For the majority of the train ride home Hermione Granger sat quietly reading her book. Hermione had gotten out her book minutes after boarding the train and her friends knew her well enough not to disturb her when she was reading. Hermione read peacefully for hours, she didn't even glance up from the pages until the train began getting nearer to home.
About two hours before the train was due to arrive at Kings Cross Station, Hermione subtly started checking her watch as nerves started to appear. Hermione was normally calm and collected but she knew that if events in the next hour or so went wrong her whole life could be in danger. For the next hour all Hermione could do was wait and hope everything went alright.
The second the train ground to a halt Hermione felt a wave of calmness wash over her, all her nerves suddenly disappeared as she anticipated what was going to happen next. As her friends began to wonder what was happening Hermione was initially surprised how quick Harry realised the Dementors were nearby, but then she noticed the chill in the air. Barely a minute had passed since Harry mentioned the Dementors before the train doors flew open and the cloaked figures boarded the train.
When Harry and Ron charged at the compartment door and tried closing it Hermione suddenly got worried, she needed the door open for what would happen next. Luckily for Hermione two Dementors appeared in the doorway and pushed Harry and Ron back into the compartment. As the Dementors entered the compartment all the lights suddenly went out and the train was plunged into darkness, this was Hermione's cue to move.
Silently Hermione stood up and edged her way to the open doorway, she had deliberately sat next to the door so she could leave quickly without being seen. Once in the corridor it was still pitch black but Hermione had deliberately chosen a compartment directly opposite a door so all she had to do was walk straight ahead. It took Hermione three steps to cross the corridor and reach the open door. Once in the doorway Hermione could clearly see the fields surrounding the deserted area in which the train had been stopped.
"Stop admiring the view and get off the train." A voice nearby snapped.
Hermione looked down and found Lucius Malfoy standing beside The Hogwarts Express, his hand held out for her to grab onto. Hermione held onto Lucius as the older wizard helped her off the stationary train and over the tracks to safety.
"We need to go, the train will start moving in a minute." Lucius said once they were clear of the tracks.
The plan was set so that the instant Lucius left the scene with Hermione the Dementors would leave the train and it would continue on its journey. There was currently a Death Eater in with the driver making sure he started the train immediately as well as several others strategically placed around the train to make sure Lucius got away unnoticed.
Hermione nodded and held onto Lucius a second time as the wizard apparated them home. Hermione and Lucius arrived directly in Lucius's study where Narcissa was sitting waiting for them. After checking Hermione was alright, Narcissa went off to get ready to pick up Draco in an hour while Lucius and Hermione sat down to talk.
"I've got to admit, that was a pretty good plan." Lucius told Hermione.
"Thank you." Hermione smiled. "It did seem to work well."
"It did." Lucius agreed. "It's amazing what you and Draco can accomplish when you're not arguing."
"We don't argue all the time." Hermione protested.
"You're right, you don't." Lucius conceded. "The rest of the time you're usually flirting with each other."
Hermione blushed at Lucius's words causing the wizard to laugh in amusement. Hermione glared at the laughing wizard as she stood up, still embarrassed that Lucius had picked up on the attraction between herself and his son.
"I'm going to my room." Hermione said. "I assume you've got things to do and people to speak to regarding this afternoon."
"I do, although I want to wait until I've spoken to Draco before I contact The Dark Lord." Lucius said. "Don't forget we'll want your book later."
"Tonight?" Hermione asked, looking at the book she was still carrying. The book was the only thing she had taken with her when she left the train and it had an important part to play in the plan.
"I'm thinking early tomorrow morning but I'll let you know over dinner." Lucius replied.
"Okay." Hermione nodded. "See you later."
After leaving Lucius's study Hermione made her way to her bedroom. The minute she stepped into her childhood room Hermione felt instantly happier and much more like herself. The months she was at Hogwarts playing the part of Hermione Granger, muggleborn best friend to Harry Potter were exhausting. Hermione was relieved she was home and could be herself, Hermione Granger the pureblood witch who was a supporter of The Dark Lord.
