Hermione turned the words over and over in her mind again the next day as she polished the Lestrange's silverware in the dining room. Bellatrix had been almost frantic that Aelfreada Selwyn should not be allowed in the family vault and from how she and Rabastan had argued the witch had been obsessed with its protection for years.

'What are you hiding?' Rabastan had asked and there was something that had immediately come to Hermione's mind that would not have occurred to Rabastan. Surely a Gringott's vault, an ancient pureblooded family vault opened when the bank had been first founded, guarded by the highest security the goblins had to offer, even dragons would be the perfect place to hide a horcrux.

Hermione had remembered her first visit to Diagon Alley, her first experience of the magical world dominated by that magnificent marble white building that rose impressively over the shops making even the fine Flourish & Blotts or mystical Ollivander's look shabby by comparison. Harry had said Voldemort would have hidden his horcruxes in places of great meaning; Gringotts would have been the young Riddle's first image of magic used for magnificence and power.

What's more Voldemort had hidden a horcrux with one of his followers before and after Lucius Malfoy's casual disposal of the diary and what Dumbledore had told Harry were the consequences of such carelessness it would be natural for the devoted Bellatrix to be a little…cautious about who had access.

Hermione put aside one of the candlesticks and drew the other to her as she began to vigorously rub it with polish still deep in thought. If only she knew what horcrux and then she had remembered the inventory Rabastan had mentioned, was it too much to hope for that blind Madam Lestrange had indeed had one drawn up? She could imagine Bellatrix would have been pretty insistent on it and Hermione was sure if she could just have a look at it she could work out which item was the horcrux, it would either be the cup or something of Ravenclaw's or Gryffindor's.

Then there was something else, Voldemort's prize, whatever or whoever it was Hermione was sure it was being hidden in Cathrack Tor. Since her arrival at the house she had begun to become aware that she was not the only captive being held here, from the mournful howl she had heard on her first night to the plain meals of bread and water she had seen Maggot prepare and secret away she was sure something was being held in the dungeons. Whether it was Voldemort's prize or Bellatrix's plaything or one and the same Hermione could not be sure but a fountain of curiosity was bubbling up in her that she tried to suppress as she reminded herself that the goal had to be horcruxes. She was already playing with fire by planning to search for more information on the Lestrange's vault; anything else would be too dangerous.

"Was Crabbe Castle just not murderous enough for you Granger?" a cold voice drawled from the door to the dining room.

Hermione dropped the large plate she was polishing and it fell to the floor with a loud clang and she span around jumping up to see Draco Malfoy entering the room. She flexed the tips of her fingers itching for her wand but then she noticed something, Malfoy's face was the picture of practiced confidence but his eyes were tired and there was a hint of fear in them.

"What are you doing here Malfoy?" she asked

"Dear Uncle Rabastan's letting me use the library" he said in a voice that said he thought his uncle was anything but dear "I would have come sooner but it was more difficult than I thought to get out of Crabbe where you had gone."

"And why are you here?" Hermione asked suspiciously "I thought you said it was up to me to get myself out."

"Then why haven't you" Malfoy snapped suddenly "I meant what I said, it's all our necks on the line when they find out" and his eyes darted from side to side as though he was checking for eavesdroppers. He needn't have bothered, Rabastan was always in his study this time of day and the other members of the Lestrange family were hardly in a fit state for spying. "You're supposed to be the great Granger aren't you, smartest witch of her generation so why don't you escape?"

Hermione blinked, he almost sounded disappointed and so she said "If you want me out, then why don't you help me?" she challenged.

Malfoy took a step back and he paled "Don't be stupid Granger" he hissed.

"Who's being stupid, you said so yourself as long as I'm here you're at risk" she said calmly "As long as you're protecting my identity you are in danger."

"I'm protecting myself you stupid girl, anything else would be suicidal."

Hermione shrugged and bent down to pick up the dropped plate.

Malfoy shifted on his feet as he looked her over, he was making Hermione feel a little uncomfortable as several long seconds of silence passed.

"Was there something else Malfoy?" she huffed.

Malfoy swallowed and he finally looked her in the eye and he looked as though he was steeling himself for something "Have…have they?" he began and it looked as though it was difficult for him to even get the words out "Have Rabastan and Rodolphus…"

And Hermione realised what he was trying to ask "No" she said shortly "They haven't touched me, they treat me like a house elf."

Malfoy breathed heavily and he closed his eyes "Good" he said.

