The Unfortunates

Back again, and I should just like to say for the record that for once it didn’t take too long between updates! In addition, this chapter’s of reasonable length, at least compared to some of the earlier ones. So there!



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CHAPTER FOURTEEN: REVELATIONS AND REALIZATIONS





Rubbing his temples as he went, Severus reluctantly admitted to himself that he didn’t rightly know why he was on his way to her rooms.



Yes, he’d seen her on the balcony, but what excuse was that?



What was he to say, really?



He had no immediate answer to this as he swept through the corridor, nor had he any immediate answer to it as he minutes later found himself knocking at her door.



A moment or so later, Miss Granger peaked out through a crack looking hesitant. She calmed, though, when she saw it was him, and opened the door widely.



“Professor?” she said, a slightly uncertain look on her face. “What are you doing here? Am I – shouldn’t I be in this room?”



“No, the room is fine,” replied Severus dismissively, stepping in without waiting for permission. She closed it behind him as he spoke: “I saw you on the balcony, Miss Granger.”



“I just wanted to have another look at the garden,” she said, shrugging.



“Ah.” Severus began pacing a small area of the room. “I was wondering whether or not you perhaps had overheard... something. That is why I came here, obviously,” he added hastily.



Not true, the nasty, little bastard in the back of his mind whispered, you were worried that she perhaps had caught a glance of her, weren’t you?



Shut up.



“Between you and Lupin?” asked Miss Granger. “No, I didn’t hear anything. My attention was on the garden. I – I saw something there, Professor,” she added hesitantly.



“Did you really,” he replied, devoting his attention and gaze to anything in the room but her. Gods; he really had no idea why he had come, and it thoroughly tormented him.



“Yes,” confirmed Miss Granger. “I think it was... a ghost. It looked like one – a woman.”



“Yes,” said Severus absentmindedly, without hesitation.



What? Why did I say yes? What on earth was I saying yes for?



“It is a ghost then...?”



Oh, what the hell. What was the point in lying, anyway? Being the nosy girl she was she would undoubtedly figure it out sooner or later.



“Yes, it is.”



“And it haunts your garden?”



“Yes.”



“Is it a woman, Professor? Is it – is it your mother?”



Severus froze immediately; his gaze caught Miss Granger’s. His Mother? Gods, how dare she suggest something like that! His Mother, indeed! The girl was stupid after all if she really thought it could have been his Mother...



Perhaps she hadn’t had a good enough look, though. It would be difficult for an outsider to tell the age of the one in the garden, after all, considering what she’d gone through before she died –



Don’t. Don’t even go there.



“Don’t be ridiculous,” snapped Severus. “Of course not.”



“Who is she then?” she pressed.



“That is none of your concern, Miss Granger.”



“How did she die?”



Severus drew a deep breath and resumed his pacing.



“Do you know what is the common flaw amongst most Death Eaters, Miss Granger?” he asked, having no idea why he was saying these words to her. Come to think of it, she probably had no idea what he was talking about either, but Severus strangely found that once he’d started, he was simply incapable of stopping. It had been years, decades, since he’d last spoken of this to anyone.



“No,” she replied simply, patiently waiting for him to continue.



“They’re possessive,” he snarled with malice. “Possessive, selfish and insanely ambitious. They crave power, and they are above all unbelievably proud. Any Death Eater you shall ever come across will undoubtedly bear these qualities proudly.”



Miss Granger said nothing, but she frowned, barely.



“Think of your dear regular, Draco,” continued Severus easily. “Tell me he is not possessive. Proud. Powerful?”



“He is, but –”



“And his father?”



Hermione simply sighed.



Wait – Hermione? No, Miss Granger. Miss Granger. Definitely Miss Granger.



“Why is all of this relevant, Professor?” she asked finally.



“Do you know that the Death Eater Claud Avery died?”



She nodded.



“You will find his death was a result of his pride; Claud saw what was coming to him but did nothing to stop it. I won’t go into the matter, but... but suffice it to say he would rather lose his life than lose face.”



“Professor?”



“Yes?”



“What has any of this got to do with the ghost I saw in the garden?”



He turned to her, his expression firm and emotionless. How had this conversation come to pass, really? Had he honestly let his guard down so thoroughly? He couldn’t believe it. Here he was, practically sharing his most inner secrets with Miss Granger!



“There is no ghost in the garden, Miss Granger,” said Severus dismissively, and without hesitation or a word spoken he rushed from her rooms.



--



That following morning, there were only twenty-two Rebels around the dining table as the breakfast appeared on their plates.



“You didn’t tell me there were house-elves here,” Hermione had commented to Harry once it had dawned upon her who had set the table.



