AUTHOR'S NOTE: Sorry to leave you hanging! This'll be a nice, juicy chapter though. More serious than the previous ones as well, by the way.
CHAPTER TEN: THE IMPERIUS CURSE
Hermione felt like she was floating in a dream world. Everything seemed airy and vague. Her eyelashes fluttered as she opened her eyes. She was still on the fourth floor with Blaise.
"Kiss me," Hermione vaguely heard Blaise say. She didn't see any harm in it and so she turned to him and kissed him. He smirked.
"Now, I want you to get the invisibility cloak from Potter and meet me in the Slytherin common room. The password is 'Salazar.' You will not speak to anyone on your way to either common room. Do you understand?" Blaise said.
Hermione's eyes widened as she nodded, and she left, making her way to the Gryffindor common room. She saw Harry alone by the fireplace.
"Hermione, what-"
"I need your invisibility cloak," Hermione said serenely.
"What? Why-"
"It's important," she said simply. Harry ran up to his dormitory and returned with the silvery cloak.
"Do you want me to come with-"
"No, that's not necessary," Hermione smiled, taking the cloak. Without another word she left the common room and made her way to the dungeons. Half way there she began to feel more alert, and threw the cloak over herself. She walked past Ron, who had just emerged from the Great Hall, yawning.
Hermione walked, invisible, in a trance-like state, though she began to feel the haziness blurring. She reached the dungeons and said 'Salazar' to a blank wall. A space in the wall opened up and Hermione entered the Slytherin common room to Blaise hurrying a few second years to their dormitories.
Something feels strange, Hermione thought to herself. Without realizing it, the effects of the Imperius curse were fading as Blaise had not been with her constantly to curse her.
"Take off the cloak," Blaise ordered. Hermione obeyed, though hesitantly. Blaise lifted his wand.
"Expelliarmus," he said, and Hermione's wand shot into his left hand. He pocketed it. Hermione frowned.
"Imperio," Blaise murmured, and Hermione felt dazed once more. Blaise took the cloak from her.
"You will go to the Owlery and write a letter to Professor McGonagall," he said. "You will explain to her that you are leaving Hogwarts tomorrow morning, to continue your studies in Muggle school. You will instruct the owl to send the letter with the morning post tomorrow. Should anyone speak to you, you will say you are writing a letter to your parents. When you are finished you will return here. Is that clear?"
Hermione nodded and left the Slytherin common room. After a few moments Blaise slipped on the cloak and left as well, heading towards Snape's office.
Hermione reached the Owlery without being stopped by anyone and wrote the letter as instructed. Once she had motioned to the owl nearest her and murmured to give the letter tomorrow morning, she left the Owlery only to run into Malfoy.
"What're you doing here, Mrs Malfoy?" Draco drawled flirtingly.
Hermione smiled. "Sending an owl to my parents," she responded automatically, and began to walk away. She was not followed by Malfoy.
She reached the dungeons and once again began to feel a bit of reality washing over her.
"Salazar," came a firm voice. It was Blaise. The two of them entered the common room, Blaise stuffing the cloak as well as a large vial of clear liquid into his pockets.
"Imperio," he said, whipping out his wand.
"You will follow me to my dormitory, covered by the cloak, and fall asleep in the trunk by my bed. You will sleep for eight hours. Nod if you understand."
Hermione nodded, put on the cloak, and followed Blaise to his dormitory. Crabbe, Goyle, and two other boys Hermione did not know the names of were snoring, sound asleep. Blaise opened the trunk at the foot of his bed and Hermione stepped into it before curling up into a ball. Making sure she was completely covered in the cloak, Blaise shut the trunk.
IIIII
Hermione woke up eight hours later, still covered in the invisibility cloak. Blaise had moved her to his bed and used the Imperius curse to prevent her from wriggling or speaking. He looked down at his watch and then pulled the cloak down to her chin. She blinked at him mildly.
"Are you hungry?" he asked. Hermione thought for a moment and then nodded. He handed her a flask of pumpkin juice and a handful of chocolate frogs. Once Hermione was done eating, Blaise asked, "Do you need to use the bathroom?" Hermione nodded again.
