A Meeting and a Plan

Chapter 2: Meetings and Plans

Disclaimer: I don't own any of these characters, except for maybe the waitress who is watching cricket, but sadly she won't make me any money. Neither will anything else, no money for me, all ownership belongs to JK.

AN: Thank you to my betas Saffron and Brandy! You girls are wonderful! Thanks Saffy for your wonderful suggestions and for finding the little holes in my plot!

Hermione arrived at the pub thirty minutes before her mysterious meeting was supposed to take place. She walked towards the back and sat down at a table in the corner with a view of the doorway. Hermione just had time to order herself some tea before she saw a girl saunter in. Hermione blanched; she knew that saunter, and she knew that smug smile and that hard face, which belonged to none other than Pansy Parkinson. Pansy scanned the room quickly before finding Hermione and heading towards her table. Hermione slowly put her hands under the table and retrieved her wand from her sleeve. Perhaps coming here wasn't such a good idea after all.

'Granger,' Pansy said with a sneer as she approached Hermione's table. 'Glad you could make it... nice hat,' she said mockingly. 'I give you full credit for being cautious, but did you really think that stuffing your hair in a hat would be clever camouflage?'

'Parkinson, what are you doing here?' Hermione said, ignoring the taunts about her attempted disguise. As she spoke, she took off her sunglasses and hat, running her hands through her bushy hair. 'Why would you ever want to meet with me?'

Pansy's face became serious when she replied, 'I need your help. You were the only person I could think of to help me, and I think I'm in danger.'

'You think I would just help you blindly?' Hermione asked incredulously. 'Why would you want help from a Gryffindor and a Mudblood?' she asked scathingly.

'Granger, just hear me out, okay? Or would patience be asking too much from a Gryffindor?'

Hermione shook her head in confusion. 'I know your father is a Death Eater, aren't you supposed to follow in his footsteps? You can't be seen meeting with Mudbloods. How did you even know about email in the first place?'

Pansy sighed and signalled for the waiter. 'I guess I'm going to be here for a while, might as well get some tea,' she muttered.

After the waiter brought Pansy her tea, she looked up at Hermione as she nervously fiddled with her stir spoon. 'I will explain everything to you, but try not to interrupt. It will be easier if I can finish what I'm saying before answering questions.' Hermione nodded. She noticed that the usually collected Slytherin girl was acting nervous.

Pansy started, 'Well, to answer your question about email, I heard about internet cafes from Tracey Davis, a half-blood in Slytherin. She was helping one of the third years with a Muggle Studies project, and I happened be close enough to hear what she had to say. I went to Muggle London and one of the people working at the café helped me. She looked up your email address and helped me to create my own so I could send you that message.

'Honestly, Granger,' she said when Hermione's eyebrows lifted in surprise, 'being a pureblood does not make me an idiot.' Hermione opened her mouth to reply to that but Pansy just held up her hand and continued. 'I need you to help me because I think my father has offered me up to serve the Dark Lord.'

Hermione gasped at Pansy's declaration and said in a near whisper, 'Offered you up? For what exactly?' Pansy shook her head, her mouth was down-turned and her brow was furrowed. 'I don't know. I overheard a conversation and don't have all the details, but I know I'm going to be involved somehow.'

'Does this mean that you don't support Voldemort? Hermione asked in a cautious voice. This was an unusual conversation to be having with the daughter of a Death Eater. I thought you shared his views on Muggle-borns.'

Pansy sighed. 'You don't get it, Granger. It doesn't matter what I believe. I don't care about Muggle-borns versus purebloods and all that nonsense. I've seen enough Muggle-borns who are smarter' – she nodded at Hermione – 'or more powerful than purebloods to know that it doesn't matter much who your parents are. I care about being on the side that wins. More importantly, I will not be used.'

Hermione was astonished by what Pansy said; she had always assumed Pansy felt the same as Malfoy in regards to Muggle-borns and purebloods. Hermione took a sip of her tea before replying to the other girl.

'I don't trust you, Pansy,' Hermione said slowly, 'but why don't you tell me about this conversation you overheard.' She thought she saw relief flash across Pansy's face before her trademark sneer was back in place as she started her story.

'This happened a couple weeks ago. I was at home, and Draco's aunt, Bellatrix, came to see my father. I was walking down the hall to see if Draco came with her when I heard her say my name. She hadn't seen me yet, but my father brought her into his study and I couldn't hear anything else. So I ran to the elf hole to eavesdrop on their conversation...'

Hermione interrupted at this point. 'Elf hole?

What's an elf hole?'

