The Unfortunates

Right, sorry it\'s been a while... Now, I hope you like this chapter.. Hermione\'s starting to live dangerously...:)

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CHAPTER SEVEN: A SPY AT WORK


“It was rather stupid, Gavril, but –”

“What’s all this about, then?” asked a voice from outside the lounge – Severus had spotted Lupin and Tonks with the Bulgarian boy, Gavril. He entered the room eyeing them all.

“Nothing, Severus, really,” said Tonks hastily, but Lupin raised a hand to quiet her.

“We can’t exactly keep it from him, Tonks,” he said heavily.

“Keep what from me?” snarled Severus, his suspicious gaze immediately jumping to Gavril, who flinched.

“Gavril here, well – it appears he’s rather eager in our case, you see,” said Lupin apologetically. “And he just felt like doing you a favour, I guess – right, Gavril?”

“Oh, yeah,” said Gavril quickly, “I didn’t mean to do anything wrong, it was just to get things going, yes?”

“Undoubtedly. Now enlighten me, if you please,” said Severus.

“Gavril went to Lilly Barrette’s,” said Tonks, sighing. “To look for Mira Gideon.”

Severus’s gaze jumped from Tonks back to Gavril again.

“Why?” he snarled.

“I didn’t mean to do anything wrong!” spluttered the Bulgarian again. “But I thought – you had to go there at some point anyway to see if she had found out anything from that Malfoy, and when I heard you discuss it with Mr. Lupin I thought I’d save you the trouble and –”

“Save me the trouble?” sneered Severus menacingly. “How... thoughtful of you.”

“He really meant nothing by it, I’m sure,” said Lupin hastily. “He just wanted to be of use.”

“I thought I made my point quite clear,” said Severus darkly, “that it was essential we didn’t give Mira any more information than strictly necessary. That includes, believe it or not, the revelation of others working alongside me! You showed your face – and probably your nationality too – for no reason whatsoever!”

“I’m sorry!” sobbed Gavril. “I really didn’t mean to... I only wanted to help...”

“Well,” snarled Severus, “as helpful as you’ve been, Gavril, I would appreciate it if you conducted your help elsewhere from now on. Let me handle my business alone.”

Turning on his heel, he stalked out the room, his robes billowing about him.

“I really didn’t mean to –” began Gavril, but Lupin cut him off.

“We know, don’t worry about it,” he said, smiling. “Severus is like that. He’ll cool down.”

Giving a faint smile, Gavril withdrew from the lounge.

After a few moments of silence, Lupin could feel a pair of eyes staring intently at him.

“What?” he said, facing Tonks.

“Why do you think Severus is so determined to deal with that Gideon girl all on his own?”

“Because he always works alone. He is like that.”

“Still...” Tonks looked wistful. “He called her Mira. Did you notice? Not Miss Gideon or Gideon, as would have been typical of him, but Mira. What do you think?”

“I think you think too much,” smiled Lupin.

--

Stupid, irrational Bulgarian.

Who was he to seek out Mira on his own? He’d never even met her before, nor did he know anything about Malfoy – what purpose could going to see her possibly serve?

Well, let’s think, said Severus’s mind to him sarcastically, what do we know about Bulgarians?

Okay, maybe that wasn’t an entirely fair thought – surely Igor Karkaroff couldn’t speak for all of them. But Severus had to admit, the number one weakness of that man had always been his addiction to women. And he’d been Gavril’s Headmaster, hadn’t he? Perhaps he’d taught his students to be just as obsessed with women as he was...

Severus sighed. Perhaps he was just being paranoid. Perhaps Gavril really had gone to Lilly Barrette’s just to do him a favour.

Somehow, he didn’t think it though. A student of Karkaroff’s, no matter how dedicated to the light, surely would think the same as his Headmaster regarding prostitutes: They were only good for one thing.

Severus, although being uncomfortable around whores, knew that they were more than just objects of enjoyment. He knew there were women behind those masks, real women who felt and thought and breathed. And Severus suspected Gavril perhaps didn’t fully understand this...

The gods knew Karkaroff didn’t.

The thought that Severus might just be jealous at the prospect of some other man approaching Mira Gideon never struck him.

--

Her steady breathing was soothing him.

