Hello everybody! Happy Midsummer! New story from your truly, Lady Miya. This will be a rather short story (even if the prologue is insanely long), with just seven chapters after this prologue. I've already finished it, so now it's just the betaing left, but you don't have to worry about me abandoning the fic! The story is basically a relationship drama with a lot of smut between Hermione and Voldemort. I hope you'll like it!

Warning! This story contains a lot of smut and a little blood-play (none-vampire) and violence. If you can't handle that, DON'T READ THIS STORY!

This story is also AU after the forth book, which means Sirius and Dumbledore and a lot of other people is alive!

As always I'd like to thank my two wonderful betas; Ankoku Dezaia and MrsMalfoy288! Couldn't have done it without you!

Disclaimer; I do not own Harry Potter. Everything you recognise belongs to JK Rowling. I do not make any money on this.

Prologue – The danger of pretending to be someone else

The Malfoy garden was spectacular and like nothing Hermione Granger had ever seen before. Unfortunately, she didn't have time delve in it, she was on a mission. With determined steps she walked right into the big mansion. The entrance was just as extravagant as the garden. It seemed like the Malfoys wanted to scream out their wealth to the world. For a moment Hermione simply had to stop and look closely at a golden statue of a unicorn. It was really a hideous thing, but it fitted right into the rest of the decoration in the house.

"Ah, Bella, back already?"

Hermione could feel the blood in her veins freeze at the voice. Nevertheless, she couldn't afford to show the slightest fear. She had Polyjuiced herself into looking like Bellatrix Lestrange, one of the most fearsome women in the world. Bellatrix was a Death Eater and one of the Dark Lord Voldemort's closest minions. Hermione had spent months studying her style so she would be able to use Bellatrix's appearance to gather information about the Dark Lord's plans in favour for the Order of the Phoenix. Her best friend Harry Potter hadn't wanted her to do it. He had thought it would be too dangerous and what if the real Bellatrix appeared?

Fortunately, luck had been with them. Just the day before, Bellatrix had been sent on a mission to try to find out where Harry Potter was hiding. Hermione, Harry and some other members of the Order had managed to capture her which made it possible for Hermione to gather information. They also had a plan to lure Voldemort out in the open.

Gathering all her courage, Hermione turned around and faced the Dark Lord. "Yes, my Lord. I managed to discover the Potter-brats' hiding place."

Voldemort slowly came up to her. Hermione had only seen him once before on a distance and she had to admit that he was looking even scarier up close. He didn't look human at all, more like a humanised serpent with demon red eyes.

"Excellent," Voldemort reached out and touched her cheek. Hermione couldn't repress a shudder. "You seem… strange?"

"We had a small fight," Hermione lied quickly. It wasn't really hard pretending to be the mad woman. Hermione had done her homework well, as always. "My dear cousin doesn't like me very much."

Voldemort seemed to accept that explanation. "You'll tell me all about it, but not now. I have considered your proposal."

Hermione blinked. Proposal? She hadn't heard anything about that. Oh, she'd just have to play along then. "I'm… honoured, master."

Voldemort nodded once and started to lead her down the corridor. "I have to admit your boldness surprised me, Bella, but the more I think about it, the more it tempts me." He led her down a staircase and into a dark room. "However, before I make my final decision I need to know you'll kill your husband. You know I don't like sharing my things."

Hermione was very intrigued. It seemed like Bellatrix and Voldemort had some special plan going on. She had to know more about it. Luckily it wasn't hard to figure out what the real Bellatrix would answer to this. "Of course I will kill Rodolphus, my Lord. I'd do anything for you."

Voldemort's smile was very unpleasant. "I thought so. This also means you won't be a part of the revels anymore."

"That doesn't concern me," Hermione quickly assured.

"Really? I know how much you like them," Voldemort seemed surprised.

"But they are nothing against the pleasure serving you will bring me," Hermione said and hoped it was the right thing to say.

"Well then there is nothing else to do but to do the ritual," Voldemort said with a pleased expression and lit the torches in the room.

Wait, ritual? Hermione could feel a slight hint of panic as she discovered that the room was set up from some sort of ritual. Circles were painted all around the floor which all contained different numbers. Hermione had studied Arithmancy five years at Hogwarts and she knew that this was one of the rituals her professor had talked about last year when she had been in her final year. Professor Vector had told them that there were many ways to use Arithmancy in rituals; healing, locating, protection, just to mention a few. For some reason, Hermione didn't think this was a locating ritual.

"It took me some hours to find the right ritual," Voldemort explained and pulled Hermione's attention to him again. She had to stop herself from screaming when she saw that he was naked. For one panicking moment she wondered if he was turning himself into a serpent, but then she realised that it was in fact his body. Although, not a human body. It was completely white and smooth. No nipples, no bellybutton, not even a penis.

The thought; How does he pee? flew through Hermione mind before she managed to get a grip of herself again. He probably didn't even eat!

"Do I repulse you so?" Voldemort asked in a low voice.

"N-no…" Hermione started to say but he interrupted her.

"Don't lie to me, Bella," he hissed and went over to her. "I know that your proposal wasn't selfless. You want to be my mistress again and you know that this ritual won't only make me stronger, but also change my appearance. But that doesn't mean I'll be able to…" Voldemort closed his eyes for a moment. "You do realise this will change your life forever, don't you?"

Hermione still didn't understand what Voldemort was trying to do; although she had the feeling it was something about Dark Magic. Professor Vector had mentioned that there were dark Arithmancy rituals as well. The warning that she may die told her that it was probably one of those rituals.

Now this was a problem she hadn't expected. She didn't want to die, and if she exposed herself now, she would most likely die. However, if she did the ritual, she may be able to destroy it and weaken Voldemort.

It was slim chance, but it was all she had. She slowly nodded. "I-I'll do anything for you, my Lord."

Voldemort smile was almost soft. "I know you will, Bella. Now, undress. I want to be done with this before nightfall."

Trembling slightly, Hermione removed her own robe. She didn't look down at Bellatrix's body because she didn't need that picture in her brain as well. It was bad enough that she had seen Voldemort naked!

Voldemort sat down on his knees in the middle of the circle and gestured for her to do the same. He took her hand and then started to chant something. Hermione wondered what she should do. Could she push him backwards and maybe take his wand? Before she had time to decide the circles around them began to glow. Then, he disappeared.

For a moment Hermione thought it had all backfired and that he had died, but then the circle began to glow again and she suddenly felt herself changing back to herself. A second after she had received own body, her stomach began to grow as well. Hermione couldn't help but to scream. What was happening to her? Then came a moment of pain and she almost felt as if her stomach had been pressed out from her body. She fell backwards as her stomach sank back to its normal self and stopped hurting. However, she suddenly felt very exhausted, like she had run for miles.

She didn't know how long she lay there, but suddenly she was pulled up by someone. She opened her eyes and saw a man standing in front of her. He was just as tall as snake-Voldemort had been and with the same red eyes, but he looked much more human and he was covered in some wet substance.

"Who the hell are you?" he roared just before Hermione passed out from exhaustion.

xxx

The ritual had been very simple and very tricky at the same time. Bella was the only one who had noticed that he had began to loose strength. It was the fact that he had used a Muggle's bone in the ritual to regain his body that weakened him. The bones weren't used to magic and were slowly starting to die. Bella had come with the idea to connect her body to the power of birth and thereby create a new body for him. It wasn't like Bella would be his mother in any way. She would just be a vessel for the seconds it took to create a new body for him. Although, it would create some sort of bond between them, like the ability to sense each others feelings and speak into each others minds. Voldemort had seen this as an advantage in his fight against the Order. With Bella he could technically be at two places at once! The rest of the time he could just use Occlumency against her.

Now, the ritual was done and Voldemort found to his horror that Bella wasn't the one laying on the floor in front of him. Instead a young woman with curly brown hair lay there. Could you really blame him for being angry?

The girl (who seemed a little familiar) passed out when he tried to ask her who she was. Voldemort stared down at her as he thought. Well, at least this explained why the ritual had gone so well. She was young and clearly very powerful. He had wondered if Bella really was strong enough to help him fully. With this girl's power he had the same strong body he had had when he was young. Now when he felt how healthy and powerful he was, he wondered how he had managed to survive in the former body.

After a while, he decided that this young woman clearly wouldn't wake up any time soon. He dropped her on the ground again and went to get dressed. Then he called for one of his Death Eaters who had helped him study this ritual.

It only took Severus Snape five minutes to come down. "I see the ritual was a success," he remarked.

Voldemort nodded. "Yes, but it appears I have used the wrong person." He pointed at the naked girl he had left on the floor.

Severus' eyes widened. "How…?"

"Polyjuice, I presume," Voldemort answered a bit annoyed. "Do you know who she is?"

Severus nodded. "Miss Hermione Granger. She graduated last year. She's one of Harry Potter's best friends and a member of the Order."

Voldemort walked over to her and sat down next to her. "Then I assume she was here trying to gather some information. How come you didn't know that?"

Severus made a grimace. "I knew she and Potter was planning something, however they don't seem to trust me. It wouldn't surprise me if Black was in on it as well."

Voldemort pulled his finger through his new black hair. "I wonder why she didn't reveal herself once she understood what was about to happen."

"She probably thought you would kill her. Also, she is an insufferable know-it-all, she probably wanted to know what would happen," Severus said in displeasure.

"Perhaps. Give me that rode." Voldemort pointed at the robe she had left on the floor and Severus tossed it too him. Voldemort wrapped it around her body. "Take her to one of the guestrooms. I want to talk to her before I decide whether or not she will become the latest plaything at the revel. Oh, and make sure Potter finds out I have her. It will bring me great pleasure knowing that he will be tormented at the thought of her with me."

Severus smirked at that. "Yes, my Lord."

Voldemort stood again and left the room. First things first, he needed to tell his Death Eaters about his latest success.

xxx

When Hermione woke up again, her whole body was aching. For a disoriented moment she thought she was back in her own bed at Grimmauld Place, but then she realised that the smell was wrong. Her own bed smelled off the cheap soap Sirius bought, this one smelled like some sort of flower. This one smelled like some sort of expensive flower, or herb. When she opened her eyes she saw that she was lying on a big four poster bed with white covers. Light from big French windows illuminated the room. It was very pretty with pink flowers on a nightstand and an old fashion washbasin on a small wardrobe. Hermione looked around for her wand but couldn't find it anywhere. A white housecoat was lying over a chair. Hermione realised she had no idea where her clothes were, so she quickly put it on and went to the window. However, one foot away from it was a barrier. A repealing charm, probably. It seemed like she was a prisoner even if she wasn't locked away in a dungeon.

