A/N: Sorry for the delay in getting this chapter out. A plot bunny has hopped into my head for a possible sequel to Survival of the Fittest. But first, this story!
Chapter Fourteen: A Dangerous Game
Hermione's good spirits stayed with her for the next few days and was only momentarily interrupted by an afternoon tea she hosted for her friends.
"I'm getting married!" Ginny gushed.
Hermione and Luna put down their cups of teas and gasped with delight.
"Has he spoken to your father?"
"Where's the ring?"
"Oh, you'll be so happy!"
"A fine match, Ginny. A very fine match."
Hermione beamed with adoration at her friend who was positively glowing in happiness. She looked like she could hardly make herself sit down. Hermione knew the feeling, the desperate desire to want to scream from the top of the highest mountain that you were in love. She caught a glance at Luna and saw not only happiness and pride for her friend, but a hint of wistfulness. Hermione knew the source of her friend's lament. Ronald Weasley had yet to make a gesture of courtship to Miss Lovegood and as she listened to Ginny tell the tale of her engagement, Hermione made a mental note to speak to Mr. Potter about this.
~*~
As Hermione readied herself for the ball at the Malfoy Manor, there was a knock at her door and Sirius stepped in. Hermione looked at the man, he walked a little different and his mannerisms were off but nobody would notice unless they knew him like she did. She grinned slyly at him.
"Oh Sirius," she sighed. "Must you bother me again, you've already ravished me twice today."
"Ha ha, very funny," Harry's voice came out of Sirius' mouth.
Their plan was now under way. Hermione had sent Sirius out of town on business, in the meantime, Harry procured a vial of Polyjuice potion and with Hermione's help, he transformed himself into his godfather. Taking a page out of an old imposter's book, Harry would carry a flask this evening, sipping from it once awhile to keep up appearances. So to speak.
"Are you ready?" he asked.
Hermione let out a heavy breath. "As ready as I can be. Do you have your cloak?"
Harry showed it tucked away in his dress cloak. "Might I add that you look absolutely beautiful tonight?" he said, taking in her gold colored dress. He stepped toward her and leaned in for a kiss but Hermione back away.
"What?" he asked, looking at her odd expression on her face.
"As much as I would love to kiss you darling, that disguise is…well, a bit unnerving," Hermione said. It was weird to kiss Sirius again, especially when the voice of the man she loved spoke out of it.
Another hard fact that Harry had to swallow. His fiancé had, at one time, been involved intimately with his godfather. It must be a bit strange for Hermione to kiss him, he looked like his godfather. It was going to be a long night.
As Hermione and he arrived at the Malfoy Manor he gave her a reassuring pat on the knee. Hermione smiled up at him, wishing that Harry's green eyes would look back at her. She missed them and she couldn't wait for this charade to be over.
The positive light about this was that in some way, she was attending a ball with Harry, at his side as a companion for this ball. Head held high, Harry and Hermione walked into what Harry called the Death Eater's Ball.
~*~
Draco watched with narrowed eyes as Hermione walked into the ball with Sirius Black. He chanced a look over at his father who saw the pair walk in. Lucius nodded no. No, this was not the time to take Sirius. The preparations were nearly complete, the trap almost ready but it was not time to take the prey. He watched as the duo whispered to each other, the way Hermione looked up at him like he was the universe. As the first dance began, he watched as Sirius took Hermione in his arms and danced close to her and whispered words in her ear that made her smile and laugh. He had had enough.
"May I?" Draco interrupted the pair.
"Oh, of course," Sirius gave away his dancing partner.
Hermione slid into Draco's waiting arms and they picked up the dance. "Such a lovely ball," Hermione said. "Thank you for inviting me."
"I was hoping you would've come alone," he whispered to her.
"And make our little affair that obvious?" she laughed. "Come now Draco, we aren't that ignorant are we? Look around us," she gestured. "Pure bloods, just like you. I already know that your family doesn't approve of me."
"What about the other night? The night at Madame Rosemerta's?" he asked, holding her a little bit closer to him.
"What about it?" Hermione said casually. "Underneath it all I'm a woman, you're a man. That's all it was Draco. I'm not going to put silly little notions into my head."
Hermione had just thrown Draco for a loop, his world suddenly seemed a little off balance. Nobody had ever said anything like that to him and in the process of putting him down, she had inadvertently sparked a dangerous obsession within him.
