance of her escaping was slimmer as days passed by, her abdomen was getting larger and her body felt a lot heavier than she had expected. She thought she could accept her fate like Ginny, but she could not seem to convince herself. After nights and nights of struggle and self-persuasion, she decided to escape at midnight.
It was no easy task, but she figured out that Malfoy Manor night pattern. Narcissa and Lucius would have gone to bed at eleven, and the Altruists guards mainly patrolled at the front garden. For some strange reason, the back garden was almost never monitored, as though they were confident that nothing would ever happen there. Perhaps they had set up barriers, perhaps they had hexes and jinxes.
But it would not be a problem, provided that Hermione could get a wand. Hers was confiscated, but not for the Malfoys. Narcissa always put her wand in the drawer in her bedroom, which was guarded by two Altruists at night. After another few nights of observation, she noticed the Altruists simply nodded off, and hardly any noise could wake them up.
Her quick-thing mind soon came up with a flawless plan, at least seemingly flawless. Stealing was always her last option, and she had no alternatives under such circumstance. She first snorted at herself upon thinking of breaching the law, but quickly she persuaded herself that sometimes it was necessary.
Soon as she noticed the slow steady snores, she sneaked out of her room. Carefully she tiptoed to Narcissa's bedroom. As expected, Narcissa was sound asleep. She looked much younger and more loving in sleep, had Hermione not known her, she would definitely believe that Narcissa was a generous and approachable woman. She crept across the room and reached the vanity table. She could hear the small tinkling in the first drawer, and she exactly knew it was the sound that could only made by a wand. She then squinted her eyes and examined the drawer, there was no sign of any protection spells. Were protection spells used, she would notice the sparkling around the drawer. Feeling brave, her fingers slowly reached for the drawer handle.
Nothing happened.
She slowly pulled the drawer and took the wand. The wand struggled, sparks and tiny cracks spat out and Hermione could feel the core of the wand wriggling, as though it did not approve her.
"Come on, please help me," Hermione whispered.
After a while, the wand seemed to have grown tired of fighting back. The familiar feeling of having full control of a wand came back. It had been a long time since Hermione held a wand.
She pointed the wand at her bracelet and it lost its brightness. Hermione did not know what it was supposed to mean but she guessed that the bracelet would not sell her out for the time being. She turned around and pointed at the wardrobe behind her, then whispered, "Alohomora."
The wardrobe door opened in an abrupt manner, which startled Hermione. She looked at Narcissa. Narcissa was still sleeping, as if she could not hear anything. Then Hermione noticed the small bottle filled with swirling liquid on the vanity table. Hermione recognised it immediately. A sleeping draught. It was a lighter version of Draught of Living Death, which could send people into deep sleep within minutes. Why would Narcissa need such a draught, Hermione had no idea, and she had no interest in figuring out the reason behind.
"Accio." Hermione hushed.
The cloak and dress flew into her arms. With a bit struggling, she managed to fit into the slim clothes. Once was done, she left the room. Heading all the downstairs into the garden, her heart raced with fear and excitement. She had been waiting for this opportunity. Once she got out of the Malfoy Manor area, she could apparate to the border and go on hiding in the Muggle World. She would get a job, raise her children single-handedly, and live a tranquil Muggle life. It used to be her life, she had lived it for eleven years.
"Malevolentis Aparecium."
Nothing happened upon casting the revealing spell. No jinxes, no hexes. She ran towards the border of the Malfoy Manor.
Suddenly, the wand began shaking and sending sparks.
"No! Not now!" Hermione yelled.
"Who's there?"
Hermione gasped. Who was it? There should not be anybody in the garden at midnight, it was impossible. She ducked down and held her breath. As the rustling footsteps on grass came closer and closer, Hermione's heartbeat grew quicker and quicker. Should she keep hiding until the coast was clear, or should she stupefy this person so she could continue the escape as planned? The wand kept sending weak sparks, as if it was trying to notify the Altruists of her presence.
Just when she thought she would be exposed, a familiar voice shouted,
"Magnus, what are you doing here?"
It was Draco. Hermione's heart stopped.
"Mr. Malfoy," said Magnus. "I believed I saw someone in the garden."
"That person is me, is it not?" Draco said.
"I am not sure about that, Mr. Mal—"
"I wish to be left alone here."
"Yes, Mr. Malfoy." said Magnus, and his footsteps went farther and farther.
Hermione could sense Draco was looking around for a while, so she stayed still until Draco walked away. When she believed that the coast was completely clear, she stood up and headed towards the border. The sparks from the wand had weakened by a lot, and Hermione could feel the core of the wand began shrivelling.
She reached the end of the garden, just when she took one more step. She felt a barrier in front of her. She pointed the wand at the barrier and tried to break through, but the wand seemingly had lost its power. No matter what spell Hermione could come up with, the wand would not obey, and could not obey.
Just when she was trying to figure out how to get the wand working, she felt the tip of a wand pointing at her back.
"Accio wand," said the calm voice.
The wand sprinted out of Hermione's palm and went behind her.
"Dra—"
Before she could say anything further, Draco grabbed her and apparated. They apparated into a spacious dark room, dimly lit by the moonlight. She turned to Draco, his eyes were staring into hers, which made her extremely uncomfortable.
"Mal—"
"Is this—"
Hermione was confused.
"It's your mother's—"
"Not this!" said Draco, getting more and more impatient. "The baby."
"Babies!" Hermione snapped.
"Are they mine?"
Hermione was shocked, she had never thought about this. All she knew was that she carrying a Malfoy, would it matter if Lucius was not the father?
"How would I know, I'm not the Healer."
"So they're mine after all."