'There are small hallways and peepholes into all the rooms that the house-elves use to move around in. That way they can move around without being seen,' Pansy replied. 'My nanny told me about them when I was a kid, and my parents don't know that Ditty told me, so I can always use them to spy or listen in on conversations when I need to.'

'You had a house-elf for a nanny?' Hermione asked in surprise.

'Almost all pureblood families have a house-elf for a nanny, Granger, and before you say anything else, can we avoid hearing about Puke or Hurl or whatever it is?' Hermione wanted to correct her about S.P.E.W., but she could tell that Pansy was running out of patience, so she stayed quiet.

'Anyways,' Pansy said once she had ascertained that Hermione was not going to say anything further, 'I went to the elf hole to listen in on their conversation...'

'How could you object?' Bellatrix was saying when Pansy started listening. 'It is an honour that the Dark Lord has asked that your daughter assist him. If I had a child, I would be proud to have them serve the Dark Lord. Besides, you know that Pansy is the only female of the right age to do this. She should be proud to be able to provide this service to her Lord!'

When she said this Conrad held up his hands. 'You must not doubt the Dark Lord's judgment, Bella,' he admonished. 'He knows best, and if he trusts Snape, so must we. Macnair and Goyle have already started the research and should have everything ready in time. I will tell Pansy a fortnight prior to the start of term.' Bellatrix nodded in satisfaction and made ready to leave. 'Just make sure everything is ready, Conrad,' Bella said with just a hint of warning in her voice. 'This project is very important to our Lord's victory.'

Hermione blanched after hearing Pansy's story. If all of this was true, then Pansy's dad was expecting his daughter to work for Lord Voldemort during school next term. Pansy would be helping to end the free wizarding world. Hermione called up the image she had built up in her head, based on Harry's description. Her imagined Voldemort was complete with his red eyes, scaly skin, and slits for nostrils instead of a nose, and Hermione felt her chest tighten with fear.

Pansy took a deep breath and met Hermione's eyes. A serious look on her face in place of the arrogant sneer that Hermione was used to seeing on the other girl's face. 'You're one of the smartest witches I know, Granger, that's why I contacted you. I can't trust anyone from my own House. I wouldn't be sure of where their loyalties lay. Besides that, from what I have heard I think I need another female to help me. They seemed specific about this being a task for a girl of my age.'

Hermione was quiet as she thought over all that Pansy had said. She didn't know what to think about all this. On one hand, Pansy could very well be lying and trying to trick Hermione. Maybe trying to get her to give out information about the Order. As one of Harry's best friends, Hermione knew she was privy to more information than most students. On the other hand, if Pansy was telling the truth, she was in very real danger and could use Hermione's help. Hermione thought over the implications of what Pansy had heard. A project of Volemort's that was important to his victory, one that directly involved Pansy. If I helped Pansy, would I have a chance to hinder Voldemort?

'What do you expect me to do?' Hermione asked the other girl in exasperation. 'How could I help you? We don't even know the full dangers yet. That conversation you overheard was pretty vague.'

'Except that we know my magic could be reduced,' Pansy retorted vehemently. 'I told you what my father said. He is afraid of the reduction to my magic. I'm not doing anything that could make me less powerful!'

Hermione knew what Pansy meant. Magic becomes such a part of you that losing any small bit of it seemed horrible. But, she still had some misgivings about all of this. Why should she trust Pansy?

'I didn't know it was possible for a witch to lose her power,' Hermione murmured thoughtfully.

'Oh, well, it's not that common or anything,' Pansy said in a casual voice. 'You hear of it happening every once in a while after a great tragedy, sadness, or shock. It can also be a risk when you mis-use your powers.'

'Mis-use, like if you use the Dark Arts?' Hermione asked.

'No, not just using the Dark Arts.' Pansy rolled her eyes at Hermione's naïvete. 'I mean, lots of wizards use the Dark Arts and don't risk loosing their magic every time. I don't really know a lot about it. I heard that all magic has a kind of echo that goes back into the witch or wizard who performed that magic. Like a counter reaction to the magical energy. If you can't handle the force of that echo, it can damage your powers or something like that. I think it has a lot to do with the individual witch or wizard and how much power and control they have.'

Pansy's explanation stunned the other girl. In all her reading and study of the magical world, Hermione had never heard of this. She knew that she missed a lot by not having grown up as part of the magical world. It occurred to her now that she could actually learn a lot by talking to a pureblood like Pansy. There was so much that you couldn't learn at Hogwarts.

