Author's note: Some more back story- Hermione's kill count goes up again. Enter Lucius Malfoy, exit Colin Creevey. I listened to carribean blue- enya while i wrote. (Is my millennial showing?) Glad Ao3 is back in our needy little hands, i was losing it without my bedtime stories. Gave you guys a cliffhanger kind of ending this chapter, apologies in advance. Some of you have messaged me on Tiktok who are following the story along, and i am considering making this work longer than 5 chapters. On the fence for now. Enjoy lovelies!

Xoxo

Catstclaire

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Hermione Granger had been called alot of things in her life. Mudblood. An insufferable know it all. Golden girl. The brightest witch of the age. Among all of the nicknames she had ever earned only the one Draco gave her, when they first started carrying on, held any mettle with her anymore.

'Darling.' Draco would call when asking for her opinion on a potion or spell.

'Darling.' Draco said to her while she read, and he wanted her attention.

'Darling.' Purred when he bestowed a posh little gift unto her.

'Darling.' Draco had whispered lovingly into her belly when their child had been alive and safe inside her.

Hermione needed to hear it again. She couldn't be in a world where Draco was gone.

If she lost Draco, there wasn't anything for her to live for anymore.

...

Hermione Granger would never have wanted Draco without the darkness hiding within him. She thought the wickedness made him candid.

Draco Malfoy would never have wanted Hermione without the deranged makings of her mind. He thought the madness made her brilliant.

Their demons could dance, that's what made them a good match.

Hermione reflected on these facts often while hidden away in the mountains, as well as others.

Harry had been her heart her moral compass- but he was as broken as her now. Who could trust what he thought was the right thing to do anymore?

Draco had always been her other half. Her opposite but exact copy. They were 2 sides of the same coin.

His thoughts were hers.

She could live without a compass. She wouldn't survive without the rest of herself though.

Draco would have made the same call. He would have given up Harry for Hermione just as easily- easier than she was.

Hermione left the mountain with ghosts of her past swirling within her head. She ignored them.

The third attempt she would make on Harry Potter's life she decided would be made via Draco's only living family member.

Lucius Malfoy had been sitting in Azkaban for quite some time. Draco had washed his hands of his father long before Hermione was ever even pregnant. When Narcissa died there wasn't much left between Draco and his father, especially when the aurors caught him, and Draco joined the Order.

Hermione slunk into Azkaban, and wondered what all the fuss was even about. It hadn't been difficult for her to get in, nor out, nor had it been hard to break Lucius out. Allthough Hermione allowed most people weren't Animagi. She had to admit it was rather good fortune her animagus was so very helpful when she needed to hide or sneak in somewhere she wasn't supposed to be.

She didn't bring Lucius to Snape's mountain hideaway. No that would be entirely foolish. Instead she had secured lodging for him at an inn, in the muggle world. She had stunned him before ferrying him far away from the dementors.

The first word out of his mouth when he came to was "Mudblood." Then. "Ah." Said in the tone one might use when coming across a pile of dung.

There was no love lost between them.

"To what- exactly, do i owe this-" Lucius's brow furrowed while he sought out a word to convey his confusion. "Kindness?"

He was dirty, and his hair had been cropped short while in Azkaban. He sported several new tattoos, Hermione didn't recall him wearing when she saw him last.

"I'm not here to ask anything of you, Lucius." She kept her wand at the ready. If she had to she would kill him where he stood. There were other plans, and she doubted that Lucius could even come through on killing Harry.

"Then why have you brought me here?" The same silver eyes Draco had were assessing her every move. He was as calculating as Draco. Father like son in many ways, except the ones that counted to Hermione.

"I'm here to share some news with you." Hermione sauntered over to the stool across the room, and sat crossing her ankles in a high society sort of way that Draco taught her.

His eyes narrowed at her, and his hands clenched at his side.

