Lust, War, and... Love?

Chapter 11: Mission Begins

    Hermione reached the part of the seventh floor corridor where the gargoyle stood guard against the blank wall.

"Lemon Drops," muttered Hermione and the gargoyle leapt aside. The wall slid apart smoothly and she saw the moving spiral staircase. Her heart thumped rapidly as the stone steps carried her up to the Headmaster's office door. Hermione gripped the heavy griffin-shaped rapper and knocked.

"Come in," she heard Dumbledore's voice.

"Good afternoon, Professor," Hermione said haltingly, entering the circular room.

"Good afternoon, Hermione. Have a seat, please," Dumbledore smiled warmly, a stack of parchments piled high on the desk in front of him.

"Thank you, Sir." His smile made Hermione feel a little better.

"I believe you wished to discuss an important matter, Hermione." Dumbledore moved the parchments aside with his wand and looked at her directly. "Would you like to share your concerns with me?"

"Yes, Sir." Hermione paused, not sure how to begin. Her hands clenched the fabric of her robes. "Er.. I - I've learned that Draco Malfoy is a Death Eater." Her heart lurched as she blurted it out.

"Thank you for telling me this. Could you recount how his Dark Mark became apparent?" Although Dumbledore smiled encouragingly, he seemed to be unmoved by the revelation. "Did he boast it or use it to intimidate others?"

"No, he didn't boast. I saw the Dark Mark on his arm accidentally." Hermione hoped the Headmaster would not ask how she got to see it.

"Could you recall his reaction when you observed it, Hermione?" Dumbledore asked placidly.

"Malfoy - he wasn't happy that I noticed it." She was relieved that Dumbledore apparently was not going to question her about the circumstances of her seeing the Mark. "He wanted me to keep it a secret. Said we could both be in a big trouble. I think he's afraid of it coming out."

Dumbledore stood up and strolled around his desk. "It is a good sign that Malfoy was worried."

"Yes, he said something about his parents being in danger." Hermione's fingers relaxed and released the folds of her robes.

"He's probably right. I am also inclined to think that he was honest about the possible implications for you and him. You need to be very careful now."

"Does it mean that Draco might harm me?"

"Not Draco, but those who played a part in his becoming a Death Eater." Dumbledore waved his wand and a high-back chair appeared next to Hermione's seat. He lowered himself in it. Hermione looked at him apprehensively.

"Please listen to me carefully, Hermione. It is essential to help Draco Malfoy keep his Dark Mark a secret."
"But, Sir -" Hermione tried to object, and Dumbledore raised his hand.

"Hermione, as strange it might sound to you, I have been aware for a while that Draco Malfoy became a Death Eater. On the other side, I was not sure what he thought of it himself. In this respect, the information that you supplied to me is crucial. It seems that Hogwarts is the safest place for Draco now."

"Draco talked about leaving Hogwarts next year, Sir," Hermione said eagerly. She leaned towards Dumbledore and narrated everything she heard from Harry about his run-in with Malfoy on the train. She watched the Headmaster as she spoke, and he seemed to be deep in thought.

"Thank you. It appears that his position on it has changed somewhat. Would you agree, Hermione?"

"I don't really know..." Hermione muttered. "I'm afraid You-Know-Who might have given him a task to carry on at Hogwarts."

"Did he mention such a possibility?" Dumbledore asked casually.

"No, he didn't. It's only a guess, Sir."

"Do you converse with Malfoy frequently?"

"Well, we've been talking more now. Not very friendly, really." Hermione hesitated, then thought it would be safe enough to bring it up. "During the detention in Snape's office Malfoy wasn't good to me. He actually was a little better before."

Dumbledore rested his head against the back of his chair. "Sometimes a man is prone to bad tempers if the woman makes him wait too long."

Merlin, that was definitely the case with Malfoy, Hermione thought. Dumbledore knew everything. She was grateful that he did not ask more prodding questions.

"Although we cannot remove Malfoy's Dark Mark, we could help him be less of a Death Eater," Dumbledore spoke very calmly. "He is alone now, Hermione."

Hermione sank in her chair. She did not know what to say.

"Again, what you have told me about Draco is very important. Have you divulged anything about him and his Dark Mark to anyone?"

"No - not yet," Hermione muttered. "But I think Professor Snape knows too."

"Professor Snape is extremely good at handling sensitive situations. You should not worry about him, Hermione." Dumbledore gave her a reassuring nod. "I believe you should not share what you know about Malfoy with your friends, Harry and Ron. Their judgments and actions could be too rash and harmful."

