Hermione was running hard, trying to focus on putting one foot in front of the other and not loose her tempo. Harry and Ron where running in front of her. She desperately threw a curse over her shoulder at the death eaters that were closing in. They dodged easily and she cried out in anguish.
They had made a mistake, thinking that another horecrux had been at the ministry. It had been a trap. The death eaters had closed in on the trio as soon as they had flooed in beneath the invisibility cloak. They had some spell that ensured that they could see them, and the trio had taken off running at full speed, narrowly avoiding the spells hurled their ways by the silver masked, black cloaked men.
Hermione's lungs burned and her legs screamed at her, her heart beating like a drum and her blood was pounding in her ears. How could she have been so stupid? She should have seen this coming.
When Harry had seen the picture of the golden cup in Voldemort's mind, stationed at the ministry, the trio had straight away started planning, not thinking that Voldemort had set it all up. She felt like an idiot now, she defiantly looked like one, her face red from all her running, her cheeks puffed out and her temp horrible. She wanted to hit herself. Clearly the fact that Voldemort made the hunting of his scattered soul pieces so much easier was a warning sign. Nothing was ever that easy.
The jumped and dodged the curses shot at them from the wands behind. They were very lost, none having any idea of where they were going. Hermione was worried that they would never find the floo in time. There were corridors leading of in every angle so when a strangled "Split!" tore from Harry's mouth, Hermione skidded down a corridor to her right.
Harry and Ron went different ways, and suddenly Hermione was alone. The heavy footfalls of several death eaters behind her turned into one. This didn't reassure Hermione in the slightest, and she powered on, trying to turn as often as possible to loose the man behind her. He refused to give in, and he picked up speed, raising his wand again and Hermione cried "STUPIFY!" before the death eater could even open his mouth. He did not manage to jump to the side, as he was so close, and when the satisfying sound of a body crumpling reached her ears. Her heart flared with hope, but she still did not stop running. She had to try and find Harry and Ron again.
Finally, the stinging stitch in her side made her stop, and she leaned against a cool stone wall, gulping greedily at the air. She gripped her wand tightly, closing her eyes and coughing slightly. Then she felt someone watch her. It was a horrible feeling, like ice trickling down your spin ever so slowly.
Her own eyes flew open as she scanned the corridor, fear etching at her already bursting heart. She started backing away, about to start running again when she was lifted clean of the floor and slammed hard into the wall behind her. A startled "Huff!" Left her and the death eater lifted his mask, but it was so dark that she could not the face that was currently inches away from her own. Her wand was ripped out of her hand and hurled into the darkness. She could here it clank onto the tiles somewhere far in the distance.
This was very, very bad.
Her heart beat in her throat as the man leaned in, inhaling her scent.
"Hullo gorgeous." He purred greasily. "Wanna av sum fun before I give ya to the dark lord?"
He had her trapped with his hands on either side of her head, so with all the strength she had left in her aching thighs, she brought one leg up and kneed him as hard as she could in the groin. He howled and she shoved him of her, which wasn't hard; he was tottering on his feet from the pain. She shot down the corridor her wand had flown down, and she felt blindly for it, as spells shot past her.
"You little bitch!" The man roared, firing spell after spell in her direction. One hit, and she went flying down the remaining length of the corridor. She hit the wall hard and felt her back bruise as it collided with the sharp stone. She scrambled to her feet, ignoring the fire burn in her left knee. She couldn't go back, he was closing in, so she ran down the connecting path. She saw the end, and was hoping she would get there in time when another, much larger shape, loomed into it.
Another death eater.
SHIT!
She was trapped, and she didn't have a wand. This time she saw no way out. They were closing in, firing spell after spell, which she all managed to just avoid. Her chest felt as if it would explode with all the fear she had bubbling up inside of her. They where feet away, and she prepared herself for the impact, for spells to hit her, when a sudden flash of white light made both the men cry out, stumbling back and covering their eyes with their hands. The light made Hermione squint as well but she wasn't bothered enough by it to turn away. The death eaters however where howling as the rays of light shone through their eyelids, hurting their sensitive eyes. Through the light, Hermione could just make out a door.
It was not a special door by any means. It was a plain wooden door with simple designs carved into it. The brass door nob looked old, as if it had faded with time but not exactly like hands had worn it. In fact, Hermione got the feeling that nobody had used that door in a long time. She did not want to go through that door, afraid of what was on the other side.
Instead she decided to attempt to sneak past one of the death eaters, who were currently on the floor, withering as he tried to pull himself away from the harmful rays. She was thanking her lucky stars for the save. However, just as she approached, she knocked into something. She stumbled slightly before pressing her palms up against the invisible barrier that had formed, keeping people out… and her in. She slammed into it with her fists, a cry of frustration bubbling from her lips. Then the door opened, and she felt something invisible wrap around her middle.
