A/N: Hello, my lovelies! I won't be able to do daily updates for much longer, so get 'em while they're hot! Please excuse all typos and errors, remember every chapter I post is a first draft, so sometimes they get a bit hairy. Sorry about that. This was a tricky chapter. Any alliance forged between Draco and Hermione at this point is bound to be shaky. Trust is earned when risks are taken. Let's see what they're each willing to risk.
I love all of my great reviewers. I wanted to give a shout out to the lovelies that reviewed Chapter 14: pinkgiraffe17, HermionenDraco368, Krystal Alspaugh, arbitrary (guest), Speed Girl 87, TheWindChaser, betty69blue, Pyra Sanda, Kittykatsilvana, Angel Left Wing, AlisonHope2, Jen0318 and Guest (guest). Whew! You, lovelies, made me giggle with glee!
I love all my lovely, lovely reviewers! I could love you, too, if you review!
-Elvee
(Obligatory Disclaimer: Book copyrights are important. I'm an author, too, and I get it. Nothing but the plot and a few small devices, spells and potions are mine. No infringement is intended, nor ownership implied of copyrighted material. Any questions? Please ask your lawyer why it's called Fan Fiction.)
Snatch
Chapter Fifteen
"I love being married. It's so great to find that one special person you want to annoy for the rest of your life."
-Rita Rudner
After giving a hard look at Snape and Viktor, Hermione threw a pile of clothes at Malfoy and pulled her beaded bag over her shoulder. "Get dressed. Meet me outside. We have to talk about your mother." She flicked her wand and the shackles vanished. Taking a few steps to the door, she turned back, "And Malfoy? Don't stoop to their level."
When the door snapped shut behind her, Malfoy was hopping into his pants, growling, "I'm not marrying a- Granger! Get back here!"
The evening was cool but clear, the cold weather finally retreated for the short Icelandic spring and summer. This far north the first stars looked like ground glass scattered across the sky. Her breath misted in the dewy air. She stood, hands in her pockets and waited. It wouldn't be long.
Malfoy slammed the door, tripping over small rocks and roots in his haste to reach her, mumbling. "I can't consummate a marriage to..." The orange memory of the sun left the sky and darkness fell like a shroud around them. "Granger! You don't just tell a wizard you're marrying him and run off. Granger!"
She chuckled, he sounded like a rampaging herd of wild hippogryphs. "Over here," she said softly. She stood on a rocky shore overlooking the black water.
He marched over, hands on his hips, "Look, Granger. You're a... well... you're okay for a mud... muggle-born. And thanks for saving me, I guess. But , er..." She smirked and watched the train wreck of nervous Malfoy before her. "And I mean," he continued, "If you help me release my mother, I'm sure we can forget all about the pile of galleons you owe me. We could call it payment for services..." he trailed off at her scowl. "I meant to say a gift." He huffed out a breath. "This isn't coming out right. You're a nice girl, you're pretty, you're a good kisser, Merlin knows you're intelligent. There's a million wizards out there that would be thrilled to have you. It's just that...I'm flattered and all, but I'm sorry, I can't marry you, Granger."
"Are you quite done?" Still chuckling, she put him out of his own misery. He gave a pained nod. She laughed out loud. "I already know all this, Malfoy."
He ran a hand through his tousled hair and blew out a breath. "You know? You let me go through all that, and you already know?"
"Well, it was nice to hear it, even if you don't mean a word of it." She chuckled.
"Granger, you're a real jerk, you know that?" An awkward silence settled between them. He dropped his eyes, then turned to the black bay water searching for the horizon. The wind ruffled his hair, his robes flapped and wrapped around his ankles.
She smiled at him then, a genuine smile he'd never see. "Malfoy, we hate each other. Why would I want to marry you?"
"You hate me?" He twitched his head back to the cabin, saying, "Back there you said you asked Dumbledore for me."
She nodded, rocking on her heels. "I did."
He put a palm to his forehead and closed his eyes. "Wait. I'm confused."
