Breakaway
After the death of Voldemort, three laws were made by the Ministry of Magic.
1: The Ministry is gone and it has been replaced by the newly crowned King Lucius and Prince Draco Malfoy.
2: All “Order of the Phoenix” members will be killed on sight.
3: Mudbloods will be captured and made slaves.
And in a margin under these laws reads, “Rejoice! Harry Potter is dead! After foolishly killing himself to kill the Dark Lord, our Lord’s last wishes were for the Malfoy family to take over his ruling. All hail. Sanctimonia Vincet Semper.”
Purity will always conquer.
Of course Hermione knew what these words meant already. They get engraved in your mind after you stare at them while being carved into. Hermione folds the corner of the paper she's been fiddling with for about a month. The stolen article has been in her jacket pocket since the last time she’s been outside and saw him. Obviously she hasn't been outside since.
May 2 was a failure.
Hermione is a failure.
How could she not have noticed? Harry’s dreams, his Parseltongue ability? The one time she needed her brain to save her best friend it was preoccupied. Who let her focus on that stupid kiss with Ron? They were at war. A life-or-death situation, and she was having a mental pas de deux over her feelings of Ron.
That day repeats in her head over and over again, like a metronome that just won’t stop chiming.
Her brain is scattered and breaking apart. But at the same time, she can't feel a single thing. She keeps that paper in her pocket for a reason. It gives her a sense of cruel motivation. Staring at the smirking, ruthless figures of Draco and Lucius Malfoy gives her the fire she used to have. She can't wait for the day she puts their royal asses under a guillotine.
“Hermione.” Ron pears into the storage closet she sleeps in. “Me and Moody are back. He has news.” Ron said. He looks her up and down. He stares at her bony limbs, her unbrushed hair. She can see the disgust he’s trying to mask. It makes Hermione's blood boil.
“I loved the absence of owls even though I specifically asked you to let me know how you’re doing out there Ron!”
“Hermione-”
“You are all I have. My parents? Gone. Ginny? Gone. Harry?” she pauses. She observes him back. “I have been in this house alone. For a month. Don’t you dare ever look at me like that again Ronald Weasley!” she points her finger at his face. “And don’t tell me to just go outside. Because I did! And then I just happened to almost run into fucking Draco Malfoy! Weren’t you supposed to be taking care of him? Did you fail again Ron? Is that what I’m about to hear from Moody?” she hisses.
Hermione slips past him to the door of her tiny room. She turns. “Good to see you too Ron. I missed you.”
_____
“Granger.” Moody nods. “Good to see you.” Hermione can feel Ron’s gaze. She nods back. Moody clears his throat. It’s foreboding. “It's nice for us to be all together again.” Hermione snorts. “As you know, our fighting division has been on the field for about a month with the purpose of targeting the newly crowned prince, Draco Malfoy. Because we have not come back with a decapitated head, he's not dead. We barely even came into any contact with him, so-”
“Hermione has!” Ron interrupts. “Hermione mentioned to me that she saw him recently! Right Hermione?” he questions. His tone sounds insulting, like he's embarrassed by how he got yelled at by Hermione. She crushes the paper in her pocket. The noise echoes and rings in her ears in the silent meeting room. The accusing eyes on her feels like a pane of foe glass.
“Yes. He's right. While I was out I actually saw the precious prince! You can really see that hair from miles away. Should've used that tactic when you failed to find him.” she frowns at Ron. “Anyways, I gasped, he saw me, we made eye contact, and I apparated away. Haven't actually been outside since. That's it.” she breathed. She looks away from Ron to Moody and produces a fake smile. “Carry on.”
“Please don’t interrupt me, Weasley. As I was going to say, the Malfoys are hosting a masquerade ball soon at their Manor-turned-castle. I was thinking that this is finally the perfect moment to bring Granger back into the field. No one has seen her since the battle of Hogwarts. Most of the public believes she killed herself after Harry's death. We’ve been planning to use Granger as a spy for a long time. And I know you’ve been going crazy in his run-down hotel alone Granger.” he pauses to see if she will oppose. She doesn’t. “And we will need to use your… feminine… attributes. As well.” he finishes.
“WHAT?” Ron and Hermione scream.
“This is bloody barbaric!” he yells.
“I’m not going to whore myself off to death eaters Moody. I would rather be dead.” Hermione hisses.
“Enough! Granger when you signed that magically binding contract for the Order it said you will do anything for our future! We need information. We have no spies for us. Snape is dead. Everyone else is dying. We need to get back to winning.” Moody scolds. “You will do this. Fuck them, get information. It's way easier then you think it is. Glamour yourself for Merlin's sake! Torture them after and leave! You have been absolutely useless for five months. I apologize if you’ve gotten used to sitting around in your misery, but most of us have been actually fighting.”
Moody's words felt like a slap to the face.
How dare he say it's easy? Hermione could feel bile rising in her throat. She needs to leave. The paper she's been gripping is starting to break skin. She can already feel the grimy hands of Death Eaters attacking her skin.
Will the blood on their fingers rubbing off on her be of her friends?
Will they laugh when her arm is bare to them?
Who's to say they won’t make law three a reality after it's done. But as grotesque she feels thinking about it, she knows it needs to happen. She reads her contracts before signing them.
“I’ll do it,” the room gasps, “but only if I get full permission to kill them after if I want to. Did you forget law three? That's not happening.” Moody nods in approval. “Okay. Fuck you though.” Hermione stands up, shoves in her chair, and storms out the room.
"Make sure you find a pretty dress Hermione!" George Weasley calls after her. She flips him off.