Rating:
R
House:
Astronomy Tower
Ships:
Draco Malfoy/Hermione Granger
Characters:
Hermione Granger
Genres:
Angst
Era:
Harry and Classmates Post-Hogwarts
Spoilers:
Philosopher's Stone Chamber of Secrets Prizoner of Azkaban Goblet of Fire Order of the Phoenix Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them
Stats:
Published: 04/29/2005
Updated: 11/11/2005
Words: 46,788
Chapters: 23
Hits: 87,447

The Sweetest Sin

Annie

Story Summary:
In the years following Voldemort's victory in the second war, Muggle-borns must become slaves and servants to purebloods in order to survive. Over time, Hermione Granger has learned to suppress her pride and independence in households where she is considered lower than dirt. She thought she would be prepared for this new family, just like she was for all the previous ones. What she didn't know was that this new family was none other than Draco Malfoy's. Will she manage to hold up when she finds herself struggling to withhold her sharp tongue, returning hatred, and... something else?

Chapter 22

Chapter Summary:
The night of the party arrives, but what Draco says to Hermione instantly wipes any and all thoughts of banquets and balls out of her mind.
Posted:
11/03/2005
Hits:
3,010


Chapter 22: The Promise

The week leading up to Pansy's great banquet was a flurry of activity. Hermione, having been granted permission to temporarily abandon her duty as a caretaker for the kids, was instead forced to set up all the preparations for the dinner without magic (the tedious work had, more than once, heightened the temptation to use the stolen wand) and take orders from Pansy, who seemed to have resumed her fake, snobby attitude. In fact, in the presence of the constant stream of witches and wizards dropping by for various reasons, Pansy treated Hermione as cruelly as she would have treated any other servant. Though Hermione understood the logic behind Pansy's resurrected superiority, she still, for the first time ever, found herself wishing she could be in Draco's company instead of someone else's.

Before anyone in the household knew it, the day of the event had arrived. Hermione woke up that morning to Pansy's shrill voice floating down to her from upstairs, reprimanding the butler Bingley for something he had apparently failed to do.

Although half of her mind was urging her to bury herself under her dirty sheets and fall back asleep, Hermione knew that Pansy would be upon her with orders in a few minutes, so she forced herself to get out of bed. Once on her feet, she paused a moment and yawned before shuffling over to the dresser underneath the mirror, grabbing the robe lying on top of it, and pulling it on over her undergarments. She allowed herself a quick glimpse at her reflection in the mirror before she extracted the wand from its hiding spot in the back of one of the bottom drawers, tucked it securely into the inside of her robe, and made her way up the stairs onto the main floor.

Just as Hermione had predicted, Pansy pounced on her the moment she closed the door to her quarters behind her.

"Granger, do you have the pudding iced yet?"

"No," mumbled Hermione under her breath, stifling another yawn. She couldn't help but note that Pansy had returned to using her last name.

"What's that?"

"No," repeated Hermione in a louder voice. "Why can't you just do it with magic?" she added, annoyed.

Pansy glared at Hermione without responding then said, "Come with me."

Grudgingly, Hermione followed Pansy into the dining room. "What do you want?" she asked.

Now safely away from any prying eyes, Pansy promptly dropped her commanding attitude. "I know I've been giving you hell this past week," she said quietly, not meeting Hermione's eyes, "but you understand, right?"

"'Giving me hell' would be an understatement," replied Hermione sarcastically.

"Just don't speak to anyone at the banquet," hissed Pansy. She looked nervous as she added, "Draco asked you to go, didn't he?"

"Yes."

"Blaise is coming."

Hermione felt as though she had been doused in ice water at the mention of his name, but she forced herself to maintain a cool exterior. "Is he?"

"Yes," said Pansy, looking even more nervous. "Listen," she added, speaking very quickly now, "I don't know the exact date, but I have a feeling that Thomas is going to...that they're going to do it...sometime really soon."

It took Hermione a few seconds to understand what Pansy was trying to tell her but when she did, she felt her stomach contract. "I didn't ask Draco yet," she gasped in horror.

"You have to ask him tonight, Hermione," pleaded Pansy, sounding as though she were on the verge of tears. "Please, you have to do it for me. You swore you --"

"I know," interrupted Hermione angrily. "I'll do it tonight, I promise."

"If you --" Pansy started to say, but she was cut off once again, this time by the ringing of the doorbell and a woman's singsong voice calling out her name. Cursing profusely under her breath, Pansy stood up hastily and pushed Hermione aside.

"Remember what I said," she hissed over her shoulder before pushing open the door and hurrying over to the entrance doors.

As Hermione watched the doors swing shut behind Pansy's figure, she let out the breath she had been holding. Feeling obligated to do something now, she pushed through the doors leading to the kitchen at the back of the dining room. The kitchen was empty, so Hermione had no problem locating the pudding the manor's house elves had started and left to Hermione to finish.

Pulling out her wand, Hermione said, "Mellitus laganum." Thick white icing began to ooze out the tip of the wand and Hermione used this to decorate the surface of the pudding. By the time she finished carefully dabbing on the last swirl of icing and pocketed her wand, she could disntctly hear guests chattering animatedly as they filed in through the main doors.

At that precise moment, a series of cracks filled the kitchen and seven or eight house elves appeared out of thin air. One of them -- incidentally, the elf who had cleaned up the dining room after Hermione's first dinner in the manor -- gave a squeak of fright when it saw Hermione and, with its eyes averted, scurried past her over to where its companions were lined up in single file. None of the creatures paid any attention to Hermione as they began to move quickly back and forth between the refrigerator and the counter carrying large plates above their heads that held an assortment of delicious-looking foods: steak and kidney pies, a massive roasted pig, sausages, chicken legs, chips, mashed potatoes, baked beans, peas, gravy, and, to accompany the masterpiece of a pudding, chocolate gateau and treacle tart. Those dishes were placed on the counter next to many other delicacies that were too foreign for Hermione to recognise at first glance.