"Surprising as it was, Malfoy, you were actually reasonable when you thought I'd proposed to you. Now imagine someone asking your father the same question." A mixture of realization and fear dawned on his face. "Money doesn't help Harry, but a man inside does. I needed the threat of marrying you to motivate your father."
"A man to do what?" He asked suspiciously.
"What he does best." Hermione gave Malfoy's silhouette a long hard look. Beyond this there was no point of return. She could be tried and convicted for murder if he ever let this secret out. She blew out a long breath before answering him. "Lucius has been killing Inner Circle Death Eaters for me. In exchange, I agree not to marry you off to a filthy little mudblood." After a beat she said, "With good birthing hips. Namely, me," and smirked. "Provided your father does everything I ask, you're free to sell your ring finger to the highest pure-blooded bidder and have all the mini-ferrets you want."
He blinked, trying to take it all in. "O-kay. So, wait. You don't want to..." His finger gestured between them.
She burst out laughing. "Are you kidding? We'd kill each other!" Seeing Malfoy's sheepish grin, she bumped his shoulder with hers, "But if I ever need someone to let me down easy, I'll ask again. Thanks for that."
He gave a soft smile and slight shake of the head as he looked back out over the water. "You really had me worried, there, Granger."
She plucked a long piece of sea grass growing between the rocks to give her hands something to do. "We're not out of the woods, yet. Your father still has one more task."
"Another murder?" He spluttered.
She tossed the shredded grass into the wind. "A big one. We're going to use the chaos to save your mum."
He turned back, his hands in the pockets of his robes, studying her. "Yeah? What if he fails, Granger?"
She sighed and shoved her hands back into her pockets to keep from stripping the entire plant. "That depends on the nature of his failure. If he fails, we won't have much of a choice but to go through with it."
"And if he dies?" He asked softly.
She shrugged, saying, "Then it won't really matter. Your mum will be safe and Lucius will be dead. No reason to go through with it."
"Granger, I... I'm sorry, what I said about your parents. I can't believe you're even considering saving my mother."
She followed the progress of an incoming fishing boat saying softly, "I wasn't planning on saving her at first. I didn't even consider it until you told me..." She trailed off. It was better it was left unsaid. "My parents were innocent, too," she said heavily, scuffing at the rick under her feet. "I know how that feels. I originally asked the Order to do it, but I know what they do with anyone that close to You-Know-Who. They torture them for information. Your mum is an innocent, I couldn't let that happen, even if her only son is a ferret." She finished with a weak smile.
A muscle in his jaw tightened, and he ground out, "She doesn't know anything!"
Hermione gave him a sad smile in the lights from the fishing village across the bay, her hair twisting in the wind. "She probably knows more than you realize, but that doesn't matter. She's been through enough. As much as I hate doing it, I had to make up a plan on the fly. If we're going to get her out of there, I'm going to need your help."
He nodded. "Anything."
She looked out over the water for a long time, listening to the waves break before she spoke again, "Draco, your father will probably be dead when this is over. Someone else might kill him, but I'll be responsible for it. He might be a psychopath, but he's still your father. If you don't want me to go through with it, tell me now. I'll try to think of another way to get her out."
"You'd stop if I asked you?" He was incredulous.
"Probably not, but you'd never be able to prove anything." She gave a guilty smirk and a shrug. "Been hanging out with too many Slytherins lately."
He picked up a flat rock and skipped it into the water off the jetty, then another, thinking. "Do it." He picked up a third, but hesitated, asking instead, "Do you know? Who killed your parents, I mean?" With that he whipped the rock into the ever moving black water. She watched it skip until it sank quickly to the depths.
"Yes," she whispered.
He pinned her with a calculating look, "What about them? Will they be dead by the time this is all over, too?"
"No," she whispered again, savagely wiping at a stray tear, gazing anywhere but at him.
"That's dragonshit! Who did it?" He hissed.
She picked up a rock of her own, studying it like it was the most fascinating thing she'd ever seen. "It doesn't matter. We have to worry about who we can save, Draco. We have to worry about your mum."
He grabbed both her shoulders jerked them face-to-face. He brought their noses an inch apart, "Who, Hermione?" When she hesitated to answer, he shook her gently, demanding, "Tell me."
