"It's another trap." Harry shouted, standing up abruptly and causing his seat to fall over.
There was currently a full Order meeting taking place in Grimmauld Place as earlier that morning they had received another owl from the dark side. This time the owl just had an envelope with no name written on. Inside the envelope were three pictures, each picture showed a clearly terrified Hermione and a grinning Bellatrix. The pictures also showed a window in the background and snow could clearly be seen outside the window, this led them to the conclusion that the pictures were taken in Switzerland where they knew Bellatrix owned a house in the Alps.
"Harry, sit down." Sirius ordered wearily. One of his best friends had been killed in the attack a couple of days earlier and he couldn't be bothered dealing with his godson's attitude.
"We know it's a trap, Harry." Dumbledore said, trying to ease Harry's agitation. "But we can't ignore the fact Bellatrix is in the pictures."
"Come on, Harry. You know what she's capable of." Neville said quietly. His parents had been tortured into insanity by the evil witch and he really didn't want to imagine Hermione suffering a similar fate.
"I know." Harry sighed, picking up his chair and sitting back down. "But last time we lost Remus and Tonks, I don't want more people to die."
"We understand." Molly smiled at Harry. "But surely you don't want anything happening to Hermione?"
"Of course I don't." Harry snapped, glaring at Ron's mother. "But we're checking the wards of the Manor tomorrow. I think we should wait until after that before we move."
"I'm sorry Harry, the decisions already been made. We move this afternoon." Sirius said, his tone leaving little room for argument.
"We'll be well prepared." Kingsley Shackelbolt told Harry. "We know we're walking into a trap."
"You knew that last time and two people still ended up dying." Harry snarled, once again standing up so quick his chair ended up back on the floor. "Not to mention the three people who ended up in St Mungo's critically ill."
"Harry." Molly called as the raven haired boy turned and stalked towards the kitchen door.
"Don't." Harry said, turning back to face the room. "I think you're all being really reckless and I want nothing to do with these plans."
Turning back around Harry stormed out of the kitchen and two minutes later the sound of his bedroom door slamming reverberated around the old house. The Order all looked at each other warily before quietly turning back to the matter in hand.
Harry paced around the room, angry that he had been ignored and the raid had gone ahead. Less than an hour ago two groups of Order members had left for Switzerland and he was once again left behind to worry. Waiting for news of the raid two nights ago had been horrible and it only got worse once the beleaguered Order returned and explained what had happened.
Harry could still remember the horror on Sirius's face as he had carried his dead best friend back to headquarters. Things only got worse as Kingsley had appeared with an unmoving Tonks in his arms and several people returned seriously injured. One of those people injured and rushed to St Mungo's was Ron's eldest brother Bill.
Bill was still in a coma and the healers didn't have a lot of confidence he would wake again. Since then one of his parents had constantly been by his bed while his siblings rotated their visits. When Harry had been arguing against plans earlier both Ron and Ginny had been missing as they were at the hospital with Arthur.
When Ron and Ginny had returned earlier they had both tried to speak to Harry and try to get him to leave his room but he refused to even allow them entry. Ron had quickly given up and went to find Neville but Ginny had sat for hours talking to Harry through the door. In fact Ginny had only just left after Harry stopped talking when he realised the two groups had left and Sirius was amongst them.
Harry continued to pace the floor for another half hour until he heard shouts coming from downstairs. Throwing open his bedroom door Harry ran full pelt down the stairs, arriving in the front room to absolute chaos. The members of the Order that had stayed behind were gathering around the ones that were staggering back to headquarters. Everyone who was coming back looked to have some sort of injury and several people needed support to even stand.
Harry scanned the crowd, breathing a sigh of relief as Sirius suddenly appeared in the front room. While his long hair was matted with blood and he had a gash down his face Harry was relieved to see Sirius looked relatively unharmed. Rushing over to his godfather Harry wrapped him in a hug, relieved that nothing had happened to him before they had a chance to make up.
"I'm sorry." Harry said, pulling back and looking sheepishly at his godfather. "I shouldn't have made such a fuss."
"You were right though." Sirius sighed, easing down into a seat. "It was a trap and there was far more of them this time."
