The Unfortunates

Back with chapter 6, everyone! Sorry if it\'s taken a while, but don\'t forget writers\' worst enemy: The block!! Anyway, I should be over it now, hopefully...

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CHAPTER SIX: NEW ALLIES, WITH A SIDE ORDER OF JEALOUSY, PLEASE


For months now, the giant table, big enough for at least twenty people, had seemed rather intimidating compared to the small amount of people usually seated around it.

Now, at 09.30 am, with all the allies from other countries gathered around it too, Severus almost felt it suited their purpose perfectly.

Oh, how his Father would have cursed him if he’d known how his son was currently using the family estate. Severus had to smirk at the thought.

Looking around, he saw some familiar faces, and several new ones. He recognized Fleur Delacour from the Triwizard Tournament, as well as the ex Hogwarts student Cho Chang and a boy who he couldn’t quite place, but knew he’d seen before.

As the chatter calmed down, Potter drew a deep breath and stood from his seat.

“Er – well,” he said hesitantly, gaining everyone’s attention. The fact that he – with the exception of Ginny Weasley – was the youngest one present was probably a bit unnerving.

“Thank you all for coming,” he began, “I know a lot of you have travelled far to get here. First, I’d like to thank Cho,” he indicated a hand towards Miss Chang, “who’s been in Japan for a year now but who came back after Hogwarts’ siege with allies; Fleur, who’s brought allies from France; Gavril,” he indicated towards the boy Severus had been unable to place, “who’s brought two reliable friends of his from Bulgaria –”

Severus nodded to himself: That was probably where he’d seen the boy; he had been a student of Karkaroff’s.

“– and er, Bill and Remus, I think you’re better fit than I am to introduce the rest?” said, Potter, his eyes upon Bill and Lupin.

Bill got to his feet, turning his eyes to three people on his left.

“These are friends of mine from Egypt,” he explained, introducing them all in turn, “Samir, Adil and Mushina.” He turned his gaze upon the two women sitting next to Adil.

“And this is Gudrun and Ingeborg. They were colleagues of Charlie’s from Norway,” he finished, his voice grave at the thought of his dead brother.

“Remus?” said Potter.

As Bill sat down, Lupin got to his feet. Indicating a hand towards a man and a woman on his right hand side, he said, “This is an old friend of mine from Greece, Nikolaos, and his wife Galatea.”

Severus could easily guess why this Nikolaos was an old friend of Lupin’s – the man looked just as ragged and hairy, he was undoubtedly suffering the same werewolf fate.

“Cho,” said Potter then, “if you, Fleur and Gavril could introduce your friends to us...?”

Cho Chang nodded, turning her eyes to the two men at her side.

“This is Toyo and Junichi,” she said. “Friends of my family. They were very fond of Dumbledore.”

Potter’s gaze went to Fleur Delacour, who nodded and indicated to her three friends, introducing them each in turn, “Theze are three friends of mine from France – Eponine, Roch and Claude.”

“Thank you, Fleur,” said Potter, turning his gaze to the Bulgarian. “And you, Gavril?”

Gavril nodded and indicated a hand to the two women to his right. “This is Mariana and Parazkeva – Parazkeva is from Russia,” he added, almost as an afterthought.

“Thanks,” said Potter, getting to his feet again to address them all. “I’m so glad you’re all here – those of us in this room have one thing in common, I think: we’re willing to give our lives to defeat Voldemort.” He looked around then, almost as if daring anyone to object to that.

“I need to get a few reports from those of you who are from abroad to hear what goes on in your, er, magical communities,” he continued, forcing his voice to go steady, “and then we’ll have to see if there’s really any point in trying to gather up more allies... There’s just so much confusion and fear nowadays that very few are willing to trust anyone, much less people who say they fight against Voldemort – I’m glad all of you believed the truth about us, at least.”

A few nods of agreement and appreciation met this.

