Unexpected Death Eaters

Draco Malfoy had just sat down to dinner with his mother when a searing pain shot up his left arm. He tried not to wince at the pain as he rolled up his left sleeve, to see the once black Dark Mark, a skull with a snake protruding out of its mouth, burning red into the flesh of his forearm. He looked over at his mother apologetically, who replied with a forgiving nod.

"I shouldn't be long," he said as got up and kissed her on the forehead. Draco made his way over to the drawing room, and upon entering he shut and locked the doors behind him. He pointed his wand at his clothes and muttered a spell, which turned his casual clothes into jet-black robes; then he pointed the wand at himself again and Apparated.

Draco appeared in the dusty dark foyer of the Riddle House. Tucking his wand into his robes, he made his way down to the end of a hallway to what appeared to be a dead end, but he walked right through the wall and entered a grand hallway with high arched ceilings, that was lined with many doors. He kept walking until he reached the opposite end of the hallway, where great oak doors stood; he pushed them open and entered the room behind them. Draco was met by the sight of other people dressed in black cloaks similar his; in a room that was the size of the Great Hall at Hogwarts. Once he had entered the room he noticed that there were two people who had their hoods drawn up; which he found to be quite odd, because at these kinds of meetings, no one wore their hood up; unless they were hiding something. One of the hooded figures in question stepped in front of him, blocking his way. The man pulled back his hood to reveal an amused Lucius Malfoy.

"About time you got here, Draco," he drawled.

"I was in the middle of dinner with mother. Of course you would have been too, if you ever came home from time to time," Draco said with resentment dripping from his tongue.

"Now, now, Draco, you know very well that I can't go anywhere. What, with the Ministry looking for me and all."

Draco knew that his father was being sought after by the ministry, but to him, that still was no excuse for his father's absence. If he could still go out, into public, nonetheless, and do the Dark Lord's bidding, then he can sure as hell come by the Malfoy Manor for dinner, at the least.

"Whatever Father, now do you know why our Lord has called us here tonight?" he said dismissing the subject quickly.

"Well, yes, actually I do. Surprisingly enough it seems that Mi..." Lucius was interrupted by the sound of blazing green flames, which had appeared in the center of the room. They died down as fast as they had appeared, and in their place stood Lord Voldemort himself. Draco, Lucius, and all of the other Death Eaters in the room, got down on one knee and bowed to their Lord in unison.

"Welcome my loyal Death Eaters," Lord Voldemort said in his harsh tone. At the sound of his voice, everyone left their bowing positions to stand in front of their Lord. "As we all know, the second war is rapidly approaching and that the only thing standing in our way to victory is, Harry Potter. On many countless occasions you have found ways to destroy this problem, but on each attempt, you have failed miserably." He paused and looked around through the red slits he had for eyes. He made sure he had made eye contact with each and every one of them before continuing. "Your failures have taught me two lessons: one, never underestimate a silly little boy and; two, if you want something done, find out how to do it yourself." Once again Voldemort paused to look at the people that seemed to hang onto his every word. "Now, I have not called you all here to lecture you on your failures, but to bring you the answer to our problem. I have found something, or should I say someone, that will help bring down Potter with ease." Voldemort started to beckon someone forward with a wave of his scaly green hand. The hooded figure that Draco had noticed earlier walked into the center of the circle to stand beside Voldemort. "This person will be the one to destroy Harry Potter once and for all. Now you are all wondering why this person? What's so special about them? How do they plan to do Potter in? Well, let me answer all of your unasked questions for you." Voldemort grabbed the hood of the person next to him and pulled it down. Under the hood was a girl with brown hair that flowed down her back in soft curls and cinnamon eyes. Draco gasped as he realized who was standing only a few feet before him and only mere inches away from the Dark Lord. It was none other than Hermione Granger.

The room was in shocked silence as Hermione glared at the people standing around her and the Dark Lord. Her eyes seemed to hold a challenge for anyone to object to her presence. Her eyes eventually met with Draco's confused ones, in which she sent him a small smirk before turning her gaze back to Voldemort, who had begun to speak again.

"I see some of you recognize Miss Granger here." He chuckled as he lightly patted her on the back. "For those of you who don't, she is Hermione Granger, best friend of Harry Potter." He smiled to himself when he saw that everyone had puzzlement written all over their faces. "Granger has decided to join us for reasons that I will not explain at the moment, but let me assure you that she has proven her loyalty. Miss Granger had brought to my attention that there was a traitor in our midst, Severus Snape; who has been passing information to Dumbledore and his Order. With this in mind, I want Severus to be punished for his betrayal. Bring him to me dead or alive and you will be rewarded greatly," Voldemort spoke as went to stand in front of Hermione, who kept her brown eyes locked on his red ones. He grabbed her left arm and pulled up the sleeve, revealing the milky skin of her forearm. "Now enough of my babbling, let the initiation ceremony begin!" He took out his wand and pressed it to her arm. "Ater Signum!" he hissed.