Nobody denied him anything. Nobody.
The dance ended and Hermione stepped away from him to dance again with Sirius. Draco easily acquired another dancing partner but his attentions were obviously on Hermione. Murderous thoughts entered his head, he wanted Sirius out of the picture. He wanted the Dark Lord to hurry up and rid the world of this vile man.
Hermione broke away from Sirius after the next dance and headed toward the ladies' resting room to prop her feet. She ignored the looks of disdain that she received when she entered the room. As she rested, she watched as the woman threw her brief glances of disgust. She grinned to herself, she was a fly in their ointment, the little mudblood who was spoiling their dance with her unpure presence.
After a moments rest, she left the room and immediately ran into Draco. She wanted to voice a protest but he held a finger to his lips in a gesture of silence. Hermione hesitated, wondering if she should follow him but from the corner of her eye, she saw a flutter in the draperies. Harry was here, in his invisibility cloak. She would be safe.
Draco led her through the halls of the house before stopping at a set of French doors. He leaned in and kissed Hermione roughly. Silently, Harry fingered his wand hidden underneath the cloak. He trusted in Hermione, she could handle him and if anything did get out of control he would put an abrupt end to it.
"Quickly, come in," Draco whispered and opened the doors.
Hermione held them open long enough to feel Harry brush past her. "Where are we?" she asked, closing the door behind her.
"My father's study," Draco said as he lit some candles in the room.
Jackpot.
Harry and Hermione couldn't believe their luck. Of all the rooms. Draco led her to a plush sofa in the room while Harry headed toward the large desk. Papers were scattered on top of it and Harry quietly perused them.
"What was that?" Draco asked, breaking a kiss as they sat.
"What was what?" Hermione said teasingly as she drew herself on Draco's lap, throwing a sharp look over his shoulder in Harry's general direction.
Harry's motions stilled when Draco asked his questions and after a sharp look from Hermione, he resumed his snooping, this time more quietly. There was nothing of what he was looking for on top of the desk, mostly invoices and accounting papers. The Malfoy's sure owned a lot of property. Harry looked up and checked on Hermione. She was still keeping Draco occupied, thankfully she was doing a good job of keeping this little distraction to kissing only. He'd probably rip the little ferret apart if it went any further. He didn't like what they were doing anyway but this was a clever way to get what he needed without attracting the Malfoy's attentions.
Harry continued to silently open the drawers and thumb through their contents until he came to one. A large one at the bottom that was locked. The only drawer that was locked. Harry took out his wand to cast the unlocking charm but paused a moment. Lucius wouldn't use a simple locking charm , this drawer would have some sort of other protection on it, a password or some other charm. He ducked under the desk, the bottom of the drawer was solid wood, he couldn't break it open from the bottom. He opened the drawer above it and pulled it as far as it would go. He reached his hand to the very back but found that he couldn't fit his hand through the narrow slot in the back let alone bend it to reach below to the other drawer.
The door opened and Harry quickly and quietly shut the drawer and stood up abruptly.
"What is going on in here?" Lucius' voice rang out in the room as he closed the door behind him. Hermione and Draco sprang apart like clandestine lovers that had finally been caught. Harry flattened himself against the wall behind him, wand at the ready. Draco wiped his mouth on his sleeve before he stood, straightening his cravat.
"Father," he acknowledged the man with a sneer in his voice.
"You will not befoul this house with your indiscretions," Lucius said in a low voice.
"Like you do with the chambermaids?" Draco asked and held a hand out to Hermione who took it. "Come darling," he said, "I believe we might be missed at the ball."
"If I can recall Miss Granger, you did arrive here with Mr. Black," Lucius said coolly to Hermione.
"She found a more suitable partner," Draco answered then took Hermione's arm to lead her out of the room.
Lucius stood there a moment, deep in thought after the two of them left. He was going to have to put a stop to this idiotic courtship somehow before Draco compromised the little mudblood and ruin the family bloodlines. He would speak to the Dark Lord about this.
He walked over to his desk, took out his wand and pointed it at the locked drawer that Harry had been trying to get into.
"Purus," he said and there was a small click of it being unlocked. Lucius reached in and took out a black, leather bound ledger. He placed it on the desk as if to write in it when the door opened again and Mrs. Narcissa Malfoy walked in.
