Harry Potter did not wake up in the hospital wing of Hogwarts. Nor was he in his dorm room. In fact, upon opening his eyes and assessing the situation, he was fairly certain that his current bed wasn't in Hogwarts at all, though he hadn't ruled out it being in Slytherin.

The bed was a large four poster with elaborately carved posts depicting serpents climbing up trees into the luxurious green canopy. His pillows were soft and bountiful, the mattress rather like lying on a cloud, and the covers went from silky sheets to velvety blankets to a billowy duvet. Harry noted this all with great attention to detail, in part from the confusion of waking up in a strange, if nice, bed, and in part because, thanks to thin gauzy curtains hanging down from the canopy, the bed was all he could see. Despite his limited view of the room, he got a sense of airiness by the way the curtains gently swayed and let in soft sunlight.

Harry took a moment to appreciate the bed before he remembered why he had expected to wake up in the hospital wing. He checked himself for the remembered pain and felt none. In fact, he felt well rested and a bit hungry. Cautiously, and somewhat regretfully, he shoved away the covers and got his first look at his leg.

There was a silvery scar where the spider had bit him, but nothing more. When he checked where Wormtail had cut him, there wasn't even that. There was no more blood or grime or even bruises anywhere on his body. He also noted that he had been stripped to his underwear. That was embarrassing enough before he realized that the pants he was wearing wasn't even his own.

Trying hard not to think about this, he crawled to the foot of the massive bed and pushed the curtains aside so he could look out.

The room was about as large and luxurious as the bed had suggested, with dark wooden walls hung with forested tapestries and paintings, a thick, blood red carpet on the floor, a green sofa and two plush chairs in a corner, bookcases, an elaborate vanity and wardrobe, a stone fireplace, windows large enough to be doors with a table and chairs laid out by them, chandeliers, and two smaller beds that looked rather out of place, as though brought in in a hurry rather than being meant to go with the room. Despite this, their sheets and pillows were just as nice as his own.

He more or less noted most of this as well as he could without his glasses on, which is to say he noted the colors and the shapes without making out the details. What his eyes were mostly drawn to wasn't the décor anyway. Hermione and Ron were both in the room. He knew it was them from the familiar blur of red hair and the mane of brown, not to mention he could hear their voices whispering urgently to each other. They hadn't noticed Harry yet. They were both in front of a heavy wooden door, fighting to look through the keyhole.

"Ron?" Harry whispered, "Hermione?"

They stopped their struggles at once and spun about to look at him, though they were too far away for him to properly read their expressions. That was soon solved when Hermione immediately leapt to her feet and ran to throw her arms around him. He tried not to blush at the fact that he was still mostly undressed.

"Harry, you're awake!" she said, finally letting him go and taking a step back. "Are you alright? They said the venom was gone and you were fine but, well, they did kidnap us and they are death eaters, so we weren't sure if we could trust them."

"What?" Harry asked, feeling startled more than anything.

"We're in Malfoy Manor, mate" said Ron. "As far as prisons go, it's not bad. At least the food is decent." Harry thought he might even have been smiling, but it could also have been a grimace; either was possible with Ron and he was still too far away for Harry to read his expression, not even when he squinted.

"Oh, Harry, your glasses," Hermione said, and she ran around the side of the bed, only to return a moment later with his glasses in her hand. Once he could see properly again, he found Ron looked bemused more than anything. Neither of his friends looked frightened or angry or anything like he'd expect them to look if they had really been kidnapped. What was going on?

"What do you mean, we've been kidnapped," Harry asked. "And is there anything for me to wear?"

"There're robes in the wardrobe," Hermione answered. "They've been quite kind, really. They even offered us our own rooms, but we didn't want to separate. The only thing they won't do is let us out. He was even quite polite when he insisted on kidnapping us."

"Who?!" Harry demanded. This was beginning to be infuriating. He hadn't even had a chance to process what Voldemort had told him before he was rescued, and now he was kidnapped again, and Hermione couldn't even give him a straight answer about who had done it, let alone how or why. Also, he thought that at least Ron might have thought to go and grab a robe for him, instead of expecting him to let go of the curtains and prance across the room in front of Hermione in just his pants. Sure she was one of his best friends, but she was still a girl.