Hermione winced in pain as she fell to her knees; biting her lower lip as to not scream out in agony. Draco closed his eyes, remembering how much it killed him when the mark was printed onto his skin five years ago; back when he was just becoming a man and straight out of Hogwarts. When he opened his eyes he saw that Hermione was kneeling on the floor and had blood trickling down from her bottom lip. She was holding her left arm with her other hand and looking down onto the black tattoo that was now embedded into her milky white skin. After a moment, she stood back up, rolled down the sleeve of her robe and unsuccessfully wiped the blood from her chin.

"That will be all for tonight, you are all dismissed," Voldemort said right before he disappeared into another burst of green flames. As soon as he was gone the silence in the room broke out into a blur of chattering voices.

Draco walked over to Hermione, who turned around to face his approaching figure, as if she was expecting him. "What the hell do you think you're doing Granger?" he demanded, shooting daggers into her eyes.

Hermione looked up at Draco with amused eyes. "Why Draco, it is nice to see you too," she said, acting as if she didn't hear his question.

"Granger, please tell me why a mudblood, like yourself, would want to join a man who would wants to kill the likes of you?"

"Did you not hear? I'm not a mudblood after all. It figures out that my mother was actually a Squib, from the Enrose family." Hermione smiled when she saw the confusion behind Draco's eyes fade away. Of course he would know the Enrose family; their bloodline is almost as old as the Malfoy's.

"So you're a Half-blood?" he asked.

"Uh-huh! My parents didn't tell me until the day after we graduated from Hogwarts. At first, I was furious with them for keeping it from me for so long, but then I realized I shouldn't be mad at my mother. It was probably my dad who made her keep it from me; after all, it is such a Muggle thing to do. Bastard," she whispered the last word more to herself than to him.

"That still doesn't explain why you are about to give your best friend over to the Dark Lord."

She shot Draco a glare that could have killed him. "Draco, I do not have to justify myself to you; especially when it is none of your damn business." She then turned around and headed for the great oak doors to leave.

"Draco." A voice came from behind him. He turned around to see his father standing before him. "You do not need to be interrogating her; if the Dark Lord trusts her, you should too."

"Yes Father, but you should feel that something isn't right here too. You know as well as I do that she was incredibly close to Potter and something that close can't just be thrown away to shit so easily," Draco said, examining his father's cold gray eyes. Draco tried to find signs that would show any doubts he held as well, but he found nothing.

"Like I said before, Draco, if the Dark Lord trusts her, then you shall too. You should know that he wouldn't let just anyone into his circle without a test of loyalty. Not to mention he has mastered both Legilimency and Occlumency; so no one would be able to lie to him and no one would be able to make him think they're not lying. You shouldn't doubt the Dark Lord's decisions, Draco, it can get you into a world of trouble, that not even I could get you out of." With that said, Lucius nodded to his son and turned on his heal to walk away.

Draco walked out of the room, back into the great hall, through the wall, into the old, musty foyer and Apparated back to the drawing room of Malfoy Manor. He sat down in a large, black, leather chair by the fire; he rested his elbows on his knees and massaged his temples as he stared into the dancing flames, replaying the events that happened just minutes before. It seemed all too surreal; Hermione Granger, who he used to think of as a Mudblood, best friend of Weasley and Potter, becoming a Death Eater. The thing she once hated, once had fought against while still attending Hogwarts. There had to be something he was missing though, something that would tell him why she really was there. The first thing he thought of was a spy, but for who? He would have known if it were for the Order of the Phoenix; surely he would have been informed.

Draco quickly walked over to the fireplace and picked up a small bucket from the mantel. The bucket that he had grabbed was full of floo powder; he snatched a handful and placed the bucket back on the mantel. He threw the powder into the hearth; the flames roared and turned bright green. Before stepping into the fireplace, Draco yelled, "Dumbledore's Office!" He quickly felt himself fall into a spinning motion; he watched as fireplaces flew past him. The spinning stopped as fast as it had begun and he felt himself hit the floor of his former Headmaster's office. Draco stepped out of the fireplace and muttered a spell to cleanse him of the soot that made his robes blacker, if possible. He looked up to find Dumbledore sitting at his desk, staring at him over his half moon spectacles.

