Lord of the Land

Chapter 21

The next morning Hermione was getting ready to go to the farm when Draco came into the bedroom.

“Where do you think you’re going?” Draco asked.
“To the farm.”
“What for? You harvested all the crops. You don’t have to go there. My mother and Posy’s mother haven’t met you yet. I’m sure they are downstairs eating breakfast.”

Hermione asked, “Posy’s mother, is she your aunt by marriage?”
"No she’s my father’s sister.”

Hermione followed Draco down to breakfast.

Hermione tried to be unnoticed as she ate her porridge and drank her tea. Draco sitting next to her tried to listen to the conversation.

Mr. Malfoy, who was sitting at the head of the table, was laughing and listening intensely. On his right a blonde haired woman and on his left, the woman Draco’s father had kissed on the stairs after dinner.

Both women were eating their breakfast and talking to Lucius about Italy and France and didn’t notice the two who had joined them at the breakfast table. The two women chatted about the places they stayed, the friends and family they saw.

Posy waltzed into the room and went up to the woman Hermione thought was Draco’s mother and said,
“Good morning mother. Did you sleep well now that you are home?” kissing her on the cheek.

“Yes, it’s good to be home again. I’m still unpacking and I still have more boxes on the way here,” the woman said in weary tone.

The other woman brought a napkin to her mouth, swallowed her tea quickly and said with enthusiasm,
“Yes, they should all be here by tomorrow.” She turn to Draco who was sitting next to her and said,
“Draco, I do hope you like your new broom. It’s supposed to be faster than the one you’ve got. It’s upstairs.”

Draco had a huge smile on his face and laughed with joy,
“Thank you mother, I can’t wait to try it out. I’ve gotten it just in time for the upcoming match. Mother you didn’t meet Hermione last night,” he turned to Hermione and said,
“Hermione this is my mother, Narcissa Malfoy.”

Hermione politely nodded toward, as her mouth was full with porridge, her mother-in-law did the same.
Draco continued,
“And this is my aunt Eva, Posy’s mother,” and again Hermione nodded to the woman she was being introduced to.
Eva nodded back.

Eva turned to Draco and said,
“She’s pretty Draco, not the same as Anne. Dark, but pretty in her condition, glowing in motherhood.”

‘Something isn’t right’ Hermione thought.

Hermione’s brain was trying to fit the pieces of this puzzle together, but a sense told her not to think about it now, later when she was alone.

The two women went back to chatting about their trip.

Hermione felt something tickling her leg.
She looked under the table and saw a cat there with red eyes.
It hissed at her and walked toward the other side of the table to Posy.


It was then Hermione noticed an old man on his hands and knees at the other end of the table making soft noises to attract the cat. He crawled under the table to get the cat in front of Posy.
Posy lifted her skirt for the old man, exposing herself.

Hermione had seen enough, she ate what she could of her breakfast, excused herself, and went back to her bedroom.

‘If Eva is Lucius’s sister why was he kissing her in a such a passionate way?’ Hermione wondered.

Hermione’s skin started to crawl when she thought of it now, brother and sister kissing in such a manner. It made her feel sick. No, there must be a reason. She decided to think of it later as she started to read a book.

An hour later Draco came in and announced,
“I’m trying out my new broom and it would look better if my wife was there.”


Draco was flying around the tops of the trees and then flew off toward the square.
Hermione sat down on one of the chairs on the terrace as the others went in to the garden.
Hermione saw the white dog in the yard. Several dogs were sniffing around it and trying to mate with it. The white dog nipped and growled at the other dogs.

Hermione shooed the other animals away from the white canine and saw that it had mange, it had scabs and sores on its’ backside and legs and the stench was terrible. Hermione smelled that stench before but she couldn’t remember where or when.

Hermione went to examine the animal a little closer but the dog growled and showed its’ teeth at Hermione. It crouched down into a threatening pose. Hermione backed away slowly not having her wand with her at that moment. She reached the door to the kitchen and slipped safely in or so she thought.

The next moment the dog had somehow nudged the kitchen door open and was stalking Hermione.

Hermione picked up the first thing she could find on the table, a Butcher knife.

