As they walked down the dark corridors of the manor, Draco didn't even so much as look at her. That's odd, she thought to herself. Unlike earlier, when he was flirting with her, now he had a sense of seriousness to him.
Before she could think much on it, he stopped at a set of black, ornate doors. He looked at her and nodded his head. She asked hesitantly, "What? Am I supposed to just walk right in?"
"Yes, Granger. The Dark Lord is expecting you. Do try to remember our talk earlier." And with that, Draco walked back down the hallway they had just come from.
Taking a deep breath and straightening herself up, she tentatively pushed open the door. When she walked into the office, she was surprised at what she saw. Harry had always said Lord Voldemort was this snake-like man with sharp teeth and piercing red eyes.
The man standing in front of her couldn't be older than 35, with dark brown curly hair and green eyes just like her best friend's—Harry, poor sweet Harry, what would he think about me coming into this room to pledge my life to this man?
Walking to where he was seated, she put her hand out to shake his and a booming laugh shook the room. "Dear girl, I do not shake people's hands. They bow down to me."
Hearing that, she immediately dropped to the floor and bowed down to The Dark Lord. He said with an authoritative tone, "You may rise."
"I understand you wish to join the Death Eaters. I can only imagine what Mr. Potter would think if he saw this now—his best friend switching sides and selling him out just to avoid torture," he said with a grin.
"Well, my Lord, it was brought to my attention that my so-called 'friends' weren't actually my friends and were just using me to get ahead. So, in all honesty, I don't feel too bad about switching sides in order to make life better for myself." She said it with all the confidence she could muster.
"And what can you give me that I don't already have? You're not a pureblood, not even a half blood. That doesn't really line up with the agenda I have regarding blood purity," he deadpanned.
"I can give you valuable information. I know safehouse locations, spies within the ministry, and," she paused for a moment thinking about if she should lay her final playing card down—fuck it might as well go all in—"I even know what horcruxes you have left and which have been destroyed," she said bravely, as she lifted her chin just a bit higher.
He sat quietly, just staring at her for a few minutes. He gritted out, palpable with anger, "What do you mean, 'destroyed'?"
"The diary, ring and locket have all been destroyed, my Lord. Dumbledore told Harry about them before he was killed and that's what we have been on the run, searching for," she murmured, trying to avoid eye contact with him.
"And what do you know of the ones I have left?" He asked curiously.
"I connected the dots that the remaining horcruxes would also be items of The Founders of Hogwarts. So I can only assume the remaining ones are Helga Hufflepuff's cup and Rowena Ravenclaw's diadem. For non-founder items, I do believe your snake, Nagini, is one as well, just because of how close you keep her. I thought that was your final one, but until last night, I didn't realize it until I thought of the prophecy. Harry. Harry is your final horcrux." She grimaced.
He appraised her for a second before speaking again. "I've heard from the Malfoy heir that you were the brains in the trio. Is it safe to say that without you they may never find my remaining horcruxes?" He questioned.
"Yes, my Lord, without me, it is highly unlikely they will find the rest," she stated with confidence.
"I can only assume by wanting to join the right side, it's for more than wanting the torture to stop?" He asked curiously.
"Actually yes," she smiled at him as she began to read her list of demands.
"I can't promise you won't be hit by any curses or jinx's due to your…lineage, and I can assure you won't be treated with respect. The way I see it, as the soon-to-be newest member, you are the lowest man on the totem pole. So, you will not get the respect higher-ranking Death Eaters get. If the information you give me produces something, I can guarantee that I will not send anyone after your parents. Also, it seems young Draco is the only person amiable to being around you, so it is fine with me if you train together," he paused for a moment before giving a small laugh, "and I suppose I can get someone to search for your… what did you call it? Crookshanks?"
Before she could get a word out, he held up his hand to say, "All information you have regarding the order, you will need to speak to Lucius about, he will meet with you tomorrow after lunch to go over what intel you can give us."
He put his hand down to signal he was done speaking and she asked tentatively,"My lord, if I may ask a question?"
The dark lord raised an eyebrow at her, then nodded his head for her to continue.
"The way you've been described before… is nothing like how you look currently. How is that possible?" She asked with genuine curiosity.
Chuckling lightly, he waved his wand, and the glamor dropped.
Ahhhhh, so this is what Harry was talking about. She thought to herself.
