As If In Wonderland

“Will you be my bride?”, Voldemort breathed.

Hermione’s eyes widened as she looked up at him, “what did you just say?”

“I kindly asked if you would care to marry me”, he repeated with a grin across his face.

“Are you being serious?”

“When am I not serious? I don’t have a ring, though I believe you can forgive me for that”, he sighed before noticing Hermione starting to smile, “so do you accept my offer?”

“Im going to regret this I think…but, yes!”, she laughed while meeting his embrace.

“You wont regret it”

“…Im not annoyed with you anymore milord”, she grinned while kissing the tip of his nose.

“Good, I would hate to have to punish my fiancée on the day of our engagement”

“Oh im sure you would hate that”, she said sarcastically but still with a smile, not able to get rid of it.

“I apologise, but I must go, I have an early schedule”, he groaned while getting out of bed and fixing some robes onto himself.

“Its ok, don’t you need me?”

“I would rather you stayed in today, you don’t have any chores so consider this a day off”

“Thank you milord”

“I love that sound from your lips, the way you address me”, he smirked. “Im not sure when the wedding will be held”

“it doesn’t matter…why did you propose to me?”, she asked curiously, sitting up and holding the blanket over her breasts.

“I don’t know, it just felt right…”, he said, “I must be off but I will be back in a few hours, I recommend you have breakfast and just relax, though I believe a couple of death eaters will be round to make use of some dark art equipment in the afternoon”

“Ok then…erm, can I tell anyone of our engagement?”

“Not yet”, he replied simply, “now be good”, he smirked with one last kiss before disaparating away.

“Be good? He is one to say that”, she laughed while getting up and covering herself with a red robe on the side. “Oh my god, I cant believe im engaged to him, that is so random, so weird…damn…oh my fuck, he asked me to marry him, im going to marry the dark lord”, she kept repeating, just realising how serious the situation was.

*

“…that little slut stayed in my sons room last night, disgusting! A mudblood sleeping in my home!”, Hermione heard a very familiar voice through the door of a room she had never been in before as she walked through the hallway, clutching a book she had been reading she placed her ear by the door.

“Draco just needs some sense kicked into him, he hasn’t yet had that big break I believe, he is quite powerful for his age and has a lot of potential, I just think he needs to mature as a death eater-no offence”, Hermione recognised the pair talking as Lucius and Rodulphus Lestrange.

“I realise this, ever since he has been mixing with the mudblood he has changed, its like he doesn’t mind being in the company of one! I just want to teach that one a lesson, she may have gotten the interest of our lord-but that’s only because she may make a good shag, I want to show her what damage I can really cause, she saw nothing when I last lay my hands on her”

“I will be happy to take part, I like to hear a mudblood suffer”

Bastards, was all Hermione could think, they were talking about her like she was dirt…scum.

“No, when I do I want it to be just me, show the slut what she is really worth-”, he stopped as the door slammed open causing him to spin around in surprise only to laugh when he saw Hermione looking pissed off. “Speak of the mudblood herself!”

“Don’t ever call me a mudblood”, she said, looking at the dark objects the two deatheaters were standing round, some things she recognised from Borgin and Burkes.

“Why mudblood? Does it hurt your feelings?”, Lucius taunted.

“Call me that one more time…”

“MudBlood-oomph!”, Lucius groaned as he felt a punch to his stomach with a spell Hermione had found in Voldemorts library. “You bitch”

“I warned you, look im not looking for trouble, I just overheard you two when I was passing and thought id take a look”

“So your nosy as well”, Rodulphus sneered, raising his wand.

“No im not, my lord told me that two death eaters would be here today and I just wanted to see who it was, I do get along with a couple of your kind”, she said simply.

“What makes you think you can just stroll about the dark lords home and just walk in on business, act like you own the place…who do you think you are!”, Lucius growled, starting to walk closer and cornering her. “Don’t like me being this close now do you?”

“You don’t scare me, I could hurt you so much-”

“-ah yes, I have seen your skills as the dark lords personal bodyguard. Just remember, I can hurt you if you start first”, he lowered his eyes.

“Im not that stupid, I may be strong, but I cant defeat two deatheaters…the only time I ever get really power surges is when im seriously angry”, she admitted, “now please remove your wand from my neck”, she breathed after Lucius raised his wand.

“No”

“Just go home Lucius, and you Rodulphus, wouldn’t want to piss off your wives now being out too long”, she narrowed her eyes, glad she was pissing them off.

“The dark lord wont always protect you, when the day comes that he grows bored of you…I will be the first one there”

“Tell me, what have I ever actually done wrong to you?”, she asked.

