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Chapter 8: Lost

Susan was roused from a particularly interesting dream by an incessant, and increasingly annoying banging that was coming from outside. From what she could gauge, it was coming from her right. Grumbling, she threw off her quilt, grabbed her dressing gown, and donned it whilst opening the door.

She soon located the source of the noise. Outside Hermione's bedroom door stood a long, red haired, fifth year, and at this precise moment, she was yelling and attempting to break down Hermione's door. "Open up, Hermione! I know you're in there!"

Susan squinted at Ginny and pulled her dressing gown tight around her as she walked to Ginny. "Ginevra Molly Weasley, what on earth do you think you're doing?!"

Ginny jumped a mile into the air and Susan had to suppress her giggle. Susan stood and waited patiently for a response. Ginny turned to Susan and glared at her in such a way that Susan was positive she had inherited it from her mother. Susan smiled widely and warmly, and continued to wait.

"I can't find Hermione," Ginny explained, "and there was no reason to scare the patronus out of me!"

Susan finally laughed. "I know, but it was really fun. It's not surprising you couldn't hear me, considering all of the racket you were making."

Ginny sighed, forgetting the incident. "I didn't see Hermione at all yesterday. Harry and Ron say she didn't turn up for the lessons they share with her. She hasn't been to the great hall to eat, and I haven't even seen her in the library. I thought I'd come and force her out of her room."

Susan looked at her for a few seconds too long. It stirred Ginny's suspicions. "Explain."

"I haven't seen her since we split up to patrol the corridors two nights ago."

Ginny started. "And you haven't seen her in your lessons either?"

Susan shook her head.

Ginny's frown deepened. "She's not answering her door. I'm worried that she's fallen into a depression since her secret came out and Harry and Ron stopped talking to her. Hermione doesn't miss lessons for anything," She was pacing ever so slightly.

"Did you try the door handle?" Susan looked at her pointedly and smiled. It was ever so slightly condescending, and it irritated her.

Gritting her teeth, Ginny forced out a polite, "Yes."

Susan tried it herself, just to be sure, before relenting. "Well, by process of elimination, I suspect that the last person to see her was Malfoy. Hey," Susan's condescending smile suddenly turned mischievous, "you don't think that they're off together, do you?"

Ginny sighed. "No. I swear, Susan, you cause more trouble than you solve. You're not innocent in this, you know? It was your dare that raised everyone's suspicions, and then our conversation in the library that informed him of the truth. I feel bad, and you bloody-well should, too!" She started towards the stairs that led to the prefects' common room.

Susan paused as the words registered. She did feel guilty. She knew that she had a huge part in what had happened to Hermione in the last week. In fact, the majority of it was her fault. The only unfortunate thing about her character was that she loved love. She wanted people to be happy and in love. Regrettably, she had made Hermione a promise, had then promptly forgotten the promise, and tried her best to reveal the truth, without actually saying the words herself. It hadn't been done maliciously, she had just let her heart lead, without engaging her brain.

However, the knowledge that Draco Malfoy knew of Hermione's feelings was news to her. Hermione hadn't shared that piece of information with her. Whilst she could understand why, now, it still put her out a little. Susan started after the departing red-head ran after her.

Susan caught up with her quite easily. Ginny wasn't trying to escape from her. "Malfoy knows!?"

"Yes," Ginny replied, shortly, and looked around the room. Malfoy wasn't in here, "He was eavesdropping whilst we were talking in the library. Before his dare. I need to speak to him."

Ginny had seen him in the great hall for breakfast. However, it was Saturday, and that meant that he wasn't attending lessons. He had left before she had, so he could be anywhere. She didn't fancy scouring the whole castle on order to find him. It was too big and too difficult to pin anyone down. She could always ask Harry for his map, but it wasn't worth the risk of incurring his wrath at the moment. The knowledge was still too fresh for him.

Besides, Ginny knew that she was probably just off in hiding, until the dust settled. She silenced the voice that asked where Hermione could be, if she wasn't in her bedroom or anywhere else that she frequented.

Ginny considered the best place she would probably find Malfoy, on a Saturday morning.