No it wasn't, she was still a prisoner Hermione thought and she huffed "Well if that was all" and she turned back to her silverware.

Suddenly she felt him grasp her wrist, not painfully but firmly all the same and Malfoy turned her around to face him, "I…" he started to say.

"Draco!" someone said sharply and Malfoy dropped his hand instantly. Rabastan was standing at the entrance to the dining room narrowing his eyes in suspicion "I'll thank you not to molest my servants if you please" he said coldly "I was under the impression you wanted to use the library which as I'm sure you'll remember is on the other side of the house."

Rabastan waited until Malfoy left the dining room and was out of earshot until he commanded to Hermione "You will tell me if he grabs you again"

Hermione blinked in surprise "Yes sir" she replied even though it had not really been a question.

oOoOoOo

Harry stared down at scrolls of parchment, plans and diagrams strewn on the clunky table he had transfigured the day before. It had a wobbly leg and still smelled like the seaweed Harry had transfigured but all in all Harry thought McGonagall would be proud.

The delicious smells of onion casserole wafted towards his nostrils from where Kreacher was cooking. It was almost startling the affect their new alliance had on Kreacher's cooking. Whereas before he had made dark grey slimy things that smelled as if they'd been rotting for several days Harry was now treated to haute cuisine which Kreacher somehow managed to conjure using the bare minimum of his rations and an open fire.

"It's no use" Harry said aloud looking at his plans. Since Mundungus had told his tale Harry had been Apparating to the Ministry entrance every morning hoping to scout out the new security measures Lupin had suggested were probably in place, the results were not promising. "I can't Apparate, I can't floo and I don't even know how to create a portkey." he said aloud.

"Master could use his disappearing cloak" Kreacher suggested stirring the bubbling pot over low flickering flames.

Harry shook his head "I'd still need one of those coins to get in" he said "And I've had a look at those toilets they use, they only open at certain times and are always packed, I'll bump into somebody for sure. If only I had some polyjuice potion"

"Kreacher could Apparate Master" Kreacher offered.

"Hey that's an..." bright shining hope appeared towards him but he trailed off as he realised a flaw in this plan "No thanks Kreacher" he said glumly "We can't take the risk that they haven't placed Disapparition wards against house elves either, plus we'd only be able to go during the dead of night otherwise we might fall on top of someone. And I guarantee that they've got the whole placed bewitched to warn them of any night-time visitors. Plus I can't let you take that risk."

Kreacher dropped his spoon into the pot with a clatter and glared at Harry with his wrinkled grey hands balled at his hips "Kreacher would gladly die to finish Master Regulus's work" he said angrily.

Harry felt a swell of emotion at the solidarity but said patiently "But I don't want you to die Kreacher. You're my last hope; I need you to pass on Regulus's work to Ron or Hermione if I die."

Kreacher sniffed and went back to cooking "And how will Kreacher find the blood traitor and mudblood?"

There was no malice in his voice but nonetheless Harry commanded in a very cold tone "Don't call them that" Kreacher looked suitably chastened "You'll find them, find the Order or go to Hogwarts where the DA is. Ron and Hermione will escape soon enough. I know they will."

He nourished this thought through each waking moment; it gave him strength to carry on with his mission alone. Tonks was right Hermione was too clever to let a Death Eater get the best of her and Ron...well Ron was too tough. Harry remembered with a faint smile the twelve year old boy with a fear of spiders who had marched into the nest of giant acromantula on the off chance it might help Hagrid. Ron had complained about it enough before, during and afterwards but Harry knew he would not hesitate to do the same thing again.

Harry looked back at the scrolls of parchment. The problem was Umbridge seemed to have special privileges and therefore did not use the lavatorial entrance to the Ministry of Magic along with the rest of the common office workers and therefore Harry could not follow her or listen to her conversations. As such he had no idea where to find her outside the Ministry.

Well...he had one idea but that was mad. A whispered conversation he had heard a witch named Mafalda Hopkirk have with her friend.

"I've never met one before but Umbridge is insisting I come and take notes except Granddad" she had moaned quietly as they had queued outside the public toilets "What in Merlin's beard do the females wear?"

But it was ridiculous, Harry could not attack Umbridge there could he? There would be security the likes of which he would never have seen before and he couldn't even guarantee she would be wearing the necklace. On the other hand there would be no wards, no Death Eaters and if he bumped into somebody with his invisibility cloak no one was likely to get suspicious and rip the thing off.