She went to the door and found it locked as well. When she turned to go back to the bed, the door opened behind her. Lord Voldemort stepped into the room. Hermione was struck by how incredibly frightening he looked. His appearance was more human now with black hair and eyebrows, nose and lips; however his whole aura screamed out that this was someone who could kill you without a second thought in a matter of second. At least with his snake-like appearance you could see clearly that he was a monster. Now he didn't seem so two-dimension anymore.

"Good afternoon, Miss Granger," he said softly and locked the door behind him. "Please, sit."

With all the grace and courage she could muster, she sat down on the chair near the window. Voldemort transformed a chair out of thin air and sat down next to her. "This was… unexpected, wouldn't you say?"

Hermione nodded slowly, uncertain about what he wanted. She also felt a little weird, like if she had forgotten something and was about to remember it.

"First I have to ask; where is Bella?" he asked, his eyes not leaving hers for a moment.

Hermione swallowed. "We captured her when she was spying on us."

"Yes, I figured that much, that's why I want to know where you have hid her now." It felt like he was trying to see into her mind.

"I have no idea," Hermione answered honestly. "I left before they had decided where to take her."

"I see," Voldemort leaned back in the chair. "What was your purpose of coming here, then? Don't lie, I can tell if you do."

Hermione took a deep breath. "We wanted to find out if you were planning something… and hopefully lure you out so Harry could kill you."

"Is that all?"

Hermione noticed that he was slowly stroking his thumb and index finger together. "Yes, that's all."

"You must have studied Bella for quite some time," he remarked.

"Months." She couldn't tear her eyes away from the movement of his fingers.

"It was a very believable performance. If I had found out before the ritual, I would have killed you." He said it so easily that Hermione shuddered and managed to look up at his face again.

"Why don't you kill me now?" she asked.

He smirked and leaned forward. "Do you really want to find out? Because if I haven't killed you, I must have something else in mind for you. Something you no doubt will find much more terrifying than death."

Hermione started to nibble her lower lip. "I prefer knowing anyway."

"Clever girl," he mumbled and stood. Hermione watched him as he paced the room. "Do you know what kind of ritual you unfortunately participated?"

"Some sort of Arithmancy ritual. Seeing you now make me think it was some sort of restoring ritual," she guessed shyly.

"Very good. Do you also know the side effects of restoring rituals?" he asked.

"No, I just know the Ministry doesn't allow people to use it on each other," Hermione said with a frown.

"No guesses?" He was teasing her; she ignored it and just shook her head. "It's because the Ministry is awfully fond of individuality. This ritual ties the two persons together in a very special way. Like, when I say I will know when you lie, it's because I can sense what you are thinking. Isn't that scary?" His smile was very unpleasant.

Hermione frowned. It wasn't like she had that many things on her mind she didn't want people to know. Well, except for the fact that she… She looked at him and scowled. "How come I can't sense what you are thinking?"

He chuckled. "Occlumency. And don't fear, I won't tell anyone that you spy on Sirius Black in the bath."

She blushed. "Is that the only side effect?"

"I'm afraid not," he said gravely. "After a while, we will also start to sense each others emotions. That is not something we can ignore either. This was why I ordered Bella to kill her husband."

"Why would… oh," Hermione could feel her cheeks heating again. "Oh no."

"However, I don't think a girl like you has a boyfriend, so I won't have to sense your lust and love," he said arrogantly.

Her eyes narrowed. "What do you know about that?"

"Do you have a boyfriend, Miss Granger?" he asked with an arched eyebrow.

"Well, no, but that doesn't mean I don't have sex sometimes," she retorted.

"Who would want to fuck you?" Voldemort actually seemed surprised.

Hermione huffed. "You'd be surprised and I could ask you the same thing."

Voldemort arched his perfect eyebrow again.

"Well I meant before," Hermione muttered and looked down at her knees. Why was she having a discussion about sex with Voldemort? She knew she thought about it a lot, but shouldn't she be more worried about what he was going to do to her?

"Yes, you should," he said and she realised he had been reading her thoughts again. "Especially since I haven't come up with anything yet. Everything you say and do will help me decide what I should do."

"Oh…," Hermione didn't really know what to say.

He rose. "Why don't you think about that for a while? I'll be back later." Then he left the room.

Hermione stared after him. What did he mean? Was she supposed to offer information so he wouldn't harm her? Or offer to do him favours, like bring Harry to him? She could never do that! Or maybe he was just starting some sick mental torture. Make her create the most horrid scenarios of what he would do to her in her mind before he even began? Yes, that sounded like Voldemort. That meant she would have to take this calmly. Not overreact or do something stupid. Not like Harry would do.

xxx

"What do you mean he found out?" roared Potter in the kitchen were the Order had gathered.

Severus rolled his eyes. "Exactly what I said. The Dark Lord found out that Miss Granger was pretending to be Bellatrix. He is very crossed."

"Then why didn't you help her out from there?" the boy growled, his green eyes burning furiously.

"Please Potter, for once in your life, think! How would I be able to remove Miss Granger from the Dark Lord without exposing myself and possibly kill us both? If you had notified me of your plans before Miss Granger stormed in, I might have been able to help. As things are now, we can merely put our faith in the Dark Lord's good will and Miss Granger's cooperation," Severus said, irritated at the boy's stupidity.

"So you say she is as good as dead then?" Potter hissed.

Before Severus had time to response, Albus Dumbledore cut in. "We aren't helping anyone by this argument. Severus, if you have nothing else to report I suggest you go back to Voldemort. Try to find some way to help Miss Granger, or at least find out how she is."

Severus nodded, stood up and went out to the hall. However, before he had time to leave, Granger's other friend Ronald Weasley followed him and dragged him into the library. Severus was about to give the boy an angry lecture about not dragging people when he saw tears in his eyes.

"Is she… are they torturing her?" Weasley asked with an unsteady voice.

Severus decided that now wasn't the time to be his usually snarky self, he really didn't want the boy to start crying. "Not that I know of. When I left, the Dark Lord hadn't decided what to do with her."

"That's good," the boy mumbled. "Do you think they will?"

"If she displeases the Dark Lord, the risk is high," Severus repeated coldly.

"Yeah, but Hermione is clever," he seemed to try to build up some hope. "Maybe she will be able to fool him into believing that she wants to help him or something…"

Severus couldn't help but to snort. "I very much doubt that a twenty-year-old girl with very little experience of Occlumency will be able to fool the Dark Lord in any way."

Weasley swallowed. "If you see her can you tell her that I… I… am thinking about her?"

"Of course, I'm certain your thoughts will help her to fight the Dark Lord and not loose hope," Severus said sarcastically.

The stupid boy didn't seem to pick up his sarcasm because he smiled and said; "Thank you Professor." Then he left the room.

Severus shook his head in disbelief before he Apparated back to Malfoy Manor. As soon as he arrived, a House-Elf told him that the Dark Lord was waiting for him in the library. Severus went there and found the now much more humanlike Dark Lord sitting in front of the fire. Severus repressed a shudder. Somehow this humanised Dark Lord was harder to read than the snakelike Dark Lord. With the latter you always expected torture and murder, but with his new appearance it wasn't so clear that he was a monster.

"How did Potter take it?" the Dark Lord asked and looked up at him.

"As could be expected, he screamed and blamed everyone else," Severus said and stopped in front of the Dark Lord.

The Dark Lord smirked. "The boy does have his tempter issues."

Severus just nodded and waited for him to be given an order.

"Do you think there is any chance for Miss Granger to help our cause, Severus?" The Dark Lord asked after a while.

Severus had to think about it. "I'm not certain, my Lord. She is a knowledge seeker more than anything else and it may be possible to lure her into the Dark Arts. However, she is also a Gryffindor and I fear she has spent too much time with Potter to ever consider practising the Dark Arts."

The Dark Lord started to roll his wand over his fingers. "Nevertheless, she is a woman, Severus. Women are so easy to seduce." There was a slight pause before he thoughtfully asked; "Would you fuck her?"

Severus' eyes widened. "Fuck Miss Granger? I have never even considered it. She will always be a child in my eyes. Why do you ask?"

"Well, if she loves knowledge as much as you claim, one would think she could be attracted to her teachers," he said with a smirk. "However, I assume you have successfully killed all sort of tender emotions in all your students with your snarky ways."

"Merlin I hope so," Severus mumbled under his breath.

The Dark Lord just chuckled.

Severus shifted from one foot to the other. As a spy he was natural curious to find out things. "If I may be so bold to ask…?"

"You may."

"Thank you, my Lord. Are you really planning to sway the girl to us?" Severus asked uncertainly. "She is after all a Mudblood."

He shrugged. "It would disturb Potter. And if I told the Death Eaters that she was to become one as well, who would question me?"

"Of course you are right, my Lord," Severus said, very certain he hadn't heard the full answer. "May I ask if this is about the ritual?"

The Dark Lord rose from the armchair. "No, you may not. Good day Severus."

"Good day, master." Severus bowed as the Dark Lord left the room. This was certainly an interesting turn of events, the Dark Lord considering turning a Mudblood to the dark arts, Potter's Mudblood at that. It seemed like the next couple of months would be very interesting indeed.

xxx

Voldemort stared thoughtfully at the young woman across the table. She had found an old robe somewhere in her drawers and was now dining with him. He knew she must be hungry and yet she ate very carefully.

"I haven't poisoned the food," he finally said. "If I wanted you dead, you'd already be dead."

Granger looked up at him. "There's still no reason to eat too quickly." She even spoke carefully.

Voldemort smiled and continued with his own food. Lucius looked at him funny when Voldemort told him he was to eat dinner alone with the Mudblood. Of course, Lucius was clever enough not to question him. Granger too seemed to think he was strange for eating with her as an equal, not that she was, of course not. No one was equal to the Dark Lord. He was merely toying with her. See how far he could drive her before she did something out of line. She was very much in control for a woman her age.

"Would you care for some desert?" he asked when he saw that she had finished dinner. They were sitting inside her room and he had conjured up a big table.

Granger seemed very surprised. "I… okay."

A House-Elf appeared with two plates of chocolate pudding and placed one in front of him and the other in front of the girl. Granger took her fork and tasted it. He could see how much she enjoyed it.

"Did you know chocolate is considered an aphrodisiac in some cultures?" he asked nonchalantly.

She almost chocked on the chocolate. "E-excuse me?"

Voldemort let the chocolate melt in his mouth before he swallowed it. It had been a long time since he last ate it. His snake body didn't require food. "Oh, yes. Women especially seem to respond to it."

"Are you trying to… seduce me?" she asked incredulously.

He took another bite before he answered. "You really must think highly of yourself, Miss Granger. I was merely making small talk."

The girl blushed. "Oh. Then yes, I actually did know that. Cacao beans were also used as money in the Aztec society."

