Chapter Twenty: The Waiting Game
Harry could hear the faint tick-tock of a clock somewhere in the room, it was that quiet. He felt it was best not to say a thing, let his father-in-law be the first to break the silence. But it was killing him.
"My daughter," Mr. Granger's booming voice seemed so loud in the silence that Harry jumped a little in his seat, "has had several offers of marriage from many prominent men, wizard and muggle. What I'm curious to know is why she accepted yours?"
The answer was so obvious to Harry. "We love each other," he answered. "I love her more than anything in this world."
It was not so obvious to Mr. Granger.
He leaned forward. "Have you compromised her?"
"W-what?!" Harry was so taken aback by his question that the thought suddenly occurred to him that Mr. Granger may not know ALL of what his daughter had been up to. "NO! No, of course not!"
Mr. Granger tilted his head and looked at him. "You eloped but did not think to consummate the marriage?"
Harry felt his face heat and knew he must've turned scarlet. "Well…uh…er…"
"Mr. Potter, I need to know how far into this marriage the two of you had gone before she was taken. I need to know if there is any way she can somehow back out of it."
"T-there was a wedding night," Harry managed to stammer. He couldn't believe he was having this conversation.
Mr. Granger's lips pursed together in a narrow line. "Still…it was only one night, perhaps there wouldn't be any damage resulting…" Harry flushed an even deeper scarlet, as if it were possible. "So there was another time?" Harry wanted to sink into the floor.
He stood up. "Look…sir…Mr. Granger. What happened, happened quickly and neither of us could deny what we felt for one another. I love your daughter and she loves me. And as much as I would love to sit here and explain all of this to you, she is out there somewhere being held captive and I need to find her. I must find her. I can't let anything happen to her. We can have this conversation some other time but for now, we need every available resource we have to bring her back safely."
Mr. Granger looked thoughtfully at the young man.
"Very well," he said.
There was a knock at the door and Sirius poked his head inside. "I'm sorry to interrupt but Remus is here and he wishes to speak with Harry about an urgent matter."
"Update Mr. Granger about all we know," Harry told Sirius as he left the room.
Remus was in the foyer to greet him. "What have you found out?" Harry asked him as they left the Manor. Together they apparated to Grimmauld Place where other members of the Order were waiting.
"We got there as soon as the alarm was raised," Remus said. "It happened early this morning but we checked all the prisoners and they were all accounted for."
"What else would you steal from Azkaban?" Harry asked.
"Prisoner's records, employee records, accounting books," Neville ticked items off on his fingers.
"A dementor," Ron said grimly.
"A dementor?" Harry asked. "They didn't did they?"
"No one has every held a census of them, no one's really gotten up close and personal have they?" Remus said quietly.
"What would they want with a dementor?" Neville asked.
Harry sighed and looked out of a grimy window. "Torture?"
"Harry, we mustn't think like that," Remus encouraged.
It was hard not to. Harry had had a few run-ins with dementors in his life and he knew the effect they had on people. He fought down the despair that threatened to consume him at the thought of Hermione trapped alone with a dementor.
"We have to find her," he whispered. "Give me the ledger so I can go through it again."
"Harry, I've read this thing cover to cover…" Neville sighed but Harry cut him off.
"I don't care. We'll go through it again and when we're done, we'll read it again! We have to find Hermione and the answer is somewhere in there staring at us in the face!"
~*~
The door opened with a bang, startling Hermione from her shallow slumber. The room was lit in a golden light, telling her that evening was fast approaching. She quickly sat up and faced the doorway where the large figure of Lucius Malfoy filled its frame.
"Your presence is requested at dinner tonight." He made the most trivial sentences seem like insults.
"I don't think so," Hermione replied.
"It's not a request, mudblood. It's an order." His gaze wandered over her body and she felt as if she were exposed. His mouth turned up in a sneer. "I suggest you wear something more appropriate. Try and dress like civilized being."
She looked down at her torn dress, the result of Draco's attempted assault on her. "I was until your son turned up," she grumbled.
Lucius reached her in two strides, striking her hard across the face. It stung where he hit her, her cheek throbbed and felt hot. Tears welled in her eyes but she desperately willed them away. He left the room with the slam of the door only to have opened again in a few moments when a woman came in holding a dress. She was tall and pale with dark hair and what seemed like a permanent frown on her face.
She marched forward and yanked Hermione to her feet, hastily ripping her dress off of her.
"What are you…" Hermione protested.
"The Master wants you properly dressed for dinner tonight," she said roughly as she dressed Hermione. "Though I don't know why. You can dress up a monkey in the most expensive frocks and it's still a monkey."
The black velvet dress with dark blue satin trim and accents fit snugly on Hermione, the bust sitting a little low for her liking, exposing more flesh than she wished to care.
"Can you do your hair or are you incapable of that task as well?" the woman asked.
Hermione had a mind to tell her that she could've dressed herself but she thought it best not to say such a thing.
"I can manage," she replied coolly instead.
The woman gave a snort of derision before taking leave of her. Hermione sat down and began to fix her hair as best as she could, slamming the pins angrily on the wooden desk. So, it was dinner with the Master was it? She hoped he would choke on his food.