It was absolutely mad but slowly Harry smiled, it just might work.

oOoOoOo

Ron was completely and utterly bored and on the verge of counting the cracks in the ceiling of the bedroom when his door banged open and Snape entered looking very irritated.

"Get up" he said and Ron jumped to his feet and Snape stared down at his socks which had a large hole in the big toe "And put on some shoes"

"Why?" Ron asked in a panic "Are we going somewhere?"

Snape gave him a contemptuous look "I've been instructed to present you"

"What do you mean present me?" Ron demanded.

"I mean..." Snape said curling his lip and looking at Ron viciously "That the Dark Lord has given me a new mission and I have been told to take you with me."

Ron gulped, so this was it, he felt his stomach plummeting. So much for pretending to help find Hermione, the games were over, he was going to die. Before he could think any further however Snape had yanked him up and was shoving him down the stairs so he stumbled down several steps at a time and hot polluted air hit Ron's face as he was pushed out into the untidy little garden where Snape grew root vegetables and potion ingredients.

Snape gripped his upper arm tightly and turned on the spot. Suddenly everything went black and Ron felt his entire body squeezed as though he was being pressed into a tight keyhole, his bones crushed and his organs compressed. Then it was gone and he and Snape were standing in the middle of a thick forest.

Fifty foot high firs and pines blocked the sky so that the forest scene around him was lit with a ghostly green glow. The forest floor appeared to be on a steep incline as though they were halfway up a hill and large moss covered boulders were dotted around them intertwined with brambles, nettles and vines. Ron breathed down lungful's of fresh cool forest air, then he noticed something…Snape had let go of him.

Before he could think what he was doing Ron ran. Air rushed passed his ears as he leapt over boulders, swerved around trees all the while thinking forcefully that he would not die today.

"Incarcerous" Snape yelled and Ron heard a loud whooshing circling through the air getting louder and louder as thick coarse ropes whipped round him. He fell to the ground swallowing a mouthful of dirt as the ropes wrapped around him tighter binding his arms to his torso.

"Accio Ronald Weasley" Snape commanded in a clear crisp tone and Ron was suddenly pulled upwards and yanked backwards through the trees as though being pulled like a fishing line. When he was placed on his feet Snape glared at him and said lowly and precisely "If you know what is good for you Mr Weasley…you will not be trying that again."

He pointed his wand at Ron again and Ron flinched thinking he was going to curse him tensed. But instead the ropes merely relaxed a little and a few of the bindings disappeared so that when Snape shoved Ron forward he could walk easily.

They walked down the slope and the boulders grew larger and closer together. The only sounds that Ron could hear were the small cracks as twigs snapped beneath his feet and the low breathing of Snape behind him.

"Exactly where are we going?" Ron grumbled after several minutes. The incline had become so steep now Ron needed to look for strategic footholds to step down as throw his was going down a ladder rather than a hill.

Snape did not speak for a while until "Stop" he suddenly said "We're here."

Ron looked around wondering if Snape knew where 'here' was. It just looked like more rocks and trees and then he noticed Snape was facing one of the large boulders and tracing with it with his wand in strange patterns.

His former potions professor then tapped the boulder three times and said as though it gave him little pleasure "Ginger Newt" and the boulder moved slowly aside revealing a large cavernous black hole.

Snape returned to his side and poked his wand again in Ron's back pushing him forward "After you Weasley" he said grimly.

Ron bit his lip as he walked into the darkness in the side of the hill. A soft blue light lit the way from behind him and he realised Snape had cast the Lumos charm.

They climbed down several large boulders very carefully as Ron could only see a few inches in front of him until his feet finally landed on soft flat earth. Snape stepped down behind him and his wand-light cast along revealing a long winding tunnel ahead of them that fell with the hill outside. It looked suitably gloomy for the entrance to the Death Eater's headquarters Ron thought.

They walked for what felt like several hours and at first Ron resolved that if he could not escape he would meet death head held high and defiant like Mad Eye, like his uncles Fabian and Gideon Prewett. However after several miles of stumbling along he became weary and his shoulders drooped and his head begun to hang low.

"Will I at least get to see Hermione before I die?" Ron asked eventually.

"I do not know" Snape answered blandly.

Ron bristled, after everything he was still giving these stupid game playing statements "Well is she going to be wherever we're going?" he demanded.

"I highly doubt that."

