As If In Wonderland

“Milord?”, Hermione addressed the dark lord timidly, who sat in his study looking very moody and grumpy, the day after she last was in there.

“What is it?”, he growled, he wasn’t in the mood at all and was fingering his wand in his pocket, waiting to torture if she had disturbed him for nothing of importance or interest.

“1-er, im sorry but ive finished sorting out your books milord, I-I thought you would want to know”, she stuttered nervously. She hadn’t caused any trouble since the last time they had spoke, maybe because her mind was confused with what to do.

“all of them? There are thousands”, Voldemort gazed at her stunned.

“I know that. I just really wanted to read a book, and you said I couldn’t until I had finished what I was supposed to be doing milord”, she stated simply, looking at her feet.

“You are remarkable”, she looked up again, this time her turn to be surprised, “Well, you were much faster than I expected…you really want something to liven up that mind of yours don’t you?”

“I am just bored. I have no one to talk to, I have no school work to do and I have no one to just be with-three things I always had before. Im not stupid, I am not leaving here anytime soon, I might as well keep my spirits up while I can…”

“You are correct of course. You had a book in mind?”

“Maybe you could suggest something, as you are the owner and know them best. I just know the titles…but I guess something to do with defence. I do not trust your followers, or you, and though I am weak compared, I would like to be able to protect myself…if you would allow that milord”

“You may”, he said after a moment, “one key element of power, is the defence of it. There is no use learning how to destroy and enemy if they can destroy you before you have the chance”

“I know milord, though there is no point in me reading up about hard to use spells, I don’t have a wand and only rarely show signs of power without it”

“You may read any, you know the area too find defensive spells…I believe I have a proposition for you”

“What?”, she wasn’t sure if she had heard correctly.

“If you behave, show respect and do as you are told…would you agree to allowing me too teach you?”

“Why would you want to teach me?”

“because you have potential which is of no use to me unless you learn how to use it!”, he raised his voice.

“What if I don’t want to learn the dark things you wish to teach and use me for milord?”

“Then I will make another proposition. I will not force you this time, you need to be willing to do lessons or I would be wasting my time. Just think, would you rather waste your life cleaning my home, or would you rather gain some knowledge and learn?”

“Of course Id prefer to learn, but I don’t want to learn what I know you want to teach”

“I will give you access to a wand if you comply”, that caught her attention.

“A wand? You would let me touch a real wand?”

“If you agree”

“I-I…”, she stood for a while thinking. “I am a witch, I need a wand”

“Exactly”, he smirked, knowing he had finally gotten somewhere. “I will make arrangements to teach you, though I am busy at this time. I will allow you to read a new book every time you complete a task I set you, I will inform you as soon as we begin out lessons”

“o-ok”

“do you still find me cruel?”

“not as much as before”, she muttered truthfully,

“Why is that?”, he leaned closer to her,

“I don’t know. I just came here to tell you that I have finished milord…”, she sighed. “Am I ever going to be free?”

“If I ever get bored of you”

“So I have some hope”, she half smiled.

“Tell me why you are so desperate to leave? I haven’t hurt you at all today, you have behaved and things get done”

“Because this isn’t right. I know it’s a very low chance I will be leaving any time soon, but I would rather know that maybe I will be free from you in the future, near or far”

“I would usually torture someone for showing how much dislike they have for me…but I don’t believe that would do a thing about it”

“Am I supposed to grateful for that milord? I may hace chosen to just get on with and I have accepted that, but don’t think I have changed in any way”

“Oh, I wouldn’t have it any other way. Crucio!”, he laughed as she squirmed as the curse tore through her body, making her feel the suffering she hated the most. “You must understand that I have not changed either”

“Oh I knew that, I just wanted to see how much I could push you…not very far I have found”, she smirked after the affects of the cruciatus had worn off. “May I still read a book though?”

“I don’t go back on things I have said, so yes. I have things to do, so do not disturb me”

“I will try to control myself”, she muttered sarcastically. “I haven’t read a book in so long, now I know what it must be like for a drug addict who is being kept away from the drugs…never mind”

“imperio”, he cast the spell on her just as she went to leave. Instantly she stopped, and entered a dream like mode, feeling light and good without a care in the world. “you look so vulnerable like this…im sure you are trying to fight it, but you cant…”

She stood before him, looking straight ahead, though he could see the trouble in her eyes.

“How strong can you cast the cruciatus I wonder…”, his eyes gleamed as he summoned for a prisoner to be brought to him.

“Where am I? What’s going on!”, the muggle man cried as he was brought in, “who are you! Why the fuck am I here?”