'Okay, you want to prevent your magic from being reduced. I still don't know how I can help. We don't even know what this project is. How can we fight it?'

Pansy ducked her head for a moment, thinking over what Hermione had said.

'I don't know exactly,' she said slowly, 'but you can help me. You're smart and you know how to fight for one thing; I know you were part of that club last year, and I read about you being at the Ministry fighting Death Eaters.'

Hermione felt a wave of sadness wash over her at the mention of the fight in the Department of Mysteries. She didn't like to think of that night. It must have shown on her face because Pansy mumbled, 'Sorry.'

'Its okay,' Hermione said softly as she shook her head. She took a deep breath before continuing. 'Well, I do know how to fight, and we learned loads of spells and hexes last year... I can teach you all of that, but I don't know if that will help. We can't use defensive spells to prevent a loss of your magic.' Hermione thought about the conversation between Bellatrix Lestrange and Pansy's father. 'I think that we will need to research this 'Morgaine's Blessing' that Bellatrix talked about. For some reason that name seems familiar to me. Once we know what Voldemort's plan is, the easier we can fight it or prevent you from being used in it.'

'You'll help me then?' Pansy asked cautiously. 'You'll help me research this and think of a way to keep me out of it?' Hermione noticed that Pansy said this without a trace of the usual arrogance.

'I don't know if I trust you yet, Parkinson,' Hermione warned. 'I will help you research this summer, but I won't commit myself to anything yet. Once we are back in school, we will have to decide.'

Pansy nodded her head once and grimaced. 'I understand, Granger. It's not like I want to trust you either. Believe me, I'm not imagining slumber parties and makeovers.'

'What about telling a professor once we are back in school?' Hermione asked.

'No!' Pansy said quickly. 'There is no way ... I don't trust any of the professors. It could get back to Snape.' Hermione raised her eyebrows at this. The Slytherins had always been loyal to their Head of House. 'Granger, you may not have realized it, but Snape is a Death Eater. He may have fooled the headmaster and everyone else at Hogwarts, but I know for a fact that he is working with the Dark Lord. I told you what Bellatrix said; the Dark Lord plans on having Snape assist me on this. We will need to careful around him.'

Hermione was quiet at this. She knew that Snape was working for Dumbledore as a spy, but she couldn't tell Pansy about that. There was no way she would ever trust the Slytherin girl that much.

'Well, okay, not Snape, but what about the headmaster or Professor McGonagall?' Hermione offered.

Pansy was already shaking her head before Hermione had finished. 'No professors, Granger.' She was quiet for a minute, and then she looked right into Hermione's eyes. 'Granger, I need you to promise me you won't tell anyone about this. No professors and not your little boyfriends either.'

Hermione pondered on Pansy's demand. She honestly hadn't given Harry or Ron a second thought, for knew it wouldn't be a good idea telling them. They were so prejudiced against anyone in Slytherin that she knew they would never be convinced to help with this. Hermione looked at Pansy and nodded.

'I promise not to tell anyone else, Pansy.'

Pansy was still looking Hermione directly in the eyes, and Hermione felt something... push in her mind. Hermione gasped and quickly closed her eyes, remembering what Harry had told her about his Occlumency lessons with Snape, that eye contact was necessary for most Legilimens.

'Did you just use Legilimency on me!?' she exclaimed in surprise.

Pansy shrugged. 'I needed to make sure you were telling the truth, I didn't think you would notice.'

Hermione's mind was racing as she thought of a million questions she could ask Pansy about Legilimency.

'Pansy, if I help you with all of this, would you teach me Legilimency and Occlumency?' Pansy's mouth split into a wide, calculating smile in response to Hermione's proposition.

'Well, Granger,' Pansy said, 'I guess we could work out a trade here. You help me on this and I will teach you what I know about Legilimency and Occlumency. Bellatrix has been teaching Draco and me all summer. She says that Dumbledore is a great Legilimens and we need to guard against him. I'm not an expert or anything, but I'd wager I know a lot more than you do.'

Hermione considered what Pansy had said. She had wanted to learn Occlumency and Legilimency ever since Harry had told her about his lessons. Trusting Pansy Parkinson was still quite a risk. Pansy and her gang of Slytherin girls had teased and bullied Hermione since her first year. Could she just forgive and forget the last five years and start working with Pansy? And yet, Hermione didn't think she could resist the allure of what Pansy was promising to teach her.

After observing Pansy for another moment, Hermione nodded. 'It's a deal. I'll help you if you teach me.'

