The Fall of Hermione

For full disclaimer see chapter one.

Author\'s Notes-This is it, the last chapter I have written. Hopefully the the chapter seven will be finished by next Friday.

Eddie The Black Maru, HermioneSnapeLv, glaeken29, and lilly-I\'m glad you\'re enjoying th story so far!

Alauralen-This story was originally posted on Ashwinder. It is also a response to their \'Turncoat Challenge.\' I thought that I had written that in the A/N in chapter one, but realize now that I didn\'t. That\'s what you get when you\'re trying to do something hours after you should have gone to bed!

june-I love concrit and appreciate your reviews, they were very helpful!

Thanks everyone for reviewing!

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The Fall of Hermione

Chapter Six

Tea With Her Sister

The parlor in the Lestrange home was excessively large when compared with the rest of the rooms contained within the mansion. Befitting, really, when the pureblooded need to prove yourself better than you peers was taken into consideration. Only the most intimate of visitors to most of the homes would ever see beyond the entrance hall and sitting room, therefore, only the most extravagant décor and grandest scale would do for the two places in your home with which most would judge you by. For that reason, the room in which Hermione now entered literally glittered with platinum, accented with furnishings of black and deep green colors made, of course, of only the finest and most expensive fabrics. The chandelier alone cost more than Hermione\'s entire education, from Hogwarts through mediwitch training and the year she had spent in a muggle college studying anatomy. The platinum fixture contained nearly five hundred emeralds in curving and entwining patterns that ran along the stems of the fixture, culminating in a single, black pearl, larger than a snitch, dangling beneath each candle.

Narcissa Malfoy was seated directly beneath the chandelier in a large, black satin armchair, her back rigidly straight and hands folded primly in her lap, giving her the detached air of aristocracy that became a woman of fine pedigree. She turned at the sound of the doors opening, a smile replacing the repugnant look she usually wore as Hermione spoke.

\"Hello, Narcissa.\"

\"Bellatrix,\" Narcissa nodded. \"I do hope that I am not interrupting anything.\" At this she pointedly looked beyond Hermione to the doors of the library, which mercifully the house elf had closed.

\"Not at all,\" Hermione replied as the sounds of mending glass drifted to her ears. She hastily closed the doors and moved to take a seat on the sofa across from Narcissa. \"I was merely redecorating. Tea?\"

\"Yes, that would be lovely,\" replied Narcissa. At her words, a tray containing a tea service and cakes appeared upon the table between the two women and began to pour the tea as if moved by unseen hands. \"Two sugars and lemon.\"

As Narcissa\'s cup was prepared, Hermione mentally debased herself. You unthinking twit! All you wanted to do was get rid of her so you could be on your way, and instead you invited her to tea!

Hermione realized as the teapot began pouring her a cup that she really had no idea how Bellatrix took her tea. Thinking quickly, she found the desired information to prevent an awkward pause and said, \"Cream, one sugar.\"

Narcissa daintily took a sip from her cup before speaking, \"I felt it was my sisterly duty to rush over hear as soon as Lucius informed me of The Dark Lord\'s wishes.\"

Hermione pretended to be savoring her own tea as she thought of a response that would expedite Narcissa\'s leaving. \"I am touched that you would think of me at a time like this, but should not you and Lucius be doing as Our Lord bids as well?\"

There, that should do it! Run Narcissa! Run to your swine of a husband and multiply as you were told so I can be about my business! I have at least one murder and one rescue to attend to before the day is done!

\"It would seem that Lucius and I are ahead of the game, as it were,\" Narcissa smirked, her eyes never leaving Hermione\'s as she set her cup down, folded her hands in her lap once more and awaited the ball dropping.

Hermione thought frantically. Remain calm! That tactic didn\'t work; find another one.

\"And how far ahead are the two of you?\" Hermione questioned aloud.