Hermione's parents, Evelyn and Mitchell, had been Death Eaters who were killed when Hermione was eighteen months old. The Grangers had only been Death Eaters for two years when they were killed and as such hadn't had time to come to the Order's attention. When they were killed by the Order they weren't even identified by the light side, instead they were just considered two more Death Eaters that died in battle.
After her parents deaths Hermione was brought up by the Malfoy's. Narcissa and Evelyn had went to school together and were best friends until Evelyn's parents moved to Canada just before Evelyn's sixth year. The two women stayed in contact over the years and Narcissa was thrilled when her friend announced she was returning home, newly married and five months pregnant. Lucius and Mitchell also became good friends and the two couples spent a lot of time together.
Evelyn and Mitchell were both pure bloods and eagerly joined Voldemort's ranks once they had settled into their new home. Unlike Narcissa, who fully supported Voldemort but didn't have a Dark Mark or participated in any events, Evelyn became a full Death Eater. Evelyn would join Lucius and her husband on raids regularly, leaving Hermione in the care of Narcissa.
It was while taking part in an attack on the Order that Evelyn and Mitchell were both killed. Lucius had also been involved in the attack and had been badly injured himself, he also witnessed the deaths of his friends. Lucius had witnessed how Evelyn was cornered by several Order members, Mitchell had jumped to her defence but the Order had outnumbered them and the couple had gone down fighting.
As the Order didn't know, or didn't care, who Evelyn and Mitchell were they weren't aware of their baby girl at home without parents. As both Evelyn and Mitchell were only children and their parents were dead Lucius and Narcissa vowed to bring Hermione up. With Lucius's money and influence he arranged the whole thing secretly and apart from a few select people no-one knew of Hermione's existence. Lucius and Narcissa were a private enough couple that no-one ever knew there were two children living in the Manor, not just the one everyone knew about.
Growing up Hermione had never been treated any different than Draco, the Malfoy's didn't favour their own son over the girl they had all but adopted. Hermione had also grown up knowing all about her parents and what had happened to them, as such she hated the Order from a young age and would often promise Lucius she would one day make them pay for what they had done to her parents.
A year before Hermione was due to start Hogwarts Lucius came to her with a proposition. Lucius suggested that as no-one knew of her existence she could pose as a muggleborn and befriend Harry Potter, that way when The Dark Lord returned they would have an ally on the light side. Even though she was only ten years old Lucius trusted that Hermione was wise enough to make the right decision.
Hermione agreed to help Lucius with his plan, although she was slightly upset in case he made her go and live with some muggles. After Lucius reassured Hermione that he definitely wasn't sending her away and she would always live with them as she was part of the family, plans were made.
Hermione spent the year studying muggles so she could pass as one while Lucius arranged everything else with the help of Severus Snape. Severus planted false information at Hogwarts that Hermione was a muggleborn while Lucius found a childless muggle couple to play the part of the Grangers. With a series of complex spells and enchantments Lucius had the couple convinced Hermione was really their daughter, and on the rare occasions they needed to be seen by someone from the wizarding world they were very convincing.
After a year of preparation it was time for Hermione to begin school and begin her false life as a muggleborn. Hermione was nervous enough about the plan but what made it worse was that she and Draco couldn't be friends in public, they both knew that if the plan was to be successful they would have to pretend to dislike each other.
The first part of the plan worked splendidly, by asking the Sorting Hat politely Hermione ended up in Gryffindor. The second part of the plan quickly hit a snag, Hermione was supposed to befriend Harry Potter but while he was nice and friendly he had already made friends with Ron Weasley and the redhead had taken an instant dislike to Hermione. For weeks Hermione tried to befriend the two boys without any success, she was seriously worried that by the time the Christmas holidays began she would have to tell Lucius she had failed.
Hermione's problem with Harry and Ron was solved accidentally on Halloween. Hermione had been getting increasingly upset at her failure and was in the bathroom crying in frustration when the troll made an appearance. Hermione had been taken off guard by the appearance of a troll and was panicking when Harry and Ron came to her rescue. The troll incident bonded the trio and from then on their friendship flourished.
