Mel and Lilly: Your probably right. So I asked the "DarkEmpress" to beta the first chapters as well.

Beta: Dark Empress V hug

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Chapter 16: Changes

It was July.

One night, Hermione, Ron, Harry and Ginny visited a new, pretty popular club in Diagon Alley, provocatively named "Dance Eaters". The ideas people came up with when they believed they no longer needed to be afraid...

Much to Hermione's joy, they ran into some of their friends from school. The Weird Sisters were about to play their most popular songs. As a result, the whole cellar vault, which was normally rather spacious, became terribly overcrowded and stiffy. It was so hot inside the clubroom that Hermione longed to take off her clothes, but of course she stayed dressed and covered her nose to avoid the choking smell of sweat that surrounded them.

But she wouldn't let it bother her. Loud, reveling, partying people - she'd almost forgotten how wonderful it was to be among them. The club also seemed to have a highly inspirational influence on the crowd. Since the Weird Sisters would be late to their performance, people in the audience were invited to heat up the atmosphere themselves.

One of the most courageous girls the four of them knew didn't need to be told twice. Luna Lovegood, whose dress seemed to be made of a remarkable collection of receipts, marched onto the stage with her head held high and started to sing arias to the enthusiastically bawling crowd. She didn't do it very well, but apparently she invented the slightly.. unusual texts of her songs herself, so it seemed like no mean feat.

Those who didn't know Luna thought the lyrics she sung out in an opera-like manner were intentionally funny, so she received thunderous applause. Those who knew her just shook their heads incredulously and laughed…and Luna laughed too, because she didn't really care if she was laughed at or not as long she made the people around her cheerful.

Hermione applauded enthusiastically. But then Luna called to the crowd that she wanted to sing a duet, so Hermione ducked behind a chair and disappeared in the nearest bathroom as fast as possible. She stayed there only a few minutes, but as she returned Luna had already found her victim. The eccentric blonde actually managed to persuade Hermione's Ron to come up to the stage with her, and now, croaking horrendously, he was singing lullabies. It was really touching to see how he would make a fool of himself for Luna's sake. Ron was a thoroughly good man. She rarely felt so in love with him as she did that night.

But it was already midnight, tomorrow was Monday and so the dutiful Hermione persuaded her jobless friends that it was time to start moving towards the door to head out.

„Oh look, it´s saint Potter himself! Between all the baby kissing and photo sessions, His Holiness found time to visit his inferior friends." Snarled a well-known voice behind them, which made them all wince and spin around as if they had been hit by the cruciatus curse.

There he was. Draco Malfoy, wearing an elegant black suit, looked as handsome as ever and his narrow face wore the typically arrogant "I'm better than you" expression. One hand was hidden in his coat pocket, and the other held a cigarette, on which he took an exaggerated drag that was clearly supposed to make him look cool. He puffed out a cloud of smoke which made his silhouette look strangely blurred.

With an overly subservient gesture the Slytherin bowed to Harry, feigning extreme awe. Then he sunk to his knees (how could a single man have so much derision in his eyes?) before the young wizard, grasped his hand with one swift movement, bent over and kissed it. He smiled tantalizingly as he let his tongue slide over the back of the black-haired boy's hand and fingers. The reluctant hero howled in disgust and pushed the kneeling Malfoy away with such force that he fell backwards in a heap.

Harry wiped his wet hand on his trousers, too disgusted to even look at it. Malfoy, who pulled himself up with a sneering laugh, had drooled over him as if he were a dog.

Of course they all knew the meaning of that display. Ever since his victory over the Dark Lord ,Harry irrevocably became the ultimate light in the dark, the saviour of the innocent and the national saint of the wizarding World. Not a day went by without further hymns of praise being published in some paper. All the journalists who had called Harry insane in the past now scrambled to get an interview with the stressed out hero.

And yes, there was a picture in yesterday's paper in which Harry was kissing a baby. In fact, he had only done it for the sake of its hysterically enthusiastic mother. The whole evening he kept complaining about how embarrassing this scene had been. But someone like Malfoy took advantage of such situations relentlessly.

Hermione thought that the arrogant blonde actually had a reason to be glad, because finally the newspapers wrote something about him, too. Of course, they only dwelled on his connection to the Death Eaters or speculated about his involvement in Dumbledore's murder. That, in turn, had made her sinister friend burst out with cold laughter, over and over again. But his laughter had become even louder at the sight of the baby-kissing picture.

