Chapter 13: Revelations
Darkness filled the once Granger household and nobody was home, of course Hermione didn't know that, when she apparated into the living room.
The fact that there weren't any lights on made Hermione fear the worst. She held out her wand at the ready and whispered "lumos."
Her wand lit up like a flashlight, and she checked every corner of the first floor to see if anyone was lurking around in the dark. But there was no one.
She then checked the upstairs, to see if maybe her mother had decided to get an early night; maybe she was a sleep in bed?
When she opened the door to her mother's bedroom she saw something that didn't ease her fears. If it had been empty, she would have been better off, but no, she saw Pansy Parkinson, sat on the edge of her mother's bed, waiting and with her head looking down at the floor.
"I was wondering when you'd get here Granger." said Pansy, as she looked up.
Hermione quickly held up her wand, ready to jinx Pansy at the first sign of movement.
"Oh put it away." said Pansy. "I'm not here to fight you"
Hermione didn't believe her, and kept her wand pointed. And ready.
Pansy stayed calm and relaxed, as though Hermione didn't even pose the slightest bit of a threat.
"WHERE'S MY MUM!" shouted Hermione.
"Your mum is Safe" said Pansy, "and so is my dad, thank you for asking." she added sarcastically.
"What do you mean?" said Hermione angrily, "Your dad is a Death Eater. There's no reason to be concerned about him. In fact I wouldn't be surprised if Voldermort rewarded him after all this."
"Haven't we been over this Granger? My dad isn't a Death Eater." said Pansy.
"You're lying." said Hermione. "I know your father is a Death Eater. I know that he only dated my mum so that you could manipulate me into inventing a love potion that lasts forever. I also know that you intend to distribute that love potion to the entire wizarding world, and insure that purebloods marry purebloods."
"First off Granger, that potion that the Death Eaters intend to use, isn't yours. Turns out someone ells already invented a forever lasting love potion. Funny, I use to think that only you could have invented one. Turns out I was wrong. Second my father isn't a Death Eater, but my mother is… and so am I."
Pansy lifted up her sleeve to reveal the dark mark on her forearm. Hermione was shocked, she had seen Pansy's forearms before, but never had there been a dark mark on it, so it must have been new. The last time she could remember seeing Pansy's forearm was at the Halloween ball, so at some point between now and then, Pansy had become a Death Eater.
By the look on Pansy's face, Hermione could tell that Pansy wasn't happy about being a Death Eater, strange, she would have thought that someone like Pansy Parkinson would take great pride in being a member of the dark lord's inner circle.
How long have you been a Death Eater?" asked Hermione.
"Since Christmas," said Pansy. "Ever since I presented that love potion to my mother. I thought she'd be happy to have a way of getting her husband back. But no, she decides to present it to the Dark Lord as a weapon."
It was strange to learn that Pansy's mother was a Death Eater; ever since Dumbledore had told her that Pansy's father wasn't a Death Eater she had assumed that her mother wasn't one either.
"Who invented the love potion?" asked Hermione. She needed to know who was smart enough to invent a forever lasting love potion before she did.
"Ginny Weasley." replied Pansy.
She's lying, Hermione thought. Sure Ginny Weasley was a bitch, but she would never invent a love potion that could last forever and give it to Pansy.
"I don't believe you." said Hermione. "Why would Ginny ever invent a love potion that last forever and give it to you?"
"Well she didn't invent it for me, she invented it for herself. To use on Potter."
As much as Hermione didn't want to believe it, it did make sense, and answered a lot of questions. Like, why Harry had found Ginny so attractive all of a sudden, he had never looked at Ginny that way before, yet out of the blue she had become the object of his affection. But if what Pansy was saying was true, Ginny Had invented a forever lasting love potion, over a year ago.
"How do you know this!" demanded Hermione. "Where's your proof, and how did you get a hold of the potion?"
"I'm glad you asked that Granger." said Pansy, as she reached under the bed, pulling out a book; Then handing it to Hermione.
Hermione opened it and read the first page.
"This is the diary of Ginny Weasley."
Hermione couldn't believe it, even after that business with Tom Riddle's diary and the chamber of secrets. Ginny Weasley was still keeping a diary.
"Read on." said Pansy.
Hermione continued to read through the diary. It was dated from last year and it contained notes and journal entries on Ginny's research into making the forever lasting love potion. It turned out she had been working on it since her third year at Hogwarts, she had even tested earlier attempts of the potion on Michael Corner and Dean Thomas, but they had eventually worn off. Hermione then read an entry about another attempt, surprisingly it was the exact same potion Hermione had come up with, but the note beside the entry said potion failed, wore off after a month.
Hermione couldn't believe it; the potion that she had made, wouldn't have worked. It would have lasted less than a year long love potion
"Did you read this entry?" asked Hermione.
"Yes" said Pansy with a smirk. "Looks like your potion would have been a flop anyway"
Hermione said nothing. She didn't want Pansy to know that this bothered her. Besides she had almost gotten it right. Ginny Weasley's next attempt at inventing the potion was successful and it had taken her over two years to get it right.
"Where did you get this?" asked Hermione.
