A/N: Next Chapter!! Yay!
Disclaimer: NOT MINE! Too bad. Lol. I wouldn't mind owning Sev though.
Chapter 13: Meetings
"If you don't leave right now I will have no choice but to call the headmaster sir!" Hermione heard Madam Pomfrey say.
"Come on Madam Pomfrey. I was one person who found them and I just want to see how they are," a familiar voice protested.
Hermione's eyes snapped open and she scrambled to part the curtains around her bed.
Her eyes widened and she jumped out of bed.
"Snuffles!" she squealed running at him.
He stumbled a few steps before regaining his balance. "How are you here? Was it that picture? How did you do that? Why-" she rambled.
Sirius looked at her surprised. "Hermione slow down! Yes it was the picture and I did it with the help of my best bud." He said proudly. Then a look of confusion crossed his face.
"Wait a minute. How did you even get the picture? I know I left it at Godric's Hollow." He said looking at her.
Hermione shrugged her shoulders. "Hey! Did you try to wake up Ron?" she asked trying to sound casual.
Pomfrey and Sirius shook their heads. "No but I was going to." Sirius said walking towards Ron.
"NO!!" Hermione shrieked panicking. Sirius turned to look at her confused. He looked in her eyes and saw fear in them. "Why," he asked.
Hermione blushed as red as her hair and replied. "Let him rest. He needs it anyway." Sirius could see the lie clearly but decided she must have a good reason.
Pomfrey came hurrying over and dragged Hermione back to her bed. "You need rest too," she said sternly.
Harry and Ron stirred and opened their eyes.
"Snuffles!" they both yelled jumping out of bed. Pomfrey held Ron back but nothing could keep Harry away from Sirius. He hugged his godfather tightly. When Pomfrey tried to pull Harry away, he held on tighter.
Finally, she gave up and went to get the headmaster. "Let's go! She's gone and now we're free!" Ron said bounding towards the door. Sirius grinned.
"Come on guys. I have some people I want you to meet." He said.
Hermione started after them then stopped dead. "What time is it?" she asked covering the fear in her voice.
"6:55, why?" Sirius asked curiously.
Hermione's eyes widened and she flew past them. Sirius stared after her bewildered. "What in the world just happened?" he asked Harry.
"She's tutoring some classmates in Ancient Runes. We don't take Ancient Runes so we don't need to go." Ron said. He looked at Harry and knew they were thinking the same thing.
What in the world is Hermione hiding?
"Well let's go and meet my friends." Sirius said nearly bouncing with glee.
Harry hated putting his godfather down but he had to wait for Hermione. "Sirius," he said quietly.
Sirius looked at Harry. "Huh?"
"I really think we should wait for Hermione," Harry said.
Sirius sighed. "Okay but… can we at least get some food?" he asked hopefully.
Harry and Ron laughed. "Of course we can Padfoot," Ron said grinning.
**********
Hermione ran up the stairs and almost fell on her face scrambling to get the parchment that Cissy had given her as a portkey. She snatched it up and ran down the halls almost knocking over a professor in the process.
She ignored their angry shouts running down the lawn to the edge of the forbidden forest.
She got there just in time. She felt the parchment vibrate and a split second later felt a pull behind the navel.
She spun around at a dizzying speed and landed in front of Cissy immediately bowing.
"I see you made it," Cissy said with a grin.
She noticed Hermione was breathing a dash harder than usual.
"Get up!" Cissy commanded.
Hermione stood up and saw Cissy's eyes flash. This confused her a lot. What had she done to make Cissy mad?
Cissy leaned against a wall. "Were you thinking about not coming?" Cissy asked dangerously. Hermione's eyes widened and she shook her head.
"Then what did you have to hurry for?" Cissy demanded.
"I-I had passed out," Hermione said hesitantly.
"Oh really? Whatever for?" Cissy asked amused.
Hermione thought hard then shook her head. "I don't know. One second I saw a blur of colors and the next I woke up in the hospital wing," Hermione said bewildered.
Cissy thought the girl truly looked confused so she decided to believe her. She really would have to work more on Occlumency.
