Love of a Malfoy

Disclaimer: I own baby Sam.

Thank yous: louey31, mysticpammy, Viktor Krum's lazyllama101, noxon1, orlin, SnapesMistress005, Someone somewhere, yaeko, aliasmel1, eyes of the wolf, misses-charlie-weasly, Stef, oooArianaooo, Emma, LadyErinSnape, AMistressMalfoy, jracklesfan77, DD2, x-Ladiee101-x, amymcthorn, TheCapeWearingOne, MistariaPotter, STEPHiE, Tears-Of-Love-Tears-Of-Hate, EvIlIsHoT.

Author's Note: I'm so sorry about the lack of updates. Please forgive me.

Possibly spoilers for Deathly Hallows, it really all depends on what I come up with for the fic.

Chapter 6

Hermione had just put Sam down to sleep when a little house-elf appeared in the nursery (Lucius had insisted that Sam have his own room, his reasons he would not divulge, although Hermione had a fair idea – Lucius was a man, after all).

"What is it, Jinky?" asked Hermione kindly; she knew how the Malfoys treated house-elves and while she didn't like it, she hadn't done anything to stop it. Lucius had told her how ridiculous he thought her SPEW campaign was when she had told him about it after their relationship began.

"House-elves are born to serve, Hermione."

"No one should be born to serve."

"They are not people."

"They might as well be," Hermione narrowed her eyes at the blond. "They can use magic, talk and think – you of all people should know that house-elves can be independent, look at the trouble Dobby caused you. He deliberately disobeyed you and tried to warn Harry about the basilisk and he attacked you."

"Yes, I do recall that quite clearly, thank you," Lucius sighed. "However, that does not negate the fact that house-elves enjoy serving, and at the mere mention of being freed they launch into a self-abusive emotional fit. Dobby, on the other hand, was always unusual."

"He was probably unusual because of the way you treated him," argued Hermione; she was not going to back down. "What if there were no house-elves? Who or what would use to do all of your domestic chores instead? A human slave?"

"More than likely," Lucius smirked when Hermione let out a disgruntled groan.

"Master is wanting Miss Hermione to be going to master's study now," squeaked the little house-elf, her head bowed as she spoke.

"Did Lucius say why?"

"No, Miss," Jinky shook her head, her large ears flapping with the motion.

Hermione sighed, "Okay," after asking little Jinky to keep watch over Sam (ever since Draco had found out about his baby half-brother, she had refused to have Sam be alone), Hermione left the nursery and headed along the hallway. As she walked, her mind began to drift as it had been doing a lot recently (there was only so much one could do in this manor when they were confined and she had read through a fair amount of Lucius's personal library already). One thing was plaguing her mind more than anything else was the inevitable meeting with Lord Voldemort; it would be a lie to say she wasn't scared – she was scared for herself, for her son, as well as for Lucius, Severus and Narcissa (all of whom had kept her presence from the Dark Lord until the previous gathering).

What would Voldemort do to her when she was before him? Would he grant her mercy if she took his Mark? Would he kill Lucius for entering into a relationship with a mudblood? What about Sam? Would he be killed because of her? Really, what was the chance of her coming out of this alive?

Severus had seen Voldemort again since the last gathering and he had mentioned that the Dark Lord "had plans" for her, but had been very non-committal about it all.

Hermione was snapped out of her thoughts when she nearly collided with Draco, who only snarled at her and deliberately shoved her with his shoulder as he walked passed. Rolling her eyes at his obvious immaturity, she knocked on the study door before entering, her eyes immediately falling on Lucius, "You summoned me?" her eyes then landed on a man she had been hoping to see for the past few weeks. "Remus!"

In her excitement, Hermione practically jumped on the werewolf, who had clearly been ready for her as he had gotten to his feet and caught her in an embrace when she threw herself at him.

Remus smiled a hugged Hermione before holding her at arms length by the shoulders to give her a look over, "How have they been treating you?" the 'they' in question being Lucius and Severus, who were both present, the latter of which was scowling at the little friendly display while Lucius had already lost interest on gone back to reading the Daily Prophet he had been perusing when Remus turned up.

Hermione beamed, "Surprisingly well. I'm still alive, anyway, although Draco would prefer that wasn't the case."

"Yes, I can imagine," Remus dropped his hands from Hermione's shoulders. "Come on, let's go elsewhere and talk, away from these two nosy sods," he cast a sly glance at the two Slytherins – Severus returned it with a glare.

"It's my house, I have that right," said Lucius from behind his paper.

"I just don't get it," said Hermione after she and Remus had sat down in one of the many sitting rooms in the great mansion. "I mean, you are the last person I ever would have suspected as being a double crosser. You have everyone's trust and you're so nice; it's easy to see Severus as one of Voldemort's spies, he has that dark and nasty thing going on; but you?"

