~~~~~ Chapter 5: Lovers in a Dangerous Time ~~~~~
Hermione rolled over onto her back, lifting the parchments above her head as she read them before she frowned, chewing her bottom lip as she wondered what she should do with the reports. She had been sitting on the information for a while and still hadn't made a choice. If Moody had been there, he would have grumbled at her. Just what was the problem?
The problem? Lucius Malfoy. That's what the problem is. She had gotten the twins to get Intel on the older man, a well-known Death Eater who had managed to bribe his way out of many problems.
They had followed him for a few weeks to get as much information on him but it hadn't helped her to get closer to the man. She wanted to get her hands on the elderly Malfoy. Even though she knew that he wasn't a member of the group that had killed Harry, he still knew things that Hermione wouldn't mind knowing…not to mention she wanted to get revenge for what he had did after she had disappeared.
Thinking back on when she had found out, she crumpled the parchments in her hands as she sat up, her eyes narrowing angrily. She still couldn't believe the details when she had been given them. It made her blood boil and her teeth grit. One of her fists slammed into the mattress of her bed, wishing that she was punching Malfoy's face.
She stood up and walked over to the window, resting her forehead against the pane as she sighed, enjoying the coolness that helped her overheated skin. She had to stop getting so angry, it wasn't good for her health and she knew Harry would lecture her when he came back. A faint smile crossed her face at the thought of Harry lecturing her. When she thought about it, Harry couldn't really lecture her on a lot of things but he didn't let that stop him.
Hermione watched as the full moon high in the sky and wondered how Remus Lupin was doing with his change. Before, he was able to cope with the pain as he still had something to live for…but with Harry and Sirius dead…it seemed like there was nothing left.
Thinking about Remus caused her to think about the Order and she felt an amused smile crossed her face as she remembered Moody's reports.
The Order was still floundering about when it came to finding out just who the `Black Rose' was, Moody had taken great delight in telling her how stupid they look. Especially when they had received rumours of what she did during the year she had been away only for them to dismiss it because it wasn't something she would do. Even Hermione had to admit it was amusing.
She wondered how the Order would cope with the fact that Moody had been the one to help her out during her year away. She had only told the Twins, Dobby and Kreacher that Moody had helped her out. Moody had understood her reasons and she had understood his reasons. The `perfect dark pair' Harry had affectionately called them when she confessed everything to him. Thinking about Harry had caused to think about…
"Dobby," she called. Dobby appeared and waited to hear what his mistress wanted. "Tell me everything about Lucius Malfoy." Dobby's face screwed up in an evil smile as he told her.
~_HxH_~
Draco Malfoy was walking along the hallway, his hands shoved in his pockets of his trousers. He didn't have a destination in mind as he continued on aimlessly when Hermione Granger appeared out of nowhere, dressed in her school clothes and with a book in her arms, pressed against her chest.
Draco had to stop before he crashed into her, his eyes wide as he spotted the elusive bookworm. He hadn't been surprised to hear that she had left after Harry's death was made known world-wide but he had been surprised to see her come back to Hogwarts.
"Hello Malfoy," Hermione greeted casually. Draco eyed Hermione with a suspicious glare before looking around to see if there was anyone else about before looking at her once more.
"What do you want, Granger?" he drawled out. Hermione gave him a smile, one that told him that she knew something that he didn't. And it sent a shiver up his spine.
"I want your father," she informed him. Draco had to blink at her words before he frowned as they made no sense.
"You want my father?" he asked slowly to make sure that he had heard her properly.
"Yes," she confirmed. Draco looked at her for a moment longer before sighing.
"Okay, I'll bite. Why do you want my father?"
"I want to torture him," she informed him conversationally. Draco had to choke back his shock as he stared at the muggle born witch before him, his eyes wide.
"You want to what?" he blurted out more loudly than he intended and his eyes darted about to make sure they hadn't attracted any attention. Once he was sure they hadn't, he looked at Hermione once more.
"I want to torture him," she repeated, sounding bored now. Draco stared at the woman in front of him, wondering if she was either possessed or an imposter. Surely he didn't hear that Hermione Granger, the Gryffindor's bookworm and the goody-two-shoe, said that she wanted to torture his father.
"You want to torture…and I assume kill him?" Draco slowly asked; making sure he was speaking clearly to the woman in front of him.
"Oh, I don't want to kill him," she gave him a slow smile. "I'm leaving that honour to you." Draco frowned. "After all, I do know what he did to Luna." Draco's jaw tightened as his grey eyes narrowed angrily.
"And how would you know?" He asked, his tone bordering on dangerous.