"Well did you like my little surprise?" Cissy asked insultingly.
Hermione felt as if Cissy had stabbed her and the hurt must have shown.
"Aww. Does my ickle slave not like my gifts?" she mocked reminding Hermione of Bella.
A rush of anger surged through her and she opened her mouth. Hermione slapped her hands over her mouth to keep herself from saying something she would regret.
Cissy smiled cruelly. "You better learn to keep that big mouth shut or I will make you serve me longer! The longer you serve the better you learn," Cissy sang in an infuriating tone.
Hermione wanted to smack Cissy across the face so much. Man she made her mad!
Hermione forced herself to put a stop on her anger. "I bet I scared you with the fake howler didn't I?" Cissy asked daring Hermione to lose her temper.
Hermione bit her lip and looked at the floor.
When that didn't work, she continued. "So how did you react to the Howler huh? Did you scream? I bet you were so scared you wet yourself!" Cissy tormented.
Hermione's inner wall crumbled and the anger rushed out. Her eyes took on a fierce fire and her face hardened. Hermione slowly looked up and smacked Cissy across the face with all her might.
Cissy stood there stunned for a split second then grinned a cat-like grin.
"Did I offend you my little slave? It seems to me you need to learn how to control that anger of yours. I can teach you that. Now don't complain because you did this to yourself. Now you will have to be in my service for five more months." Cissy said watching Hermione's reaction carefully.
Hermione didn't even hear a word of what she had said. Her hands balled into fists and her eyes burned fire at Cissy's first seven words.
Cissy saw this and smiled maliciously. "Control that anger!" she demanded.
Hermione saw Cissy's lips move but didn't hear her words; her mind was whirling with angry thoughts but luckily, they were too fast for Lucius to catch.
Cissy saw that Hermione plainly wasn't listening and she flicked her hand.
Hermione found that Cissy was choking her and clawed at her throat.
Cissy let go after four seconds and glared at Hermione who had fallen to the floor.
"Let that be a lesson to you my little slave. If you don't listen that is what will happen," she hissed.
"You know what? I can't have you thinking I will let you just smack me like that. You know what muggles do to their slaves when they misbehave? They would whip them senseless and if a slave ever hit their master. They would be tortured in unbelievable ways," Cissy said this almost lovingly and Hermione trembled wondering if Cissy was going to torture her.
Cissy saw her tremble and smirked. "If you're so scared why do you flout orders all the time?" she asked.
Hermione looked down and braced herself for a blow. "I don't think I should tell you." She said apprehensively.
Cissy approached Hermione menacingly. "Tell me, or else," she said threateningly. Hermione flinched at the honesty of her threat. She really believed Cissy would do anything to make her tell.
Trying one more time Hermione said, "I'm sorry Master Malfoy But the Dark Lord told me not to tell anyone about it. You probably wouldn't believe me; he didn't anyway." She added the last part quietly.
Cissy laughed and Hermione jumped at the sudden loudness.
"Do you really think he would care? I'm his wife for goodness sake! Tell me right now, what you think makes you misbehave!" she ordered.
Hermione wouldn't dare disobey her orders after the threat she just made. She swallowed hard. What if Lucius finds out I told and he did care? I would be dead meat!! She screamed to herself.
Cissy narrowed her eyes when Hermione hesitated.
"Tell me now or I will put you in the chair," she said taking a step forward. Hermione whimpered at the thought of being put back in the chair.
She stuck a hand into her robes and pulled out the heart shaped locket. "This is what makes me just disobey orders for no reason. I have a tiny bit of anger and this locket somehow boosts that anger. It seems to like doing it when I am already in trouble," she said looking at it with dislike.
"For some reason Lucius gave it to me to protect and I can't figure out why." She said with frustration.
Cissy's eyes widened when she saw the locket. "He gave it to you? Do you have any idea what you have in your hands?" she asked in a serious tone.
Hermione nodded. "What I have here is a piece of the Dark Lord's soul. It is called a Horcrux and is extremely dark magic. I don't want to even know how he made it," she said quietly shuddering slightly at the thought of Lucius, her 'father' figure killing someone.
