Hey guys! Thanks for the reviews! I want to go ahead and… Not apologize for how long it took me to update. Had it been a conscious choice to not update I might feel worse, but unfortunately, being 21 years old, raising a now one year old son on your own, going to school, and working, takes a LOT of time out of your days and when I would want to write, I would come home, bathe my son, settle into bed to write, and pass the EFF out. But, fear not, I am still wanting to write this story and as time goes by I would type in my phone or write in my notebook in between classes. So yes. Thanks for your patience everyone, now. Enjoy! : )

Chapter 4

Each minute that goes by makes my stomach twist tighter, and my heart beat harder. I would have vomited at least four times in the last hour if I weren't so determined to not let the situation get to me. Although, it was a close call.

I stare myself down in the mirror again. My hair is pulled up in a loose bun, a few curls framing my face. I opted for just a simple silver necklace and small hoop earrings, and a matching clip in my hair, along with some mascara, light eyeliner, and rose lip gloss. The top half is all me, but it stops there. Ginny brought me a form fitting black silk dress, with a plunging neckline that made my face go red. Matching black, strapped heels are nestled under the short train, and a glistening of jewels rolls down the left side of my body. I don't feel like me and I'm embarrassed. But at the same time, I kind of like it.

I feel… Almost good. For the first time in a long time I feel mildly attractive.

"You look gorgeous, 'Mione." I can see Harry reflected in the mirror behind me, his expression a little solemn. "Just wish you were doing it for yourself and not for that prat."

"I am doing it for me. Either way this turns out, I win. And besides, it's time to face my fears and start moving on, right? This is… Just the first step." Momentarily I am thankful that the brunch is in the gardens and not inside of the manor. Baby steps.

"I hope so…" He whispers, and I stand up to leave the house, sticking my wand in a small clutch. Here we go.

oOoOoOo

The grounds of the Malfoy manor are simply beautiful, and despite the horrors I have witnessed here, I take a moment to gaze around at them through the gate before approaching the tall, eerie double gate. I press my hand up against the wrought iron and it slips right through, turning to mist at my touch. Stepping through I see the long winding pathway up through the grounds towards the looming manor. Clearly these shoes were not a good idea.

Taking a deep breath I walk along the gravel, happy that I am always ahead of schedule, but then, taking in the large building, I stop. I can see her face clearly in my mind as she screams and spits at me. I can hear my own shrieks ripped from my chest as my body is wracked with pain over, and over, and over again. And there is his face, staring down at me with malice; Lucius.

"Keep moving." Both of their voices fill my mind and push away the destructive thoughts. I grit my teeth, clench my fists, and with another deep breath, continue up the gravel. My eyes do not waver from the front door the whole rest of the walk. I steady myself in my mind, and remind myself that no matter how afraid I am, I will not let them see it. Least of all Malfoy.

Before I have even released the knocker on the door it flies open, and a small, grim looking house elf looks up at me.

"Ms. Granger. You is right on time, of course. Parsley was told you would be and that Parsley must be prompt at answering the door and bringing Ms. Granger to the gardens for brunch with the Masters. If Ms. Granger would please follow me." She wheezes this out with one strained breath and then hauls off down the middle of the entrance room. I follow her as the door starts closing, my eyes glued to the drab pillowcase wrapped half-hazardly around her, but I can still feel the room around me.

Disgusting. From the dark stone walls, to the angry portraits sneering down at me, and all the way down to this poor house elf. Dark magic and death reek through the halls, assaulting my senses. If this is what they have to show me in their defense, I might as well sign off on Lucius right now.

A few minutes of winding hallways and we come to a large, open room with several double glass doors. The room is composed of glass panes letting sunlight spill across the marble floors. This is the first room I have been in that smells fresh; clean and with a mild perfume wafting from the herbs and flowers strategically placed inside.

The doors lead out into a courtyard covered with an abundance of plants that are disrupted only by a couple of cobblestone walkways. Off in the distance sits the woods. My feet carry me through the closest doorway as I take in the beautifully scenery. I drift down the walkway in a daze, taking in as much as I can; the smell of the lake down the hill, nestled beneath the woods, the wind blowing through the trees, the strong mix of dirt, grass, and flowers. I could almost relax here. Until my eyes are torn from my surroundings by a dark form to the left.

Just down the path from me is a large sitting area surrounded by columns with ivy thrown about the tops and a large weeping willow shrouds the area in a comfortable shade. But leaning against the column closest to me, his hands shoved deep into his pockets, left leg crossed over the right, and an irritating smirk on his face, is Draco Malfoy.

