Life in an Alien Land 1: In the Land of My Enemy

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Please heed the warnings. This chapter contains reference to sexual torture. It also contains an element of bestiality squick and accidental voyeurism.


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Life in an Alien Land

Chapter 6

If anyone who knew Hermione during sixth-year had told her that she would be sitting in Malfoy Manor's library, reading up on ways to defeat the Dark Lord, carrying Draco's child after having one with Lucius, she would have sent them to St. Mungo's for a referral. That she loved both Dark wizards, each in a different way, should have been unbelievable, but she did. Lucius' honour, twisted as it was, and reserved affection moved her to want to stand beside him as a friend. Draco's vulnerability and need drew her darkly to his bed.

There was the crux of her problem. She knew she loved Draco right now, but was unsure of their future after the defeat of the tyrant. If they defeated Him. She wanted to say she would feel the same about her broken boy, but when life normalised, would the draw of his madness-imbued love sustain a relationship? She knew she did not want her children raised in such a tension-filled environment and she was not even sure how she would explain their paternity. As much as Draco had appeared to come to love Delphine, she could not see him wanting to be a true father to his half-sister. It was all such a Greek tragedy in its way. She just did not know what the future held once the war was finally over.

Her mind turned to the group's immediate problems.

Lucius and Snape had tried to remove the bracelets from both Hermione's and Tonks' wrists with several arcane spells to no avail. Both women had come away with burned and blistered wrists and excruciating pain as even Darker Charms were utilised. Draco finally barred Hermione from further experimentation when he saw the aftermath of the last attempt. Even after a judicious application of Dittany salve, her arm had been and angry red. His fury at the experimentation spilled over to his father who still bore several Curse marks to prove Draco's high-handed edict was to be heeded. This failure had cost the plotters precious days in search of a way to break the Charm that held them on the wrists of the women. They had three days left before Delphine must be handed over. If they did not succeed...

Hermione shook herself. They would succeed. There was no other option.

She looked out the window at the setting quarter moon, realising with a start how late it truly was. Thursday morning around four if she could tell by the glowing body in the sky. It was now two more days and some hours before her daughter became the next victim of the war. She renewed her efforts to read the book before her. It was an ancient tome, written in Middle English with Latinate phrases, difficult but not impossible to decipher. Hermione remembered it as a reference in the books she used to make the Charmed Knuts for the D.A.. Severus had retrieved it, along with most of the books in the Restricted Section, from Hogwarts. The building had been abandoned in the aftermath of the Final Battle after giants ran amuck and destroyed it.

She hoped she was not just chasing hares with this latest idea. She thought that, much like a Proteus Charm, if they were able to break the draining effect of the magic of just one of the bracelets, the others might be weakened or even made useless. In that way, they would only have to use hers or Tonks bracelet to effect their plan. Of course, Lucius and Draco were still trying to secure as many of the women within the confines of the Manor as possible. Most of them had not fared well. Wives and concubines alike were treated to the worst behaviour imaginable by their enforced servitude. Lucius' estimation was that there were around eighteen including Tonks and Hermione. The two men were being met with surprising resistance from all quarters. She shuddered to think that she might have been given to someone else.

She settled onto the couch in the library, her feet up on the cloth surface to protect them from the early winter chill, which had sunk into the Manor in the last two days. A rustling sound alerted Hermione to the presence of another person in the room. She ducked further down on the divan, assured that she would be uninterrupted by discovery, and resumed reading.

Lighter footsteps sounded on the marble floor as yet one more person entered the library. Hermione heard Lucius' even tones ask, "What is it you want?"

"I want to talk to you, like I was before you left the room." Tonks said. "We need to come to some kind of understanding..."

"I believe we have, Madam." Lucius' tone was dry. "I do not wish to speak further on the matter. That is the understanding."

Hermione peeked over the back of the couch, her view unhindered as Tonks followed Lucius to the large fireplace in the centre of the outside wall. The former Auror touched Lucius' arm, "Why don't you ever say my name?"

"What would you have me call you?" Lucius spat. "You are no longer Mrs. Lupin. I abhor your first name and any diminutives of it are hideous. Or would you prefer 'Wife?'"

"Malfoy." Tonks whispered as if unsure of which question to answer. Hermione wished that she had let her presence be known. Now, she was afraid of destroying what little peace they might hammer out of the gloom that surrounded them both.