Cissy was amazed about how much she knew about Horcruxes. "How do you know all this?" she asked.
Hermione looked at the ground tensing up. I can't get Snape in trouble! She thought.
"I can't tell you," she said flatly.
Cissy fixed her with a chilling glare.
Hermione matched it perfectly and said clearly, "I mean that I can't tell you,"
"And why, pray tell, is that?" Cissy asked her hands on her hips; her lips in a sneer.
"I made a life bet not to tell," Hermione said slowly making sure to look her in the eyes.
Cissy stood there for a moment looking at her. Without any kind of warning, she slammed Hermione into a wall by the neck. "Do not lie to me. How do you know this stuff?" she hissed.
Hermione for her part was shocked. She had been sure her lie had been perfect! Cissy seemed to notice her shock easily and laughed.
"I am a rather skilled Legilimens so it would be very foolish to lie," Cissy said warningly.
Hermione gulped and shrank back slightly. "I will ask you once more. How do you know these things?" Cissy asked.
Hermione tried to fight back a familiar anger and failed miserably. "If you can see into my mind than why don't you find out that way?!" she snapped covering her mouth as soon as it came out.
Cissy raised an eyebrow. "Surely you can fight the locket better than that? Well it was what you were thinking so very well. Legilimens!" she said lazily pointing her wand at Hermione.
Hermione didn't think it would hurt so much! Her head felt like it was going to burst as memories zipped through her head. She felt the memory of Snape approaching.
You aren't seeing that, you're not watching that, it's secret! She screamed in her mind.
Slowly she saw Cissy's face becoming clearer and the memories fainter.
"Protego!" Hermione screamed.
Hermione's shield was so strong Cissy ended up getting thrown against the wall and sliding down. She didn't move and Hermione assumed she was knocked out cold.
Hermione stared at Cissy's body for a second before slowly walking over to her.
Hermione's body was shaking with fear at what Cissy might do but she forced herself to calm down.
"Enervate," she whispered before hastily getting on her hands and knees and bowing.
She heard Cissy stand up. "I don't remember saying you could defend yourself," Cissy said harshly.
"For that you shall be punished severely. You have also hidden something from me and refuse to tell me. That is more serious and I will not tolerate such discourteous behavior." She spat.
"Now get up while I think of a suitable punishment," she ordered.
Hermione quickly got to her feet and hesitantly spoke. "Master?" she asked.
Cissy glared at her. "What?" she snapped.
"D-did I hurt you?" Hermione asked with a mixture of worry and fear.
Cissy's face went carefully blank but inside she was feeling disbelief. She actually cares about me?! After all I have done to her she still can't stand seeing me hurt!
Cissy suddenly got a horrible idea. "As a matter of fact you did and I just thought of the perfect punishment for it too," Cissy said with a wicked smile on her face.
Hermione swallowed hard and waited her hands trembling.
"I will inform the Dark Lord of what you have done and let him deal with you later." Cissy said evilly.
Hermione's eyes widened in horror and she sank to her knees, her hands clasped as she looked up at Cissy.
"Please Master, I didn't mean to hurt you! Forgive me please! I swear it won't happen again!" Hermione begged tears in her eyes.
"You did this to yourself so don't even try to apologize!" Cissy snarled.
Hermione sank the rest of the way to the floor wondering if she was going to live past her current age.
She felt tears starting to come but forced them back. She had to be tough if she was going to face Lucius's wrath.
Cissy watched Hermione's reaction with a feeling of glee. Then she remembered she still had another punishment to give.
"Get up Hermione," Cissy said quietly
Hermione's head snapped up.
Did she really just call me Hermione? She asked herself in disbelief standing up.
Cissy looked at the young witch closely. Then she made a decision. She wouldn't give the second punishment.
"I won't punish you for defending yourself this time. It was very good magic anyway. Have you ever practiced Occlumency before?" Cissy asked.
"No Master, I haven't," Hermione answered relief surging through her.
Cissy raised an eyebrow. "Really? You must really want that to be kept secret."
It wasn't really a question so Hermione didn't respond.
"You can go now," Cissy said softly.
Hermione bowed again before disapparating.