"Has Draco put another half breed in you then?" He sneered. "My apologies Miss. Granger, but if this one survives long enough to, i'll have to ask not to be referred to as it's grandsire." He flicked a piece of dirt off himself.

"You know it's Mrs. Malfoy, now." She let each syllable of the family name off from her tongue slowly. "And even if i were carrying another I wouldn't expect anything less from you. I'm more than aware of how you feel about people like me. Draco's told me. Why do you think he cut you off, you miserable old bigot?"

They stared one another down with all the friendliness one would find between a shark and an alligator.

"This was such an enchanting reunion, we really should do this again soon." He threw his head back like he was probably used to doing with longer hair. He clapped his hands together dully. "Truly always a pleasure to see one's-" his lip curled, and he didn't say what she was to him by law. "Apologies, i really should be going now-"

Hermione cast a locking spell on the door, and he sighed.

"If i let you tell me your news, may i leave?"

She nodded.

"Well go on." He sat on the edge of the bed in the room with his palms over both thighs. He sneered at the linens as if the cleanly pressed sheets had offended him somehow.

"Draco was taken by Voldemort."

Lucius sucked a breath in.

"That fool." He gritted out. "I warned him, about taking up with your lot."

"Of course you did."

"They've- he's dead then?" Lucius actually looked like a grief stricken father for moment, and Hermione was pleased to know Draco's father wasn't a complete monster.

"No. Not yet. Voldemort has given me a deal. We can have Draco back alive, and well-" Hermione rooted through her robes pocket, and pulled a spare wand out. She laid it, and an envelope on the bedside table for Lucius. "If, i provide him Harry Potter's corpse in exchange."

Lucius looked pleasantly surprised. "Is that not your little friend from school?" A dramatic flick of his hand to emphasize his words. "You'd give him up for Draco?"

She didn't answer.

"My, my-" He rubbed the scruff of his jaw in a circular motion as if deep in his thoughts. "well Mrs. Malfoy, perhaps our political agendas are destined to remain at odds, however i believe our personal agendas have just aligned."

She unlocked the door, and Lucius asked what was in the envelope at the same time he picked up the wand she left for him.

"Harry's home address. Addresses of his closest known associates. Places he frequents. A list of disguises he's taken in the past when in public. It's everything you may need."

Harry was to aware of the mail now that the devil snare plan had gone awry. There wasn't any point trying to send him anything through the post again, he was probably tossing out everything that came to him.

She needed to know where exactly Harry was. It would be the only way to execute the best of her plans. The one the rat snake had given to her.

Hermione didn't expect Lucius to get close enough to kill Harry. What she really wanted was for him to sew more chaos. Plan Ratsnake was Hermione decided her best plan, the one she would put all her efforts into. The other plans, might only serve as parts of the bigger plan. And if one of the lesser plans miraculously worked- well that would just be aces.

Hermione knew Harry would soon be on his guard 24/7, because now it wasn't just Hermione coming after him. She was raising the stakes, and creating a diversion in one fell swoop. Harry would be so busy, and tired trying to watch himself, he'd inevitably slip up. He'd stumble out of whatever safe house he was at without his cloak, or forget to cast 'notice me not' charms during his next stroll down diagon alley. That was when Lucius would hopefully see him.

Hermione would know the moment his eyes laid onto Harry, because she had spelled the wand to report back to her.

Once she knew where Harry was plan 'Rat snake' could be done. Rat. Peter. Snake. Hermione.

In the meantime while she waited for word from Lucius's wand. Hermione would make efforts on some of the other plans.

Plan 4 involved the capture, and use of the imperious curse, on two low level ministry employees. Hermione set them to task to locate and kill Harry much the same as Lucius was doing. She didn't expect much from those two either, but she rather thought having multiples balls going or multiple plans in motion was better than nothing. Who knew, maybe one of them would get lucky?