\"Two weeks,\" Narcissa replied. \"After all, every pureblood must have an heir. After Draco revealed himself to be a traitor, well, Lucius thought it only right that he should be immediately replaced.\"

Hermione watched as the cold exterior of Narcissa Malfoy faded slightly, giving a brief glimpse of the hurt that lay just beneath the surface.

Draco. Hermione remembered all to well her own shock at finding out his true colors. He had never explained his reasons for switching sides to anyone save Albus Dumbledore, but the fact that Dumbledore had accepted the young Malfoy into the Order had been all the proof Hermione had needed to believe that Draco was indeed on their side. She also recalled the Order meeting that had been called only a month ago, when Kingsley reported that Draco\'s body had been found in Diagon Alley; he had been hung from the sign above the door of the small apothecary he owned, his own bowels comprising the noose.

Gazing upon the fractured façade of the woman before her, Hermione knew that it was not Draco\'s betrayal of Lord Voldemort that caused her pain, but the loss of a son that she loved deeply. Hermione moved to sit in the chair next to Narcissa\'s, reaching out to take one of her hands.

\"Narcissa,\" Hermione began carefully, trying to remain as true to Bellatrix\' character as she could and still give comfort. \"It is entirely natural to mourn your son\'s death. Yes, Draco\'s decision was not wise, but that does not change the fact that you are his mother. Do you not remember when Andromeda married that muggle? Father was furious, and outwardly so was mother. Yet I remember the haunted look that she wore when she thought no one was looking, I remember the tears that fell from her eyes when she received the owl from Aunt Carlotta saying that Andromeda\'s name had been burned from the family tapestry. Even if you cannot do so elsewhere, you are free to mourn your son here, Narcissa.\"

As Hermione spoke, a single tear rolled down Narcissa\'s cheek, and she hastily wiped it away. \"I don\'t think I can, Bellatrix. I want to badly, but I can\'t. I\'m just too...\"

Afraid. Hermione mentally finished the sentence as Narcissa began to reconstruct the veneer she hid behind. Quickly deciding to change the subject, Hermione spoke. \"Would you like to know if it\'s a boy or a girl?\"

Narcissa quickly turned to look at Hermione, a questioning look in her eyes. \"When did you learn to do that?\"

Damn! Bellatrix wasn\'t the one who trained to be a mediwitch, Hermione; that was you!

\"A book,\" Hermione lied quickly. \"I wanted to be prepared if Rodolphus and I ever had a child.\"

Narcissa appeared mollified at her response and smiled slightly. \"Yes, I would like to know. What do I need to do?\"

Hermione removed her wand from her sleeve as she spoke, \"Just lean back so I have a clear shot at your uterus.\"

Narcissa complied, and Hermione took aim. \"Manifesto Sexus!\"

A thin, white light left the tip of Hermione\'s wand and disappeared into Narcissa\'s abdomen. A few seconds later, it reemerged, hovering between the two women in a luminescent ball, slowly changing shape until it had become a circle with a cross protruding from the bottom.

\"A girl,\" Narcissa whispered, a smile playing on her lips. \"Thank the Gods! I don\'t think I could have handled having another boy, not so soon after Draco…\" She trailed off, another tear escaping from her eyes. She made no move to wipe it away as she continued to stare at the fading symbol before her.

\"Congratulations.\" Hermione smiled as she put her wand away.

\"Thank you,\" Narcissa replied, sitting up straight. \"That spell may come in handy now that there is to be a baby boom among us. Perhaps you could lend me that book so I could learn the spell; I\'m sure you don\'t want every expectant mother beating down your door while you are busy with The Dark Lord\'s work.\"

\"Of course,\" Hermione said, thanking the Gods that she would not have to produce a non-existent book before she had a chance to escape with Ginny. \"I\'ll have it sent to you as soon as I\'m finished redecorating the library.\"

Narcissa nodded. \"And speaking of expectant mother\'s, have you heard the news about Rabastan\'s little gift from Our Lord?\"

A heavy weight seemed to settle in the pit of Hermione\'s stomach at Narcissa\'s question. Her mouth ran dry, and she found she was incapable of speech. She quickly shook her head, afraid to hear what Narcissa had to say.

