A/N - Sorry for the lack of update on Friday, but I wasn't feeling well. Luckily I'm back to normal now and updates can continue. I hope people enjoy this chapter as we head towards the end of the first part.
Hermione stood in a shadowy alcove, just opposite the entrance to the Slytherin common room. Hermione had been there nearly half an hour as she waited for the perfect person to either leave or approach the common room on their own. For what she had in mind she needed to catch someone who was completely on their own.
Eventually a blonde seventh year exited the common room on her own. Hermione had seen the girl around school, but she had no idea of her name. Not that it mattered for what she had in mind. Hermione waited until the girl was walking past the alcove she was hidden in before quietly whispering a spell that would freeze her in place. Once the girl was frozen, Hermione pulled her into the alcove and undid the spell.
"What the hell?" The girl looked around in bewilderment, trying to work out what had happened. Spotting a shadowy figure at the back of the alcove, she tried to see who had grabbed her. "Who are you?"
"That doesn't matter." Hermione replied as she raised her wand. "Imperio."
As Hermione's spell hit the seventh year got a glazed look on her face as she awaited instructions. Smirking that her first attempt at the Imperius curse had worked, Hermione stepped closer to the girl without steeping out of the shadows that hid her identity.
"Tonight you are to seduce Draco Malfoy." Hermione ordered the girl. "You make sure he remains down in the dungeons all night. Do you understand?"
"Yes."
"Good." Hermione smiled. "Now continue on your way and complete your task for me tonight."
Hermione waited until the seventh year had disappeared before she snuck out from the alcove and hurried away from the dungeons. She wasn't at all happy about what she'd just had to do, but there was no way she was risking Draco stopping her from attending tonight's meeting. The meeting was the one her father had told her about the previous week, the one where she would be initiating someone into the Death Eaters.
Initially Hermione had thought that Draco wouldn't pose a problem to her leaving as after that night she managed to sneak away he seemed to lose interest in her. However a few days earlier she noticed he was back to following her again. Hermione could only guess the days he'd failed to follow her he'd been distracted by the Slytherin tart he'd been with in the library and once he was bored of her he was back to following her again.
Hermione knew she could easily find a way to get away from Draco, using a disillusionment charm or something, but she wanted to ensure the blond didn't lose interest in following her. Once Hermione had attended the upcoming Death Eater meeting she fully intended to lead Draco to Harry and the D.A. The meetings were starting to become bothersome as she tried to concentrate on studying for the upcoming exams and practicing her dark magic. With other things on her mind she didn't need the hassle of the D.A, meaning it was time to shut it down and in the process hopefully get Dumbledore fired. Draco following her had given her the perfect way to bring the D.A down, so the last thing she wanted was for him to lose interest, forcing her to get another plan. Hopefully this distraction would keep him away from her tonight, but he would still be following her in the coming days when she intended to activate her plan of getting Harry and his little group caught red-handed.
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Hermione was relieved when it appeared her plan to distract Draco had worked. After leaving Gryffindor Tower, on the pretence of going to the library to study, Hermione had made extra sure Draco wasn't about before heading to a deserted classroom. Satisfied the blond wasn't following her Hermione entered the classroom and as usual locked the door behind her.
She then headed home, where her father was waiting for her in his study. After greeting each other, Hermione went through her usual routine of doing her nails, slipping on her ring and pulling her blood red cloak on.
"Are you ready?" Voldemort asked.
"Nearly." Hermione said hesitantly. "I'm just not sure what I'm expected to do."
"It's simple, the new recruit will be brought in front of you and all you have to do is give him the mark." Voldemort explained. "You can remember my instructions on giving the mark, can't you?"
"Yes." Hermione nodded. "But do I need to say or do anything special? And what about the concealment charm some people have, do I give the new bloke one?"
"Firstly what you do and say is up to you, you're in charge tonight." Voldemort told his daughter. "And secondly the concealment charm is placed at our discretion. I'll leave it up to you to decide if this new wizard gets one or not."