“Silencio”, Voldemort cast under his breathe, “Now Hermione, as I know you wouldn’t do it willingly, I had to resort to different measures…you will cast the strongest cruciatus you can cast, without a wand…”, he ordered her. She didn’t do anything for a moment, when suddenly she turned and screamed the curse at the muggle. It was evident that he had never felt more pain in his life, though his screams were silent, the pure terror and pain he was in was obvious.

“No!!!”, Hermione screamed as she fought her way out of the unforgivable after a minute or so, she collapsed to the floor weak from the curse and in tears. “No!”, she cried as Voldemort sent the muggle back to the dungeons.

“You are excellent at the curse, even without a wand! My, my…I could teach you, train you to do great things…”

“Why the fuck did you make me do that! We were on good-well okish terms! Why did you have to make me do that!”, she demanded through tears.

“To think the strongest curses some when you really mean it…I would love to see a curse you cast if you really meant it-”

“Shut up!”, she cried, “what the hell are you trying to do to me!”

“I just wanted to see the sort of power you potentially possess-while you are in a good mood”

“im not in a fucking good mood anymore! Leave me alone milord because I hate you so much more than you think!”, she growled before storming out. Voldemort couldn’t help but chuckle, it was all so entertaining for him…

Hermione spent hours calming down and reading a book she had chosen to do with self defence against common dark spells, she learnt a lot and realised Voldemort had lifted the charm that kept the books locked from her only one book at a time, so she couldn’t sneak another one.

“I hate him, I hate him, I hate him!”, she shouted to the room after finishing her book, she was a fast reader and it had calmed her temporarily. “I want to be home, I want things how they were, I want to be safe…”

“You are safe! Tell me, has anyone touched you since you have been here?”, Voldemort spat as he walked in,

“I am safe from everyone while with you-except from you!”

“You cant have everything, you are ungrateful”

“No, it is you who is ungrateful”, she slapped him across his cheek as hard as she could as he got too close for comfort, though he hardly felt it, he grew angry. He didn’t show any emotion, before slapping her even harder across her cheek making her fall to the ground. The force made her cry out in pain and automatically she put a hand up to her cheek, blood. She looked up at his hand to see he wore a ring which must have caught her flesh.
“Bastard”

“What was that?”, he narrowed his eyes.

“You are a bastard!”, she cried as she attempted to heal her cheek to find she could only stop the bleeding, the gash from the ring didn’t go like it should have. She felt it furiously, running from just under he eye to slightly down the side of her face as it went across her cheek, “why the hell isn’t it healing!”

“You will never, and I mean never attempt to harm me in any way ever again”, his tone was enough to tell her he was serious. “My ring is cursed, it is a possession of my ancestors, supposed to harm anyone who tries to touch it other than the wearer. Im afraid to say, that will be leaving a quite nasty scar under that pretty eye of yours”

“Oh, so the mental and physical torture wasn’t enough! You just had to scar me for life! And on my face!”, she whispered as she tried her best to get rid of it, unsuccessfully.

“I will see if I can fix it later, but first you will have to pay for what you did”

“I just did didn’t I?”, she raged

“You will either calm don or shut up or you will be receiving a matching scar on your other cheek, or maybe a black eye would suit you more?”, he threatened as he pulled her up harshly and pushed her onto the sofa. “What would be a suitable punishment for you? All day you have been walking around as if you have forgotten your place-”

“All day? I bloody sorted all your books out for you and then you forced me to do something so wrong-”

“Silence! Yet another example…you can behave, as you have proved to me. It just seems like as soon as you are rewarded you lose that discipline…”, his eyes lingered down to Hermione’s cleavage making her very uncomfortable. “Only one thing seems to have worked so far…”

“No! please I’ll be good! Please”, she begged as she saw what he meant,

“Good, because it might make you think your something special when your not”, she sighed in relief. “Tell me child, what do you think is a suitable punishment?”

“Why ask me milord? You are the one who seems to know everything”

“Ah, of course. There are many things I could do to you, but ive put it off, I don’t want you to lose that mind of yours or your spirit. I want you to gain some discipline-all the time, not just when you choose”

“Please, ill behave!”

“I want you to prove it”

“How?”

“I want an unbreakable vow from you”, he smirked as she paled

“Why would I make a promise with you on that level?”

“Because…I am going to torture and then kill one order member at a time until you do it”

“You are serious aren’t you”, it wasn’t a question as she knew the answer.

“You aren’t a fool”

“No im not. I guess I cant risk thinking your lying either”, she moaned angrily, “but how do you know that I wont fail to meet the promise I make, so I can die and be free of you?”

“because I am not a fool either, your will to live is too strong”

“What promise do I have to make?”