She held the knife up and thought how to hit it but not cut into it or kill it.

However the door opened and Crabbe came in all excited,
“That’s a great broom Mrs. Malfoy. Draco’s lucky to have you as a mother.” Draco’s mother was following him into the kitchen.

The two people crossed the path of the dog, allowing Hermione to get away from the canine. She hid the Butcher knife in the pocket of her skirt, wondering if the dog was still in pursuit.

Hermione made her way back to her bedroom to rest for a while.
She pulled out the Butcher knife looked at it and stuffed it under the mattress.

Hermione knew she couldn’t kill Draco; not with the ring on her finger, it wouldn’t let her. She could only do what was best for him to make him look or feel good like a dutiful wife would.


“Dutiful wife, “ Hermione said softly to herself as she lay down on the bed. She looked at the ring,
“Slave maker. I’ll get you off some how.”
‘Less than two weeks then it will be off at the tribute,’ she thought to herself, ‘I’ll never wear one of these things again‘ drifting off to sleep.

Draco rode the broom and mastered it in a matter of hours.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It was his panicked voice that woke Hermione up.
She ran down the hall to Posy’s bedroom.

There, Posy was on her bed, half dressed, white as a ghost and very still. The light in her eyes was gone. She looked completely lifeless.

Draco was shaking her by her shoulders,
“Posy! Posy!”

“What happened?” Hermione asked.

“ How the hell am I supposed to know I just found her like this.” Draco answered.

“Is she breathing? Is there a pulse?” Hermione asked.

Draco shrugged his shoulders.

Hermione pushed him out of the way. She checked for a pulse at her wrist and then Posy’s neck. She couldn’t find any pulse.
Hermione looked at Posy and put her ear to her mouth to see if she was breathing at all. Hermione listened for a few moments.

Then suddenly Hermione’s head was pushed away from Posy’s mouth.

Hermione looked at Posy who had a disgusted look on her face. Posy sat up and looked around,
“Get the hell away from me. Where Argus? Where is that bastard?”

Posy got up off the bed and walked to the doorway glancing at up and down the hallway.

“Bastard. He said he’d wait,” Posy hissed.

“Are you alright Posy?” Hermione asked.

“Fine,” she said as she started to get dressed.

“What happened to you? I thought you were dead” Draco stated.

“I took Slice of Death draft. I was very close to death. Filch was suppose to wait until I woke up, but the man’s a coward and he just left me. Bastard.”

“Why did you take it for god sake.” Draco asked.

Posy put her hands on her hips and tilted her head with an expression of ‘you should know this’.

“I took it for Argus. He likes it when you’re dead.” Posy said angrily.

“He likes what, when you’re dead?” Hermione posed.

“What did it feel like to be dead?” Draco asked with a curious smile on his face.

Posy flashed a huge smile on her face,
“Here. Draco you try it,” she said in alluring voice holding out the small bottle.


As Hermione yelled to her husband,
“NO, stop Draco you don’t know how much to take,” Draco grabbed the bottle and took a small gulp.

He turned to Posy and asked,
“How long does it take to work?” and with a worried looked,
“and how much did you take and how long did it work for?

“I took a small amount…about this much.“ She pointed on the bottle how far down she drank. Posy looked at the bottle and said,
“You took about the same as me, you should be dead for fifteen minutes or so.”

Hermione watched Draco drop to the floor, dead, whiter than white and slowly going blue.

“Draco! Draco!” Hermione shouted.

Posy just laughed as she fastened the hooks on her dress,
“He’ll be out for just a bit.”

Hermione went to her bedroom and grabbed her wand and came back to Posy’s room.

She pointed her wand at Draco on the floor and said
“Wingardium Leviosa.” He floated up in to the air and Hermione positioned him over the bed slowly lowering him down.

She grabbed the bottle out of his hand and looked at it.
‘Slice of Death’ it read nothing more. She sniffed it ...very sweet smelling.

“Posy, do you have any instructions on how to use this?” Hermione asked.

“I think you just drink it Hermione.” Posy said snidely.