It was strange, really – never before had something as simple as anyone else’s breathing been soothing to him, but now... Well, it all felt rather new to him.

Draco turned a bit to get a look at the girl asleep in his arms. Although her breath was heavy and steady, she wore a frown on her face, and for some reason she seemed so much more distressed and concerned in her sleep than she did whilst awake.

Awake, she was so mirthful and charming, impulsive and playful. Now, she looked almost... depressed.

And for some reason, Draco found this to be disturbing. Her breath was soothing, yet the frown on her face was actually troubling him.

Not that he really cared if she had problems. He rarely ever cared about other people’s problems. No, he was merely concerned that if she had problems, they might affect her efforts with him. And he couldn’t have that.

It struck him then how little he really knew about Mira.

He knew she had a friend – Mandy Brocklehurst. She’d been a Ravenclaw, Draco remembered.

He also knew that Mira hadn’t gone to Hogwarts. He would surely have remembered her. So she’d been abroad – perhaps she was even foreign? – and she had befriended a Ravenclaw.

The only time Draco had seen her ever so slightly concerned at all had been when she’d talked about getting away from the apartment she’d shared with Mandy and into Barrette’s.

Perhaps the issue of residence was what was causing the frown she was wearing in her sleep? Perhaps she was still unhappy with her accommodations. Draco really couldn’t see why; her room really was beautiful, and she probably earned better money and got better food here than she’d done whilst working the streets.

But all the same... Having to share this room with a dozen or so different, unknown men every weekend couldn’t be too fun, either. At least not when, if Mira could have her way, she could have spent all that time with Draco alone.

Yes, that’s probably what she wanted. Not having to be with other men. Probably she would have preferred being only Draco’s. He wasn’t too appalled by the idea, actually.

Of course she could expect very little of him in return – she’d be nothing but for him to enjoy, it’s not as if he would offer her a real relationship, a piece of the Malfoy honour... She’d sunk too low already for that, being a whore and everything.

But still... He would certainly enjoy it, were she his alone. And if that was what she wanted, then who was he to object?

Greatly content with his reasoning, Draco fell asleep.

--

It was a lucky thing that Malfoy had stayed up for hours after Hermione had fallen asleep, thinking of Merlin knew what. Because that caused him to sleep in that following morning, and Hermione silently thanked the gods that she’d awoken before him.

She removed his arm from where it was possessively wrapped around her shoulder, pulled a robe around her, grasped her wand from the nightstand and snuck out of bed and down a flight of stairs to the bathroom, cursing herself inwardly.

Really, she should have prepared herself better. Malfoy had paid good money last evening; of course he would be staying throughout the night!

And she really shouldn’t have fallen asleep.

Staring at herself in the mirror, she angrily banged a fist on the sink, outraged with herself for having been so reckless.

Looking back at her wasn’t Mira Gideon, the glamorous, thick-lipped, reddish-blond girl with icy-blue eyes; she was staring into the reflection of one Hermione Granger: Bookworm and know-it-all of Hogwarts, brown-eyed and with way too much bushy hair.

If Malfoy had woken up before her, he would have seen her as she really was, without the concealment charms, and then she would be dead by now.

“Stupid, stupid girl!” Hermione snarled at her own reflection.

She knew all too well she had to be alone in the morning to redo the charm – she’d done this with Mandy for almost six months now, after all; how could she have forgotten it on this night, of all nights? Hadn’t Malfoy been so tired he’d still been asleep when she woke up, she would have been seen for who she really was...

Normally, she used to set a rather useful charm on her wand before she went to sleep – a charm that served the same purpose as an alarm clock, but which didn’t make any noise and thus didn’t wake up whoever else was in the room with Hermione. No, it simply sent little shots of light blue sparks in direction of its owner, which would prove to be disturbing enough for one to wake up by it.

Once again, Hermione was thankful she was so good with charms and spells.

She pulled out her wand and administered the concealment charms again, causing her hair to fall flat and long down her back, turning slowly back to its red-blonde colour; her eyes to turn icy-blue yet again and her lips to grow fuller.

Mira was back, and Hermione was safe.

“Stupid,” Hermione snarled at herself one last time, then left the bathroom.

Draco was awake by the time she returned to her room. He was sitting up in bed, staring at her quizzically as though she’d done something unthinkable.

