Captured

Chapter Twelve: Astray

He hated it.

And tonight... fucking tonight.

He had wanted to rip those warm, brown eyes out of their sockets when she had looked at him like that. Like he was one of her friends. Like he hadn't been tearing her mind apart for weeks to find information on those she loved most for a Dark Lord that would destroy them all if given the opportunity.

How dare she.

How dare the stupid, fucking, mudblood get inside his head like this.

And much larger of a problem was what she had seen. If the Dark Lord himself took interest enough to take a look inside her mind...

She wasn't practiced enough to guarantee that she could keep someone as talented as the Dark Lord away from that memory. And if he found that memory, Draco and his mother would be royally fucked.

He needed to make sure that the Dark Lord simply didn't take an interest. He was hopeful that it wouldn't be too hard to do so. The Dark Lord trusted no one with any part of his schemes unless absolutely necessary, and despite all his efforts to do so, he simply didn't seem to understand Harry Potter and their differences, particularly what it was like to have the close relationship that the Gryffindor's golden boy and his best friends had.

The Dark Lord would never trust intimate details of his plans with anyone else if he didn't have to, so he hadn't believed that Hermione would yield many results in the information department when Draco had first suggested the plan to him. No, the Dark Lord had been more interested in the part of Draco's proposition in which Hermione was to be the bait.

That much of Harry Potter he understood. It was Potter's biggest weakness and so it was the only one that the Dark Lord really cared for.

He had given them some information previously on the Order from her memories, though Draco suspected he had only gotten that much because she had given it to him, and the Dark Lord had been pleasantly surprised. It had put him in a good enough mood to ignore Lucius' most recent transgression which meant that it had spared his mother as well.

He sighed out a shaky breath as he thought of his mother. He needed to remember why he was doing this. He needed to get his shit together before the meeting he had to attend in less than half an hour.

He had only suggested taking Granger in the first place because the Dark Lord had been ready to punish Lucius for his less than satisfactory contribution to the war plans and effort. When the Dark Lord had been moments from casting the cruciatus curse on Lucius, Draco had blurted the first plan that came to mind.

He had heard it whispered here and there as everyone knew that she had muggle parents that were less than likely to be aware of all going on in the magical community, and would therefore be easy targets, but no one had suggested it for fear of being unable to find her and failing. It was lucky he had suggested it then as well, because by the time they found her parents they were within two weeks of her parents leaving the country which gave them a brief window of time to find Granger herself.

He hadn't let himself think of what would happen should he fail.

The Dark Lord had been satisfied to simply have her as bait so far, and so long as that continued to be enough he shouldn't feel the need to look into her mind himself.

Draco blew out a long breath as he worked to steady himself. He needed to collect himself and get downstairs.

He pushed the swirling thoughts behind the wall in the back of his mind, locking them there until he could safely siphon through them all in greater detail in the dark safety of his own room later. Far away from her and her empathy.