"Did everyone escape?" Harry asked. Looking around he couldn't see any dead but there were several people missing.
Sirius shook his head sadly. "Kingsley went down early as did Professor Flitwick. I think Professor McGonagall also died, but I'm not totally sure on that."
Harry gasped at the mention of two of his Professors dying. Hopefully tomorrow when they checked the wards of the Manor they could find a way inside and take the Death Eaters by surprise.
Lucius strode purposefully along the corridor as he headed towards his son's room, he just hoped he wouldn't be interrupting anything. Since their return from Switzerland at lunch time it was very clear that Draco and Hermione were very much together and while Lucius fully approved of the relationship he didn't want to witness their more intimate moments.
When Lucius noticed Draco's door was wide open he breathed a sigh of relief, surely they weren't doing anything too private if the door was open. When Lucius entered Draco's bedroom he found Draco and Hermione sitting on the bed playing wizard's chess. Lucius rolled his eyes at the pairs timing, their matches were usually incredibly long as they were both accomplished players, so why they had started a game just before their initiation ceremony was a mystery to him.
"I'm not disturbing you am I?" Lucius asked, causing both teenagers to turn their heads in his direction.
"No, we're just passing the time." Hermione replied.
Lucius raised a questioning eyebrow at Hermione's statement. "Chess wouldn't have been the way I thought you two would pass the time." He commented.
"Me either." Draco muttered, earning him a glare from his girlfriend.
Lucius chuckled slightly, clearly he had Hermione to thank for not finding the pair of them in a compromising position. "Anyway, I've brought you these." Lucius placed two sets of black robes on the bed. "Put them on and be waiting outside the dining room in ten minutes."
"Do we not get masks?" Draco asked.
"Not until you're initiated." Lucius told Draco before pulling a vial out of his pocket and handing it to Hermione. "Take this before the ceremony, it'll help with the pain of receiving the mark."
"Do I not get anything to help me?" Draco asked, slightly put out that Lucius had favoured Hermione.
Lucius turned and looked at Draco with a disappointed frown. "Surely you're man enough to face a bit of pain."
"Of course I am." Draco replied, looking less than certain.
Lucius shook his head and headed for the door. "Ten minutes, don't be late." He called on his way out of the room.
"Do you want some of the potion?" Hermione asked as she hopped off Draco's bed.
Draco shook his head as he stood up. "I'll be fine, you take it."
"If you're sure." Hermione said, checking one final time before she drowned the potion.
While Hermione was taking her potion Draco sorted the robes and pulled his over his head. Hermione then pulled her robes on and together they made their way towards the dining room. When they arrived at the doors leading into the large dining room they stopped and waited, just like Lucius had told them to.
Within minutes of their arrival the doors opened and Lucius stood in front of them in full Death Eater regale. Despite the mask he was wearing both Draco and Hermione recognised the man who had raised them. Lucius told the pair to follow him before he turned and walked back into the dining room. Hermione and Draco shared a nervous look before they followed Lucius.
The long table that normally dominated the dining room was pushed to one side, leaving a clear path to Voldemort who was standing directly opposite the doors. To the right of Voldemort stood two more Death Eaters in full regale and Narcissa, Hermione and Draco knew the two Death Eaters hidden under the masks were Bellatrix and Severus.
When Lucius reached Voldemort he dipped his head slightly before moving to stand between Narcissa and Severus. Hermione and Draco came to a halt in front of Voldemort, bowing their heads in reverence.
"Draco, Hermione. Who would like to go first?" Voldemort asked.
"I will." Draco said. He and Hermione had discussed it earlier and decided that he would receive the mark first.
At Voldemort's instructions Hermione stepped off to the side while Draco rolled up his sleeve and presented his left arm to The Dark Lord. Voldemort pulled out his wand and pressed it into Draco's wrist, mumbling an incantation. As Voldemort stopped speaking Draco felt a burning in his wrist and when he looked down he saw the Dark Mark beginning to form on his pale skin. After five minutes the mark was fully burned onto Draco's forearm, although his skin still felt as though it was on fire.
