Azkaban Revisited

Chapter 6

As soon as they were out of the Minister's office, Lucius took a swig of Polyjuice Potion. He made a face at the taste.

Hermione couldn't help exclaiming as she saw this. "So that was why you wanted to get out of there."

Lucius raised an eyebrow at her. "Don't tell me you actually thought that I was Potter," he said quietly.

"No," she prevaricated. "But the one hour limit had slipped my mind." Hermione could feel her cheeks turning red and was irritated at herself. As they walked out of the Ministry and onto the streets of London, Hermione couldn't help but observe the man walking next to her. "You know," she observed, "you actually are a pretty good Harry. You even walk like him."

"I'm observant," Lucius told her, as they walked past numerous clothes shops. "But acting Potter isn't that hard. He's a simple being."

She glared at him. "Couldn't you just say a few sentences without trying to be insulting?"

"Apparently not," he said mildly.

They walked along in relative silence for the next few minutes when the quiet was broken by a rather loud shriek in the distance. Hermione looked up and saw a short, blonde-haired woman hurrying towards them. She frowned. Somehow that seemed to remind her of something Harry once said in one of her letters. She wished that she had read them more carefully. And then suddenly she remembered. "Shit," she muttered.

"What's the matter?" Lucius said, concerned. "And who is that woman?"

"One of Harry's former girlfriends. According to him, she didn't take the break-up well," she whispered as the woman came closer. "She's been following him around a lot, I think. Her name's Jessica, I think."

The woman stopped in front of them and shot Hermione a hostile look. "Who is this woman, Harry?"

"One of my old school friends, Hermione," Lucius said, seeming for all concerned like Harry Potter. "Hermione, this is my ex-girlfriend, Jessica."

Jessica's demeanour changed immediately. She smiled warmly at Hermione. "Good to meet you, Hermione. Harry's told me a lot about you. You guys had some escapades at school!" She shot Harry a speculative look. "You should come over more often!"

"I'm afraid I'm rather busy right now. I'm working at Azkaban Island," Lucius explained.

Jessica wrinkled her nose. "That must be awful." She laid a hand on his arm and began to slide it up.

Lucius took a step backwards and she narrowed her eyes at him. "What's the matter, Harry? Aren't I good enough for you anymore? Were you just playing with me? Thinking that you could get all the girls you wanted."

"No, of course not!" Lucius exclaimed.

"Then you will come over to my new apartment today," Jessica said eagerly. "Hermione, you don't mind, do you?"

Hermione was about to shrug when she caught sight of the trapped expression on Lucius's face. She would never know what made her do what she did next, but at the time it seemed like the right, the only, thing to do. Hermione took a step forward and looked Jessica in the eye. "Actually, Jessica, I'm afraid that I do mind. You see, Harry is my boyfriend."

If she had just stopped there, then Hermione would have felt pleased with her fast thinking. But she continued.

She had no idea what possessed her to pull Lucius around and press her lips against his. It was a rather quick kiss, but she couldn't help but feel a small tingle of electricity where their lips touched. As she drew back, Hermione resisted the urge to touch her lips. Lucius's eyes were surprised, but strangely grateful.

Jessica, however, was furious. "You little slut," she spat, pushed past Hermione and stalked off.

There was a long silence and then Hermione began walking again, just as an attempt to ignore the tension. They were close to the bus stop anyway and the bus was coming in less than half an hour.

"That was surprising," Lucius said, his words sounding measured and careful.

"You don't have enough Polyjuice," Hermione said quickly. "I couldn't have let you go to her apartment. You would have gotten caught." There, she thought, that was a good excuse.

He raised an eyebrow and she could almost hear his silent, well why did you kiss me then? That wasn't necessary.

"I'm sorry," she added.

"The apology isn't necessary," he said, sounding strange. "As you said, it was necessary. Essential, even."

Hermione couldn't help but feel strangely disappointed by those words.