Draco Malfoy was doing the same thing any student who played a sport would be doing at the weekend. He was practicing and trying to improve his Quidditch skills. He was zooming around the cloudless sky, and leaving all of his troubles on the well-manicured lawn of the Quidditch pitch.

He didn't notice Ginny standing at the edge of the pitch and watching him, for quite some time. She didn't yell for him, because he was unlikely to hear her at that height. She just waited patiently.

He finally landed and began to examine the twigs on the tail of his broom. The way the broom was flying was bothering him. It wasn't usually this jumpy or jittery when he sped up.

He didn't hear Ginny approaching until she was upon him. He blamed the wind for this. Not that he would have been able to escape, even if he had known she was there. He kept an unidentifiable expression on his face as he waited for her to begin. The sooner she started, the sooner she would leave.

Ginny squared her shoulders. "I know you're not exactly thrilled to see me, Malfoy, so I'll keep this short. Have you seen Hermione?"

Draco frowned at her. He was flummoxed at the question. He understood it perfectly well; he just wasn't sure why she was asking him. He didn't keep company with Granger, and surely she knew that he would be even less inclined to spend more time than absolutely necessary with her, now that he knew of her feelings.

"Why would privy to that information, Weasley? I try to avoid her as best as possible," Draco said, whilst keeping hold of his broom.

Ginny scowled but continued. "From what I can gather, you are the last person to have seen her. During patrol, or after, on Thursday night," She shifted from one foot to the other, "Do you know if anything happened at that time?"

Draco frowned. He remembered perfectly well what had happened. He shrugged and told Ginny about it. Her expression became increasingly troubled as he continued. He didn't understand what the problem was. He stood by his belief that nobody dangerous could have entered the castle. It was too well protected.

"You haven't seen her since, have you? Not in lessons or out of them," Ginny asked.

Draco shook his head. Ginny's worry was quickly turning into panic for Hermione, and anger towards him.

"And you didn't think that was weird?!" Ginny screeched, "Considering what you know?!"

Something stirred inside him; a strange mixture of guilt and defiance. "I'm sure she's fine. She's probably keeping a low profile after her stupid confession."

Ginny bristled. "She's a prefect. She wouldn't miss classes, even if it did happen to be because of someone as reprehensible as you!"

He'd told her everything he knew, so she turned and stalked off.

Draco watched her walk away. As much as it galled him to listen to a Weasley speak to him in that way, he couldn't deny that she had a point; even if it was a very infinitesimal point. He had just been so relieved to not have to deal with her revelation that it hadn't occurred to him that it was strange that she had been unnaturally absent in the last day. To be honest, he hadn't given it much thought.


Ginny found Harry and Ron in the common room. Typically, they weren't doing anything as mature as school work. They were playing gobstones and eating the last of their breakfast. They hadn't noticed her arrival either. They could never be distracted when they were challenging each other.

She sat down next to Ron, and opposite Harry. Whilst she loved Harry, she was still annoyed at how he was treating Hermione, after all that they had been through in the last six years. Love and loyalty was supposed to mean more than that. He shouldn't be treating her in such a way, just because she had fallen in love with someone he disliked. Hermione hadn't intended for it to happen.

She was annoyed by Ron as well. However, she had a feeling that if Harry learned to see past it, Ron would follow.

Hermione hadn't even done anything about her feelings. There was no reason for them to be behaving like this.

Ron looked up and smiled at her. "Hey, Gin. What's up?"

Harry looked at her and frowned. "What's the matter? You look anxious."

Ginny didn't have time for aimless chitchat. They were wasting time. "Hermione's missing. She hasn't been seen since Thursday night. I'm worried about her, and I need your help to find her."

She watched Harry's face become unnaturally blank and knew what was coming next. "I'm sure she's fine. I bet-"

Ginny cut him off. "She's not gone into hiding, or keeping a low profile, or anything else like that! She's missing! She's in trouble and she needs our help. You will help me!" She didn't try to hide her anger at all.

Ron jumped and looked at her reproachfully. She always sounded like their mother when she yelled. "How do you even know that's true?" He grumbled.

"I just do," she snarled.