Voldemort smirked. "Severus was right, you really are a know-it-all."

Granger straightened up in her chair with and seemed to try to repress an angry retort. She was unsuccessful. "Well, you seem to fit the description as well."

"Why yes, I do 'know it all', however, I do not go around bragging about it like other know-it-alls," he said with a smirk.

"You don't call that bragging?" she asked with an arched eyebrow.

"No, I was merely stating the fact."

She snorted.

"Careful, Granger, you don't want to upset me," he said lightly and ate the last of his chocolate.

She sighed. "You keep telling me that, but I'm staring to wonder if you are going to do more than just… act civil with me."

Voldemort wiped his mouth in his napkin. "Maybe you need to know what I can do then."

"How do you mean?" she asked, looking a bit worried now.

He pulled the chair away from the table and gestured for her to come to him. When she didn't move, he took his wand and forced her chair to move toward him. Her eyes were wide when she stopped right in front of him.

"Give me your arm," he asked in a nonnegotiable voice.

She trembled slightly as she held out her arm. He grasped her wrist with his left hand and took the table knife with his right. Then he licked the knife clean. Granger seemed to sense what he was about to do because she tried to withdraw her hand. He only held a tighter grip.

"This will only hurt a little while," Voldemort said softly and placed the knife at her white smooth skin. "You see, Granger, I know I have been easy on you. That's mostly because you are still so young. If I used my worse on you, you wouldn't last a day. I want you to last more than a day." He slowly pressed the sharp edge of the knife into her arm and pulled it downwards. "Alas, I have decided to start easy and work my way to the really painful things."

Granger winced as she started to bleed. He removed the knife and pulled her wrist upwards. The thick red blood ran slowly down her white skin. He leaned toward her and placed his mouth at her arm and slowly used his tongue to lick up the blood.

The girl watched him in some paralysed horror.

"Funny," he whispered and let go of her arm. "Your blood doesn't taste like mud at all."

Then he stood up and left. Oh, how he liked to make a good exit!

xxx

Hermione didn't know how long she stared at the closed door. Her arm was itching a bit after the knife, but she hardly noticed. Voldemort had tasted her blood. Why had he done that? And why didn't she find it disgusting? It made her shiver, yes, but she didn't know why. It felt so… intimate in some way.

After what could have been an hour, she rose and tried the door again. She wanted to get out from the room. She had nothing to do except stare at the pretty things. It was very boring. However, the door was still locked so she found nothing else to do than to go to bed. Perhaps she could sleep this whole imprisoning away.

Sleep wouldn't come. She lay tossing and turning for hours thinking about what Voldemort had in mind and what her friends were doing. In the end, she did fall asleep, only to wake up by someone entering the room. It was early in the morning and still quite dark outside. She could see a shadow coming closer to the bed.

"Who is it?" Hermione asked uncertainly.

The shadow attacked her. She realised it was a man and she tried to push him away. He growled when she hit him with her elbow and answered with twisting her arm to her back before he turned her around so she lay on her stomach. Her scream was muffled by the pillow. She felt the panic rise when the hand that wasn't holding her down started to pull up her nightgown. Had Voldemort ordered someone to rape her? Because she could tell this wasn't Voldemort. This man smelled of some horrid aftershave.

When the attacker's hand reached her bum, Hermione growled and stopped all movement. Remus and Sirius had taught her about wandless magic. She focused all her magical energy to push away the attacker and just when she was ready to throw him away, he was ripped away from her. Hermione was so surprised she totally lost control of her magic and she heard something explode.

"LUCIUS!" That was Voldemort and he sounded very angry. "What in the name of Salazar are you doing here? Didn't I tell you the Mudblood was off limits for everyone until further notice? Did you find yourself above that order? Crucio!"

In the flash of red light, Hermione could see Lucius Malfoy's horrified face and Voldemort's furious one. Then Malfoy began to scream. If he hadn't just tried to rape her, Hermione may have felt sorry for him. Now she just felt a dark satisfaction.

After a couple of minutes, Voldemort stopped the spell and threw Malfoy out from the room. He turned to her with his wand still in a tight grip.

"You were about to push him off," he commented in a stern voice.

She nodded.

"Did he hurt you?"

She shook her head. "How did you know he was here?"

Voldemort made a grimace and finally loosed his grip on his wand. "I could sense your panic."

"Oh." Now when Hermione thought about it, she did sense something at the back of her head, a fury that wasn't her own. It was a bit scary. "Thank you for… helping me."

"It was nothing. Lucius should know better than go against my orders," Voldemort said.

An uncomfortable silence settled inside the room. After a couple of moments, Voldemort pulled his hand through his hair. "I should…"

"Were you asleep?" Hermione asked at the same time. She had looked at him and realised he was still dressed in the same robe he had had when he left earlier that evening.

"What?" He looked down at himself. "Oh, no, I was reading."

Hermione smiled, as she always did when she thought about reading. "Isn't it wonderful when you just loose yourself in a book? I was in the middle of The Unworldly Trees; a Potion Guide before I came here."

Voldemort snorted. "The conclusion of that book is silly. The author actually thinks the trees are magical."

"Aren't they?" Hermione asked annoyed.

"No, he just took samples from one place. What makes the Potions work is the unicorn pee on the tress. Really, Granger, a three-year-old could figure that out," Voldemort mocked her.

Hermione pressed her lips together. "I said I was half-way through. He is very empiric, although, I have found some things I didn't think make sense. I just think it's interesting to see different views!"

"You are so naïve. I could tell after just three pages," Voldemort said arrogantly.

"I don't believe that," she scoffed.

He rolled his eyes. "Like I actually care about what you believe or not. You are an amateur! Come back in twenty years when you have read a little more and I may care."

"Well, if you would give me some books now, I could start to become a professional," she said quickly, hoping he would fall for it.

Voldemort blinked and then smirked. "Maybe you're not as naïve as I thought then. You are bored."

"Of course I am," she cried. "The most exciting thing that ever happened since I was captured was when you had dinner with me!"

"Prisoners are not meant to have fun," Voldemort remarked, although he seemed amused.

"So this is you torturing me then? Slowly driving me insane by being locked inside a quite comfortable room with enough food to keep me from being hungry?" she asked a bit distressed.

"Would you rather I torture you with knives again?" he asked coldly.

Her eyes narrowed. "No."

He went up to her and took her chin in his hand. "Then I suggest you stop whining. Otherwise, I may let Lucius come in here again and have his way with you. I assure you, you wouldn't like that."

His eyes seemed to be tearing into her soul. "O-okay."

"Good," he let go of her. "Good night, Miss Granger."

"Good night," Hermione answered weakly. She didn't sleep more that night.

xxx

Three days after Miss Granger's capture, Severus was once again called to the Dark Lord. This time he was sitting inside his office. It was still early and the morning sun was shining from a single window. The Dark Lord was sitting behind a desk and gestured for Severus to sit in the chair opposite of him.

"Tea?" the Dark Lord asked and pointed at a tea tray at the end of the desk.

Severus thankfully took a cup. He hadn't had time for breakfast yet.

"Antonin has decided to have a party tonight," the Dark Lord said in a light tone. "He felt my newest appearance needed a celebration."

Severus knew Antonin was only brownnosing the Dark Lord and nodded mutely.

"Unfortunately, you will from noon today officially be in Russia on a lesser mission," The Dark Lord continued calmly.

"And unofficially, my Lord?" Severus asked. He knew he would now receive an order from the Dark Lord that was not for the rest of the Death Eaters to know.

"Unofficially, you'll be here, helping Miss Granger escape," his voice was still very calm. "I will only leave Wormtail here and he will tomorrow be accused for helping Miss Granger to escape. I'll plant a false memory in his mind later."

Severus was very surprised. "Help Miss Granger to escape? What for?"

The Dark Lord shrugged. "Well, she isn't very useful here, is she? Just occupying a guestroom and eating Lucius' food. Not that he can't afford it, mind you."

"Pardon, my Lord, but I don't understand. If you don't have any use for her, why not kill her?" Severus asked.

The Dark Lord gave him a what-makes-you-think-she-isn't-useful-look but said; "She is pretty. Why kill pretty things if you don't have to?"

Severus understood that he would not get an answer now. "What will I tell Dumbledore?"

Voldemort shrugged. "Just tell him what you tell Granger, you saw an opening and decided to take it. You also know that I'm not fond of Wormtail and I won't mind killing him."

"Of course, but Dumbledore also knows that you can see through memory-charms," Severus objected. This was usually how he operated, by letting the Dark Lord order him to tell Dumbledore things. It was so much easier. He did the same to Dumbledore.

"Then make something up," the Dark Lord said a bit annoyed. "Just make sure Granger doesn't find out. Also, make sure she doesn't tell anyone about the ritual. Make her feel embarrassed for helping me or something."

Severus nodded. "Anything else, my Lord?"

"No, you may leave. Just remember to stay out of sight. We will be leaving at nine tonight and I expect some of us to be back at midnight."

Severus drank the last of his tea, stood and bowed. This was very peculiar. Why did the Dark Lord want Granger to leave? Whatever reason, it couldn't be anything good for the Order. He would have to warn Dumbledore.

xxx

Hermione had never been much for body-building. The only exercise she participated was jogging with Ginny or walking with the boys. However, since she had nothing else to do locked inside a room all day, she decided that she could try to do some of the exercises she had seen Remus and Sirius do from time to time. Sit-ups and push-ups were the things she did best. After a while she felt very stupid doing all this so she just sat on the floor near the window and meditated.

Meditating was something she was used to doing. She usually did it after a long day of study. It was a good way to remember what she had learned and relax before bedtime. This time she noticed something different. When she was deeply relaxed she noticed that there where something else in her mind, something that hadn't been there before. However, it was blocked. When she tried to see what it was, she got pushed away. The only thing that sipped out from it were fragments of a feeling; annoyance.

She did felt a little annoyed, but this wasn't her feeling. This was Voldemort's. She opened her eyes with a gasp. She had felt his anger two nights before, but that had been so strong. This annoyance wasn't strong, just noticeable. He must be using Occlumency so she wouldn't be able to see deeply into his mind. Did that mean he could access her brain which was unprotected by Occlumency? That wouldn't be good at all.

Before she had time to think more about it, the door to her room opened and Professor Snape stopped at the doorway. "Hurry! I'll take you from here."

Hermione had no reason to doubt her professor, so she jumped up and hurried to him. He lead her down a corridor and out to a terrace. The moon was about to rise and it was still warm outside, even if it was September. Snape grabbed her wrists and Apparated.

When they landed, they were standing in a dark ally.

"What's going on?" Hermione asked inquisitively. Somehow that had seemed too easy.