-

Harry frowned. The four of them - Hermione, Snape, Malfoy and himself - were sitting around the supper table, discussing the Minister's reaction to their visit that afternoon. Everything seemed normal on the outside. Snape was sitting there, his face impassive, looking bored, until you looked into his eyes and saw that he was thinking very hard. Malfoy was sitting opposite Harry and he was currently sipping his tea. Hermione, to the left of Harry, was talking animatedly. However, he had the feeling that something was different.

He tuned back to what she was saying. "He denied our veiled accusations, of course," she said, "but his denials weren't particularly believable. He seems even worse than he did when I last saw him. If I didn't know better, I'd say that he was having trouble with the public or something, but that's patently ridiculous." She sighed. "I'm just not sure what to do with this information. It isn't as though we can go to the Wizengamot."

Harry opened his mouth hesitantly. "Perhaps," he started. "Perhaps we could go to a foreign Ministry?"

Snape raised an eyebrow. "Potter, surely even you must know how preposterous that suggestion is?"

Actually, Harry had no idea, but he didn't want to admit it.

"We've had some bad precedents when British wizards have gone to foreign Ministries," Hermione said quietly. "Harry, haven't you ever wondered why we have the Triwizard competition? There is a reason why we need to promote inter-Ministry co-operation."

Harry was confused. "But everything seemed fine at the World Cup," he said, referring to the Quidditch World Cup.

"Diplomacy, Harry," Hermione explained. "Wizards are worse in Muggles in that respect. If we go to a foreign Ministry, the best we can expect is to relinquish our freedom and become a dependant of that Ministry so that they can fight our Ministry for us. There was a Scottish Ministry in the past. It was absorbed into the British Ministry when it asked for help during an internal struggle."

"What Hermione is trying to say in her own long-winded way," Lucius cut in dryly, "is that going to a foreign Ministry is our last resort."

Harry couldn't help noticing how Hermione flinched slightly when he said her name. A tiny frown creased his forehead. She was unusually jumpy this evening and certainly not up to her usual (and very strange, according to Harry) banter with Lucius. He wondered if anything went wrong today in London. Perhaps they had a fight? He couldn't help but suppress a gleeful feeling. Despite what Hermione had said, he still felt that Lucius was simply using them and then would discard them when the time was right. Or when he found a Dark Lord to grovel under, he thought. To hide his thoughts, Harry picked up a scone and began to spread jam and clotted cream on it.

"That's what I mean," Hermione said, in a voice that seemed to Harry to be somewhat tight.

"Are you all right?" Harry asked, concerned. "You seem a little different this evening." He looked at her and saw a faint redness spread across her cheeks.

"I'm fine," she said abruptly and picked up a scone of her own. She busied herself with spreading butter on it.

"Does anybody else have any bright ideas?" Snape said, his voice dry.

Harry glared at him. "I don't see you coming up with any."

Snape's eyes glittered. "I didn't think my suggestions were of any use."

"Of course they are!" Hermione burst out. "Any suggestions are useful. Frankly, Corley is beginning to scare me. Do you really think that he's the new Dark Lord? It seems... unlikely."

"Hermione," Snape said, an edge of irritation in his tone. "I had imagined you more intelligent than that. Or perhaps you thought all Dark Lords had papery skin and red eyes? Tom Riddle was very... handsome once."

Harry shuddered. "He looked like me."

Snape looked amused. "Getting conceited, Potter?"

Harry glared at him. "I was just pointing out a fact."

"I suggest we assassinate the Minister," Lucius suggested calmly. He picked up his cup of tea and took a sip like he hadn't just suggested something that even ten years ago would have gotten them arrested for high treason.

Almost immediately, Harry felt everybody stop moving. Even Snape stared at Lucius.

"You can't be serious," Hermione choked out. "Isn't that rather ... drastic?"

Lucius looked at her steadily. "Do you have a better plan?"

