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The Prisoner	By : Nerys Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Hermione/Voldemort Views: 63351 -:- Recommendations : 6 -:- Currently Reading : 13
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 12
- 13
- 14
A/N: I thank everyone who read, rated and reviewed: Tom Tiddle, m0nt, Lady Miya, Alassea Riddle, MalfoysBitch, Allison, reriddle, scarletwitchextreme, sbrande, Tamsyn Riddle, Ickle Tommie-kins.

Review replies can be found here: http://www2.adult-fanfiction.org/forum/index.php/topic/19576-the-prisoner-by-nerys/page__pid__261393__st__120#entry261393

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I thank my lovely betas: Serpent In Red and Cosettex for looking over my ramblings.

xxx

The Prisoner
Chapter 13: Confrontations
The centre of attention, Ron, was sitting at the Burrow’s kitchen table loudly exclaiming his grievances. Charlie—who wasn’t due back in Romania for a couple more days—sat on his right side, while his mother sat on his left, keeping her hand on his arm the entire time and occasionally squeezing it comfortingly. Bill and Fleur had popped over after being contacted about the ‘family emergency’ and they were equally appalled as the others had been at hearing Ron’s story. Arthur Weasley’s arm on the clock changed from ‘work’ to ‘travelling’ and it would soon be in the ‘home’ position, too. At the far end of the kitchen table, slightly turned away from the others, sat Ginny Weasley—her face pale and her eyes unseeing.
‘—and I wasn’t expecting this,’ Ron snapped, causing murmurs of agreement supporting him. ‘I knew it wasn’t my child.’
‘My poor boy,’ Molly interrupted, sniffing up her nose as she patted his arm.
‘But when I followed her to Azkaban, I didn’t think I’d find her with him.’
Ginny fisted her hands.
‘I thought she was there for work or because she might be seeing some guard. Imagine my surprise when I flashed my credentials and I was told she’s been coming there for months. MONTHS!’
Ginny turned even paler, her freckles standing out more and more. However, her telling physique and posture went unnoticed by the others because they had their full attention on Ron telling them his side of things.
‘I didn’t know what to think, what to expect, but when I went down there, I sure as hell wasn’t expecting her to roll all over the floor with Voldemort—’
Ginny’s nails dug deep into her skin.
‘—and she didn’t even attempt to deny it! She accused me—ME!—’ He slapped his chest in outrage. ‘—of lying to her!’
Bill shook his head.
‘Well, I hope you told her off, bro,’ Charlie said.
‘I sure did,’ Ron replied, puffing out his chest. ‘Gave her a piece of my mind. Did you know she was on top of him when I entered?’
Over the noises of appropriate shock and appal, nobody heard Ginny’s quiet murmur of ‘I didn’t miss it the first million times you mentioned it.’
‘And she was clutching to his shirt as if he had tossed her some lifeline.’
Alarmed, Ginny’s eyes widened; her expression was haunted.
‘I swear it was almost like watching Bellatrix.’
‘Hermione has never been good to you,’ Fleur piped in, reaching out over the table to take Ron’s hand.
He eagerly took the provided comfort. ‘I know,’ Ron replied. ‘I just thought she loved me.’
‘Oh sweetheart,’ Molly cried out, yanking him to her chest and suffocating him in her thick, woollen jumper. Ron’s muffled sounds of protest and some flailing of arms occurred underneath Molly’s upset face as she continued comforting her son by patting him on the back and saying, ‘Don’t you worry. You’ll find someone new, someone much, much better than her.’
When Ron had finally got out of his mother’s embrace, he eagerly continued his story, loving the attention he was receiving. ‘When I got in there, she didn’t even try to move off Voldemort; she didn’t say anything, didn’t even attempt to be embarrassed about being there. And you should’ve seen the disgusting, smug look he sent me.’
Ginny shivered.
‘Bah,’ Charlie said, waving with his hand as if he were casting Riddle away.
‘As if he’d won some prize, well, I told him he could keep that filthy whore.’
A chair collapsed to the floor, and everyone looked up in surprise to Ginny who’d got up rather abruptly despite her big belly.
‘Don’t call her that,’ Ginny hissed at Ron, her eyes furious as her hands crashed on the table and her body leaned forward.