“What difference does it make, Hermione?” asked Harry wearily whilst stifling a yawn. “It’s not as if Snape would get rid of them – nor could he, because they all know we’re here.”



“How many are there?”



“Don’t know. A fair few, but obviously not as many as there were at Hogwarts.”



At that moment, Snape decided to make his entrance. He looked slightly paler than usual and was rubbing his eyes intently as he sat down and reached desperately for a cup of coffee.



“You don’t seem your chirpiest today, Severus,” commented Tonks cheerfully.



“Did not get much sleep,” he grunted heavily in reply.



Hermione eyed him intently, but he seemed determined to act as though she wasn’t even there. He reached for two slices of toast without so much as reacting to her glaring at him.



She had found Snape was somehow different now from how he’d been back at Hogwarts, and Hermione suspected the war and the changes in his life weren’t the real reason – it all had to do with Killengreen. Something about this Snape house disturbed him, and she was beyond curious to find out what.



But obviously Snape would never tell her.



Their talk the evening before had indicated as much; whilst talking he had caught himself halfway through and shut her out again. Snape seemed to be struggling more than he let on.



Perhaps it was just a reminder of bad childhood memories – if this at all was his childhood home, that was. If not, then Killengreen disturbed him for other, unknown reasons.



Such as the ghost in the garden, perhaps?



Which was understandable; Hermione couldn’t imagine a person who wouldn’t be disturbed by the sight she had set her eyes on the night before.



She decided she would ask Harry later on if he’d seen it at some point, too.



The breakfast passed, for the most part, in silence, and after they had all finished the Rebels seemed to automatically divide into groups: Most of them took off through various doors in the room, discussing various topics which Hermione knew little or nothing about.



Those remaining were the very same as the ones she’d told her tale to the evening before.



“There are still a few things to be sorted out,” said Harry awkwardly as silence had fallen around them. “For one, we need to update Hermione on a few things.”



“And there is an issue or two that I believe Miss Granger and I would like to share with the rest of you,” Snape suddenly shot in, silkily.



Hermione’s gaze jumped to him, and he looked back at her, but his expression was as though made of ice. It was impossible to detect what he was thinking.



“Er... okay,” said Harry, daring a quick, questioning glance at Hermione. “Well, anyway – Hermione, as you’ve obviously realized we’re the only ones – as far as we know – who are currently fighting Voldemort.”



Snape’s eyes narrowed considerably, but he managed to keep his mouth shut.



“Though we suspect there might be more,” said Lupin. “But of course it is difficult to get in touch with them if that’s the case... They are probably about as secretive as we are.”



“And we are impossible to find,” said Tonks with satisfaction.



“I understood quite early on that’s what you were doing,” said Hermione, “almost as early as from Professor Snape’s first visit. But more precisely, what do you do?”



“We try to muck things up for You-Know-Who,” said Bill Weasley, putting his tea cup down and devoting all his attention to Hermione. “It’s like Muggle guerrilla, basically – we cling to scraps of information or tips and try to ruin whatever the Death Eaters have planned. And of course, we are working day and night to find the ultimate solution.”



“Meaning, the end of the war,” said Ginny. “And victory to our side, this time.”



“It is quite simple,” said Snape impatiently. “Our dear Mr. Potter here still needs to fulfill a prophecy, and our main goal is to find a way for him to do that. In the meantime, we are simply gathering information and doing what we can.”



“Information... like what you learned from me,” said Hermione.



“Precisely.”



“You said to me yesterday that that information helped you a lot. How?”



“You told us about a man named Claude working for the Malfoys, Miss Granger,” replied Snape. “As it happened, this very Claude was ‘working’ for us, as well.”



“A spy?” said Hermione, shock stricken.



Harry nodded. “Fleur Delacour brought him from France, but she didn’t know him all that well. If Malfoy hadn’t told you about him, who knows if we’d still be sitting here now.”



Hermione frowned. A traitor, even at such desperate times with such a small group of fighting rebels? How strange... And how lucky that they had learned the truth in time.



“I don’t think there’s anything more to tell you at the moment,” said Harry. “We’ve got Mariana from Bulgaria and two Norwegian girls, Gudrun and Ingeborg, working to give us better knowledge of who and how many Death Eaters there are. A few others are doing what they can to find out more about where Voldemort is hiding, and some again are working to develop new spells and charms, though so far there’s been little or no progress in that area... Sadly.”



“I believe you’ve about covered it, Harry,” said Lupin sincerely. “Good work.”



“I guess we’re done here, then?” said Bill, standing from his seat. “I need to get back to my research.”