“I personally think there’s no point waiting any longer than necessary,” continued Potter. “There’s a prophecy that still needs to be fulfilled. I have to face Voldemort – and I’m ready, so just bring it on, really – what we really have to do is find him, and avoid being killed by his forces in the process.”

A devastating silence followed this. People around the table kept glancing at each other or at the decoration in the Snape hall; looking anywhere but on Potter.

“How exactly do you plan to do this, Mr. Potter?” Severus decided to break the silence.

“That’s what we’re here to plan,” replied Potter easily. “As much as I’d love to, I can’t do it alone. I know I’m supposed to be like, the one or whatever, but I can’t reach Voldemort and kill him on my own. Hopefully, a few people around this table are willing to assist me. What about yourself, Professor?” he finished icily.

“I think you know where I stand in this,” snarled Severus. “Was it not I who got us a spy on Draco Malfoy?”

Potter simply nodded. “That’s good work,” he muttered.

“A spy?” said Cho, looking at Severus. “We’ve got a spy? On the inside of You-Know-Who’s ranks?”

Severus nodded. “Possibly.”

“Zat is good news, zen!” said Fleur Delacour. “I waz afraid going ‘ere waz a mistake...I waz afraid zere waz no hope.”

“There’s always hope,” said Lupin, making Severus roll his eyes in disgust.

--

“Well, hello there, Mr. Malfoy!” squealed the brunette.

“Hello yourself,” said Draco, taking a seat at the bar and checking his watch.

Okay, so perhaps it was a bit early for a shag – but then again, he’d never let the subject of time stop him before. He was in the mood for a bit of Mira’s lovely company.

He found he wasn’t as embarrassed as he’d thought he would be at the prospect of being a regular at Lilly Barrette’s brothel. Somehow, it all seemed so much more agreeable now that Mira was working there – purer, perhaps.

Or perhaps it was just that he’d swallowed his pride because he couldn’t bear the thought of not having a night with Mira again – but he wasn’t about to admit that, not even to himself.

“What can I get you, Sir?” smiled the brunette behind the bar.

“Mira Gideon,” smirked Draco.

“Oh, one of the news girls, isn’t she?”

Draco gave a small nod.

“She’s a popular one,” said the brunette happily, wiping the bar counter with a filthy-looking rag. “Only been here a night and already she’s getting the toughest clients.”

“Is that what they call me?” said Draco wistfully, smirking to himself.

“Oh, not you,” said the brunette dismissively.

Draco raised a suspicious eyebrow.

“No, it was another bloke,” continued the brunette unaffected, “he came in here last night looking rather scary... Terrifying he was, in fact. A few of the girls approached him as he entered – he just waved them away, seemed disgusted like. So then he came up here to the bar, sat down next to Mira and bought her a drink, just like that... And then they took off together,” she finished happily.

“Took off?” snarled Draco. “What do you mean, took off?”

“What do you think I mean? Mira’s got a room on the top floor.” The brunette turned and began working her way through clearing out the empty bottles behind the bar counter, muttering continuously, “Bet Mira’s not even up yet – when I saw her last night after this bloke’s visit she looked exhausted, poor thing.”

Draco’s frown grew more suspicious by the minute.

“Well,” he said irritated, “could you get Mira for me then? Or d’you think she’s too exhausted to come down and see an old friend?”

“Of course,” spluttered the girl, “I’m so sorry, Sir – I’ll be right off!”

And so, five minutes or so later, Mira came into the bar from a door at the far end of the room, wearing a nice, short skirt and a rather large and baggy-looking shirt. She looked confused; then she spotted Draco by the bar.

“Hi there, Mr. Malfoy,” she smiled wearily as she reached the bar, taking a seat at the stool next to his. “What are you doing here? I mean, according to Lilly I wouldn’t have to fix myself up until around four PM,” she added, a bit embarrassed.

Draco raised an eyebrow.

