Vacivitas

Chapter Twelve

Chapter Twelve

Hermione spends several days moping about before she gathers her wits and decides to make her life a little more worth living. She explores more parts of the manor, stumbling across a corridor she hadn't noticed before. It's on the other side of the drawing room, which explains why she hadn't seen it.

She's nowhere near ready to go into the drawing room.

Down the new corridor, she finds several interesting things: the door to a massive greenhouse the size of the Gryffindor common room, a quaint tearoom with windows for walls and an enchanted piano that began to play once she entered the room, and a potions room.

The potions room is what interests her the most. Though most potions require magic, she knows there are some she could make without it. There's also Pinky, who she's sure would help her if need be. She doesn't know which sorts of potions she would brew, but maybe...

Maybe with some research, she can come up with a potion that counteracts the biological response that's already caused her so much grief.

Hermione has tried and is still trying to come to terms with the things Malfoy said to her. They were so cruel that she didn't want to believe them. Vampire or not, he's the person she's got the most "experience" with regarding sexual activity. Hearing that it meant nothing to him was...Difficult.

She also thinks it was a lie.

There's no way he was telling the truth. The things he said to her were too personal, too targeted. They wouldn't make sense with random people he bought to consume. Never once did it feel like he was parroting a script. When she remembers the night on the chaise, when he breathed her breath and guided her to the end, she notices something. When she got close, he wasn't biting her. He wasn't drinking her blood.

"This is what you wanted, right? Why you made yourself look so fucking good for me? Because you wanted me to make it good for you?"

He's a liar.

It's this deduction that helps her regain her confidence. Whatever he's got to do to convince himself he's not treating her any differently than his other meals, he can go ahead and do it. Before he comes home, she hopes she'll have the potion ready. Then, she won't be able to feel anything that he does. It can be a transaction, just like they originally agreed to—her blood, for her friends.

Around week two is when she begins planning out the potion. She does as much reading as she can, knowing that she might have to make it from scratch. Her own recipe. In school, she did well in Potions class, but she wasn't the top student. Malfoy was. So, a lot of this might be trial and error. If Malfoy told at least one truth, then she knows when he's coming home and how much time she has to figure things out.

It takes her three days to come up with the potential ingredients. She enlists Pinky's help every step of the way, giving her a list of all the ingredients she needs. Pinky stays in the room with her while she's brewing and, as the days go on, Hermione finds herself getting to know the elf in a way that surprises her.

None of the House Elves are slaves. They're all paid workers. Aside from Pinky, there are eleven other elves who tend to the estate. Malfoy pays them enough galleons to live on their own, but they choose to remain at the Manor. And during the times when he's between food sources, every single one of them is grateful enough to him to offer their own blood to help get him through.

Another reason why she knows he lied to her. He has a heart. It may be cold as ice, but it's there and it beats.

On the afternoon of the fourth day since beginning work on the potion, Hermione gets a visitor.