“You tainted the wizarding line with your dirty blood”

“There isn’t much I can do about that, now let me go, the dark lord ordered me to read his books and that’s what I intend to do!”

“You are lucky, why don’t you go down to the dungeons to see your lord if you believe he is changing, you really think he has changed since you came along don’t you!”, Rodulphus laughed.

“Good bye”, Hermione spat before charging out. Curious to what Rodulphus had said, she made her way downstairs to the dungeons, somewhere she had not been in a long time. Climbing down the cold, damp stairs, memories flooded back of her time in the dungeon, remembering how Voldemort came everyday so lazily and tortured her when he was bored. Hermione stopped when she entered, hearing a scream from a nearby cell, shivers ran up her spine at the sound of suffering.

“I was pleasant enough to allow you to stay in my own dungeons, you may as we behave until your executions”, she heard Voldemort say. Turning the corner slowly, she gasped as Voldemort once again repeated the torture curse on a weak looking man chained to the wall, the curse was lifted after a moment and he turned to Hermione.
“Hermione, I believe my dungeons aren’t usually a place you just walk by”

“I know milord, and I apologise for disturbing you…”, she shuddered, “just two deatheaters informed me you were down here so I thought I would see if you needed my services in any way”, she lied. “Of course, you do not, I will be going-”

“-Wait, I have a bust schedule today as you know, this prisoner only adds to that…Hermione, I believe that you should get some information out of him, makes it easier for me if I go to ministry now”

“Erm-”

“That is an order”, he said sternly.

“Of course milord…what do you want me to find out?”

“Whatever you can”, he got up and walked up to her, giving her a deep kiss, “see you at dinner”, and he was gone.

“So the dark lord is a big softie when it comes to his mistresses?”, the prisoner sneered, still shaking from the after effects of the cruciatus. Hermione didn’t reply but looked at the man, in his early thirties maybe, quite stocky with brown messy hair and quite easy on the eyes even though he was visibly weak and ill.

“Who are you?”, Hermione asked politely, sitting opposite him on a chair she conjured from thin air.

“The dark lord does not tell you much then, I guess im not that surprised, your only his whore after all-”

“-There are two things I hate to be called, whore and mudblood”

“You are Hermione Granger aren’t you? I should of recognised you from your photos. I know a lot about you, you were kidnapped a few months ago, well quite long ago. The first time anyone had heard anything of you was not too long ago, you were seen in Hogsmeade-”

“-How do you know all this?”

“My name is Leo, im a halfblood and part of an organisation against the dark lord, I was captured a couple of days ago and chucked in here, the dark lord wants to know who I work with so he can kill some more people”

“There are many organisations I hear that are against my lord, I used to belong to one as you may know, seeing as you have apparently done some research on me”

“Of course, part of the golden trio, its not like you were going to be ignored. So now you are his slut?”

“No actually. The dark lord has caused me more pain you can only imagine, he has tortured me regularly and I was not treated well for some time, until I realised I did not know what I was fighting for. He has won the war, there is no changing that…”

“You sound like you hate him, yet you kiss him like you love him”

“I don’t hate him anymore, and I do not love him, its hard to explain. Anyway, he has ordered me to get information from you, I am quite polite, I will do you a favour-I wont tell him anything that could hurt your organisation, I swear on my life that”

“I don’t believe that. Will you torture me like your lord?”

“I don’t punish the innocent, im not a death eater, though I have been scarred with the hideous mark. Please, just talk to me, that way its less likely either of us will be punished…are you hungry?”, she called a house elf to bring some food and water, and that’s when the talks began.

*.

“You should be nicer for a change milord, it may get you somewhere when it comes to interrogations!”, Hermione ate her dinner across the table from Voldemort who seemed to be in a good mood.

“That was not an interrogation, the prisoner would not be in such good condition if it was an interrogation”, he smirked.

“But still…he is quite a nice person, I was talking to him like a civilised person. And you know I found nothing out from him, but you also knew I wouldn’t give you any even if I got any information”

“Yes I knew. I thought you may like the feeling of power though, you will have to get used to it, soon to be the dark lords wife”, Voldemort settled his knife and fork down and watched Hermione interested.

“You never explained why you proposed”

“I did, I said it felt right. You have a lot of power and intelligence, you are worth more than just being my servant-”

“-how about wife and servant”, Hermione rolled her eyes. “What do you expect from me? As a wife?”

“The same as now, support and devotion. You are not a prisoner Hermione, you are more of a guest who cannot leave without permission”, he carried on as Hermione raised an eyebrow, “but now you are going to be much more”

“But that means more rules doesn’t it”, she sighed.