As Hermione remembered this, she nearly wished her prisoner could be with her now. What would Malfoy have said then? He had probably kissed THOSE fingers without his tongue but with reverence. Malfoy, the bootlicker. And then he would have run away screaming.

What a poser… Well, it seemed that the Death Eaters and the time in Azkaban had given him a raw deal. He was thinner, hollow-cheeked and the once flawless face was marred by an ugly scar cutting across his cheek and throat.

But as he spoke to them, his voice still sounded as cold and dismissive as usual. The weeks he had spent in custody since the battle and the fact that Harry had rescued his life the last time they met didn't seem to impress him in the slightest.

His glance slid from Harry over Hermione to Ron. "Weasley, you're here too?" Draco raised his eyebrows in amusement and his glance wandered in feigned admiration from Ron's cheap shoes, over his brandless jeans up to his Walmart shirt, till it stopped on his carrot red hair. The boy in the designer clothes smirked and flashed his shiny white teeth.

Ron, who could only glower angrily at him, lowered his eyes in embarrassment and crossed his arms protectively in front of himself. Dressed in cheap clothes as usual, he seemed to feel downright naked next to the stylish Slytherin.

With relish, Malfoy took another drag from his cigarette. His lips seemed to form words as he blew out a slightly green cloud of smoke, which took the shape of a slithering snake. The emerald smoke serpent floated in their direction with an opened mouth, but before it could „bite" them, it was absorbed by Harry's drawn out wand.

Malfoy, however, seemed to consider how else he could make fun of Harry. Yes, the Gryffindor had saved his life. But exactly because of that, it seemed to be important to Draco to go on displaying his pride and disdain, to mask his shame. The hatred he felt towards Harry hadn't lessened since his rescue from the fire. With an expression of disgust, he tilted his head to one side and seemed to brainstorm for new ways to attack his saviour.

The door next to Malfoy flew open and Pansy Parkinson, obviously drunk, stumbled out of the bathroom she had apparently just had visited to vomit. But Pansy had never been a logical thinker and so she still clutched a half-empty bottle of vodka in her left hand. She hooked her right hand through Malfoy'd free arm. Attempting to strike a proud pose, but grinning stupidly at the same time, she joined in Malfoy's sneering cackle. "Oh, whom do we have here? Look, the special-offer boy, his creepy mudblood and our saviour, Batman."

Hermione was suddenly hot. She felt like she would suffocate, not only because of the stifling air in the room full of sweating people, but also from her fury at this despicable jerk and his fake, pretentious companion. Only a few weeks ago they had behaved quite differently. The two of them had whimpered and begged as they were being arrested by the Aurors.

She took a few steps forward. Ron grabbed her arm to pull her back. Hadn´t they decided to ignore these people? They weren't worth the effort it took to fight.

But Hermione wanted to fight. Right here, right now. She had had to bear the taunts of these Slytherins over and over again for years. Now she was done.

She shook Ron´s hand off and, without turning around, shrugged Harry's palm off her shoulder. She stood in front of them confidently with her hands on her hips, staring into the faces of their adversaries.

Pansy giggled. She was so drunk that she had to cling to Malfoy in order not to lose her balance from laughter.

Harry also took a step closer. "You're being rather unfriendly, Malfoy. Pity. You were so cuddly the last time we've seen each other. When you clung to me like a leech, howling with fear. Remember that? Maybe we should make it a little warmer in there." Harry pointed his wand at the suddenly blazing cigarette of his nemesis. "To make you affectionate again." The black-haired boy reminded the Slytherin, whose cheeks flushed slightly. It was a real pleasure to remind Malfoy of their escape from the flaming Room of Requirement.

Ron joined them too, determined not to be humiliated again. He even managed to make his voice sound almost as sneering as Malfoy's. "Since when are you out again, Malfoy? Where exactly has your family been? I'm not quite sure, was it jail or the madhouse? " Ron enquired, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Malfoy seemed to be so furious that he almost bit his cigarette. But then he took it out of his mouth and Hermione noticed that his usually ivory-coloured skin had turned slightly green. Malfoy reached out towards Ron and flicked the ash from the end of his cigarette onto his muscled shoulder.

In a fraction of a second Harry pulled out his wand again and pushed the tip against Malfoy's throat. The pressure made him lean backwards and arch his back.

At that moment, the fourth Gryffindor joined her friends. Ginny, who had been talking to some people from her year, appeared beside the suddenly frightened Pansy, her expression confused. The brown eyes of Ron's little sister wandered from Pansy and Draco to her friends till her gaze focused on the wand at Draco's throat.

