Disclaimer: Yeah, I'm not J.K. Rowling... don't rub it in.
A/N: This was a hard chapter to write, it's a long one and includes a lot of stuff so hopefully it doesn't feel rushed...
Chapter Twenty-Nine
He deepened the kiss and she gently bit his bottom lip. Enjoying herself more than she thought she would.
He broke away panting and threw everything that was on the table to the floor picked her up and sat her on the table and continued to kiss her. "Granger" he moaned. "Granger...!"
"GRANGER!"
"What?" she snapped out of her daydream. Holy bloody hell I was not just day dreaming about Malfoy! Alright, so the last bit didn't really happen but they had indeed-
"Sorry about the... um... the, you know." he nodded. "Got carried away I gue-"
"Don't mention it." She cleared her throat and tried to suggest it was nothing as she waived her hand around in the air. "Not a big deal." he raised an eyebrow. "Well I... I uh, need to, um, send an owl. To the Ministry, the sooner the better." she gave a fake small laugh and excused herself but not before stumbling on her way out.
Holy hell! Holy hell! Holy hell! Draco Malfoy just kissed me, Draco Malfoy just kissed ME! And bloody hell I liked it! This is wrong, so wrong, so so wrong! Hermione's mind was spastic. She couldn't believe what had just happened.
She had no idea how she had managed to write a detailed letter to the Ministry and send it off when all her thoughts contained the words ''Holy hell!'' and ''Draco Malfoy kissed me!''.
"What's wrong with me, urghhh!" that afternoon in her room she buried her head in her pillows, kicking her legs on the bed in frustration. She couldn't get her mind off one certain blonde. "Stupid! Stupid Stupid! Urghhh!" so preoccupied with her cries of frustration, she didn't hear the knock at the door.
Draco knocked harder on the door, all he could hear were muffled cries from inside. "Granger, you okay?" he yelled. He opened the door, "Granger?"
"What, huh?" she yelled, embarrassed to have Malfoy walk into the room in the middle of her pillow on face tirade.
Draco raised his eyebrows. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah just... meditating." it was the only sensible thing that she could think of, even though it was far fetched. She couldn't possibly tell him what she was really thinking. Meditating was a muggle thing, surely he wouldn't know how it was truly done.
He gave her a weird look, "With a pillow on your face? I wasn't aware that was how it was done."
"People have... different methods." she sniffled and nodded. "It's a muggle thing." Hermione shrugged, surely that would be enough of an excuse.
"Um... alright. Well, a letter came back from the Ministry." he said, holding it out to her.
"So soon?" she asked, grabbing and opening it.
"Of course, it's you. People love 'Granger, the war hero'." he emphasized. "What does it say?"
Hermione looked up, eyes wide. "They'll be here... tonight."
Draco snatched the letter. "Not possible." but as he read, it was. "Oh sure, someone shows up dead on your front door and they're too busy, tell them you want to discuss a deal and they are plenty free." he scowled. "I'll go owl Blaise." he threw the letter on the bed and left.
This was going to be one long night.
l•l•l•l
They awkwardly sat in the living room; Three Ministry officials, Draco, Hermione and Blaise. Blaise kept looking around nervously and Draco kept fidgeting with his cuffs. They had dressed in what they liked to call ''Don't lock me up I'm innocent!'' clothes.
"Um, I'll go get everyone some tea." Hermione said getting up, trying to escape the tension that filled the room.
"I'll help you." Draco said, getting up quickly.
All color left from Blaise's face. "What? Don't-" Blaise whispered in protest but they ignored him.
"The most stupidest idea ever." Draco spoke as they entered the kitchen "Bad idea to have it here." he cursed himself. "It's like inviting Voldemort over for cookies, you're just asking for trouble. I should have thought about it more, it was completely stupid having them come to my home." he said as Hermione grabbed some cups and placed them on a tray.
"Would you relax. Everything's going well." Hermione responded as she began to prepare the tea.
"What are you going on about? They just got here."
"Don't you think that if they wanted to lock you up they would have done so already?"
"That's probably what they're doing to Blaise as we speak!"
Hermione waited for the water to heat. "Oh stop being so dramatic." she put a hand on her waist.
He calmed, an unreadable expression on his face. "You'll..." he hesitated. Not wanting to ask but needing to ask it none the less. He needed her reassurance. That somehow, someway everything would be okay. That she would return the favor if this all went south. "You'll help me, won't you?" he silently pleaded.