Ron's stomach both plummeted and soared, he could not work out whether Snape had handed over Hermione's whereabouts to You Know Who yet or if he was still looking for her, maybe looking to take credit for capturing her himself. Ron could only hope she escaped before it happened, at least either way he would not have to live with the knowledge that he had caused her death. Then again he would be dead soon, he was sure of that.

"I thought you were high up in You Know Who's ranks" Ron said, they had now reached a long flat stretch of the tunnel and therefore Snape was now pushing them to walk much quicker. "Didn't killing Dumbledore get you any Death Eater points?"

Snape bristled behind him "Do you have a point Weasley?" he snapped.

"Well yeah I do as a matter of fact" he said "How come we have to walk miles in the dark to get to this place, don't you have access to some VIP entrance?"

"Why so eager to get there Weasley?" Snape drawled sounding a little amused "Not so long ago you were running in fear in the woods."

Ron bit his lip, he was afraid but he was not about to let a git like Snape know that and so he shrugged "If I'm going to die today might as well get it over with."

"You're not going to die today" Snape drawled.

Ron blinked in surprise "But I thought, you said you had been instructed to present me."

The tunnel was getting wider now and the floor was smoother, Ron squinted and he was able to make out a stone wall at the end.

"Unfortunately I have been told that being an insufferable nuisance is not a crime that warrants capital punishment" Snape said regretfully and they were now a few steps away from the stone wall.

"But after he's finished torturing me, he's not just going to let me go is he?" Ron reasoned and to his annoyance Snape ignored him and began muttering at the stone wall. The slabs began to twist and slide out of the way creating an arched entrance "Is he?" Ron demanded.

Snape placed his finger to his own pale thin lips and prodded Ron through the archway. Ron looked around and realised he was on a step halfway up a stone spiral staircase with nothing but narrow steps below and above him.

"Where are we?" Ron said in hushed tones.

"Silence" Snape snapped waving his wand and closing the archway before he began to prod Ron upstairs.

"Are we're sneaking in here?" Ron whispered now utterly confused, it he was being brought before You Know Who surely there was no cause to be quiet "I thought…"

"The thoughts of your bone idle head could probably be used as quite decent pumpkin fertiliser" Snape hissed "Now shut up and be quiet."

They climbed the narrow spiral staircase and Ron's heart began hammering so hard in his ribcage. He had been so sure he had been brought here to die and had spent the whole of the journey through the tunnel expecting it and preparing for it but now… It was like he was back at Spinner's End, anxiety and apprehension all wrapped up in one with no idea of what Snape intended for him.

"We are here" Snape said lowly at last and sure enough Ron stood face to face with a stone wall in the centre of which was a large square of canvas that appeared to be the back of a painting.

"Finite" Snape whispered and the ropes fell from Ron's torso and arms. For a brief second Ron realised that Snape was on the step below him and Ron could probably knock the man down the stone stairs rendering unconscious and make his escape but for some strange reason he did not do this. Snape prodded his back once more with his wand "Go in."

Ron gulped and taking a deep breath he slowly touched the canvas with his fingertips tentatively pushing it open. When he first stepped in Ron was at first blinded by brilliant sunlight and he blinked hard before he was able to see he was in a beautiful circular room where whispering portraits of wizards and witches in splendid robes lined the walls and silver instruments made strange whizzing noises on small spindly tables. Large arched windows revealed an endless dark green forest, high mountains and a glittering black blue lake beyond and to their right stood a magnificent claw footed desk.

"Ah Mr Weasley" and Ron spun around in shock to find himself staring into the twinkly eyes, that were still brilliantly blue, of the portrait of Professor Dumbledore "Welcome back to Hogwarts, I hope you don't mind that I asked Professor Snape to bring you a couple of days before the start of term."

Thanks for all your lovely reviews so far

Autumn Nicole: Please do feel like you have to justify writing a polite (and useful) review with questions. I hope this chapter will help explain why Hermione didn't seize her chance to escape. Part of it is the horcrux but I think that after the experience of Crabbe Castle she probably feels the need to escape the Lestranges is less urgent by comparison - not that this is necessarily correct and this is something that will be explored and Malfoy will press her with in later chapters.

I hope that answers your first point, as to her being wandless when she escaped, if you go back and read the previous chapter you should see she steals Madame Lestrange's wand when she plucks hair from her head.

To all reviewers: Please let me know if you have any questions about the story and don't be afraid to provide negative criticism as well as positive as this is what will make me a better writer