“Where have you been?” he asked as she entered, closing the door behind her and approaching the bed.

“Call of nature,” she said, shrugging.

He seemed to take the hint, and in stead of replying he crawled out of bed, yawning and running a hand through his rather long, white-blond hair.

“What time is it?” he asked wearily.

Hermione checked her watch. “Half past ten.”

“Oh, fuck!” exclaimed Malfoy, making a leap for his clothes. “I’m really late... Father’s going to kill me...”

Hermione quirked an eyebrow. “Why’s that?” she asked lightly.

“Oh, it’s this new assignment,” replied Malfoy, stressing to get himself clothed as fast as possible. He seemed irritated at the thought of whatever work he was doing with Malfoy Senior. “Father’s practically losing his marbles over it...”

“Why?” asked Hermione, acting naïve. “Is it difficult?”

“It’s complicated,” said Malfoy, now desperately scanning the room for his wand, apparently oblivious to the fact that he was sharing this information with her. “The Dark Lord is so hoping for good results on it, but it’s really difficult – we haven’t come up with anything useful so far, and Father’s getting stressed – making us all work double what we usually do –”

“What kind of work is this, anyway, Draco?” she asked sweetly, picking up his wand from where he’d dropped it under the nightstand last night and handing it to him.

“It’s – thanks,” he said absentmindedly, now pulling on his travelling cloak and searching its pockets for something, “it’s a new concept – it involves a series of curses and potions, I think – called Wizard’s Chase or something, I think it was... A friend of my Father’s developed it – Claude something, is his name... Foreign man,” he added. Then he gave a satisfied “ah”; apparently he’d found what he was looking for in his pockets. He pulled out a sack of money and tossed it onto Hermione’s desk.

“Thanks,” said Hermione quickly. “Claude, did you say?”

“Yeah, that’s right,” nodded Malfoy, not really paying any attention to her or what she was actually asking as he pulled on his shoes. “Claude something... Last name begins with an A, I think... Never even met the man; why Father wants me to even bother with remembering these names is a real mystery...”

He froze then, his gaze going up from his shoes to Hermione, his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

“And why do you care?” he snarled suddenly, standing up straight and taking a few threatening steps towards her.

“I don’t,” replied Hermione quickly, backing away from him. “I was just curious, that’s all...”

“Curious?” he repeated, still walking in fast steps towards her.

“Yes – after all, you’re a famous man, Mr. Malfoy,” said Hermione, her mind racing, searching for a good excuse to why she’d questioned him so, “and you Death Eaters are in touch with the Dark Lord, the ruler of our world and so forth... Can you blame a girl for being curious about stuff like that?” She smiled innocently as her back hit the wall, praying that Malfoy’s ego would outwit his common sense.

He approached her, his face inches from hers, but he didn’t do anything. His frown lingered for a few seconds, then it disappeared, apparently along with his suspicions.

“I guess I can understand that,” he drawled, a hand reaching up to gently caress her cheek. “But you’ve got to understand, Mira – my work is private, right? I know you’d probably love to brag to your friends about what you know about me, but this is all secret stuff. When I tell you this, you can’t tell anyone else.

“Do you understand?” he added, his hand suddenly grasping at her throat, a lot tighter than what was comfortable.

“Of – of course,” gasped Hermione. “I wouldn’t tell a soul – it’s our little secret... right, Mr. Malfoy?”

He relaxed, slowly removing his hand from her throat.

“That’s right,” he nodded. “Our little secret.”

Then he gave her a final, possessive kiss and left her room in a hurry, not even bothering to close the door behind him.

Hermione didn’t move from her place by the wall; her hand moved up to feel her throat where he’d grasped it. She knew it would be bruised within an hour.


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A/N: Ah, what do you think of this?

Thanks SO much to my reviewers! Can\'t say how much I appreciate it!

Bella: Wow, thanks so much! Can\'t even begin to say how glad I am to hear it. ;)

NobisSolomNon: We\'re closing in on the moment when real identities will be revealed, so don\'t you worry...

lydia: Don\'t worry, there won\'t be too much Hermione/Draco in this one; it\'s really a Hermione/Snape ship, after all. The two of them just have to realize it for themselves first! ;)