Trials Of Love!

Trials of Love (11 of?)



Author: granger2malfoy



Pairing: D/Hr, B/G



Rating: R (please note the rating changed for this chapter)



Disclaimer: I do not own anything from HP verse.



Genres: Drama, Romance



A/N: Not HBP compliant. This is sequel to The Given Choices. Thanks to my beta.



Chapter Eleven – Narcissa’s Secret



The great hall began to start clearing out when Blaise and Hermione entered but separated to head to their own tables. Hermione noticed her spot by Ginny remained empty as she seemed to be chatting with Ron across the table but noticed her approaching. Then she looked over to see Blaise taking his normal seat and smiled as their eyes meet. Hermione sat down and loaded a couple pieces of fruit and pastry on her empty plate as Ginny asked, “So, how did the research go? Find anything good from the Beauzbon’s library?”



A made up tale to cover where they had been all day,which was they were starting a research project for her apprenticeship with Professor Snape and Blaise being her escort as well as help. Hermione nodded and almost went into some detail off the top of her head but stopped short when she heard a familiar voice from behind her. At the section of the Ravenclaw table, Daniel Tempest came up to the young Ravenclaw girl they had meet their first night back at Hogwarts. He smirked as he said, “I saw you having some difficulty finding some information for your Charms essay. Would you like some help tonight before its time for lights out, Meadows?”



The two girls on either side of the thirteen year old tried to hide their giggles as May Meadows blushed from the older boy’s show of interest. “Um, sure. It’s not due for a couple weeks but, yeah, I’d like some help. Thanks Tempest. Do you want to leave now?”



“No time like the present,” the fifth year Slytherin said as he gave a mock bow and backed up to allow room for May to get up from the table. The two walked out while beginning to discuss her assignment while leaving the girls left behind to giggle and chat to their happy hearts content.



Hermione wasn’t sure what to make of that scene and heard Ginny say, “Well, that seems rather fishy. Want to go see what he’s up to?”



As Head Girl, she knew she should and something inside her told her that something didn’t seem right but Narcissa, Snape and Blaise were all coming back to her room in a few minutes. Hermione took a bite of her food and then turned to the red-head to ask, “Can you go ahead and watch them without them knowing? I am very exhausted and want to go ahead to bed.”



Ginny took her last bite of chocolate cake and stood up as she replied, “Sure, my pleasure. I like peeping on sneaky Slytherins.”



Hermione laughed as she Ginny past her, she commented, “Is that why you are dating one?”



The redhead laughed loudly and called back, “You know it. Get your beauty sleep and I’ll see you tomorrow.”



She finished the dessert on her plate and knew Mrs. Malfoy would take care of getting food brought to her room for the small group. With a quick glance to see Blaise finishing up his dessert, Hermione stood up from her seat and walked out of the hall to notice Harry climbing the staircase with Professor Meadows. She stayed back far enough to not make them aware of her presence and she tried to listen in to their conversation, which unfortunately seemed to only be about Quidditch. The professor wore her normal attire of black jeans and a blue jumper under her teaching robes. Since her age ended up being in the late twenties, Misty tended to be much more laid back than the other professors in almost all ways but she still had the students respect.



Once they hit Gryffindor tower, Harry said his goodbyes and the professor turned around to discover Hermione had not been far behind. Misty smiled at seeing Hermione but lessened for a moment with a tone of worry. She must know about the incident with Draco.



“How are you, Hermione?”



The head girl smiled slightly, crossed her arms over her chest and nodded, “Fine, thanks.”



Professor Meadows looked both ways before closing the distance between them. “The headmaster told me since he knew that it would probably interfere with our training. But rest assured. There are no other professors who know since it does require certain knowledge about your relationship.”



Hermione nodded feeling a little better about that news. “Good to know. Now, if you will excuse me, I am heading to bed.”



“You have a good night, Hermione. And feel free to come to me, if you need someone to talk to,” Professor Meadows stated as she headed back down the stairs and Hermione spoke the password to enter the tower.