\"Well,\" Narcissa began as she picked up her cup of tea. \"It would seem that your brother-in-law was incredibly eager to produce an heir of his own. After The Dark Lord gave Rabastan his gift, he immediately went to Augustus to get a fertility potion. From what I understand, the potion ensures that the witch will be ripe immediately. I imagine that his suggestion at the meeting was to give his offspring a choice of proper mates when the child came of age.\"

The heavy weight that had so recently become a fixture in Hermione\'s gut leapt into her throat. As a mediwitch she knew that there were only two fertility potions in existence, one for each sex. The one for the woman not only caused immediate fertility, but decreased the normal amount of time between conception and the movement of the embryo to the womb to a mere two days. Quickly doing math in her head, she had no more than thirty hours to Apparate with Ginny before the risk became too great. True, Apparating would cause Ginny to lose the baby, but it would be no more painful or dangerous than a normal menstruation, and Ginny would most likely be thankful that she would not have to bear a child that was a product of rape.

\"So, she\'s pregnant then?\" Hermione choked, clearing her throat and hastily taking a sip of her tea.

\"Are you all right, Bellatrix?\" Narcissa asked. \"Perhaps you should see Augustus for a Throat Soothing Draught?\"

Hermione shook her head. \"No, I\'m fine. My throat was just dry. Is she pregnant?\"

\"I\'m not sure,\" Narcissa replied thoughtfully. \"But given the fact that Rabastan did not leave his home until the meeting this morning, I would assume she is.\"

\"Perhaps I should pay him a visit and confirm the pregnancy for him,\" Hermione spoke, wanting desperately to be rid of Narcissa so she could get to Ginny before it was too late.

\"Perhaps you should,\" Narcissa smiled. \"After all, midwifery has always been a woman\'s art, and I doubt very much that Rabastan would know how to do such a thing. But that can wait until later, I still haven not fulfilled my sisterly duty to you.\"

Narcissa pulled a roll of parchment out of her pocket and Hermione resisted the urge to take bash her over the head with the serving tray and Apparate to Rabastan\'s immediately. Just play along and she\'ll leave. No tea has ever lasted thirty hours.

\"I brought a list of suitable candidates for your bridegroom,\" Narcissa said as if she had just announced Christmas had come early. \"I thought you would appreciate some help in your husband hunting. Now, there\'s David…\"

\"Narcissa,\" Hermione interrupted, desperate. \"This is very nice of you, but I have already made my choice.\"

Narcissa looked startled at this announcement and Hermione hid her exasperation behind a warm smile. Gods, just leave!

\"Well, that certainly didn\'t take you very long.\"

\"Yes, well evidently redecorating helps me think,\" said Hermione hurriedly.

\"Clearly,\" Narcissa laughed. \"So, who is the lucky man?\"

Hermione stopped herself from going for her wand. No! Don\'t hex the woman! Just be politely evasive and get her out of the house!

\"I think I would rather wait and announce my intentions to The Dark Lord first,\" Hermione replied. \"He would be rather disappointed to learn my decision through hearsay.\"

Fortunately Narcissa seemed to accept this, for she did not argue. \"Quite true. Well, if you change your mind before you go before Our Lord, send me an owl. I\'ll keep my list just in case.\"

\"I\'ll keep that in mind,\" Hermione replied as Narcissa returned the parchment to her pocket. Before Hermione could continue speaking, a small pop announced the arrival of a house-elf. Narcissa stared down at the creature with utter distaste as it bowed low to them. Hermione noted as it looked up that it was the same elf that had announced Narcissa\'s arrival earlier. It had indeed punished itself for disturbing its mistress earlier, a large knot upon its forehead attested to this fact.

\"Yes,\" Hermione snapped, more out of irritation at being hindered from her mission of tactfully getting Narcissa to vacate the premises than at the elf\'s existence.