She yelped as the invisible rope started pulling her straight towards the open frame. She struggle and clawed, but the rope only seemed to tighten, pulling faster. She gave a last attempt to grab onto the doorframe, but it simply… moved away from her touch. She cried out one last time before she was hauled inside and the door slammed shut, leaving her in darkness.
The tightened strands around her middle vanished, and she felt desperately for the door, but found nothing there. She tried to open her mouth to yell, but her voice cracked, coming out in a hoarse whisper that scratched at her already raw throat.
Then, without warning, the squeezing sensation was back, but this time it came from her chest, deep within her. The ground beneath her began to shake, and lights flashed before her eyes. Her head spun and her body shook. She knew this feeling. This was the feeling of apparation. She screamed and then felt no more…
Until she landed hard on a very cold tile floor with a startled cry, all the air being pushed out of her at the impact. She lay there, cold and shivering. Not even the angered cry that came from above her gave her enough strength to look up and see who was there, or where she was. She felt the tip of a wand pressed hard into the soft skin of her throat and fought the urge to shiver.
"Who the fuck are you?" A voice growled in her ear, and this time a whimper escaped her lips. She was grabbed harshly around the throat and lifted her up, only to be slammed against a door, the wand not moving from the hollow of her throat as a an with jet black hair and a very pale face loomed in front of hers. Eyes as black as the night stared into her own whisky ones, burning holes straight through her pupils. "Well?" He roared, bashing her head hard against the wood. She cried out and he flung her across the very large bathroom.
His nostrils were flared in anger and he was shaking slightly, a very scary sight, even though he was naked but the white towel wrapped around his waist.
She shrieked as the cruciatus curse hit her mid air, and she twisted, landing on the floor hard as she withered beneath all the power the man put into the spell. His eyes were ablaze, his left hand clenched into a fist. He lifted it after a minute.
"Well?" He demanded. Hermione was sore and weak, so without thinking, she cried out: "Hermione!"
Her eyes widened as she realized what information had just torn past her lips, and his own eyes had grown as well. His lips twitched as he prowled over and bent down, gripping her hair and pulling her head up to his level.
"Hermione? As in Granger? Potter's best friend?" She whimpered at the look on his face and the smirk on his lips grew, his eyes flashing with danger.
"So, my little mud blood," He practically purred. "How the fuck did you get past my protective wards, hmm?" He dropped her head hard, so that it bounced on the tile floor and stars danced in her vision. She screamed again as the curse was cast upon her, and when he finally released it, She gasped out: "Door at the ministry!" She saw no point in hiding that. She herself couldn't even make sense of what had happened. The pain in her chest was building, and her eyes welled with tears. Who was this man? Where was she? Her joints ached and her shoulders shook, trying to breath even though it felt as if his throat had swelled shut.
His eyes narrowed, his teeth baring as he murmured "Crucio." under his breath. As her screams filled the bathroom once again, he felt himself relax, almost like he was falling into his zone. . Her screams soothed him as he thought about what had just happened. He had set up a plan to catch the boy, sent his followers out, and had then decided to take a bath to release the pressure in his joints. About five minutes later, there had been a loud CRACK! as the girl had landed in his private wash room, bouncing slightly on the floor. He had sprung up, water spilling everywhere, wrapped a towel around his waste and had summoned his wand to him.
Granger huh? He thought with a smirk as he stared at the white ceiling. Yes. Now that he thought about it, he thought that those curls had looked familiar. How… unexpected. A door she said? He smirked again. What was he going to do with her? He didn't know. He was no fool. He knew how stupid it would be to kill her when he could use her to his advantage, but whilst he figured that out, he needed to keep the girl to himself, a secret. He couldent have anyone else know that she was there. He looked down at her, a smirk splaying across his lips.
"Where have you been? Disappearing like that for months." Her screams had turned into sobs. He looked away, excitement building up inside of him. He wanted to read her mind, but just as he was about to look down her sound, and his eyes snapped to her lifeless body, her eyes dropped and her chest breathing softly in a deep faint, the pain and exhaustion finally getting to her. He sneered.
Pathetic.
"Not as strong as every one claims you are mud blood." He mocked her unmoving form, releasing his curse and letting his wand drop to his side, leaving her lying there. "You are just a lowly pathetic piece of dirt." He magically dressed himself, his black robes appearing on him, ignoring the muggle born whom lay on the cold floor.
He then leaned down and ran his finger over her bloodied jaw line, feeling the sticky red substance beneath his fingertips. "You're going to be helping me. So get comfortable mud blood, you might just be here for a while."
He pulled his hand away and brought his blood stained fingers up to his face to examine the red liquid. He snorted and spat at her, moving her into his rooms and shackling her wrist to the end of his bed. The chain was not long; it would not even allow her to stand up.
This was only temporary. He didn't want her waking up and roaming his quarters.
"Bye, bye mud blood." And the door swung shut as he left, making her stir but not wake up.
Author's note: Please review! It would mean a lot and keep me going. I hope you enjoy the story so far!