Sure enough, Harry and Ron would love to skin Malfoy alive, Hermione thought. But the Headmaster's words unsettled her. Snape was anything but sensitive during the detention and clearly colluded with Malfoy. Hermione wondered if it was Snape who informed Dumbledore. What a twisted conspiracy she had gotten herself into...The Headmaster evidently had his own clandestine reasons to keep Malfoy's doings in shadows.

"I believe Malfoy shouldn't know that I've talked to you either... Am I right, Sir?" asked Hermione, her brain working hard.

"You are correct, Hermione." Dumbledore nodded and smiled again. "Whenever you have concerns about Draco's intentions and actions, I would always appreciate hearing them. The owl post should work fine so far as you do not state the names too obviously."

"I understand, Professor Dumbledore." It was clear to Hermione what Dumbledore expected from her. She was now to spy on Malfoy and to divert him from whatever crimes he was to carry on. "You would like me to gain Malfoy's confidence and you would like Hogwarts to be a safe haven for him, since it would keep him away from the rest of the Death Eaters."

"You are very intelligent, Hermione." Dumbledore rose from his seat. "Please take good care of yourself. I would also advise you not to go outside of the castle alone or with Draco Malfoy."

When she got out of the Headmaster's office, Hermione headed straight to the abandoned classrooms in the far end of the third floor corridor. She craved solitude to mull over her situation and to come up with a strategy for herself.

She pushed the first door open only to startle a seventh-year Hufflepuff couple who were obviously having their day sitting on a desk and snogging. She mumbled an apology and moved to the next door. There she was greeted by Nearly Headless Nick and the Fat Friar, who were playing noughts and crosses on the blackboard.

The third classroom was empty and Hermione dusted off a desk there. She contemplated putting locking spells on the door but decided against it. There was no crime in poring over textbooks in an unused room, after all.

Hermione laid out her parchments and books on the desk, but her mind was far from her homework. She took her quill and stared at the blank page in front of her. Hermione's thoughts were rambling, and she needed a way of organizing them. A particular memory had been haunting her a lot lately.

It happened shortly before the Battle in the Department of Mysteries in her fifth year. For reasons she did not remember, she went into the dungeons alone. As she walked down a long and winding dark passage, she saw Malfoy coming her way. Hermione took to the side a little to let him walk past, and accidentally brushed her shoulder against him in the narrow corridor. Malfoy stopped abruptly, his pale grey eyes fixed on her. He was so close, she could feel his breath on her face. His Inquisitorial Squad badge gleamed in the light of the torches on the walls. Hermione gripped her wand and backed away to put a little more distance between them both. All of a sudden, he caught her by her elbows and plastered her with his body against the uneven stone wall. His breathing was ragged. His chest flattened her breasts and his torso pressed against her stomach. She gasped soundlessly, her eyes gazing into his.

It seemed like an eternity before someone else's steps resounded in the underground passage and Malfoy suddenly released her. In a second he was gone, and Hermione was leaning against the wall because her knees refused to hold her up. Then she sat through two classes, her mind constantly wandering back to the incident in the dungeons. Hermione told no one about it but she avoided going down there alone until the end of the school year. When Hermione was caught together with Harry and other Dumbledore's Army members in June, her biggest fear was that Malfoy would want to hold her himself. Instead, Draco commanded Millicent Bulstrode to restrain her, much to Hermione's relief.

Hermione propped her elbows on the desk and cradled her head. The shamefully familiar sensation came on in her body when she remembered the episode in the dungeons. Hermione was lusting for Malfoy again, which disgusted her. Heorte Lustbaere was such a cursed Dark Magic.

Hermione lifted her head, rested her back against the chair and stared out the grimy window. She had a very hard time coming to terms with her own sexual feelings and thoughts. Last summer at the Burrow Hermione accidentally walked in on Ron when he was putting his boxers on. Hermione was so embarrassed that she spent the rest of the day closeted with a book in Ginny's room. Her own body had changed a lot, and things were not the same anymore with her old friends, Harry and Ron.

With Heorte Lustbaere and Malfoy, sex barrelled into her life like a freight train. It was a purely carnal, caveman-like brand of erotic pursuit, devoid of any romance and spirituality. It was the same sort of the animal sensation she had with Malfoy in the creepy dungeons in their fifth year. The worst part of it was that it turned her on instead of repulsing her intimately. Which was totally, completely and absolutely wrong.

Hermione lowered her eyes to the blank parchment in front of her. The only thing that could justify her shags with Malfoy was doing service for the Order of the Phoenix, which Dumbledore hinted at. To do it right Hermione needed full control of her own emotions. Which she certainly didn't have at this point. But she could start with small steps. The first one would be drawing up a pact with Malfoy on proper boundaries in bed and beyond. No more manhandling her if he wanted to have his sex fix every other day. It made Hermione feel a little better. After all, her Mum was right - she ought to set the limits for Malfoy from the start.