"What happens if I can't give him the mark?" Hermione asked quietly. "I've never done it before, I might not be able to."
"You will be able to." Voldemort answered with confidence. "I have faith in you Hermione. Just remember what I taught you about the ability to control the mark is in your blood, our blood. You can do this, just focus and you'll be fine."
Hermione smiled at her father, feeling much better now she knew he had such faith in her. Voldemort smiled back at Hermione, before announcing it was time to leave for the Manor.
As usual Lucius was waiting to greet Voldemort and Hermione, and once Hermione had raised the hood on her cloak the trio made their way to the dining room. When they entered the dining room, the setup of the room reminded Hermione of the time she'd tortured Nott. The long table was missing and the Death Eaters were gathered around the room in a circle.
As normal some Death Eaters were wearing their masks and cloaks while other had forgone the mask. Hermione had once asked Voldemort about why some people wore masks and other didn't and her father had told her he preferred to leave it to the individual person to choose if they wore their mask at meetings. Apparently some people liked the anonymity the mask provided them with, whereas others weren't keen on the confining silver masks and chose not to wear them unless they were ordered to.
Upon arrival in the room Hermione stood where the head of the table would normally be, while her father and Lucius stood off to the side amongst some of the other Death Eaters. Once everyone was in place Voldemort nodded to the Death Eater nearest the door, who bowed his head respectfully before slipping out of the room. A second later he was back, being followed by a man in a black cloak that covered his face. The two men walked up to Hermione and the Death Eater bowed to her.
"Our newest recruit, My Lady." He said, before slinking back into the crowds.
Hermione looked at the new recruit, who was still standing a few metres away from her. "Step forward." She commanded. The man did so, stopping directly in front of Hermione. "Remove your hood."
When the man reached up and pulled back his hood Hermione's eyes widened and she had to work hard to stop a surprised gasp leaving her lips. Standing on front of her waiting to take the mark was Oliver Wood. Despite knowing Oliver's father was a Death Eater, Hermione had never expected to find her former housemate joining the dark. While Oliver was clearly a fair bit older than her, she still felt she knew enough about him to suggest he wouldn't be the sort of person to join her father.
"You are a surprise." Hermione said. "A former Gryffindor is a rare commodity amongst us."
Out of all the Death Eaters the amount of them that had been in Gryffindor were by far the fewest. Even the few Death Eaters that had children or relatives currently in Gryffindor, hadn't all been in Gryffindor themselves.
"I take it you understand what it means to be a Death Eater?" Hermione asked. She didn't want people joining them purely because of family ties, she wanted to ensure the Death Eaters were loyal to her father and willingly wanted to serve him.
"Yes, My Lady." Oliver replied. "I understand and look forward to joining your cause."
Hermione nodded, satisfied with his answer. "Hold out your left arm."
When Oliver held out his arm, Hermione took hold of it in her hand. While her left hand gripped Oliver's wrist, she placed her right palm over the spot she wanted the mark to appear. Closing her eyes, she focused on the mark and felt the power inside her gather in her hand. With a low hissing noise which sounded very much like Parseltongue, Hermione began tracing the pattern of the dark mark on Oliver's forearm. Slowly tendrils of dark magic flowed from Hermione's fingers and began etching themselves onto Oliver's skin.
Once the magic was flowing Hermione opened her eyes and watched the dark mark begin to form under her fingertips. From the way Oliver's breathing kept hitching and the wince that appeared on his face Hermione guessed the experience was painful. Still making sure she kept her focus on the mark, she sent a wave of pain relief into the skin she was holding. She knew her feeble attempt at making the process better wasn't much help, but she felt better for trying to alleviate the suffering of someone who was willingly joining their fight against the light.
After almost five minutes the mark was in place and Hermione released Oliver's hand. The small grateful smile he sent her way, indicated that he was aware of the pain relief she had given him and he was thankful for it.