“Go if you wish, Bill, but there is still an issue that Miss Granger and I would like to share with you all,” said Snape calmly.



Bill hesitated, then sat back down again.



And Hermione’s heart felt as though it had sunk to the very pit of her stomach. She was beginning to seriously dread what the issue Snape wanted to discuss was, although she deep down probably already knew it.



“Before I learned of Miss Granger’s... true identity,” said Snape, emphasizing the words with care, “she told me about a proposition offered to her by Draco Malfoy.”



Harry’s gaze immediately jumped to Hermione. Bill raised an eyebrow and settled properly into his chair, and there was an unnerving silence around the table.



“What proposition?” asked Harry at last.



“How detailed Miss Granger’s accounts to you of her relationship with Draco are I cannot say, but undoubtedly you have all realized that the young Malfoy is quite... taken with her,” said Snape. “He has offered Miss Granger to go and live at Malfoy Manor.”



To Hermione’s great surprise, Harry laughed. A harsh, cynical laugh.



“Well, that’s out of the question,” he said with ease. “Of course that’s out of the question.”



The silence following this statement clearly announced that not all those present agreed with him. Snape had a kind of satisfied look upon his face, and both Tonks and Bill looked as though they were thinking hard. Ginny and Lupin looked, by now, mortified, whereas Harry looked nothing short of completely lost.



Hermione sighed and kept her focus on the surface of the table.



“You’ve got to be kidding,” said Harry after a few minutes of silence. “Are you all considering this?!”



“Be sensible, Potter,” said Snape nastily, “and think of the advantages this would have for us. Draco still believes Miss Granger to be Mira Gideon; she could provide us with valuable information should she choose to go and stay there.”



“I don’t care how valuable the information may be, she’s not moving in there!” argued Harry. “We’ve only just found her, and now you want to send her straight off out again?”



“It’s really not a bad idea, Harry,” said Bill carefully. “Both the Malfoys are important Death Eaters. I bet Hermione would be able to find out loads if she was there twenty-four hours a day.”



“Have you all forgotten exactly why Malfoy wants her to come and stay with them?” said Harry angrily. “It’s quite obvious, isn’t it? It’s bad enough that Hermione had to endure that for six months on her own, but now when she’s back with us there’s no way –”



“Harry,” Lupin interrupted calmly. “Please think sensibly for a second. Severus has got a point; we would gain a lot of information from a scheme like that.”



“Maybe it’ll be exactly what we need to turn this war,” said Tonks wistfully.



There was another short silence.



“You know,” said Ginny then, “I think we probably should ask Hermione what she thinks before moving on with this idea at all.”



“Of course,” nodded Lupin, then turned his attention to Hermione. “I’m sorry, Hermione. Of course what you think is most important.”



Hermione, who’d remained silent throughout the discussion, drew a deep breath.



“I think I can do it,” she said, daring a glance at Harry. “I mean, I know I can, and I think I’ll live through it as well. It’s like I told Professor Snape yesterday, back at Lilly Barrette’s – back then I was lost; there was no one I felt I could really trust... But now I’m back here with you and I know I can trust you – and more importantly, I know that there’s an actual resistance going on, and of course I want to assist in any way I can.”



“You can assist, of course you can,” said Harry, “in other ways! Not by giving yourself up to the likes of Draco Malfoy!”



“I believe,” said Snape silkily, “that this is Miss Granger’s decision alone.”



“The hell it is!”



“Harry,” said Hermione firmly. “It is my decision. And I appreciate your care, but I don’t think I could have been able to face myself in the mirror for the rest of my life if I knew I could have done something as important as this and had turned it down for personal reasons. I can do it,” she repeated with confidence. “And now when I know there’s hope, and now that I’ve got you to come back to, there’s no question. I’ll go.”



Hermione knew she sounded braver than she felt, but her act worked its trick: Harry was reluctant to argue, and she could see that both Lupin and Ginny were considering it with more sincerity now than before. They would let her go.



And she was scared shitless, obviously. She’d be moving into Malfoy Manor; who in their right minds would do that? But every word Hermione had spoken was true; she did feel more confident now when she knew there was still resistance, and now when she knew she still had friends around her... They’d wait for her and make sure she was okay.



There was something about having a safe place to come home to, someone you knew you could always trust... Back when she’d been Mira Gideon, Hermione hadn’t had anything like that.



Now, however, she did.



And she was determined to do her part.



--



“I’m so sorry Mr. Malfoy, but I really can’t help you. If you’d perhaps –”



“Fine, shut up,” Draco snarled. “Let me talk to Lilly Barrette.”



“Oh, I think Lilly’s a bit busy at the –”



“LET ME TALK TO HER!”



