Meanwhile, Hermione closed her eyes tightly, trying to block everything out. Images started to flash instantaneously in front of her closed eyelids, succeeding each other rapidly. Just as McKinley had intended, Hermione's mind was now working furiously, replaying a long-forgotten film.

She could now see pictures of a forest, trees closing in on her, surrounding her on all sides. A black robed man was standing over her. She could not move and she felt powerless. Her body was paralyzed. The light of a curse flashed, and her shoulder started to hurt. Blood was flowing all over her clothes, gushing from the wound. Hermione saw herself as a quivering heap on the ground, unable to breath, gasping for air. Then something moved and a head appeared in her line of vision, with a face so pale that it could have belonged to a ghost. Everything else was clear, the features, the shape of the face, all except the eyes. For some reason, she just could not make them out.

"HERMIONE!" Draco was bellowing over her, shaking her furiously.

Seeing her still form and not responding, pushed Draco into a frenzy. He sprang to his feet and started shooting curse after curse at McKinley. The red-haired man deflected them, at first with ease, but as Draco got more and more worked up, McKinley found it more difficult to defend himself.

"You lying prick!" Draco bit out at McKinley. "You talk about truth and all this time you have lied and deceived everyone."

"I didn't lie to anyone, Malfoy. Unlike you, I haven't told people I am someone whom I am not." McKinley snarled.

"Really? Then what about your relationship with Pyrites then? Why haven't you told anyone about what a Death Eater father you had?" Draco said with a smirk.

"That's the last thing you should accuse me of, Malfoy, considering who your father is." McKinley said with loathing in his voice.

He sent a curse in Draco's direction, missing him by inches. Instead, it got one of his followers. The man hit the ground with a thud and remained there motionless. Enraged, McKinley gestured to the other men to take Hermione.

Draco cursed and placed himself between Hermione and the masked men.

Where the hell are you, Potter?! I could use some reinforcements right about now.

"Hermione wake up, dammit!" Draco yelled at her again, shooting another curse at McKinley. The spell hit a tree and sent splinters everywhere.

Hermione twitched and shuddered. As if in a dream, she heard a voice. It sounded familiar, close by, but she could not say for sure if it was real or inside her mind. The voice spoke again, and she saw a flash of bright light through her tightly shut eyes. Then heard a man bellowing a curse, and Hermione's eyes snapped open.

"What's happening?" Hermione said in a feeble voice.

Draco whipped around and rushed over to her.

"Now that she's woken up, we should start our conversation." McKinley said in a strangely satisfied manner.

He ordered his men to stop their movement. He himself stopped, crossing his arms as if sure no one would attack him now.

"Are you going to tell us who you are and why are you doing this, McKinley?" Hermione said in a cold voice, getting up to her feet.

Draco hurried to help her, but she pushed his hand away. He flinched and looked at her, searching for her eyes, but she stubbornly avoided to look back at him. His heart started beating fast and dread took hold of him. What if McKinley had spoken the truth and the potion he gave Hermione would help her regain her memories? What if she indeed remembers him now? Taking a deep breath, he decided to focus on the conversation with McKinley first. He would worry about the rest later. He remained close to Hermione, peering at her face from time to time, making sure she wasn't going to collapse again.

"Who are you McKinley?" Hermione said quietly.

She heard McKinley sigh and brush a hand through his red hair. He looked as if he had been waiting for that question to arise.

"We can start with that, if you want." McKinley said slowly. "As Draco here figured out, I am a member of the Pyrites family."

"Then I was right. You lied about who you are." Draco said coldly.

"You were wrong, Malfoy. My father was indeed a Pyrites. His name was Stephen Pyrites, an Irish lord and son of Argus Pyrites."

"Argus Pyrites?" Hermione cried out in disbelief. "The one who wrote the book I saw in your office?"

"The one and only." McKinley said with a grin. "Dear old grandpa was a bit of a weird person, but his work was amazing. Too bad people like Voldemort didn't take it more seriously."

"But if he is your grandfather... he lived so long ago. How can..." Hermione stumbled on her words, trying to make sense of what was going on.

"I am older than I look." McKinley said with a shrug. "Besides, both my grandfather and my father were great Alchemists, born from a line of Druids. Brewing potions to look younger wasn't that difficult."

"What, you couldn't live with yourself if you had a white beard and warts?" Draco said mockingly.

"You laugh now, Malfoy, but let's see how you fair when you'll be eighty." McKinley replied in the same tone.

"Eighty?!" Hermione breathed out. Her head was spinning from all of this.

"Give or take a year or two. It's easy to forget how old you are when you don't look it." McKinley said, waving a hand through the air.

"How did you manage to trick the Ministry into hiring you?" Draco asked suddenly, his eyes narrowed. "I find it hard to believe they would hire you just like that, knowing your family's history."

"You're one to talk." McKinley said, rolling his eyes. "But if you really want to know I didn't trick anyone."

"Then how come you are not using your father's name? Why the fake one?" Hermione asked, looking at the red-haired man suspiciously.

"It's not a fake one. I was raised by my mother's family, the McKinleys." McKinley said quietly, sounding honest. "After Voldemort got to power, my father took me to Scotland and left me with my mother and her family. She died soon after he left and I was raised by my grandparents, the only ones that were still alive. Then, Voldemort lost his powers and my father went into hiding. My guess is that he was working on something to help restore Voldemort's powers. He never came to take me, so I grew up knowing little about him. Until one day, when I heard a conversation between my grandparents, talking about my father's work. Not long after that, Voldemort rose to power again, so naturally I thought my father would be in his entourage. I never wanted to be associated with Voldemort, but I wanted to find him. Therefore, I started researching and soon learned he hadn't been seen since Potter's parents died. With difficulty, I tracked him down, but he was killed soon after by Aurors raiding his hiding place. Luckily, he had given me his entire work before they found him."