For the first time, Hermione saw a genuinely happy smile on Pansy's face. It softened Pansy's features and made her look pleasant and friendly. Hermione couldn't help but smile back as she held out her hand. Pansy grasped it and shook it firmly. For just a second, it looked to Hermione as if their hands glowed as they were clasped together. She felt a frisson of... something shiver up her spine. She dropped Pansy's hand quickly and looked up at her. Pansy had a startled look on her face and she was looking at her hand.

Hermione cleared her throat to cover up her confusion. 'I guess we need to figure out what we do first.'

Pansy seemed just as willing to ignore what may or may not have just happened and she nodded her head in agreement.

'I guess we should spend the summer researching this Morgaine's Blessing that Bellatrix mentioned,' Pansy suggested. 'We need to know what this project is by the time school starts.'

Hermione chewed on her bottom lip absently as she contemplated what needed to be done. 'How about I research Morgaine? I am sure I have heard that name before. Parki – Pansy, you could research feminine magics. Bellatrix mentioned that this project could only be accomplished by a girl of our age. There must be something significant about that.'

'You're probably right. My father has a really big library and I can have the house-elves get me any books I need without him knowing about it. I'm sure he has some stuff about ancient feminine magics.'

Hermione let her mind revel for just a moment on what it would be like to have access to an old pureblood family's library before she responded. 'How will we get in touch with each other if we discover anything significant? We need to make sure we are both on the same page.'

'Well,' Pansy said, 'I guess we can send owls in an emergency, except they will need to be written in code. My family cannot see me receiving owls from a Mud...Muggle-born. They would be too suspicious.'

Hermione nodded as she inwardly smiled at Pansy's self-correction. 'We will have to work out a code for the owl letters, and we will need to get together as soon as school starts.'

'That's another problem,' Pansy said and sighed. 'It's not like we can be seen together at school. Nobody would believe it. Can you imagine how people would react?' she said with a smile.

Hermione laughed. She tried to envision what the rest of the school would do if Hermione and Pansy walked into the great hall together chatting like old friends. 'You're right; we will need to meet in secret.' The Gryffindor witch drummed her fingers on the table top as she thought about the ideal spot.

'Of course. We could meet at the Room of Requirement,' she said with a smile.

Pansy looked at her blankly.

'Remember where the Inquisitorial Squad found out about our meetings last year? You know, that club that we were all in.' Hermione said, referring to Dumbledore's Army.

Pansy smiled slyly in memory at this and nodded.

'The D.A. always met in the Room of Requirement. It's on the seventh floor across from the tapestry of Barnabus the Barmy. You walk in front of it three times and think about what you want and a door will appear. The room can be whatever you need it to be.'

'Brilliant!' Pansy said with a wicked grin that made Hermione wonder what Pansy would require out of the room if given a chance.

There was a brief pause before Pansy spoke again. 'I obviously can't meet you over the summer, Granger, so we will have to do your Legilimency lessons when school starts.'

Hermione nodded. 'I know. We can use the Room of Requirement for those as well. I haven't forgotten.'

'Before I waste too much of my time teaching you what you already know, why don't you tell me what you know about Legilimency and Occlumency?' Pansy asked.

Hermione told Pansy everything that Harry had told her about his lessons with Snape.

Pansy smirked. 'Well you have the basics down, you essentially just need to learn how to control your mind, and it just takes practice. You can start by clearing your mind of all thought and emotion every night before you go to bed.' Pansy's instructions reminded Hermione of Harry telling her and Ron that Snape had demanded the same thing during his lessons.

While Hermione had been thinking back to Harry's lessons last year, Pansy had gone quiet and seemed to be deep in thought. She slowly looked around the pub. The girls had been there for almost an hour now and seeing as it was almost 2:00, it was almost empty except for one other patron, the lunch hour rush being long over. The bartender and the waitress stood behind the bar watching a cricket match on the telly.

'Granger, we have been here for a while. I should probably be getting back soon. What else do we need to do?'

'Well, we each have our parts of the research, I will work on Morgaine's Blessing and you take feminine magics. We just need to work out a code of sorts in case we need to communicate with each other.'

Their heads bent towards each other as they talked about what they could use for code words. Twenty minutes later, Pansy stood up looking around the pub as she pushed her chair in. 'I need to get back. As it is I have been gone for a long time. My family thinks I'm in Diagon Alley with Millie Bulstrode, and I wasn't supposed to be out for too long.'

Hermione nodded. 'Okay. Well... er, be careful and let me know if you find anything.' Pansy nodded at this and smirked before turning to leave.

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AN: Please review! Stay tuned for next chapter with a little Snape!