A/N: This is not really related to the story but it's for all of you who asked about my other story The Golden Repair. I haven't deleted it for good, I just took it down for a while because I'm editing some things in the plot and it will be published again as soon as possible. Sorry for the inconvenience. :)
"Hermione...we were...umm..worried when you went out suddenly and we..I..um...I'll go back inside." Tonks stammered.
Her eyes kept travelling between Malfoy who stood there impassively and Hermione who turned a deep shade of looked at them for a minute waiting for any response but they both remained silent so she went back to the house.
Draco had hardly ever given his cousin much thought. His father had told him that his mother was closer to her sister Andromeda when they were younger. And his mother's persistent silence every time her estranged sister was mentioned confirmed his father's words.
His aunt Bellatrix though couldn't keep her mouth shut once Andromeda's name was mentioned. Not only had she indulged in calling her sister every filthy name there was. But she also ranted over and over about how she longed to kill her daughter. Bellatrix regarded Nymphadora as an offense to the Black family, unworthy of the Black blood that ran through her veins, and she seemed so determined on spilling that blood.
Despite never having any tendencies to share his aunt's views about his cousin. He felt so tempted to hex her departing frame as she walked back into that house, for nothing except her horrible timing.
He was finally starting to think that he wasn't fighting for a lost cause after all. When Hermione said she trusted him, it sounded too sincere for him to argue. And then she did that thing with her chin and he was able to see the full length of her throat. It was that state of hyper vigilance again. But this time her eyes weren't wide with shock like last time. All he could see was silent anticipation. Then she clutched his coat, was she panicking and trying to push him away? Or was she actually pulling him closer?
He could've known if his bloody cousin hadn't materialized out of thin air, stammering and blushing like some schoolgirl! Draco sighed in exasperation at the second time that a Black woman displayed horrendous sense of timing.
Hermione waited for Malfoy to say something but he was just staring at nothing in particular over her shoulder. She took a step forward and he stepped back instantly. His eyes were still darker than usual and his lips were slightly parted, but not for long. A frown creased his forehead as he pursued his lips firmly and his gaze was once more distant.
"I'll leave now." he announced. And without waiting for her to answer, he left, and Hermione stood there until she was no longer able to see him.
The night was as long as she had expected it to be. Harry was still doubtful and he didn't seem to believe how Hermione wasn't seeing something as crystal clear as the fact that Malfoy was untrustworthy. Neither did he seem to accept Lupin's insistence about the impossibility of manipulating your answers while under Veritaserum.
But dealing with Harry's reluctance was a piece of cake compared to Ron's attitude towards her ever since she walked back into the house. He was driving her mad, blowing hot and cold. One minute he'd dismiss anything she said as if it was too stupid to be considered, the other he'd be singing her praise and remembering times where her wits got them out of trouble when such talk had no place in their conversation.
Then there was the way he looked at her, as if he was having a debate with himself. One time she could've sworn she had seen the exact minute where his gaze changed from soft and admiring to a heated frown. And the worst part was how she never got any chance to talk to him alone. Ron was her friend and something was troubling him. While everybody was too focused on the war ahead, nobody seemed to have time to pause and look at the people who were in the same room as him.
Nobody looked the same, Tonks was no longer her bubbly chatty self. Lupin always seemed distracted and a frown seemed to have become his trademark expression. Mr. and Mrs. Weasly who seemed like they hardly ever changed, only seemed so because they were trying to stay strong for her family. And Harry looked like he was carrying the weight of the world on his shoulders while Ginny seemed anxious and edgy most of the time. Even Hermione herself wasn't the same in more ways than she cared to admit.
"Draco, if anything happens to that cup, we will both face dire consequences. Ones that even I won't be able to protect you from. So I don't care if the Goblins grew wings and started flying or if we see Potter himself, do not let anything distract you. We go in there, we take the cup, and then we apparate back to the Manor the minute we step out of Gringotts. Is that clear?" Bellatrix repeated for the umpteenth time as they prepared to leave the Manor.
When they entered Gringotts apprehension had gotten the best out of her that she almost hexed one of the Goblins for merely saying good morning. She held the cup with great care before putting it in a box. Grabbing Draco's elbow, she strode out of the bank and before he knew it they were apparating back to the Manor.
Draco couldn't help but smile inwardly at how accurate Hermione foresaw the situation. The girl was smarter than his ego allowed him to admit. An asset that usually got on his nerves and maybe even evoked some jealousy in him before, so why was it only evoking admiration now? He didn't know and he didn't dare dwell on feelings he was already doing his best to ignore, and he was succeeding...well almost.