Lucius turned, his back to Tonks. "Please, don't tell me you want to be with me after I... You're still an Auror and Order member and I am still Lucius Malfoy, Death Eater."

"We're both more than our jobs and our politics, Malfoy." Tonks sank gracelessly to her knees on the carpet before the hearth with a deep sigh. "I don't see that we have a choice in the matter. Neither of us can change it."

Lucius assessed her coolly. "You've recovered fully from my violation of you?"

"I won't lie to you; I think that night may be the worst of my life since I dug myself out of that mass grave at Hogwarts.” Tonks answered her voice soft. "But then I really can't say because I've had Snape Obliviate me. I don't remember anything but the marriage vows from that night."

"You would take me into your bed?" Lucius' voice dripped sarcasm and disbelief. "Tell me when we make love that you won't have any regrets. You won't long for your child and your husband."

"There's no love about what we‘ll be doing." Tonks replied with a shrug. "We'll fuck and if we learn later on that we can stand each other outside the bedroom, it's all good. And keep my son out of this, you nasty bastard."

Lucius made no reply but stirred the fire before him with a flick of his wand. It blazed to life then settled with a crackle to a cheery glow.

Tonks began picking at her black-lacquered fingernails, ragged from days of wear. "Look, Malfoy, I know we can never get out of the marriage even after all this is over. He told Lestrange to use the most binding magical vows to marry us. We will never be able to have anyone else, not even as lovers."

Lucius' shoulders sagged; his profile which was turned to Hermione was diamond hard. "I never wanted another wife. I was with Narcissa for almost thirty years. Do you truly think to replace her in my heart?"

"No." Tonks' simple answer rang out in the silence of the room. "I still love Remus. No one could ever replace him. That's not what I'm saying."

"What is it you want from this then?"

"I guess I want to make something new." Tonks patted the floor next to her. "Sit down... Lucius, please. You're making my neck hurt."

Lucius joined her with a show of bad grace despite the speed at which he complied to her request. Tonks took his long hand in her tiny ones. "If you hate my name as much as I do, call me Claire, but only in private.”

"Your middle name?" Lucius asked with a small smile.

"No, I pulled it out of my arse." Tonks laughed. "Of course it's my middle name. What's yours?"

Lucius swept the woman beside him with an almost shy gaze. "Abraxas."

"Kiss me, Lucius Abraxas Malfoy." Tonks commanded. "I want to seal the deal if we're going to be married. I don't want to be lonely for the rest of my life."

Lucius complied with a gentle brush of his lips against the former Auror's. He moved away from her. "I should like, very much, to be able to court you before we ma... have sex. I want to remember that I am not the brute He made me with you... Claire."

"I don't think I want that." Tonks let go of his hand. "If we don't do something now, it may be too late. It scares me that what He made you do to me was so bad that I had to have my memory altered."

"You're impatient for a Ravenclaw, I see," Lucius said with a huff of amusement. "Very well, let us retire to a more appropriate location and we shall fuck as you say."

Tonks kneeled between his knees, her gown riding up to reveal her lack of undergarments. "No. I want you now, or I'll lose my nerve."

With a swift motion, she pulled the clothing over her head. After a swift jerk of his head, Lucius touched her face, a mere brush of his fingertips on the angular curve of her cheek. "You don't have to do this. Severus went without sex most of his life and it didn't kill him."

"Are you joking?" Tonks laughed as she opened the buttons on Lucius' shirt. "Do you really want to end up like him for the rest of your life? I mean, at least now, since he's shagging regularly, he smiles... well he's less scowlly, anyway."

A bark of laughter was Lucius' only response to her repartee.

Hermione ducked further down on the couch, willing her ears to stay closed as more clothing rustled and the gentle noises of lovemaking began. Hermione remembered Lucius' masterful touch well and prayed that Tonks would be satisfied quickly. A languorous heat pooled in Hermione's womb as she listened to the two become lovers with the soft lap of flesh on flesh. When rhythmic breathing turned to breathless cries, Hermione looked once more and watched in shamed fascination as Lucius thrust into his new wife, his long flank and buttock muscles clenching and releasing with his powerful strokes. Tonks wrapped her legs around him with a soft gurgle of pleasure, her blunt-tipped fingers raking his back leaving reddened streaks on the pale skin. The motions continued until both appeared to convulse as they reached their peak. Lucius remained on top of Tonks, kissing her and lavishing her with an affection he had never shown Hermione.