“Why are you acting like this?”, Voldemort asked, not sounding too happy.

“I apologise milord, I am still in such a good feeling from this morning with you…but I have this nagging in my mind, and it got worse when I saw that prisoner today…I don’t know what the nagging is trying to tell me though”

“maybe you should ignore the nagging, and listen to your lord…and your lord wishes for you to make a decision”

“And what would that be?”

“The prisoner you spoke to earlier…well he is of no use to me, so he shall be disposed of…it is your choice whether I shall spend some time with him before finishing him off, or you do it”

“What! You want me to kill!”, Hermione gasped in shock. “I wont!”

“See it in this way, the prisoner will die a much more painful death with me, he is not innocent, he has harmed many innocent people in his way to try and show how powerful his organisation is”, Voldemort got up and lay his hands on her shoulders behind her. “And I know how you hate the innocent to be punished…he has hurt many, been involved with things such as ambushes on passing wizards and witches working at the ministry…if I let him live, let him be free…he could do much worse”, he said silkily, knowing he was saying all the right words.

“I-I cant take someone’s life, you are making this so hard for me”, she said, Voldemort sighed in annoyance, he knew she was not as ready as he thought she was.

“Then I will have to do it, at dawn he shall be executed”

“Why did you tell me all this?”, she said quietly

“To remind you of who I am, I may be nicer than average to you, but I am not the same with you as everyone else. I have an empire to run, and I have things to do”

“I know…milord, I think I have a proposition for you”

“Oh?”

“We duel, you win, you kill the prisoner, I win, and you set him free”

“Now why would you want to receive a lot of pain for a simple prisoner?”

“Because I know what it feels like to be in a dungeon, knowing the dark lord decides if I live or I die”, she replied boldly.

Voldemort looked at her, thinking before smirking and handing her a drink, “I accept that offer my beauty”, he gave her a kiss, “we haven’t duelled in a while, I would like to see how you have improved”

“Oh, don’t worry about that, I have…and I shall kick your ass”, she smirked, knowing she was probably the only person in the world able to say that without being punished. “Shall we get to it then, or are you busy tonight?”

“I think I can push aside a few business arrangements, I look forward to seeing you tremble like you did before”, he laughed as she pouted. “You have developed so much since you first came here, you were always brave and intelligent, now you are more powerful and a darker side is already visible”

“You taught me something, there is no good or evil, only power and those too weak to seek it. Im not a bad person, when I do torture it is only those who deserve to be punished”, she whispered, making Voldemort smirk knowing he had changed her more than she could even imagine. “I respect you because you have achieved so much, while starting with basically nothing”

“Yes, and I could achieve so much more with you as my wife, and devoted follower”

“I serve you because I have to, but…now, I feel I am here because I want to be here with you…it makes no sense, as I am a prisoner and you have killed so many close people to me”

“it may make no sense, but it feels just right”, he said into her ear as he stood behind her, before pointing his wand to her neck, “I could hurt you so much right now, but when I duel, I duel fair”

“Oh really”, she rolled her eyes before getting up and walking to the other side of the room, turning to face him, “do you really want to duel where you dine? Because it might make a bit of a mess”

“oh im sure mess can be tidied”, he bowed his head as did she, “stupefy!”

“Protego!”, she cried as she whipped out her wand Voldemort had given her before. “I thought you said you would damage me?”, she taunted, “crucio!”

“Don’t even think about torturing me, crucio!”, he hit her square in the chest making her scream in pain, after a moment she cast the disarming charm through the pain causing him to be thrown back unexpectedly and releasing the curse. He moaned in pain as he hit the wall, but managed to keep grip of his wand, “feisty aren’t you, Sectumsempra!”, she managed to dodge it though the curse hit her left leg making her fall back down and have blood pooling round her.

“Fuck”, she groaned while trying to stop the blood.

“Give up?”

“Sectumsempra!”, she replied, hitting his arm and causing a long gash and blood spurting everywhere.

“Bitch!”, he swore and attempted to torture her again but she managed to dodge it, he blasted the table they ate their dinner on in her direction, narrowly dodging it as it smashed against the wall behind her, Hermione charmed a few plates to fly in his direction, none hitting him of course though he managed to get one to repel back in her direction, hitting her on the forehead and knocking her over.

“Fuck fuck fuck”, Hermione cried, pointing her was at Voldemort she threw a chair at him which he easily avoided. “Crucio!”, this time the curse hit him, but it didn’t affect him, though he did stop for a moment before throwing another Sectumsempra at her, slicing across her chest, “fuck im losing too much blood”, she gasped feeling faint while in terrible pain.