"But Lucius," Snape said, "would you have our world flounder without a leader after you assassinate the Minister?"

"Certainly not," Lucius said, sounded indignant. He smiled briefly, a smile that sent shivers crawling up Harry's back like a thousand flobberworms, and looked at Harry. "I believe we have a very good Ministerial candidate here."

"You're joking, Lucius, surely," Snape said.

"Would I joke about something like that, my old friend?"

Snape looked uncertain. "I suppose not."

"But," Harry burst out, determined to find something wrong with this new and patently stupid plan, "you're not even on our side! You're only here because you know something about who Corley used to be and because of your own admission that you don't want to go crawling after him and kissing his robe hems. You probably only want to put me as Minister so that you can kill me in turn and somehow become Minister yourself." He paused. "Besides, I don't even want to be Minster!"

"Why, Mister Potter," Lucius said, "you have so little trust in me."

"That would be because you have never particularly been worthy of trust," Harry ground out.

Lucius inclined his head. "That may be true," he said quietly. A small smile curled the corner of his mouth. "But is not the side of the Light all about giving people second chances? Surely if you could give my friend Severus a second chance, you could give me one. Besides, I assure you, on the Corley matter, I am entirely on your side."

"But you aren't necessarily on other matters," Hermione pointed out.

"Hermione, sometimes you just have to trust people," he told her.

"People, yes. Lucius Malfoy, no," she said simply. "You haven't given us any concrete proof that you're on our side. I'm sorry, but I'm no Albus Dumbledore. You're here because you have information. It has nothing to do with trust."

Lucius quirked an eyebrow, looking for all the world like Snape for a second. "I suppose I should be hurt by that rejection." Somehow Harry felt that something else was passing between those two other than the obvious. "Well then, what would you propose?"

"That we re-publish and distribute The Quibbler. To tell people what is happening," she said immediately. "If people know what is happening, what Corley is doing with these new laws of his, then they'll uprise and he will have to step down."

Harry had to admit that her plan had some merit. "I like it," he said tentatively. "I'm not sure I could plan an assassination. That would be sinking down to their level."

"Ah," Lucius said. "Their level. There always is a they, isn't there?"

Harry frowned; he wasn't sure what the other man was talking about and by the expression on Hermione's face, neither did she. Snape, however, he wasn't quite sure of. Those dark eyes seemed to show a surprising amount of understanding and agreement with what Lucius just said. Maybe it's an ex-Death Eater thing, he thought.

"The problem with that plan," Snape said, "is that it relies on too many variables. Firstly, we must be able to get all this information out to the public. Secondly, they must believe us. Thirdly, they must be willing to do something about it and believe me," he gave a wry smile, "from somebody who has worked for a Dark Lord, people usually aren't willing to do anything. Fourthly, Corley might come and put us all in jail before that." He shrugged. "I'm not saying that assassinating the Minister is the best option, but it only relies on us."

"It's nice to see that my old friend is supporting me on this one," Lucius commented.

"But I could never plan to kill somebody in cold blood," Hermione said adamantly.

Snape looked at her. "What did you think all those Order meetings were about? Did you think we planned raids on known Death Eater haunts to pop in and say hello?"

She looked flustered. "That's different!"

"Yes, the risks are higher this time," Snape said quietly.

Harry shook his head. "Assassinating the Minister. It just feels too much like terrorism to me."

"Or fighting for freedom," Hermione said slowly. "It all depends on how you look at it." She turned a bit red as Harry looked at her. "It's all semantics."

"Semantics or no," Lucius said coldly. "It's the only viable way unless you think you can truly get away with handing out leaflets. That way simply doesn't work."

She glared at him. "It managed to get me in charge of Azkaban."

"And why do you think that happened?" Lucius said through gritted teeth. "I suspect it's more because the Minister wanted to get you out of the way. You were a popular war hero. Having people like you stamping around muttering about liberty isn't very useful if you want to create a totalitarian government. You and Harry were easily disposed of by putting you in charge of Azkaban. Weasley had to be dealt with another way."

