There was a knock at his office door. She had apparently received the note he had sent, requesting a meeting with her in his labs.

She stepped inside... into his trap.

Once her wand was in his hands, he warded his office and cast a silencing charm on the room. He sent out a stream of silver ropes to restrain her both physically and magically. He was no fool, he knew wandless magic was taught at Dankenwald and that she could probably do as much with a wand as without. She looked surprised, but not shocked. She struggled against the restraints for a minute before deciding it was no use. She looked at him with incomprehension.

“You’re controlling Potter,” he accused.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” she said, narrowing her eyes.

He grabbed her arm roughly pulled back her sleeve to reveal her left forearm. It took her a second to realize what he was looking for.

“How dare you,” she hissed, “I’m muggle-born.”

“Don’t play dumb with me. I’m a half-blood. You know as well as I do the Dark Lord makes exceptions.”

“Don’t accuse me of making the same mistakes you did. I’m not stupid enough to fall for his bullshit,” she said, deliberately provoking him.

He advanced towards her once again.

“So he put it somewhere less obvious did he?” She gasped as he ripped away her robes and blouse, revealing a lacy black bra. He had no need to remove this as the material was shear enough that he would have been able to see a dark mark through it. He circled her. Her abdomen and back were similarly unmarked.

He ripped off her skirt and she stood in the cold dungeon in only her bra and panties. There was no mark on her smooth pale skin. She glared at him but made no attempt to cover herself as her nipples hardened in the frigid dungeon air. He realized that this was not the little virgin he had taught for seven years. That girl would have been ashamed of her body, ashamed of him seeing it. This was a woman. There was no shame, no embarrassment, only anger.

“Are you satisfied with what you see or do you want your galleons refunded?” she spit out. He could see the flame of anger in her eyes. So playing it that way, was she? Insinuating that he was treating her like a Knockturn Alley whore. Well, two could play at that game. Approaching her from behind, he leaned in a whispered suggestively in her ear, close enough that his hot breath tickled her skin.

“You’ll know when I’m satisfied.” He saw her shiver at his words.

He took a quick step backwards.

Merlin help him, he had taken this too far. What kind of sick bastard was he that he had actually gotten aroused by this interrogation? He had to get himself back under control.

“Who are you controlling him for?” he demanded, lowering his face to hers until he was staring directly into her eyes.

She didn't answer him.

"Legemmens" He attempted to enter her mind and was strongly blocked.

“No one.” She whispered, not breaking eye contact. He moved out of her sight.

She heard him fumbling in the cabinets behind her, then suddenly there was a cold hand at her neck and a vial of liquid being poured down her throat. He choked her until she swallowed it.

“I assume with your advanced potions degree that you can figure out what that was.”

“You bastard.” She managed to cough out before her eyes became glassy. Even though they were glazed and unfocused, he could still see the anger in them. He needed the truth.

“Whose idea was it for you to control Potter?”

Her anger faded and was replaced with what appeared to be amusement.

“Yours,” she said, smiling widely. “It was your idea.”

He stood there with his mouth open in disbelief as the memory from four years ago came flooding back to him.

He watched her after class, packing up her belongings. He studied her every movement. She was at the door with Potter and Weasely by the time he finally called out to her.

“Miss Granger, please stay, I need to have a word with you.”

The two boys quickly left as he waved her through the door that led to his office. He sat down at the desk and motioned for her to take the small chair.

“Sir, if this is about my grade, I was under the impression that I was..”

“This is not about your grade,” he cut her off abruptly.

Her eyes darted around the room, as if searching for something which would give her a clue as to why he wished to speak with her.

“This is not about Hogwarts at all. This is about the Order.”

She looked unsure of herself.

“Sir, I’m not actually a member.”

“I am aware of that.”

He stared at her a moment until she shifted in her chair at the uncomfortable silence.

“Nevertheless, there is something you could do that would help the Order quite a bit.”

He could see the curiosity in her eyes, the eagerness to help.

“As you are probably aware, Potter hais has stopped listening to Dumbledore. He is rebelling; he is out of control. The consequences for his actions have the potential to be devastating…to the entire wizarding world. You are the only one, the only one he listens to anymore. He is dependent on you, for his homework, for pretty much everything. We need you to talk to him, to get him to see reason, to do as Dumbledore asks. The headmaster and I can send you Owls to let you know what you must get him to do.”

She stared at him in disbelief.

“You’re asking me to control my best friend?”

“Yes.”

“I can’t. I won’t do that to Harry. I will continue to offer him my advice, but as a friend, not as someone who seeks to control him.”

He stared at her with cold calm.

“I do hope you will reconsider, Miss Granger.”

She stood and turned towards the door.

“If we’re done here, I really must be going.”

She was halfway to the door when he spoke.

“Foolish girl. There are things worth sacrificing friendship for.”

He stared at the woman in front of him, really noticing for the first time how different she was from the girl in the memory. He had been right, it had just taken her a few years to realize that fact. He had to continue the questioning before the veritaserum wore off.

“Why are you doing this?”

“Because it needs to be done. Because Harry’s actions affect so many lives. He needs to make the right decisions and I have the power to influence him.”

Slytherin had been only one house at Hogwarts, but at Dankenwald it had been the basis of the entire school. In Gryffindor you were confronted with questions like, “would you sacrifice your life for what is right?” “Would you sacrifice your life for a friend?”, but in Slytherin the questions are harder. “Would you betray a friendship for what is right? Would you sacrifice a friend?”

She had obviously figured out her answers to these questions.

“How are you controlling him?”

“Well, as you pointed out in school, I already had a large influence over him. It didn’t take much more to firmly cement that. I’ve been slipping him a very mild dose of amortesia to allow my control to be more firm. Such a small dose that even if the aurors tested for it, the test would show up negative.”

He released his bind on her and picking up her torn clothing from the floor, repaired them and handed them back to her.

She glared at him as she slipped them back on.

“When did you first come up with this plan?”

“Well, when you talked to me at Hogwarts, it got me thinking. Sometime during university, I decided it needed to be done. The wizarding world needs to be united. People naturally look to Harry to be a leader. He is in a unique position to actually unite them. Besides his famous childhood, besides the prophecy, he is both the child of a long line of purebloods and of a muggle-born. There are pure-blood families who are not pro-Voldemort, but they don't exactly want to see a muggle-born in power either. Harry is a compromise, a progressive leader that still has ties to one of the older pureblood families. It couldn't be me...it needed to be him. I've always been better...behind the scenes."

"Your relationship has also caused Ronald Weasley and his foolish advice to distance himself from Potter."

"Yes," she responded, "and his sister too."

He looked at her curiously.

"She was possessed by Voldemort for a year...to leave her in a position with Harry where..."

"I understand."

He expected her to leave. She had every right to after how he had treated her. He expected her to slam the door behind her when she left.

But instead she sat down in the small wooden chair facing his desk.

"Now that you know my secret, there are some thing I need from you."