"You," she turned on Harry, "I need your map. I want to make absolutely sure that she's not in the castle."

At Harry's reluctance, Ginny finished with, "Please, Harry. She's your best friend. You'll never forgive yourself if something happens to her and you could have stopped it."

Harry stood up and went to get the marauder's map. Ron looked at her. "Do you think Malfoy's done something to her?"

Ginny sighed and looked down at the patchy hole in the arm of the sofa, studying it. "I don't know. I don't think so. There's no point in it. He may know the truth about her, but he knows that no one else does, and that she's unlikely to tell anyone else. You two and I won't tell anyone either.

"Besides, there's no sense in hurting someone, just because they love you. No, I think there's something much worse going on," Ginny looked at her brother sadly. "I think she may have seen something."

"What do you mean 'seen something'?" Ron asked. However, Harry had returned with the map and handed it to Ginny before she could answer.

She explained what Malfoy had told her. Both boys listened carefully. Even though they had had their recent disagreements, she could see the barely concealed worry behind their eyes. The three sixth years had been friends for far too long to not worry when something was clearly wrong.

Ginny finished and perused the map. As she expected, Hermione was nowhere to be seen on it. She checked it two more times, just to be sure; still nothing. She looked up at them miserably. "We have to find her."

There was reservation in Harry's eyes and it fuelled Ginny's wrath. "Harry Potter, she is in trouble! Whatever she has done, it doesn't matter. Put your pride aside and try to understand that nothing has actually gone on between her and Malfoy. Nothing at all. If you don't help me, I'll go on my own, and then god help both Hermione and me!

"Your stubborn pride may get us both killed."

She shoved the map back into his hands and walked out of Gryffindor tower.


Susan found Ginny in the library. She was examining the lock to the restricted section. Ginny turned and acknowledged Susan's presence before inclining her head towards the lock. "Madam Pince says that she lock was fine when she came in yesterday morning. However, Malfoy says that Hermione showed it to him the night before, and it was definitely unlocked."

Susan nodded, understanding. "So someone came back and righted their mistake. Either before or after something happened to Hermione."

Ginny smiled grimly. "Exactly."

"We need help," Susan exhaled.

"I'd like to help, if it's alright with you two," A voice spoke from behind them.

Both girls turned in unison to face the owner of the voice.


Hermione opened her eyes, and for a moment, she was sure that she was blind. Nothing in the space that she found herself in was discernible. She was lying on the ground. Beneath her, she could feel dry, packed earth and gravel. She waited for long moments, as her eyes adjusted to the darkness.

She was finally able to make out a large chamber with rough stone walls and an earthen floor. It was large and dark. A flight of stone stairs led to a door which was closed. Considering the situation she was in, it was probably also locked.

Hermione groaned as she sat up. There was nothing else here, except for a plate of dried bread and cheese, with a glass of water. She ignored both of them. She also ignored the empty bucket next to her. She knew what that was for, and she wasn't impressed.

This whole setup suggested that whoever had put her here, intended to keep her here for at least the foreseeable future.

She decided that it was at least worth a try, to see if the door really was locked. She got stiffly to her feet. Aside from a few stiff bones, she wasn't hurting anywhere else. This led her to believe that whoever had knocked her unconscious had used a spell on her, rather than hitting her over the head with something. This didn't fill her with much hope, bearing in mind that she hadn't heard any spell being uttered, and it was usually only very skilled, and powerful, witches and wizards who could use a spell so effectively, without speaking. No student had done this to her,

Grimly, she got to her feet. Aiming for the staircase, she managed to walk two feet before an invisible force field jolted her and, feeling like she'd been electrocuted, she fell backwards, and landed on her bottom.

Hermione looked around her, and at the clear four foot wide circle that had formed around her, on the earth, as she'd activated the barrier, and she felt a sinking feeling. This was definitely not good. Not good at all.


This has been a long time coming. I am so sorry that it took me so long. In the years since this story was last updated, I have learned so much. Some good, and some not so good. I hope this lives up to the expectations that I have come to expect of myself.

Thank you for reading. Please review, and please don't flame. Thank you so much.

Dina