Be Careful in the Dark

A/N Still not mine...

To say that returning to school was uncomfortable was an understatement. She had crossed some invisible boundary…passed into adulthood or darkness and left the children behind playing in the sunlight. She went to class, laughed when she was supposed to but she was on edge, her shoulder blades itching, every moment.

Harry had put his foot down over the summer and now the three of them were included in most of the Order’s meetings. She sat in those awful meetings, forcing herself to control her yawns, her fingers tapping, her eye rolls. How do these people get anything done?

The only moments of use were when Snape passed along the information he had gathered. For some inextricable reason, this was the time when half the room zoned out and did a little finger tapping of their own. Perhaps it was because his current intel was centered around a personal obsession: Lucius Malfoy.

Lucius, despite his rage, was still pretending that he was a good guy. He was not around as much but destroying Dumbledore was still clearly high on his list of priorities. Additionally, he seemed hell bent on destroying every muggle he could find. His vehemence put his fellow Death Eaters to shame.

Malfoy had used his influence and drastically altered the battle plan of Lord Voldemort. Now, instead of plotting and planning one huge attack, Voldemort was making small, destructive forays…mostly into muggle territory. The Prime Minister, the Ministry of Magic, and the entire Order, seemed completely flummoxed as to how to handle this change.

She did not have such issues and her opportunity to launch her personal counter-attack arrived with in weeks. As she was leaving the Headmaster’s office, she saw Lucius Malfoy wandering the halls of Hogwart's. Wandering was the wrong word. He was prowling the halls like he was the King of Hogwart's.

"Lord Malfoy, can I be of assistance? You seem...misplaced." She judged her tone carefully, as if he were a museum patron who had wandered into the wrong section. The nervousness in her belly remained utterly ignored.

"Don't be ridiculous." He snapped with a sneer. He had not yet caught on to the game.

"As it pleases you." She had said with a small smile and then strolled away. His spine stiffened automatically in response to the traditional phrase a pureblooded host gave a guest when said guest was being a prat. She knew it would not occur to him that she had done it on purpose. There were a great deal of books on the subject of manners in wizarding society and Slytherin was not the only house to have purebloods in it. It did not matter why she said it, he was honor bound to respond to it…even if she was a mudblood.

"Miss Granger, forgive my earlier tone. I was just enjoying a stroll down memory lane." His tone was gracious though she knew he must be irritated beyond belief at having to apologize to a lowly Mudblood.

"Perfectly understandable, Lord Malfoy." The title was old fashioned but it was extremely polite and carried a certain flare of innocent flattery. "If you are sure there is nothing I can do..." She let the phrase trail off and looked at him with a polite smile.

"No, no, Miss Granger. Do not trouble yourself over my presence." This too was a conditioned response.

"If there is anything I can do to place Hogwart's at your pleasure, please, let me know." This was a traditional statement that a subordinate in a household made to a visitor. She was, after all, Head Girl not Headmaster. He sucked in his breath at her words. Now he realized what she was doing. A point for the mudblood. To give away emotions was to lose face. She did not change her smile but she crinkled her eyes ever so slightly to show she had noticed the slip.

"You are too kind, Miss Granger." His face was impassive as he stared at her weighing. Hermione resisted the urge to shudder and kept the fake, polite smile plastered to her face.

"Good day, Lord Malfoy." She nodded and then turned to continue on her way. She could feel his eyes burning into her neck. A thirty second exchange with Malfoy Senior left her more winded than the miles long run she'd had that morning. She had no hope of outwitting him at this particular game again. She had shoved the knowledge into her head in haste and he had lived a lifetime of it. No, the point was to pique his interest.

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The next time, he sought her out though clearly she was to believe he had come across her in Honeyduke's entirely by accident.

"Miss Granger, we meet again." He purred the words at her and then stood very close…their bodies’ mere inches apart.

"Lord Malfoy," She replied and ruthlessly shoved her fear down. Turning her face up towards him she asked, in a bored tone, "I would not have thought you had much of a...sweet tooth." She placed the pause deliberately.

He gave her a small, sneering smile and looked down his nose at her. She mimicked his facial expressions exactly, having practiced the art of looking down her nose at someone who was taller than she was until her face cramped. He pursed his lips in response.

"I would imagine that there are...many...many...things you do not know about me. Allow me to walk you out, Miss Granger." His voice was low and smooth and Hermione allowed a small shiver to show, knowing he would like that she reacted to his voice, a voice which had unmistakably begun to test the waters of seduction.

"You are too kind, Lord Malfoy." Her tone carried a hint of sarcasm. Just enough to surprise him though he did not show it. Instead, he offered her his silk clad arm and escorted her out onto the street.

"So tell me, Miss Granger, where you learned the finer points of manners. I do not seem to recall you possessing these skills the last time we met." There was a wealth of implication in that bland tone. Really he meant, where did you, mudblood, sidekick to Potter, insignificant nothing, learn how to behave like a civilized human being? The two continued walking down the streets of Hogsmeade, arm in arm.

Now was the time to dangle the bait.

"Dr..." Hermione stopped, eyes wide, and then plunged ahead pretending she had not slipped up. "Do you know, they put the most amazing things in books?" She looking forward but let her eyes sneak small looks at him. His arm had tightened against hers and his face looked like a thundercloud.