For a moment he doesn't seem to recognize me, his eyes narrowing, widening, and then returning back to their normal carelessness. He takes me in slowly, not hesitating in gaze, before locking his eyes on mine and slowly standing up.

"You came." He states simply, and I can't help the immature eye roll. We may be much older now, but some things just never change.

"I have an obligation. I never go back on my word." I snip at him, before squaring my shoulders and walking the remaining yard to him. He doesn't reply but smirks and turns to enter the structure. Sitting down around a glass table were both Mr. and Mrs. Malfoy, donning green and looking immaculate as always.

"Ms. Granger." Lucius' sneer pulls my eyes in his direction. He takes me in slowly, much the same as Malfoy did. "I see you are dressed appropriately. Good. Sit."

Some part of my mind rejects his order and I remain standing for a moment longer before I take the seat across from Malfoy.

"Well Ms. Granger let's get to the point." Lucius' voice comes out in a low snarl, to which I narrow my eyes slightly. This is not a good start. "It was very… gracious of you to accept our proposal at such late notice, as Draco and I had only just finalized the plans for it that morning before court. My lovely Cissa here was none too aware of the conversation, but we have filled her in. Now, it is time for us to fully include you."

Parsley pops up to my left and gestures to whether I would like coffee or tea. I go with coffee, three sugars and a spoonful of milk. She then places a small bowl of fruit in front of me and continues around the table for each. Malfoy also takes coffee while his parents opt for tea. I never knew he was a coffee person. After we have been settled and Parsley is dismissed I sip at my coffee before answering.

"I'll be honest Mr. Malfoy; it came as a complete shock to me. Had I more faith in our current Auror department I may have been inclined to decline. As it is, this opportunity was too good to pass up." I sip my coffee again and then lock my eyes directly on his. "Do not take me as soft, Mr. Malfoy, or gullible or however you see fit, for I am none of these. I see an opportunity and I take it. I do not trust you, nor any of your family, and you have lost the faith of any witches and wizards that you may have once held. Having seen your actions and knowing your family, both extended and closely related, I will be one of, if not the, hardest to convince. I do not expect for what you have claimed to be true, no matter how greatly I may wish for it." I don't mention how I'm already amazed he hasn't spit his tea all over his clothes and table over the fact that I just insulted him in his own household why drinking out of his very fine china… That was bought with blood money. Suddenly I feel sick and put the coffee down.

Malfoy however is a different story; His face practically turns purple as he holds back his retort and breath. I look at him in a bored way, expecting his head to explode, before I hear Narcissa address me.

"Ms. Granger, Hermione. May I call you Hermione?" I nod my head dumbly as I turn towards the beautiful, aged woman. "Well, Hermione, please understand that although we are grateful that you are here, we have welcomed you into our home with the same amount of curtesy and kindness that we would give any other witch or wizard. Although I understand we have not always done right by you or by many, it would be greatly appreciated if you would accept our favor and return it. We hope this goes smoothly and accomplishes all of our goals, and narrow-mindedness will only bring drawbacks."

She says this tight-lipped and with little movement and yet I somehow feel like she leaped across the table and slapped me so hard my head spun around, and this feeling is quickly followed by shame as I avoid all of their eyes to mutter out a weak apology.

"No, no dear. It is understandable to have animosity; it is something my husband and son have to work on also, because aside from our old, useless differences, you three also have personal business that needs working through. However, that will come with time. Now," Narcissa sets her tea cup on the table and Parsley returns immediately to fill it. It is here that I see the glowing smile and nod Narcissa gives the elf, and my heart melts all over when it comes to her. A woman after my own heart. She turns and softly lays her gaze on me. "We have a few requests of you. If you decline any of these, we will understand, but we hope you won't."

Parsley comes over to my side of the table and begins to fill my cup again before she realizes it is still mostly full. "Miss!" She squeals suddenly, causing all eyes to turn on her. "Parsley, Parsley is so, so sorry you do not like your coffee miss. Can Parsley bring you anything else? Please forgive me! Parsley will not make coffee like that again!"

I struggle on what to say before I just settle on picking up my coffee and drinking more. It is cold now and the taste is displeasing. "No, no Parsley, it is wonderful! Would you mind just heating it up for me a bit?" Her face immediately lights up as she snaps her fingers and walks away from me and my now steaming hot cup of coffee.

"I apologize Narcissa." The name tastes odd in my mouth. She just smiles slightly and nods her head.

"Well. First, we would like some people from the Department of Dark Artifacts to come through the house and get rid of all of the harmful objects. Any that we deem not as dangerous and as too important have been locked away." I nod. This is a reasonable and intelligent request. It will be all over the Prophet for a while.