As Hermione distractedly watched two house elves lug an enormous pitcher of sparkling water out of the refrigerator, her mind drifted to the task of asking Draco to intervene with Thomas' branding. Her throat went dry at the very thought of attempting to persuade Draco to change his mind about a situation she should not even know about.

How in the world will I do it?

--------

Hermione heard a faint creaking and stiffened. Lying on her side with her back to the stairs, she couldn't see who the intruder was, but her instincts told her to remain still and, in the process, hopefully give off the impression that she was asleep.

"Hermione?" came a tentative voice.

Hermione let out a deep breath of relief at the familiar voice and shifted her position so that she was facing the other way. There stood Draco at the foot of the stairs, his wand in his hand. A wave of deja vu swept over Hermione as she fleetingly recalled the first time she had seen Draco after arriving at Malfoy Manor as a servant, then she sat up.

"I thought you were sleeping," said Draco, slipping his wand into his pocket and crossing the short distance between him and Hermione. He sat down on the end of her bed and turned to survey her.

"No, just thinking," replied Hermione softly.

Draco nodded silently. His face was surprisingly blank and emotionless; even his silvery-grey eyes were lackluster and empty. He gave off a cold and distant aura that was very reminiscent of the old Malfoy and it made Hermione uneasy.

"Listen," she continued, the practiced words flowing off the tip of her tongue, "I need to ask you something very important."

"Go on."

"I need you to try to save Thomas. Don't let them give him the mark, Draco." There. She had said it.

Draco continued to gaze at Hermione unfeelingly. He did not seem taken aback that she knew about the plans; in fact, the only indication of his having heard her was that his face turned a slight shade paler. After a few moments, he said, "I can't do that, Hermione."

"You have to," she pleaded, and suddenly everything she had planned to say to him was forgotten. "You can't do this to him. You can't do this to Kathryn, she can't lose her brother like this. And especially not to Pansy...don't you care? Thomas is her only son."

"I can't do it," he said again, his voice sharper than the blade of a sword. "It's not my position to interfere with the Dark Lord's decision."

"Don't give me that! Please, please try!"

"No," Draco hissed. "I need to do it."

"You need to do it?" repeated Hermione, her eyes widening. "You're going to do it?"

"The father of the child is the only one who can do it," Draco responded, and he became even whiter. Suddenly, his emotionless facade seemed to dissolve into nothingness. "You don't know how many of my peers would die for this opportunity -- to have their son serve the Dark Lord." His voice was suddenly urgent, as if he were begging Hermione to nod her head in agreement and applaud his decision. "My father imposed my branding on me, and look what it did for me."

"No, Draco," replied Hermione desperately. "Look what it did to you. Can't you see? Being a Death Eater has done nothing for you except ruin your life. Look what your mark brought to Iris. Do you want the same thing to happen to Thomas?"

"The mark has given me something I never had before it -- the strength to stay alive. It gave me a purpose to keep going even though it destroyed my life at the same time. Thomas has already proven his magical ability. I need him to do this, or he will be no child of mine."

"But --"

"No," growled Draco dangerously. "I didn't come down here to listen to your attempts to involve yourself in my family affairs. I..." He stopped there, his voice trailing away.

"What?" questioned Hermione, suddenly scared. She had never heard such a desperate tone in Draco's voice, and she knew that what he was about to tell her was serious. "What?" she repeated more insistently.

"I must do it," whispered Draco, more to himself than Hermione.

"Do what?" asked Hermione pleadingly. She scrambled onto her knees and moved over to where Draco was sitting. Reaching up a hand, she tried to lay a hand on shoulder but he jerked away from her touch.

"You have to understand," mumbled Draco. His words seemed to be directed at Hermione, but his eyes weren't focused on hers. "This is the only way it will work out. And...and it's the only way I can let you be. You were right, we weren't meant to be together."

"What do you mean?"

"We can't do this anymore," he said unsteadily. "I can't bear to look at you knowing that just one look could threaten your life and everything I've built for myself. I can't bear to want to run my fingers" -- he took a sharp breath -- "across your skin and know that I'm betraying everything I've worked so hard to achieve."

Hermione opened her mouth to speak, but Draco cut her off once again. "I've never done anything right, Hermione. Never in my life. I always choose the wrong path, the black one, because I was scared to do anything else. And because of it, I'm the person I am, the person you hate -- and I hate myself for it too. I had to watch Iris die, and I wouldn't be able to live within myself if I had to watch you die too. I have to do the right thing."

"Please, tell me what you're --"

"Hermione," Draco said, his voice suddenly stronger. His eyes focused in on her again. They were burning with an intensity so strong that she nearly shrunk away under his gaze. "Hermione, I..."

"What, Draco?!"

"I have to set you free."


Author notes: First of all (and I know you said I don't have to, but I must insist on doing it anyway), thank you to the wonderful Gloria, beta extraordinaire, for catching the small errors in this chapter.

Now, I have just one thing to comment on: LoonyLovegood229's review reminded me that the name of the song at the beginning of the last chapter was indeed called "Iris" and I found that incredibly amusing considering I had forgotten the title of the song when I typed up the lyrics (it's been so long since I listened to it, but strangely enough, I still remember the lyrics). Anyway, I just had to say that because it was such a concidence *smirk*

Next Chapter: Now freed, Hermione is about to escape the grounds when something else catches her attention.