“Then I win?”, he smirked.

“Just stop me bleeding!”, she cried before losing consciousness. Voldemort got to stopping her bleeding, and tutted as he saw the amount of blood she had lost, thinking best to restore her blood, he muttered a small charm. He studied her for a few minutes, looking down at the slashes along her chest and leg, as well as a massive bruise and cut on her head from the plate, overall she had done well in the duel, though he knew she could do better.

“I always win”, he grinned while picking her up and apparating them to bed.

*.

“Eurgh”, Hermione groaned as she made her way down to breakfast to see the place had been fixed and Voldemort already eating and working with many pieces of parchment round him, what surprised her was he was wearing a robe with his hood up so she could only see his lips. He didn’t acknowledge Hermione with a big bruise and a scar on her forehead, and by the way she was walking, the Sectumsempra curse was still affecting her leg and chest.

She gave him a dirty look when he didn’t say anything and took a seat to begin to eat. “So, do you want me to heal you or not?”, she could see a smirk on his lips.

“If its not too much trouble milord“, she replied annoyed, “I just cant believe how badly I did last night”, she groaned.

“You did well, you just need to practise defence and have a bit more variety in your choice of curse”, he said before healing her, much to Hermione’s relief. “I have a stressful day ahead of me, so I wont be in any mood for any childish moments you sometimes have”

“What childish moments!”, she cried angrily.

“You are just moody you lost the duel, get over it already”

“Why are you wearing your hood up, you don’t usually”, she asked

“I have business to attend to, people seem more intimidated when I wear it, and that is my advantage”, he replied silkily. “You are not coming, it is dangerous and I have no wish to have to rescue you like you are some damsel in distress”

“You speak as if im incapable of defending myself! For a moment there I thought you meant you didn’t want me hurt, like you actually cared about me, but it turns out you just don’t want to be seen helping a mudblood if she gets into some difficulty!”, she spat. The next moment she was thrown back into the opposite wall with a crack and being pinned to that wall, Voldemort didn’t rise from his seat but held his wand on her.

“How dare you speak to me in such a way, you forget who I am and I think you need reminding”, he tortured her while keeping her pinned to the wall, “why do you always get so fiery?”

“Because I wont ever be a walk over, if you want someone who you can sleep with and also have them think of you as a god then I suggest like before you get with Bellatrix, im sure her husband will be willing to give her to you”

“Why on earth would I want a psychotic witch as my wife? I don’t want to you be a walk over, I like it when you argue back, but I don’t like it when you forget who I am. I don’t wish to remind you who is your lord again”, he dropped the curse making Hermione fall to the floor.
“Understand me?”

“Of course milord, but I hope you understand I will beat you in a duel one day, and I assure you that you wont like it if anyone finds out that your muggleborn, Gryffindor wife wins a duel with you”, she grinned while getting up. “And im still annoyed with you, and seeing as you are off doing some dangerous tasks and not believing I am capable of being involved…I shall just sit around, wasting time as usual”

“Actually you could teach yourself some magic, im sure you will like to learn new spells with some books I have had imported?”

“Of course, but they are dark aren’t they”

“Show me what you have learned tomorrow, you don’t then you will be punished, you do well then I will reward you. I am not in the mood to chat now, I have places to be, people to kill…”

*.

Hermione had surprised herself at how much she had learnt from a few books she was sure wouldn’t even have been in the restricted section at Hogwarts, what surprised her even more was the fact she enjoyed using the curses and jinxes because she was pretty good at them. Though she had yet to use them on anyone, she was proud in a way in only a few hours she was able to use spells she was sure only Voldemort would think of using.

“Milord!”, Hermione smiled when she heard the library door open the next morning, only to see Lucius standing before her, “where is the dark lord?”, she asked while not moving from her curled up position on the sofa with a book in her hand.

“The dark lord was already having a busy day yesterday and it involved alot of injuries and a few deaths, my son being one injured after being cursed by an unknown source…though it is believed your precious order were involved”

“They are not my order, and how the hell could they be involved! They are all locked up in Azkaban!”

“No they are not, you know they escaped last week using the method you used after stealing a wand from a passing guard, they had planned it since you escaped-”

“-what! How comes I wasn’t told!”, Hermione’s eyes widened and Lucius shook his head, “why are you here?”