As the blonde noticed Harry's attention shift to Ginny, his arrogance came back surprisingly fast. He lifted his hand and grasped the tip of Harry's wand between thumb and forefinger and slowly shoved the weapon away.

Now, upright again, he turned his torso towards Ginny, threw Harry a falsely commiserative glance and smiled appreciatively at the redhead standing beside his foe. "Oh Potter, I see you've brought someone with you? So, where have you been, Ginevra?"

Draco pushed the slightly staggering, but still stupidly grinning Pansy aside without even deigning to look at her. Then he gave his girlfriend a gentle shove that made her stumble backwards, so that she almost dropped the vodka bottle but caught it at the last second and then, with a loud thud, leaned heavily against the wall behind her.

Malfoy made no attempts to help his girlfriend, didn't even seem to see her. Both hands planted firmly in his pockets, he strode with tiger-like steps towards Ginny. "Hey Ginny, you don't look quite as shabby as the rest of your family."
A devilish glint sparkled in Draco's silver-blue eyes and he slid a black leather moneybag out of his pocket.

Viciously chuckling, he walked a few steps closer to Ginny. The corners of her mouth trembled and the tiny bubbles in the corners of her lips made her look more like a rabid animal than a young girl. Just one more comment of that kind, (and the way he looked at her indicated that he had just concocted an especially mean one) and she would spit right into the pureblood's arrogant face.

Again, Draco turned to the other Gryffindors, lifted his money bag with obvious pleasure and pulled out some Galleons. He lifted the coins and displayed them theatrically, shoving them with one sweeping gesture first under Harry's nose, then Hermiones, Ron's and finally, Ginny's.

„But from what I've heard, Ginny, you already have a well paid job. Compared to your family, you've really made a brilliant career."

„What's that supposed to mean, asshole?" Ginny bristled with anger as she finally found words to release her fury.

Draco stood very close to her now, and waved the golden coins directly before her eyes while he stared at her seductively and eyed her from head to toe with appreciation, as if he wanted to devour her with desire. "Come on, Weasley." he whispered, now sounding rather aroused than scornful, and shoved a Galleon slowly and suggestively deep into Ginnys decollete. The ginger-haired girl, boiling with rage just moments ago, now appeared to have frozen. The elegant blonde's fingers were easily discernible through the thin material of her blouse as he caressed Ginny's breast playfully. "Ten Galleons, Weasley. I know, you've been in nearly every bed at Hogwarts. Now it´s my turn. Your family can live on that money for half a year." – he breathed, and then turned smugly to Hermione "You can join us if you like, Granger. I think you really need it, you dried-up bookworm."

That was too much. Many things happened at once. Ginny threw a furious punch at Draco while Ron and Harry balled their fists and prepared to lunge at the blonde Slytherin.

„STOP IT!" intervened Hermione, spreading her arms to restrain the two young men behind her.

Without thinking, she put the paralysing curses on them and approached the two Slytherins, who were nearly unable to breathe from laughter.

It was almost too easy. Her master had taught her well. A short gaze into Pansy's glassy eyes was enough. Smirking disdainfully, she approached Malfoy, who now also leaned against the wall, but with much more elegance than his girlfriend.

„Perhaps, rather than grope Ginny, you should pay more attention to your own girlfriend.", Hermione purred with a friendly wink before she delivered the next, devastating blow. "Maybe then she wouldn't run off to the ladies' room so often during your parties to pleasure herself with Nott and Zabini."

A single blow and Pansy was suddenly completely sober.

She screamed and dropped the vodka bottle. Her gaze flicked unbelievably fast from Hermione's face to Draco's. Draco gasped. Pansy´s panicked behaviour was proof enough that those hadn't been empty words. „Draco, I…that…" the guilty girl stuttered miserably, then pointed at Hermione and shrieked "SHE LIES!". But the desperate tone in her voice betrayed her.

Malfoy, his sarcasm all but wiped away, shifted his narrowed eyes to Hermione, who laughed disdainfully. "But it's not your fault, Draco. What else could she do? Since you've been in prison, you're simply unable to do certain things." Hermione grabbed Draco's trousers and pulled him closer violently, while her other hand pointed at his loins. "Completely dead inside.. Nothing's working anymore, is it?"

Radiating fake compassion, the brunette patted his cheek and pushed him back towards the wall and his unfaithful girlfriend. Draco wasn't used to such mean treatment from Hermione and all he could do was stare at her in amazement. Staring was good, and so was his insecurity, because it made it so much easier for her to invade his mind.