"This is crazy." Hermione said weakly.

"We know at least part of it to be true." Draco said. Hermione turned to look at him in dismay.

"You knew?" she said accusingly.

"I just found out recently that he was connected to the Pyrites family. Harry and I placed the final piece of the puzzle when he told me you saw that book in his office. After we..." he coughed, looking away from Hermione "well after we fought, I went to Scotland again. After many days I finally managed to get my hand on parchments filled with Alchemist researches. They probably belonged to his father, because they all had his family motto engraved in red ink."

"Truth will out." Hermione whispered, her eyes widening.

"Very smart." McKinley said appreciatively. He looked like he was having fun and seeing that made Hermione feel the urge to punch him in the face.

"I can't believe the Ministry actually hired you. How did that happen?" she snapped at the red-haired man.

"I applied and got accepted." McKinley said with a smirk. "The McKinleys were well respected and they were never associated with Voldemort. My father did not follow him because he believed in the madman's ideas. He wanted to be able to research, to have the power to test his Alchemy knowledge."

"I talked to my father and I know just how cruel your father was, McKinley. No need to praise him too highly." Draco scoffed.

"Oh, he was cruel. Most of my family was, but I somehow understand them better now. The blood that runs through my veins is that of Druids and Alchemists, and sometimes one must do cruel things in the name of truth and discovery."

"Would you stop this talk about truth, you self-righteous prick!" Draco bit out, quite fed up with McKinley's attitude.

"Oh, don't worry, we'll soon get to yours. It will be fun to see how you handle it." McKinley retorted with an evil grin.

For a second he looked like a beast, hungry for blood. Hermione shuddered seeing his expression change so quickly.

"Why are you working with the Death Eaters, McKinley?" she asked quietly, looking him in the eye.

"I wasn't, not until recently at least. Like I said, I never wanted to be associated with that madman. Voldemort was stupid. He thought he could rule the world with cruelty. He never understood that there are other ways, better ones, to get people to help you. One does not get loyal followers by being a bully. You get them by helping people. All these followers" he said making a gesture towards the black robed men that surrounded them "are here because I helped them. I gave them a purpose, a truth, but I never bullied them. Sure if they failed me, I would kill them, but I never tortured my men like Voldemort did."

At this, McKinley stopped and looked intently at Draco. The blonde returned his stare, his brows slowly knitting together into a single line. His frown deepened, as McKinley remained quiet.

"It was you." Draco spoke, his features growing darker. "That night, here at the castle, you attacked the party."

Hermione gasped and covered her mouth with both her hands. She still remembered the Cruciatus curse the masked man sent her way, and the viciousness from his voice when he spoke to her that night.

"You tortured me. You killed your followers. How could you?" Hermione breathed out in a disgusted voice.

"I had to." McKinley said simply. "You see, there is something Malfoy here owes me. He owes the same to you." He said with a look at Hermione. "So, I had to get to you. And my men, well I couldn't possibly let them be taken alive, now could I?"

"Then the one from the hospital... you where the one who killed him?" Draco spat.

"True. Took me a while before I could do it without raising suspicions. I was sorry to lose them, but I couldn't risk you finding out who I was until everything was ready. At first I was quite surprised to know Malfoy had joined the Aurors, but then seeing you two in the library that day..." he stopped, his eyes glinting malevolently "well it all felt so unfair. Malfoy's family was given another chance after everything they've done, while mine had been killed." he said spitefully.

"Killed? Your grandparents were killed?" Hermione asked horrorstruck.

"They were hunted down and killed under suspicion of being involved with Voldemort." McKinley snarled.

They all remained quiet for a moment, until McKinley spoke again, the malice still present in his voice.

"Now, I think I reminisced quite enough for one day."

"One more question." Draco interrupted, suddenly, thinking about something. "The book. Why was it in my parents' library and how did you manage to take it from there? My father and mother didn't mention about anyone coming to claim it."

"That is a stupid question, but I guess I can't be surprised. You are a Malfoy, after all." McKinley scoffed. "Apparently, my father trusted yours enough to entrust him with our most precious family heirloom. I guess he thought the Manor was one of the safest places. Little did he know that Lucius Malfoy, one of Voldemort's closest servants would betray him right at the end."

"My father did what he could in order to protect his family! So did my mother!" Draco shouted, clenching his fists in anger.

"Indeed. Your father betrayed his master's beliefs as soon as he saw him vanish. And your mother lied to his face. How loyal of them." McKinley said contemptuously.

Draco made a move to raise his wand, but Hermione stopped him with a look.

"You never said how it got into your possession again." She said, turning to look at McKinley.

"Being a family heirloom, the book is connected to the living heir of the Pyrites bloodline. So you can summon it." he said and snapped his fingers together. "The red ink that appears on the book... is in fact blood." McKinley said with a dark grin.

Suddenly a golden covered book appeared hovering in midair. Hermione looked at it and saw with wide eyes the title Alchemy, Ancient Art and Science. McKinley snapped his fingers again and the book was gone.

"Now, I believe young Malfoy here owes us a truth as well. Shall we tell Hermione what you've done to her that day?" McKinley said, making Draco flinch and Hermione look at them both in astonishment. 

Thank you all for reading this story! Yes I know, another cliffhanger :)) but what's a good story without them, right? Stay tuned for the next chapter and see how Draco deals with his own dark truth. Until then, have a wonderful day! ^_^ <333