Chapter 4
Hermione didn't understand. She stared at Draco, absorbing what he said slowly. Turn her back into a human? How is that possible?
"Your life is mine," he said. "I was going to kill you, but I have better plans. You have no purpose in life. You wanted to die. Obviously you don't enjoy your life with precious Riddle." He stood up, and towered over her. "Do you want to be human again Hermione?"
Hermione gaped. How was that possible? Once you've turned, you've turned. There was no going back. "How?" she finally muttered, but Draco cut her off again. "I can turn you back, but you must do something for me, for us." He pulled out a little vial. "You will be our spy. You are to go back to that manor, and spy on Riddle. Every week, you are to put your memory into this vial of whatever encounter you've had with Riddle. You will then come out of the protective charms surrounding the manor, and hand this vial to me."
Hermione took the vial, slightly awestruck. Draco smirked. "You could be human again Hermione," he said, kneeling in front of her. "I'm giving you a reason to live."
***
Hermione looked up at the gates of the Riddle Manor, and gulped. If the hunter didn't kill her, Tom might for her little escapade. Drawing deep breathes that might be one of her last ones, she entered the manor.
As soon as she stepped in, she felt an aggressive hand close itself around Hermione's neck. Tom was right before her eyes.
"Not only do you run from me, but you spread fake tracks?" Tom screamed. Hermione clawed at Tom's hand, trying to pry his fingers open. "Why have you come back? Couldn't live without my blood, huh? You ungrateful…"
"Please," Hermione choked. "Listen to me first!"
Tom glared at her, and in a swift motion dragged her into the manor and up to his room. He threw Hermione down to the floor, where she hurriedly gulped down mouthfuls of air. Tom leaned against his door, and watched Hermione with glinting red eyes.
"Please," Hermione said. "I did not run from you!"
Hermione slowly got up, walked over to Tom and went on her knees before him. "Please, I did not run. I made the foolish mistake of biting a human in the storage. I… I was so thirsty. When I realized what I was doing… the Mindless, he ran. I ran after him but… a hunter got to him first." Hermione stole a glance at Tom, trying to read his expressions, trying to see if he was buying her story. "The hunter tried to kill me, and I had to run. It was him who spread the fake tracks, so no one could come help me. I'm so sorry Tom. Please, I'm so sorry."
Tom slowly lowered himself to the floor until his eyes were level with Hermione's. She looked back at him with fear in her eyes. What was he going to do? Did he see right through her? Tom raised his hand, and Hermione shut her eyes, not wanting to see what was about to happen. He must have figured out she was lying. He was going to punish her, or kill her. She waited for any pain, any contact, any spell. However, none came. Instead, she felt Tom pulling her up by her robes.
"There will be a Gathering tonight," he whispered, letting go and turning his back on her. "I will not be shamed by your absence. You're room is made ready down the hall. Clean yourself up and wear the dress robes provided."
"Yes, Tom," Hermione said, and waited for him in case he wasn't done with her. When he didn't say anything, Hermione quietly let herself out of the room. She wasn't surprised at all about the fact she was not punished, because there was to be a Gathering. A gathering of the most prestigious vampires. Most of them, like Tom, had their own plaything. And Hermione was presented at every gathering, and... she didn't want to think about it. She cursed this hierarchy. She cursed her blood, her existence. Vampires regarded Muggle-born wizards or witches like herself very rare and as a gourmet dish. This was why Tom had captured her, kept her, and ultimately fed on her.
She had to get out of this life. She wanted to be human again, to stop craving Tom's blood, to be free of him. She wanted Tom to be gone. The way to do that was to help Draco Malfoy. Be a spy, relay memories, and ultimately help them kill her addiction, Tom Riddle. This would be her only way of escape.
***
It had been a week since Draco gave Hermione the task of being a spy, and now he waited patiently on the outskirts of the forest that surrounded the Riddle Manor. He couldn't enter it of course, as it was heavily protected with charms. He couldn't even see the manor, but he knew it was there because of the residue of magic that he could detect. Besides, when he tried to go further, he just found himself reentering the forest and coming out exactly where he started. So Draco Malfoy now sat in silence, well hidden among the bushes. He closed his eyes to rely on his sixth sense to find Hermione as soon as she exited from the protective charms.
He waited for an hour, then two hours, then three, but Hermione did not come. Telling himself that she is probably waiting for an opportunity to get out, he waited patiently. When he had told of this plan to his father, he scoffed, and said that vampires can't be trusted. He wanted to prove his father wrong. He wanted his own plan to succeed, and ultimately exit his father's circle of control. But Hermione did not come.
After a couple of more hours, Draco looked to the east, and saw that the stars were fading one by one as the morning sun was making ready to shine its first rays into the sky. Dawn was near, and Hermione still hadn't shown up. Draco got up, and with a soft crack, disapparated. When he opened his weary eyes, he found himself in front of the Malfoy Manor, the manor that held the most prestigious vampire hunter family. He silently entered, not wishing to meet his father. But nothing ever went the way Draco wanted in this damn house, and there was his father, standing on the top of the grand staircase, looking down at him with suppressed glee.
"So the girl didn't come, I presume?" his father, Lucius Malfoy said softly. Draco repressed his urge to glare at him and nodded. "I told you Draco, that vampires, those vile, savage creatures, are not to be trusted." Lucius turned and walked away. Draco sighed with relief at his father not pressing the matter when Lucius stopped. "It's a good thing you didn't relay information about us, as your plan has obviously failed." And with that, Lucius walked around a corner and out of Draco's sight. Draco gritted his teeth. A man he was so alike in appearance and personality, yet a man he hated with all his heart. He would return next week, he told himself. She just didn't have the opportunity to come out today.
Next week came, and went, and then another week passed, but Hermione still hadn't shown up. Lucius mocked him that he was wasting his time, and questioned him slyly on why he was going through with a plan that had failed miserably. However, the more Lucius ridiculed him, the more stubborn Draco became, and he returned every week, determined to prove that he wasn't wrong in making Hermione their spy.
In the fourth week, Draco sat in the exact same bush he had the first time he waited, and closed his eyes. It had been a month, and Hermione had not come. This is the last week, he told himself. Then no more of this. No more of giving his father opportunities to laugh at his failure. Draco frowned as anger filled his heart thinking about Lucius, when suddenly, he sensed a disturbance at the far west side of the protective bubble. Draco hastily got up, and silently dashed towards the disturbance. When he was near, he slowed down, watching cautiously in case the moving thing wasn't Hermione. He crept closer inch by inch, and when the clouds shifted and the moonlight shone, he saw Hermione with her bushy brown hair cropped short right to her neck. Stifling his mild surprise, he crept behind her and bound her hands.
"Why haven't you come the last three weeks?" Draco demanded. Hermione didn't answer, but just dropped her gaze to the ground. "The vial is in my right pocket," she said in a monotone. Draco reached in and retrieved the vial. Not really sure what to say, he turned her around, and to his surprise saw that her eyes were blank and lifeless.
"May I go now, please," Hermione said again, in that same dead tone. Draco unbound her hands, and she walked back into the manor, looking like someone who had no soul. Long after she was gone, Draco stood at the edge of the forest, looking at the spot that she had vanished, with a dreading feeling setting in his mind.
(A/N: Not really happy with how this chapter turned out, but I've been looking at it for days fixing/proofreading/modifying/re-modifying/re-fixing... etc. :P I'm really sick of this chapter now.. I just hope it wasn't a disappointment to readers. :) Constructive criticism is extremely welcome for this chapter, and as always, I heart reviews! Happy New Year 2010!)