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As the heavy door opened, light streamed through, leaving Draco momentarily blinded by the sudden light. A dark cloaked figure stood in the doorway, lighted wand held aloft. Draco's body tensed, and he instinctively reached for his wand, only to find that it was not there.

Hermione opened her eyes, glaring daggers at the tall approaching figure.

If only looks could kill… he'd be dead by now, Draco thought grimly.

"Draco," a deep, unpleasant voice sneered, "you are to come with me. Say bye-bye to the Mudblood, it just may be that you ever see… it."

Hermione was so cheerless that she didn't even have it in her to reply to the boorish remark made by the Death Eater.

Gazing up at him sadly, she whispered,

"I love you," fighting back the hot tears that burned behind her eyes. "I always have, and always will. No matter what."

His heart soared, just three little words… "I love you," he choked out."

"Don't give up! Its not over until the Fat Lady sings," she smiled softly, thinking about how barmy she sounded. Smiling back at her, he leaned down and gently kissed her, one last time.

As he rose, thick ropes snaked up his body, binding his hands and feet.

"Mobilicorpus," the Death Eater murmured carelessly, flicking his wand in Draco's direction. Draco rose a few inches above the ground, his eyes never leaving Hermione's, even as the Death Eater guided him out the door.

As the door slammed shut behind the two of them, and the door was locked, Hermione's eyes filled with tears.

They both had known and accepted the great dangers that they faced everyday – helping the Order automatically made them targets for the enemy. And they weren't exactly rookies, either.

Before they had finished with school, they both were already involved in various operations and such that the Order was running.

And now they paid dearly for it.

She had to save them both.

She highly doubted that anyone who would save them could find them before it was too late.

[*]

She pulled herself together, throbbing head and all, and tried to recall everything that she could about wandless magic… she had never actually gotten around to attempting it before, only the most powerful of wizards and witches could pull it off. She had done a good deal of research on it though… it had always interested her.

Wandless magic… she closed her eyes pensively, racking her brain for every single detail about the subject that she could possibly remember.

Think, Hermione, think!
Okay, it's supposed to be exhausting… it takes an enormous amount of energy, concentration and will power… but its possible. No incantations are necessary, you just have to focus all of your mental power hard on what you want, and it should happen.

She knew that she didn't have too much time, so she had to act quickly, even though her head was killing her.

Concentrating hard, she sat up, and placed a trembling hand on the back of her head, feeling a large and painful lump. I don't think I have a concussion…

Grimacing, she focused all of her will power on healing the bulge on the back of her head a bit; knowing she would never be able to get up and do what she had to do if her head was throbbing horribly - she'd only pass out again.

Heal.

She thought the word forcefully.

Nothing happened.

That was rather anticlimactic, she thought dully.

She tried again, and nothing happened.

What was she forgetting?

Searching her mind, she could find nothing.

She tried again, and the same results.

Relaxing! That's it! Somehow or other, I'm supposed to focus that hard, and relax at the same time.

Okay… here goes…

With renewed determination, she relaxed her entire body and mind, meditating for a brief moment, before gathering her psychological strength and trying again.

A few more failures followed her revelation, and she was getting tired from all of the effort she was expending. This wasn't exactly helping her headache, either. She was just going to try one last time...

Heal.

Suddenly, she felt a curious power at her fingertips, it traveled through her body, and she felt some of her strength return, as the throbbing subsided, and the ostrich egg on the back of her head disappeared.

Her eyes flew open.

What happened?

All of the effort was supposed to take energy away, not replace it.

Not that she really minded getting all of her energy back, but being Hermione, she wanted to know why.

With a new air of confidence, she rose to her feet and walked to the door. Placing her fingertips on the rough wooden surface, she closed her eyes and gathered her willpower.

Open.

Once again, absolutely nothing happened. She had to get the hang of this, and quickly.

Relaxing her mind the best she could, she focused her power at the door again,

Open.

This time, though, it worked, the large door creaked open. She peeked her head out to make sure there was no guard.

There wasn't.

They obviously thought that she was harmless without a wand.

Heh heh, Hermione 1, Death Eaters 0.

She closed the door behind her softly. It was not too much brighter out in the corridor, although there were windows, because it was nighttime. Strangely, the corridor was starting to remind her of somewhere else, she just didn't know where.

She ventured to the end of the hallway.

It was a fork, she could go either up a flight of stairs, or go left, and she had no idea which way would lead her to Draco.

The feeling that she had been here and done this before still wouldn't go away.

Where am I? she asked her self over, and over. But she found no answer.

From what she could see of the house she was in, it was shabby, but appeared to be large and old. It looked abandoned, too. But apparently it was not.

Stopping to listen for voices or footsteps for a moment, she could hear nothing at all.

She felt a strong urge to go up the stairs.

Following her instinct, she started to climb the steep stairs until she reached the top – another long corridor. This one was a dead end, but had many doors. She decided against going back down the stairs, and quickly started to open and look inside the doors, one by one. This, unfortunately, left her mind free to wander, what if it's too late? What if he's not okay? What will I do without him?

Fear mounted in her chest as she neared the end of the hallway.

All of the rooms had been rundown and utterly empty, no sign that anyone had been in any of them for years.

She opened the last door, expecting it to be as empty as the rest. But to her surprise, horror and joy (if you can imagine those three combined), it was not.

The door slammed behind her.

Draco lay sprawled on the floor, his pain apparent on his glistening face.

But he wasn't the only one in there. Towering above him was a face Hermione wished to completely erase from her mind.

It was Lord Voldemort.

They both were obviously surprised to see her, she had been locked up in a prison cell without her wand, after all. But Voldemort masked his surprise in an instant, and his piercing gaze held Hermione's.

She felt her mind being invaded, feeling his mind probing hers. And she knew what he was looking for.

Well, she wouldn't let him find it. Blasted overgrown snake spawn, she thought angrily.

Tearing her eyes away, she settled them on Draco.

Breathing heavily, he sat up slowly. Voldemort had obviously been using the Cruciatus curse on him.

Then it hit her.

This was her recurring nightmare.

This was the dream that had plagued her all those years! That was why the house looked familiar.... but she had never gotten to the end of the dream.

She didn't know how it ended.

They would make their own ending, she had the element of surprise on her side.

Voldemort still didn't know she could perform wandless magic. He thought that she was about as threatening as a flobberworm without the protection of her wand. Hah!

She had to think fast. She wasn't underestimating Voldemort at all. She knew that if she did, that would be their downfall.

All she needed was a good plan...