"Second, we would like permission to have our dinner meetings weekly at the Chateau de l'amour. I understand that Lucius is under house arrest, but this would be beneficial to all of us I believe." That shouldn't be too hard to accomplish, but it may take some doing.

"Anything else?" I ask quietly.

"No. No I believe that is it."

"Sounds acceptable, I should be able to get back to you by tomorrow on the Department coming over, and by next weekend's meeting about the location." I smile kindly.

It occurs to me that Narcissa took a hold of the meeting quickly. She always seemed to be the most reasonable of the three, so of that I am not particularly surprised.

"Now," Lucius begins quietly, pulling my attention in his direction. "Seeing as I only have a month from Wednesday, which gives me only three weekends not including today, I have gathered information on one of your Death Eaters. Here are my guidelines." He places a thick, unmarked envelope on the table between us, and then leans forward placing his hands on top. "We will meet every Saturday at eight o'clock for dinner. I will give you the information that you seek at the conclusion of each cordial dinner. This information will first be given to you verbally, and will be written down and labelled along with pictures, which will be given to you in a packet such as this with a seal on it. No one but the four of us may open this information unless properly given permission, which includes the approval of all of us at this table."

He leans back after sliding the packet a little ways across the table to me.

"The information in that packet refers to one Amycus Carrow. Missing for three hundred and seventy days. Brother to Alecto Carrow, who was sentenced to the Dementor's kiss one hundred and eighty three days after the end of the Second Wizard War. Amycus and Alecto were last seen together in the Ravenclaw homeroom during the war. Upon retrieval of the two, Amycus managed to escape by sacrificing his sister to the Order.

"The crimes for which he is pursued include but are not limited to: The torture and murder of some fifty muggles, twenty or more witches and wizards, the torture of some one hundred Hogwarts students, and for the illicit activity of following the Dark Lord."

"Voldemort." I quickly correct him, opening the packet and flipping through the immaculate files and pictures.

"Yes… Voldemort. Anyways, Amycus was last spotted 200 miles north of Ontario Canada. My sources claim he was headed further North West at the time."

My eyes locked onto Malfoy for a moment before I returned them to Lucius. "Thank you. This will be of great service to us." I smile, and put the files back together and into my clutch. Of course what bag of mine doesn't have the undetectable extension charm on it?

"Before you leave Hermione, would you allow Draco to give you a quick tour of the mansion?" Malfoy stood up quickly and I tried to cover a grimace.

"Oh, no Narcissa, thank you but that is unnecessary." I smile as I begin to stand.

"Nonsense! Draco, give Hermione a tour."

oOoOoOo

I have had a horrible stomach ache since I left the table with Malfoy. We're nearly done exploring the first floor and we must have passed by the stairs to the foyer what feels like a million times. Occasionally Malfoy points out a particular artifact that has dark magic and I keep mental images to have them removed. By the time the process is over their house will be pretty much bare.

As we loop around out of the side hallway he stops and looks up at a large painting above the main fireplace. It's a pastel watercolor of the lake behind his house. Looking at it makes my stomach relax a bit and I turn towards him.

"You told me I was cold as ice looking for Carrow but my hunters are only several kilometers away from there." That's a bit of an understatement, seeing as they were positioned around the northern edge of the United States, but still. I hear Ron chuckle at my fib.

"I said you were cold as ice looking for the Death Eaters, not specifically Carrow. However I know that your trails have gone cold and you were contemplating pulling them back. Now you have something to go on." He mumbles, not making eye contact with me. "The floo has been opened to this fireplace for you from your office. I can also open it later down the line from your home if you would like. But not until the artifacts are removed."

I keep my eyes locked onto the side of his head as he stares at the painting. He's changed a bit. His face isn't so drawn and gloomy, his platinum blonde hair a little longer so that it covers the top his brow. He looks at me as I make a step towards the fireplace and I stop when he takes a few steps towards me, stopping only when he is towering over me.

"Granger." He whispers quietly, and I look up into his eyes. I can see the slight wrinkles the war gave him, and in those orbs I can see sorrow, and behind that… Regret? The same eyes that stared at me in horror as I writhed and screamed on his marbles floors… and then it is gone. He steps back and looks away. "Thank you."

My body doesn't move as he walks away. The tight feeling in my stomach evaporates and I wonder what the real reason behind it was; fear? Nerves? Confusion? Shaking my head I reach out, grab some floo dust, and go to the office to apparate home.

Yay! I'm super pleased! I have such big goals for this story, and I hope you guys are as excited as I am! Leave a review and let me know! :)