As Tonks fell asleep under his hands and his soft mouth, Lucius shifted slightly. He pitched his voice not to wake his wife as he said, "Miss Granger, the next time you wish to indulge in your voyeuristic tendencies, make sure your abundant hair cannot be seen over the arm of the couch."

With a squeak, Hermione fled the room.


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Snape was in conference with Lucius when Draco received a Summons. Hermione followed him to their now shared room and watched as he donned the accoutrements of his forced path, concerned at the timing of the event. It had been months since he had been Summoned without his father. His madness had made it nearly impossible for him to act properly Death Eater-like during large gatherings, a thing that caused him to be tortured by his Aunt many times. Lucius protected him from most by insisting he could not spare him from the London offices. Hermione followed him to the door, afraid for him. "You'll come right back after you find out what He wants?"

"I will if it's possible." Draco's eyes had taken on the vacant appearance of mania that had mostly disappeared in the last weeks. His expression set, he moved to touch her but drew his hand back. "Don't wait up for me."

She watched him from the upstairs gallery as he strode to the foyer, the only point in Malfoy Manor that allowed Apparation to the outside world. Hermione did not have to be Sybil Trelawney, to predict a dire outcome to his Summons.


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Draco had found the key to solving their problem three days ago. Like the lunatic he had been made into, he squirreled away the spells, learning them with the same manic intensity that had spurred him to abuse Hermione. The future he envisioned for himself at the moment of the false Summons consisted of Darkness, blood and death. He could not befoul Hermione with the touch of a murderer twice over, even if the second murder was yet to be committed, not even to say goodbye. He was aware with a prickling of his neck that she watched him from the gallery as he swept from the Manor. He loved her and he knew that any future for her would mean his death. Today and by his own hand.

The secrets to the bracelets had been easy to unlock once his brilliant Hermione pointed him in the direction he needed to look. He would enact the final charm just before he met with the Dark Lord. His brilliant love had scoured both the Malfoy and Hogwarts libraries for all the books she knew of on Proteus Charms. She was unaware of the cache of books willed to Draco by his mad cousin, Sirius Black.

Oh yes, Black had willed Narcissa Malfoy's son the books. When Draco had received the box on his seventeenth birthday, the draw of the Dark knowledge had nearly destroyed him with its intensity. Draco suspected that had been Black's plan. The gift was a way to get back at the Black family, Lucius Malfoy and to strike a blow for the Order. Even in death, the man had been reckless. Once Draco overcame the strong wards and even stronger pull of the knowledge, he had been able to study the spells objectively.

That same box had also yielded the means to end the Dark Lord's existence. It was an ancient and Dark spell involving blood sacrifice and death. The same was used to make a Horcrux. Draco had no intention, however of extending his own life. One of the sacrifices needed would be from his own veins. The small book, found in the bottom of the box and bound in fine pored leather, probably human, also contained the way to end an existence for all eternity. There would be no blissful afterlife for the Dark Lord. He would experience no rebirth to re-enact his fury over the millennia. Draco would not only rend the Dark Lord's soul, he would vaporise it, make it into those sub-atomic particles that Hermione droned on about.

In that little box Black, in his dark glee, had struck a decisive blow for the Order, just not in the way he had anticipated. Draco knew whose deaths he would bring about and whose blood would be spilled this evening. He also knew he had to succeed, or all was lost.


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Hermione was back in the library, worrying her lip with a quill as the hours ticked by without word from Draco. Snape and Ginny sat across from her, bickering about the efficacy of a certain spell when Percy Weasley stepped through the Floo. He looked at the table they occupied unsurprised by the presence of two dead people. Both Ginny and Hermione reacted, the redhead with a Jelly Legs Jinx and Hermione with a scream. Only the former spy remained calm as Percy shielded from the Jinx and said urgently, "Severus, I need a word with the High Lord."

Severus with a laconic wave indicated in a mild a tone, "He is in his study. I believe you know where that is."

Ginny rounded on her lover, "What the fuck was that about, Snape?"

