A/N: Hi guys, I hope you're enjoying the story so far, any criticism is more than welcome. I just want to let you know that-as you'll notice- starting from this chapter I'll be making some notable changes in the original plot, however this is NOT an AU story. Just thought you should know. :)
This time when Hermione mounted Malfoy's broomstick, she didn't argue with him, neither did she flinch. They flew silently, following the two older couples.
"Is the potion still effective?" Hermione asked finally.
"I don't know." Draco replied.
"I thought you were supposed to feel different when you drink it."
"Only when you try to lie." he corrected.
"When I asked you that question and you started acting like somebody was torturing you, is that what happens when you try to lie under the potion's effect?"
Draco realized what her question meant and he groaned reluctantly"YES." the broomstick swayed rapidly to the left and he lost control over it for a minute before regaining it.
"Merlin, Granger! You have no idea what I'm so tempted to do to you right now." he fumed
Hermione grinned mischievously, reveling in the power she had over Malfoy. "What are you so temp..." she started to ask.
"NO!" he hissed at her, "I swear if you ask that question I'm landing this broomstick instantly, launching us both directly into water." he threatened.
After a long journey, they landed at the outskirts of a quite suburban town. They walked for a while between seemingly abandoned houses. The tiny buildings were covered in grime, most of the windows were broken and some of them didn't even have doors. Finally Lupin stopped in front of one of the houses "We're here." he said. It didn't look any different than the others except that it had a door. They entered and the house was as bad in the inside as it was on the outside, it didn't look like anybody lived in it for the past decade. Lupin was walking into one of the rooms followed by the others.
Draco stopped abruptly, his hand tightening on his wand, suspicion crawling into his heart. This place couldn't have possibly been inhabited by anybody. He took a couple of steps backwards towards the door and Hermione looked back at him.
"What's wrong?" she asked, and everybody looked back at him, Lupin who was already in the other room came out looking at him quizzically.
"I'm not taking another step in this place until I know where we're going. This doesn't look like a house that had been inhabited by anybody for years...not humans at least." Draco objected, looking around him in disgust. "If this is a trap then it failed miserably." he grimaced, directing his words to Lupin.
"If this was a trap set for you, you wouldn't have lived long enough to say half of the speech you just made." Lupin remarked dryly. "This is not the house we're staying it; it's a passage to it." he explained before walking back into the room.
"Do you have to be so suspicious?" Hermione whispered angrily at Malfoy.
"Yes!" he whispered back.
Lupin crouched on the floor, tapping his wand on the old floor panels and they started parting revealing a stairway. Lupin went first, followed by Mrs. and Mr. Weasly who helped Hermione down the stairs. Malfoy followed them and Tonks was the last one, waving her wand above her head to hide the stairs once again.
The minute Draco's leg touched the floor, he was knocked down by Ron who launched himself forcefully at him. Pushing him off quickly and retrieving his wand,
"Stupefy." he barked, and Ron fell back to the floor in pain. Instantly, Bill and Fleur were pointing their wands at Malfoy.
"I'm petrified." he mocked impassively.
"Lower your wands right now, all of you." Lupin ordered in exhaustion. The couple did and Malfoy -reluctantly- did as well. Harry who was helping Ron off the floor seemed oblivious to everything happening in the room except for the fact that Hermione was back.
Hermione who was just watching in shock the fight between Malfoy and Ron, noticed Harry looking at her with his mouth open. Smiling at him, she finally felt like she could have a moment of peace. He was okay, so was everybody else and she was able to take a deep breath and ignore all the tension that had been clouding the air.
Fleur was the first one to welcome her back, hugging her, followed by Bill who greeted her more formally. Finally Ron walked at her slowly, his hand at the nape of his neck, he tilted his head to the side voicing a meek hi.
They were all sitting cozily in the living room chatting animatedly while Malfoy stood at a distance with his back to them, looking out of the window.
Hermione listened as everybody told her something about what was going on when she was away.
"When we read your letter, Lupin thought you were forced to write it." Harry said.
"But then we told him, do you really imagine Hermione sitting there silently writing while somebody pointed their wand at her?" Ron shook his head disbelievingly.
Mrs. Weasly came in with a tray in her hand and started pouring tea for everybody. When everybody around her was served, she hesitated for a while before going back to the kitchen and bringing an extra cup.
"Tea?" she asked tentatively and Draco looked down at her, for a minute he considered declining her offer but then he took the cup from her hand, nodding politely before looking back at the window.