‘Ginny?’ Molly asked, confused.
‘Don’t you dare call Hermione a whore in my presence. You have no idea, no idea what he’s like when you’re stuck with him. Did you even do anything, anything to try to help her, when you found her in his embrace, Ron?’
‘She was enjoying it,’ Ron snapped, getting up, too.
‘Really? Did you ask? Did you even care or did you just run? Don’t pretend to be such a bloody victim. Everyone with eyes could see your marriage with Hermione wasn’t working out. And then this whole ridiculous “let’s get a child because that will make it all better”, it made me want to scream at the both of you. Did you ever try telling her that you were unhappy?’
‘What’s that got to do with her fucking Voldemort?!’ Ron yelled.
Ginny growled. ‘Because she got sent there vulnerable, idiot! Because you two never talk! Don’t you see how perfect that was for him? Don’t you see how easy it would’ve been to manipulate her if he got her alone for months?’
‘Gin—’ Bill started carefully.
‘Shut up,’ Ginny snarled. ‘You all need to shut the hell up! What do you know? You’re all so ignorant, so bloody ignorant! Eh, all it takes is some hot cocoa, right?’ A haunted laugh left her lips, and she slammed her fist on the table.
‘What’s going on here?’ Arthur asked, standing in the doorway, staring with concern at his trembling daughter who had closed her eyes and was breathing in deeply.
‘Nothing I need to be a part of, Dad,’ Ginny replied, having come to a decision.
‘What’s the ma—’
‘Sorry, but I can’t do this. I thought I could, told Harry I’d be fine, but no … I need to see Hermione,’ she said frantically, grabbing her coat from the chair’s back. ‘I need to know if she’s okay. I’m out of here. James, James!’
Ginny paced to the sitting room with remarkable speed, leaving everyone flabbergasted in the kitchen. James’s soft protests of being in the middle of a game with Teddy went on deaf ears as his mother cast his coat on and quickly pulled him with her. As Ginny was walking down the garden path with a whining James in tow, she heard her mother’s voice calling out to her.
‘Ginny, Ginny!’
She just kept walking.

‘Ginevra Molly Weasley, you stop right there, young lady.’
Furious, Ginny turned around. ‘I’m not a child anymore, Mother.’
‘Mummy, you’re hurting me,’ James squeaked.
Ginny let go of the death grip she had on her son’s hand. ‘Sorry, sweetie,’ she said gently, patting his head.
‘Then, stop acting like one. Your brother is hurt. He’s your family, not that little hussy.’
‘That little hussy, as you dare call her, was the only one who truly cared for me after my first year at Hogwarts,’ Ginny snapped, her eyes flashing.
‘We cared for you. We were worried sick about you,’ Molly countered.
‘Worried sick, worried sick …’ Ginny shook her head before making an exasperated noise. ‘You stuffed me full with sweets—your solution to everything! Mum, just because Dumbledore said all it takes is some hot cocoa doesn’t make it so. I needed help. Real help. I had Lord Voldemort inside my body! He used me to try to kill people, people I cared about, and you all thought that was okay? That it would miraculously go away with time as long as I ate enough “comfort food”? Well, it doesn’t, Mum.’
‘Ginny, sweetie,’ Molly pleaded, her eyes filling with tears.
‘A fourteen-year-old did what you and Dad failed to do. She provided me with a listening ear; she comforted me; she never once judged me for how I felt.’
‘We wouldn’t have judge you ei—’
‘I missed him when he was gone, Mum. Not at first, at first I was happy—so happy that Harry had saved me—that he was gone. But later … when I was suddenly all alone every single day, I missed him terribly. I wanted him back. I hated Harry for destroying the journal. I wished I had died down there in that chamber if it had meant that he would’ve lived on.’
‘Gin—’ Molly said, her hands flying to her mouth in shock.
‘Not judging, riiight, I can see that.’
‘Sweetie, I—I—’ Molly said, not knowing what to say and reaching out tentatively to have her hand slapped away.
‘Hermione didn’t have that look of horror on her face when I told her I wished that Basilisk had killed her—that I wished her body was stone dead instead of his. None of you ever, ever wondered how come she was so exhausted at the end of her third year. You all bought that silly story that she was overworked from attending too many classes. She only dropped two courses the next year, one of which she could probably teach! She used that damn Time-Turner to be there for me, Mum! She was there for me that entire year, and I will never, ever forget what she did for me.’