“Er – that’s true, Sir,” said the brunette’s voice from behind the bar, “we usually don’t open for, ah, clients until after five o’clock... Lilly’s regulations. It says on the sign by the door.”

Draco frowned yet again. Before Mira had become a part of Barrette’s pack of girls there’d never been a time planner for him to consider... Now, he couldn’t see her until after five o’clock?

What if he wanted a shag, oh, say ‘round about now?

“Right,” said Draco irritably, “right...”

“Sorry,” offered Mira; she looked sincere. Her expression softened him a bit.

“That’s all right,” he muttered, sending an icy glare in the brunette’s direction. She just wasn’t as cute anymore. He turned his gaze back to Mira. “Can I have a word, at least?”

“Of course,” she replied, and they both moved to one of the tables nearer the fireplace. Draco didn’t want that stupid girl by the bar ogling them.

“What can I do for you?” asked Mira. “Now, I mean,” she added with a small grin.

He offered a slight smirk back, but he couldn’t hide his disapproval.

“I heard you had a rather special visitor last night?” said Draco icily.

“What do you – oh, you mean Mr. Granger?” she said. Then her eyes widened for a moment, as though she’d said too much, but she quickly calmed again. Perhaps he’d been imagining it.

“Mr. Granger?” echoed Draco, frowning at the sound of the name Granger. “Okay, ‘Mr. Granger’, then.”

“What about him?”

“Quite – quite exhausted, were you?” said Draco through clenched teeth.

“Excuse me?”

“According to your little brunette friend, you were quite exhausted after your encounter with him.”

“What difference does it make?” she demanded, a little exasperated.

“None,” replied Draco calmly. “None, never mind.”

They were quiet for a moment, then Mira decided to speak again.

“You didn’t expect I was going to be reserved for you here just because you got me in, did you?” she asked quietly.

“What do you think I am, stupid?” he snapped, and she flinched. “No, I didn’t expect that! I was just – just curious. What difference does it make?”

He quickly shut up, fearing that if he kept talking he’d lose his calm altogether. What was going on with him? It really was none of his business that Mira had been with this Mr. Granger the evening before.

And yet – why did it bother him so? She was just a whore. No one of real importance.

But no matter how much he tried, he couldn’t force the disgusting image of another man on Mira out of his head...

His desires were betraying him.

Stop it, Draco, he commanded himself sternly. For years he’d been thoroughly taught not to end up in a situation like this, and by gods he wasn’t going to do so now, of all times.

He stood to leave, giving Mira a curt nod.

“I might drop by later, then. Make sure you’ll be here,” he said easily, sending her a confident smirk before turning on his heel and walking as fast as he could without actually running out of House of Lilly Barrette’s.

Wow. He really had to be more careful. For a moment there, he’d almost felt... was it possible? Jealousy?

--

If Hermione hadn’t had other stuff on her mind that morning, she might have been more concerned about Malfoy’s strange behaviour.

As it was, she was too busy pondering upon the owner of a certain very familiar, yet very implacable, voice.

This “Tiberius Granger”... That voice! She couldn’t get it out of her head. She knew it from somewhere, of that much she was certain, but she just couldn’t wrap her brain around whom, and it was slowly driving her insane.

Shaking her head as if to clear her thoughts, she stood from the chair and approached the bar counter, giving a nod to the brunette, Hailie.

“Seems you’ve got yourself a fan there, Mira,” smirked Hailie.

“What?”

“Malfoy, of course! He didn’t look to happy when I told him about that stranger you hooked up with last night.”

“Yes, about that,” said Hermione, frowning, “why did you tell him? I thought this place was all about discretion?”

Hailie went slightly pink. “Sorry,” she muttered with a sheepish smile.

Hermione sighed. “Just as well, he didn’t seem to mind, really. I don’t know what went on with him, and to be honest I don’t care. I just want to spend the afternoon relaxing... I guess I have to work tonight – Friday’s a busy night, isn’t it?”