"Luna is a good friend of mine. I don't like it when people play with my friends without their permission," Hermione told him sweetly but there was ice in her words. "So I want to play with your father then I'll pass him off to you and you can do whatever you want with him."
"Why?" Draco asked, his curiosity getting the better of him. He knew better than anyone that he couldn't cross Granger, not unless he wanted Potter gunning for his blood. Even though he knew Potter was dead, it didn't mean that Potter couldn't still find a way to kill him.
"I want the names of those who killed Harry. I already have the ring-leader and she is pretty insistent that your father wasn't involved, I still wanna make sure. Beside, your father isn't loyal to Voldemort and that will work in my favour. I wanna make him bleed."
"And how do you know that I'm not in the league with him?" Draco asked, crossing his arms only to gulp when he felt the tip of Hermione's wand under his chin, her brown eyes cold as ice.
"Because if you were, you would have your head blown off by now," Hermione assured him sweetly. "Beside, Luna trusts you and I trust her, so in turn, I trust you." She pulled her wand away from him and tucked it back into her robes.
"You're the Black Rose, aren't you?" he asked and she chuckled.
"I knew you would be the one to figure it out faster than anyone else," Hermione told him.
"I've been curious about the Black Rose for a while, after all, who is else is brave enough to go against pure bloods that are Death Eaters?" he pointed out. "May I ask where it came from?"
"Harry, in a conversation a long time ago," she told him. Draco nodded before he sighed.
"Ok, say I'm in. Just what do I have to do?" Hermione flashed him a brilliant smile and tugged on his arm to lead him into an empty classroom.
~_HxH_~
Lucius Malfoy groaned as he slowly awoke. His senses were off kilter as he slowly tried to remember what had happened to him. He vaguely remembered seeing his son. His son was talking to him before handing him a drink…then after that…it went hazy.
A door opened, breaking him out of his thoughts and he tried to lift his heavy head but only saw black shoes walking into the room. He opened his mouth to say something but failed, his throat was too dry.
"Ah, you're awake," he heard a female voice say as she moved closer to him. He tried to shift away from her but he found himself bound. Moving his fingers, he found that his wrists were bound to something hard and so were his ankles. He struggled for a moment but it was useless. "Don't worry; you'll regain your senses back in a few moments. I must have miscalculated your body weight."
He frowned when he heard her voice for the second time. There was something familiar about it but it eluded his grasp and he was growing frustrated. Who did she think she was to capture a wealthy Pureblood like him? He was going to make sure she regretted it as soon as she let him loose of his bindings.
True to her words, his senses slowly came back to normal and he managed to lift his head up enough to identify the woman who had dared to capture him and his mind stuttered to a stop.
"You?" he snarled, a mixture of disgust and disbelief. She smiled brightly.
"Me," she agreed before patting his head. "Don't worry; you won't have to stay in my presence for a long time. I just need a few things then you're being passed over." She stepped back from him. "So be a good boy and answer my questions. If you do that, then I won't need to get my toys out and you won't need to be in pain."
Lucius stared at her for a few stunned moments before he burst out laughing. Hermione's feature tightened into displeasure as she watched him laugh like the whole thing was a joke.
After a few moments, his laugher died down as he managed to get it under control before he eyed the muggle-born witch in front of him, arching an eyebrow when he saw that she had her arms crossed under her breasts and a not pleased expression on her face.
"Finished?" she asked. He swallowed heavily as he took a longer look at her. She was different from the last time he had seen her, which had been in the Department of the Ministry when they had been tasked to steal the Prophecy that his master had wanted. She had been a weakling that one of the Death Eaters had managed to take her down with a silent spell.
But this woman in front of him was harder; there was a darker edge to her. Not something like his master who was filled with darkness but the darkness promised him that she wasn't going to let him off easily…not like the Ministry and the Order.
Thinking over everything he had read in the papers and he mentally slapped himself for not putting the pieces together before now. At least he had something to tell his Master if he were to bide his time and escape when she would let her guard down.
"You're the Black Rose," He said bluntly.
"My, my, I guess I am more well-known that I had originally believed. Were you all just feigning ignorance? That a muggle-born couldn't possibly go head to head with the big bad purebloods?" she asked. Lucius snarled again.
"Just you wait until you let me go you little mud-blood. I will show you pain," Lucius promised her. Hermione tilted her head, confused.
"Where do you all get the idea that I'm going to let you go? Especially when I have already killed the other Death Eaters and laid them all out for display?" she asked. "Do you not realise that or are you all just stupid?"
"You wouldn't kill me," he tried to bluff but she smirked.
"I do have a list somewhere off all the Death Eaters I captured and killed. Bellatrix's husband is one of those people…but then again, he was part of the group that killed Harry in the summer after Fifth year…would you happen to know anything about that?" Lucius' jaw dropped when he heard that Rodolphus had been part of the group that had killed Harry. How the hell had he managed to keep that quiet?