Snape looked around to make sure they were alone. "The Dark Lord sent me on a mission in Russia, but I came back earlier than expected. When I realised only Pettigrew was left in the mansion, I altered his memory so he believes he has helped you out. I had to act quickly."

"Oh, thank you," Hermione said. That was believable, but still, it was so easy.

Snape nodded once. "Before I take you to Grimmauld Place, I must share some of my concerns."

"Concerns?" she asked worriedly.

"About your involvement in the Dark Lord's reborn," Snape said seriously. "I haven't told anyone in the Order that you were the one to help him."

Hermione frowned. "Why haven't you?"

"Because I feel that information is for you to deliver, since you will be the one to live with the glares." He almost sounded concerned.

"What do you mean?" she said, her worry growing with every second.

Snape seemed annoyed. "I thought that you had figured it our by now, you helped the Dark Lord become more powerful than he had been in decades, Miss Granger."

Hermione gaped, surprised. "What?"

"You have seen what he looks like now! His powers have increased at the same amount as his looks. And it's all because of you. If the real Bellatrix had helped him, he wouldn't even have half the power he has now," Snape said gravely.

"But… I didn't mean too," Hermione objected. Was Snape trying to make her feel guilty? If he was, it was working. She didn't want to be the reason Lord Voldemort became super powerful.

"I'm aware of that," Snape said lowly. "Which is why I haven't told anyone except Dumbledore about you're involvement in the ritual. All the rest need to know is that he is powerful."

Hermione frowned. "But I don't want to lie to my friends!"

Snape sighed. "Granger, you have showed tendencies to be rather reasonable at times. It would only disturb your friends if they knew about it. And Merlin knows I didn't just save you so you could tell your friends and let them chase you away again."

"They would never do that," Hermione exclaimed.

Snape arched an eyebrow.

Hermione made a grimace. Yes, Harry and Ron could be a bit quick to judge sometimes. "But what if Voldemort can spy on them through me? Shouldn't I warn them?"

Snape frowned. "How would he be able to do that?"

She scraped her foot against the ground. "Well, I'm not sure, but we can sense each others feelings…"

"I see." He seemed to consider this for a moment. "I'll take it up with Dumbledore. Although, I am sceptical that the Dark Lord would want to spy on a twenty-year-old woman who is known to spend most of her time reading."

She thought about it. "Maybe you are right," she said hesitatingly.

"Of course I'm right. Now I think it's time to reunite you with your friends. At least I'll no longer have to listen to their constant whining about your condition." Snape made a gesture for her to follow him and then left the ally with long steps.

Hermione didn't say anything as they walked through the night. Instead, she started to feel incredibly happy for being home again. She had been certain she would find some way to come back, but not this soon! Although, that was also what was weird. Other people had been kidnapped by Voldemort and the Death Eaters and if they had turned up again, it had been after months and they had all been tortured and sick.

It was almost too good to be true, she thought as they walked up to Grimmauld Place number twelve. The moment she entered the kitchen with Snape, everything stopped. Harry, Sirius, Remus and Tonks all stared at her. Harry was the first one to rise and go over to her and hug her. The others followed and a very emotional moment began. Ten minutes after she had come back, Remus notified the Weasleys who all wanted to hug her and ask her if she were alright. Then Dumbledore and Minerva McGonagall came and more hugs were exchanged.

Hermione felt a bit lightheaded from all the emotions and was very grateful when Dumbledore took her to the living-room to talk with her in private. Snape followed as well.

"How do you feel, Hermione?" Dumbledore asked in a very concerned voice.

Hermione shrugged. "I feel fine. Lucius Malfoy tried to rape me, but Voldemort stopped him. That was the only scary thing that happened."

Dumbledore frowned and looked from her to Snape. "Why would Voldemort stop something like that?"

"The Dark Lord gave us all orders not to harm the girl until further notice," Snape said dryly. "Lucius was stupid to think the Dark Lord would let him get away with it."

Dumbledore seemed very surprised. "And Voldemort didn't hurt you at all?"

"No… or, well-" Hermione pulled up her arm and showed them the fading scar. "- he said my blood didn't taste like mud. However, it wasn't really painful."

Dumbledore stroke his beard. "Curious. It has to be because of the…"

"Headmaster," Snape interrupted. "There is something I would wish to discus with you before we reach any conclusions."

Hermione frowned. She wasn't stupid in any way. There was something going on here, something Snape didn't want her to find out. It had to be about the ritual with Voldemort.

"Very well, then," Dumbledore said. "I'm glad to see that you are fine, Hermione. Maybe you should go to your friends. I expect they are still very worried."

Hermione pressed her lips together, nodded and left the room. She didn't like being kept in the dark. This would require some sneaking around.

"Hermione!" Harry said when she came back into the kitchen. "What did Dumbledore want?"

"Just to know what Voldemort-" Half the room shuddered. "- did to me, which is nothing."

"That sounds very unlike him," Sirius Black remarked and made a gesture for her sit next to him. Miss Weasley placed a cup of tea in front of her and Hermione found herself the attention of the whole room.

"Yes, I guess it is," Hermione said slowly, not certain what they expected her to say.

"He didn't try to pump you for information?" Ron asked from the opposite side of the table.

"Not really. Well, he did want to know what I was doing there and I told him I was looking for information. He didn't seem too worried," Hermione confessed. "He also found out that I was supposed to lure him out."

Harry smiled. "Yeah, we figured that plan didn't work once you were captured but by then we were just worried about what he would do to you."

She smiled shyly. "Sorry."

"It was a reckless plan to begin with and you should never have gone through with it," Mrs Weasley huffed.

"But everything is alright now mum," Ron objected. "Right?"

Hermione smiled. "Right." Although, she could see that neither Sirius nor Remus seemed to believe her.

Much later, when she was lying in her own bed, she wondered what Snape had wanted to discuss with Dumbledore that she couldn't hear. Did they believe she was still in danger? If so, wasn't it better if she knew what kind of danger it was? Or was it something about the ritual? Why hadn't Snape wanted her to tell the others about her connection with Voldemort?

The thoughts became foggy and she fell asleep. When she started to dream, she found herself in a strange place. She was standing on a beach and the ocean was green. The sky above her had no sun and yet there was light. She sat down and waited. First, she didn't know what she waited on, but then she saw him. Voldemort walked over the water and came to sit next to her.

"So are you asleep as well?" she asked with a smile. She wasn't afraid of him here. Somehow, she knew he couldn't harm her.

"No, I'm merely meditating," Voldemort said and smiled fondly. He was wearing white shorts. No, blue. No, he was wearing a red robe. No, now it changed again to a dark green robe. Hermione looked at the ocean again.

"Don't you have to sleep?" she asked.

"No, I find it a waste of time. If I meditate for a couple of hours, it's enough," he answered calmly. "What did they say when you came back?"

Hermione shrugged and lay down on her back. "They were happy. Snape and Dumbledore are hiding something for me. I don't like that. I will try to figure out what they talked about."

"Don't you think they only want what is best for you?" Voldemort asked and lay down next to her. Now his robe was white.

"No. They want what is best for the Greater Good. It's silly really." Her fingernails were red. It suited her.

"The Greater Good is silly?" Voldemort seemed surprised over her statement.

"Yes. I mean, how do you know that something you do will turn out for the Greater Good? You can't see into the future. You can think that things will turn out great, but you never really know, do you?" When she said it she realised that she had thought about it a lot.

"No, I guess you don't," he was amused. "Does that mean you would consider joining the Death Eaters?"

Hermione snorted. "No, never. I know that you want to kill Harry and probably all my other friends. I could never do that. And I don't believe that purebloods are more superior either."

Voldemort sighed and sat up again. "Who do you love?"

Hermione looked into his eyes. They were brown, not red. "No one."

"Who do you want?"

"Hermione!"

Hermione sat up when she heard her name being called. It was him. She smiled and waved at him as he came closer. Voldemort was completely forgotten as the dark-haired man sat down next to her and pulled her to him. They kissed. In her dreams, Sirius Black was a magnificent kisser. She didn't know when she would find the nerve to try it for real.

"I see," came Voldemort's voice from behind them.

When Sirius went down to kiss her neck and massage her breast, Hermione turned her head in Voldemort's direction. "What are you still doing here?"

Voldemort smirked. "Enjoying the show."

"Well, I don't want you here, go away," she said matter-of-factly and turned her attention back to her imaginary-lover. She forgot all about him again and for the rest of the dream, Sirius was all she thought about.

xxx

Voldemort opened his eyes with a smile. The girl had cheek, he would give her that. However, she hadn't seemed to realise he was really in her dream. He wondered if she would remember dreaming about him in the morning. Perhaps not after the attention Black had given her. She had some imagination. He even found himself semi-erected. But he didn't have time for that now.

Standing up, he stretched his back and went to pour himself some water. He always became thirsty when he meditated. While drinking, he went to his desk and wrote down what he found out from the girl. He wondered how long it would take for either her or Dumbledore to find out he was spying on them through her. Dumbledore was certainly already suspicious, even if he did buy Severus' story about only seizing the opportunity. The Headmaster wasn't stupid.

Voldemort drank the last of the water and left the room. It was time to kill Wormtail for a betrayal he never did. It didn't bother Voldemort at all. Everything was a game. Sometimes sacrifices needed to be made and it was not like anyone would miss the annoying rat.

The persecution of Wormtail was quite amusing really. The man cried and screamed and begged and humiliated himself before he was finally dead. Voldemort asked for a couple of Death Eaters to bury him somewhere and then left to speak with Severus. The Potions Master was waiting for him at his office. Voldemort asked him to enter.

"I trust everything went well?" Voldemort asked and made a gesture for Severus to sit at the opposite side of the desk.

"Yes, although Miss Granger seemed very suspicious over the fact that I didn't want her to talk about the ritual with the others. I made her believe Dumbledore had ordered it," Severus explained.

"She is awfully clever, isn't she?" Voldemort mused. "What do you think Dumbledore will do when he finds out?"

"Probably talk to Granger about it," Severus said and rolled his eyes. "Most certainly he will find out what is going on before she does."

Voldemort smirked. "You already know, then?"

"Yes, she told me you were able to sense each others feelings. I assume you have a Legilimency connection open to her all the time?" Severus asked curiously.

Voldemort just smiled.

"Well, she must be a more… pleasant mind to enter than Potter. Much more organised," Severus remarked dryly.

Voldemort leaned back in his chair. "Yes and such dirty fantasies. Just out of curiosity, do you know whom she has been involved with?"

He made a grimace. "I can't say I'm very interested. Although, it wouldn't surprise me if she has been involved with the youngest Weasley boy and she went to a school dance with Viktor Krum. Otherwise she seemed more interested in her studies than boys."

"Sounds healthy," Voldemort said thoughtfully. "Not Potter?"