\"Begging your pardon, Mistress, Mistress Malfoy,\" it began, nodding to first Hermione and then Narcissa. \"I is sorry for intruding, but Master Malfoy is wishing to speak with Mistress Malfoy.\"

\"Send him in,\" Narcissa spat. Hermione wondered briefly at the way the elf hastened to obey Narcissa when it belonged to Bellatrix, but then she remembered Kreacher, Sirius\' house-elf, who had been instructed to obey anyone in the Black family. She imagined that this elf had to listen to anyone in Bellatrix\' family, meaning that it was also at the beck and call of Narcissa, Lucius, and Rabastan. She did not have time to reflect on this longer, for Lucius was striding through the open doors of the parlor, his appearance as impeccable as ever, a smug smile upon his lips.

\"Bellatrix,\" he said, offering his hand to Hermione. She placed her hand in his, and he bent to kiss it. Hermione made a mental note to scrub her hand thoroughly later. \"A pleasure, as always, my dear sister-in-law.\"

\"Lucius,\" Hermione replied, cursing the fact that she was being forced to prolong the show of gracious hostess. \"This is a pleasant surprise. Please, join us in a cup of tea.\"

\"As tempting an offer as that is, I am afraid that I must decline.\" Lucius tried and failed to bring the smile to his eyes. Hermione was not sure if it was because he disliked Bellatrix or if he just was incapable of smiling properly. Either way, she did not care at the moment, he was not staying; perhaps she could persuade Narcissa to accompany him out the door.

\"I have merely come to fetch my lovely wife,\" he continued, turning his attention to Narcissa. \"We have a luncheon to attend at the Goyle\'s\"

Thank the Gods for you, Lucius! Hermione barely suppressed her delight at finally being rid of them both. If you weren\'t you, I\'d kiss you!

\"Oh, is it time already?\" Narcissa questioned, rising to her feet, Hermione following suit. \"I\'ll need to stop at home first and change.\"

\"Of course, my dear,\" Lucius replied, offering his arm to Narcissa. \"Bellatrix, if we may indulge in the use of your Floo? We can\'t have Narcissa Apparating in her condition, now can we?\"

\"Certainly,\" Hermione replied. Anything as long as you go!

She led them to the fireplace, quickly lighting a fire. Lucius took a pinch of Floo Powder from the platinum container upon the mantle and tossed it into the fire. \"After you, Narcissa.\"

Narcissa detached herself from Lucius arm and approached Hermione, quickly giving her a kiss on the cheek that Hermione returned. \"I still have my list, should you change your mind.\"

Hermione nodded and Narcissa stepped into the green flames. \"Malfoy Manor!\"

As Narcissa spun out of sight, Lucius extended his hand to Hermione once again. She accepted his kiss, deciding that perhaps it would be better to just cut that hand off later instead of spending hours scrubbing it clean.

\"Good day, Bellatrix,\"

\"Lucius,\" Hermione replied, watching as Lucius disappeared from sight. She counted to five, making sure that he had plenty of time to move out of the way before throwing a pinch of Floo Powder into the fire herself; she had a friend to save.

******

\"What list?\" Lucius questioned as he stepped out of the hearth into the sitting room of Malfoy Manor.

\"A list of suitable husbands for her to choose from,\" Narcissa called from the foyer. Lucius quickly followed the direction of her voice, finding her halfway up the stairs. \"I went over to help her with her decision as well as inform her of her impending Aunt-hood. She knows a very interesting charm that can tell the sex of the child. We\'re having a girl.\"

Narcissa had reached the landing as she said this and continued on towards the master suite.