"What?" Hermione didn't understand the question, help him from what? Was she not already helping him?
"If... if they do, you know... put me in Azkaban." he said sternly.
Hermione rolled her eyes, "Draco." her tone gave her thoughts away; he was was being ridiculous.
"Promise me."
"They are not-"
"Promise me!" he whispered harshly.
Hermione stared at him. She had never seen him like this. So helpless. He always knew how things were to end up and how to go about it. Always confident and in control. Whether or not he truly was, that never showed. He never showed anything else but confidence. But this time, things were not in his favor and he knew that. His reaction to it was, almost childlike. It was rather cute.
"I promise." she nodded.
He nodded back. Feeling out of place. He had never asked anyone for anything, not a promise, not a favor. He didn't believe in it. People usually didn't keep their promises so he didn't bother. Yet, he believed in her words. She would keep them. He knew she would because that was the type of person she was.
"Now," she said putting the kettle on the tray after pouring the tea into the cups. "Let's get this over with. Get the door will you?" she asked, carrying the tray and he did as she asked.
Blaise sighed with relief as he saw Draco and Hermione return. It was extremely awkward sitting with a bunch of Ministry officials when he was in their eyes, a criminal. Which in fact, was true. Sitting, or even being anywhere near them was the very thing he's spent most of the past few years running away from.
Hermione served everyone and sat, cup in hand. "So, Miss Granger," head of the Department of Magical Law Enforcement, Connor Desmond began. Let's get to the point, why are we here?"
"It's simple really. We give you all the Death Eaters, and you let Draco and Blaise walk." she bargained.
"Oh so simple," Desmond taunted looking at his two other team members, Keith Bramsey and Paget Dorris. "Miss Granger, are you unaware of the fact that Mr. Malfoy is the new Lord and Mr. Zabini is a full fledged Death Eater who have done nothing but destroy and torture countless innocents? Yet you wish them to walk away, unscathed so to speak?"
Hermione nodded. "I am fully aware."
"On my behalf," Draco began. "I would like you to note that under my ruling I have not ordered the Death Eaters to do any damage on the wizarding world or otherwise. If they have done so, they have done so on their own accord."
"Dully noted." Paget Dorris scowled.
"Mr. Desmond, Draco Malfoy has been nothing but kind towards me under his ruling. Even keeping me out of harms way. I am confident that you will find him a changed man who's trying to right his wrongs in the best possible way he can. All of the Death Eaters, anabsolutely impossible task to accomplish without him."
"Surely you are under Imperius." Keith Bramsey spoke up.
"Sir, I assure you, I am not."
Draco began, "I have no need, or desire, to put Hermione under the Imperius curse. The Death Eaters are determined to kill her, I had nothing to do with this-"
"I second that." Blaise added.
"And I have been making sure she stays alive and well." Hermione nodded.
"How so?" Paget spoke, completely uninterested in what they had to say. She didn't believe a single word coming from Draco Malfoy's mouth.
"I have opened up my home to her and have given her nothing but the utmost respect. No torture, no name calling. I do not want to be a Death Eater anymore, and neither does Blaise. We want to help you in whatever way possible and we have devised a plan that we believe will work. It will take your complete cooperation and support."
Keith stiffled a snort "And would be?"
"Obliviate them." Blaise spoke.
Desmond choked on his tea. "All of them?"
"Yes." Hermione nodded "All."
"And what bloody good will that do?" he replied, trying to regain his composure. It was a ludicrous idea.
"Instead of locking them all up in Azkaban, it's a much better use if you obliviate them. Erase, re-arrange and create new memories of good. Sort of like re-establishing them into society."
"And their families?"
"Same."
"This... this is absolutely absurd."
"Do you have any idea how long that would take?" Paget scoffed.
"It would take months!" Keith replied. "There's hundreds upon thousands of them!"
Draco spoke up, "Not as many as when Voldemort returned. Death Eaters reached an all time high and well, I've seen the number decline. Voldemort was merciless with them and many died in battle, others fled after he passed and well, a good percentage are in Azkaban. What is left is a lot but, not as many as you would think."
"Lets say I agreed," Desmond rolled his eyes, "How do you think you would keep a bunch of Death Eaters in the dark for so long?"