"Not that I'm aware of." Severus seemed a bit uncomfortable with the object.

"Well then. You may leave," Voldemort said and started to look at the rolls of parchment which were lying in front of him on the desk.

Severus left with a bow. At that moment, Voldemort sensed a strong happiness from the girl. He frowned, the feeling was very strong. After a couple of moments it faded away. For the next couple of days he noted how he couldn't block her feelings. When she felt something very strongly, it went through him like an electric shock. It was annoying but thankfully he didn't feel it so often. Every night he would walk into her dreams to see what she had been up to. She wasn't a very useful spy, but she did notice details others didn't. It almost made up for those annoying shocks of feeling.

Although, he wondered how long it would take before she felt something so strongly that he couldn't ignore it anymore.

xxx

The days started to move quicker for Hermione. Since she had been captured, Tonks had decided to start to train them all in some hand-to-hand combat as well as duelling with wands. Hermione, Harry, Ron and Ginny spent the whole morning and a couple of hours after lunch down in the basement together with Tonks, Sirius and occasionally Remus. In the afternoon, Hermione spent researching the ritual and other things. That way, she was always busy and fell asleep before her head even touched the pillow.

Almost a month after she had come back, Sirius came to her in the library after dinner.

"Good practise today," he said with a satisfied smile and sat down on an armchair next to her.

Hermione, who always became nervous when she was alone with Sirius simply said "Mhm."

"What are you reading?" he asked and leaned toward her.

Hermione held up the book. "Arithmancy."

"I'm surprised you haven't been through all my books already," Sirius joked. "Why don't you take a break and join us for a trip to the club?"

Her heart almost skipped a beat. Did Sirius ask her this because he wanted her to come or because he felt sorry for her? She looked at him closely. He did seem eager to have her with them. Did that mean he might like her? They were frequently paired together during practise and it wasn't unusual that his hands would slip down to her arse. Although, maybe it was because she was so slippery. Or was it something more…? Well, there was only one way to find out!

"Yes, I think I could use a break," she said with a smiled and marked the page in the book. "What should I wear?"

"Nothing too fancy," Sirius said with a shrug. "Something you can dance in."

Hermione smiled brightly as she left the room to take a quick shower and get ready. She didn't have a lot of dance clothes, but she did own a black knee-length skirt and some nice t-shirts and tops. After a moment of thought, she decided to wear a red top to the skirt, in honour of her former school house Gryffindor. She pulled on her low heal boots and twisted her hair into a bun at the back of her head. With a little mascara and eyeliner, her brown eyes appeared even bigger and she thought she looked quite pretty.

When she came down to the kitchen, everyone was waiting for her. Everyone turned out to be, Sirius, Ron, Tonks and Ginny. Harry only waved them off; feeling a bit under the weather.

"You look good Hermione," Ron said shyly as they left the house.

Hermione just smiled at him. They had been a couple in their sixth year at Hogwarts and they had lost their virginity to each other. It hadn't lasted long, they were just too unlike. When summer came, they decided to break up. Ron had been a little cranky about it and Hermione had decided not to spend the summer at the Burrow. Instead, she had visited her old friend Viktor Krum. They had spent a very heated summer together with lots and lots of sex. However, in the end Hermione had been tired of Viktor. He was great in bed, but they didn't have so much in common outside of it.

Now there was Sirius. Hermione had decided that she would probably be unable to find an equal match among men her own age. However, Sirius was so much more experienced than her and that was what made her shy. What could she really offer a man nineteen years her senior? Hopefully something, although, he hasn't really looked at her since they left the house and now they were already at the club.

It was a Muggle club with a dance floor at the back. The place was dark with only blue lamps at the small tables. Tonks lead them all to one of the tables and they sat together quite tightly. To Hermione's great pleasure, she was squeezed in on a sofa next to the wall and Sirius. Ron sat next to Sirius and Tonks and Ginny at the opposite side of them. They all ordered a drink and it didn't take long for Ginny to disappear with a cute Muggle boy who wanted to dance. Ron didn't seem to like that, however he had promised not to step in unless Ginny asked for it. After two more rounds of alcohol Ron begged Tonks to dance with him so he could keep a closer look at his sister.

That left Hermione and Sirius alone at the table. Hermione, who felt more courageous after the alcohol, placed a hand on his knee. Sirius seemed a little surprised, but it didn't take long before he started some silent flirtation as well. He massaged the hand on his lap with one hand and started to caress her thigh with the other. Hermione could feel herself becoming flushed and a bit horny. Then, Sirius withdrew.

"How about another drink?" he asked in a low voice.

"Oh, okay," Hermione said breathlessly. This seemed to be going somewhere nice. Perhaps she wouldn't have to sleep alone in her bed tonight. Then she wouldn't have to just imagining him as she touched herself. He could touch her in that special way…

She zoomed out a bit as her fantasies became more and more incredible. After a while she realised that Sirius should be back by now. She looked up and over at the bar. He wasn't there. Her eyes travelled to the dance floor and spotted him together with a tall blond woman. She was holding a hand on his arse and he didn't seem to mind at all. In fact, he was holding an arm around her shoulder and danced rather intimate with her.

It didn't take long for Hermione to realise that their flirtation hadn't mean anything for him. He was simply drunk. If Hermione had been sober, she may have just sighed and just called the night. However, she wasn't sober and making a scene seemed so much more fitting. She walked up to him (quite unsteady) and pushed him. When he turned to look at her, she slapped him, turned around and left the club.

Once out on the street, she started to feel very sad. How could Sirius just play with her like that? Hadn't he noticed that she liked him? Or did he just not care? All that time in prison must have made him heartless and mean and… really increased his hot bad boy look.

She walked the streets blindly and didn't even notice that it had begun to rain. She was too occupied feeling drunkenly sorry for herself. Was there something wrong with her? Was she not pretty enough? Or did men find her intellect disturbing?

"For Salazar's sake woman! You and your maddening feelings are giving me a bloody headache!" Someone gripped her shoulder and shook her. When she looked up, she saw Voldemort standing in front of her with the rain running over his face.

Her lower lip started to tremble. She didn't want to be captured again. Why was he here? Why did he have to be so mean to her, couldn't he see that she was sad?

Before she could stop herself, she had begun to cry. Voldemort cursed and dragged her across the street and into a night open coffee place. It wasn't anything special, but there were maybe half a dozen other customers there, despite the time of the night. Voldemort pushed her down on a chair and sat down across from her. He handed her a small vial with some blue liquor. She sniffed it and realised it was a sober-up potion. Why would Voldemort give her a sober-up potion?

She looked up at him and saw that he was grimacing. Was he in pain?

"Yes, I'm in pain," he hissed. "And I don't like it. Unless you take this sober-up potion and calm down, I'll start killing people."

Even if she knew he was the Dark Lord, she just couldn't believe him.

"Ten, nine," he started counting and she could see the hand holing the vial tremble.

She took the potion and swallowed it. An icy sensation ran through her body as the potion took effect. At once she could think more clearly. She hid her head in her hands when she realised what she had done. Merlin, she had caused such a scene and now Voldemort would kidnap her again and she just didn't want that!

"I said calm down," Voldemort mumbled. "I'm not going to kidnap you. If I had planned that, I would already have done it."

She took a couple of deep breathes. When she looked up she was still trembling slightly. "Why did you come here?"

"Because your angst, increased by your drunken state was giving me the worst headache I have had in years," Voldemort mumbled. "And now I need coffee, don't leave."

Hermione didn't dare leave as the Dark Lord went up to the counter. He came back a minute later with a steaming purple cup. Just as he was about to sit down he noticed her shivering. With a sigh he placed the cup on the table, undid his cloak and wrapped it around her.

"Thank you," she mumbled, a bit confused over the gesture.

"I will never know what possess young women to go dressed in barley anything at the middle of the night," Voldemort mumbled and brought the coffee cup to his lips.

"We where at a club," she mumbled. "Did you use a calming potion as well?"

"Feeling tired?"

She nodded.

"Yes, I did. I thought it was for the best. It doesn't interfere with the sober-up potion either."

They sat quiet for a while as he drank the coffee. She felt ready to fall asleep. His cloak was very warm and comfortable, plus it smelled quite nice, like an open fire and cedar. Nevertheless, she knew she shouldn't become too comfortable. This was a very dangerous man. Hermione straightened and felt that her wand was in place.

"How did you know where I was?" she asked.

He shrugged. "I didn't. I just thought about you and Apparated."

She gasped. "Can you always do that?"

"No, not if you are in a hidden location, like Hogwarts or the Order's headquarters," he said in an annoyed voice that told her he had tried.

"Oh, good," she said in relief.

There was silence again. He drank the last of his coffee and she removed some dirt from under her fingernails. The atmosphere in the coffee place was very hushed. Two customers had left and the others were talking in low voices, if they talked at all. The lamps were sending off a darker purplish light. Now when she thought about it, the tables and chairs were purple as well. It had to be a theme.

"Will you tell me what happened?" Voldemort asked after a while.

"Don't you already know?" she asked bitterly. He did seem to know what she was thinking most of the time.

"No. I could find out through other ways, but I thought I'd give you a chance to tell me yourself," he said in what would have been a friendly voice if it wasn't for the threat she knew he was giving her. If she didn't tell him, he would find out himself.

She sighed. "I thought someone liked me, we were flirting, and then he walked to buy drinks and didn't come back. Instead I found him groping some blond on the dance floor. I may have overreacted a little," she said and let out a groan. She had overreacted. It wasn't like she was in love with Sirius or anything either, it was just a silly little crush which had ended quite effectively now. She felt so stupid.

"Ah, Black, I presume?" he asked thoughtfully.

She looked up at him. "How did you know that?" Then a thought hit her. "Have you been inside my dreams?"

He smirked. "I wondered how long it would take for you to figure that out."

Her eyes widened. "You have been using me to spy on the Order!"

"Yes," he admitted and placed his elbows on the table and his fingertips together. "Although your constant dreaming of Black has made it difficult for me to find out anything useful. You really have a dirty imagination Granger. I don't think it's good for you to think that often about sex."

She stared at him. "Are your lecturing me for not being a good unwilling spy?"

"No, but I am counting on the fact that when you are aware that I can and am spying on you, you will constantly think about the things you don't want me to know and hence subconsciously tell me what you don't want to tell me," he explained quickly.

She blinked and it actually took her a couple of seconds to understand what he had just told her. "So you think that when you go into my dreams tonight, I'll tell you things I don't want you to know?"

He simply nodded.

"You are unbelievable," she said and rubbed her temple. "And I just want to go to sleep."

"Well, now that you have clamed down and I can hear my own thoughts again, I won't stop you," he said and stood. Now she saw that he was dressed very casually in a green shirt and black pants. She stood as well and together they left the coffee house.