"You see, Ms. Granger, I find people are more likely to work with me if I don't look like a monster." A hint of playfulness in his voice as he smirked at her, replacing the glamour, "You may leave now. Don't forget about meeting with Lucius after lunch tomorrow."
He waved his hand to signal her exit. With a small smile, she nodded her head and left the room. Not paying attention to what she was doing, she walked head first into a muscular chest.
"Granger, if you wanted me to hold you, you could've just said so. You didn't have to run into my arms." Draco smirked at her.
Taking a deep breath—in hopes her face wasn't betraying anything—she rolled her eyes and said sarcastically,"Oh, sorry, Malfoy, I couldn't help myself. You're just so attractive, I couldn't help but throw myself at you."
"Well, am I taking you back to the dungeons or will I be taking you to a guest room?" He said looking at her expectantly.
"A guest room, preferably the one from earlier. I quite liked it." She smiled softly at him.
"Alright, let's go. When we get there you will have to tell me what happened during your little tête-à-tête with The Dark Lord," he said as he winked at her.
Draco held his hand out for her to take. Without even thinking, she placed her hand in his, and they started the walk back to what would be her new room in the manor.
Once they got to the room, Draco let go of her hand and plopped himself down onto the couch. Sitting down beside him, she curled her feet up under her and said, "He honestly wasn't as bad as I thought he would be. He was more than amiable about a few of my stipulations to joining. A few of them he can't really give me, but that's okay. Although, I should tell you that I asked for you, and you only be the one to train me, so you should get used to seeing a lot of me."
"Granger, trust me, that is not a problem at all." He smirked.
"What is it with your change of attitude towards me, Malfoy? Usually, you insult me and try to jinx me. What gives?" She said with a raise of her eyebrow.
"Oh, Granger, don't you see? Before now, you were always the forbidden fruit. There for me to look at, but I wasn't allowed to touch, but now that you're on the right side? I'm allowed to act how I've always wanted to when it comes to you," he said softly.
"So you're telling me the last seven years… You have been attracted…To me ?" She said with a look of pure disbelief on her face.
"Yes, Granger. Honestly, it feels like a breath of fresh air to get that out in the open. Father doesn't know how I feel, of course, but Mother does, and she's accepting of my feelings. Now, I just need to get you on the same page." He grinned at her.
Well, this is a fucking shock—first I switched sides, and now Draco bloody Malfoy is telling me he's been attracted to me for years—this was going to take some time to process. She thought to herself.
"Malfoy… I don't know what to say. This is all just so much to process in one day. Would you mind terribly if we tabled this conversation until tomorrow?" She twisted her hands nervously.
"I figured you would need some time to process. Between me dropping this on you and your meeting with The Dark Lord, I knew it would be a lot. I just needed to get it off my chest." He smiled softly at her, picking up his hand to brush an errant curl out of her face.
He cleared his throat, standing up with a chuckle. "I'll have Dinky bring you something to eat. I'm sure you're hungry for actual food and not the dungeon diet."
She smiled at him, and before she could so much as utter the words 'thank you' he had already walked out of her room and closed the door.
After finishing her meal, she decided to explore her new room, since she wasn't able to earlier with Malfoy being here.
Being Hermione, the first place she went to explore were the bookshelves in the sitting room. When she started to browse the titles, she was quite shocked to find some of her favorite books among the shelves.
After picking Pride and Prejudice from one of the shelves, she walked back into the bedroom to set it on her nightstand. She then decided to walk into the closet to see if there was anything she could wear for the night to sleep in.
To her surprise, it was completely stocked with a mixture of witch's robes and muggle attire—all of it just happened to be in her size. It must've been Mal… Before she could finish her thought, she saw a note with her name on it in the most elegant script she had quite possibly ever seen.
Hermione,
I hope you don't mind that I went ahead and did some shopping for you.
After everything my sister has put you through the last few days, I thought it was the absolute least I could do. I hope you will accept this small olive branch.
I would love to sit down for tea tomorrow morning at 10 a.m. if you have the time.
-Narcissa Malfoy
After reading the note, Hermione smiled—maybe Draco was telling the truth about his mother being accepting. After looking through the drawers, she chose a light gray silk pajama set, put it on, and crawled into bed.
Within minutes, she was fast asleep.