Ginny felt someone tug on her robes and looked down at her pale-faced son.
‘Mummy, why are you and Granny fighting and crying?’ James asked timidly, his chin trembling.
Suddenly noticing that indeed her eyes were wet, Ginny quickly wiped her face and regained her composure. ‘Mummy’s fine, James,’ she explained gently, ‘but your mummy’s best friend is in trouble. It’s why Granny and I have been crying.’
‘Is Auntie Hermy your best friend?’
‘Yes, dear.’
‘Can’t we help her?’
‘We sure can,’ Ginny said, patting his head. ‘I’m positive your dad is already with her, and Mummy will go see her, too.’ She turned back to her mother. ‘I love Ron, Mum, but I won’t allow anyone, anyone, to tell me not to be her friend anymore just because I have an idiot brother. And I won’t idly stand by and listen to anyone slandering Hermione.’
‘I see Potter was right when he said that we didn’t have to worry about you,’ another voice said authoratively.
Ginny turned around, and her eyes narrowed at the sight of Katie McGregor accompanied by quite a large group of witches and wizards.
‘You,’ she hissed, her hand itching to draw her wand. However, she was well aware she had James standing next to her, so she refrained. ‘You sent her to him.’
‘And I assume you’re aware that information as well as anything else regarding my Unspeakable’s activities is not to be broadcasted around,’ Katie replied evenly.
Ginny snorted. ‘Yeah, I bet you don’t want to be implicated in this.’
Undeterred, McGregor continued, ‘I’ve already obtained a Vow of Silence from your husband, Mrs Potter. You should be aware that if this knowledge spreads beyond your family, the penalty will be severe.’
‘Don’t you threaten my daughter,’ Molly said icily, her wand already in her hand.
Ginny held up her hand to her mother, stopping Molly from blasting McGregor off her feet. ‘I’ve got this one, Mum.’

Manoeuvring James behind her, Ginny walked towards Katie, until she was practically nose-to-nose with the Head of the Unspeakables. ‘So,’ she paused, ‘you got a Vow of Silence. Congratulations. But I should give you a heads-up: Whenever I get a chance to screw you over in the future, you can expect it to happen. Every. Single. Time.’
‘Mrs Potter, I shall ignore that threat, considering your current physical condition, obvious emotional state and your son’s presence, and I recommend you go quietly now. Your husband asked me to inform you that he’s at Hermione’s place,’ McGregor said calmly.
‘You’re lucky Hermione’s my friend, and I wouldn’t do anything to cause her harm, but if I come back here at the Burrow and find you or your people touched a hair on anyone’s head, you will never know what it was that hit you.’
And on that note, Ginny Disapparated.

xxx

Of course Harry and Hermione weren’t done discussing things at all.
‘I can’t really go into why I was visiting him for so long, Harry. You know that my job description doesn’t allow it. You heard what McGregor said. You’re not even supposed to know everything you already do.’
‘But you promised me only yesterday that you weren’t going back to Riddle. You lied to me,’ Harry said heatedly as she opened the door to her flat.
‘No,’ Hermione replied, shaking her head, ‘I said that he wasn’t translating the scrolls. You interpreted that as me not going back. I never lied to you.’ She wanted to fling her coat on the hanger next to the door, but it was no longer there. Her eyebrows rose in surprise, and she snorted. ‘Ron took the ugly coat hanger that Aunt Muriel gave us?’ Hermione asked, bemused. ‘He hates that thing.’
Harry closed the door behind him and answered, ‘He was understandingly pissed when he was packing up his belongings. You’ll find he took everything with him that could even be remotely identified as his. I told him to deal with your joined purchases later.’
‘You were here?’
‘He’s my friend, too,’ Harry replied, rubbing his forehead uncomfortably.
‘I know. I’m not blaming you. I’m glad Ron wasn’t here alone. He needed a friend. He was very upset; we had a horrible row.’
‘You really should’ve broken up with him.’
