A Maid in the Devil's Manor

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to JKR. All situations are mine. No $$$ is being made from this fanfic.
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Chapter 18 ~ Hermione Faces Off with the Ministry


Lucius Malfoy finished buttoning his robes. He looked in the mirror on the dressing table and adjusted his collar. Satisfied, he turned to his wife who lay in the bed watching her husband getting ready for work. He looked down at her coldly.

“Be here, in this room, in this bed when I return this evening, Narcissa,” he said, “I don’t want to have to go looking for you. You know how that displeases me.”

Narcissa looked up at her husband’s cold, gray eyes. There was no love there.

“Yes, Lucius,” she said softly.

He disapparated, on his way to the Ministry.

Narcissa lay there for a few minutes, making sure Lucius didn’t return. Painfully, she slid to the edge of the bed. She lifted her gown and looked down at herself. Her thighs were red and her sex swollen. Her husband did not make love to her. He brutalized her. He was angry she had not yet conceived an heir. She rose from the bed and made her way to the loo. She walked to the shelves and removed a bottle of healing draught. She sat on the loo, opened the bottle and let it pour over her thighs and pussy. She saved a little to put in her douche, to take care of the rawness inside. She sighed, and blinked back the tears that threatened to fill her blue eyes.

A sudden hard look crossed her face as she rose, exited the loo and walked to her dressing table. It was covered with beauty supplies and numerous bottles of perfume. She selected a large bottle of scent, picked it up and unscrewed the top. She put it to her lips and swallowed it down, then recapped it and put the bottle back in place. It was a powerful, undetectable contraceptive. She had paid a lot for it, but it was worth it. Lucius had killed her beloved son, she’d be damned if she were going to put another child within his reach.

Narcissa knew Lucius was a loyal deatheater through and through when he served the Dark Lord. She turned a blind eye to it, and to his other indiscretions. This was the way the wives of Malfoys existed for years. They were only there to breed heirs. After they did so they were given large expense accounts and the freedom to take lovers as long as they were discrete. After Draco had been born, Narcissa had been for the most part relieved of her wifely duties to Lucius. He only took her now and then to relieve his urges. He had never loved her. But she was an acceptable wife to bear his child, coming from a good pureblood family.

Narcissa was at the trial when Hermione told how Lucius had murdered her son. She heard the conviction in the witch’s voice, and saw the anger flashing in her eyes. The girl had obviously cared about Draco. The hatred in her eyes as she looked at Lucius was palpable. Lucius had simply sat there, his eyes narrowed, looking at the witch. When he was on the stand, he simply said he didn’t remember killing his son and broke down in crocodile tears. That very evening, Narcissa contacted the apocathery in Knockturn Alley and requested the expensive contraceptive. She had been taking it for almost eight years, and would continue to take it until her womb dried out. Lucius would never plant another child inside her. Never.

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“Hurry up, Bozo!” Rita chided as she ran as quickly as her heels would allow her to get to the Ministry. There was a small crowd outside, trying to get in and find out what the Ministry was going to do about Hermione. Rita and Bozo pushed their way through, flashing their press cards, and squeezed past the Aurors guarding the doors. Rita’s heels clicked as she walked quickly down the hall towards the boardroom, where the inquiries were held. Kingsley Shacklebolt and Nymphadora Tonks stopped her at the door. Both of the Aurors were members of the Order.

“Can’t go in Rita,” Tonks said, grinning at the reporter, “closed inquiry.”

“Closed? Closed! That’s not right. The people have a right to know!” she screeched, trying to push her way past Tonks. Kingsley gripped her tightly by the shoulder. The black wizard looked down at her.

“Well, the people are going to have to wait until the inquiry is over, Miss Skeeter. Now either you go over there and sit down,” Kingsley said in his rich, deep voice, nodding with his head toward some folding chairs set against the wall, “Or you go out the door. Your choice.”