"Bella." Voldemort called and the witch stepped forward, holding a silver mask.
"Welcome to the club, Draco." Bella said, handing her nephew his mask.
As Draco took his mask and went to stand beside his aunt, Voldemort called Hermione forward to receive her mark. Like Draco before her, Hermione presented Voldemort her wrist and he cast the spell to create the mark. As the mark formed Hermione bit her lip as the burning took hold, she was actually wondering how painful it was for Draco considering she had taken a potion that supposedly helped with the pain and her arm still felt like it was on fire.
Once the mark had fully formed Voldemort called on Lucius to give Hermione her mask. Hermione took her mask, carefully examining the unique markings on it.
"Welcome to the family." Voldemort said. "Your marks will stop burning in the next hour or so but they will still be sensitive for a few days."
After checking both Hermione and Draco's marks had took properly Voldemort made his excuses and left. He was off to attend a revel with some of the Death Eaters that had just returned from the successful trip to Switzerland.
Once Voldemort was gone Narcissa insisted everyone else removed their Death Eater clothes so they could settle down to a nice celebratory meal. Lucius, Hermione and Draco all took their cloaks and masks to their rooms while Bella and Severus merely took them off and stored them until they were ready to go home. While everyone was dealing with their clothing Narcissa restored the dining room to normal and arranged for dinner to be served.
When everyone returned they settled in the dining room to celebrate Draco and Hermione joining the Death Eaters. Throughout dinner Narcissa had banned all talk of the on-going war, although she was quite happy to discuss what would happen once Voldemort defeated the Order.
Once dinner was over however and they moved into the front room Narcissa did allow Lucius to discuss the plans for the following day. Lucius was heading into London the next morning and would be at the Ministry all day, through Severus the Order knew this and had arranged to visit the Manor in an attempt to get through the wards.
"Do you know what time they're coming Severus?" Lucius asked. "Or who'll be present?"
"I think they were planning on coming after lunch. Dumbledore will obviously be leading the group and he did say he was busy tomorrow morning." Severus said. "As for who else will be here, I have no idea. Potter and Weasley were both trying to convince Dumbledore they should be part of the group, but I have no idea if they succeeded."
"You did mention the best place to check the wards without being seen was in the woods directly opposite Hermione's bedroom, didn't you?" Lucius asked.
"Yes, I told them that the only room that was used in that part of the Manor was Draco's and his window faced the back garden, not the woods at the side." Severus said. While he'd been telling the truth about which direction Draco's window faced he had obviously lied about the number of rooms in use.
"Hermione, tomorrow you need to stay in your room and when Narcissa tells you the Order are here, you go to the window." Lucius said. "I know they might not see you but if they come in a group there's a chance some of them will use the opportunity to get a good look at the Manor while Dumbledore checks the wards."
"What am I meant to do at the window?" Hermione asked.
"You can sit beside it or just look out of it." Lucius replied. "Just make sure you're not looking happy and make sure you're the only person in view of the window."
"Is that your way of telling me to stay out of Hermione's room?" Draco asked.
"No, just make sure you stay out of sight." Lucius said. "We don't want to blow this just because they see you two looking all cosy together."
"Don't worry, they won't see anything like that." Hermione reassured Lucius.
"Good." Lucius nodded.
With plans all set for the following day Hermione and Draco said goodnight and headed for bed. When they got to their rooms they each went their separate ways but after getting ready for bed Hermione went into Draco's room and crawled into bed with him.
"Does your arm still hurt?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah." Draco said, holding his arm out to look at his mark. Because it was still fresh the skin around it was still bright red. "Does yours?"
"A bit." Hermione pulled her own arm out and compared her redness to Draco's, they looked virtually identical. "It hurt more than I thought it would, without the potion I don't think I could have coped."
"It was really bad." Draco admitted. "I almost bit through my tongue to stop myself from screaming."
"I'm pleased you didn't." Hermione said. "I rather like your tongue, it's extremely talented."
Draco laughed before rolling over and pinning Hermione to the bed. "Do you want a display of how talented my tongue is?"
"Definitely." Hermione grinned, pulling Draco into a searing kiss.