‘You know that I was planning to yesterday,’ she countered, walking on and putting her coat on the kitchen table, ‘but Mrs Weasley had to—’
‘Oh please, Hermione, stop blaming others,’ Harry interrupted, annoyed. ‘I saw the date on Moirae’s scroll. You had plenty of time to tell Ron before yesterday. Things didn’t have to turn out like they did if only you’d told Ron you wanted a divorce sooner.’
He halted behind her whilst she silently watched the emptied-out flat. It was strange, seeing it without Ron’s personal belongings and his favourite chair. Even though most of the larger furniture was still there, it somehow felt colder, more detached to Hermione. After a quiet moment, Harry placed his hand on her shoulder and squeezed it gently.
‘Are you all right?’
‘Yes,’ Hermione paused, shaking her head and thus belying her words. ‘Yes,’ she added firmer as if reassuring herself.
His hand dropped from her shoulder when she turned around and faced him, leaning with her butt against the table and ignoring the state of her flat.
‘Look, I don’t understand. Ron doesn’t know about my marriage to Riddle, so he couldn’t have told you about that and Katie never would’ve shared that information with you willingly either. So how come you even know about it, and why were you at Katie’s office to begin with?’
‘Don’t you think you owe me an explanation first?’
‘Harry, I’m an Unspeakable,’ Hermione said, tossing her hands in the air aghast. ‘I already have one problem at work, I can’t add more to the mix. Thanks, by the way, for standing up for me,’ she added, smiling at him.
‘No problem. You’ve always been there for me.’
‘Couldn’t have been easy, though, with you being the Head of the Auror Office.’
Harry shrugged. ‘Last time I checked, marriage is not a crime, so helping you there wasn’t in conflict with my job.’
‘Considering whom I am married to, others might disagree with you on that.’
‘How did that happen, Hermione?’
‘You first, Harry.’
‘I’m not your enemy here. I’m trying to help.’
‘I know, but I have to be aware of what you know because I need to keep my vows in mind, especially now that Katie’s undoubtedly zooming in on me.’
Harry sighed. ‘Very well. As a part of the hunt on Madame Moirae, I automatically get copies of every document with her name on it. So when your marriage scroll arrived at the Ministry, a duplicate appeared on my desk. I found it after I returned from dropping Ron off at the Burrow. Now, I know you can’t talk about your business with Riddle in Azkaban, but I’m pretty sure that you getting married to him is personal, not professional, so what happened?’
‘Moirae happened,’ Hermione replied with a shrug. ‘I … er … Riddle sent me on some—’
‘You were going somewhere on his orders!?’ Harry interrupted, wide-eyed. ‘Please tell me you had backup.’
Hermione frowned at him.
‘Fine, fine, you can’t speak of it. I know,’ he grumbled, ruffling with his hands through his hair.
‘Well, once I was there, I cast this spell he told me to,’ Hermione ignored the exasperated groan coming from Harry and finished her sentence, ‘and her house rose from the depths.’
‘And once you see her house, it’s already too late,’ Harry said, walking away and kicking against the nearby chair in aggravation.
‘Well, yes, sort of, I suppose so,’ she replied, shifting uneasily.
Harry turned around, eyebrows raised. ‘You suppose so?’
‘I had an inkling beforehand it might’ve been something of the sort—I didn’t dare hope on it—but I had this feeling …’ she trailed off, staring at the floor.
‘YOU HAD THIS FEELING?!’ Harry yelled. ‘YOU HOPED IT WOULD BE THIS?! HAVE YOU LOST ALL COMMON SENSE?! IF YOU KNEW—I—I—HE’S LORD VOLDEMORT! WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!’
‘I know perfectly well who he is, Harry,’ Hermione said, folding her arms over each other and giving him a pointed stare.
Harry took a deep breath and shook his head. ‘No, you don’t. Not really. You’ve never had to deal with him one-on-one like I have. You—’
‘Oh my Godric! You still think you’re the only one capable to take him. When are you two morons going to stop putting so much faith into that fraud’s words?’
‘Trelawney happened to be right!’
‘Right? You two are the ones making her right! “Neither can live while the other survives”,’ Hermione recited mockingly. ‘I’m impressed at the vagueness and “rightness” of it. You both have been living just fine for years and years while the other survived.’
‘Just fine?! JUST FINE?! When everyone around me keeps dying due to his actions?! You think I acted because of a prophecy?! I had to stop him!’