Blaise pointed his wand at Hermione, and after uttering "Imperio," instructed her to go to the bathroom under the cloak, speak to no one, and return to him right away. She nodded and left.
In the other side of the castle, Professor McGonagall was talking to Harry and Ron seriously in the Great Hall.
"Have you heard of this, boys?" She said, handing them Hermione's letter. Harry and Ron read it silently. When Ron was about to speak Harry nudged him.
"Er yes," Harry said, thinking on the spot, "She was a little upset about an Arithmancy essay the other day, but she should be fine. I don't think she even sent a letter to her parents-stress, you know-"
McGonagall looked at him for a moment before nodding sternly and walking back to the staff table, murmuring "Poor girl," under her breath.
Ron rounded on Harry. "Harry, what the hell is going on? Have you actually seen Hermione? I haven't seen her since yesterday, and she's not here-"
Harry motioned wordlessly for Ron to follow him out into the Entrance Hall, and the two boys got up, oblivious to the following eyes of Draco Malfoy across the room. Malfoy had noticed both Hermione and Blaise's absence and followed Ron and Harry. He heard their hushed voices in the Entrance Hall.
"She took your cloak last night?" Ron asked incredulously. "And she hasn't been seen since? Where do you think she went? Harry, I'm worr-"
Ron fell silent when he saw Malfoy walking towards them.
"Granger wasn't in the common room last night," Malfoy said, and saw the boys' faces turn panic stricken.
Ron looked like he was about to have some sort of attack when he spluttered, "What? Malfoy are you sure? She borrowed Harry's cloak-"
"I saw her last night at the Owlery, she said she was sending an owl to her parents-"
"McGonagall showed us the letter! It said she was leaving Hogwarts to go back home!" Ron cried.
Harry looked at Malfoy intently. If he was not lying, then Hermione could have indeed gone back home to her parents. However, he was not convinced. It was very unlike Hermione, and she seemed strange when she had asked him for the cloak.
Malfoy was thinking along the same lines. "She was acting weird-last night, at the Owlery-"
At that moment Snape appeared in the Entrance Hall and swooped in on the three of them.
"Potter, Weasley, my office. Now." Harry and Ron looked exasperated but followed Snape to his office. Malfoy followed them at a distance before leaving them outside the office to go to the Slytherin common room.
IIIII
"There was something stolen from my private stores last night," Snape said coldly. "Do either of you know what that thing was?"
Ron and Harry both shook their heads, furious at being accused of theft by Snape.
"Veritaserum," Snape said smoothly, though his eyes were filled with rage.
"We didn't take anything-"
"My last vial of the potion," Snape interrupted Harry. "Why would you two require such a potion is beyond me," Snape continued, "But if I find any proof- any whatsoever that you have stolen from me- I will make it my personal mission to expel you both."
Harry and Ron said nothing.
"Get out," Snape hissed.
IIIII
Hermione was back in Blaise's dormitory, covered by the cloak and in his opened trunk. She had returned from the bathroom without any problem, and Blaise had once again, put the Imperius curse on her.
From the dormitory, Blaise heard the cold voice of Malfoy in the Slytherin common room. "Is Zabini here?" Malfoy asked.
In a panic, Blaise swiped at Hermione's head, taking off her cloak, muttered "Obliviate" at her eyes with his wand. Hermione eyes fluttered delicately while he took out the flask of Veritaserum, performed a vanishing spell on it, and covered Hermione again with the cloak. Closing the trunk and locking it, he busied himself on his bed, pretending to be doing homework when Malfoy stormed in violently.
"Where is she?" he asked quietly.
Blaise raised his eyebrows questioningly but anger erupted in Malfoy. He could sense something was horribly wrong. He took Blaise's wand with the disarming spell and pulled him off the bed, punching him in the eyes and mouth. Blaise was bleeding profusely, and his eyes were very swollen.
"Stupefy!" Malfoy cried, and Blaise fell onto the bed, stunned. Malfoy rummaged through the dormitory in a frenzy, before crying "Alohamora!" at every trunk in the room. Swiping his hands through all of them, he lightly hit Hermione in the head. Malfoy grabbed at the air and the cloak flew off Hermione, revealing her, with a mild expression on her face.