"Why young Mr. Malfoy," he said with a twinkle in his eye, "how nice to see you again. Please sit!" He waved his hand towards the high backed chair, across from his desk. Draco sat down and looked up to examine his former Headmaster's face; even though he was of great age and his face showed all the signs of aging, his eyes still held an innocent youth to them, but at the same time, years of wisdom. "Lemon drop?" he asked as he held out an open container.

"No,thank you Professor."

"Suit yourself," Dumbledore said before popping a few into his mouth and discarding the container into his robe pocket. "Now, is there something you wished to speak to me about?" he asked after studying the young man before him.

"Yes, Professor, well if you must know, Voldemort called another meeting tonight." Draco looked down at his hands, which seemed to be more interesting at the moment. Keeping his eyes downcast he continued. "He wanted us all to be there so we could see..." He didn't know it would be so hard to tell the man before him that one of his most prized pupils had become a Death Eater.

"So you could see what Mr. Malfoy?"

Draco looked up to see the headmaster leaning forward in his chair, with his hands locked together and resting on the desk before him. Draco took a deep, slow breath before continuing. "To see Hermione Granger get her Dark Mark." The twinkle in Dumbledore's eyes faded and was filled with something Draco couldn't place.

They sat in silence for a few minutes; Draco staring at his hands and Dumbledore staring at Draco. "Am I correct to assume that she is the one who told Voldemort that Severus was spying on him for the Order?" Dumbledore asked, finally breaking the silence. Draco just nodded at the older man in response.

"Thank you Mr. Malfoy, for sharing this valuable information with me. Even though no one but Severus, yourself, and me, know about your involvement in the Order; I must ask you to use caution. Miss Granger knows the Order inside and out no doubt, but she could soon figure you out."

"Yes,Professor," Draco said while getting up and heading back to the fireplace. He threw some floo powder in the fireplace and watched as the flames roared and turned bright green. "Malfoy Manor, Drawing Room!" he yelled and stepped into the flames.

Draco stepped out into the drawing room, cleaned off the soot, and sat down on the couch with a deep sigh. He reached over to the side table and poured himself a glass of Dragon Fire Whisky; he swallowed it down in one big gulp. He flinched at the taste and how the liquid burned down his throat and all the way down to the pit of his stomach. He reached over to pour another glass when a voice spoke from the corner of the room.

"Now, Draco, you should know Malfoys do not drink like camels." Draco looked up to see his father sitting at a desk, a smile dancing on his lips. Next to him was Hermione, also smiling and out of her Death Eater robes; in a tight fitting black dress.

"Why Father, what do I owe the pleasure?" Draco asked while setting his drink down on the table.

"Well it seems that Miss Granger has put herself in a bit of a predicament. You see, she has joined the Dark Lord, who is her friend's sworn enemy. She can't just stay at any old place now that she has joined the Dark side." Lucius looked at Hermione and smiled again. "I want you to let her stay in one of the guestrooms."

"Just because you want me to, doesn't mean that I have to; you don't exactly live here anymore to bark orders at me," he said, glaring at them both.

Lucius' smile faded and his face twisted into a fit of rage. "Draco, you will do as I say or there will be repercussions," he hissed.

Knowing of Lucius' power, Draco just glared at the older man and nodded. "Will you be staying as well, Father?" he spat out.

"Don't ask questions you already know the answers to Draco." Lucius stood up from his chair and looked at Hermione. "If he mistreats you in anyway, feel free to use Crucio; I find that always puts him in his place." He shot one last smile at her before Disapparating.

Draco and Hermione sat in silence, glaring at each other for a few minutes. Draco took another shot of Dragon Fire Whiskey, got up and opened the drawing room door. "Minnie!" he yelled down the empty hallway.

There was a soft pop as a small house elf wearing a towel, which looked like a toga, appeared at Draco's heels. She looked up at him with her large, dark, blue eyes and asked, "Yes Master? Can Minnie help you with something?"

"Minnie, Miss Granger here will be staying with us for a while. I want you to go make up the guest bedroom in the West Wing for her."

"Yes Master, right away!" Minnie said as she bowed. There was another soft pop and she was gone.

Draco turned around to see Hermione standing right behind him. "Thank you for letting me stay here Draco," she said smirking at him, showing that she knew very well that he didn't have a choice.

"Follow me," Draco said through clenched teeth. Draco led Hermione to her room in silence. Her room was already ready for her when they arrived. "Here is your room, if you need anything just call for Minnie or go to my room, which is three doors down the hallway, you'll know which one it is when you see it." Without another word, he turned and headed to his room, knowing he would not get a blink of sleep that night.