~*~
Sirius walked out into the evening light, leaving behind yet another brothel. This one was on the furthest outskirts of the town and he had no luck. Madame Rosemerta knew of all the high class whores and had not heard of Maria Christobel, thus deducing that this woman was in the lower brothels. But he had no such luck here either.
Why Harry had sent him on this wild goose chase was beyond him, it was looking more and more like dead end and less like a plot to bring back Voldemort. Or find Hermione for that matter. Maria Christobel was probably a whore who bore the bastard child of Lucius or his son and was now on the payroll to keep silent.
"Anything?" Kingsley asked him as he joined him on the street.
"No nothing," Sirius said wearily.
"Only five more to go," Kingsley looked up in the evening sky. Sirius gave a heavy sigh and got into the carriage with him.
As it clattered away, there was a movement in the shadows of the alley of the brothel that Sirius had just come out of. A young man with blond hair peered out into the street after the carriage, another figure joined him.
"Curious, most curious indeed," Draco said pensively.
"We're ready to go," the man whispered to Draco.
Draco looked back and saw the cart was loaded. "Go ahead and go," he said. "Tell my father I may be a little late."
"But the plan!"
"I will be a little late," Draco said more forcefully.
He apparated to a place he had been to only one time before. The rocks crunched under his boots as he walked up the drive to the large wooden door and knocked loudly.
"Avada Kedavra!"
The doorman fell silently and Draco nudged him to the side with his foot as he made his way in. A young woman with blond hair approached him.
"Can I help you?" she asked in a sultry tone.
Draco's was harsh in reply. "Madame Rosemerta?"
The blond pressed herself against him and breathed into his ear. "Why have her when you can have me?"
Draco grabbed a fistful of her hair and yanked her head back. "Madame Rosemerta," he repeated.
"What do you think you're doing? You filthy-"
"Avada Kedavra!"
The whore fell to the floor and Draco moved to the next room.
"ROSEMERTA!" he bellowed.
Her ladies rose to their feet to protest his rude presence.
"What do you think-"
"Avada Kedavra!"
Screams of panic erupted as the ladies scrambled. Doors opened and closed in the floors above as patrons and their ladies rushed out. Draco took them out one by one as they came down the stairs.
"Rosemerta, I will kill everyone in here until you show yourself!"
"ENOUGH!"
The venerable woman floated down the stairs, her eyes blazing in anger at the dead bodies of patrons and her ladies that littered the stairwell. Draco kept his wand trained on her.
"I want answers," he demanded.
"I'd rather die than give them to you," Madame Rosemerta said defiantly.
"Avada Kedavra!" Another one of the ladies fell. "I won't kill you but I will get what I want, even if I have to kill every person in here. Are they worth it?" Madame Rosemerta's lips thinned. "Very good. Now, Hermione's lover?"
Madame Rosemerta's face became guarded. "What about him?"
"Why is Sirius Black visiting every brothel in the county?" he demanded. An odd look flashed across the woman's face for only a split second but Draco caught it immediately.
So…Sirius isn't Hermione's lover.
"I don't know," Madame Rosemerta replied. "I'm afraid I can't help you."
"Don't worry," Draco smirked. "You already have. Petrificus Totalis!"
The woman fell to a heap on the floor. He proceeded to her parlor and grabbed at the collection of spirits she had, smashing them on the floor and against the walls. He looked back at her one more time and smiled as he ignited a small flame on her curtains with the tip of his wand.
He heard the whoosh of the flame behind him as he walked away. He passed the fountain where the stone ladies gaped in horror at the flames coming from the house.
Suddenly, Draco stopped.
He turned to look at the fountain, a memory coming to him from the depths of his mind.
It was at the Minister's ball. He had gone outside to look for Hermione and found her by the fountain and not alone. She was talking to Potter and he had clearly interrupted something. What was it that Potter had said to him? Oh yes. "I wouldn't hesitate to kill anyone who so much as lay a harmful finger on the woman I love."
It only now occurred to him that Potter may not have been talking about his fiancé at that time.
~*~
Kingsley steered the carriage as it clattered down the street while Sirius perused a parchment listing the addresses of the remaining brothels they had yet to visit.
"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Kingsley suddenly shouted and the carriage careened wildly.
Sirius looked up in time to see a young boy who had darted out in the street, waving a piece of paper at him.
"Sir! Sir! Are you Mr. Black?" the boy asked. He was small and scrawny with a dirty face and wearing rags.
"I am," Sirius answered.
"I was told to give this to you," the boy said.
Sirius recognized the parchment immediately, it was exactly like the ransom note he received earlier. He tore open the envelope and read the letter inside.
A life for a life. The docks in ten minutes.
Sirius jumped out of the carriage. "Notify the others," he said.
"Be safe," Kingsley replied to his friend.
Sirius gave back a small smile then set off. His life for Hermione's. So that was the trade. He apparated to the docks and strolled casually down the boardwalk, waiting.
Waiting for Hermione's captors to show up with Hermione safely with them. Waiting for Harry and the other's who would hopefully get here before the Death Eaters did.
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