“How much are you are you suppose to take? And how long does it last. If he took too much it might kill him.” Hermione said with great concern.

“Well, we’ll have to wait and see.” Posy said in a causal way.

The two young women sat in on the bed waiting for any sign of life from Draco for a while.

Hermione got up and started to pace around the room and Posy held Draco’s hand looking worried and whispering,
“He’ll wake in a few minutes. I know he will.”

Hermione felt her finger vibrating or rather the ring as she walked.
It was glowing a beautiful gold yellow with bright orange and red.

“What the …..” is all she said before she felt the heat and burning sensation from the ring.

Hermione screamed.

The glowing slowly spread to her whole hand along with the pain of heat. It was on her wrist as Hermione continued to scream in horror and pain shaking her hand trying to extinguish the glow.

Posy started to yell in a panic,
“Stay away for me. Stay away for from the bed,” as the glow on Hermione’s hand came close to the bed nearly setting the drape on fire.

Hermione couldn’t think as she was waving her hand in the air.

Suddenly there was spray of water dousing the glow of flames.
Hermione stood still as the water-cooled her hand.

She turned to see Lucius standing there, his wand in his hand and water gushing from the tip.

“Hold still Hermione,” he ordered.

He continued spray her until the glow was gone.

Hermione was drenched and shaking as she said,
“Thank you sir.”

Narciss walked over to her son who was still unconscious and looked at Posy with concern expression on her face,
“Posy what did Draco take?”

“A slice of Death. I’m not sure how much he took.” She said fearfully.

“Where did he get it?” Lucius asked angrily.

“I gave it too him,” She admitted.

There was a moan from the bed and Narcissa said,
“Welcome back dear. Care to explain yourself?”


Lucius turned to Posy and hissed,
“Posy who said you could use that? It could be very dangerous if you took too much.”
Lucius walked over to the bed where Draco was now awake and looking back to normal.
“So Draco why did you take it and why did you have that spell put on that ring? Have that spell removed as soon as possible. If you were to die, she would go up in flames and so would the house.”

Eva came in to the room and asked,
“What’s all the shouting about?”

“Posy and Draco have been experimenting with Slice of Death.” Lucius said.

“I didn’t take it for Draco. I took it for Filch. Draco just wanted to know what it felt like.” Posy whined.

“Posy go to my room and I’ll speak to you there,” Lucius said pointing his finger to the door.

“But!” Posy started to say.

“Posy. Do what your father says.” Eva ordered, also raising a hand in the air and pointing a finger to the door, “Go!”

“Yes mother,” Posy said meekly, walking past them and out the door.

Lucius turned to Draco and said,
“How could you do such a stupid thing? Really Draco, I expect that kind of behavior from Posy not you. I hate to think what would have happened if I hadn’t been here. And have that curse removed from her ring. She’s carrying your son… my grandson and your heir.”

Lucius stormed out in a huff.

Hermione was still standing there drenched.
Draco walked past Hermione saying,
“I need that heir right now, but as soon as my son is born I’m going to beat you to within an inch of your life.”


Hermione went to her room to take a bath.
She sat in the tub wondering what she heard and saw.
‘Eva said Posy, “Do what your father says.” So Lucius is Posy’s father and uncle, and Draco’s half sister….. and cousin. And the Slice of Death, Posy took it for Argus Filch? He’s into necrophilia. I’ve got to get out this house. Well at least Draco’s father told him he has to get the curse removed from her ring.’

Hermione slid her whole body under the hot water trying to relax.
There were tiny little marks on her hand from the burning glow where the ring circled her finger.

Later at dinner Hermione watched her father-in-law. He was paying attention to both women, holding their hands, kissing them, and laughing at what they said. Hermione also noticed Posy was trying to get his attention all through dinner.

Draco was still angry, he didn’t talk to anyone at dinner and as soon as the dinner was over he headed out for a night of binge drinking with the Quidditch team.

After a few hours of harassing the villagers, Draco and his gang came back to the estate. They were so loud and rowdy that the maids and other help hid in the secret passages in the mansion. Hermione locked herself and a few maids in the library and stayed very quiet until the threat of harm was over.