Voldemort smirked before touching her dark mark to call Snape, she winced as it burned her but held back any sound.
Only minutes later, Snape apparated to Voldemort’s side with a small bow, his hair was wet and he seemed to have just slipped on a robe implying he was in the shower when he was called.

“Severus, you are needed for a few minutes to be our binder”, Snape looked surprised but nodded nonetheless before getting out his wand.
Hermione didn’t look at him but started straight into Voldemort’s eyes before lifting her hand to his.

“Will you Hermione Granger, take lessons from myself, Tom Marvolo Riddle whenever I request?”

“I will”, a thin flame from Snape’s wand and glowed around there hands.

“Will you promise to not attempt to harm me in any way unless I allow?”

“I will”, she stated after raising her eyebrow confused, a second flame surrounded their hands.

“Finally, do you Hermione Granger, promise to never leave my home without permission from myself?”, Hermione stayed silent for a moment before agreeing, the last flame bound her to him forever.

“Thank you Severus, you may return to your shower with your ‘maid’”, Voldemort said making Snape half blush before disaparating. “Although you wouldn’t expect it, he does like the woman”

“I really wanted to know that about my ex-teacher milord”, she muttered sarcastically making Voldemort chuckle. “What did you mean by the second vow? So I can harm you with permission?”

“When I teach you something, I may need to duel you to see how you do. If you are unable to attempt to harm me, then a duel would be quite useless in seeing how well you could do”

“Thank you for not making me comply with a vow to follow any order, as I thought you might”, she said so he could barely hear.

“You are welcome. You see Hermione, I could have forced you to promise me some terrible things…but I didn’t. I can be cruel, but I can also be ‘pleasant’”

“If you say so milord, though now I know I can never escape you…”

“Will you join me for dinner in the grounds?”

“What?”

“It is a pleasant evening, I would be pleased to have your company for dinner”

“But why?”

“Because you competed the book task faster than I thought, faster than I thought possible. You agreed to the unbreakable vow and you were polite earlier-so it’s a reward. I will see to it that you receive a new dress, I want you ready at the table within the hour!”, with that he was gone.
Hermione stared at the spot he had just left confused. He was such a confusing person! One minutes he’s ok, then he gets angry, slaps her, then demands an unbreakable vow using blackmail and then invites her out to dinner!

“Is he confusing me to then torture me later and is just making it more entertaining for himself?”

*

Voldemort groaned, what had made him basically ask her out for dinner? Things were fine, he had shown her who was in charge and yet he had somehow managed to ‘reward’ her…

“Get it over with…she thinks I don’t got back on my word, and that could be useful…I would lose that if I tell her dinners off”, he murmured to himself, “but why the fuck did I do that!”

He threw a plate from his side at the opposite wall, feeling comfort at the sound of it smashing into little pieces and crashing to the floor.

“Im confused”

*

“Im so confused!”, Hermione said as a house elf helped her get ready, “I hate him so much, I cannot stand to even look at him! Now I have to sit at a table with him!”

“Miss will be ok. Master wants to know more about miss that is all”

“I don’t want him to know anything about me!”

The house elf didn’t reply but showed it had finished with her dress.
Hermione stared at her reflection in the mirror, surprised she could look so nice, but then again…the dark lord told her he didn’t like mess in his home. She knew he wouldn’t allow her to wear tramp like clothes even if she was a slave.
The black dress she wore fitted perfectly on the upper half of her body, strapless with a hear shaped cut at the top. Below her waist the dress came out slightly because of lots of netting underneath leaving the dress at knee length and giving her a nice shape.

“wow, I would actually buy this if I saw it in shop…-if I could afford it”, she sighed as she admired it, “at least im not wearing that Greek looking dress again! It was lovely but I was getting sick of it. Im a bloody slave to the dark lord, its pathetic”

(AN: If your curious the dress and hair etc would look like this: http://fabfree.files.wordpress.com/2007/12/covergirlblackdress.jpg love it!)

“Miss, your shoes!”, the house elf pushed forward a pair of plain black heels in her size. Hermione looked at them surprised,

“Shoes? It feels like its been a while since ive worn them”, she slowly pulled them on, taking a short minute to get used to it.

“Its time miss, miss shouldn’t worry, master is in a good mood”

“is that even possible”, she muttered, the house elf clicked its fingers and Hermione’s vision disappeared, “what the hell!”

“I apologise miss, but master wants you blindfolded so you cant learn your way around…and possibly see things he doesn’t want you to see…”

“Could have warned me at least”, she murmured as she felt the house elf tugging on her arm out of the room and through various hallways and staircase. How big is this place? she thought to herself before she felt cool fresh air hit her body and face.
Finally after what Hermione felt was hours, she was suddenly stopped by something in her way, hitting her hard on the top of her legs. She let out a yelp before her sight was restored to her. Looking round she gasped at what lay before her.

