Checking his watch, Draco decided it was time to pack up his homework and leave the library. Since it was nearly curfew he would have a stroll around school, in the hopes of catching Gryffindors breaking rules, before returning to the dungeons for the night. Before he left the library Draco had a look around, just in case he could spot anyone doing anything wrong. When he actually found the library empty, Draco slung his bag over his shoulder and strolled out of the library.
As he wandered around the deserted corridors Draco was disappointed not to find anyone out who shouldn't be. As a prefect and member of the Inquisitorial Squad his curfew was later than most students, meaning the majority of the castle should be in their common rooms. Unfortunately everyone seemed to be sticking to the curfew, so Draco decided to just head back down to the dungeons.
At least down in the dungeons he could enjoy speculating on The Dark Lord's next move with his friends. The recent breakout from Azkaban had created plenty to talk about and the whole house was waiting for news of Voldemort's next move. Even though Draco couldn't give his housemates any extra information regarding Voldemort's plans he was still the one to talk to considering he was the only person in Slytherin to have actually met The Dark Lord.
Also if he went back to the dungeons Draco was sure to get plenty of attention from the girls. As he'd predicted once Pansy had gotten over their break-up she was more than happy to spread rumours about his prowess in the bedroom. The result of her rumours were the girls in Slytherin, and sometimes other houses, constantly propositioning him. At first Draco had tried to resist, knowing he wanted The Dark Lady, but he soon gave in and revelled in the attention he was receiving. Draco still wanted The Dark Lady, but the more he thought about it the more he realised any sort of relationship would have to be initiated by her. He couldn't risk both her wrath and the wrath of Voldemort if he pursued her and she wasn't interested.
Draco had just turned back to head down to the dungeons when he spotted a figure sneaking out from behind a tapestry. Moving closer he recognised the figure as Hermione Granger.
"Hey Granger, what are you doing?" Draco demanded, stalking towards the brunette witch.
Hermione whirled round at the sound of Draco's voice. She hadn't expected anyone to be around and the last person she needed to get suspicious of her movements was Draco.
"What does that have to do with you?" She asked, acting as though she was doing nothing wrong.
"It's nearly curfew." Draco answered. "I'll have to be taking points off you for being out late."
"Curfew's not for another five minutes, I can be back in Gryffindor Tower by then." Hermione retorted. "There's no way you're going to get back to the dungeons in time." She pointed out with a smug smile.
"So." Draco shrugged. "There's no-one around to dock points from me. You don't have any power over me."
Hermione wanted to laugh as she thought about all the power she most definitely did have over him. Instead she just glared at Draco before turning on her heel and stalking off.
"Don't you dare turn your back on me." Draco seethed, chasing after Hermione and stopping her just before she rounded the corner. "You didn't answer my question."
"What question?" Hermione frowned.
"What are you doing?" Draco repeated menacingly.
"I've told you, it's none of your business." Hermione snarled. She knew most people would be intimidated by Draco, but he didn't scare her.
"Perhaps you want to tell Umbridge why you were sneaking around." Draco suggested with a smirk.
"I wasn't sneaking. I was taking a shortcut back to the Tower." Hermione lied.
"From where?"
"The library, not that it's any of your business." Hermione huffed.
"Liar." Draco taunted, his smirk growing wider by the minute. "I've just come from there, you weren't in the library."
"Maybe you missed me." Hermione shrugged.
Draco chuckled as he shook his head. "I didn't, you weren't there. You're lying Granger."
"And how are you so sure I wasn't in the library?" Hermione asked, tilting her head to the side and looking at Draco in curiosity. "Were you looking for me?"
"Why would I be looking for you?" Draco snorted.
"I don't know, but you seemed to be super aware of my presence, or lack of it." Hermione grinned. "Does someone have a crush, Malfoy?"
"On you? You have to be joking." Draco sneered. "I wouldn't touch a mudblood like you with someone else's body."
"If you say so." Hermione chuckled, giving Draco a cheeky wink.
When Draco curled his nose up even more and took a step back Hermione laughed again before turning and leaving as quickly as she could. She knew once Draco got a hold of himself he would focus in on the fact she was lying, not to mention curfew was two minutes ago and he would be able to dock points from her.
After Hermione had scarpered Draco stood in the corridor for nearly five minutes before regaining control of himself. Shuddering at the implication he would fancy a mudblood, Draco turned and stalked down to the dungeons. By the time he'd reached the common room Draco had replayed his run-in with Granger several times in his head and he was convinced she was up to something. There was no way she'd come from the library, meaning she was sneaking around for another reason.
Draco's thoughts immediately went to the secret lessons Potter was organising. Umbridge and the Inquisitorial Squad knew about them, but so far they hadn't managed to catch them in the act. Draco smirked as he realised Granger could be the key to Potter's downfall. If he kept an eye on her, she would eventually lead him to Potter and the glory of catching him would be all his.
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Hermione grumbled in annoyance as her eyes wandered over to where she was being watched. Since her run-in with Draco almost a month ago, the blond had constantly dogged her every step. He was forever following her and even when she tried to give him the slip, he seemed to find her again and resumed his stalking.
In one respect Hermione was quite impressed with the blond's tenacity and skill in following her. Even though he'd found out nothing he continued to follow her, and she just couldn't give the slippery git the slip. In another respect, it was becoming very annoying. She'd missed two Death Eater meetings because she couldn't give him the slip, and last week she'd missed a D.A. meeting.