“You have no idea,” smirked Hailie.

Hermione bit back a groan.

Several hours later, she decided there was no point biting back the groan again – Friday night was a living nightmare.

True, it was half past seven and she hadn’t had any clients yet, but that wasn’t the point. On a Friday, Lilly Barrette’s was filled (quite literally, filled) with men, each drunker and more horny than the other. Luckily for Hermione, she was luxurious goods and not as easily approached in her elegant clothing over by the bar counter, but other girls weren’t that lucky.

Mandy, for instance. Hermione felt bad for her, she’d been with three men already, and the night was still young... It really wasn’t fair. Just because Hermione had brought Malfoy to Lilly’s she was apparently worth more than Mandy. The poor girl had her room on the first floor, and almost every guy in the bar could afford that.

“Izvinete,” said a voice to Hermione’s left suddenly, “a glass of firewhiskey, please.”

Hermione kept her gaze straight ahead, but the man’s voice had caught her attention. She watched as Hailie poured him a firewhiskey.

“Blagodarya,” he said.

Hermione’s heart skipped a beat – she knew that word, she’d recognize it anywhere... It was Bulgarian.

Turning her gaze ever so slightly to her left, she dreaded what she’d see – what if it was Viktor? What would she do?

To her great relief, however, it wasn’t him. But this man – he was young, almost a boy – looked familiar somehow, still. He also looked very Slavic, and Hermione had no doubt he was Bulgarian. Could he be a friend of Viktor’s?

And so what if he is? her mind snarled at her. You can’t exactly turn to him and say, “Hey, I’m the ex girlfriend of a friend of yours – by the way, I’m currently on the run and in disguise, so please don’t tell anyone who I really am...” Honestly.

Even if she’d intended to, Hermione didn’t actually need to make contact. The Bulgarian did.

“Hello,” he said suddenly, turning to face her. His English was better than Viktor’s had been, but you could hear he was foreign.

“Hi,” she smiled back.

“Are you Mira Gideon?”

Gods, does everyone know who I am nowadays?

“Yes, I am – do I know you?”

The Bulgarian shook his head. “No. You know a relation of mine.”

“Is that so?”

“Yeah –Mr. Granger. Remember him?”

Hermione shuddered at the very voicing of this man. Did she remember him? Hell, yes!

“Yes, I do,” she smiled. “Why?”

“Oh, no reason.” The Bulgarian lowered his voice. “Had any visits from Draco Malfoy lately?”

Hermione frowned. Okay, so it was true that this man was in contact with “Mr. Granger” if he knew about the deal, but somehow the thought really didn’t make her any more at ease. She felt like a mouse trapped in a corner; everyone knew her and what she was up to – in fact, most of them knew more than she did herself, even.

“I – no, I haven’t,” said Hermione dismissively.

“Oh.” The Bulgarian sounded disappointed.

Catching Hailie’s eye behind the bar, Hermione desperately signalled for another glass. She was going to need it.

But when she turned back again after receiving her firewhiskey, the Bulgarian was gone.


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A/N: Okay, now that wasn\'t the most exciting chapter yet, but as my beta pointed out - it\'s unavoidable. There\'s a lot of \"base line\" that needs to be presented here. And thanks so much to you, JessiokaFroka (the beta)! A few comments to the reviewers:

ladyevilfaerie: Hermione\'ll figure it out soon enough, but a few things needs to be established first... Rest assured though; it\'s coming!

lydia: There will be some Hermione/Draco action, though I should warn you, it\'s not too much... It\'s a Snape/Hermione fic, after all. :)

And the rest of you - vblum12, Shinohime, destiny black, Lu Ling Qi, kris, NobisSolomNon, Anna, Bella, J, Emily, Lia-Bia, ChevyBaby, Wu Jao, hopelsydreaming, dragon34, croesan, BeautifullyMalicious, Hyarion and TaintedAngel - thank you all so much! :)