A table filled overloaded with all types of food sat on a table set for two, with both chairs sitting next to each other at an angle. The table waited under a willow tree, where small lights hanged on the leaves which fell gracefully to the ground.
Hermione was stunned to say the least, it was the first time she had been outside and welcomed the fresh air with open arms, but she didn’t expect this…

“The house elves did it, it seems they believe you deserve it”, Voldemort made his presence know by walking past her and offering her to sit before taking his own.

“Yes, well it didn’t seem your sort of taste milord…”, she rolled her eyes as she accepted her seat.

“You will be taking a lesson from myself in the morning”

“Well I know you have to prepare so you don’t get your ass kicked by me…”, she said under her breathe, he heard. “Im sorry milord”

“Don’t be sorry. If anything, I like it”, he took a sip of wine from a goblet, “we shall duel after we have eaten, I would prefer not to have to eat when you look a state”

They ate in silence for a while, neither liked each other and neither wanted to be there, but they both knew they had too-even the dark lord knew he couldn’t just leave while he was getting her to trust him.

“So my lord…what were you like when you were my age?”, Hermione asked randomly.

“Like you”, he said after a moments thought.

“Im not like you”

“No, I was similar to you at your age…clever and curious”

“Its our choices in my life that make us who we are”

“True. Though I had the advantage of being a descendant of Slytherin himself, I have knowledge and power in me only I could control. You are bright Hermione, I would like to see you use whatever you have for what is best for yourself rather than what is right for your past”

“Don’t you mean what is best for you? I do not like you milord, you are cruel, heartless and sadistic-”

“-And what of that have you seen from myself?”

“You have hurt me on numerous occasions-”

“you are my prisoner, of course you were going to get hurt a bit, but you have hardly been involved in anything serious…Why are you so curious about my past?”

“Its interesting, you are probably the most curious and interesting person living today-though I hate what you do…you must have an interesting background. I hardly have anything of interest, born to muggle parents and then became a witch…that’s it”, she replied while eating. “You maybe someone I detest, but you are still fascinating-no matter how much I hate to admit that”, now Voldemort was getting interested.

“You are fascinating as well, though you are correct, I must be quite a lot. I think by now you have learnt that though we don’t particularly like each other, we can get along, I would prefer that. I enjoy torturing and killing…but I cant have that done to you. You are no use to me dead, and im already getting bored of just torturing you”

“Oh well im sorry my pain is now getting too much for you”

“You really should work on that sarcasm dear, it doesn’t suit you”

“Calling me dear, doesn’t suit you milord”, she replied making him smirk. “Why did you ask me out here for dinner? You said it’s a reward”

“Yes it is, also I wanted to eat outside for a change and I thought it would be pleasant to have some company”

“Well it’s a nice evening, and this place is beautiful, how big is it?”

“My home is quite big, hidden by various charms as well as being very protected. The grounds are quite large also, but I only ever come to this part, with the plants and trees…it is quite calming, as well as being filled with many plants I could use…”

“Its lovely though milord”, she looked through the leaves of the tree to view like he had said, many plants and things.

“I have unicorns as well, the pure and the impure do not go too well, but they have great magical properties. So the do come in useful”

“Impure? Bu you said-”

“I am pure, but my soul is not. It has been ripped into small pieces and will never be repaired”

For a moment, Hermione felt a tad of pity for him, before remembering he killed people to rip it up to create horcruxes.

They sat in silence, with small conversation in between for the rest of the evening. Hermione began to realise it was possible for them to get along, maybe it was the fact his voice was so silky or the good looks he just happened to have-she had to keep reminding herself this wasn’t right.

“Feel like kicking my ass then?”, he pulled out a wand from his pocket, “be warned, it will become useless as soon as I say, meaning you wont be able to steal it and hope to use it later…”, he told her as he passed it into her hands. She gasped at the feel of it between her fingers, a wand…something she had missed using so much.

“I will go easy on you, as its your first time duelling me”

“I will as well then”, she smirked as she raised her wand while walking backwards to a more open space. “We shall duel then milord”

…

Ok then…read & review please :)
Recap:
Hermione pleases Voldemort by finishing sorting through his books quickly.
He rewards her with a book, they get on ok terms but he cant resist forcing her to cast a torture curse-just to see how good she really is.
She slaps him, he whacks her back.
Then he invites her to dinner because he realises he enjoys her company.
They do get along, they begin their ‘friendly’ duel…

Ok maybe a bit complicated or long lol