‘You—’
‘He tortured and murdered almost everyone I cared about, and you think he’s not my problem!? You say this is my ego!?’
‘I—’
‘And now he’s targeting you, my best friend! I’ll strangle him with my bare hands!’
‘Harry—’ Hermione tried, alarmed.
‘Trying to get to me through you. No, no, no! I’m not going to let him destroy you as he destroyed so many others. Don’t you see what he’s doing?!’
Hermione opened her mouth, but before she had a chance to speak, Harry’s rant was already continuing, not waiting for an answer.
‘He’s put a rift between the three of us! Just like he did before! My two best friends! Don’t stand there and say this isn’t about me! My parents, Sirius, Cedric—’
‘WILL YOU LET ME SPEAK FOR A MOMENT!?!’ Hermione hollered, throwing her hands in the air in frustration.
BANG!
The windows of the flat blew out of their frameworks. Thousands of tiny glass splinters flew against the nearby buildings and onto the street.
‘Umph!’ Hermione groaned when Harry collided into her, pushing her to the floor for cover. His silvery shield surrounded them fast and she watched him whip his wand around above his head. ‘That was me!’ she yelped, freezing him.
‘What?’ Harry asked, looking down at her with a frown.
‘Oops,’ Hermione said, hoisting her shoulders unapologetically. ‘I’ve not taken that potion the Healer gave me yet. I haven’t had time to research it. So when I’m emotional, things tend to go berserk.’
Harry just stared down at her, his mouth slightly ajar as if something had just stricken him.
‘What?’ she asked tentatively, searching his face for what had suddenly upset him. ‘I’ll take it if I’m certain it’s absolutely safe. I’ll just have to be careful with my casting until then.’
He shook his head. ‘It’s not about your casting. I … I had forgotten you were pregnant.’
‘Oh.’ Hermione lowered her eyes, not knowing what to say to that.
After an uncomfortable silence, she met his eyes again. The worry on his face had increased tenfold.
‘Ermm …’ she mumbled, shifting under him. ‘Could you …?’ She gestured to his body. ‘I mean you’re getting rather heavy.’
‘Oh, sorry,’ Harry said, immediately rolling off her and getting to his feet.
She took his outstretched hand and allowed him to help her up. Then, they looked away from each other in silence, still not knowing what to say.
After some time passed, Harry asked softly, ‘Are … are you okay with it?’
‘What?!’ Abruptly, Hermione swivelled her head back to Harry. ‘No, of course not. Do you think I’m insane?’ As a lion about to pounce on its prey, she continued whilst Harry stepped back in reflex. ‘It’s not like he’s father-of-the-year material, but I can’t really change it now, can I?’ She placed her hands on her sides, daring him to disagree.
Harry raised his hands in the universal sign of surrender. ‘I’m just concerned; don’t bite my head off.’
‘I know. Sorry, it’s not your fault,’ she said, making a face. ‘It’s a sore subject. Argh!’ She grabbed her hair, yanking at it briefly, as she let out the frustrated noise. Her face expressed her discontent with the situation when she glared into nothingness next. ‘I should’ve taken precautions. How could I have been so stupid? One time, one time I don’t check and research something, and it blows up in my face. And the nerve of him—’
‘He knows?’ Harry asked, alarmed. ‘Please tell me he doesn’t know, Hermione.’
Her sheepish expression was answer enough.
‘You told him?’ Harry gasped. ‘Hermione, for goodness’s sake, why? He—he’s killed people for less.’
‘Why wouldn’t I say something? He’s the father whether I like it or not, and I was angry, had to vent it out on someone—best it be him. Besides, it’s not going to remain invisible forever; he’d have seen it eventually, so trying to hide my pregnancy from him now was pointless.’
‘If you had simply stopped going there, that whole visibility argument would’ve been moot.’
‘I had a job to do.’
‘Well, at least you don’t have to go anymore now,’ Harry said, relieved.
‘Says who?’ she snapped.
It turned quiet again. Harry slowly shook his head as he sent her a pitying look.
‘He’s got to you, hasn’t he?’ he stated softly.
‘You need to stop worrying about everyone else. I know what I’m doing,’ she replied, taking his hand and squeezing it.