Voldemort had shown her how to use Legillimency to conjure up illusions in the minds of others. So now she took a few steps closer to Draco, assumed her version of Voldemort's most threatening, murderous gaze and murmured in a sinister tone "You'll go home now, Malfoy. You won't see me again for a while after the school starts again, but I think in September we'll meet at court. You're going to be reunited with some old acquaintances." For a fraction of a second, Hermione's face became flat, her skin white, and her eyes glowed like blazing red coals. „They're already waiting for you and they're looking forward to seeing you again."

Draco, who without a doubt recognized Voldemort in Hermiones illusion, let out a terrified shriek, threw himself backwards and almost toppled over the confused Pansy. He shot one last horror-struck look at Hermione, then grabbed his girlfriend's arm and ran for his life.

Hermione broke into an evil laugh and, savouring the exhilarating rush that came from using the Dark Arts, cheerfully waved the escaping couple goodbye.

"WHAT WAS THAT?" spluttered Ron, totally perplexed. Hermione looked at her friends, who seemed to be only slightly less frightened than Draco and Pansy.

"Yeah, Hermione." Harry finally found words again "What…how…where did you hear that about Pansy?" Ginny shied away from her as she strolled back to her fellow Gryffindors. "And which old acquaintances is he going to meet at the trial?" the ginger-haired girl challenged Hermione.

Ron's face looked as if someone had just shown him irrefutable proof that one and one equalled twenty. "Old acquaintances? Pansy…Malfoy´s impotent? But I thought you were taking care of Lucius? Why would Draco be so afraid of seeing his father?" Ron was utterly confused. He had been sure that Hermione was taking care of Lucius Malfoy. But then, why was Draco so frightened by Hermione's allusion? The tall young man gazed suspiciously at his all-knowing girlfriend.

Hermione threw him her well-practised "I know something and you don´t" look and smiled at her three friends, who still waited impatiently for her answer. "Yes, well.. YOU think so. However, I never said anything about Lucius. But let´s leave it at that."

Harry touched his scar absentmindedly and was obviously not ready to give up just yet. "That's so typical of you Hermione. You know something out but you still won't tell us what you're alluding to. Is it someone the Malfoys know well?"

„Much better than they would like, at least." Hermione flashed him her brightest know-it-all smile. Well, why should she lie? Knowing more than all the others, who could only make confused guesses, had always made her feel so much pleasure. And now, seeing her friends' brains almost overheat with the effort of trying to figure out the identity of her patient, she just couldn't help but enjoy her superior knowledge. However, it was probably better if she didn't mention the fact that she had just used Legillimency. They would never believe that she'd learned it during her study course abroad.

But Ron, who already knew that game, was obviously annoyed by her manner. "And…will we someday be allowed to know who he is or how he knows Malfoy's sex life?" As superior as she'd felt just a few seconds ago, this seemingly casual sentence made her extremely vulnerable again. "Yes, of course. You heard me. He'll attend the same trial during which Harry's supposed to testify. " she muttered weakly

That day, all her secrets would be revealed. That day would probably mark the end of some of the most important relationships in her life. And the reason for that all would die shortly after. Although she'd wished for nothing more during their horcrux hunt, now she realised with surprise that she would actually mourn his death. It wouldn't be just an unpleasant event, she was genuinely devastated by the knowledge that he would die. Of course, she was afraid she'd lose her friends when they heard about her secret, but the thought of what was coming AFTER the trial wasn't any less frightening.

"Come on, we should go now. I have to work tomorrow. I'm not allowed to say anything, you know that. But you'll find out everything when the trial starts, I promise." It was supposed to sound reassuring, but she didn't have to look at her friends to know that they looked worried.

Whatever they might have thought or sensed, it was clear to each of them that the trial would be the ultimate test of their friendship.

It was time to depart. Reflective and full of melancholy, each of the four friends made their way home separately.

xXx

As Hermione visited her patient the next day, she was haunted by the same thoughts that had invaded her mind the previous evening. Death penalty was the only possible sentence in the forthcoming trial. Apparently, everyone considered it to be the ultimate expression of justice. Hermione wished she knew how to feel about that.

Voldemort was sitting on his bed, feeding the black cat with an amused expression. In order to make the animal invisible to the Aurors and smuggle it in, Hermione had preformed a Disillusionment Charm she'd learned from her master. It wasn't the first time the cat was here in his room. After Hermione and her patient had made up again, she was once again inclined to do kind things for him.