Hermione disguised herself, and went back to the home she and Draco shared. The place had clearly been ransacked by Order members. The windows were broken, and the door was ajar. Hermione didn't dare to go inside. It took her half a day to find the little bugger out Tom catting the neighborhood, but she did and she brought Crookshanks back to the cabin on the mountain. She didn't really need him until Harry was located, but he made for nice company.

It was amusing to watch him harass the snakes that had remained gathered around the cabin. The Rat snake was still there, the largest of the group. Common garden snakes by the plethora. 2 copperheads. More of them seemed to gather everyday. For what purpose Hermione couldn't guess. Crooks swatted, and pulled them by their tails, but none of them seemed to want to bite him.

...

There was a moment after Astra, and Ginny were both gone that Ron, and Harry had visited with her.

Ron had asked if she ever wanted to try again. If she wanted more kids. Hermione hadn't known how to answer, and Harry changed the subject while Hermione fought to maintain control over herself. There were so many spells sitting on the edge of her mouth, waiting, hoping to hurt Ron.

When it was time for them to leave Ron was speaking with Draco and Harry lingered by her door. Careful not to be alone with her, but the others weren't listening.

"Sorry." Harry said. "About Ron- he shouldn't have asked."

"No." Hermione agreed.

"He doesn't get it."

"-And you do?" Hermione asked unpleasantly.

"It isn't the same but Ginn, and i we lost one once. She was around 10 weeks i think. Miscarriage." Harry crossed his arms.

"I'm sorry, Harry. I didn't know that."

He shrugged.

"We didn't want anyone to." He gave her the infamously deceiving smirk only Harry Potter could. The one that he gave when he delivered a horribly gut wrenching detail of his life. Every bad thing that ever happened to him had Harry trying his best to minimize the damage it had wrought. "We thought there would be time to try again though- that's the worst part i think."

"Is that your way of telling me to try again?"

"No- yes," He pulled the glasses from his head and wiped them clean on his shirt, as he realigned his thoughts. "Just don't count it out is all. You and Draco have time for all of that later. Once the war is over. No one's ever going to call me dad, but i do fancy the thought of being an uncle." He grinned at her, it had been a long time since he had grinned at her.

"Uncle Harry." Hermione said reverently, and grinned back at him. For an fraction of that moment she could see their old selves shining through the both of them. Young, happy, and golden. There was the boy who fought a troll for her, and there she was the girl who saved him from devil's snare. "If i ever had more, they'd be lucky to have you as their uncle."

"You're one of the only people i have left." Harry told her. "I can't lose you, no matter what." It sounded like a promise, and she wondered if Harry still believed Luna's death had been an accident.

Or.

Did Harry simply no longer care either way?

'I can't lose you, no matter what.' His words sat heavy on her chest for a long time after he, and Ron were gone.

...

Hermione often felt like she was a library of things she no longer wished to remember.

For example- Colin Creevey was the traitor among the Order.

It was Colin that gave up Luna, and Hermione on the supply run.

It had taken Hermione a few months to make that discovery. Once she started looking into who the traitor could be it hadn't been all that hard to figure it out.

Colin had never liked Draco. Even after he joined the Order, and properly made his amends. It wasn't enough for Colin. He still whispered 'Death eater.' When Draco left a room, and Ron had told her on more than one occasion Colin had complained about working with Malfoy on missions the Order assigned.

Kingsley had told Colin he would work with whoever he was told. But. Hermione always suspected Kingsley secretly thought Colin had a point.

Draco was the one Kingsley always seemed to give the more dangerous tasks to. The one who was with Ginny in Voldemort's territory when she took that fatal spell. Kingsley wished it had been Draco and not Ginny who was left rotting in the woods. Hermione could tell afterwards. Kingsley gave Draco this look after Ginny died. His lips would purse, and his brows would furrow. It was a look somewhere between annoyance, and disgust. The very same look death eaters had always given Hermione. It was a look that blamed her just for existing.

That look was what got Hermione to start thinking more about the Order, and Voldemort's army. How different were they all really?