But a niggling part started up in his brain and he realised that for Rodolphus to be involved…Bellatrix was probably the leader and he was even more stunned. Bellatrix worshipped their Dark Lord more than anyone in the world. For her to betray him like this spoke deeply of her insult that they had been outsmarted by a bunch of fourth and fifth years. Even he had been insulted but he had managed to retain his dignity regarding the situation.
He came out of his thoughts to see Hermione peering at him before he shook his head frantically.
"I know nothing off Potter's death. They haven't bragged about it," he told her, hoping that she would spare him some pain. Hermione seemed to mull this over before she nodded.
"So…Bella was telling the truth, I'm impressed." She stepped away from Malfoy who gaped at her. Bella? Does that mean…? He broke that train of thought as he heard a noise and saw that Hermione was holding a whip.
"What are you going to do?" he asked. Hermione shrugged.
"Whatever it takes to get all the answers out of you." She cracked the whip and Lucius flinched under the noise. "I want to know everything you know about Voldie and the rest of the minions. And more importantly…I want to know who Bellatrix had been in contact the most during the summer before and after Harry's death."
"I will never tell you anything," he promised as he spat at her. It hit the ground near her shoe and she arched an eyebrow.
"That's what they all said…and they all failed to keep their words," she assured him. "I don't just have a whip." She grabbed the sheet over the covered table that he had missed and revealed her `toys' to him. She placed down the whip and picked up a strange object that Lucius hadn't seen before. He shivered when it came to life, the small long spike turning menacingly, looking eager to dig its way into someone's flesh. "This is a drill, used for many things in the muggle world but it had proven itself very useful when it comes to torturing someone…"
"How…how did you capture me?" he asked and she chuckled as she caressed the drill almost lovingly.
"It wasn't easy. I had my men following you for a while to get any weaknesses but you didn't have any. You are proving to be quite problematic…until I hit on a perfect idea. The question is…Who captured you for me." She shot him a wicked grin as the image of Draco crossed over his mind and he violently shied away from the possibility.
"No…my son would never betray me," Lucius refused to acknowledge the idea.
"He wouldn't…if you had been a better father," Hermione agreed before she shrugged. "But you proved to be the worst father when you raped Luna Lovegood." Lucius held his breath as Hermione's smile turned feral. "What…did you really think that I wouldn't find out? I may have been away for a year but I sure as hell made sure that I kept up on what was happening in the world."
"You can't prove it," Lucius tried to bluff and Hermione laughed.
"I have the memory from Luna Lovegood. Plus, like Voldie, I have someone on the inside of the Ministry helping me out," Hermione told him. "They told me that the Lovegoods' wards had been breached but thanks to your little spy, the Aurors had gotten the message too late. They told me of the scene and I spoke with Luna shortly after I came back to Hogwarts."
"What are you going to do then? Torture me?" he called on her bluff with a sneer. "You're a muggle-born. You have no understanding of the word pain." Hermione laughed.
"And you need to do research on the muggle world. You see, a lot of the things I used were during the witch purge. You know the one in Salem where women were slaughtered for being `witches'?" she reminded him. "Add in that the muggle world had come a long way since tortures then."
She switched on the drill and he couldn't help the involuntary shiver that ran down his spine at the sound. It was shrill and it grated on his already raw nerves.
"You see…this drill; it's something my parents use when they are fixing teeth…but me? I found a far more interesting way with it. I like to use them on my `victims', to show the fear that the muggle world can invoke in the Wizarding world. Fascinating, isn't it?" she asked.
Lucius swallowed, his fear rising with each swivel of the spike as he tried his hardest not to imagine where she would use it on him. He had gotten detailed reports on the Death Eaters that had been murdered, the spies within the Ministry were good for something and he had been disgusted by the level of torture…never mind that he had tortured a good amount of muggle-borns, half-blood and blood traitors over the years.
"Oh don't worry; I won't be using this on you…yet. I have something else I wanted to try out on you." She put the drill down and picked up a goblet that had a strange golden sheen mist coming from it. "You know, while I was away, I spent most of my time researching many of the potions that had been created. I even found a few…old…potions that hadn't seen the light of day for a long time and imagine my surprise when I found the perfect potion for you!"
Lucius swallowed as he watched her pick up vial that was filled with a silvery substance. It looked familiar but due to the fear coursing through his body, he was unable to pin-point it. "I call this my little…vengeance potion…if you wish to know," Hermione told him as she tilted the small vial, allowing some of the silvery substance to fall into the potion before she swirled the larger vial, allowing the mixture to meld.