“Well, I never!” Rita huffed, shrugging her shoulder free of Kingsley’s grasp and walking over to the chairs and throwing herself into one, fuming.

“I bet she has,” Tonks whispered to Kingsley, who chuckled.

Tonks looked at the closed door to the boardroom.

“This is a bit of nasty business, Kingsley,” she said. “They’re going to bounce Hermione out on her ear. You know she wouldn’t pass secrets, and you know Severus would never give secrets to deatheaters. He hates them more than anyone in the wizarding world.”

Kingsley nodded. “Yes, but he never got a fair shake, Tonks. You know how they treat him. Give him a medal and then treat him like shit for doing what no one else could or would do. If this job didn’t pay so well, I’d quit. I’m tired of the Ministry’s bullshit.”

“Me too, Kingsley,” Tonks said. They both fell silent as Hermione approached them. She had pushed her way through the jeering crowd and been informed she was to report directly to the boardroom.

Rita Skeeter spotted her and jumped up, running toward her, the quick quotes quill following closely. She started shooting questions at Hermione.

“Miss Granger, do you have any comment about why you are being brought before the board? Are you guilty of the accusations made against you? Have you any other plans for employment in the Spells industry in the event you are let go? How do you feel about being called before the board? Do you have a defense…”

Hermione, who had been trying to walk past, turned to the witch, her eyes blazing.

“Get the FUCK away from me Rita, before I cast an Unforgivable on you!” she shouted at the witch, who fell back instantly. Bozo snapped a picture of the snarling witch.

“Did you hear that, Bozo? She threatened me, she threatened me with an Unforgivable!” Rita gasped, holding her large, mannish hand to her breast while nervously adjusting her jeweled spectacles.

Hermione continued walking toward the boardroom. The witch stopped in front of the two Aurors, who both looked at her sympathetically.

“How you doing there, girly?” Tonks said to her softly, wishing she could embrace the witch.

“Not so good, Tonks,” she replied. She looked at Kingsley.

“Hi Kingsley,” she said shortly. The wizard’s brown eyes swept over her. They were sad.

“Hey there Hermione,” he replied. Then with a sigh he asked, “You ready to go in?”

Hermione nodded.

“All right then,” he said. He and Tonks pulled open the double doors wide, and Hermione walked into the boardroom. At the front of the boardroom was a long table, at which sat the twelve board members, and the Minister of Magic in the center. There was a box similar to a jury box on the left wall. All the department heads sat there, frowning at her. In front of the board was a small, uncomfortable wooden chair. Every eye was on Hermione, looking at her soberly.

The Minister, Phineas Figglesworth, cleared his throat.

“Welcome, Miss Granger. I suspect you know why you are here this morning. Please take the seat in front of us,” he said gesturing toward the hard, wooden chair. Hermione sat down stiffly and looked up at the board members. Her eyes moved slowly across them until they fell on Lucius. Then they went hard as diamond. Lucius sneered at her, malice in every line of his handsome face. He had the mudblood now.

Minister Figglesworth spoke. “Miss Granger, we are not going to mince words here. What is your relationship to Severus Snape, the deatheater?”

“You mean Severus Snape the Spy and War Hero, don’t you?” Hermione shot back. “You did give him an Order of Merlin First Class for his service to the wizarding world.”

“Just answer the question, Miss Granger!” Lucius snapped impatiently. He was not going to allow the woman to turn this hearing into a Snapefest.

“Professor Snape and I have a business arrangement. He is helping me with a project,” she stated shortly.

“And what is the nature of this project, Miss Granger?” Lucius shot at her.

She frowned at the blonde wizard.

“It is a private project, Mr. Malfoy. I would rather not divulge its nature. I will just say it is very important. Extremely so.”

The Minister leaned forward.

“Do you mean to tell us, Miss Granger,” he said, a frown on his face, “That you refuse to tell us the nature of this project you are working on?”