Hailie, deciding it was healthiest for her not to argue further with the very upset Draco Malfoy, left the bar in a hurry and returned seconds later with a very irritated looking Lilly Barrette.



“Honestly, Mr. Malfoy,” said Barrette indignantly. “I do wish you would lower your voice. It may be early yet, but I still have people in my house, and I could hear your shouting all the way into the back.”



“My apologies, Miss Barrette,” said Draco with forged politeness, “but your dear girl in the bar here is not providing the assistance I require.”



“Oh,” sighed Barrette dramatically. “Well, come with me then, if you please.”



Draco followed Barrette through the pub and out through one of the back doors by the rickety staircase. He was then shown into a rather shabby-looking office which appeared, somehow, perfect for a woman running a brothel.



Lilly Barrette sat down behind the desk and indicated for Draco to sit in the chair in front of it.



“So,” she said, leaning back in her chair. “You say Hailie wasn’t doing her job?”



“That’s not what I said,” snapped Draco. “I wanted to talk to Mira Gideon – or at least, book her for tonight. That Hailie girl of yours says it’s not possible, but then refuses to tell me why. Since when were your customers treated like this, Miss Barrette?” he added nastily.



“Mr. Malfoy,” said Barrette, leaning forward again. “You must understand this is a bit of a delicate matter; you see – Miss Gideon is no longer here.”



“She’s what?”



“Exactly what I said, she’s gone.”



Draco got irritated. “What do you mean, ‘she’s gone’? Where has she gone? You are supposed to be her employer, shouldn’t you know these things?”



“Yes, and believe me when I say I’m as frustrated as you,” replied Barrette. “But the fact of the matter is that Mira has vanished from under all of our noses. She did not join us for supper last night, and her room is now empty.”



“Well – when is the last time you saw her?” demanded Draco.



“I saw her during breakfast, but Hailie saw her just before supper – apparently she returned from a walk and then met with a gentleman in the pub. He went up to her room with her, and since then it appears no one knows anything about where she went or what might have happened.”



“A – a gentleman?” echoed Draco, frowning. “What gentleman? Do you know who he was?”



“Hailie says it was one of Mira’s regulars, so there was no reason to suspect him of anything until we found her room empty this morning,” replied Lilly Barrette. “Apparently, it was that wealthy, mysterious one named Granger. Something Granger, it was... Began with a T or a P, I think, his first name.”



“Granger,” nodded Draco, tapping the desk with his fingers. “Mr. Granger... Mira mentioned him – so did Hailie in fact.”



“Yes, like I said, he’s a regular.”



“And now Mira has simply... vanished?”



“Like a puff of smoke,” confirmed Barrette. “We checked her room thoroughly, but there were no clues – other than that most of her belongings are gone, obviously.”



Draco looked up. “Her things are gone?”



“Yes... We have been wondering, Mr. Malfoy, whether or not she ran away with this Mr. Granger...” Barrette looked wistful. “It’s difficult to tell, however... He didn’t quite seem the type to bring a prostitute home, but then again I can’t say I know the man. Eh – you didn’t happen to know him by any chance, did you?”



“No, I didn’t,” said Draco slowly.



That was true; he didn’t know Mr. Granger, but he did know the man’s last name.



The Mudblood.



He was certain it had something to do with her – how often did you meet people in the Wizarding world with that last name? And now, somehow, that stupid Hermione Granger had sent a relative of hers or something of the sort to drag Mira Gideon out of the gutter and to only the gods knew where.



That accursed Mudblood bitch had ruined all of Draco’s careful planning.



He’d come to House of Lilly Barrette’s today to set his scheme into motion, his scheme to change Mira’s mind and make her move in to Malfoy Manor. Once he was through, victory would have been assured.



But oh, no – a certain Mr. Granger just had to come along and ruin everything, didn’t he?



“Well, if you hear from her at all please let me know,” said Barrette after a slight pause as she got to her feet again. “We do need her back, and quick... She’s an important employee, after all.”



“Undoubtedly,” said Draco coldly, then bid Barrette farewell and left the pub in a hurry, fury building up inside him.



Mira Gideon had as though vanished from the face of the earth.



Would he give up on her?



Oh, no.



He wasn’t Draco Malfoy for nothing.





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A/N: Thanks so much to my ever faithful beta JessiokaFroka! Now, I know you might think things are developing slowly here, but believe me, all this information’s necessary. And by now I’ve established when the real action between Hermione and Severus will occur, and it’s not far away. :)



dragon34: The silvery shape wasn\'t an orb... You\'ll find out what it is later on. ;)


And thanks so much to all my reviewers, of course - adore you!