At one time maybe Hermione would have screamed from the rooftops that her side- that the Order of the Phoenix were good. They were golden! She would have claimed Voldemort's men were the epitome of evil, they were the darkness ten times over.

Now when she was older, and life had kicked her in the teeth- she saw things clearly. Neither side was entirely good, and neither side was entirely evil. Both sides had people who were golden, and both had people who were dark. And yet there were still some among both sides who were in between. Morally grey people. Morally grey was what Hermione decided Colin Creevey was.

Colin Creevey was a devout member of the Order of the Phoenix and yet- he gave some of it's members up. Yes. Morally grey- Colin was in the between.

Once Hermione had confirmed Colin was the traitor among them, she paid a visit to Hogwarts. Hogwarts was where Colin was stationed for the Order, he was working under Professor Mcgonagall as her assistant.

Hermione sent him an owl asking him to meet her by the whomping willow. She told him the matter was extremely important, and she needed to see him immediately. None of that was a lie.

Hermione was wearing one the more expensive dresses Draco had gotten her from france. He liked to dote on her like that. Hermione didn't have the eye for clothes that he did, and so she didn't mind him dressing her like a doll. She enjoyed it, even if the chiffon made her itch. It was part of being a Malfoy she knew. You couldn't be a Malfoy without looking the part.

Her dress was sleek and black at the top, it clung to her like a second skin around her chest. Then at her hips the chiffon hung in tufts, and accentuated her barely there curves. One side had a split from the bottom up to mid thigh. She had a pair of long silk gloves to match, and her hair had been tamed with a half bottle of smoothing potion. Her hair was silky, and voluminous.

Occasionally when she caught her reflection in the mirror she felt like it was Narcissa staring back at her. They didn't look a bit alike, but with the clothes, and the hair. The air- the presence they exuded when they entered a room, it was one in the same. Hauntingly, beautiful.

Colin waved when he saw her making way across the castle grounds. She didn't wave back.

"Hey Hermione, got your message, what did you need to talk to me about?" Colin wouldn't meet her eye, and he kicked at the ground with his hands in his pockets.

"Not here." She flicked her wand out to relax the knot on the Whomping willow tree, and the tree went entirely still.

She was already descending the stairs to the shrieking shack when she heard Colin ambling in after her.

They didn't speak until they made it to a part of the shack that had light filtering in around them from the holes in the wall.

Colin cleared his throat as Hermione's hand traced an old slash mark high on the wall. Probably left over from Lupin's years in the shack.

"I don't like to beat around the bush- so i'll just say it." Hermione whirled around gracefully she used expelliarmus to disarm him, then let her wand hover pointed in his direction. "I know it was you who betrayed us, and got Luna killed. It's your fault my child...is dead."

Colin flinched when she stepped closer, he still hadn't tried to deny anything.

"Will it hurt?" He finally asked.

"Will what hurt?"

"Dying." His lip trembled despite his valiant effort of bravery. "It's what you're here to do right? Kill me."

"Yes, i am here to kill you, Colin I won't let it hurt." She sighed at the pity she had for him that was bubbling up deep inside her. Although she felt pity for him she felt that Colin didn't deserve to go somewhere better like Luna, and Neville but he had to go. Somewhere, Hermione wouldn't have to be reminded of what he had done. "Would you like to tell me why-before?" She flourished her wand in the way Avada Kedavra was cast.

"The death eaters captured my girlfriend- she's a muggle. They said they wanted one of the Golden trio, and i could have her back." Colin had begun to cry, and his face was splotchy and red.

"-You certainly weren't going to give them Harry." Hermione nodded in understanding. "So the choice was between Ron and i?"

She laughed even though there wasn't anything at all funny about the situation. "I'll bet that wasn't a hard decision for you to make."

"It wasn't." Colin wiped his face with the sleeve of his robes. He was still so young, but so was Hermione. She picked his wand up to aim at him. Just in case anyone checked her wand for the last spells it cast. No one would find Avada Kedavra on her wand. "Kingsley told me to pick you."