“Yes, sir. I have a right to privacy. What I do outside the Ministry is my own affair,” she stated firmly.

This reply was met with much muttering between the board members and the department heads.

“Miss Granger, have you told Lord Snape about any of the spells you’ve developed for the Ministry? Spells that our Aurors use to track and defeat deatheaters?” another board member asked her, his eyes accusing.

“Of course not. Why would I do that? He has no interest in what goes on at the Ministry. We only discuss our project,” she responded.

“A project you refuse to divulge!” Lucius shouted. “So how do you explain all of the recent deatheater escapes, Miss Granger?”

Hermione looked at Lucius as if he were crazy.

“I don’t know. Perhaps they were just lucky, Mr. Malfoy. And I know for a fact that one of the locator spells the Aurors are using is faulty, and sends a trace signature to the person being tracked, one that can be felt. I reported it, but was ignored,” she shot back at him.

The board members shuffled through some paperwork on the table in front of them. The paperwork contained the names of all the spells Hermione had worked on in the past two years.

“There is no notation of a report on a problem with a spell listed here, Miss Granger. All complaints are carefully notated,” the Minister said with an accusing eye.

“Not if they are trying to push a spell through to reach their quota,” Hermione said, looking her department head straight in the eye. He turned his head away from her accusing gaze.

“Now you are making accusations against your department, Miss Granger? Let’s just stick to you, all right?” said the Minister hotly. Hermione fell silent but looked at him defiantly.

“Why did Lord Snape give you a two-way mirror Miss Granger? To contact him and give him information?” Lucius asked, his face red with anger. The witch wasn’t cowed at all.

“No. He gave it to me because sending messages by owl was too slow,” she responded.

“So you could discuss this clandestine project you are working on,” Lucius said.

“Yes.” Hermione replied.

“Miss Granger, every since you have been in our employ, our attempts to capture deatheaters have been less and less successful. Now we find you have a clandestine association with Severus Snape, a two-way mirror and refuse to tell us the nature of your relationship. What does that look like to you?” the Minister asked her.

“It looks like you are trying to find a scapegoat on which to blame the Ministry’s inadequacies, that’s what it looks like. I have done nothing wrong, and Professor Snape has done nothing wrong either. He would no sooner help a deatheater than you would!” Hermione declared firmly. “If anything, you should be watching Malfoy. He’s the resident deatheater here!”

“HOW DARE YOU!” Lucius blustered, rising from his chair, his face mottled with rage.

Behind Hermione, the door quietly opened. Severus slipped in.

“How dare I?” Hermione yelled back at him, rising from the chair now and facing the board.

“I dare because you all are a bunch of stuffed shirts with no backbone. You all know Professor Snape risked his life for the wizarding world for almost twenty years, forced to serve Voldemort so he could bring back information that saved the lives of thousands, and eventually helped bring the Dark Lord down. He was beaten, tortured and forced to do horrible acts all in the name of the Greater Good. Yet all of you treat him as if he were inherently evil. He wasn’t evil. He was forced to serve evil for the greater good. For all of us. Our freedom from tyranny. Every act he committed he committed to make the wizarding world free of Voldemort one day! If it weren’t for Severus Snape we would all be under the thumb of the Dark Lord today, not that Malfoy would have minded. He would have been his right hand man! You all publicly praised him, yet anytime a deatheater attack happens you bring up his name and draw it through the dirt, questioning his loyalty when he has already proved it. He is covered with the scars of his loyalty. He suffered to help us, and has more reason to hate deatheaters than anyone here. He sold his soul for us! And you…you filthy cowards wouldn’t send a single Auror to help him when the final battle came down, but you take this murderer…”

Here Hermione pointed at Lucius

“…and place him on the fucking board! And then you make anyone who associates with this noble man, this selfless man who never had a thought of his own safety or asked for any reward for what he’s done, you make them suspects too! So no one goes near him. No one will be a friend to him out of fear they too will be ruined. You placate him with a medal then ruin his life! You bunch of fucking hypocrites!”