‘I don’t think you do. I think he pulled the wool right over your eyes. The way you’re reacting …’ He tossed his hands in the air in defeat. ‘You’re not even upset about being married to him, not truly, and this isn’t a common marriage either. The Ministry can’t overrule this. If only we could, it would solve all problems that damn witch created. There is no way out of a Moirae Marriage, Hermione.’
‘Exactly,’ Hermione replied, smirking triumphantly. ‘No way for him either. I win,’ she declared in an upbeat tone of voice.
‘You win?’ Harry said, befuddled. He clearly seemed to think she was off her rocker.
‘You never asked me what type of bond we’re married under,’ she added mischievously.
Harry huffed. ‘If you think a bond he picked will make you a winner, you’ve been inhaling Potions fumes for too long. They clearly ruined—’
‘Seven,’ Hermione interrupted, folding her arms over each other expectantly.
Harry furrowed his brow, and she could see the wheels of his mind turning before he said tentatively, ‘Riddle would never have picked seven. I figured you’d be married under three. Maybe one, yes, but definitely not seven.’



‘Too bad.’ She snorted.
‘How did you, why, what?’ He stopped talking, staring at her in confusion.
‘Bribed Moirae,’ Hermione replied cheerfully as if it were everyday business, no big deal.
Harry pressed his eyes closed and shook his head. When he was done, all that came out of his mouth was a baffled: ‘Only you.’
‘You should’ve seen the look on his face when I told him,’ Hermione said, sniggering gleefully. ‘He was speechless for hours.’
‘That’ll be the day. I thi—’ The doorbell rang, halting Harry’s reply. Frowning, he looked at her. ‘Are you expecting company?’
‘No,’ Hermione said, shrugging, ‘Maybe someone contacted the Aurors after I blasted the windows to pieces?'
As she moved to walk past him, Harry grabbed her arm, pulling her back. ‘I got this,’ he said, sounding suspicious, as he moved to the door with his wand out behind his back.
‘Oh really, Harry,’ Hermione said, rolling her eyes as she stared at his retreating figure. ‘I’m a grown woman. I can open my own bloody door.’
‘I’m sure you can,’ he replied lightly, grabbing the doorknob.
‘Men,’ she said, shaking her head. ‘Ridiculous creatures.’
Hermione turned around, stomping away to fix her windows. Mentioning them had made her realise it had got rather cold in here.
In the distance, Harry opened the door rather abruptly. He had to jump sideways to let James pass who ran indoors fast, shouting: ‘Auntie Hermy, Auntie Hermy!’
‘Ginny,’ Harry said, surprised. ‘I thought you were going to stay at the Burrow with James?’
‘I planned to, but I had to get away from there.’ Before Harry had a chance to ask her why, Ginny rapidly changed the subject and asked, ‘Is Hermione all right?’
Harry sighed, turning his head to the living room where Hermione responded to James’s lively chatter in a cheerful tone of voice.
‘She seems to think so.’
‘But you disagree,’ Ginny said knowingly, moving indoors and shrugging her coat off.
‘When you said you were going to the Burrow, I didn’t know yet that she was married to Riddle now,’ Harry said softly, closing the door.
Ginny froze; then, abruptly, she spun around. ‘Married?’ she asked, horrified. ‘Bu-but … why, how?’
‘Madame Moirae,’ Harry answered darkly.
‘You need to catch that witch, Harry,’ Ginny said, her eyes narrowing in anger.
‘Trying.’
‘I really mean it,’ Ginny hissed. ‘No, I don’t. No Aurors. No due process. I want to catch her, have a “word” with her myself. So many women’s lives she ruined with her archaic, chauvinistic, paternalistic, oppressive bonds. And now, she thinks she can get our Hermione? Moirae’s got another one coming when I get to her. Surely, the Ministry isn’t going to sit back and let this happen? Oh, forget I said that: We need to do something. There must be a way to fix this.’
Doubtful, Harry looked at his wife.
‘Come on, Harry, this isn’t you. You never give up. Together with Hermione, I’m sure we can find a way out of her marriage. There has to be something,’ Ginny said, optimistic.
‘You’re assuming she wants out,’ Harry said quietly.
Ginny’s face fell. Slowly, she began shaking her head. ‘No,’ she whispered, ‘no, he’s not getting her. We’re not giving up, no matter how deep she’s in now, we’re not giving up on her. How bad is it?’