For the next few years all Hermione had to do was make sure she retained her friendship with Harry and Ron. At times it became difficult for Hermione to stay friends with the two boys, Ron especially seemed to grate on Hermione and their hatred towards Slytherins and in particular Draco often left the brunette witch annoyed and frustrated. Hermione also struggled with meeting Ron's family, Molly was far to tactile for Hermione's liking and when she was around the older witch Hermione seemed to spend the entire time trying to avoid unwanted hugs.
It wasn't until fourth year that Hermione knew Lucius's plan would prove useful. When Voldemort returned at the end of the year he was thrilled to learn that Lucius had arranged for Hermione to befriend Harry. Using information from Hermione, Voldemort and Lucius spent most of fifth year working on a plan to get Harry to face up to Voldemort again. Their plan to lure Harry to the Ministry in search of Sirius looked to be working perfectly until Harry managed to get in contact with his godfather at home, meaning he wasn't being held prisoner at the Ministry.
When that plan failed Voldemort and Lucius began working on other plans while Hermione moped about their failure, she had been looking forward to returning to normal and not having to pretend to be someone she wasn't. It was actually Hermione that came up with the idea for a new plan, after the failed attempt to use Sirius to lure Harry the Order became paranoid that Voldemort would try the same trick again. It was the Order's constant worrying that convinced Hermione they should do as they expected and kidnap someone close to Harry.
After discussing her idea with Draco the pair of them came up with a plan. First they decided it should be Hermione that was 'kidnapped', it would be far easier to arrange Hermione's disappearance than actually kidnap someone else. For months they worked on the best way to fake a kidnapping and the best time, eventually they settled for using the train on the way home from school. Once the plan was sorted they told it to Lucius who approached Voldemort with the idea. Voldemort hadn't been totally convinced the plan would work but he gave Lucius permission to try it.
Lucius and Draco had made the final arrangements, with Draco passing on anything Hermione needed to know, and before they knew it was time to try their plan. Hermione was pretty pleased with how her part of things went and she knew Draco would deliver with his part, it wouldn't take much for Harry to believe Draco was involved in her kidnapping as he detested the blond Slytherin.
To stop herself worrying about Draco and the rest of the plan, Hermione used the opportunity to finish her book. Earlier that day she had made sure Ginny got a good look at what she was reading as soon Lucius would send the Order her book as proof the dark side had Hermione. The plan was then to send the Order on wild goose chases, depleting their numbers, before Voldemort made his final move. Hermione was hoping everything would play out over the summer as she quite liked the idea of attending her last year at Hogwarts as herself, not some saintly bookworm.
When Hermione had finished her book she sat looking down at the pages as she daydreamed about what her life would be like if she didn't have to pretend anymore. Hermione was thinking about how she could be publically friends with Draco when the sound of someone clearing their throat made her look up in surprise, her eyes finding the boy in question standing smirking at her.
Recovering from the shock Hermione placed her bookmark in her book and placed it on the arm of her chair before she slowly rose. Silently she made her way towards her best friend, stopping inches in front of him. Hermione smirked as Draco's breath hitched slightly and his eyes fell to her top, she had undone her top few buttons so her cleavage was on full display.
"Hi." Hermione whispered, reaching up and pecking Draco on the cheek. "I've been bored all alone, now you're here you can entertain me."
"How do you expect me to do that?" Draco asked. He was slightly shocked by Hermione's welcome, she didn't normally kiss him.
"You can tell me what happened on the train once I'd left." Hermione replied, taking hold of Draco's hand and dragging him to the large sofa in the room.
Draco grinned, happy to relieve the moment he taunted Potter. Settling on the sofa next to Hermione, Draco began telling her what had happened on the last leg of the journey home. Hermione eagerly listened to the story, asking questions when she felt Draco wasn't being detailed enough. Hermione and Draco sat talking for nearly two hours before an elf appeared and informed them it was time for dinner.