"That's not nearly as interesting as to how I learned about it." said Pansy. "you see, remember the day you destroyed your potion, and I had to teach you a lesson about respecting purebloods?"
"How could I forget." Said Hermione bitterly .
"Well after you blacked out, Moaning Myrtle showed up. She saw that I was kicking your ass and started laughing, she was laughing so hard, that she actually wanted to thank me. I told her that there wasn't anything she could do for me, not unless she knew how to make a forever lasting love potion. She then told me, that she didn't know how to make one, but she knew someone who did."
"Wait, Moaning Myrtle knew this whole time, that Ginny had already invented a forever lasting love potion and she didn't even tell me?"
"She said you didn't ask." said Pansy. "Also she really doesn't like you."
Hermione couldn't understand Myrtle's dislike of her. She had been nothing but nice to Myrtle, yet Myrtle took every opportunity to laugh at Hermione's misfortunes.
"She told me all about how Ginny Weasley had spent the better part of two years in that bathroom, trying to get the potion just right. She also told me about how she had kept a diary so she could keep track of her progress."
"Which brings me back to where did you get this?"asked Hermione again.
"I stole it, duh..." said Pansy. "When we were all at hogmeade station, waiting for the Hogwarts express to arrive. I went into Ginny Weasley's bag when she wasn't looking, and took it"
"Ok, so let me get this straight." said Hermione. "First, you steal the potion from Ginny, then you present it to your mother, as a way of getting your dad back. But she says no, and instead gives it to Voldermort, to be used as a weapon. That's when he makes you a Death Eater, as a way of rewarding you, for giving him the greatest weapon against mix breeding. Is that correct?"
"Yep, That pretty much sums it up" said Pansy,
"Which brings me to my next question."said Hermione. " Why? Why are you here? Why are you telling me all this?
"I'm here because I need your help." said Pansy. " I need your help in stopping mass production of this potion"
Hermione couldn't believe what she was hearing, Pansy was asking for her help in stopping a potion, she had once asked her to make. But why?
"Why do you want to stop it? asked Hermione. "I thought you were all for purebloods marrying purebloods?"
"I am." said Pansy."But I believe that purebloods should marry purebloods because it's the right thing to do, not because they are under the influence of a love potion.
"But you wanted to use this potion to get your pureblood parents back together." said Hermione.
"That's different" said Pansy.
" How so?"
"Because they are my parents' replied Pansy.
Hermione had to admit it, Pansy was a very complicated person. She believed in keeping Wizarding blood pure, yet she also believed in free will and choice, but willing to abandon those beliefs if It meant getting her parents back together.
"How did you know I'd be here tonight?" asked Hermione. "How did you know I'd sneak out of Hogwarts and come here? And come to think of it, how did you sneak out of Hogwarts and get here as well?"
"I would have thought that was obvious, Granger; I never went back to Hogwarts after Christmas. The Death Eaters had already initiated me, and I couldn't go back and risk anyone seeing this on my forearm, could I?" said Pansy, showing her dark Mark again. "Didn't you find it strange that I never showed up for any lessons?"
Hermione felt stupid. Of course, now that she thought about it she hadn't seen Pansy all term.
"As for knowing that you would be here tonight. Well, I didn't know. I didn't know what night you'd be coming, in fact, I thought you'd be here long before now, weeks ago in fact.
"what are you saying?" asked Hermione.
"That I'm the one who leaked the information about the Death Eaters having the forever lasting love potion to Cho Chang! I knew she would go straight to Potter with it, and I knew Potter would tell you everything. I'm surprised however that him and Weasley didn't come here with you."
Hermione just remembered that Harry was on a mission of his own, to find out weather or not Dumbledore had been replaced. And now that she knew that since Pansy's mother, not her father was the Death Eater that Cho was talking about. She figured that Dumbledore hadn't been replaced nor had he been fooled.
"I only found out today." said Hermione. "Cho didn't feel it was safe putting what she knew in a letter, so she had to wait until the first Hogsmeade weekend to tell Harry."
Pansy looked annoyed. The fact that it had taken a month, for Hermione to get this information, hadn't been part of Pansy's plan.
"Well if she had told him earlier, we would have had time to devise a plan. But we don't. So we have to go now, tonight"
"Where?"
"To Yorkshire, where the potion is being mass produced."
"How do you know that?"
"Because I'm the one in charge of mass production."
"Why did they put you in charge of mass production?"
"Who ells are they going to put in charge, they think I'm the one who invented it after all."
"If you have been in charge of mass production, then why haven't you sabotaged it?"
"I have, I've been pushing back ever since they started, but now where out of time. We have to go now."
Pansy than held out her hand. Clearly Hermione was meant to take it, so they could both apparate to where it was, the potion was been produced.
But Hermione didn't trust Pansy
"How do I know this isn't some kind of trick? How do I know you haven't set some kind of trap?"
"Granger, if I wanted to spring some kind of trap, I would have trapped you already."
Hermione had to admit, it did make sence. Pansy could have easily of gotten the jump on her by now, but she hadn't.
So against her better judgement, she took Pansy's arm and they both disapparated. Leaving nothing but a dark and unoccupied house behind them.