\"We will have to think of names later,\" Lucius called from the bottom of the stairs. \"And why should she change her mind; you have always had excellent taste in men, if I do say so myself.\"

\"Lucius,\" Narcissa stopped walking and turned to stare down at him. \"While I admire your somewhat biased opinion of my appraisal of the opposite sex, I absolutely refuse to have a conversation with someone who is not even on the same floor of the house as I am. So either accompany me to the bedroom while I change or save your questions for a later time.\"

She continued on her way and after a moment\'s hesitation, Lucius followed her upstairs. He entered their bedroom, noticed the door to her dressing room was already open, and quickly walked inside. The robes Narcissa had worn to Bellatrix\' had been discarded and now lay in on the floor next to the vanity. Narcissa herself was standing in the large closet at the opposite end of the room in her underwear, rifling through her massive wardrobe.

\"Why should she change her mind?\" Lucius questioned again, admiring the view of his wife\'s posterior.

\"Because by the time I had arrived, she had already chosen,\" Narcissa replied, pulling out a set of deep blue robes. \"I thought she might reconsider before she goes to The Dark Lord.\"

\"Really,\" Lucius drawled thoughtfully, his eyes drifting upwards to Narcissa\'s breasts as she turned to examine more robes. \"And whom did she choose?\"

\"She wouldn\'t tell me,\" Narcissa sighed. \"And I\'m inclined to agree with her decision that The Dark Lord should be the first to know, since it was he who issued the order in the first place.\"

Lucius nodded thoughtfully.

\"Blue or green?\"

Lucius looked up to see Narcissa holding two sets of robes up for him to examine. \"Green.\" He decided.

Narcissa carelessly dropped the blue one to the floor and began to pull on the emerald green robe. \"Odd, really.\"

Lucius, who had been watching the ever-diminishing view of Narcissa\'s flesh as she got dressed, started. \"The green robe?\"

\"No,\" Narcissa laughed. \"And I\'d thank you to never insinuate that any piece of my very expensive wardrobe is odd. Bellatrix is what\'s odd. The way she didn\'t even give me a chance to say a single name from my list; makes you wonder if she didn\'t have someone waiting in the wings all along in the hopes that Rodolphus would die.\"

\"What?\" Lucius\' gray eyes snapped away from the last peek of cleavage to meet Narcissa\'s hazel ones.

\"Really Lucius!\" Narcissa sighed in exasperation. \"Is my body so distracting after twenty-five years that you can\'t even listen when I\'m talking?\"

\"You\'re body would be distracting to me after a hundred years, my dear,\" Lucius replied, approaching Narcissa.

\"Oh, no you don\'t!\" Narcissa quickly moved out of his reach. \"We have a luncheon to attend and I will not allow you to wrinkle my robe! However, if you\'re a good boy, I might be persuaded to let you wrinkle it afterward.\"

\"Gods, the Death Eaters in my department could learn a thing or two about torture from you,\" Lucius smiled, deciding to concede defeat for now. \"Now, what did you say about Bellatrix?\"

Narcissa repeated her previous statement and Lucius became pensive. Thinking back on it, the circumstances surrounding Rodolphus\' death, while not suspicious, were somewhat convenient when taking Narcissa\'s statement into account.

\"Indeed,\" he said at length. \"Or that she did not have someone waiting in the wings until one of them had the chance to kill him.\"

\"Lucius!\" Narcissa exclaimed. \"My sister would not murder another Death Eater! Just because Draco turned coat does not mean that every one of our family members would do anything remotely similar. Rodolphus\' death was murder, yes, but it was a battle! People die, even the ones fighting for the right side!\"

Well, this vein of conversation was certainly getting him no closer to his ultimate goal of mercilessly wrinkling Narcissa\'s robe. While the thought intrigued him and definitely merited more speculation later on, he would keep it to himself and appease his wife for now. He would not bring the subject up to her again unless he found proof of Bellatrix\' treachery. Chances were that Narcissa was right; Bellatrix did have a long history of completely loyal service as well as The Dark Lord\'s absolute trust to back up her innocence.

\"You are right, my dear,\" Lucius replied. \"I am sorry, my remark was insensitive. I have no doubt that Bellatrix is nothing but Our Lord\'s most loyal servant. Forgive me.\"

\"I\'ll think about it,\" Narcissa huffed. \"Now, let\'s go, or we\'ll be late.\"