A/N – Firstly I just want to thank everyone for sharing their opinions with me. I read and took notice of every single one of them, but as I'm sure you appreciate it's impossible to go with what everyone wants unless I'm going to publish everything at once and leave myself devoid of new stories to publish in the future.

I have to admit, I was sort of leaning towards one option for the dark stories, and I think the majority of views seemed to be thinking along the same lines. So once this story is finished, there will be a couple of weeks break before I return with the Goddess sequel (which I've yet to find a name for). Part 2 of this trilogy will then be published after the Goddess sequel.

Tuesdays and Thursdays were a bit trickier, but again one option seemed to have a slight majority, so starting tomorrow I will be posting my Lucissa story. And for those of you who wanted the family Dramione, don't worry, it will be the next story published after the Lucissa one. I also wanted to assure people that even though I am branching out with my pairings, and have a couple of different stories in the works, I have no intention of leaving behind Dramione. They will still be the couple I write about the most and even in some of my different stories, they will still play a part.

And while I know not everyone will read the Lucissa story, which is totally their choice and I respect that (after all I wouldn't dream of reading or writing a story with either Draco or Hermione with anyone else), I appreciate that so many people are interested in reading it. I also just wanted to say that the story is the first in a new universe I'm planning to explore from time to time (in fact I'm already writing a second story in the same universe). Initially it will start off as Lucissa, but once Draco is around and grown up, the focus will likely switch to Dramione, and there may even be stories more focused on Dramione's children.

I also had someone asking me why I didn't publish my stories all at once if it was finished (which is something I have been asked before), so I thought I would answer here. The reason I publish a couple of chapters a week is so that people have a steady stream of work to read. Also, if I published my stories all in one go, I would soon run out of fresh stories to publish and there would be months in between new stories being published. Publishing like I do gives me a chance to work on multiple stories, and gives me plenty of breathing space in finishing them. And I do think that if I published an entire story at once, I would soon grow bored of not having anything new to publish, so I would either rush stories or stop publishing altogether. So since I don't want to do either of those things, I will continue to work the way that best suits me.

So thanks again for your views, and your support, and I hope you enjoy the last few chapters of Step into Darkness.


Hermione could hardly believe the lengths Dumbledore had gone to in order to protect his dirty little secret, and she was furious that to protect his own reputation he'd destroyed not only hers, but had dragged Severus and Draco into the mix. It was bad enough that he was portraying Severus as someone who would take advantage of his students and lure them into the Dark Arts, but he'd pulled Draco into things and he'd had nothing to do with what had been going on. As far as Dumbledore knew, Draco was as much in the dark as the general wizarding public, but yet that hadn't stopped the headmaster from trashing an innocent teenagers reputation. Hermione was under no illusions that she and Draco would always be known as the two students who had practised the Dark Arts at Hogwarts and plotted to kill Harry.

Hermione was just hoping that Harry wasn't buying Dumbledore's lies and knew that she would never do anything to hurt him. The problem was, aside from the first letter she'd received off him, she'd heard no more from her friend. She was guessing that the Order were keeping a close watch on him, and maybe he wasn't able to write to her, but she was still worried about him. So just to make sure Harry knew that Dumbledore was lying, Hermione wrote to her friend again and borrowing Draco's owl, she sent him off with a message to her best friend.

"Do you expect him to answer?" Draco asked as they watched his majestic eagle owl soar into the sky.

"Not really," Hermione replied. "But I had to let him know that Dumbledore's claims aren't true. I don't want to think that he could believe that I would plot to kill him."

"If Potter has a brain, which I have to admit I've sometimes had my doubts about, he won't believe any of the rubbish Dumbledore is spreading," Draco said.

"But other people are going to believe it, aren't they?" Hermione whispered. So far they didn't know if Dumbledore had already gone to the press, but after the talk in Lucius's study, he'd gone off to see if he could get the truth out to the wizarding public before Dumbledore reached them with his lies.

"Yes," Draco answered with a nod of his head. "There are plenty of people who will be only too willing to believe it. Firstly, half the wizarding world think Dumbledore is a saint and can do no wrong. Those people would believe him if he said the sky was sodding red. And then there's those who'll look at Severus's past as a Death Eater and think that it was only a matter of time before he started to corrupt the students."

"And what about you and me?" Hermione asked. "Will people really believe we were meeting in secret to learn the Dark Arts?"

"I'm a Malfoy, Hermione," Draco said with a bitter laugh. "People will believe the worst of me. And I guess with you, the so called proof you're a dark witch is the fact you're with us. You have to hand it to Dumbledore, he's turned everything on it's head and made even the most innocent of acts seem suspicious. I bet you any money there's people we go to school with who'll come out of the woodwork and claim they've seen us together around the castle."

"But we weren't," Hermione pointed out. "Until I came to the manor, I don't think we've exchanged one civil word to each other."

