Left with the Enemy

Ultimatum

I had lost track of how many days I had been stuck in this cellar. There were no windows so I didn't know when it was day or when it was night. I was currently hanging head first off my bed counting cracks in the ceiling because my head hurt from reading so much.

"What are you doing"

I turn my head to the side to find Draco leaning against the wall outside the cell door.

"Counting the cracks in the ceiling, obviously. There's 167 so far" I answer.

He sighs and opens up the door to my cell. He didn't even unlock it.

"Come on the Dark Lord wants to meet you"

"Wait, has that door been unlocked this whole time" I exclaim sitting up.

"Yep, wanted to see if you would do anything. You're obviously not very good at this whole escaping thing" he replies smirking from the doorway.

I groan but stand up to follow him to wherever he's currently taking me.

"What's the deal with you guys calling him the Dark Lord. I think that's a bit formal really. Why not just call him Voldy or something?"

"Granger do you purposely choose to be extremely annoying or does it just come naturally to you"

"I feel like it's a mix of both really"

He rolls his eyes and continues to walk me down a series of long and confusing hallways. Finally he stops at a closed door.

He knocks on the door and then steps back to where I'm standing.

"Come in"

He opens the door and ushers me in. Inside sitting at a desk is Voldemort. He looks the same as the last time I saw him. In dark colored robes and Nagini curled up on the ground next to him like a very ugly puppy. His robes looked like the same ones he was wearing at the ministry.

I wondered if he washed them. If he did who was in charge of the Dark Lords laundry?

"Hello Miss Granger, I have heard a lot about you" Voldemort says looking me in the eye.

"Good things I hope and if it's not good things then you're probably hearing things from Malfoy back there and we probably shouldn't listen to him" I reply pointing back at Malfoy while I'm saying this.

"Yes good things. Now I take it you saw the daily prophet today"

"No I have not, is there something important I should see?" I ask.

He hands me the prophet and I look at it.

Hermione Granger suspected traveling companion of Harry Potter found dead by blood trailer Molly Weasley!

I look down at myself and back up again.

"Nope, definitely not dead so why does it say I am"

"We got news today from a reliable spy inside the Order that Molly Weasley found your body and that you were dead. They are saying they are using your death to motivate their army" he replies

"But I'm not dead. And unless the Deatheaters sent out a fake body there's no body either"

"No Deatheater did that. We have you alive we wouldn't fake your death. We would make it a real death or announce your captivity"

"So why is the Order saying I'm dead?"

"We feel like their trying to further motivate Potter so he kills me faster, which I don't really want to happen for obvious reasons. They also might want to take the trouble of saving you off their shoulders. So by saying that you're dead there is no pressure to come rescue you like Potter would be insisting" he answers

"So you're saying that their leaving me to be killed."

"Precisely, So there are three options I'm giving you. Number one we tell them that you are alive and in our cell messing with their whole plan. Number two we kill you and make it the truth that you're dead. Or number three you join the ranks of the Deatheaters and fight with us to take down the people who left you to die even though they know you're alive"

I was absolutely furious. The Order has left me to die just to motivate Harry and Ron. They knew perfectly well I was alive. But joining the Deatheaters they had killed Dumbledore and so many more. But the Order had told me that. All my information had come from the Order. And apparently they had quite the knack for lying about important things.

"Can I think about it?"

"You have three days. Until you make your decision you will continue staying in the cellar"

I nod and turn back towards Malfoy.

"Onward ferret back to my cellar"

"It's not your cellar it's in my house" he argues as we walk down the hallway.

"I've claimed it so it's mine"

"That's not how it works" he complains.

We get to my cell and he holds the door open for me as I go in.

"What do you think I should do?" I ask seriously.

"Honestly I think you would be a great Deatheater and you would be an amazing asset to us. I don't think the Order understands how much you could make or break the war for them"

"When you stopped Bellatrix from cursing me you said I didn't know who I was fighting for. What did you mean by that?"

"Some of the people in the order are not good people. Dumbledore, Molly and Arthur Weasley, and Kingsley Shacklebot will do anything to get their way. Including making up lies about people and events that never happened."

"Like what?"

"The Dark Lord isn't as bad as they say he is. Yes, he does do some illegal things and yes he has killed people but so has the Order. He hasn't killed nearly as many people or done nearly as many things as they make it out to be. He doesn't even really care if you're a mudblood, half-blood, or pure blood. He only cares if you are ignorant to what's going on around you and blindly follow someone without doing your own research."

"So you're saying he doesn't care about blood status he cares about stupidity and intelligence."

"Exactly, the Order has vilified him because they want to give the wizarding world a common enemy. Someone they can fight against. Someone that will make them blindly trust them so they can control the wizarding world."

"Ok, you've given me some stuff to think about"

"I hope you join us Granger you would be a lot of help"

With that Malfoy leaves this time he locks the door behind him.

What am I going to choose?