She blinked at Colin.

Oh.

Is that so?

The part of Hermione that was now animagi writhed in displeasure, but she contained herself.

"Thank you for telling me that."

Colin was watching the light that filtered into the room, the wind was blowing and the light danced as everything around them shifted.

"It's the least i could do for you after- for what i did to you." Hermione peeled both of her long black gloves off, and shoved them into the pocket of her dress. "For the record i always liked you Hermione, heck i admired you. Always so brave, and smart you always know exactly what has to be done-"

"Yes, i do." She cast an enchantment over him, to put him to sleep.

"You wouldn't have ever given anyone up would you?" Colin's word slurred a bit at the end as he fought off sleep, and his back slid down the wall until he was sitting on the floor.

"No. Never. I would have never given anyone up." That was how she had felt in that moment, watching Colin's eyes close for the last time. She really believed she never would have given anyone up.

Wasn't that the funniest thing about life? Hermione thought later when killing Harry became her ultimate goal. How you could believe something with everything you had, until suddenly you were eating your own words before you even knew it?

Hermione cast the killing curse on Colin in the shrieking shack with his own wand. He never woke up, and her promise not to let it hurt was kept. Then she levitated him deep into the forbidden forest. She made sure to make as much noise as she could. Before long several creatures had begun to follow her and Colin's body.

Hermione positioned him in front of an oak, and put his wand in his hand. Then she stepped back several trees away. She watched as a gathering of acromantula skittered around him. They were babies but each of them were as big as her fist.

When Colin was eventually missed at Hogwarts, and a search of the grounds conducted someone would probably find him here under the Oak Hermione guessed. If they didn't and Harry became involved then it would be Harry to find him here with the Marauders map. Hermione was sure they would all come to the same conclusion though, no matter who found him.

Colin Creevey went for a walk, and met his end by a bunch of Acromantula. An accident. No one would bother to check his wand she was sure. Even if they did Hermione was sure it would lead them to believe he had died attempting to defend himself against the spiders.

A plan well laid.

Hermione scourgified herself, then pulled her gloves back on. She tucked the hair that had fallen over her eyes, during the task, back into place.

'Killing was no excuse for being unkempt.' Draco recalled that as one of his father's favorite sayings.

She left Hogwarts, and she kissed Draco when she returned home. "Darling." He greeted.

If he noticed anything off about her, he never said.

Hermione slept wonderfully that night.

The next day was when she had begun to think of Kingsley.

What to do with him...

...

Hermione had shifted into her animagus form hours ago. She slunk through the foliage, and rocks, and bramble. She was in Voldemort's territory.

She wanted to give Ginny a proper burial.

Now she could.

Harry and Draco wouldn't be able to stop her.

They had before.

Probably at least a half dozen times Hermione had been convinced not to seek out Ginny's remains. It was to dangerous they said, and they were right.

It's not like burying her would bring her back to life.

Even now as the dirt slid under her belly, and her scales were warmed by the sun Hermione knew it was dangerous. Sure she had the deal with Voldemort. Harry for Draco. But. If Voldemort's people caught her out here, Hermione had no doubt she would just be disposed of, and Draco to. The deal would be off.

Voldemort wasn't capable of patience. At the very moment she laid eyes on Ginny Weasley's bones she knew Draco's time was waning.

Her other plans were still in motion, and she had spared precious time for this because Ginny deserved this at least. Her bones finally laid to rest, after the tragic death she'd been given.

Not to mention, Hermione had plans for Ginny's remains before she buried them...

Ginny's bones might just be something that could lure Harry out of wherever the Order was hiding him. Lucius and the ministry employees she had imperioused still hadn't made any head way in locating Harry.

Ginny's remains were lying in the weeds that had grown around them. All of the skeleton looked in tact, which surprised Hermione. The animals hadn't disturbed her.