"Granger! Are you alright?"
Hermione was silent for a moment. "Where am-what-"
Malfoy saw Blaise stirring on his bed.
"Stupefy!" Malfoy shouted at Blaise again, and he slumped on the bed. Malfoy held his hand out to Hermione who accepted it, and helped her out of the trunk. He threw the invisibility cloak over them and left Blaise in the dormitory. Malfoy held Hermione's hand the entire way to their common room.
"Draco Granger," Malfoy practically screamed at the portrait, and after being let in, Draco took off the cloak and sat Hermione down in her golden armchair. She was very quiet, and the frightened look in her eyes created knots in Malfoy's stomach.
"Hermione," he said gently. It was the first time he had ever called her by her name. Hermione looked at him. "Do you trust me?" he said. She looked away, and then nodded. Malfoy disappeared to his dormitory and returned a minute later with the same tiny black flask he had used when trying to disable Blaise's love potion.
"Drink this," he said, unscrewing the top, and tilted Hermione's chin while she opened her mouth, drinking a clear, odourless potion.
Malfoy sat down on his silver armchair across from Hermione. She blinked.
"Hermione, what did you do last night?"
Hermione sighed. "I went to the library after dinner for a few hours. I then left the library to return to the common room but was stopped by Zabini on the fourth floor."
Mafoy's jaw tightened. "What happened?" he asked.
Hermione blinked. "He flirted with me. I told him it was no use, I would not sleep with him so he could win ten galleons in a bet. He laughed. He said the Slytherins were not in on the bet, and that Malfoy had a different challenge going on. Malfoy was supposed to sleep with me so that he would not die. He made an Unbreakable Vow to sleep with me."
Malfoy ran his fingers through his hair, "and what did you say?"
"I said Malfoy was so stupid he deserved to die at that rate. It was his own fault for risking his life just to sleep with me. But Zabini said there was more to it than that. He said Malfoy had to do something more than just sleep with me."
Malfoy drew a breath. "What happened then?"
Hermione folded her hands neatly, speaking with the same blank expression, "Zabini told me Malfoy would not be happy if I knew about this. He put the Imperius curse on me."
Malfoy swore, but Hermione continued in a dead-pan voice, "He told me to get the invisibility cloak from Harry, and to meet him at the Slytherin common room. He gave me the password. He told me not to speak to anyone else. I complied. I brought the cloak to him. He told me to go to the Owlery and send a letter to McGonagall; to tell her I would be returning home to my Muggle school. I was to instruct the owl to send the letter with the morning post the next day. If anyone saw me I was to tell them I was writing to my parents. I saw Malfoy. I told him the lie like I had been instructed to."
Malfoy looked intently at Hermione. "And then?"
"And then I returned to the Slytherin common room, where I met Zabini. He had left with the cloak and returned with it as well as with a vial of clear liquid. Veritaserum. He put the Imperius curse on me for the third time and told me to sleep for eight hours in his trunk with the cloak on me. I did as I was told."
Malfoy grimaced with disgust.
"Eight hours later I awoke," Hermione continued, "Zabini fed me, and put the curse on me again, allowing me to leave under the cloak to use the bathroom. When I returned to his dormitory I went back into the trunk. He heard Malfoy in the common room, looking for him. He took the cloak off me, muttered a memory spell to wipe out my memory, and put a vanishing spell on the vial of Veritaserum. He concealed me with the cloak before Malfoy came in," she finished. Her head rolled back and she closed her eyes. Malfoy had his head in his hands and looked up to see the soft heaving of her chest.
A/N: Oh my Merlin, I have no idea what I am doing and I'm sorry this got so serious! I honestly didn't mean it to be! Blaise is just sick, isn't he? I almost gagged while writing the "Are you hungry?" part….what a fucking creep. Well, let me know what you think about this chapter and if you'd like the story to stay this dramatic or lighten up a bit etc.
ALSO, yes I know Blaise used the memory spell, but I figured the Veritaserum would cancel it out so that Hermione could tell Malfoy what happened.
:)