It was still raining outside, but not so much as before. It was rather soothing as they walked slowly to the nearest ally. When he stopped and looked at her, she realised she was still wearing his cloak.

"Oh, sorry," she said and felt her face grew warm as she gave him back the cloak.

He pulled it on again and watched her curiously. "You think I smell nice?"

Her face grew even warmer. "Uh…"

"I have to agree, I do smell nice," he said thoughtfully.

For a wild moment she wondered if he thought she smelled nice as well. He blinked and she could feel something at the back of her head. He did think she smelled nice and… "You find me attractive?" she asked in wonder.

He scowled and it took him a second too long to answer. "Isn't that the plan with that outfit?"

She looked down at herself and remembered how hours before she had hoped Sirius would find her attractive. Now Voldemort did. What a strange night. She smiled; it was almost comical, the Dark Lord finding her attractive.

With a growl he pushed her into the wall. "Don't get so smug, Granger," he snarled into her ear as he pressed his full body against her. "I am not a man you want to tease, especially since I've been living in celibacy for the last nineteen years."

She had frozen, she didn't know what to say or do. Then she suddenly felt his hand over her right breast. He squeezed it and then she felt his teeth nibble her ear. "Or perhaps you want this. You did hunt after Black tonight. Perhaps you want to feel a real wizard. I assure you, Hermione, I'm so much more of a wizard than that dog will ever be."

She pushed him away. He didn't stop her, just smirked evilly at her when she straightened her clothes with trembling hands. "I would never dream about having sex with you," she said with as much venom as she could muster.

Voldemort's eyes were glowing as he looked at her from head to toe. "We will see about that."

Hermione wanted to cover herself but didn't. She didn't want to show him how scared she was. Not that it mattered, he knew she was scared. So instead of hanging around waiting for him to do something, she turned on the spot and Apparated away.

xxx

Voldemort cursed when he came back to Malfoy Manor. He hadn't meant to let the girl become aware of his attraction to her. It was just silly, really. There was just something about her that made his blood sing in that special way. Not that he had planned to do anything about her, but seeing her tonight… well, he had lost control over himself. It had been so long since he had felt a woman and her breast had felt so good in his hand and… Merlin he needed a fuck!

The problem was that he was the Dark Lord and as such he didn't just fuck the first person coming around. He was picky when it came to sex partners, perhaps if they freed Bella? Yes, she had always been fun in bed. Besides, it would be interesting to see how Granger reacted to that. Having sex while being connected to someone else was quite disturbing for the one who didn't have sex.

Voldemort entered his room and went straight to the shower in the bathroom. The bathroom was big with both a bathtub sunken into the floor and a glass shower at the far end. The main colours were green, white and silver. Lucius had never really been able to let go of his school house. Voldemort let the shower warm up to an almost painfully hot temperature before he stepped inside. He always preferred showers to bathtubs. At the orphanage he had always had to share an almost cold bath with at least one or two other boys. It had been very disgusting.

As the hot water ran over his head and body, he closed his eyes and searched for the girl inside his head. Since she was horrible at Occlumency it was never hard to enter her mind with a little concentration. It seemed like she was in a shower as well, trying to scrub him away. That would be very hard consider he was always with her. Not that he usually went into her mind during the day to see what she was up to. He usually waited for the night when she was asleep. It was much easier to follow her there. If he stayed with her during the day, he always got a headache and became tired.

When he was done in the shower, he wrapped himself in a robe and went out to his room. He hardly had any personal possessions in the room, only some books in a bookshelf and clothes in a wardrobe. For strategic reasons he had choose one of the smaller rooms on the first floor. If there was an attack, he could escape unnoticed through the window which was only five feet over the back yard.

He chose a random book and lay down in his bed to read. It was just after two in the morning, but he wasn't tired. Not that became tired easily, two-three hours of meditation was just as good as a full night sleep if you knew the right technique. Sometimes it was nice to get real sleep, but why waste the time if you didn't have to?

At four o'clock he placed the book on floor and turned to his back. After a couple of deep breaths he felt his body start to relax. It didn't take long for him to fall into trance, only minutes. He let his thoughts wander freely for a while, then he searched his own mind and found the passage over to Granger's. She was asleep and not dreaming at the moment. He took the opportunity to look at her memories. It was very hard to look at someone's memories when they were awake; they noticed when you were looking at them.

He skipped the memories of her early childhood and jumped straight into the ones from Hogwarts. He wasn't surprised to find that she had been very lonely at first. Then she had met Potter and Weasley and everything had been dangerous and exciting. Voldemort snickered when he came to her memory of when Potter had come back after Voldemort's resurrection. He had been all bloody and crying. After that, summer had come and she had been home with her parents and nothing had happened. Or, had it? Voldemort stopped at a memory that was still quite clear in her brain. McGonagall had come to her parent's house one night to tell her that she would come to the Order's headquarters. The Professor gave Granger a note. Voldemort made the memory freeze and went up to Granger. The note was a message from Dumbledore telling her where the Order could be found. At Grimmauld Place number twelve. Voldemort was surprised that he could read it at all. He had never heard that you could get to know a Secret Keeper's secret through a memory. Oh, this was exciting! He would have to see if he could enter the house sometime!

Before he had time withdraw from her mind, she slipped into REM-sleep. Voldemort decided that he could stay a little longer.

They were in a forest this time. He had since long noticed that she preferred dreaming about places outdoors. He didn't mind at all, he too preferred the nature in front of being locked inside a house. She was sitting together with some Weasleys and Potter. He sat down behind her and listed to what they talked about.

"No, no, no, if you have a snake, you shan't eat it," one of the Weasleys said. Voldemort had no idea who he was but he seemed to be the oldest. "That is cruel."

"But if we stuff it with candy, it will be more tasteful," Potter objected. For some reason he wasn't wearing glasses.

"Candy is only for Saturday!" An older woman had appeared inside the circle. Voldemort assumed she was Granger's mother. They were alike. "Hermione, you know better than eating candy all the time."

"But I haven't eaten any candy," Granger objected. She seemed almost panicking. "It just smelled so good and I wanted to try it, but I didn't! I swear."

"You know you wanted to eat it," another Weasley said. "You wanted to taste it."

Granger's mother seemed sad. "I thought we had raised you better, Hermione. That kind of candy isn't for eating."

Voldemort found the conversation very amusing. This was a code for something else. He couldn't resist teasing her. "You should listen to your mother, Granger. Candy isn't good for you."

Everyone else disappeared when Granger became aware of him. She turned around with a horrid expression. "What are you doing here?"

He tilted his head. "I told you I'd be back. What type of candy did you speak about?"

"I… I don't know." She was suddenly wearing a wedding dress in white. "I'm getting married."

She stood up and the scene changed and they were in a church. When she started to walk toward the priest at the end, he realised she had forgotten about him. He followed her. When they came down to the priest he saw a faceless man standing there. Or, he wasn't really faceless, just blurry.

"Who is he?" Voldemort asked.

Granger turned to him with a frown. "What are you doing here?"

"Don't you remember what we talked about earlier?" he asked.

She tilted her head. "You are spying on me."

He nodded. "Anything you want to tell me?"

She shook her head. "I'm about to get married. Go away."

He looked at the blurry man again. "To whom?"

She shrugged and flowers had appeared in her hands. "It doesn't matter. I'm about to get married."

"Yes, but you can't marry without a man," he objected. This whole dream was more surreal than he was used to.

Granger smiled and the flowers fell on the ground. "Of course, you are right." Suddenly they were standing on the beach again. The sea seemed more upset than usual. She turned to him with her hand in her side. "I'm not going to tell you anything so you may as well go."

He realised she now was more aware of her dream. She was probably just about to wake up. "Why don't you tell me something interesting?"

"No, I won't!" she hissed. "Go away!"

"What do you think Potter's greatest fear is?" he tired.

For a moment he saw a Dementor coming at them, then Granger closed her eyes and it disappeared. Voldemort had seen enough. "Told you," he said smugly. Then he left her dream to let her worry all by herself.

xxx

Hermione was feeling slightly depressed. Voldemort was inside her head and she never knew when he was spying on her. She tried to stay away from her friends so she didn't hear anything that could help Voldemort, but since she didn't want them to become suspicious it was hard. Alas, she decided to hide among her books, pretending to be searching for something.

Three days after the night she had found out what Voldemort was doing, Sirius entered the library. He seemed to be very uncomfortable being there. They hadn't spoken since the night at the club.

"Hi," he said uncomfortably and sat down in the armchair next to hers. "We hardly see anything of you these days, how are you?"

Hermione looked up from the book. The first thing she realised was that she didn't feel anything when she looked at him. Three days ago, her stomach had fluttered by the sight of him. "I'm fine, I just like to read."

"Ah, yes, of course," Sirius said and crossed his legs. "I just wanted to know if we were okay. That night at the club… I didn't mean to… give you any false hope. Don't get me wrong, you are a very sweet girl, but you are at the same age as Harry. It would just not feel right."

Sirius had turned his big black puppy eyes at her and she found herself wanting to ease his worries. "Don't worry about it, Sirius. I was just drunk and horny and I… well, I overreacted a little." There was no point telling him she had had a crush on him. It was over now and she had other things to worry about. Like Voldemort who didn't seem to think she was too young.

Sirius sank back in the armchair at her words. "Good. I'm glad we talked. The Order meeting will begin in half-an-hour, by the way."

She just nodded as he stood and left the room again. Once the door was closed, Hermione placed the book on the table next to her and started to massage her temples. She really hoped Voldemort wasn't listing right now. She had already tried to enter his mind, but it was like a wall. If she concentrated, she could sense what he was feeling but not anything else. Although, she may get a hint on what he was doing if she found out what he was feeling.

With that thought, she closed her eyes and searched for him at the back of her brain. He was angry. Since Hermione didn't do anything that would make him angry, she guessed he wasn't inside her brain but angry at someone else. That was a relief.

Twenty minutes later she walked to the kitchen. Most of the Order was already there and Hermione sat down to talk with Ginny. The red-haired girl had joined the Order when she had graduated from Hogwarts four months ago. They talked a little about some boy Ginny had recently met and wanted to trick into bed. Hermione only chuckled at her friend's seduction games.

Five minutes later, the meeting began. Hermione listened carefully as Snape told them all some things he had found out at Voldemort's headquarters. Then there were almost half-an-hour discussion about what to do with that information.

"What about Bellatrix Lestrange?" Remus Lupin asked after a while. "The temporary prison we have for her is just that, temporary."

Dumbledore seemed more tired than usually this day. "There are secret prison cells in Azkaban. I have managed to get the keys to one of them. We will move her on Saturday."