"Since when does the truth matter to fame hungry attention seekers?" Draco snorted. "Someone could end up in the papers, just by making up stories about us. Hell, for all we know, Dumbledore's going to encourage it. He's going to want as many people as he can get to take his side. I think you're going to have to prepare yourself for the fact that people you thought were friends are going to turn into enemies."

"As long as Harry doesn't turn on me, I can cope," Hermione replied.

"Then let's hope that Potter really is the friend you think he is," Draco answered quietly as he turned away from the window and wandered across the room towards the door.

Taking one final look out of the window, even though Draco's owl was long gone, Hermione turned and followed Draco from the room. Silently they both headed back downstairs, knowing that there was a lot more that needed to be discussed. After the talk in Lucius's study, the three adult wizards had all headed off to do their own thing, but it was clear that the conversation wasn't over. Even if by some miracle they had reached the press first, they would still need a plan of action on how to deal with Dumbledore and his lies.

"How are you two doing?" Narcissa asked when the pair entered the main living room and found her curled up in the chair beside the fire, Crookshanks on her lap, purring contentedly as Narcissa fussed over him.

"Feeling a bit like an idiot, if I'm honest," Hermione admitted, settling down on the smallest sofa, while Draco perched on the larger one. "I've been so naive. When I arrived here I figured we could learn the truth and everything would all work out. I thought the people who'd kidnapped me as a baby would be brought to justice. Strangely enough, I thought that overhearing a plot to kill me, would result in some form of justice."

"The Ministry aren't the only people capable of issuing justice," Narcissa said softly. "Do you honestly think your father will just let this matter drop, Hope? His plan may be to retreat at the moment, but you can bet that everyone involved in what happened to you will pay for the choices they made."

Silently, Hermione digested Narcissa's words. She knew Voldemort's justice would be a hell of a lot different than the Ministry's version of justice. If the Ministry had acted, arrests would have been made and prison sentences would have been the likely outcome. However, Voldemort's justice would likely mean death and destruction. Hermione just had to decide if she could live with playing a part in that sort of justice. Because Hermione knew that even if she wasn't personally involved, it would be happening, and by staying with Voldemort she would be condoning his actions.

The other alternative was walking away and the one thing Hermione did know was that she didn't want to do that. Finding out Voldemort was her father may have given her the shock of a lifetime, in fact even now she still woke up in the middle of night grappling with the idea, but it was her reality now and she wasn't going to walk away from the life that had once been stolen from her. Truth be told, Hermione had no real idea where she stood any more. But she did know she'd been given a second chance with her father, and nothing in the world was going to make her walk away from him.

Hermione was still lost in thoughts about her father, and the situation she'd found herself in, when the adults began to filter back into the room. Severus was the first to arrive, thanking Narcissa for the use of a guest room and assuring her that he was all settled in and the elves hadn't left anything behind at his cottage. Voldemort entered the room shortly after Severus, settling down beside Hermione and checking that his daughter was coping with the day's events. And finally, Lucius entered the room, a look of frustration etched on his face.

"We're too late, aren't we?" Voldemort asked in a sigh as Lucius headed straight for the bar and poured everyone a stiff drink.

"We are," Lucius confirmed. Pulling a paper from his robes he handed it to The Dark Lord. "A preview of tomorrow's Prophet."

Hermione leaned closer to her father as he unfolded the paper. The front page was dominated by a picture of Hogwarts, surrounded by three smaller ones of Severus, Hermione and Draco. The headline blared about a Dark Trio plotting death and destruction at Hogwarts. Most of the article was inside of the paper, but from the beginning of it, Hermione could see that it was going to repeat the exact same lies Dumbledore had fooled the Ministry with. Not wanting to see more, Hermione turned away from the paper. However, Voldemort devoured the entire thing, before passing the paper over to Severus.

"How bad is it?" Hermione asked Voldemort.

"Pretty bad," Voldemort replied, choosing not to lie and sugar-coat things as his daughter would have to face what they were dealing with head on. "It covers everything Lucius was told at the Ministry. Severus is named as an active Death Eater, and you and Draco are named as his apprentices. There's apparent plots to kill Potter and Dumbledore mentioned, and evidence that was supposedly found in Severus's office and classroom at Hogwarts."

"Because if we had been practising the Dark Arts, we would leave evidence just lying around," Hermione snorted. "Does it mention Harry's reaction to the news?"

"No," Voldemort replied. "A source close to him is quoted as saying he's inconsolable after the betrayal of his best friend. I'm not sure if we'll ever know if he believes the lies or not."

"He won't," Hermione insisted loyally.

"And the other thing is that the paper seems to have changed it's tune about my return," Voldemort said. "Barely a week ago, Potter and Dumbledore were unstable, attention seeking liars, but now they're the pillars of our community and above suspicion. My guess is the Ministry will soon follow their example and agree with Dumbledore that I'm back."

"Will that be a problem?" Hermione asked.