Hermione paled. "I'd never thought of it that way." She looked thoughtful.

Harry let out a slow breath. "Maybe we should sleep on this," he suggested. "We'll have clearer minds in the morning."

Hermione nodded and half stood up before she sat down again. "Oh, Harry," she said, "I forgot to tell you something. We bumped into Jessica today."

Immediately Harry could feel himself paling.

"And who might Jessica be?" Snape asked, looking mildly curious.

"One of Potter's ex-girlfriends. She tried to attack me," Lucius said.

"I'm... sorry," Harry said. "I thought she would have found somebody else by now. She was another reason why I came here. She would drop by my old apartment and slide notes under the door. She hasn't owled me here only because I've told Hedwig not to deliver any of her letters."

"No harm done," Lucius said.

Harry frowned. Normally Lucius's voice was inscrutable but he seemed to be hiding something. "Did something else happen?" he asked. "Jessica... she's rather unstable." He shook his head. That was the understatement of the century. She was one of the worst mistakes he had ever made. Her mental stability was on the same level of Bellatrix after she had come out of Azkaban for the first time.

"No, nothing," Hermione said quickly. "She left quickly."

Somehow, Harry couldn't believe this. Jessica was usually like a burr. She would stick on. There needed to be a really good reason for her to leave quickly. He frowned. "This is a bit of a coincidence. She," he hesitated, "was probably looking for me. How did you manage to get rid of her?"

"That was Hermione's doing," Lucius said.

Harry looked at his friend in surprise. "How did you do it, Hermione? The last time I bumped into her, I actually grabbed a random witch and kissed her to pretend that she was my girlfriend." He shook his head. "Boy, that witch was surprised. But I'm sure nothing like that happened this time." He looked at Hermione, who had turned a surprising shade of red.

"Of course not," she said quickly, but she turned redder. Her eyes flickered to Lucius and then back to the table in front of her.

Harry's mouth dropped open. "It did happen?" he spluttered. "You kissed him?"

Hermione refused to answer but simply picked up her own cup of tea and took a resolute sip.

"How could you? Kiss Lucius Malfoy?" Harry looked at his friend but she wouldn't look up. Lucius was sitting there with a look of faint amusement on his face. He looked over at Snape and was surprised to see an impassive expression.

She let out a long breath. "Fine, Harry," she snapped. "I kissed Lucius. Are you happy? Besides, it got rid of Jessica." She pushed her chair back with a scrape and stood up. "Now if you'll excuse me, I think I will retire." Hermione left without a backwards glance.

After a minute or so of silence, Lucius also stood up. "If that is all, I might leave as well."

Harry was left sitting at the table alone with Snape.

-

Harry looked over at the other man, expecting to see the same impassive expression he had been wearing for most of the discussion, but saw Snape's lips twitching. Suddenly, Snape began laughing, a deep rich laugh that was... Harry tried not to think about it. It was almost like dark chocolate.

"That's a thought," Snape finally said when he had finished laughing. "Hermione and Lucius. Together."

Harry glared at him. "I don't think it's at all funny."

Snape shrugged. "You have to admit that they aren't that badly matched. Both are intelligent and determined to succeed."

"But Malfoy hates Muggle-borns," Harry pointed out. "Besides, they define success in different ways."

"I'm not sure my old friend hates Muggle-borns as much as you think," Snape said speculatively. "After all, he always knew that the Dark Lord was half-blood. He respects power and you friend certainly has a lot of it." Harry's face must have shown some of his horror, because Snape sighed. "He isn't going to go after you, Harry. You aren't his type. And even if anything did happen between those two, it's unlikely to last."

"That's good," Harry said adamantly.

Snape stared at him until Harry felt like he had something on his face. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"Surely you aren't against the possibility because of the age difference," Snape said slowly.