“I have been ordered to escort you to St Mungos where my son is being treated, you are to assist in healing him”

“How can I help? Im not a healer”

“The dark lords orders, now come on, being in the same room as you is disgusting enough let alone having to escort you around”, he spat. “We have to apparate, now take my arm”

“I can apparate by myself”

“I am aware of that, and I do not want to apparate with you but its orders, now do it”, Lucius growled, holding his cane tightly where his wand was concealed, Hermione stood for a defiant moment before taking his arm and apparating with him. Hermione regained her balance quickly as they arrived in a waiting area type of room in St.Mungos, instantly recognising the smell of cleanliness and that strange smell all hospitals had.
“He is through there, now if you don’t find out how to heal him, I guarantee you will suffer by my hand”, Lucius growled while pointing to a nearby door. Hermione didn’t reply but quickly went through the door to see Draco, she looked on shocked to see him lying in a bed on his own, awake but looking weak with a long gash running from his chest to below the covers.

“Hey”, he half smiled

“Hey, have to get into trouble don’t you”, she smiled and came closer, making sure Lucius hadn’t come in as well, “so what happened”

“Just a mission what went a bit wrong, someone hit me with this curse and it fucking kills…the healers don’t know what curse it was and its likely to kill me within the next few days-”

“-No!”, Hermione gasped, getting on her knees next to his bed and looking at him in disbelief.

“Im stupid, I keep failing, I shouldn’t even be a death eater because im so shit at it. My father is embarrassed of me and I know the dark lord is probably going to kill me if I don’t die from this stupid mistake”

“You are not stupid, and your father should be embarrassed of himself, he isn’t exactly the best wizard is he. Your father says ive been given orders to heal you, and if I fail he will hurt me himself-so your father does care about you”

“You are supposed to heal me?”

“Yes, now tell me, how did this person curse you-like did you see what hand movements etc?”

*.

“Why the fuck did you send Draco into the middle of a war zone!”, Hermione shouted as she stormed into Voldemort’s study when she got back, he looked up seemingly amused.

“I don’t know what you are talking about, there has been no war, just a minor battle-it happens regularly, young Draco just happened to muck up and get hit by a curse no one recognises”, he sat back in his chair, “you were quite rude barging in here but I think I can let you off. If I remember correctly last time we spoke I told you to learn some spells”

“I will show you what I am capable of, but first I need to heal Draco, no one dies if I don’t want them to”, she said sternly.

“So can you do it? I looked over him and couldn’t recognise what it was, so I doubt you will-”

“The difference between me and you is that I want to heal him, so I am more likely to achieve that, surely you already knew the more you want something the more likely you are to get it?”

“You are wise, but I already knew that. So, you think you can heal him?”

“That’s the thing, I don’t know how to heal him yet you do, you lied that you did not know just so you could see me try. I can tell you, I don’t know how to heal him but you will do it, because if you don’t I shall make your life hell-and that is a promise!”. Voldemort was taken aback by her fierceness but then clapped.

“You passed the test”

“Huh?”

“I originally wanted to see how well you coped with new spells I told you to learn, but then when I found out Draco was in danger of dying, I knew it would be the perfect way to see how well you react to certain things. I used legilmency on you so I know you were successful in learning dark magic, and now I see how clever you are without the book side of things…I shall heal Draco Hermione, as long as you know you will be married to the darkest wizard that ever lived…by sunset tomorrow”.

“So be it, I have no choice in that matter do I”

“No, but you don’t care if you have a choice or not, you want to be my wife”

“Why are you so sure about that?”

“Lord Voldemort always knows”, he smirked. “And your reply when I first asked you…well, you agreed so quickly it would be hard to believe you were once part of an organisation against me”

“How do you know I still agree to marry you”

“Because now my beauty, even if you don’t agree, you will still be married to myself”, he laughed darkly.

“If I marry you, you cant keep hiding things from me that I should know-such as the order of the phoenix escaping from Azkaban for example!”

“Oh that…just a minor thing, doesn’t really affect anything or anyone…you told me you wernt involved with them anymore so it shouldn’t bother you”

“Still!”

“Get some sleep, I shall heal Draco and then we wed tomorrow”

“Is it going to be a private ceremony or one where your entire force of death eaters arrive?”

“Ill have to think about that…before you leave, I need to tell you something”, she stopped before opening the door to leave, “I didn’t kill that prisoner, I let him go-maybe you are right, it would be a waste of
magical blood”

“Thank you milord…I have morals, I wont torture the innocent”

“so you have told me”

“But when I get angry…well, that cant be helped”, she added darkly before leaving, much to Voldemorts pleasure.
_

Ah sorry its such a rubbish chapter, but I am so busy this past week I had to rush it, I promise it will be better next chapter! Thanks