‘Very bad. I believe she’s in far deeper than she realises,’ Harry answered.
‘No, I’m in precisely as deep as I want to be!’ Hermione countered from the living room, while the glass reassembled itself into its framework upon her casting and James cheered loudly.
‘Can I do magic now, Auntie Hermy?’ James pleaded hopefully.
‘Sure,’ Hermione said, waving her wand around and Accio-ing one of her toy wands.
She redirected its path to James and he caught it effortlessly. Immediately, James started waving it around. The tip automatically conjured soap bubbles around him that slowly changed to various animal shapes, making James giggle and call out their names. In a hurry to do more magic ‘himself’, James made all kinds of wand gestures, building brick towers, making it snow and so much more. George had found those wands brilliant and asked Hermione a thousand times if he could market those toy wands at his shop, but she’d declined, lecturing him about the clause in the Decree for the Reasonable Restriction of Underage Sorcery that would get him and his shop in trouble over them.
Seeing James enjoying her invention, Hermione smiled and turned around, pacing to her small hallway. She really wasn’t looking forward to an entire evening of discussing her situation with Harry and Ginny. What was she supposed to say?
I happen to like his company? He’s brilliant? I lov—have feelings for him?
Yes, that would go over very well and surely get them out of the door before midnight.
Nope, she had to do something to reassure them, to make sure they wouldn’t get involved and ruin everything she’d so carefully planned.
‘Come on, you two, don’t stand there by the door as if the cat ate your canary. I’m fine. Really. You are forgetting he’s got no magic and is safely tucked away in jail,’ Hermione stated firmly, not really believing the safe part of her argument herself but conveying it convincingly nevertheless.
However, it turned out that no matter what she did or said, she wasn’t able to assuage Harry and Ginny that things were just dandy, and she was still in for a long night of debates concerning her situation. The one positive result she was able to gain was that they wouldn’t visit Riddle. Fortunately, Harry was smart enough to realise it would only be doing Riddle a favour if he were to go to Azkaban. And when they finally left for their own home, Hermione hugged her friends goodbye, feeling very blessed to have them.

xxx

Back in the privacy of their own home, Ginny turned to Harry. ‘I think she’s fallen for him.’
Harry nodded. ‘I think you’re right. She’s not seeing it, though.’
‘Of course, she isn’t. She doesn’t want to acknowledge that, especially not to us.’
‘You don’t think we could be wrong?’ Harry suggested, pondering hopefully on that option. ‘I mean Hermione’s not stupid; maybe she really does have the situation under control like she said?’
‘I doubt it,’ Ginny replied firmly. ‘With the way he operates? Fat chance.’
‘I know,’ he said in anguish. ‘I don’t know how to get her to admit it. We already told her that we understood, that we wouldn’t blame her for it, but she keeps telling us not to get involved.’ A garbled, frustrated noise left his throat. ‘As if I’m not involved already. We can’t protect her from him if she doesn’t want to see the truth about her relationship with him.’
‘She’d tell you it’s not your job to protect her,’ Ginny said, smiling when she saw her husband’s exasperated expression at that. ‘Well, I’m glad that at least he and his Death Eaters are all imprisoned. I’d hate to think what kind of threat they could be to Hermione’s security if they were on the loose.’
At least Harry could agree on that.
Two weeks later, nobody in the Wizarding World paid any attention to the two separate obituaries posted in the Muggle newspapers. After all, there was nothing suspicious about those Muggles’ deaths.

xxx

The next morning, Hermione made an appointment with her Orator at the end of the day. After that, she just stared at the clock in her flat. It was only a quarter past eight, and she’d already done everything she needed to for the entire day. She’d tidied up and cleaned everything, did every household chore available and made a list of things she needed to reacquire. Hermione wasn’t used to having spare time. She’d always had loads of responsibilities and things to do. Now there was nothing.
Of course, she could go shopping. She needed a new toaster and some other household appliances. She planned to forego a new television set—she never watched it anyway—but she’d like a new sound system since she loved listening to music, especially Mozart. Most of the furniture had been hers or bought by them together, so that was still all here—although Hermione had a sneaking suspicion the latter was more due to Harry’s presence and Ron lacking a proper storage facility. Still, the flat missed its homely feel because most of the wall decorations had been Ron’s. They weren’t to her taste, but without the Quidditch posters and memorabilia, the walls were awfully empty and cold. However, she just wasn’t in the mood to go shopping.