The meeting ended not long after that. There wasn't much information to share. Voldemort and the Death Eaters hadn't done anything special in months. Just the usual Muggle torture and some attempts on Harry's and Dumbledore's lives. It was almost like Voldemort didn't want to try to really take over before Dumbledore and Harry were dead.

After the meeting Hermione helped with dinner. Mrs Weasley had decided that Harry, Hermione, Sirius and Remus (which were permanently living at Grimmauld Place) looked too thin and needed some real food. When evening came, Hermione had been beaten in chess by both Ron and Harry and made a mock-annoyed retreat to her room. She read until midnight and then went to bed.

She had almost fallen asleep when she heard a crack and felt someone land next to her. For a moment she thought it was Ron, but then he placed a hand over her mouth.

"Hello, Hermione," Voldemort whispered, his red eyes gleaming in the dark.

She let out a muffled scream.

"Hush, girl," he said in a low voice. "We don't want anyone to notice us, right?"

Hermione tried to bite his hand. Voldemort chuckled and withdrew it.

"What are you doing here?" she hissed.

"Just testing a theory. You know how people think that a Fidelius Charm is one of the safest protection spells there is? I just found out that they aren't that safe," he mused and placed his hand on her hip.

"How did you do it?" she asked in a low voice.

"Now, now, that would be telling." He seemed awfully cheery over his success.

"What are you planning to do now?" she asked worryingly. After all, everyone was asleep. Voldemort could just walk from room to room and kill them one by one. Although, if he was planning to kill people, why was he starting to stroke her hip and arse?

He actually had to think about it. That was a good sign, yes? "Well, it depends on you," he finally said. "I have to be back in an hour so I can either tie you up and go and kill all your friends, or I could stay here and have sex with you. However, it really depends on you. I hate to fuck crying women so I won't rape you."

Hermione stared at him. That wasn't even a choice. "Are you stupid? Of course I'd rather sleep with you than let you kill all of my friends."

He smiled at that and his hand wandered in under her sleeping t-shirt. Hermione swallowed and could feel her heartbeat increase when he stroked the outside of her breast. She never broke eye contact with him. He slowly came closer to her and kissed her feather light on her lips. Hermione let out a breath she hadn't known she was holding, it didn't feel as horrible as she had suspected, even if she was still scared. His hand went to caress her back as he captured her mouth more forcefully. For a moment Hermione wondered why she wasn't feeling sick by his kiss, but then he squeezed her arse and she stopped thinking. His kiss was hard and pleasurable, a little like she had imagined Sirius to be, but better. He sucked her lower lip and as his hand travelled even further down and in between her legs. Hermione let out a small groan when he stroked the inside of her thigh.

Then he suddenly broke free of her mouth. "No, I'm not stupid."

She found herself bound and gagged by an invisible force. Her eyes widened in horror when she realised what he meant.

"You really shouldn't think that all men would give up everything for a fuck," he advised her and turned toward the door. "That is not how you succeed."

A rage she had never felt before entered her body. How dare he do that to her? Like a child who put up magical shields when in danger, Hermione's fury broke down Voldemort's magical bounds.

"YOU EVIL WORM DUNG!" she screamed and threw herself at him. How dare he use her as a way to kill her friends? She started to punch him everywhere she could reach on his face, his chest and arms. She was going to kill him. Not only because he had said he was going to kill her friends, but for playing with her. Mostly because he dared to play with her.

Voldemort managed to hit her as well, but he didn't get the upper hand. Then someone ripped her away from him. She fought against the hands holding her back, her eyes at Voldemort who was quickly standing up. His left eye was swollen and he seemed to be bleeding both from his nose and mouth. That didn't stop him from holding his wand out in front of him and have a smile on his lips. At least she thought he was smiling, it was hard to tell with his lips being all swollen.

"I'm impressed, Hermione," Voldemort said in a hoarse voice. She had tried to strangle him at one point. "I didn't know you had all that darkness inside you."

"Shut up," she growled and made another attempt to break free.

Voldemort at once became very serious. "No, you shut up. If you for a second believe that I'll make you get away with this, you are sadly mistaken. I'll be in touch." With that he Apparated away.

It took her a couple of minutes to realise that she wasn't alone. Remus was still holding her and Sirius, Harry, Ginny and Ron were standing in the doorway staring at her. She pulled away from Remus and he let her go. When she went over to sit on the bed again, she started to feel how hurt she was. Her cheek and arm were throbbing painfully, as did her right hand and leg. Her lip was split and she wiped away some of the blood with the hem of her t-shirt.

"What… how… who was that?" Remus finally asked.

"Voldemort," Harry whispered from the door. He seemed rather pale. "That was Voldemort."

The other four gasped.

"What was he doing here?" Ron wanted to know and they all turned toward Hermione.

She couldn't help it, she started to cry. All the anger just disappeared and she felt empty and dirty. Also used. She had kissed him! She had kissed Voldemort! How could she be so stupid to think that… no, she shouldn't blame herself. It wasn't her fault he was such an evil bastard.

Ginny hurried over to her and helped her to bed. She commanded one of the boys to go and get some ice, water and bandages. A moment later Hermione found herself being patted with a cold wet towel. Remus went to fetch a healing potion and after she drank it, she felt a little better.

"If that was really Voldemort, shouldn't we flee to a safer location?" Ron asked uncertainly. He was sitting at the end of her bed together with Harry. Remus transformed a chair and Ginny was sitting with Hermione at the top of the bed. Sirius had gone to call for the school nurse and Dumbledore.

"I don't think he will be back tonight," Hermione whispered. "He won't let his Death Eaters see him beaten up."

"Yeah, you got him good, Hermione," Ron commented. He seemed to be both scared and amazed. "How did you do it?"

She made a grimace. "He said that he was going to kill you all and it made me angry."

The four stared at her. "So you just… jumped him and started to beat him?" Harry asked.

Hermione pulled her knees up against her chest. "Something like that."

There were an uncomfortable silent and then Sirius and Dumbledore entered the room with Madam Pomfrey who was carrying a medicine bag. All of them were wearing housecoats over their nightclothes. The moment the nurse saw Hermione, she started to mumble things about wars and evil wizards and went straight up to her to do an examination.

"It isn't as bad as it looks," Pomfrey finally said. "Bruises and some fractures on the right fist. Drink this tonight and this one tomorrow and you'll feel as good as new." She handed Hermione two jars with some purple potion. "Now, if you excuse me, I want to get back to bed."

"Yes, of course, thank you Poppy," Dumbledore said and nodded and the nurse as she left the room. Once she was gone, he pulled out a chair from thin air and sat down next to Hermione. "Now, Miss Granger, I'd like to hear what have happened."

Hermione took a deep breath and looked around in the room. They were all staring at her with serious faces. "I'm not sure. He said that he had found a way to break the spell that keeps us hidden. Then he said that he was going to kill you all and I became so angry I just wanted to hurt him."

Dumbledore looked thoughtfully at her for a couple of moments and then seemed to decide that he believed her. "Why do you think he choose to enter your room instead of the kitchen which is unguarded?"

Hermione frowned. "Because he knows how to find me, didn't Snape tell you about that?"

Harry's eyes were wide. "How does he know that?"

Hermione looked uncomfortably at Dumbledore who ignored Harry's question. "I think it's best if I hear your version of it, Miss Granger. Could we have some privacy?"

Sirius and Remus left quickly, but Ron, Ginny and Harry were more reluctant to go.

"I'll tell you later," Dumbledore said calmly and shooed them out of the room. Once the door was closed he placed a silencing charm around the door. When he saw Hermione's arched eyebrows he smiled. "I do know about you and your friends' tendencies to hear things you aren't supposed to hear."

Hermione blushed.

Dumbledore crossed his legs and pushed his glasses further up on his nose. "Now I would like to hear you explain your connection to Voldemort."

She sighed and looked down at her naked feet. Dumbledore could always make her feel like she was twelve years old and had done something stupid again. "Ever since that ritual we have been able to sense each other's emotions. Lately I have also realised that he can see my thoughts as well. I could probably see his, but he uses Occlumency against me. I met him that night when we all went to the club. I was… upset and he could sense it. It gave him a headache and he came to calm me down. Then I found out that he had tried to use me as a spy. He comes to me in my dreams. I don't know what I may have told him… and tonight he came here."

The Headmaster sat quietly for a full minute. "A week ago Severus told me that Voldemort had yet to find something useful from you. Now that he seems to have found something we need to take precaution."

Hermione felt like she had had a bucket of cold water thrown over her. "I can't stay with them, can I?"

The old man sighed and seemed even older than before. "I'm afraid not. Neither can anyone stay here with the risk of Voldemort entering."

She made a grimace. "It's my fault. If I hadn't…"

Dumbledore took her hand. "No good comes from blaming ourselves. Right now we need to think of a solution. Maybe it would be best for you to go back to your parents for a while?"

Hermione's eyes went wide. "No! He will hurt them if he finds out where they live." Her parents had strong security around their house and dental practise and so far no one had hurt them. Voldemort would most definitely use them against her if he found out where they were.

"Are you certain? After all, he hasn't hurt you." Dumbledore seemed so calm. For a moment Hermione wondered if he was punishing her for letting Voldemort use her.

"That's because he thinks he can use me as an unwilling spy," Hermione remarked, a bit harsher than she had intended.

Dumbledore stroked his long white beard. "Then I guess you'll have to stay here alone until you have managed to learn to close your mind against him. I think Remus will be a good teacher, don't you agree?" Dumbledore rose.

Hermione stared at him. "You are just going to abandon me?"

The Headmaster had an unreadable face. "Not at all, we will simply regroup. You are an excellent student, I'm certain you will learn quickly."

"Then why didn't you start to train me the moment Snape told you about the bond?" Hermione demanded to know.

Dumbledore looked at her sadly. "Because I underestimated the danger of the bond."

xxx

Severus had a very busy night. At two o'clock he had been woken up by a terrified House-Elf who claimed that the Dark Lord needed him. Once there he had to suffer curse after curse as he was supposed to cure his master. Apparently he had been in a hand-to-hand fight and lost, although he wouldn't say against whom.

Around five o'clock, when he stopped shaking by the side effects of the Cruciatus Curse, went back to his rooms at Hogwarts and a displeased Dumbledore was waiting for him. However, this master was sympathetic enough to let Severus drink a pepper-up potion before they talked.

"Why didn't you tell me Voldemort had full access to Miss Granger?" Dumbledore asked. They were sitting across from each other in Severus' living room armchairs.

"Because I didn't know," Severus answered truthfully. "He never told me anything about their bond, I guessed most of it."

Dumbledore sighed and rubbed his eyes. "Did you just heal him?"

Severus was too tired to be surprised. "Do you know what hurt him?"