They were heading to Voldemort's chamber and Draco did little effort to clear his mind, it became much easier for him to mask his thoughts ever since his aunt had taught him Occlumency.
She knew too much in the process, though, Draco grimaced at the memory.
Without a word, Voldemort extended his hand to Bellatrix who instantly placed the cup in it. Draco mused at how familiar his aunt seemed with the man and how indifferent she seemed to the serpent that lay on the floor next to him. Hadn't he known his aunt well enough, he could've sworn she looked at the man affectionately, but his aunt had a very narrow range of emotions, non of which were remotely positive.
Voldemort snatched the box from Bellatrix's hand, placed the cup in it and walked out of the room followed by them. He stood in the middle of the hall, looking around him with narrowed eyes,as if thinking about something. The men who were gathered in the drawing room as usual all presented themselves in the hall when they saw their lord standing there.
"Go back, all of you." he ordered the men and non of them seemed to think twice before going back to the drawing room.
Draco didn't know if the order included him as well, so he decided to follow his aunt's lead. When Voldemort started climbing the stairs, Bellatrix hesitated for a second. She too couldn't tell whether the order was directed at her. But then she followed her lord, convinced that she was held in higher regard than the rest of his followers.
Voldemort opened room after the other, entering each room and searching it for a while before leaving it. After he had searched almost every room in the Manor, he went back to the hall. He lingered in the library for a while but then he left that room as well. Finally he headed to the room Narcissa Malfoy had kept closed, he opened it and scanned the room carefully.
"What is this room for?" he asked.
"Nothing important, my lord. My sisters says it's a...a family room but it really doesn't hold anything important." Bellatrix replied.
"Maybe it should." Voldemort decided.
Waving his wand at the table that sat next to the fireplace, he sent all the framed pictures that lay there flying to the floor. Placing the box on the table, he started muttering some protective charms over the box. Then he pointed his wand at the window, placing another charm on it.
He walked out of the room, closing the door and stood in front of it, aiming one charm after the other at it, some of them were non-verbal, the others were barely audible. When he was finally satisfied with his work he turned around to look at the two people who stood behind him.
"Those charms, are not as strong as I would like them to be. This house does not give me the liberty I need to do so." he announced, as if talking to himself.
"Bellatrix, tell Travers, Macnair and Rookwood that I expect them to stay at the Manor until further notice." he dictated before moving his eyes to Draco.
"Draco, tell Lucius and Narcissa that I expect them to exert more effort in protecting the Manor. More wards, charms, hexes, I don't care what you have to do, protect it as much as possible." he waved his hands in the air impatiently.
"And your search for the Mudblood is becoming less important by time. Leave tonight and you will have two days. Find and bring her to me or come back and stay at the Manor with the rest of your family. Because, Draco, I'm starting to think that you're extending this search on purpose to escape the confines of the Manor for as long as you can." he narrowed his eyes at Draco who opened his mouth to defend himself but refrained as Voldemort turned around and started climbing the stairs back to his chamber.
Draco almost sighed with relief at Voldemort's remark. He always had a thought at the back of his mind, telling him that Voldemort suspected him. But now that Voldemort had voiced his doubts, it was a relief to know that his train of thought was heading in the wrong direction.
Travers, Macnair and Rookwood, Draco repeated the names in his head thoughtfully. He didn't expect Voldemort to choose Travers as one of the men to protect the Manor; he wasn't skilled enough. And he definitely didn't expect him to exclude Antonin Dolohov from this task. He was one of Voldemort's best and most ruthless men as well as one of his most loyal followers, so to see him denied the honor of protecting something that belonged to the Dark Lord was confusing.
"It's weird, isn't it? How the Dark Lord excluded Dolohov from such an important task." Draco whispered to his aunt.
"I don't think any of us is in a place to question the Dark Lord's choices." Bellatrix replied sternly. "But I'll have you know that the Dark Lord no longer trusts Dolohov like before." she added after hesitating for a moment.
"Why?" Draco asked. Bellatrix studied her nephew for a while, deciding whether or not she should tell him.
"Well, it was Dolohov who accompanied Rowle when they were tracking down Potter and his friends after the ministry had fallen. After Rowle's recently discovered betrayal, the Dark Lord started to think that maybe Potter didn't really escape, maybe they helped him." Bellatrix seemed so confident and it occurred to Draco that she planted that theory in the Voldemort's head or at least strongly supported it.
"So the Dark Lord thinks that Dolohov might be a traitor?" Draco pursued
"Something I don't find hard to believe. What filthy excuses for men, they are! I could swear nobody is sincerely loyal to the Dark Lord anymore except our family!" Bellatrix's voice was a mix of pride and resent. Draco nodded silently in response.