Remus sighed, "I joined Voldemort's ranks in a time of great weakness during the first war," under Hermione's unblinking gaze he continued. "My own weakness. I was suspected of being the rat amongst the Order and my friends; I was cast aside by many people because of my condition. I admit, I should have known better, but at that time to a miserable and weak-willed nineteen year old, Voldemort's promises were sounding better and better."

Hermione frowned, "So...you went to Voldemort because he promised things that Dumbledore didn't? A cure?"

Remus nodded, "Exactly. Don't get me wrong, I knew there was very little chance of there really being a cure, but Voldemort had more knowledge than any of us knew. For all I knew he really could have discovered a cure, and from what I heard from other werewolves he had, but that he would only hand it over once we had accomplished the tasks that he had set for us."

"And he didn't."

"No, he didn't. Even if he did have a cure, he would never hand it over, especially with the likes of Greyback around. Voldemort takes great delight in children being bitten and being forced to join his ranks when no one else wants them.

Hermione gazed down at the ridiculously expensive rug between their two armchairs, "So, you were a spy then?"

Remus shook his head, "No, I wasn't. That was a task that was well covered by Severus and Peter, and because I was suspected as being the spy in the first place, I was not always aware of Order meetings nor was I as welcomed around James, Sirius and Lily as I would have been in the past."

"What did you do then?"

"I kept rank with the other werewolves. Being the only one who was magically educated to a high degree, I was in charge of keeping the others in line, despite being distinctly younger than many of them."

"But you're a spy now?"

Remus nodded, "I am," he knew this was probably very hard for Hermione to hear, despite her romance with a Death Eater. "I have a feeling that Voldemort will order you to spy as well."

Hermione furrowed her eyebrows and looked back up at her former professor, "But... Assuming he won't kill me – which, by the way, I am fully convinced that he will – how could I possibly spy for him? Everyone already knows I'm here willingly, so why would they let me back in?"

Remus smiled a little, "Hermione, I have just come from an Order meeting and none of them are truly convinced that you are here of your own free will. There is every reason for them to think that you really did write that letter under the influence of the Imperius Curse, and they don't believe for a second that you would willingly endanger your son like this."

"He is not endangered. Well...unless Voldemort has us killed..."

Remus regarded the witch in front of him for several moments before speaking again, "I imagine Voldemort would use this to his advantage. If they truly think you are in danger – and they do – then he will know that Harry and Ron will stop at nothing to get you back. There is only so long the two of them can be kept at headquarters to research the horcruxes before they leave to find you. It is very likely that Voldemort is counting on Harry looking for you and so it will leave him open to attack."

Hermione forcibly swallowed the lump that had risen in her throat, "I..." she wasn't so sure she was willing to be the bait here; as much as she loved Lucius and as much as she hated some of the Order for the torture they subjected the blond to, she didn't think help in the downfall. "How... How is the horcrux search going?"

"Not very well. It seems to me, the boys realise just how much they truly need your brain now that you are not there spoon feeding them information."

"It's about time."

Remus was about to speak again when stopped short at the sudden searing pain in his left, "I do hope you are prepared, Hermione."

Only seconds later, Lucius and Severus were at the door of the sitting room, both looking gravely concerned and dressed in their Death Eater robes, masks hanging from their hands. At the sight of the expressions all three wizards had, she felt her heart sink and the underlying terror began to bubble up.

"Oh no..."

Lucius took Hermione's hands and pulled her to her feet; he could already feel her trembling like a leaf in the wind beneath his hands, "You have to do this," she was ghostly pale and her brown eyes wide with fear.

Hermione was already frozen in fear of what she was about to come, but she was soon practically dragged out to the front steps. Not feeling the slightest bit comforted by Lucius's arms around her, she felt the familiar feeling of being disapparated.

Lucius knew Hermione was terrified, but he was already losing the feeling in his right hand from her squeezing so tightly as he led her into drawing room where the Dark Lord was waiting.

Hermione knew how hard she was clutching Lucius's hand and she knew her trembling was visible to all these Death Eaters, but she really could not stop herself. Voldemort was exactly as she remembered Harry describing – tall, thin, bald and noseless; piercing red eyes that were fixed menacingly on her, but no matter how bad she knew it probably was, she could not turn her fearful gaze away. She and Voldemort were the only two in this room that were without masks and that only increased her fear; she knew Lucius and Severus were on either side of her, but she had no idea which one Remus was, nor did she know who any of the others were.

"I have summoned you here today to bear witness to the induction of a new member to our ranks," Voldemort's eyes swept over his Death Eaters before once again landing on the terrified muggleborn standing between two of his best. "Bring the girl forward, Lucius."

Hermione emitted a frightened squeak when she was dragged forward from the circle and position directly in front of the Dark Lord; but the moment Lucius relinquished his grip on her and moved back into his spot in the circle, she felt her legs give out beneath her and fell to her knees, her body shaking with fear. No matter what Voldemort had just said about 'inducting a new member', she was certain she was about to meet her maker.