"I'm assuming you want a concealment charm." Hermione said. Since Oliver was a professional Quidditch player she was guessing it was unwise for him to make his loyalties to Voldemort know.
"I would greatly appreciate it, My Lady." Oliver replied.
Hermione reached out to take hold of Oliver's arm again and quickly cast a concealing charm over the skin. Only her and her father could conceal the charm successfully as the mark was directly linked to them and them alone.
"While the mark may be hidden you will still feel it, and you'll still be bound by it." Hermione told Oliver, before looking up and making sure the rest of her words were directed to everyone. "I also want you to be aware that the concealment charm is a privilege we allow people to have, not a right. One wrong move and I can remove the charm in a blink of the eye, revealing your mark to the entire world."
Hermione knew several people had the concealment charm for various reasons. Some wanted their families not to know of their allegiance to The Dark Lord and some had high profile jobs, where the presence of a dark mark would be detrimental to both themselves and the dark. Despite the concealment charm often coming in handy for both the Death Eater it was used on and her and her father, Hermione wanted to be sure everyone was aware that it wasn't something they had to do. Her father chose to protect some people by concealing their mark and she wanted to ensure people weren't taking advantage of that and that they knew that they only had that protection as long as they stayed loyal to the dark.
Looking over to her father, Hermione smiled when he nodded reassuringly at her. It wasn't until after she spoke that she worried she might have crossed a line and her father might think she was trying to take over. Turning back to the assembled Death Eaters she thanked them for their time and dismissed them.
Once the room was empty she turned to her father and Lucius, who were still standing off to the side.
"Was I okay?" She checked as she pushed back her hood.
"You were brilliant, Princess." Voldemort beamed, giving Hermione a quick hug.
"Very formidable." Lucius added with a smile. "You hold the room's attention without effort and your no-nonsense approach is winning you lots of fans."
"Really?" Hermione's eyes widened at the news she had fans within the Death Eaters.
"Yes, on a whole the Death Eaters are very much in awe of The Dark Lady." Lucius replied. "As am I, by the way." He added with a cheeky wink.
Hermione laughed at Lucius and shook her head slightly. She was becoming increasingly fond of the older wizard as he helped her feel as though she was being accepted by the Death Eaters. He'd also made it clear that if she needed any advice and help he would be more than willing to spare her some of his time.
"Are you sure I didn't overstep the mark with my comments about the concealment charm?" Hermione asked her father.
"No, it was perfect." Voldemort reassured his daughter. "I also thought your touch with the mark was good. Lessening the pain made sure Wood knew you were thinking about him. I'm sure it will endear you to him."
"Do you think it's possible to make receiving the mark painless?" Hermione asked as the trio left the dining room and set off for Lucius's study.
"I guess so." Voldemort shrugged. "But it would take a lot of power and concentration. It takes a lot out of you to give the mark and add pain relief. To make it totally pain free you would have to really care about the person you were marking as it would undoubtedly leave you exhausted."
"How painful was it for mum to receive the mark?" Hermione asked.
"Well, your mother and I weren't together at the time so I'm afraid I gave her no special treatment." Voldemort answered. "I did add a pain relief to the mark, but I'm afraid it still would have stung a fair bit."
"Did it hurt getting your mark?" Hermione asked Lucius, just as they reached his study and entered the room.
"Yes." Lucius nodded. "But there's not one day that goes by that I regret it. Five minutes of pain is more than worth it to be fighting for something and someone you believe in."
"Well, we should be off." Voldemort said almost reluctantly. "Hermione needs to be getting back to school."
"Goodbye, Lucius." Hermione smiled at the blond man as he handed her the pot with the floo powder in.
"Goodbye, My Lady." Lucius responded, nodding at Hermione before turning to Voldemort. "My Lord."
"Goodnight Lucius. I'll see you tomorrow for our meeting." Voldemort responded, before sending Hermione home and following her through the emerald flames.