She met his eyes. They were cold and hard. "That Carrow bitch and Dolohov." He gave a firm nod to show he'd understood and kissed her on the forehead before he marched down the jetty back to the cabin. "Draco, where are you going?"
"You're not the only one with a man on the inside." He yanked the door open and disappeared into the yellow light.
Hermione ran to catch up to him. Once inside, she found him gripping the collar of Krum's robes and caught the tail end of a growling Malfoy, "...Electo and Dolohov. Do you understand? Do this and I'll consider out blood debt fulfilled."
Hermione paled as the blood drained from her face. "Draco, no!"
He twisted to glance at her, not letting go of Krum. "Leave it alone, Hermione. It's my debt. I'll use it any way I see fit." Turning back to Krum he said, "If that isn't enough incentive, you should know they're the pigs that killed Hermione's parents. Do this and live."
Viktor tore his eyes from Malfoy and looked hesitantly at Hermione. He tried to speak, then cleared his throat and spoke, "Is this true, Her-mee-o-niny? They killed your mama and papa?"
She dropped her eyes to the floor, refusing to look at him. Acting like a Death Eater on her behalf and without her consent was bad enough, but to ask him straight out to become a murderer? She couldn't do it. There was a primal part of her that wanted them to suffer for what they'd done to her parents. It was that part of her that mutely nodded her head.
"I will do this. Please think better of me, Hermee." Viktor said softly in his burred Hungarian accent.
"Wizard Oath," Draco growled. "Hermione give him your wand."
"No, Draco. Please." Her voice had evaporated to a ragged whisper.
Snape stood and offered his wand to Krum. Hermione's first love raised the wand and said the incantation typing the fate of his magic to revenge for Hermione's parents.
Malfoy roughly pushed him back down on the bed, his demeanor tight and grim. Hermione tried to stifle her sob and hide her tears with her hair, but Malfoy gathered her up and lowered her into a chair. She jumped at the sound of metal on metal and was astonished to realize Draco was making her tea.
Snape sat at the table, still and silent. If she hadn't seen him there when Draco sat her down, she doubted she would have paid him any attention. It was a very valuable skill for a spy: to go unnoticed in a room full of information. No doubt every shred of what just happened would be on Dumbledore's desk in the morning: Draco's offer, Krum's oath and the Malfoy heir's solicitous attitude toward one Hermione Granger. It wouldn't matter, by then everything would be set in motion.
After a cuppa, served rather awkwardly by Draco, Hermione unpacked her muggle electronics with a curt word to Snape, "No spells over magnitude two or everything will turn to shit."
Hermione accepted a refill from Draco with a smile and said softly, "I want you to talk to him tonight, Draco."
Snape's eyebrows lifted in surprise over his tea cup, but Draco shook his head, "I've got nothing to say to him."
She sipped her tea and swallowed slowly, deciding on her angle. Finally, she said, "He's not going to like the target. You're going to give him that little bit of incentive."
Draco paused in stirring his tea without looking up, saying, "So, who's the target?"
"Bellatrix LaStrange." She said it as evenly as she could. The deafening silence that followed made it seem like she'd rung a giant funeral bell.
Draco crumbled the biscuit in his hand and his eyes shot up to meet hers, clearly worried. He swore, "Merlin's holey underwear! You don't ask for much, do you?"
"Bellatrix is formidable. Not only is she a strong witch in her own right, she's also the most loyal of the Dark Lord's followers. Her death will not go unpunished. She will give Lucius pause." This was the first helpful thing Snape had said in days.
"Maybe. Maybe not. He's very efficient and he's quite desperate to keep Malfoy, er... unsullied." She gave him a half smile that Malfoy couldn't look at without turning away with a frown. "Either way, I win, Draco. If your father dies, I've already taken out Nott, so the majority of the Death Eater's finances will dry up. If Bellatrix dies, he loses his most trusted follower, and if the rumors are true, his paramour. At the end of this, there will still be one less lieutenant on the field. It might not be much, but it's something, and I'll take any advantage we can get." She shrugged.