"This is wizarding world. We have potions for that sort of stuff. Keep them all 'asleep' until its their turn." Blaise responded.
If there was anything the Ministry liked it was looking good and putting on a good ''Job-well-done'' show for everyone. "Think about it, you can have them be your little Ministry zombies, have them work for you. Do all the dirty work." Draco spoke. "You take all the credit."
"It's a better use of taxes." Blaise nodded, with a hint of humor.
"And you are willing to co-operate? Hand over every Death Eater?" Desmond asked, eating into Draco's words of taking full credit. The whole wizard world thanking him for a job well done. How could he possibly turn the chance down?
"Consider it done." Draco spoke.
"No funny business? How sure are you about this Ms. Granger? Do you have full faith in Mr. Malfoy and Mr. Zabini?" He still didn't trust them, but he was no fool. If they were really up to something he would have it noted in no time. Especially after he would send the request to have them closely watched.
"No funny business. I trust Draco and Blaise completely. I've been alone with both Draco and Blaise and if they wanted to do any harm to me, they would have already done so. They have had the opportunity and didn't take advantage of it. I feel completely safe around them. You can trust them."
Desmond and his team stood up. "We will see to this and work out the finer details. We will owl you in the next few days with our reply." and with those words, they left. Needless to say, everything turned out the way it was supposed to.
The ministry worked closely with Draco and Blaise and within a month and a half of planning it was Draco's turn to follow through and put on the big show that would change his life and the course it would take.
It was the night.
He was still pretty scared shitless that someone was going to realize what he and Blaise were up to. Not that he let it show, of course not. He played his part of dutiful lord as he was supposed to. He couldn't afford to have this blow up in his face.
He thought of Hermione and resisted the urge to smile, letting it turn into a weird scowl. She was home. It was a funny thing to say. Home. Hermione Granger was home. His home. Love, well, it had blossomed. He couldn't blame her, he was Draco Malfoy after all and she couldn't really leave his home, for safety reasons of course. At least, that was what he would say.
This part of the plan did not involve her, no matter how much she begged and pleaded he refused to have her be a part of this. Once a hero, always a hero; which simply irritated him. He didn't want her to end up in any type of trouble tonight.
Draco knew by now that Hermione was probably livid. He closed the floo connection, there was no apparition point and he made sure that she could not go out of any door or window. He knew better than to let her try and play damsel in distress as he played the hero. It would have only lasted so long before she would have shown up.
All the Death Eaters were here, with their family's. As he watched the little one's play and the older ones try and play nice for the young ones he couldn't help but stop and think about what was about to happen to these little ankle-biters. They were just innocent children who shouldn't be obliviated. But it was for the best, right? If they didn't go through the process as well, they would instantly know something was up with their parents who decided to do a full 360. They were young, not stupid. And he did not want to have another generation grow up the way he did, in hate.
It was for the best. It had to be. It was.
Soon they would move into the dining hall for a feast. Little did they know, no such thing was to come. Just spiked pumpkin juice.
They began to move into the dining hall. If even one seat was empty, everything could be ruined. But they were Death Eaters, and their master called, there was no excuse, least to say, every seat had an occupent.
His seat was of course, at the front of the hall. A table all for himself. All adorned in the belief that like Hogwarts, a quick word would relinquish the food from wherever it was being held.
He walked to the front of the table and stared at everyone expectantly. The room silenced, he smirked. For once, they got the point.
"Glad to see everyone could make it," he snickered silently. Yeah, as if they had a choice. "I invited you all here to strengthen our bond. We are one. We are a family and I thank you all for your loyalty. I know some of you doubt me, let's hope I prove you wrong." he picked up his glass from the table. "Enough chatter, talk is cheap and I'm sure everyone's dieing to get started." he looked at Blaise who was trying to contain his laughter. "But first, a toast." glasses brimming with pumpkin juice appeared in front of everyone.
"Everyone, raise your glass to a toast. To being a Death Eater, and the many years of fear and destruction to come until the world knows, who really is superior. Cheers!" he and Blaise pressed the cups to their lips but refused to drink.
It was now only a matter of time...
One by one. They dropped like flies.
A/N: Crap speech, I know. What can I say, Draco was nervous *shrug*
I'm sure there's grammatical errors on here so please let me know what you find so I can fix it.
No this is not the last chapter. Gotta get some Dramione romance in here at some point don't I?