"I see." There was a wealth of meaning in those words as well. Up ahead, she saw the opening of a small, dark alley and knew that was where he was going to make his move. She tried to prepare herself. Alex's words rang in her head. *Don't act it! Be it! Keep your goals deep inside, ready to be recalled at a moment's notice but you must really be the role you have chosen to play. If you don't believe it, they won't either. And then you're dead.*

All her anger and hate when into a still, empty room, deep in her chest. Everything on the surface was the person Hermione wanted Lucius to believe she was. The person Draco had believed she was, only more so. Someone lost and confused, ripe and ready to be plucked. Someone who could be used, abused and toyed with and come back for more: an old-fashioned, dyed-in-the-wool, mudblood mistress. It was a gamble but she rather thought Lucius Malfoy would take delicious pleasure in resurrecting a tradition that had fallen into disuse, especially if he thought it would give him an inside advantage in this war. But first, she had to convince him.

He moved so fast she did not have to fake her small cry of surprise. She found herself pinned against the wall, Malfoy growling into her ear.

"One scream and I'll make you wish you were dead." He snarled. She wriggled desperately, acting as if she wanted to get away. Every move was designed to be appealing, pressing her body more intimately against his.

"What the hell are you doing?" She snapped furiously. Now was not the time to be shy.

"You will tell me what you know of my son's death or I will squeeze the life out of you." His gloved hands wrapped around her throat and she moaned. He looked surprised but tightened his grip.

"I don't know...I don't know." Her lips trembled and she began to weep. "I would have told you if I knew." Now Lucius did start in surprise and his hands dropped to her shoulders as he examined her closely. "I...m..miss him." She said between hiccups and tears. With that, she threw her arms around his neck sobbing. She knew those sharp aristocratic features would be calculating, trying to put together the pieces of what she was presenting him. She could almost hear his thoughts under her skin. 'So Draco was playing with the little Mudblood? I wonder how far he pushed it. Perhaps, I can use this to my advantage.' Hermione knew he had bought her act when he began to stroke her shoulders, ever so gently. They stayed frozen in this strange and unexpected position for a few minutes. Hermione let her sobs subside and stiffened slightly before pulling away.

Lucius stared at her with eyes like slits as he tried to assess her honesty. She could almost see the thought behind his eyes. Surely, surely this was a trap of Dumbledore's. Of course, he would never think that it was her trap and hers alone.

"What were you to my son?" The voice was soft but the threat was unmistakable in his silky tone.

"I...don't know." She let her voice tremble and dropped her eyes.

"I think you do know. Now tell me." One gloved finger trailed down her cheek and then under her chin. The smell of leather filled her nostrils as he forced her to look at him. Ah, good, a direct order.

"I..." Swallow and lick lips. "I...belonged to him." Whisper the last words, tremble with desire and shame.

A small, smug smile passed over his features and then he crushed his lips to hers. There was a moment where the disgust she felt threatened to overwhelm her and her whole body shuddered. Recovering, she shuddered again as if in passion and opened her mouth to him. He plundered it without hesitation and though he had more finesse than his son it was a cold, empty skill.

She broke from the kiss with a small cry, wriggling her way to freedom. She stood panting, a mere two feet from him. He smirked and crossed his arms over his chest.

"I'm sorry..." She made sure she gasped the words and then turned and fled.

She managed to make it back to the girl’s lavatory before hurling the contents of her stomach into the toilet. She remained curled around the toilet, heaving violently and shuddering.

I cannot do this. I cannot do this. Oh gods, what was I thinking? He's going to touch me. He's going to hurt me. He's going to find out and then I am going die. Slowly, very slowly and painfully. I don't want to die.

Eventually she came back to herself, rocking and letting out a low-throated continuous whine. With effort, she stopped the sound but her throat still trembled in panic.

Now is the time to run, if I'm going to. I could go to Dumbledore, give him an edited version. He would hide me. He would protect me. But Harry would have one less person to rely on. And Lucius will just keep killing. They'll all just keep killing. This is my future. I can do this. Please, please let me be able to do this.

She stumbled back to her room, claiming a stomach flu to her friends. At last, she collapsed on her bed and fell into a fitful sleep.

The next day she was better but still not entirely in control. Her mind went over Alex's lessons again and again but somehow it came up lacking. Alex had been thorough and brutal but underneath it all, she had understood why he did it. She did not have that comfort with Lucius Malfoy and her brain kept providing graphic images of what was in her future if she did not run and run now. Harry and Ron were barely convinced it was the flu that made her so wan and her hands tremble.

Oddly enough, it was Snape that brought her back to center. Sitting in potions, mechanically going through the list of ingredients. At one point, her hand shook so badly she almost screwed up the whole thing. Snape, ever watchful for a Gryffyndor mistake, prowled up.

"If I see you making such a careless mistake in my class again, Miss Granger, you will find yourself in detention with Filch." Snape hissed, hovering over her table like a malevolent bat.

Hermione was suddenly sick of being afraid of a teacher. She no longer needed his approval to believe in herself. She found is surprisingly easy to dip inside herself and show Snape a completely neutral face. His lips parted to snarl something and she did not want to hear. Pulling even deeper, she let her eyes go completely flat. Alex's voice in her head again. *Be careful, Maya. If you push this too far, you'll have to work to keep that look out of your eyes. Remember that.* She looked at Snape and thought to herself....I have killed two people. I am going to kill another one. There is nothing you can do to me that I cannot handle. Back off.

Snape started and stared at her like she'd grown another head. With a snort, he turned and stalked away.

Harry and Ron pounded her on the back, demanding to know her secret. She just smiled and shrugged. The boys were in an exuberant mood for the rest of the day and Hermione had calmed herself. She could do this. She had too.

Two days later, she made a mistake.