"Nott." The wheels were turning in Draco's mind. "Who else did you say? Greyback. The werewolves. Yaxley..." Malfoy's fevered eyes leapt to hers. They had an excited gleam in them. His smile widened as he put the pieces together. "The Ministry. Aunt Bella. Merlin, Granger, you're ripping him apart from the inside." His smile faded, like the air going out of a balloon. He shook his head nervously, saying, "He's going to figure it out. He's going to come after you."
Hermione gave a hesitant nod. "Maybe. But, if you're father dies, my secret dies with him."
Draco was getting angry. Hermione didn't understand his reluctance. It was a good plan, but he challenged it anyway, sniping, "Yeah? What if he kills Aunt Bella? What then?"
"Then he comes after me," she shrugged with a sad smile. Draco made to protest, but she continued right over him, "The real trouble comes if they're both still alive after the first week."
Draco shuttered his expression and asked slowly, "No one dies. Then what happens, Granger? We send in the House Elf Marines?"
She sneered in reply, before answering his true question."Then we get married, I ruin your blood line and get the privilege of having your mini-ferrets. Like I said outside, we're not out of the woods yet."
Draco blanched, asking quietly, "Wait, Granger. I thought that was only a threat."
"A threat that you aren't willing to act on isn't a threat at all." Snape said smoothly. Hermione raised her eyebrows, for once agreeing with Snape, and nodded at Draco.
Panic was slowly leaking into his silver eyes as Draco looked between them. "But I'm not marrying you! I can't. You can't force me!"
She sighed sadly, "Don't make me say it, Malfoy. You know I can." Either of her threats was terrible, even to her. She could just hand him back over to Voldemort, or she could threaten him with the welfare of his mother. She had no intention of acting on either of them, she wasn't desperate enough to consider either one of them yet. Her first choice of action was a love potion. In the end, no one would get hurt, and he'd just hate her. As long as that was an option, she was going to cling to it.
"But! Hermione, you wouldn't do that!" She watched as Draco thrashed around for a reason, any reason to ruin her plan.
If she was honest with herself, she knew his panic disappointed her. She wasn't asking him to jump off a bridge or cast the killing curse on himself. She quirked up a brow, saying tartly, "I'll do what has to be done. Our two little lives aren't worth much in the grand scheme of things, Malfoy." She pulled out a copy of a magical marriage license, all the lines already filled in, only the date, place and his signature were blank. "Don't worry. I won't be insisting on consummating the marriage. I won't be any happier about it than you will."
"And what good is that going to do? If my father hasn't killed Aunt Bella in a week, marrying me won't make him kill her. If anything, he'll be out looking for you." Malfoy stood, both hands on the table, leaning over her.
"Yes and no. I doubt he'll get far before You-Know-Who discovers the new little addition to your family tree. When he does, I'm sure he'll be only happy to kill your father for allowing his only son to run off with a mudblood." She said, matter of fact and a touch smug.
Malfoy looked green. "I never... We didn't run away together."
She cocked an eyebrow long enough for the gesture to indicate, 'oh, really?' In a swotty tone, she said, "Think about it. We disappeared from Hogwarts at the same time and haven't been seen since. Aside from me, only two people know where we are. One of them is in this room. You-Know-Who fears the other. When my name appears on your magical family tree, whose version of events do you think You-Know-Who is more likely to believe? Lucius's or mine?"
She let Malfoy sit in silence for a minute before continuing, "If it makes you feel any better, I'm no happier about marrying you than you are about marrying me. That's why you need to talk to your father. You're the only one in this room who fully understands what's at stake. So, you're the one who gets to convince him. We're going to distract him with killing Bella and sneak your mother out right underneath his nose. He has to accept the bait, so we can rescue her."
"How are you going to do that? The place is crawling with Death Eaters!" Draco cried.
"I admit to being rather interested in that, myself," Snape admitted.
She wasn't about to give away the details of her secret mission to anyone until it was successful, not even Draco. "How isn't important. We are not doing the rescuing. Draco, the real question is: do you trust me? You have until he calls to make up your mind. After that, I make no guarantees."