Currently Hermione was sitting in the library, with Draco sitting a few tables away. Hermione had long since finished her homework but she knew if she left the library Draco would only follow her and she didn't really fancy heading back up to Gryffindor Tower and spending her Saturday afternoon listening to Harry and Ron talk about the upcoming Quidditch match.
Hermione was just debating whether or not to take a book and head down to the lake when she felt her necklace heat up. Assuming her father had sent her the time of the next meeting, Hermione used the pretext of searching through her bag as a way to check the locket without Draco seeing it. However instead of a time, the locket just said 'Now?' Hermione frowned at the message, not understanding the meaning. She would have to find a way to get away from Draco, even if it mean going into the girls bathroom and leaving from there. Hermione had considered doing that before, but in her opinion it was too risky. All Draco would have to do was go to Umbridge and tell her she'd been in the bathroom for ages and when she wasn't there when a search was carried out things could get awkward.
Luckily for Hermione before she had to resort to such a risky tactic a distraction dropped right into her lap, or rather it dropped into Draco's lap. Hermione had been so busy with her locket that she failed to notice a sixth year Slytherin approach Draco and perch herself on the desk before him. By the time Hermione noticed the girl she was flirting outrageously with Draco, and he looked to be responding. Pushing her jealous feelings to one side, Hermione watched the pair as she waited for Draco to be sufficiently distracted so she could leave.
After five minutes or so the girl slid off the table and straddled Draco's lap. When the pair began kissing passionately, Hermione quietly picked up her things and left the library. Once she was sure Draco wasn't following her she headed for a nearby supply cupboard and locked herself in. After her first run-in with Draco she'd decided to vary the place she left school so she wasn't always travelling the same route around school every time she was leaving.
Leaving her thoughts about Draco firmly behind her, Hermione headed home. When she arrived home she wasn't sure what she expected to find, but she wasn't expecting to find her father and mother standing in the middle of the room in an embrace.
"Ugh, I hope you didn't send for me so I could witness that." Hermione remarked.
"No." Voldemort chuckled as him and Kathleen separated. "In fact I wasn't even sure if you could come. You've missed both meetings this last month."
"Bloody Malfoy." Hermione grumbled. "The blond git's watching my every move. He thinks I'm going to lead him to Harry."
Voldemort and Kathleen shared a surprised look at their daughter's harsh tone of voice. They'd been under the impression some sort of romance was brewing between Hermione and Draco, but her tone suggested she was less than happy with him at the moment.
"Maybe you should lead him to Potter." Voldemort suggested. "You don't want to miss too many meetings."
"I know." Hermione nodded. "I was thinking of 'accidentally' slipping up and leading him to a meeting soon."
"You might as well." Voldemort replied. "My plans for Potter are coming along great. I think I should be ready to lure him to the Ministry just after Easter."
"Good." Hermione nodded. "So why did you send for me?" She asked, getting the conversation back to the reason she was here. "And what was with the cryptic message?"
"I was just hoping you could come home so I could teach you more about the Mark." Voldemort answered. "You need to learn how to control it, and how to give it to someone."
"Cool." Hermione grinned. "You want me to give people the mark?"
"Yes." Voldemort nodded. "I have an initiation ceremony planned for next week, I was hoping you would be there and I was hoping you would give our newest recruit his mark."
"I'd love to." Hermione said.
"Excellent." Voldemort smiled back at Hermione. "Put your ring on and let's head into the back garden."
Hermione was puzzled as to why she needed her ring, but she dutifully slipped it onto her finger before joining her father in the garden. Once they were in the garden, Hermione asked why she needed to wear her ring.
"It'll help you focus on the mark." Voldemort explained. "Once you've gained some more confidence you'll not need it, but for now the ring will act as a focus for your magic."
"Okay, so what do I do?" Hermione asked.
"First of all you're going to summon Lucius." Voldemort answered. "He's aware we might be calling on him, so don't worry about disturbing him."
"How do I summon him?" Hermione asked.
"First off close your eyes and clear your head." Voldemort instructed, moving so he was standing behind Hermione, his hands on her shoulders. "Now very clearly in your mind I want you to picture Lucius. When you have his image in your head, imagine him standing in front of you. Keep those images solid in your mind and imagine the dark mark burning."
Hermione gasped as she felt an explosion of power leave her body. Automatically opening her eyes she witnessed a wisp of black smoke appearing in the garden. When it cleared Lucius was standing in front of her.
"You called My Lady." Lucius smirked.
"I did it." Hermione laughed. "How?"
"You're a powerful witch, Hermione and you're connected to the mark through your blood." Voldemort explained. "Once you had the image of Lucius in your head, the imagery of the burning mark sent a message to Lucius."
"Did I hurt you?" Hermione asked Lucius, suddenly worried that she may have hurt him by the burning of his mark.
"Not at all." Lucius reassured the young witch. "In fact your summons is much gentler than your father's."
"You could tell the difference?" Hermione queried.
Lucius nodded. "Yes, I could tell the difference. The second my mark started burning I had an image of you in my head. I knew I was coming to you."
"Wow." Hermione whispered. "That's so impressive."
"That's not all the mark can do." Voldemort chuckled. "Come on, let's get going and we can practice a few more things. You are alright to stay and help aren't you, Lucius?" He checked with his right-hand man, not wanting to presume anything.
"I'm perfectly okay with helping Hermione." Lucius reassured the dark wizard.
Voldemort nodded and thanked Lucius, before turning back to his daughter. He then began teaching her all about the mark and all the different ways it could be of use to her. With her father's guidance and Lucius's willing assistance Hermione quickly mastered the basics of controlling and using the dark mark.