A Bellamort Tale

Part 25

Voldemort looked at the muggleborn witch for some time, then addressed the boy.

"Give her her wand. I want to find something out!"

Bellatrix and Draco gasped, yet he did as he was told.

Hermione gave the dark wizard a suspicious glare.

"Take it! Take it. You've gotten yourself quite some reputation. Show me! Do anything we aren't capable of!" Voldemort hissed in his high pitched tone.

The young witch shuddered from the sound. She tried to think of anything, when her former classmate muttered.

"Patronus!"

Hermione looked at him with her brows furrowed. Then she understood. Neither of them had been able to produce a patronus because they couldn't hold on to their most happy thoughts.
Yet she was struggling to find one to cling onto herself right now. Taking a deep breath, she tried a new approach, focused on it and said firmly.

"Expecto patronum!"

A silver string started to stream from her wand then slowly began to form her patronus. Yet the edges were blurry and the figure of an otter she was accustomed to, seemed to grow wings.
After being over the first shock, Bella began to cackle.

"Look at that. Her patronus is about to change into something else. What's yours, Draco? Have you ever seen it? I would assume it's a dragon, right? Though hers rather looks like a ferret or a weasel with wings. Maybe you're lucky and she fancies you too! But honestly, I don't care if she does. She can stay with you. But, she's not allowed to leave the room without direct permission. Do you understand, mudblood?"

"Can you please call me by my name?" Hermione pleaded with her eyes on the floor.

About to laugh, the witch was stopped by her master's reply.

"Well, Miss Granger, as we give the elves the right to bear a name you shall have one too. See yourself as one of them from now on."

Malfoy couldn't help but grin, remembering their fourth year and Hermione starting her S.P.E.W. to fight for the house elves rights. She noticed and shook her head only for him to notice, her eyes begging him to stay quiet.

A few seconds later, Voldemort took a hold of his daughter and Bella and they disapparated from the room.

"Damn it, Hermione, that was close!" The blond young man gushed out and let himself fall backwards onto his bed.

"You've never before called me Hermione. Why would you choose a moment like this to disobey your master again? And for the second time in one day because of me?" She exclaimed.

He scoffed and patted the mattress beside him.

"Just sit and stop pacing around, you're making me nuts."

"I'll rather sit on the floor, thank you!" She gave back defiantly.

"Bloody hell, Granger, I won't jump you the second your arse makes contact with my bed! I'm simply trying to have a civilised conversation." Malfoy spat.

The young witch scoffed.

"Yeah, I almost forgot. Little Draco is used to getting his will!"

The boy made a disapproving sound in the back of his throat, letting the air out through his nose as he did.

"Believe me, Granger, I've become accustomed to the opposite over the last three years. Since his return we had to harbour not only him but also all sorts of death eaters and other followers here in the Manor. Most of them were the worst scum you can imagine. Even creatures like Greyback. Don't give me that look. I'm not saying that because of his 'condition'. It's because he is nothing more than a pathetic animal, not capable of acting decent towards others. And guess what those scumbags like to do if they're bored!" He told her bitterly.

"Probably only evil things," Hermione assumed, while sitting down on the very edge of his bed. He flinched not having noticed her approaching because he was so lost in his thoughts.

"Woah, would you please stop sneaking up on me? I just told you about..."

She cleared her throat, yet her voice was still husky when she pried.

"Tell me, what did they do to you?"

He laughed bitterly.

"They are all fucking cowards, Granger. They don't like to take risks, so they only take on those who can't defend themselves because they're still underage. I wasn't allowed to do magic outside of Hogwarts and well, even if it wasn't possible for the ministry to detect who did the spell near me, those vermins were at the same time the type who would rat you out, meaning, they'd provoke me to do magic to then send an owl to the ministry. It got worse once my father was imprisoned. If Bella hadn't accidentally seen them torture me and push me around, they would have continued until I became off age. Which, as you probably know, was only last June, just a month before Potter and Longbottom." Draco told her.

"Now you made me curious, what did she do to them?" The girl asked.

Malfoy smirked, the way only he could, then he told her about it.

"She didn't have to do much. She simply entered the room and cleared her throat, informing them that I was her nephew who she was very protective of and that the next of them who dared to hurt or attack me, would be met with her personal wrath. They were shaking when she left. And, of course, she wouldn't be Bellatrix Lestrange, if she hadn't used a non-verbal cruciatus curse on a handful of them as she walked by." He laughed now. "It's still not the way it was before 'him', but at least they leave me alone and don't dare to bother me any longer. Especially since I got this."

He pointed at his left forearm and scoffed.

"So Harry was right. You have become a death eater and you have the dark mark. Did you agree because you had enough of them bullying you?" Hermione asked him compassionately.

"Don't get too friendly, Granger. It won't do you any good. You're the 'good girl', the perfect student, the holy virgin, the little princess who can't cause harm to anyone. You shouldn't befriend a death eater, not even if he was coerced into taking the mark by the dark lord threatening to kill him and his family if he didn't. Maybe I should have killed you when you asked me to. Maybe that would have been the best choice for the both of us. I can't watch people getting hurt all the time. I can't stand the cries from the basement when my aunt lets out her frustration and anger on whoever has been captured down there. I... I never wanted to kill Dum..." He stopped talking and buried his face in his palms, sobbing quietly.

"I know!" The young woman said softly. "Harry told us that you had already lowered your wand. He heard everything. It's okay to feel bad. But you made the right decision and nobody got hurt badly, not by you at least. Snape did what you were supposed to do. He protected you so your soul would stay intact. Now stop feeling so bad, there must be something that would cheer you up. What's your happy thought?"

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Granger." He hissed as he looked up and into her face which was right next to his now.

"Your happy thought, your happy memory. The one memory you can rely on to produce a patronus. It has to be a strong one, if you want to go further and produce a corporeal patronus." She explained patiently, being used to doing that for Harry and especially Ron.

"I never succeeded, not even when I had to. I just can't hold on to any good memory for more than a few seconds. Then I remember my actual situation and, well, that's it." He uttered through gritted teeth.