Within five minutes, Hermione had opened the door of her room and she looked around the corridor to see if anyone was there. She saw that the coast was clear, and she closed the door carefully behind her. There was no need to raise suspicion for when someone happened to pass her room. She quickly went down the stairs and when she heard voices coming from the hall, she hid behind one of the cabinets under the stairs.
"How many chairs do you think I will be needing?" she heard Wormtail asking.
"Let's see..." a female voice sounded which Hermione recognised as the voice of Narcissa Malfoy.
"Obviously one at the head for the Dark Lord himself... Then we have Rosier, Dolohov, Nott, Mulciber, Yaxley, Rowle, the Carrows, Crabbe, Goyle... Lucius and I of course... Draco..."
Hermione's eyes widened when she heard Draco's name. Of course she knew he was now part of the Death Eaters, but it was still difficult to visualise him between all those Death Eaters. To her, he was still just a guy she knew from school. Not a pleasant guy, but she never thought of him as evil.
"Greyback will be here as well, please don't place his chair anywhere near me," Narcissa continued.
So they even had their own chairs? Hermione knew Greyback only from stories, but the thought of him sent shivers through her spine. That man, or rather, that werewolf has bitten innocent children just for fun. While hadn't even been full moon.
"Bella will be here, naturally. You can place her next to Severus. Severus will be sitting next to the Dark Lord."
The thought of Snape also made Hermione angry. Dumbledore had trusted that man, and he had just killed him. All that time he had been spying for the dark side, all that time he was with the Order.
"Who will sit next to the Dark Lord on the other side? Lucius?" Wormtail asked.
"No, not Lucius. Barty, of course. I thought you knew that already. Lucius will be next to Barty."
The name Barty reminded Hermione of someone, but she couldn't quite place the name. She was certain that she had heard the name somewhere before. It took her a while to figure out where she knew him from. And then the penny dropped. She knew only one Barty, and that was Barty Crouch, the ministry official who had died in her fourth year. But there was no way that Narcissa meant that Barty. Then she thought of another Barty, Crouch's son. He was a Death Eater. But then Hermione remembered that he too had died in her fourth year, after he had been caught by Dumbledore.
"I thought that boy was taking care of the minister?" Wormtail said confused.
"You know very well that the Dark Lord is personally taking care of the minister. And if I were you, I wouldn't call him a boy in his presence," Narcissa hissed in a much quieter tone. "Remember your place here, Wormtail."
"Alright... alright."
"So? Have you been counting? I don't want to find out that we haven't got enough chairs tonight because you haven't been paying attention."
"Yes, yes of course, Mrs. Malfoy. You have mentioned 18 names, including the Dark Lord himself. So then I will need 19 chairs."
"You know very well that you are not allowed to sit at the table. 18 chairs," Narcissa hissed.
"Of course," Wormtail mumbled and his footsteps faded away.
Hermione waited for Narcissa to leave as well, but she didn't. Apparently she had been waiting for her husband in the hall, because she could hear Lucius's voice as well now.
YOU ARE READING
Playing with Fire
FanfictionDuring the summer between her sixth and seventh year, Hermione is abducted by the Death Eaters. She ends up in Malfoy Manor, but soon her life will even be in more danger when she meets a dangerous man who she had believed to have died in her fourth...
