Bloodlust

Chapter XIX

Hermione hadn't seen Malfoy the next morning after their last interaction. She may not be strolling around the manor to figure out if he was there, but she could sense it from Narcissa's tensed and uneasy behaviour, it was evident that both Draco and his father weren't there.

Malfoy's absence in the manor wrecked Hermione in countless ways. He could be out there somewhere hunting the rest of the Order. He could be out there burning the Order's safe houses. He was probably out there taking his time torturing and interrogating someone until they die from unimaginable suffering. He could be out there murdering hundreds as he cruises along a battlefield.

Hermione felt terrible for feeling such emotion, but somehow at random times of the day, she wishes he'd come back home and stay. His absence on the boundaries would definitely ease the way for the Order to at least move forward. Most of the time she'd swallow her remorse and wishes he'd come home in a body bag – lifeless. Or that he's burned somewhere like how they burned almost half of the people in Hogwarts in a huge bonfire at the Quidditch Pitch.

Narcissa checks on her almost every day. Hermione began to speculate that something was bothering Narcissa. The closest conclusion was Malfoy probably had ordered his mother to check on her. She had a strong feeling that Malfoy still believed that she had a confidential discussion with anyone from the Order.

That idea of it was laughable to her at some point. Even though Narcissa had revealed that the wards weren't set up around the estate, there was no possible way for the Order to penetrate beyond the apparition points. Rescuing her would not appear easy. They were marked as the Undesirables, terrorists, traitors, and dangerous – that's how the New Ministry identified the Order to the public. The pronouncement had limited the world for the Resistance to move – if there was actually a Resistance.

Hermione was torn between the anticipation that somehow there were still some of them left, that the Order wasn't totally wiped out, and the guilt if they ever got to hand her some information – she might endanger them and ruin the resistance effort. Her hands were itching for at least a Daily Prophet. Being blind to the events outside the Malfoy estate was immensely a disadvantage on her part.

The instant Malfoy had insensibly confirmed to her that there was still an ongoing interference with the new ways of life that the New Ministry had been trying to develop – she knew she needed to prepare herself.

There was nothing she could offer if ever the Order might need her assistance. She was a prisoner of Malfoy. She was locked up in a manor, tormented by her homicidal maniac owner that could effortlessly end her life.

Hermione stilled – he could murder her whenever he pleased, influenced by the venom or not. She was merely a little insect he could smash at any time at his convenience. Whether he was a vampire or not, she was still an enemy. No matter what state he was in, she was nothing to him, but an enemy. An enemy to be used and slaughtered.

Hermione weighed her options carefully in her mind. There will be consequences for it, but she had to do something. She was imprisoned in a manor where a Death Eater candidate for a minister for magic lives with his social elite wife and a Death Eater General for a son who was also an unpredictable monster. In fact, she should consider herself lucky – but there are loads of downsides to it, she simply couldn't convince herself lucky.

The Malfoys are important people, and alongside that is the reality of them not being easy people. If she wanted to use them, she had to earn their trust. She had to be clever – she must outsmart them in their own game.

Hermione's shoulder dropped limp as she recalled she had just broken that trust.

There were numerous methods, but only a few of those options were considerably useful given Malfoy's unpredictable behaviour.