"Sorry," Hermione said, "I'm not telling this properly. It started after you were sent to the hospital wing, and Ron and I went after you. We wanted to know that you were alright."

"I wanted to know that you were alright," Ron interjected. "Hermione kept going on about poor Viktor, and how was Cedric, and such."

"They were injured too, Ronald," Hermione pointed out, "And of course I was most worried about Harry. You looked dead from up in the stands you know. But Professor Snape told us you weren't, and he didn't even try to stop us from going to see you."

"Yep, good ol' Snape," Ron agreed, rolling his eyes behind Hermione's back. Harry didn't know whether to laugh at the pair of them or to groan at them taking forever to get to the important bit. He already knew he had been injured and taken to the hospital wing. He wanted to know what happened next.

"Professor McGonagall was pushing you on a gurney and you looked ghastly," Hermione said.

"Gushing this puss and blood from your leg," Ron agreed, his voice almost cheerful but his face paler than normal. "She had to transfigure something into a bucket to stop you making a trail on the floor."

"Yes, thank you for those details, but how did we get from there to Malfoy's manor?" Harry demanded. Hermione gave him an apologetic look and continued the story.

"We got to the hospital wing and Madame Pomfrey left off fussing over the other champions right away. She just said, 'Severus's anti-venom?' and Professor McGonagall said it was, and so Madame Pomfrey said, 'He'll need a blood replenisher then,' and that's what she gave you. She kept having to give you more and she said she couldn't close up the wound until it was done expelling the venom."

"Diggory came in then, with his parents," Ron interjected. "He was all shaky and pale, but not half dead like you, and he kept saying that You Know Who was back, that the cup was a portkey and he had been knocked out, and when he came to he saw you all tied up and there was You Know Who. That he was alive and had all his death eaters around him. He got a bit shouty in the end, and Pomfrey put him to sleep; she said he needed the rest. Dumbledore wasn't happy about that; I think he wanted to know more about You Know Who. Oh, right, Dumbledore came in after Diggory. He wanted you and Diggory to wake up, but Pomfrey chased him off. Remind me never to get on her wrong side; her tongue is worse than my mum's when she's in a rage."

"It wasn't that bad," Hermione insisted. "She didn't even shout."

"She didn't need to," Ron insisted. "You didn't see her face; you were all distracted between Harry and Krum. They say Dumbledore is the world's greatest wizard, and he just about turned tail and ran."

As Harry didn't currently know how he felt about the headmaster, he wasn't sure how to respond to this news.

"Anyway," said Hermione, "a bit later, just after Madame Pomfrey emptied your bucket and gave you another blood replenisher, Professor Dumbledore came back. Well, we thought it was him, anyway. And he said that it was urgent, that death eaters were coming and they knew Harry was there, and he insisted you had to come with him, and us too, because it wasn't a safe place for students."

"Pomfrey lay into him again," Ron interjected, "Going on about wards and sick patients and such, but he didn't back down this time. He told Pomfrey to see to Krum and Fleur and Diggory. And their parents started all talking at her at once, and wanting to know what was to be done, and on and on about how unsafe Hogwarts was and such nonsense."

"It's not nonsense," Hermione said, "Not with all the accidents that keep happening at the school. I mean, are portkeys even supposed to be possible at the school? And what about the basilisk? Or the whomping willow? Or the troll? Or Fluffy?"

"Well, still, Hogwarts has got to be better than some French school, or a school for the Dark Arts," Ron insisted. "And anyway, that's not the point. The point is, they were being all distracting, and Dumbledore pulled out his wand and levitated you, bucket and oozing wound and all, and we walked right out through this hidden door we didn't even know was there and Pomfrey didn't do a thing to stop us. Dumbledore led us down about a million stairs, and into this empty classroom, and then he just stopped and threw about three different locking charms at the door, and all the furniture besides. It was starting to freak us out a bit, to be honest."