Hermione drew a deep breath as she glared at the shocked and silent board.

“You know what? I’m not going to stand here and wait for you spineless bastards to fire me because I associate with the greatest hero in the wizarding world, on the word of some trash-writing bitch of a reporter. You don’t have to fire me. I FUCKING QUIT!”

The board burst out in shouting and arguing as Hermione kicked the chair over and stormed out of the boardroom, right past Severus, who was looking at her with his mouth open. He looked up at the board and met Lucius’ hatred filled eyes. The Potions Master smiled at him, and exited the room.

Hermione was facing off with Rita Skeeter when Severus emerged from the room. Tonks and Kingsley were standing back, their arms folded with no intention of interfering.

Rita was unwisely trying to get a comment from Hermione.

“Rita, if you know what is good for you, you will back the fuck away from me. I have nothing to say to you,” Hermione said calmly…but she was shaking with fury. She had drawn her wand. Severus sensed she was about to blow. He strode up to the witch and took Hermione by the arm.

“Hermione, let us go,” he said gently. Hermione looked up at him in shock.

“Professor, what are you doing here?” she asked.

“I didn’t want you to face the board alone. But it seems it was the board who needed support,” he said, smirking at her.

“Oh, how sweet! How noble. The deatheater comes to support the spy!” Rita sneered. Kingsley had to catch hold of Tonks wand arm. The Auror was livid for her friends. The bitch.

Severus’ black eyes raked over Miss Skeeter distastefully.

Miss Skeeter,” he said softly, “The day is going to come when you are going to have to retract all what you have written about Miss Granger and I, and apologize in front of the entire wizarding world for your wrongful, hateful claims against this woman. I guarantee that day will come. Now come, Miss Granger. Let’s get out of here.”

They began to walk away.

At that moment the boardroom doors opened and Rita turned, ready to approach the board members for comments.

Hermione pulled away from Severus and pointed her wand at Rita’s backside.

“Tuckus Gigantus!” she said.

Suddenly, Rita stopped walking.

“What! What?” the reporter cried, whirling around and facing Hermione, who turned and continued to walk away.

The back of Rita’s tight dress began to undulate. She spun around, trying to look behind her.

“Bozo! What’s happening?” she cried to the photographer who was looking at her wide-eyed.

Suddenly the back of her dress began to stretch. Her ass was swelling to an enormous size.

“Oh my gods! Help me Bozo!” Rita screeched, trying to cover her growing buttocks with her large mannish hands. But they weren’t large enough.

Hermione and Severus continued walking toward the door. There was a tearing sound and a horrible scream. Rita’s ass had torn through her clothing and was sticking out in all its swollen glory. It was huge. Screaming, she backed up against the wall trying to hide the crack of her humongous butt. There was a flash as Bozo took a picture of her. He was a photographer after all.

Severus and Hermione pushed through the crowd, which was now trying to find out what all the screaming was about. The witch and wizard passed through them unmolested.

Severus looked down at her.

“What in the world did you do to Rita?” he asked her.

Hermione grinned. “She’s such an asshole, I simply enhanced that ass-pect of her personality,” she said, then chuckled. “There’s no counterspell. It’ll wear off in a week or so.”

Severus shook his head. Hermione certainly was a wonder.

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A/N: yes! Take that, Rita Skeeter! Yay Hermione! You told them all, didn’t you? Hell yeah. Well that was a very gratifying chapter to write. She said some powerful things about the Potions Master in his presence. How do you suppose he is going to feel about her now? Please review.

A/A/N: For those of you who liked Kingsley and Tonks in this chapter, I have written a short story about them. They are lovers and the story tells how they became so. It's entitled "Medicinal Seduction or How to Restore an Auror" Severus has a role in it too. Please leave a review if you go read it. Thanks