Trials Undercover

Trials Undercover

By Cakeisnice

Chapter 6

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. I also do not try to knock down the back alley walls behind every shady looking pub I find, convinced it will reveal a hidden magical world. Never done it.

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Stupid, annoying sunlight. Come back later!

Hermione tried to cover her head with her pillow, but the damage was already done. She was awake. At nine a.m. on a Sunday morning.

It was unheard of.

Her painfully full bladder forced her to drag herself out of bed. Yawning widely, she put on a loose pair of slacks and a bright red T-shirt and walked downstairs. The sunlight came in through the tall windows and illuminated the entrance hall with an eerie light. The manor was so empty and silent; it was making the wee hairs on the back of her neck stand on edge.

She glanced down at her stomach, expecting to see a big hole through her body. It certainly felt like it, since it hadn't been fed for almost 24 hours. Said body part suddenly roared loudly, like an avalanche.

Now, if she was an old, dried up butler, where would she be?

Probably hanging upside down in a dark corner somewhere. She decided to head for the kitchen, the source of all that was good. But when she reached the door and tried to pry it open, she was horrified to find it locked. Who in the world of wizarding would do something so cruel!? She hurried into the dining room, desperately clawing at that door, which was also painfully unyielding. She flicked out her wand.

"Alohomora!"

Nothing.

She could feel the anxiety attack coming on.

NOOOOOOOO!

Hermione stumbled up the stairs in a desperate search for someone, anyone, who might have a key. She hurried down the hall opposite of her own (they would certainly sleep as far away from her as they possibly could). The first bedroom was empty. And the second. And the third.

Don't panic!

Finally she burst into a room with an inhabitant. And of course it would be Malfoy. At the loud bang from the door slamming against the wall, he jumped out of his bed, grabbed his wand from the nightstand and pointed it straight at her. He looked utterly shocked and confused.

"What?!"

Hermione had to struggle hard with herself not to burst into laughter. He looked extremely amusing standing there in only his grey boxers, with his usually groomed hair sticking out everywhere. A confused, groggy expression resided where normally a smirk would.

"I've just come to inform you that your kitchen door is locked, and the food making man is nowhere to be seen. And I'm famished."

It finally dawned on him that there was no emergency. Shock turned to disbelief which turned into anger. He lowered his wand.

"What!? That's the reason you come barging in here like an elephant?! You're insane!"

"Well it's a matter of life and death! And please do not compare me with extremely large mammals in need of body lotion. It's rude. And who the hell locks up their kitchen anyway?"

"That would be Alfred. He doesn't like anyone touching his stuff. Why didn't you just go annoy him?"

"Well, your butler seems to have gone into hiding." Hermione suddenly noticed that she, for the first time, was seeing Malfoy practically naked. And she had to admit (although not out loud, of course) that it wasn't horrible. His broad chest and stomach were toned; she could clearly make out his abs. He had really nice biceps too. And his pale, smooth skin looked soft. If only he could turn around so she could see his...

She suddenly noticed that Malfoy was looking at her with raised eyebrows and an amused expression. Oh Merlin, had she been checking him out?

She blushed furiously and hastily moved her stare to his room. It was really nice, done in soft blue and green colours. There was a picture of a forest and one of a beautiful white topped mountain. The light green curtains were swaying softly from the draft. It was so... serene. She glanced at Malfoy incredulously.

"Are you sure this is your room? It doesn't look like it belongs to an evil, arrogant bastard."

"Oh?" His eyes narrowed, "should I maybe paint it all in black and decorate it with severed human body limbs in jars? Would that please you?"

She ignored his sarcasm, "Yes, that would be nice. This really creeps me out."

"GET OUT!"

Hermione raised her hands and backed out of the door. As she came out onto the landing, her senses caught a glorious smell.

Food.

She hurried down into the dining room and placed herself at the table, knife and fork in hand. She was prepared. She held on so hard, her knuckles turned white. The clock was ticking painfully slow.

Malfoy strolled in ten minutes later, looking impeccable as always. Still no sign of nutrition. He glanced over at her.

"How come you look more of a mess today than usual?" He asked nastily.

"Haven't you gotten the memo? It's Sunday, the international chill out and be a bum day. It is holy, and all mirrors are banned." Hermione stated confidently.

"So I see," he smirked, but Hermione ignored him in favour of the trolley of food that was currently rolling out from the kitchen and towards them, conducted by the dried up piece of skin that was Alfred. Good boy.

After a silent breakfast, except for the moans of pleasure escaping from Hermione's mouth, she went up to her bedroom to collect a book she had recently bought and headed for the library. She had actually developed a liking for the big, dusty room. It smelled like paper and wood and was cramped with enormous amounts of literature, thus a divine haven for a bookworm like her.

But as she pushed open the heavy wooden doors, she discovered that Malfoy presently resided there too. He lay sprawled across the long sofa under the window, reading a small, leather bound book. He only acknowledged her presence by glancing up for a second and wrinkling his nose. She decided to pretend he wasn't there and walked past him. Sinking into her favourite chair she pulled her legs up underneath her, as she started on the book she had long been looking forward to; "Why Muggleborns are More Adaptive" by Magna K. Longhorn.