Hermione's head rose up from her vantage point and she was about to close in on the area, but her breath caught in her chest when movement came from the other side.

It was Nagini. Voldemort's snake. She was thick, and menacing as she curled around and over Ginny. Nagini coiled in on herself as she sunned on top of her friends final resting spot. Nagini scented the air, and Hermione slithered back from her spot slowly, and quietly. Hermione's sleek snake form of an animagus was not going to help her with Nagini.

Like this Hermione was no bigger than the Ratsnake that had been following her all around Snape's mountain cabin. She started to wonder if that was why the snakes had begun to follow her... they sensed her animagus, but she had been an animagus for years so that theory didn't make much sense to her.

Draco had seen her shift on numerous occasions, he always regarded her as the most beautiful of any snake he had ever seen. Allthough Hermione's animagus was that of a common garden snake.

Sometimes she wished she had at least gotten a snake that had venom. Yet her animagus continued to serve her well.

No wonder the animals had never disturbed Ginny. They couldn't. Not with Nagini guarding her. Hermione thought this as she left Voldemort's territory.

When she came back to the moutain she found the snake population had doubled around the cabin. There were more copperheads among them now. The ratsnake she had become so partial to was waiting at the door for her. He flicked his tongue out when he saw her. She picked him up, and closed the door behind her. She sat him on the edge of the workbench that now belonged to her, and let him watch her work.

Hermione's latest brew had her messing around with polyjuice potion. She wanted to create a batch that worked for humans to animals. Her blunder in second year should be righted. Hermione did spells and glamours well, but polyjuice that was her bread and butter and she would be a fool not to continue to utilize it.

The owl she had captured hooted at her from the rafters, where he decided to perch. The owl didn't like Hermione, but the snake seemed to enjoy her presence or else why would he stick around. Crook hopped off from the cot, and rubbed himself against her leg.

It made Hermione think it all sounded like one of Fred and George's bad jokes. An owl, a cat, and a snake walk into a cabin- and there's a crazy woman...

"You're going to be apart of something very important." Hermione promised the reptile. "You'll help me get Draco back."

The ratsnake had coiled himself neatly, and Hermione wondered if he had understood her. Even in her snake form Hermione wasn't able to speak parseltongue. She longed for Harry briefly and wondered how Harry felt being a parseltongue, and laughed because it was funny to her. That having Harry and his parseltongue around would be helpful to Hermione as she planned his downfall.

It was hard not to think of the good times she had with Harry. Harder even to squash the lingering affection she still held for him.

Grief was the souvenir of lost love. It was the only thing that remained as proof of the love we once bore for another. Grief allowed Hermione to remind herself that love was in the palm of her hand once. She loved easily, and well. She had paid the steep price the world demanded in order to love 10 times over. When you loved you had to accept it was finite. It wouldn't last forever because everyone had to die, that was the price.

She had grieved her parents. Her child. Neville. Luna- she could imagine grieving for Ron and Harry someday when there was time- but Draco. Not Draco. That she could not accept, that she could not allow.

Even trying to fathom his pair of silver eyes unseeing and empty had Hermione's thoughts turning darker and darker.

Would she dare though?

If she was unable to kill Harry would she dare to face the Dark lord and his army?

Yes. Anything for Draco. Even though it would be futile.

She wasn't under any sort of illusion she could take Voldemort in a duel- even if she did surely one of his followers would in turn kill Draco from spite before she had a chance to rescue him. That was why she never even considered not taking Voldemort's deal.

If only he had a weakness Hermione could exploit. She was always able to pick out a person's weakness.

Harry's was sentimentality.

Ron's had been jealousy.

Ginny's was a combination of tenacity, and blatant disregard for her own safety.

For Draco his weakness came in the Malfoy family's generational avarice.

If only Voldemort had a weakness but he didn't love or care for anything as far as Hermione knew the closest thing to it perhaps was-