Harry frowned and thought about it. The age difference between Hermione and Malfoy certainly was a lot. Even more than Harry and Snape. Harry blinked. Where had that thought come from? "Not really," he said. "But I still can't believe she did it."

"Lucius didn't seem that upset about it."

Harry stared. "You can't honestly think..."

Snape shrugged. "Who knows?"

-

Hermione felt the atmosphere was rather on edge the following morning.

"Did everybody sleep well?" she asked, attempting to make small talk as she spread marmalade over her toast.

"Like a baby," Will said with a grin.

Jean simply shrugged as did Lucius.

"I'm sorry your friend is a traitor," Jean said, sympathetically and Hermione could feel her hands clenching underneath the table. She knew that the other woman meant well by her words, but did she have to be so infuriating?

"Thank you for your concern," she said tightly, still looking over at Harry, who seemed to be examining his teacup with surprising intensity.

Before she could ask him what was wrong, a large black owl swooped in through their open kitchen window. Hermione blinked. It wasn't time for their usual Daily Prophet delivery and that newspaper had, surprisingly, gotten more punctual with Corley in charge. She took the paper from the owl's talons and absently handed it a Galleon she always kept on the breakfast table. She took one look at the headline - huge headline blazing the information out for the wizarding world to see - and paled.

"What's the matter?" Harry asked, sounding concerned.

Hermione dropped the newspaper onto the table and that was when everybody saw the massive lettering at the top: MINISTER FOR MAGIC JACK CORLEY ASSASSINATED LAST NIGHT.

In slightly smaller letters underneath were the words: Muggles Suspected!

"I don't believe it," Hermione said, feeling faint. Only last night they had been planning the assassination of the Minister and now somebody had actually done it. But who, she wondered. Who would do that?

"Are you sure it isn't some sort of sick joke?" Jean demanded, grabbing the Daily Prophet from the table. She pressed her thumb on the upper right corner of the paper and lifted it up again. Slowly the newspaper insignia appeared.

"Apparently not," Snape said dryly.

Jean glared at him and then turned her glare at Lucius. "Doubtless," she said frostily, "your kind had something to do with it." She pushed back her chair with a scrape and stood up. "I'm going to my room."

She was about to leave when Will called, "Leave the paper behind, we want to read it."

Jean whirled around and threw the paper onto the table, upsetting orange juice onto a corner of the paper. Hermione immediately grabbed a towel and dabbed at it. The short blonde woman then flounced from the room. Probably to owl friends or relatives, Hermione thought.

"It certainly is surprising," Lucius said calmly.

With a frown, Will turned on the older man. "You don't sound very upset about it."

Lucius shrugged. "I don't see any tears from anybody else on this table."

"Well, that can hardly be that shocking," Will said tightly. "Corley did imprison one of Harry and Hermione's oldest friends. Whether it was rightful or not doesn't matter. Their feelings against him couldn't exactly be that friendly."

"And yourself?"

Will faltered for just a moment too long before saying, "I think it is a tragedy."

Lucius gave a faint smile. "And I noticed how you paused before saying it."

"You're an observant bastard, aren't you?" Will said with a shake of his head. "I admit it, I have no great love for the Minister. Some of his policies... they just don't feel right. But assassination? Somebody took a really drastic route."

"That's for certain," Hermione muttered as she picked up the newspaper again. She read the leading article aloud for everybody at the table. "In a shocking turn of events, last night popular Minister for Magic Jack Corley was murdered while he slept. His wife Narcissa is reported to be distraught. Evidence shows that the assassin crept in while the couple were sleeping and cast a sleeping charm on Narcissa while turning and then casting Avada Kedavra on the sleeping Minister. Guards were alerted to this turn of events when the newly widowed Mrs. Corley ran out of their bedroom screaming in the morning.

"The Ministry of Security, in conjunction with the Auror Department, is conducting the investigation into the assassination. They will be tracing the assailant's wand and magical signature, but it is possible that an untraceable wand was used.