Her private head room laid directly off the common room but before the staircases to the dorms. Several students greeted her on the way to her room as she began to think over all that needed to be done for the night. The furniture had to be rearranged with adding another bed in there for Mrs. Malfoy as well as shrinking hers since there is no need for a queen size bed when just she would be sleeping there tonight. Also some dinner and drinks would need to be gotten from the kitchens for four people, since she seemed sure Professor Snape would also join them since Mrs. Malfoy would be there.



Hermione entered her private dorm and petted Crookshanks as she headed for her bedroom to pack some things she needed for the night. After she got her small bag of belongings together, she threw her special gold powder into the fireplace and directly went to her marriage suite. To her surprise, all the things she wanted done for evening were done and everyone was already there. They must’ve used Draco’s entrance to the room.



Snape seemed to be putting the final touches on the bed conjured for Mrs. Malfoy as she seemed to be adding her touch to their bedroom. They had been busy before Hermione arrived because an expansion of the room was very evident. What was just a small sitting area to one side of the bed in front of the fireplace; now turned into a large connected study with a round table set with dinner in the middle. The three walls were lined with books, busts of famous people from the wizarding world, and many candles of all shapes and sizes. Blaise charmed the silverware to set its self as he placed the empty glasses in their appropriate places.



Mrs. Malfoy turned to greet her as she walked up with her arms open and cheerfully said, “I do hope you like the changes we made. I don’t think the headmaster will mind us expanding your room some. Nothing wrong with making it more a suite than just a large bedroom. Come, come. The food will start getting cold if we don’t start eating soon.”



“The room looks very lovely, Mrs. Malfoy. Thank you very much,” Hermione said as they took their seats at the table, which Narcissa sat next to Hermione with Blaise next to her and Snape on the other side of Mrs. Malfoy.



As they ate, Narcissa started carrying most of the conversation on the events of the day to Snape but the conversation slowly turned to Hermione’s apprenticeship. Yet, the two men noticed Hermione didn’t talk much during the whole meal as she seemed to be thinking about everything on her mind. Then a question sat on her tongue but she knew she shouldn’t ask but she needed to know. Blaise knowing her the way he did, noticed and said, “Go ahead, Hermione. Spill it. You want to ask something. What is it?”



Hermione pushed forward her mostly empty dinner plate and took her water glass in her hand as she took a sip. Silence fell completely as they waited for her to speak. After a very long minute, Hermione set her glass back down and raised her eyes to the Professor’s and asked, “What happened with Draco since last night?”



Mrs. Malfoy slowly lowered her empty fork from her thin lips as Snape looked over to her and she glanced over to Hermione. Then gave him an approving nod as she settled back into her seat as Blaise and Hermione had no idea what was going on. Professor Snape took a sip from his wine and then also sat back as he spoke, “When he finally woke this morning, I gave him a ‘good dose of reality.’ Meaning told him everything that happened last night after he came back because his memory of the event was not clear in many details. He became very regretful and confused by his own actions as well what caused them.”



Snape stopped speaking for a moment to let what he had said sink in for her and then Mrs. Malfoy commented, “I should’ve had this conversation with you shortly after you married as well as became a spy by joining the death eaters. So far, you have had a very limited introduction to being a death eater for several reasons. First, being raised by muggles, the dark lord wants to slowly prove their inequality and inadequacies.”



She raised her hand when she knew Hermione was going to protest such beliefs and Snape continued on for her, “Let us say all we have to say and then you can add or question anything we have said. Second reason, you are still here at school with Harry Potter and under Dumbledore’s eyes almost every moment. Draco can easily slip away for anything the dark lord wants him to be a part of, where he sees you can’t. He views you as a long term investment to be nurtured by Bellatrix once you are out of school.”



Hermione nodded with understanding and moved her eyes to Blaise to notice him fully paying attention but every once and a while looking to her. After a moment or two of looking to find the right words, he said, “I reminded Draco what he witnessed and explained how he was changing mentally due to all he was being exposed to by his father and the dark lord. Part of him wants to impress his father and another part truly doesn’t want to participate in his activities, which is causing an inner struggle in him. Dealing with the dark arts can be very dangerous especially at different stages and I should’ve known better than to let him return to you last night. But I had no clue exactly where he was mentally in dark timing within him.