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Hermione looked up from her book. It was crap and she was extremely disappointed. The author didn't know what she was talking about, she obviously wasn't a muggleborn. If she had been, she would certainly not refer to a CD-player as a sound maker, or the TV as "the box full of pictures that muggles stare at". And she had no idea what a big white mechanical seagull was. An airplane perhaps?

She glanced over at Malfoy. He was lying on his back, with one hand under his head and one holding the book in front of him. His jacket had been tossed over a nearby chair and he had unbuttoned the top buttons on his white shirt and rolled up his sleeves. His body was relaxed, lying gracefully on the couch, resembling a panther at ease...

"See something you like, Granger? I can practically feel you undressing me with your eyes."

Hermione's eyes widened in shock. Not again! He hadn't even looked up from his book! Oh, why did her hormones always butt in at the most inopportune moments?

"No, you are still revolting," she retorted quickly, "I'm just bored, that's all. And it's not helping being stuck in here with you. I'm losing my mind."

"Well if it's a shag you need, I could always assist you," he said with a leer, wagging his eyebrows at her.

She shuddered, "Oh, I doubt I'll ever stoop that low. But if I do, you'll be the first to know. And then we can go ice skating in hell."

He just chuckled deeply, turning a page in his book.

That was it.

She stood up and walked across the room, towards the door. She could feel his eyes on her all the way, and she exhaled heavily as she finally closed the door behind her.

That was certainly unsettling.

She started to wander down the hall, lost in thought. It wasn't as if she was attracted to him. No, that was definitely not it. It was probably her mind playing tricks on her. It was just that she hadn't been with a guy for a very long time. And a girl needed some male attention every once in a while. The last time she was with a guy in that way was with Krum when he visited her in the summer between sixth and seventh year. That was two years ago, and she couldn't really blame her body for reacting the way it did when she was stuck with Malfoy all alone in that manor. And the "Incident" that morning certainly didn't help. She just had to face it: he was fairly handsome when you looked at it from a completely objective point of view. But as a person, he was an evil, selfish sewage rat. She had to keep reminding herself of that. Of course, he had changed a bit since school, become more mature. He had stopped calling her foul names and harassing her about her bloodline, but he was still a lowlife. A complete and utter ass.

What she was feeling was just hormones and a maybe a case of Stockholm syndrome. She really did feel like some sort of captive in that big old building. Aside from the good food and the ability to walk around freely, of course. No, it had to be her suffering from a serious case of cabin fever. Yes, that was the answer.

Relieved and satisfied with her conclusion, she started to focus on her surroundings. She couldn't recognize the place she had wandered into. It was a narrow hall in the back of the house, and there was a door right next to her, leading outside. Curious, she unlocked it and opened it. And gasped in amazement.

A beautiful garden revealed itself before her eyes. A narrow stone path lead from the door, crossed a big lawn and continued into some trees on a hill at the end. On her right stood a garden table and some chairs surrounded by beautiful flowers in red, pink and yellow. The big green lawn seemed stretch the length of the house and beyond. She decided to follow the path, crossing it and walking into the dazzling sunlight which immediately started to warm her up. She couldn't help but smile brightly. Why hadn't she found this place before? She knew the Malfoy estate was huge, but she hadn't really thought about it being this huge. Her bedroom window looked out to the front of the house, so she really didn't have any idea how it looked in the back. She reached the trees, a few spread birches and climbed the small hill. At the top, she could see a small lake glittering in the sun not far away. She walked to it. As she closed in, she could see a couple of ducks frolicking in the water. The place was gorgeous. It was hard to imagine such foul people could own something so beautiful. It just didn't fit. She could easily visualize Lucius Malfoy in an excavator, digging the place up, cackling with the joy of destroying niceness.

She gave up the pondering and sat down by the lake, leaning against the trunk of a tree. She closed her eyes. It was so incredibly relaxing, with the sun on her face and the birdsong in the air. She could almost forget her current situation.

And then she drifted off into a world of dreams.

It was late in the afternoon when she finally woke up. Her neck hurt from the position it had been in for the better part of the day, and it was starting to get chilly. She hurried back up to the mansion, and followed the hallway back to the entrance hall. She proceeded to the kitchen, which was blissfully unlocked. The room did however, hold a grumpy, annoyed inhabitant; Alfred, who was apparently cleaning up after a dinner she had clearly missed out on. What a shame. The ever-so sour old man looked at her in disdain and politely asked her to escort herself out of his kitchen. But she was hungry, and would not budge. She wanted nutrition! After five minutes of her reaching for food, and him slapping her hand away, he finally gave in and agreed to give her a banana and a muffin. Then he practically shoved her out and slammed the door shut in her face. She could distinctively hear the lock click.

Satisfied and a bit amused, she went up to her room, nibbling on her snack. It wasn't really enough to satisfy her hunger, but it was food nonetheless.

She fell asleep that night oddly content.


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There, chapter six...aaah...finally

Now, people, don't go getting your panties in a wad because Hermione isn't doing anything yet, she will, I promise...:) Action will sneak up on you like a hungry lion and bite you in the ass when you least expect it..

Just be patient

Huge thanks to my beta, Brandy (Anathema), and thanks for all the great reviews, I love them, and hope there will be many more...:)