"Meanwhile, martial law is declared for wizarding Britain. Any person found outside their premises of residence without a permit after 6pm will be sent to Azkaban or the newly established high-security prison in London. It is asked that members of the public co-operate with officials and martial law will be lifted as soon as deemed safe.

"An official day of mourning is scheduled for sometime next week."

Hermione looked up from the article and met three pairs of horrified eyes. "Martial law?" she whispered.

"But that's ridiculous," Snape snapped. "The death of a Minister should be no cause for that sort of knee-jerk reaction."

"Apparently somebody at the Ministry feels that it's worthwhile," Hermione muttered.

"Maybe it is?" Will suggested. She turned to glare at him and he shrugged. "It sounds drastic but if it will stop riots..."

There was silence.

"Does nobody else see what wasn't mentioned in the article?" Lucius commented, almost casually. Hermione frowned. "I wonder who's in charge of the Ministry now?" he continued.

She paled and began to flip pages. There was a biography of Jack Corley's life on pages 2-3, an interview with Narcissa Corley on pages 4-5, and finally, she found it, tucked away in page 10 after the 'other news'. "In a surprise move, Corley named his wife as second-in-command in the Ministry only a few days before his tragic demise. Current control of the Ministry lies in the hands of Narcissa Corley."

"That," Harry began and then stopped, "that isn't right! Shouldn't there be an Assistant Minister or something?"

"My ex-wife was very devious," Lucius said. "She always expressed a desire to be in control." Surprisingly, his face suddenly paled. "I wouldn't be surprised if she were the brains behind this whole operation," he said quietly. "She never had much loyalty to anybody. As soon as she saw that victory for the Dark Lord was unlikely, she switched sides. I doubt she gave her new allegiances any greater loyalty."

"But," Harry protested. "She didn't seem like that."

Lucius turned to him. "Surely you didn't buy her vapid act?" He shook his head. "The Black sisters were abnormally bright. Even a prolonged stay in Azkaban didn't affect Bella's intelligence, though her sanity was much affected. I think Andromeda was the only one not power-hungry out of the three. I know for certain the other two sisters were, although Bella and Narcissa went about it in different ways."

"How can the Ministry accept this?" Hermione fumed. "Even if it is the law, it's still ridiculous passing on the reins of government from husband to wife."

"You forget," Snape told her, "that Corley effectively had the entire Ministry in his pocket. He could have passed anything. And doubtless," he sneered, "the bunch of fools thought that it was a foolish gesture of love. But his ruling does stand."

"It may well have been a foolish gesture of love, but misguided," Lucius said. "Narcissa's speciality when she studied the Dark Arts was the Killing Curse. She could cast it wandless, which would be untraceable. I wouldn't be surprised if she slept beside a corpse the entire night."

Hermione shuddered. "That's ghoulish."

"Possibly," Lucius shrugged, "but out of you all, surely I know her best?"

Even Will had to agree with that statement, even though he didn't like it much. With a sigh, he stood up. "I have to go and supervise the prisoners now. I'll see you guys later." He shook his head slowly. "I still can't believe any of this is true."

"Neither can anyone else, by the looks of it," Hermione called after his departing figure. Once he was out of earshot, she looked at the others. "What now?" she asked softly. "All our plans seem to be in vain."

"I suppose," Harry suggested hesitantly, "you could go up to London again and ask whether she would pardon Ron. Perhaps she would be more lenient than her late husband."

Lucius simply stared at him. "That is the most supremely ridiculous idea I have ever heard of," he said with a sneer. "We've already established that in all probability Narcissa murdered Jack Corley. What makes you think she did that out of kindness for the wizarding world? I can tell you that she simply doesn't think that way."

Hermione closed her eyes briefly. "If that's true then she'll be worse."

"Precisely," Lucius ground out. He gave a rather nasty smile. "Perhaps she will do what Corley never dared and make Mud- Muggle-borns second-class citizens."