"I asked him if he had enough blood replenisher for you," Hermione agreed, "And he just sort of looked at us with this strange expression and then he said, 'They'll have everything he needs.' So of course we asked who."

"He was getting weirder by the minute," Ron insisted, "And he didn't answer. He just looked at the barricaded door. And then we heard a crash from the other side, like someone was trying to force their way in. So I went for my wand, only, it wasn't there. It wasn't in my pocket. And Hermione didn't have hers either. And Dumbledore looked right at us and said he was sorry, but we had to go. Then he turned and he blasted a wall. And he levitated you again and he just ran. He didn't even remember the bucket this time, and you were leaving a trail of blood the whole way."

"We ran with you, of course," said Hermione. "We didn't know what was going on, but we weren't about to just leave you with him. I think we knew it wasn't Dumbledore by that point, except there wasn't really time to think, and we just sort of went along with it. Anyway, the man who looked like Dumbledore led us right into the Forbidden Forest. It was fully dark out by then and no one was about to see us run. I think everyone was still in the Great Hall or hanging out outside the Hospital Wing. And then after he went a bit of a ways, he just stopped. We could hear something coming towards us. I don't know what; we never saw. Before it could reach us, the fake Dumbledore shouted 'Winky!'. And Winky just popped up next to us."

"She was even more mental than usual," Ron said. "Blubbering and crying 'master', 'master'. And Dumbledore told her to stop all that fuss and fetch us all to Malfoy Manor right away. So I suppose we knew something was really wrong then. But we didn't quite make up our mind to run for it. He still had you anyway, and you were unconscious and oozing blood and we'd never have managed. So when Winky held out her arm and told us to grab it, we did."

"She apparated us to this sort of foyer, all cold marble," Hermione continued the tale. "And Dumbledore started twitching, and his hair beard was shrinking and his hair was darkening. And several wizards came running in, aiming their wands at us. We were sure they might kill us or torture us or at least threaten. But the man who wasn't Dumbledore at all just said, 'I've got Harry Potter and his friends. Here are their wands. I have to get back before Moody is missed.' He didn't look at all like Dumbledore now, though he did look familiar. And he took out a potion and drank it, and then he really was Moody."

"Moody without his eye and all," Ron said, his eyes wide. "It was weird, and a bit gross. But he had the eye and everything in his pocket, and he popped it in. And then he said, 'My Hogwarts chambers, Winky,' and she apparated him away."

"Though I don't see how she could have gone straight to his chambers," added Hermione, "because you can't apparate in Hogwarts."

"House elves are different, you know that," Harry pointed out.

"Well, if they are so different, why'd he have to take us all the way to the Forbidden Forest," Hermione answered back. Harry didn't have an answer for that.

"So…" he said instead, "someone who wasn't Dumbledore and wasn't Moody kidnapped us and had Winky bring us to Malfoy manor. And then…they locked us in this room?"

"More or less," Ron agreed. "There was a bit of an awkward moment when the death eaters kept aiming their wands at us, and we didn't have ours, and you were just lying on the floor and bleeding. And then Malfoy, I mean Malfoy Sr., not our prat Malfoy, he walked in, looked at us, and said, 'Why is there a boy bleeding on the floor?'. I didn't even know what was going to happen next…"

"His mouth was agape," Hermione added, earning a glare from Ron.

"I was just confused," Ron insisted, "So anyway, I didn't know what to do, when Hermione just opens her mouth and says, 'He was bit by a spider, and he was given anti-venom and he needs blood replenishers until the wound can be closed.' I thought she had gone mental."

"I was being sensible. If they didn't want us dead, they'd need to help us, and for that they'd need to know what we needed. Anyway, it worked. They weren't even heavy handed in escorting us to a room…not this room, it wasn't ready yet. I think it was an actual hospital room, I suppose the manor is big enough to have one of its own. They kept us there for hours until Mrs. Malfoy said she could close up the wound, and then it was just a matter of cleaning you up. She said you'd sleep for a bit and offered us all rooms, but we said we'd stay with you and they let us. They even transfigured beds for us."