He went outside with his parents as they started enhancing the protective shield that engulfed the Manor. Bellatrix followed them, she raised her wand and tried to add a charm of her own to the shield only to have it bounce back at her, missing her head by a few inches and breaking one of the windows behind her. He glanced over at his mother who was grinning childishly as she watched her sister's attempt to impose her authority over the Malfoy Manor literally thrown back at her face.
When they have done the best of their efforts, they went back inside. Draco was shrinking his potion box and placing it in the small bag he was taking with him when he heard a knock at the door. He opened the door to find his mother looking worryingly pale.
"What are you going to do?" she asked.
"There's nothing I could do actually. I'll just find a place to stay at for a couple of days then I'll say I couldn't find them anywhere." Draco shrugged.
"Draco, I don't like where this is going. It's too dangerous for all of us." Narcissa admitted.
"It is, but it's going to work, trust me." he assured, patting her shoulder.
He tucked his wand in his pocket, grabbed his broomstick in one hand and his bag in the other, pressed a chaste kiss on his mother's forehead before disapparating from the Manor.
Draco crouched on the floor of the old house. He tapped his wand in a now familiar pattern and then started going down the stairs. Molly and Arthur Weasly were sitting on a couch while Nymphadora and Lupin emerged from the kitchen, each of them holding a sandwich in one hand and a wand in the other. They all looked at him silently, waiting for him to speak.
"We delivered the cup to the Manor this morning." he announced.
"Hermione! Come down, will you?" Nymphadora called suddenly, looking at the direction of the stairs that led to the bedrooms. Minutes later Hermione was descending the stairs followed by Ginny, Harry and Ron.
A moment of awkward silence passed only to be interrupted by Hermione's "You're back!"
"Obviously." Malfoy raised an eyebrow at her.
"Anyway, I'm not staying for long. I just came to tell you that the cup is in the Manor. It's inside a box that had been charmed by the Dark Lord himself to protect it. And placed in a room in the manor that's also protected by charms and spells cast by the Dark Lord. So breaking into that room will take some time. We have also taken great measures in securing the Manor so you have zero to no hope in breaking in there by normal means. You'll have to get in the same way you got out last time, house elves." Draco explained
"But...Dobby died when he helped us escape the last time." Harry said, trying not to dwell on the memory of Dobby's death.
"I'll provide you with two house elves, they will help you get in the house and then they'll stay with my mother at whatever place she stays at, to serve her...that's if they survive of course." Draco brooded.
"What about the people in the house? Who will be there?" Lupin asked.
"Well, you'll have to wait until the Dark Lord leaves and I don't know when will that be. But so far the people who are guaranteed to be at the Manor are Macnair, Rookwood, Travers, my father, my aunt, my mother and...me." Draco recited the names.
"Your mother as in somebody disguised as her, right?" Ginny asked.
"Yes." Draco nodded at her.
"You all need to know that, Jugson, the man who will be in her guise. Is a Death Eater who won't hesitate in killing any of you the moment he lays his eyes on you. He will be fighting as viciously as every other Death Eater in the Manor. Placing him under the Imperius curse is only to keep his mouth shut and..well...make him less lethal." he grimaced.
"So when the time is right, don't hesitate in doing what we agreed upon." Draco added, looking directly at Hermione who nodded faintly."The only reason he's not currently fighting with the rest is because he was injured during a raid on one of the Muggle-born houses. He got injured but not before killing the whole family, two parents and two children." he informed.
"Anyway, I'll let you know when the Dark Lord leaves the manor. Till then, just get ready and think of how you'll break the charms that are protecting the room." Everybody seemed to be absorbed in deep conversation and Draco stood up and picked up his things.
Hermione followed him "Are you going back to the manor?" she asked, trying to keep her voice as low as possible.
"No, I'm supposed to spend the next two days looking for you, the Dark lord thinks I'm stalling the search on purpose because I don't want to stay confined to the Manor. So he gave me two days, either I come back with you or I stay at the Manor like everybody else. So I'll probably spend those days at the mansion." he replied.
"Well..um..you know...you could stay here..if you want to." Hermione's eyes kept travelling from Malfoy to her linked hands.
Draco looked over her shoulder to the people who sat behind her. Did he want to stay here? He couldn't deny that he'd prefer Hermione's company to the loneliness of the spacious mansion. But her company came in the same package with the company of people who didn't seem the least bit inviting.
"I'd..really like it if you stayed." Hermione swallowed hard and Draco instantly made up his mind.