The golden sheen was replaced a slivery sheen as it began to smoke heavily, almost spitting the contents out of the goblet as she walked over to him. He began to whimper as he looked for a way to free himself but the table was out of his reach and he couldn't do wandless magic and his mind was filled with too much fear to even think about a spell he could do silently.
"Drink up," she forced the liquid down his throat before she quickly covered his mouth to ensure that he didn't spit it back out. She had learnt from her mistakes when she had been starting out.
After he was forced to swallow the foul concoctions, pain started radiating through his body. Strange images forced themselves into his mind. He could feel something stabbing him repeatedly but it was a strange stabbing. One of the images cleared and he saw himself looking down at him, an evil smirk clear on his face. He was naked.
"No…what…what did you…do to me?" he groaned out, twisting in pain. Hermione smirked.
"I added Luna's memory to the potion. What you are experiencing…is what she experienced when she was being raped by you," Hermione circled the chair. "You are feeling everything she felt when you forced yourself on her…tell me," she brought her mouth down to his ear, "What does it feel like? Is it as good as you thought it would be?"
Lucius whimpered as he tried to fight off the memories but failing miserably as he felt every pain he had inflicted on the young woman. He cried out, his head snapping to the side under the force of the imaginary punch. His back was arching as he tried to pull himself away from the memory.
Hermione watched him intently, making notes of the potions. She had used it a few times but none of them had the reaction that Lucius was experiencing. She wondered if it was because she had made the potion stronger this time as she had been unsatisfied with the reactions she had gotten the last time.
Unknown to her, the bindings holding Lucius down had begun to loosen due to Lucius' desperate attempts to get away from the vision assaulting him. He fought harder, he didn't want to see this; he didn't want to feel anything. He wanted to scream but his throat was tight. He wanted to punch, to kick but he was being held down. He wanted to bite but his head was being snapped sideways under the force the punches and slaps.
"What's the matter Lucius? Are you not enjoying yourself?" Hermione's voice sounded so far away but it had mixed in with Lucius' voice in his mind.
"What's the matter Lovegood? Are you not enjoying yourself?" Anger fuelled him on, his hands and feet coming loosen from the bindings. Hermione just watched, curious to see what was going to happen.
Lucius snarled, his vision turning red, he grabbed Hermione and shoved her to the ground before straddling her but Hermione was quicker and drove her knee up between his legs. With a groaned pain, he fell off her and landed on his side. Hermione quickly stood up and delivered a hard kick to his stomach, causing him to curl up as he tried to protect himself.
Hermione knelt down and grabbed Lucius by the hair, yanking his head up viciously as possible and came away with a few long blonde strands.
"Try that again and I will double the potion," she promised him. "Now you know how it feels be one of your victims."
"Why are you doing this?" Lucius asked, spitting out the blood that pooled in his mouth.
"Stupid question, Death Eater," Hermione tsked as she hauled him up and threw him back into the chair. He fell back with a hard wobble before she conjured up some ropes and made sure they were doubled knotted this time. "You have had your free reins for a long time. Now…it's time for me to teach you a lesson."
"The…Dark Lord…will save…me," he choked out and Hermione chuckled.
"He doesn't even know you're gone. Your dead body displayed in public will let him know what had happened to you," she assured him. "Now…let's have fun," she picked up the drill and turned it on. Lucius could only scream in terror…then in agony.
~_HxH_~
Hermione finished cleaning her hands of the blood that was staining them. She dried them and crossed the room to pick up her cloak. She pulled it on, tying it before she turned to look at the broken and battered body of Lucius Malfoy.
No longer looking immaculate as he usually was, he was now bleeding severely in different places, his blonde hair was blood soaked and he had bruises on his face, blood dripping from the corner of his mouth and nose.
"Kill me…" he begged and she laughed as she pulled the cloak hood over her head.
"Sorry…but I promised to leave your death to someone else." She blew him a kiss before wriggling her fingers as she disappeared out of the door, pulling the key out of the lock as she did. She closed the door behind her and walked down the hallway where Draco was currently pacing in the library.
Draco turned when he heard footsteps and saw Hermione entering the library. "Draco…he's all yours," Hermione threw the key over to him. Draco stared at it for a long moment. "Let Kreacher know when you're finished and he'll clean up after you." She left the building altogether, leaving Draco alone with his father.
Draco finally lifted his head as he clenched his fingers around the key and walked over to the door. He placed a hand on the handle, took a deep breath and twisted it. He stepped in. Lucius weakly lifted his head up and his eyes widen slightly when he saw his son.
"D…Draco…" he coughed out.
"Hello…father," Draco greeted as he closed the door behind him.
TBC
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