"Being kidnapped was getting a bit boring, actually," Ron said. "Just watching you sleep, staring at the peacocks out the window, watching Hermione read."

"You could have read as well," Hermione pointed out.

"Sure, poetry or French books," Ron agreed, making faces at Harry. Hermione rolled her eyes again. Harry very carefully chose not to comment on that.

"So how long have we been here?" he asked instead.

"Not so very long, really," Hermione answered. "Just one night. We've just been too nervous to sleep, so we've had the time to get bored."

"Until the screaming started," Ron added.

"Screaming?" Harry demanded.

"You didn't hear it?" Hermione asked, sounding surprised. "I thought that must have been what finally woke you. We were trying to see through the door and listen in to find out what was happening. Someone just started screaming and screaming, for five whole minutes, at least. And then there were running feet and voices and it just…cut off."

"I figure it must be some other kidnapped bloke in the next cell being tortured by the death eaters or something," Ron said. "I knew this posh prison was too good to be true."

"We don't know what's happened," Hermione insisted. "You woke up, of course, and so now you know everything we do."

"Right," Harry said. He considered this. He had been kidnapped, again, and was once more in the hands of Voldemort and his death eaters. That was either very bad or, and he still hadn't had time to process his last kidnapping but the doubts it had raised couldn't be denied, or that was very good. But first things first.

"Hermione, close your eyes. I'm getting dressed."

"It's not like you're naked," she answered, though she nonetheless did cover her eyes. Harry quickly scampered over to the wardrobe and grabbed the first robe he saw. It went over his head and puddled at his feet, at least two feet longer than he was. This only lasted for a moment, however, as the robe immediately began to shrink around him. He had just enough time to panic that the robe was cursed and was about to strangle him to death when it stopped. It didn't strangle him at all. In fact, it fit him perfectly.

"Can I look yet?" Hermione demanded, though why she bothered, Harry didn't know, because she had already taken her hands away to see for herself. "Not bad. Green suits you."

"Suits you?" Ron demanded, outraged, "What did you choose green for? You look like a Slytherin."

"I like green," Harry answered defiantly, though in truth, if he had taken more time to choose a robe, he probably would have gone for a different color. Now that it was on, though, he wasn't about to change.

"It brings out your eyes," Hermione insisted. Ron glowered.

"Right," said Harry. Second things second. "Now it's my turn to share."

And Harry told them everything that had happened in the graveyard. It was actually helpful to share the story in full; he hadn't had time to process what he had seen and overheard, and now he could. Saying it all out loud made it clearer than ever that something was very, very wrong. Hermione said it best, in the contemplative silence that followed his story.

"We've been lied to."

Whether the liar was Voldemort or Dumbledore, none of them were certain.

Then the door to their prison opened and Lucius Malfoy stood before them. He looked rather different than Harry's memories suggested he should. He was pale, like his son, but he lacked the cold malice that Harry expected. Nor did he look threatening; he didn't even have out his wand. He looked a bit troubled.

"I'm glad to see you are well, Mr. Potter. And your companions as well. I would like to invite you all to breakfast with me," he told them. "And then all will be explained."

"Who was that screaming?" Ron demanded. None of them moved to go with the man as they waited for the answer.

"That was an attempt on the life of Lord Voldemort by the Dark Lord," Malfoy Sr. answered. "Thankfully, the killing curse requires intent to kill along with saying the words, and the Dark Lord's puppet was able to suppress the Dark Lord's will."

"Isn't Lord Voldemort the Dark Lord?" Harry asked. Hermione and Ron flinched but otherwise remained strong at his side, awaiting the answer.

"No," said Malfoy. "That is among the things that must be discussed. Do please join me."

Harry once again looked at his friends. They looked tired but willful and they nodded their heads at him. They would follow his lead.

"Alright," Harry told Malfoy. "We'll come." It was time they got some answers. Besides, he was hungry, and Ron had said the food here was good.