"Some of you will recognise this as Harry Potter's mudblood friend, Hermione Granger," started Voldemort, as he looked distastefully down at the frightened witch. "Miss Granger is here today courtesy of Lucius's romantic entanglements," a shocked murmuring rose up from the Death Eater who had not known. "Despite being from one of the oldest pureblooded families, Lucius has dirtied his family name by not only becoming romantically involved with Miss Granger but by procreating with her as well. Why then, are they both still alive, you wonder? Despite her mudblood origins, Miss Granger can be very useful to our cause."

By now, Voldemort had begun to pace around the circle, which only further intimidated Hermione, especially when he was behind her and she couldn't see him.

"You see, the Order of the Phoenix is under the impression that Miss Granger is not here of her own free will despite her attempts to tell them otherwise," continued Voldemort as he scanned the masks of his followers, his eyes briefly resting on his Order informant. "It is because of this false belief that it is only a matter of time before Potter and his sidekick attempt to rescue her, and when they do – oh yes, they will definitely find her – they will find themselves being ambushed and brought to me. At this point, it will become clear to them that their dear little mudblood was nothing but well placed bait to lure them out of hiding," he finally stopped pacing, placing himself back at the head of the circle, directly in front of Hermione who was still shaking on the hardwood floor. "Do you fear me, Miss Granger?"

"Y-yes..."

"Good," Voldemort drew his wand from his robes. "Hold out your left arm. Sleeve up."

Hermione, her hands shaking, drew the left sleeve of her robes up and held out her visibly trembling left arm, knowing full well what was about to happen. Although she was a 'mudblood', she was mildly surprised when the Dark Lord took hold of her left wrist to hold her arm still; she hadn't thought he would be willing to touch her, because she was 'dirty' and everything he hated.

"You will be the first mudblood to carry my mark," said Voldemort as he pressed the tip of his wand to Hermione's left forearm; he smirked in satisfaction as a pained cry escaped the girl's lips. Out the corner of his eyes he saw a sharp movement, "Stay where you are, Lucius."

After nearly a minute of that excruciating pain, Hermione felt the vice like grip on her arm loosen and the moment the hand and wand were removed she doubled over, clutching her now bleeding left arm to her body. Tears were streaming down her face as the Dark Lord stood over her.

"Remus, you will inform the Order that an informant has information on Miss Granger's whereabouts."

"Yes, my Lord."

"Lucius, remain behind. The rest of you, leave. Severus, take the girl with you."

The Death Eaters quickly began disapparating, not wanting to incur the wrath of their master by taking their time.

Severus walked to the middle of the circle and pulled the sniffling and frightened Hermione to her feet; she clutched tightly at his robes as he disapparated them back to the Malfoys' French mansion.

The moment they appeared at the mansion, Hermione's legs gave out from beneath her again as she fell to the ground sobbing, her arm still bleeding and the blood seeping into her robes.

Severus sighed, taking pity on his former student; he opened the front door and scooped Hermione up into his arms and took her inside, kicking the door closed behind them. He felt her clutch at his robes once more as he carried her to the study and set her down on an armchair; she needed pain relief and that bleeding needed to be stopped, but there was little he could do if she did not let go of him, "Hermione, you need to let go."

Hermione reluctantly relinquished her hold on the dark haired man and watched through tear filled eyes as he walked over to a bookcase. With a wave of his wand, the bookcase disappeared and Hermione saw Severus disappear into what could only be a secret room, but he soon returned with a small bottle and knelt down in front of her.

"For the pain," Severus handed Hermione the bottle; he raised an eyebrow when she didn't even bother to check what it was and quickly gulped down the contents. "Now, this will hurt but you need to stay still."

Hermione nodded and watched as he pressed the tip of his wand to her forearm; she was certain that nothing could hurt anymore than getting the Dark Mark; in fact she even felt that childbirth rather paled in comparison. This hurt though, whatever Severus was doing to heal her arm; her eyes were soon squeezed shut again as if that would help ward off the pain.

"There," Severus removed his wand from Hermione's forearm; he had removed all traces of blood, leaving the pale forearm with an angry red Dark Mark emblazoned along the length. He knew from experience that it would soon darken and fade slightly, only to burn black each time the Dark Lord summoned them. The girl was a right state, but if it was comfort she wanted, she would have to wait until Lucius returned.

If he returned.

Author's Note: Woo! That was actually easier to write than I thought it was, I thought I would have to force myself to write a decent enough update. Mind you, I don't think I made Voldemort scary enough, nor do I think I did a very good job of explaining Remus's situation. But compared to my other recent half-arsed updates, I think I did a pretty good job of this one. Let me know what you think though!

Next Chapter: The Order launches a rescue mission for Hermione. What did the Dark Lord want with Lucius?