For some unknown reason, anger stirred up in Hermione's mind. She began yelling,
"I could have escaped and lived a normal life! Why did you stop me! Do you not know how important it is for me? Now I have no more options!"
"Hermione—"
"Then you're saying my children are yours. Is that why you stopped me? Is that why you apparated me to this unknown freaky place! You don't care about me, so why would you care about my child!"
Draco held her head, which made Hermione stopped yelling. She dazed with confusion. Before she could regain her sense, Draco lips fell upon hers. It was not a kiss of lust, it was a kiss attempting to calm her down.
When Draco's lips left hers, he began,
"You did not win the core of the wand, this is why it would not work for you. What's more, we have a protection barrier at the border, the closer you are to the border, the weaker any wand magic will be. This is also why we never have Altruists patrolling the garden."
"Never would I imagine a miscalculation," muttered Hermione, angry at herself for being so unobservant.
"You don't know how fortunate you are to live with us," said Draco.
"Fortunate! That's utter nonsense."
"Do you not know your friend Ginny was raped by Nott every night."
"What?"
"At least my father is not a monster. He respects your thoughts a lot more than to many others. The least you can do is stay and give birth to the child. If you really want to leave, I will try to help you."
"You? I thought—"
There were knocks on the door. Two short knocks, then a long knock after a short pause.
"Here they are," said Draco.
"They?" asked Hermione, baffled.
Draco pulled out his wand and flicked. The door opened and two people came in. With another flick, the lights turned on, and she could not help gasping at the sights of familiar faces. And they were also shocked upon seeing Hermione.
"Draco, what is the meaning of this?" asked Pansy Parkinson, annoyed.
"I know this day would come, sooner or later," muttered Blaise, who was standing right behind Pansy. When he turned around and yelled through the ajar door, "Hey, there's someone whom you'd love to meet."
A red haired man in emerald green vicar-like clothes came in, and Hermione was almost unable to control the overflowing emotions.
"Ron!"
Ron dazed with surprise, he was about to go towards her and give her a warm hug, but he stopped as he stared at Hermione's baby bump.
"Alright, Zeiters, we have a new member today—" began Draco.
"—Obviously," added Blaise.
"What can she do for us, she's pregnant!" said Pansy.
"Not months later," Draco pointed out. "Soon she will be fit to duel—"
"Duel?" asked Hermione.
"Just when I thought you had explained everything to new members prior the meeting," said Blaise.
"Fine, I will explain!" said Draco. "Hermione, welcome to Zeit. I'm the convenor, Pansy is responsible for recruiting new members and doing investigations. Blaise does the planning with me. And Ron is—"
"My assistant," said Blaise, seemingly proud of it.
"Why do I always have to be subordinate of him!" complained Ron.
"That's because you're an Altruist—"
"You motherfu—"
"Hey, watch your mouth! You're the one who's with my mother, pleasuring her every other night."
Ron flushed with anger, he clenched his fist and was about to hit Blaise.
"No duelling!" shouted Draco, snapping them out of duel. "I don't care whether you're a Altruist or Superior. As long as we're in the same group. We should put aside everything and work as a team."
Hermione was mildly surprised by his speech. This was the first time Draco showed himself not caring about social statuses. Was she blinded by prejudice, or was Draco merely not good at showing his kindness?
"Pansy, would you report your finding?" asked Draco.
"Didn't find out much. I'm transferring to Wizengamot Administration Services next month, so I might a chance to come across things that might be in our interest. But don't expect too much, probably Callous wouldn't let me touch the documents we want."
"Good. Me and Blaise will keep a lookout for you. And as for Ron—"
"Just keep my mother satisfied so she would not bother going anywhere." said Blaise.
Before Ron could give Blaise a blow in the face, Draco intervened and said,
"Ron, just keep an eye on potential recruits. With your status, it would not be suspicious for you to mingle with Maidens. You're the only one who can do this."
Seeing that Draco was giving him some proper respect, Ron withdrew his fist and nodded.
Suddenly, a silver salamander flew into the room, and Pansy hit a spell at it, which startled Hermione.
"Maybe you should go home first," suggested Draco.
"But I want to be with you Draco," said Pansy, and she went to hold Draco's hands. "You know I don't love Anthony Goldstein and you don't love Daphne Greengrass either. It aches me every time I imagine you having to share the same room with her!"
"Urgh," muttered Ron, Blaise pretended not to hear anything. Hermione was slightly disturbed and disgusted.
"Just go. We will meet up again same time next week. Dismiss."
Blaise urged Pansy to leave with him. Ron looked at Hermione, as though wanting to have a small talk with her.
"Ron, Hermione and I need a word," announced Draco.
Ron shrugged and left, and Draco locked the door with his wand. This made Hermione slightly scared.
"What do you want?" asked Hermione.
"I just want to let you know that I am on your side. I don't like the world now, I want to change it, or at least go back to what it's like before."
"I thought you're promoting to be the vice-head of Office of the Advisor to the Minister for Magic."
"Yes, I am. But I can't do anything yet. I can't take any risks."
"I understand—"
"Now I need to change you back into your assigned attire."
Draco stretched out his hand, asking for Narcissa's wand. Though unwilling, Hermione still gave him the wand. With a flick, her dress turned back into the sleeping gown she wore before escaping.
"What you did tonight was dangerous, not only to yourself, but the whole Manor, including Daphne."
"Does she know anything about this?"
"I don't want her to be involved. It's already a torture for her to be stuck in a marriage that she doesn't want. If I get into any trouble, the least I can do for her is keep her safe."
Hermione asked again, "Can I recruit other Maidens?"
Draco was worried, he said, "We need to be careful. Only recruit those you know would never betray you and have no reason to betray you."
Hermione nodded, Draco then said, "Let's go, before anyone discovers that you and I are out of bed."