Sipping down another mug of coffee, she reread the front page of the Daily Prophet and sniggered about the juicy details concerning the sex scandal Minister Valentino had been caught in. It was such irrelevant news brought by the reporter as if he’d cracked the next Watergate that Hermione could just see Riddle’s face as—
Hermione slapped her forehead for not thinking of this sooner. She could go to Azkaban as a regular visitor. It would take a bit longer to pass security and be less comfortable in travelling, but she didn’t need McGregor’s approval to visit her husband in her free time. Quickly changing out of her leisurely outfit into something more appropriate and gathering her belongings, Hermione spun on the spot and Disapparated. It took a while to pass the visitor’s entrance, but eventually she was at the desk she always came to, placing her wand on it and saying hello to Doris.
Immediately, Hermione knew something was wrong. Doris was a regular chatterbox and always warm and welcoming whilst she would rapidly inform Hermione of all the latest Azkaban gossip. Now, she had a difficult face as if she were squeezing out a rather large turd, and on top of that, her tone of voice had an apologetic quality to it as she said her greeting to Hermione, while her hand scratched her neck uncomfortably.
‘What’s wrong?’ Hermione asked, putting an appropriate look of concern on her face.
Doris quickly glanced over her shoulder and then leaned forward. ‘You’re not here to see Riddle, are you?’ she whispered apologetically.
‘What if I were?’
‘Then, I’d have to report it—special orders of the Head of the Department of Mysteries.’
Really, Katie? Pathetic.
Hermione shrugged. ‘Report away.’
‘I’m not allowed to give you access either.’
Now that was a problem.
‘I’m sorry,’ Doris added, sending her another one of those apologetic expressions as she gave Hermione her wand back.
‘Not your decision,’ Hermione replied, smiling at Doris to show her she wasn’t blaming her while her mind quickly went over her options.
She’d already checked in at the visitor’s entrance. Going in and then going out without a notice at the front desk would be equally telling as to whom she’d come to visit; besides, not being able to visit Riddle at all in the future was the real issue here.
Dammit.
She’d hoped things wouldn’t have to come to this. She would’ve liked to keep up the charade a bit longer. But if McGregor wanted an ugly fight, Hermione was more than prepared to give her one. It seemed she would have to cancel her appointment with her Orator; he was extremely good at his job, but his morals—the reason she’d picked him as her Orator a long time ago—weren’t going to allow him to do what needed to be done here. She was going to need an absolute pig …
‘Hermione?’ Doris asked, searching her face for a reaction.
‘Oh sorry, were you saying something?’
Now where to find one at such a short notice? She couldn’t ask Riddle for a name anymore. Merlin, why’d she interrupted him back then? Stupid, stupid, stupid.
‘Yeah, I was wondering if you were all right. You should be going before they spot you.’
‘They already know I am here, Doris. You’re forgetting the check-in logs have my name on them.’
‘Yes, but they can’t prove you came here for him unless you sign my log, which states which inmate you’re here to see. For all they know, you’re here to visit someone else.’
‘I think that would exceed the plausible point in the deniability by far, Doris,’ Hermione said humorously.
‘Well, then just go see someone else. I may have someone …’ Doris trailed off, pondering.
‘What did you just say there?’ Hermione asked, her eyes shining brightly as the idea sprung to mind. There was someone else who would know the name of an excellent, sleazy Orator, and she wouldn’t mind paying him a visit at all.
‘Just go see someone else. Professor Qummary has been incarcerated again for denying to pay all his taxes and fines again. I’m sure you can talk to him forever about his research regarding the functioning of Wizarding versus Muggle societies, and I bet he’d love a visit from you.’
‘You know that’s a really good idea,’ Hermione said brightly, sharing a conspiring moment with Doris, ‘but I have someone else that I need to see more urgently.’
‘Okay, well, anyone will do,’ Doris said, accepting Hermione’s wand back. ‘Who can I sign you in for then?’
‘Lucius Malfoy,’ Hermione said with a vicious smirk on her face.

xxx
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The Prisoner