The Auction

Sixty-five thousand Galleons for the Golden Girl, final Lot of the night

Voldemort wins the Battle of Hogwarts.

Sixty-five thousand Galleons for the Golden Girl, final Lot of the night

Voldemort wins the Battle of Hogwarts. Harry Potter is dead. Hermione is stunned while tracking Narcissa Malfoy through the castle corridors and wakes four days later in a Ministry holding cell with fifty captive girls. Pansy Parkinson, a pure-blood inexplicably among them, reveals they will be auctioned as slaves. Hermione leads a failed escape attempt that costs two lives and her voice — Yaxley silences her with a spell. At a commandeered Muggle theatre, she is paraded in a gold dress as the final Lot before a thousand screaming Death Eaters. Antonin Dolohov bids against a lone masked figure in the fourth row. When the gavel falls at sixty-five thousand Galleons, Dolohov has won. But the masked bidder's seat is already empty.

Narcissa Malfoy promises no one will lay a finger on Hermione

Hermione's tattoo burns and rearranges: not Dolohov's initials, but D.M. Draco Malfoy has struck a private deal. A house-elf named Mippy delivers Hermione to Malfoy Manor — not to a dungeon but to a lavish suite with a private bath, a wardrobe of clothes in her exact size, and bookshelves stocked with Muggle and wizarding fiction. Narcissa restores Hermione's stolen voice, serves her tea, and declares that she is now under the protection of Narcissa Malfoy. Lucius is colder — he confiscates a styling comb she pocketed as a weapon and warns her to show gratitude. That night, Hermione burns the gold auction dress in the fireplace. The bed accepts her weight as if it has been waiting for her. She drinks a Dreamless Sleep potion and sleeps through the night.

A schoolgirl crush becomes the Dark Lord's favorite weapon

Draco dresses Hermione in a negligée and takes her to Hogwarts, now Voldemort's throne room built on bones. Before the Dark Lord, Draco plays the cruel master — boasting about anticipation as the sweetest torture. Voldemort forces Legilimency on Hermione. He slashes through her mind, dredging up memories she cannot hide: watching Draco across classrooms, dancing with him at the Yule Ball, the skip of her heartbeat whenever he entered a room. The Dark Lord discovers that Hermione fancies her captor. He cackles with delight. Then he searches Draco's mind and finds nothing reciprocated. His verdict: Draco can torture her for years without lifting a wand. On the walk home, Draco heals the cut his ring left on her lip and asks desperately what Voldemort found. She refuses to tell him.