"Language, Ginevra." Snape returned his attention to the parchment filled with ancient runes about which they had been arguing. Hermione raised a shaking hand to her brow, wiping the cold sweat that had broken out across it. Ginny glared at Snape, giving her best Molly Weasley look of outrage before he spoke, his long-suffering answer said in the driest tones, "Surely, dearest, you realise that I was not the only spy for the Order. It took some time, but Percy has been instrumental in our host's change of allegiance."

"Oh, and you couldn't tell me that my own brother wasn't...' Ginny's face crumpled as she dissolved in tears and ran from the room.

Hermione drew back from the table to follow her friend. "Nice going, Severus."

"Ginevra's emotional volatility aside, I had no reason to break my silence on the matter." Snape's even reply was spoken in repressive tones. "As I am sure you are well aware, this is not some after-hours lark at Hogwarts. Mr. Weasley's position was too valuable to compromise so that I might allay his sister's somewhat groundless prejudice against him."


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Hermione found Ginny in the solarium, a medieval structure on the west wing overlooking the gardens. Ginny was staring out the mullioned windows, the storm of her emotions calmed but just barely. She flicked her hair down to hide her eyes, a Snape-like gesture. Hermione sat beside her friend on the long, low divan that flanked the windowed wall.

After a long silence broken only by sniffs, Ginny finally spoke. "I bet you wonder what I see in him sometimes."

Hermione spread her hands on her thighs, nothing more. In the last year, she had learned the value of silence over questions in this new world. Ginny sniffed once more before drawing her knees to her chest almost girlishly. She laid her head on her knees and looked toward the gardens.

"Why didn't you ever ask what happened to Fred?" Ginny asked in a small voice.

Hermione sighed and after some thought answered, "I couldn't stand to think of a world without him. We had already lost George... If I didn't know what happened to Fred, I reckoned everything would be all right eventually."

Ginny nodded, apparently knowing the importance of self-delusion. "I thought it was something like that."

Another long silence stretched between them and Hermione relaxed against the couch, easing her back that was already growing sore from her pregnancy. Ginny finally spoke, "He's alive. When... That day we were abducted, Mum, Fred and I were taken to East Anglia, right into Greyback's camp. It's where we found Severus."

Hermione jerked involuntarily, not wanting to hear the rest but unable to leave the story for her friend to bear alone any longer. Ginny's voice strengthened as Hermione took her hand. "Did you know that saliva isn't the only body fluid that transfers the Werewolf Curse?

I found out the first full moon I was there. Greyback liked his little games and he loved to have Severus play them. He would take just enough Wolfsbane Potion to retain his mental faculties during his transformation... And two of us Unchanged Slaves would bring Severus in to tie him down facedown on a filthy mattress. Greyback would enter... and... In his werewolf form... he would... fuck him.

Severus would be left in that position all night so that Greyback could have him over and over. Severus had been his prisoner for six months by the time we got there and had enough of the curse component in his bloodstream to feel the pull of the moon but not enough to change... so his body would attempt to alter, but it would be a horrible state of flux. It was painful to hear him howl and tear at his own flesh. He wanted to die and Greyback wouldn't let him."

Ginny sobbed silently for a moment then continued, "I was the one who had to take care of him afterwards. He would beg me to kill him but I couldn't. I thought I was hard before, when we lived in London... but I just couldn't. We became lovers and when Greyback found out he finally let Severus change fully. The second night of his transformation, Severus was chained out again and I was forced to join him. Greyback had the Turning process down to a science. I was tied down just in Severus' reach, so that my scent maddened the wolf. He could bite me but not kill me.

Fred had already been changed and a few months later, he killed Greyback. Fred's the one who let us go. He'll never come back though. He's too ashamed of what he's become."

A shadow fell across the two women as Snape's voice cracked across the silence. "Miss Weasley, I hope you have satisfied Miss Granger's overweening curiosity. Did you tell her how in the end I begged for Greyback's ejaculate just to end my misery? Did you tell her how I savaged you that first night in the same way Greyback did me?"

Hermoine raised her stricken face to his black fury. Snape raised his wand to his temple, and Hermione reacted without thought. She shouted, "Expelliarmus!"

She almost fainted as her former professor's wand snapped to her hand and magic flowed through her in an arching storm.

Snape fell on his arse, his legs splayed before him tangled in his black robes. He looked dazedly at both women before he uttered in an uncharacteristically dazed tone, "What the fuck?"


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