The Hunter And The Haunted

Part 13

Athena pressed a fist to her mouth to stop herself from laughing out loud, tears streaming down her face. Beside her, Theo wheezed, his body shaking as he doubled over into a fit of silent giggles. Lisa stared in surprise.

Draco was mortified.

Hermione had spent the last fifteen minutes describing how attractive Draco's eyes and hair were. Shame filled her, but she had no means of stopping the words spilling out of her mouth.

The Veritaserum was working the truth out of her.

"Granger," Draco finally interrupted her tirade, running a hand down his face. "I am well aware that I am the most perfect example of the male species. However-"

Theo snorted.

"-I need to know about Hogwarts. What are their weaknesses?" Draco continued, ignoring Theodore completely.

"No weaknesses." She answered before she even processed the question.

Draco frowned. "What about Weasley? Were you not in a relationship with him?"

"I was." Tears lined her eyes.

"And yet you are here. Did you leave of your own accord?"

"I did."

"Why?'

And Hermione told him. She hated herself for it. For baring her soul, her weaknesses, her failures. She told of the death of Molly Weasley which triggered the avalanche of hate that lead to the end of the Order of Phoenix, about Arthur Turpin, of her raising her voice against the tyranny that her friends were descending into.

... and of her subsequent imprisonment and torture.

Silence engulfed the room once more when she was done.

And Draco laughed. Cold and mirthless. The echo of which ripped at her aching soul.

The familiarity of an old enemy and the pain laced with the memories of how she had faced him in the past was almost too much to bear. With Ron and Harry by her side.

The words that followed Draco's laugh seemed to muddle into an incoherent mess as Hermione's mind whirled with emotion and nostalgia.

"... quite a chance... Use you and get them from the inside... Aunt Bella thinks you're dead... Malfoy Manor... Astoria ... Theo, can you get some of her blood now?"

Blood? Her blood?

She screamed as Theo drew out a vial and a small dagger.

Again. It was going to happen again.

Broken, healed and broken again.

She screamed and screamed and...

"Silencio!" Draco hissed, pointing his wand at her.

Her mouth was still open, her face a deep red, but no sound emanated from her.

"Traumatised," Lisa commented to no one in particular.

The muscle in Draco's jaw tightened.

"Aren't we all?" said Theo lightly as he moved towards the cowering Hermione.

"Enough!" Draco was already running late to the summoning at Malfoy Manor. There will be hell to pay as it was. He leaned forward and grabbed Hermione's chin, forcing her to meet his eyes, and snarled "Listen here, Mudblood, I need you to destroy Potter and Weasely. And I'll do anything I damned well have to make you work with me. Right now, I have to face my Aunt Bella and she will not hesitate to kill you slowly if she finds out that you are alive. But I can't have that."

His eyes glittered with barely controlled rage; the coldness of his signet ring biting into her skin.

"You are the first tool I have in my grasp to ruin the Hogwarts lot from their weakest point. And I will find their weakness. Even if you think they don't; even if I have to break into your memories and tear through them to find out for myself."

He sucked in a deep breath and hissed once more.

"And believe me, Granger, You'll wish you were dead when I am done with you."

She was afraid, truly afraid.

She didn't even notice the prick Theo made on her finger to draw blood for the spell as her gaze remained fixated on Draco.

Back when she was at Hogwarts, they'd assumed that Bellatrix was using the remaining death eaters to carry out her murders. But this was worse, so much worse.

These were the children ruined by the war.

Chilling, merciless, empty.

And she believed Draco. Because she knew how numb one could make themselves to the pain of others. But that was not the worst thing she was about to hear.

Draco drew back and slid his hand back into his pocket with icy indifference.

"Finish the spell on the locket, Theo."

The trio worked seamlessly. Lisa pulled out an ancient locket from her pocket and dipped it into a small bowl that Athena produced out of the air with a green liquid that looked awfully like a Polyjuice potion.

Theo let Hermione's blood drip out of the vial and drew out his wand, tapping the side of the bowl with it, frowning in concentration. The liquid hissed angrily and bubbled, evaporating into nothingness.

Draco smirked, lifting the locket out of the bowl with his beautiful, slender fingers, and held it up to eye level, He squeezed the locket in his palm till the green stones embedded on the serpents that decorated the locket cut into his flesh and drew blood.

He held it out to Hermione, his blood dissolving into the locket.

"Put this on," He ordered, his tone dripping with venom. "You're coming with us."