After a while, everybody went back to their rooms while Draco stayed in the living room. Harry, Hermione and Lupin gathered in one of the rooms.
"Hermione, I really don't think this is wise." Harry argued."What would happen once we've helped him? He will run back to you-know-who!" he answered himself. "And do you realize what he meant by wanting us to help him fake his mother's death? He wants a battle, or at least a skirmish, one that you-know-who and his followers would have to know about. This will not just waste our time it will also mean starting the war before we're ready for it." he said.
"And considering that Narcissa Malfoy doesn't seem to ever leave her house lately, I believe he's trying to lure us back to the Malfoy Manor. There are death eaters in every corner of that house, it would be miraculous if we survived it without losing some of us." Harry was pacing the floor back and forth, thinking of all the possible scenarios that might happen.
"Harry's right, Hermione." Lupin confirmed "But..I believe we might need Malfoy's help, you-know-who keeps himself hidden in the Malfoy Manor, surrounding himself with the best of his followers, he rarely ever leaves this house and I think that means he's hiding something there, or he's afraid of leaving it for some reason." he speculated.
"This, and of course the fact that having an eye inside Voldemort's headquarters could be very helpful." Hermione added.
"What's most important is, I don't think we can trust him." Harry contradicted as if he didn't listen to a word of what they just said.
"We've interrogated him twice already!" Hermione reasoned with Harry.
"I've known two men who had trusted death eaters...they're both dead now." Harry insisted.
"Trust never kills people Harry, betrayal does." Lupin interjected.
"Does it matter? The result is still the same, and I think we're repeating the same mistake allover again." Harry said impatiently.
"Can't you at least give him the benefit of the doubt?" Hermione asked.
"I can't believe you out of all people are saying that, Hermione. You're supposed to be the smartest one among us!" Harry looked at her incredulously.
"Well, if you think I'm so smart then don't you think I might have a point in what I'm saying." she argued.
"He has to help us before we can help him." Harry said finally.
"I agree with Harry on this, consider it a test." Lupin nodded approvingly.
...
"You want me to WHAT?" Draco asked in surprise.
"You heard me the first time." Hermione said quietly.
"Yes but I'm giving you a chance to take back what you said because it's rubbish." he answered
"It's the only way we can know the information we need." Hermione explained.
She knew what they were asking was mad and the chances of her getting caught if she sneaks back into the Malfoy Manor were very high. But it was the only way they could know what is it that Bellatrix was so afraid of when she knew they had broken into her vault. Harry thought it was something related to the Horcruxes but they couldn't risk breaking into her vault without being sure that they will find something of great value. And they couldn't trust Malfoy enough to tell him about the Horcruxes . It was all very paradoxical.
"Look, I won't be doing anything, I'll be hiding under the cloak just listening and trying to find out as much information as possible." she said.
"I have ears too, in case you haven't noticed. I can do the listening part without even having to hide. All you have to do is tell me what I'm supposed to be listening to, because a lot happens in the Manor; you have to be specific." he retorted.
"We can't tell you." Hermione said hesitantly.
"Why not?" He frowned at her.
"Because we can't trust you yet, isn't that obvious?" Harry interjected.
"Alright. When?" Malfoy finally relented after a long pause.
"As soon as possible." Lupin said.
"When?" Draco repeated impatiently.
"First thing in the morning." Hermione said.
"So soon!" Draco exclaimed.
"We don't have much time and I'm not sure how long I will have to be there before I extract any useful information." she explained.
"Don't make it sound like we're going on a picnic, Granger. You can't stay for long because I myself can't be there for long. I'm supposed to be out there searching for you, remember? I'll only go back for a day or two at most. I'd say I got injured and needed some time to recover, but Bellatrix won't let me stay any longer." Draco fought to control the anger in his voice.
"We'll have to be really lucky, then." Hermione tried to sound indifferent but her voice betrayed her and came out too shaky.
Harry sat next to her and took her hands in his, "Hermione you don't have to come back with any information. I understand it could be hard and you have very little time, so if you can't find out anything, don't do anything foolish. Just come back and we'll go ahead with our plan anyway." Harry assured, trying to pick his words wisely since Malfoy was hearing them.
"It's alright, I'm having a good feeling about this." Hermione smiled back at him briefly.
Draco watched them with a grimace on his face. The two of them have been acting like estranged lovers from the first moment, but what unsettled him the most was Potter's nerve. He was sitting there pretending to be so worried about her when he could simply do the task himself. But of course, the chosen one had to be kept safe and sound while others did his work for him. He gave Harry a look of sheer contempt before leaving the room.