“I have to tread a very fine line of showing him the right thing to do from a Light outlook and the right thing according to the dark lord. At any moment, he could change his mind and give away my true colors to the dark lord. Which is very dangerous to all involved. After discussing with Albus and Narcissa, we decided the best thing to do is to show Draco in my peniseve one of the main reasons I turned to Dumbledore all those years ago, right before the vanishing of the dark lord.” With that last statement said, Mrs. Malfoy became much more fidgety and Hermione could tell it had something to do with her but silently she waited for either of them to continue.



Mrs. Malfoy stared at her own wine glass as she swirled the liquid in the glass and focused on the moving wine as she began, “Draco was a little older than one at the time, it was during the end of July and Lucius had been gone for a few hours at a revel of some kind, somewhere and it was about eleven o’clock at night. I had been reading in Draco’s nursery making sure he was finally asleep when I heard my husband come home.”



“I had been at the revel with him that evening,” Snape interrupted and Mrs. Malfoy nodded as she let him take over the conversation for the moment. “Sometimes when people repeat using the dark arts over and over and over within the course of a week, it can start to change how they think and act. They start craving more and more power from the darkness they seek. Some crave the power over others, other people crave the pain and blood of victims, and others crave all of it and more. Well, that night had been the fifth night of attacking muggles for some and Lucius was one of those few who had been on his fifth straight assignment.



“I had been working on more research than attack missions but that night I was there with them. I noticed how oddly Lucius had started acting. More coldness, more lustful than I have ever seen him. Without going into too many of the details, I saw him in the middle of the street attacking a very young woman, about your age and muggle of course. He killed her mid-act, finished his business and then threw her to the side carelessly,” Snape described as he tried to choose his wording for both the fact two seventeen year olds and the wife of that man were listening very closely.



Snape took another sip of his wine as Hermione sat there listening very uncomfortably to the story. “The attack on the small village was mostly over aside from a few death eaters who continued to play with their last victims of the night. I could see something wasn’t right with him and knew he would be heading home soon. So, I beat him to it and slipped in the back exit to the manor to find Narcissa and worn her to either leave or be prepared for anything. Unfortunately, I didn’t know where she was and didn’t want to make myself known to the entire manor, in case Lucius showed up before I had found her. I started on the ground floor and then the second when I heard a scream from down the hall, which was the nursery. I changed my mask and raised my hood for he might not recognize me if I got to him fast.



“When I entered the room, there he was attacking Narcissa in a similar way to the girl in the street but this time right on the floor in front of a crying Draco. I blasted him unconscious before he even knew someone had came in the room,” explained Severus as he stood up and walked around the table to place his hands on Narcissa’s shoulders as she silently cried. “I obliviated him from remembering anything since the time he came home and offered to do the same for her.”



Narcissa’s voice came out hoarse as she looked Hermione in the eyes and said, “No. Just like you, I may have hated what my husband did to me but I didn’t want to forget what he was capable of. Instead, I asked Severus for a potion to ensure I would not get pregnant from that encounter. Or any other.”



Hermione’s heart almost stopped at that statement. She knew of the potion she had to be referring to. It permanently destroyed the inside of the woman from having kids or monthly cycle but the potion had never been guaranteed that the woman would survive its effects for sometimes it did more damage than wanted. Narcissa’s right hand went up to hold Severus’ at her shoulder as she continued, “I didn’t want any other children by that man to possibly be raised to be like him or married off to someone like him. I vowed that night to make sure Draco would never turn into a death eater. I guess I failed and I apologize to you, Hermione. I hope with Severus’ guidance that the work his father did on him would not go as far, but there was no way to know that before it was too late. He now understands and hates what his father did and what he almost did.”



“You didn’t fail me or Draco, Mrs. Malfoy. You have done so much for me already and for that, I thank you.” Tears crept out of Hermione’s eyes again and felt Blaise pull her into a hug as she began to sob heavily into his shoulder. Without realizing it, he led them over to the chase in front of the fire and sat down as he held her in his lap as she let out all the pain and tears. Hermione’s cries softened very slowly as her friend held her and tried to sooth her with his quiet words of understanding and comfort. Her arms stayed wrapped around his neck as she felt more relaxed as the tears slowed till they stopped. They sat there like that in front of the fire as both thought of different and yet similar things all at once till she ended up falling asleep in his strong arms.



To Be Continued