"Not really," Voldemort replied with a sly smirk. "To be honest it doesn't matter if they believe I'm back or not, they'll still not be able to predict my next move."

"And what is your next move?"

"We'll discuss that later," Voldemort said, noticing that Severus and Narcissa had finished with the paper. "Right now, we need to discuss the immediate future," he said in slightly louder voice, including everyone in the conversation.

"Contingency plans," Draco said as his father joined him on the sofa.

"Contingency plans," Lucius confirmed with a nod. "Obviously we were all hoping that the truth would come out and Dumbledore would be dealt with. In that case, we were confident that we could give Hope enough protection for the pair of you to return to Hogwarts as normal."

"But that can't happen, because Dumbledore is still there," Hermione said. "Although given the allegations he's making against myself and Draco, I expect us both to be expelled," she finished with a slight sob, the thought of being expelled from school breaking her heart.

"Damn it," Draco cursed. "If I'm going to be expelled, I would rather it be for something I've had the pleasure of doing."

Hermione couldn't help but smile at Draco, and from the smug smirk that crept over his lips, she guessed that had been his intention all along. Mouthing a thank you to her new friend, she turned her attention back to Lucius, to see what else he had to say.

"Even though we hoped for the best, we planned for the worst," Lucius continued once he had the two teenagers fill attention. "And we've got two alternative plans. To be honest, we all prefer one plan over the other, but we agreed from the beginning to include you in our plans, so the pair of you are going to get a chance to have your say."

"So what are our choices?" Draco asked.

"The first plan is that Severus and I home school you here at the manor," Narcissa said. "However, the drawbacks are that we can't guarantee Hope's safety outside of the manor. To be honest we can't even guarantee your safety, Draco. If Dumbledore and his Order had no problems kidnapping a baby, we all agree that they won't have any qualms about taking a teenager to get what they want."

"So basically we would be prisoners here?" Draco questioned with a frown.

"Although with Severus soon to be a wanted criminal, we're going to have to be extra careful," Lucius cautioned. "I said that the Ministry didn't have the proof to get a search warrant, but they won't stop trying and sooner or later they might just get one."

"No offence, but that doesn't sound like a great plan," Hermione said.

"It was better before there was an arrest warrant for Severus drawn up," Voldemort conceded. "And besides, we all agree the second plan is better."

"And what is the second plan?" Hermione asked.

"You and Draco are still home schooled be Severus and I," Narcissa said. "Only not at the manor. Our plan is to leave the country."

"With our money and resources, we can just vanish and not even Dumbledore will be able to find us," Lucius said.

"So what? We just leave our lives here and go into hiding?" Hermione questioned, amazed that Voldemort would do such a thing for her.

"It wouldn't be hiding, it would be temporarily relocating," Voldemort replied. "In another country, you and Draco can have some freedom. And it would only be until you finished your school work. After that you can make your own choices, Hope. You can stay wherever we settle, or you can help me bring down Dumbledore and his Order."

"What do you think?" Hermione asked Draco.

"How could we be sure no-one could find us?" Draco asked. "Hermione and I are both under-age. Why wouldn't the Ministry just use the trace to find us?"

"The trace only works in this country," Lucius supplied. "Wherever we do settle, we'll have to register with their authorities and they'll be the ones who can trace you. But not every foreign Ministry applies the trace, and even the ones who do, won't go giving out your location to a foreign Ministry. Besides, this will be where our money and influence come into play, and I can ensure that whatever country we end up in will deny we're even there. If we go for option two, we won't be found."

"Then I say go for option two," Draco said with a slight sigh, thinking of all his friends he would have to leave behind.

"Are you sure?" Hermione asked the blond wizard. "You'd have to leave your friends, Draco. At least at the manor, you could still see them in the holidays. The last thing I want is to force everyone to leave their lives behind to keep me safe."

"You're not forcing us to do anything," Draco replied. "We're all doing this because it's the right thing to do. Don't fight us, Hermione. Let us look after you. You agree with the second plan as well, don't you?"

"It does sound the better option," Hermione said with a nod. "Although I'm guessing it still needs sorting."

"It does," Lucius confirmed. "But we've still got several weeks of the summer to sort everything. Draco, we'll make sure you can say goodbye to your friends. But by the first of September, we'll be settled in out new home."

"And just so you know, I will be devising a proper school schedule," Narcissa warned the teenagers. "There will be no slacking on my watch. You two will have the best eduction we can provide."

"And if you want, I can even teach you a bit of magic," Voldemort offered.

Draco hastily accepted the offer, eager to learn from the dark wizard. However, Hermione was a bit more hesitant as she wasn't sure she was ready to learn dark magic. Luckily Voldemort wasn't offended, and he promised her that he would only show her the magic she was comfortable with. If she wanted to learn dark magic then so be it, but if she didn't, he had other magical skills that he would be only too happy to share with his long-lost daughter.