"The guests are waiting darling," she said. "Your business can wait until the morrow."
"I only need a moment," Lucius said as he began to scribble in the book.
When he was finished, he sighed and put the ledger away, locking the drawer again then left the room with his wife. Harry waited a moment then eagerly went to the desk. Unlocking the drawer he took out the ledger and began to read it. It was an inventory of accounts and Harry grinned at his good luck. He shrunk the ledger down to a manageable size to fit into his cloak then he took a book from the library shelf. He transfigured it to an exact copy of the one he had taken and placed this one into the drawer.
Hermione was enjoying another waltz with Draco when her escort interrupted.
"If I may?" Harry said, breaking the pair up without an answer and sweeping Hermione out of his arms. He twirled her around the dance floor in a lovely waltz, smiling down at her.
"I take it you found what you were looking for?" she asked, her eyes bright.
"I did and I apologize for keeping you waiting," he smiled down at her. "I think we've spent enough time here amongst this lovely company, don't you think?"
They stopped dancing and left the dance floor, pausing once to thank Mr. And Mrs. Malfoy for the invite. Both of them looked less than thrilled to be addressed by such questionable and lowly members of society. Happily, Harry escorted Hermione into the carriage and followed her inside.
"Well, what did you find?" she asked eagerly when they were well on their way.
Harry reached into the cloak and drew out the ledger, restoring it to its normal size.
"It's a ledger filled with their accounts. Lucius had it in a locked drawer," Harry said as he tapped the front cover.
"That's wonderful! Hopefully it will contain what we're looking for," she said.
"I'm sure it will," Harry let out a sigh and began to flip through the pages.
Hermione turned away from him and looked over at the drawn curtains in the carriage, lost in thought.
"This is perfect," Harry said, "it's got names of contacts, records of money being moved around and…"
"Does Ronald Weasley have any romantic intentions towards Miss Lovegood?" she blurted out.
Harry looked up at her. One moment he'd been talking to her about the ledger and the next moment she was asking him about his best friend's romantic life.
"W-what?" Harry asked, caught off guard.
Hermione turned to him and looked at him with an inquisitive stare. Harry was suddenly reminded of being a young boy being interrogated by his professors for something he and Ron had done.
"Does Mr. Ronald Weasley have any romantic intentions towards Miss Lovegood?" Hermione repeated.
Harry closed the ledger. "Well…I…I don't believe so. Why?"
"He's been her escort all Season! How can he not have any intentions towards her!" Hermione said, scandalized.
"Oh that!" Harry laughed. "No, it's not what you think," he chuckled. "He's been escorting Miss Lovegood because she's a friend of his sister's. He's been wanting to keep an eye on his sister this season. Miss Lovegood was a perfect excuse." His laughter died at the look on Hermione's face and got the impression that he had said something that did not please her.
Hermione pursed her lips together, reached over to a curtain and roughly slid it to the side to let in the view.
"Hermione?" Harry asked, tentatively.
"Ask Miss Lovegood to be your date for the ball at your home," she said.
"Why?" Harry asked slowly.
"I don't think it would be wise for our charade if I attended your ball as your date. I'm taking Sirius, you need to find somebody. Miss Lovegood is perfect and as you have pointed out, she can be quite handy for putting up false pretenses." She said this last part with such bitterness that Harry didn't dare put up an objection.
Back in her room, Harry watched as Hermione sat in front of her mirror and carefully take down her hair, removing the pins one by one and placing them in a shell shaped disk on her dressing table. He had now transformed back into himself, Sirius' dress cloak was draped lazily across a chair and his cravat was loosened.
"I love you," he said softly.
Hermione beamed at him through the reflection in the mirror. "And I love you."
"I swear you won't have to do what you did today ever again," he said quietly.
Hermione turned and gave him a wry smile. "What a shame, Mr. Malfoy was such a delightful kisser."
Harry put the ledger aside and walked toward his fiancé. She watched him approach and took his outstretched hand. He brought her to her feet and captured her lips in a sweet kiss. Hermione sighed contentedly as her mouth opened to accept him and she tangled her hands in his unruly hair. Harry's arms, which had been contentedly wrapped around her, moved to the top back of her dress and he began to unbutton it. Slowly they undressed each other and Harry lowered her to the floor to partake in the intimate pleasure that he so enjoyed with his fiancé.
-->