Hermione narrowed her eyes. "How dare you," she spat out, furious all of a sudden. She had no clue what possessed her to kiss him the previous day but it had obviously not been because of any internal change of morals. He was still the same arrogant, xenophobic bastard he had always been. The rational part of her mind pointed out that he was just thinking of possibilities, and not necessarily advocating them but Hermione still was fuming. The expression on his face made her think that he wouldn't be adverse to any plans of Narcissa's.

"I don't think we want to wait to see what laws she wants to pass," Harry said, sudden decisiveness in his tone. Hermione noticed a brief look exchanged between him and Snape and wondered what it was about. "But," he paused and bit his bottom lip, "I don't want to end up being a subversive group that is hated by the general public. If we're going to act, it'd better be soon and with evidence that she is ruining our world."

"Of course, that will simply just be lying around," Lucius said sarcastically.

"Actually," Snape broke in, sounding thoughtful. "We may be able to manufacture it."

They all turned to stare at him. Hermione frowned, not liking the rather amused glint in his eyes. "What?" she asked.

"Well," he said slowly, "I think it's accepted that Narcissa Corley doesn't hold a lot of affection for Lucius here. What we need is to create a situation where one of us becomes the confidant of Narcissa. I think that Lucius, and by association, myself are automatically excluded. The best candidate would be you, Hermione."

She blinked. "Me? How?"

Snape smiled briefly. "You weren't known for liking Lucius much back in school and the days after the war. In fact, I believe you testified strongly at his trial. If you tell her that Lucius tried something on you, I'm sure that she would believe you and trust you as a fellow hater of my friend here."

Hermione stared at him and out of the corner of her eye, she saw Lucius staring as well. "But I'm Muggle-born," she pointed out when she finally could speak.

Snape shrugged. "Immaterial. Her hatred of Lucius is far stronger than her dislike of Muggle-borns."

"How do you know that?" Hermione demanded.

"Actually," Lucius said. "That is likely to be true. She denounced me very strongly at my trial. Plus, she has shown capability to work with and around Muggle-borns. In fact, I'm not sure she is prejudiced against them so much as simply wanting somebody beneath her. Muggles, however, are a whole new question." He wrinkled his nose and stared at Snape. "I don't think much of your plan, though."

"She will believe it, however, don't you agree?" Snape said.

Lucius sighed. "In all probability, yes."

Hermione stared at both of them. "Let me get this straight," she began. "I'm supposed to go up to her, tell her that you've been... what... raping me? And that she's supposed to suddenly believe me and decide that I'm her best friend."

Lucius smiled faintly. "That's Severus's general idea, yes."

"I think it's ridiculous," Harry said flatly. "She'll never believe it."

"You'd be surprised what some people can believe when it coincides with their personal beliefs," Snape told them. "Besides, you're not going to become her best friend. You're simply going to get her to trust you enough to snoop around and find evidence. It's simple enough."

She wrinkled her nose. "But couldn't we come up with a better story?" she asked.

"Can you think of a better one?" Snape demanded. "This satisfies her belief that Lucius is nothing but a vicious brute who is willing to couple with a Muggle-born, no offence meant."

Hermione spluttered, but couldn't think of an appropriate comeback. "But," she tried again, "shouldn't I be traumatised?"

He stared at her. "Surely you can pretend," he snapped. "It's called acting, Miss Granger. It is not beyond your intellect. Unless you want this to be as realistic as possible and in that case, I'm sure Lucius will be more than willing to oblige."

"Severus!" the exclamation came from Harry, who was glaring at the older man. "That's... disgusting."

There was a pause. "I'm sorry," Snape said stiffly. "I didn't mean any offence. I just mean for us to take this opportunity before anything else happens."

Hermione studied her hands, which were rather dry and chapped by the constant salty wind. She sighed. "I'll do it," she said quietly.