"That would be Miss Granger when she found out what he could to with the bond."

Severus was also too tired to be impressed. "Really? If the Dark Lord was a normal man it would take days for his injuries to heal. But I thought Miss Granger was safe at the headquarters? How did he find her?"

"Apparently he has found a way to break through the Fidelius Charm. However, I think he only managed to break in because Miss Granger knew the secret," Dumbledore said in a low voice. "I have already found another location for the Order, but until Miss Granger learns Occlumency properly she will have to stay in the dark."

"You'll leave her alone?" Severus asked as expressionless as he could, although inside he was horrified. The Dark Lord would kill her! Not that he liked Miss Granger, it was just that she was the best student he had ever had (not that he would ever admit it) and he was certain she would grow to do magnificent things once the war was over. Now the Dark Lord would probably kill her because she had become useless.

"There will be security and Remus has promised to teach her Occlumency every day," Dumbledore explained, however, Severus could see that the man didn't like it any better than he did.

"Potter will be angry if she dies," Severus mumbled darkly and sank down in the chair. "He will probably do something reckless and get us all killed."

"Don't you think I'm aware of that?" Dumbledore hissed. It wasn't often the Headmaster lost his temper, but it only proved that Dumbledore had a tiring night as well. "But if I let her continue to be with us, Voldemort will come back and probably kill them all. I don't know what possessed him to give her a warning about it, but we can only thank Merlin he did and that Miss Granger could fight him off. It won't work a second time."

Severus closed his eyes and took a deep breath. "I shall try to convince the Dark Lord that the girl can be of further use. However, if I shall manage to pull that stunt, I desperately need some sleep."

Dumbledore nodded and stood. "Good thing it's Saturday. I won't expect you for breakfast."

Severus looked at the clock, it was almost six. "Don't expect me for lunch either."

Dumbledore gave him a weak smile. "Do sleep well."

Severus merely nodded. Five minutes later he could finally sink down in his bed and get some well earned rest.

xxx

Voldemort had conjured a mirror in front of his armchair. A day had gone by since Granger beaten him black and blue and he still was. Even with Severus' potions. The girl had some fists. He also guessed that there had been magic involved, one little girl couldn't do all this harm. Her anger must have invoked her magic.

With a flick of his wand he called for a House-Elf to bring him some wine. He wasn't a heavy drinker but now he felt that he needed it. It was dark outside and everyone was asleep. Well, except the ones who were on a mission to free Bella. Severus had given him that information when he had been there yesterday.

Granger would soon regret hurting him. Once Bella was here Voldemort would show Granger why it wasn't so nice to the other part of the bond if the first one had sex. He wouldn't make it quick either. Granger would suffer. Oh, well, he had only read that it would be an unpleasant experience for her, but he hoped it was true. Otherwise it wasn't such a horrible thing to try. Bella had always been something extra in bed. However, it would have to wait a couple of days. First he needed to heal properly. He didn't want his Death Eaters to know that a mere girl could hurt him.

xxx

Hermione felt bitter and lonely. Remus came by two hours every day, otherwise her only company was the House-Elf Dumbledore had left her "so she wouldn't have to bother with house-hold work and instead practice on shutting You-Know-Who out from her brain". Or at least that's what Molly had said. Hermione guessed the House-Elf was also there to spy on her and make sure she behaved and didn't ask Voldemort over for tea or something like that.

A week after everyone except her had evacuated Grimmauld Place, Hermione was sitting in the library. Reading was almost all she ever did these days. She had tried to work out, but it just wasn't the same without the others there. Also, it was quite hard with all the rare books Sirius had in his library. It wasn't that Hermione put books as a first priority, but it had always been a nice escape from her lonely reality.

"Hello Hermione."

Hermione looked up and saw Remus entering the living room. He was as usual dressed in an old well-worn robe and with his hair untidy, like just got out from bed. Nevertheless, he was smiling friendly and she could never stay sour long in his presence.

"Hi Remus, how are you?" she asked and put the book away.

"Good and you? Have you been practising?" He sat down on the armchair opposite from her.

She straightened up. "Not much more to do around here, is there?"

It had been meant as a joke, but Remus didn't seem amused. Instead, he sighed. "Harry and Ron are angry with Dumbledore for not letting them be with you."

Hermione looked down in her hands. "It's for the best, I guess. I mean, I don't want Voldemort to kill them."

"They know that. We all know that. Besides, it won't be long now, you have been making a lot of progress. Shall we see if you can throw me out from your mind today?" Remus asked and took out his wand from his robe.

Hermione just nodded and looked into his eyes. She focused on keeping her mind blank and all her thoughts hidden behind a massive wall. During their sessions she had noticed that it was much easier if she stayed calm. However, it wasn't easy to say calm when she was upset with this whole situation all the time.

Nevertheless, she wasn't the best student for nothing and when Remus tried to enter her brain, she could easily keep it blank for him. He tried to break her wall a few times until she pushed him out.

"Excellent work!" Remus said with a smile. "I think we can try harder things now. Did Severus ever tell you about how to only show the thoughts you want to show, it's tricky but I have every confidence in you."

Hermione was about to ask him more about it when she felt a shudder run down her spine. Was a window open? No, there was never one open on this floor. She quickly forgot about it and listened to Remus explanation. It appeared that different people had different ways to trick their memories. When Remus explained about what Snape had told him, Hermione felt another shudder. This one was stronger and left her trembling. She felt very uneasy. Was she getting down with something?

"Are you alright?" Her discomfort must be showing because Remus seemed worried.

"I don't know," Hermione said slowly. "Maybe something I ate… ah!" This tremble made her fall down on the floor. Her body seemed to be on fire as she trembled. The fire seemed to come from her groin and she desperately wanted to rub her pussy but she was still aware of Remus being there.

"Bathroom," she gasped and half ran, half stumbled out in the hallway and into the bathroom. It was small, but she could sink down on the floor between the toilet and the sink. She put her head against the blue stone wall and tried to rub away the ache from between her legs. It only increased the feeling. It wasn't that she was horny, but she just knew she needed some kind of sexual relief.

Closing her eyes, she let her mind wander. There was something at the back of her head. When she went there, it felt like she sank into someone else. She couldn't see anything, but she could hear, taste and, most importantly, feel. At once, she realised that she was a man because the feeling came from something down thereshe wasn't used to feel. It wasn't the same as when she rubbed her clit, but it was just as pleasurable.

"Oh, Merlin, yes!"

Hermione recognised the voice as Voldemort's. The devil was having sex! With whom she could only guess although now she realised why he had advised her not to have sex with anyone. This feeling was very uncomfortable. It was Voldemort's pleasure and Hermione had no way of controlling it. She felt violated in some way and didn't want this feeling. She wasn't horny and hadn't agreed to this.

She didn't know how long she sat there, feeling like she was going to implode if she didn't have a release. Every time Voldemort changed position and angle, she saw what he was seeing. It wasn't pleasant. He was in an unfamiliar room, mostly on top of a bed with a very skinny woman with long black hair. After a while, Hermione realised it was Bellatrix Lestrange and it made her feel even sicker.

Then, finally Voldemort did something that Hermione thought must have been quite painful for Mrs Lestrange and climaxed quite hard, groining something that sounded terrible like "Hermione". Hermione sank back into her own body and immediately lurched for the toilet.

xxx

It took Voldemort almost a full minute to realise he had just said the wrong name in bed. Bella was watching him with a mix of surprise and anger.

"What did you say?" she asked in a low voice.

Voldemort sighed. "Nothing Bella, I was just thinking of something else."

"Of this… Hermione? Who is she?" Bella demanded to know.

"No one, Bella, let it go," Voldemort answered annoyed. It had been his first fuck in decades and he felt quite sleepy.

Thankfully, Bella shut up and simply got out from the bed and left the room. Voldemort smiled to himself, thinking about the girl he had most certainly left quite uncomfortable now. He would have to visit her later to see what she thought about it. She had been there, he had felt it. That was why he had said her name. What if she had liked it as well? Oh, that would be interesting! Not that he thought so, no. But it would be funny… and with that thought he drifted off to the land of dreams.

xxx

Severus had been invited to dinner at Malfoy Manor together with Lucius, Narcissa, the Lestrange brothers, Antonin Dolohov, Macnair and Yaxley. After dinner, they retreated into the living-room to enjoy some coffee. Lucius had placed a chess board on a small table and was right now playing with Rabastan. Severus was sitting next to Lucius, smirking every time the blond man did a mistake. The others were watching while talking quietly to each other.

It was late afternoon when Bella stormed into the room, her hair in a mess and her robe wrinkly. She also stank of sex.

"That… man isn't our Lord," she growled. "He is an impostor! Why haven't any of you noticed?"

The air in the room tensed at once. Severus made sure he could make a quick escape through the window if necessary.

"What makes you think that, Bella?" Lucius asked, hiding his uncertainty very effectively.

"I was his mistress for twenty years!" Bella's voice was high and very unpleasant to listen to. "Don't you think I can tell when something is wrong? Not only did he feel different, he said a Mudblood's name!"

Severus could see how the wheels in Lucius' mind were spinning fast. "Who's name?"

"Hermione," Bella said it like if it were a curse. "I looked it up and the only Hermione we know is Potter's Mudblood."

Lucius' eyes were cold and Severus knew something bad was about to happen. "He did protect her quite passionately when she was held a prisoner here and I always thought there were something wrong with her escape. But what makes you think he isn't our Lord?"

"Everything!" Bella's hands were flying through the air. "The way he moves, talks and act. Haven't you noticed how he hasn't sent any of us away on a big mission lately? It's like he has been… exchanged."

"How could that have happened?" Rodolphus asked his wife.

Bella seemed at a loose of words and luckily for her, Lucius cut in. "The ritual! He said that he had done a ritual which made him more powerful. Granger was with him then and so was… Severus."

Everyone turned to look at the Potions Master. Severus felt quite unsafe. It seemed like Lucius was working on a plan to advance in power. Well, it wouldn't be the first time. Lucius was always trying to get more power in someway. Or… maybe this was a good thing. If he got the Death Eaters to turn on Voldemort, there would be a long fight about who would be in charge next. The Order and the Aurors would just have to pick them out one by one!

"Do you know anything, Severus?" Antonin was the one to speak now.

Severus stood up and make sure he had his wand within reach. "No, I have no idea what you are talking about. I merely did the research for the ritual."

Bella had pulled her wand out. "So you did have something to do with it? What have you done with the Dark Lord? Who is the impostor?"

Sometimes action is better than words. Severus merely smiled at her anger, then, before anyone had time to hex him, he lurched through the window and Disapparated. Now they would most definitely think he had something to do with it and that Voldemort was really an imposter.

To sum it up, a good days work.