He seemed to like this cat. And if his cold heart was able to like anything at all, then such behaviour ought to be encouraged. Of course, the very thought of his former pet, Nagini, made her hair stand on end, but Hermione still remembered that he seemed to prefer animals to people. So all she had to do was Accio the feline (poor flying cat), cast an invisibility charm and paralyse it. Then she could take it home. Back in the sickroom, she could lift the curse and the black stray was allowed to roam around. She'd brought some cat food which her patient could feed it, some strings and a few aluminium balls for the animal to play with.

Tactfully, Hermione turned around to make her "ward's" bed – she pretended to be distracted, but observed him surreptitiously. He was surprisingly gentle with the animal. For the first time, she saw something in his eyes that might be defined as enjoyment. He named the tomcat "Tomcat", which wasn't particularly inventive, but sometimes, when Hermione told him it had caught a mouse or a bird, he called it "Killer" and his eyes seemed to sparkle with pride. In moments such as these, Hermione almost couldn´t hold herself back to hug him.

She didn't bring the cat every day, just three or four times a week. Today was one of such days.

The cat romped all over the room and tried to catch the tidbits of food tossed by the tall, pale man who sat on his bed in the middle of the room. Then the hunting instinct took over and the little tiger jumped onto the bed and sank its small teeth into Voldemort's big hand and braced its hind paws against his arm.

He, the lord, hardly seemed to notice this cute little game. But sometimes, when he thought she was looking away, he participated in the mock fight, and even scratched the cat's ears and belly. So Hermione, who sat beside him on the bed, tried to appear as busy as possible in order to give her "fosterling" a chance to play undisturbed with his cat.

But now she was really distracted. She was relating her heroic deeds from the previous evening - gesturing wildly, she told him how easy it had been to use Legillimency on Draco and Pansy and how shocked her two unsuspecting victims had looked.

Her "master" always liked it when she told him stories like this. She could recognize that from the fact that he didn't interrupt her and looked at her with less scorn than usual. Of course, it flattered his vanity, every time she proved how much she´d learned during his lessons. But the sole fact that her victim had been Draco Malfoy seemed enough to guarantee the story a favourable reception.

„That felt good, didn't it?" he enquired after she ended her report.

"YES! SO GOOD! I know it was mean, but he had it coming for years." Hermione replied with conviction. She punched the air in a gesture of triumph. "Hermione Granger will not be pushed around anymore."
BANG! To corroborate her words, her fist smashed onto the mattress with full force and caused the poor tomcat to shoot off the bed and hide under the tub. Voldemort grimaced reprovingly, but as their eyes met, Hermione noticed with surprise that he was actually smiling at her. Not cynically, but rather.. proudly, like a…father? The unfamiliar expression made his snake-like face look almost human.

She had to admit - she and her "fosterling" had been getting on quite well recently. But what if this was another attempt to manipulate her? Who could tell? Yet, even if it was just calculation on his part, it was still a welcome change from what they'd been going through before. And because of that, Hermione smiled back.

Suddenly, the skeletal, white hand lifted and immediately Hermione became afraid he would hit her again or do something equally cruel. Startled, she winced, hunched her shoulders and tried to lean away from him, but she could already feel the could touch of his fingers as he.. stroked her head.

For the shortest moment, during which the hair on the nape of her neck stood on end and her whole body covered with goosebumps, she could feel the gentle pressure of all five fingers resting on the back of her head. The hand slid down slowly, paused at her neck and then his thumb burrowed into her bushy hair, brushed a dark curl aside softly and touched her skin. It wandered up from her throat to her chin, then retraced its path with a slight pressure.

Hermione froze. This brief stroke of a single finger, which slid across her throat like the tip of a tongue, the gentle tingling that remained after the touch of his fingernail like an invisible mark, made her blood run cold. She was almost certain she would faint from shock.

But the hand was drawn back as suddenly as it had reached out before. And yet, a prickle remained, and resonated like an echo across her skin.

Utterly confused, her eyes searched for his, but he averted his gaze and seemed again to devote all his attention to the tomcat, who had slunk back onto the bed and curled up between them, purring.

However, after a closer look it seemed there was just a hint of a smile on his lips.

Hermione was at a loss what to think about such an expression of, for the lack of a better word, non-hate, and so she decided to act as if nothing had happened.

And to escape, as fast as possible. That was the priority…

Her eyes cast down shamefully and her lips pressed into a thin line, she tried to regain her poise. "I…I'll be going now. I´m taking the cat. We'll see each other tomorrow." Hermione stammered so miserably that her own threatening tone from last night seemed to have been an illusion.

Hastily, she picked up all the things she had to put on the trolley, grabbed the paralysed tomcat and ran out as fast as she could.