Yay me! Finally I got chapter 10 up! Yay! -dances around excitedly- Sorry it took so long but my brain hit a road block and then it stalled and . . . well finally the brain is working again and here is another chapter and . . . yay!
Blah, blah, blah . . . i don't own these characters . . . blah, blah, blah
The Next Day
"Hermy, can I ask you something?" Ron asked.
Hermione looked over at him as they walked down the hall. She was walking around the mansion without fear of the Death Eaters. Professor Severus Snape had used his influence to convince Voldemort to leave Hermione alone. Snape had told Voldemort that for Hermione to fully recover, she needed to be left alone and allowed to roam freely. Surprisingly, Voldemort had agreed.
"What is it Ron?" Hermione asked after a few minutes silence.
"Oh!" Ron shook his head. "Um, when you were still delirious, you mentioned Harry. You said something about Harry helping or something. What was that about?"
Hermione looked thoughtful.
"A couple of weeks ago . . . I dreamed about Harry." She said. "Maybe that's why."
"You dreamed about Harry?" Ron asked curiously. "What happened in your dream?"
Hermione sighed thoughtfully. She winced in pain when she accidentally ran into a small table with a candle standing on it and started hobbling.
"Are you alright baby?" Ron slipped an arm around her waist to help her.
"Yeah." Hermione gasped in pain. "Stop for a second."
Ron stopped walking and gently helped her sit down on the floor. He looked around and then sat down next to her.
"Where are we?" he asked.
"The fourth floor I think?" Hermione groaned as she gingerly rubbed her right knee. She pulled up the leg of the pants she was wearing and inspected it. "It's bruising again."
Ron leaned down to take a closer look.
"How did that happen?" he asked.
"Draco." Hermione whispered. "When he beat me into 'submission' as Voldemort likes to call it, Mr. Malfoy told him to hit me across the knees so that I couldn't run away. If he had hit me any harder he could've have busted my kneecaps. But luckily he only hit them hard enough to bruise them. But they're still really tender. And running into that table certainly didn't help. I'm so clumsy lately. Last night when Snape forced me to come downstairs for dinner I tripped on a carpet."
"I think you're just a bit disorientated." Ron said. "You've been sleeping for quite a few days."
Hermione shrugged.
"So tell me about this dream with Harry." Ron prodded.
"Oh, yeah." Hermione took a deep breath. She jumped and looked down the hall when a door suddenly slammed open. One of the Death Eaters looked their way but continued down the hall in the opposite direction. "Not here. Some of the girls who are 'loyal' to Voldemort might be on this floor too. That means it's probably overrun by Death Eaters."
"Where are we going to go that isn't overrun by Death Eaters?" Ron sighed.
"Outside." Hermione took a deep breath. "Snape said he told Voldemort that I needed fresh air to aid in my recovery. We can go outside. Come on. Let's get up and keep going."
"How many floors are there?" Ron lifted Hermione up and gingerly set her on her feet.
"Five in the middle and four in each wing." Hermione whispered as she tentatively took a few steps. "But let's talk about it outside. I don't want anyone to hear."
Ron helped Hermione down the hall.
"How do we get out of here?" Ron asked as the continued down what seemed like an endless hall.
"One of these doors is a trick doorway." Hermione started counting the doors. "It'll take us downstairs to the third floor without having to use the stairs."
"But you don't even know exactly where we are." Ron frowned. "I don't even know where we are."
"We just passed through the Death Eater section." Hermione said.
"How can you tell?" Ron asked. "There's no way to tell where one wing starts and one ends."
"Yeah there is." Hermione winced. "Here. I'll show you."
Hermione grabbed Ron's hand and limped back a few doors.
"See this?" she said.
"It's a door." Ron sighed.
"Knock and see." Hermione insisted. "Go on."
Ron knocked and was surprised to hear a solid sound instead of a hollow one.
"It's just a solid door." He said.
"Knock on that one." Hermione pointed to the next door. "It looks exactly the same so theoretically it should sound the same."
Ron knocked and it sounded slightly hollow.
"Yes?" a female voice called.
"It's just me." Hermione answered.
"Okay." The voice sounded closer this time. The door opened and a head poked out. The girl didn't look much older then them but Ron didn't know her. "How are you feeling Hermione?"
Hermione shrugged.
"I've been better." She said. "You?"
"Mr. Nott Sr. thinks I might be pregnant." The girl answered. "I won't be getting any visitors until after the test is done."
"Wow." Hermione nodded. "Maybe you'll be getting out of here sooner then you expected."
"I hope so." Tears formed in the girl's eyes. "I miss my parents. It probably doesn't matter anyway. I know they don't miss me. I ran away so many times they probably didn't even know I was gone."
"It'll turn out alright." Hermione soothed. "I promise."
The girl gave Hermione a small smile. She gently closed the door. Ron gave Hermione a questioning look.
"As far as the other girls and I could tell, pregnancy is the only way you can ever get out of here." Hermione told him. "But the Death Eaters don't like for the girls to go away so they're usually very careful. But accidents happen. And they don't want a girl who's having a kid."
"But do the girls live when they 'leave'?" Ron asked.
Hermione shrugged. She pointed to the fake door. She grabbed the doorknob and tried to rattle it but it didn't budge.
"And this is how you tell the difference." Hermione said. "It's subtle so at first you have to look closely. But once you know you can tell right away."
"What?" Ron asked.
Hermione pointed to the gold trimming around the door.
"The Death Eaters' doors are trimmed in gold plating." She whispered. "On our doors, the trim is gold paint. See? The fake trimming is a bit brighter."
Ron looked between the Death Eater's door and the fake door. He slowly began to see the difference.
"Who taught you that?" he murmured.
"Draco." Hermione answered softly. "It's what he was telling me when his dad caught us. When he got in trouble and I got punished."
"Oh." They continued down the hall.
"Here." Hermione pulled him towards a doorway. They walked through without opening it. "Oops. I was wrong. This one has stairs. Ooh, no I was wrong. No stairs. Well, that's why they're called trick doors."
They suddenly appeared in a hall identical to the first.
"Is this the third floor?" Ron asked.
Hermione shook her head.
"It's actually the second." Hermione said.
"How can you tell?"
Hermione pointed at something on the wall.
"The candles?" Ron frowned.
"The wall sconces have the floor number expertly hidden in the designs." Hermione murmured. "He showed me that too a while ago."
"Miss Granger? Mr. Weasley?"
Hermione and Ron turned around in shock. They came face-to-face with Professor Snape.
"I'm afraid you'll have to go back to your rooms." He said. "Or at least one of your rooms. One of the girls has tried to escape and was caught. The Death Eaters will be doing room checks in a few minutes. You can go out tomorrow."
Hermione sighed and nodded. She beckoned to Ron and they made their way back through the trick door.
"What do you think this means?" he asked.
"Nothing." Hermione practically dragged Ron down the fourth floor hall. Her limping became more and more prominent. "I know who it was."
"Who?"
"That girl we talked to." Hermione said. "She's tried it before. That's why she's so anxious to be pregnant."
They had just passed through the Death Eaters' section when two Death Eaters came walking down the hall.
"Well, I know where two of mine are." One of them said. He wrote something on a clipboard he carried.
They passed by Ron and Hermione without saying anything to them.
"She looks healthy enough." The other Death Eater muttered.
Hermione looked at Ron fearfully. He shook his head and helped her move more quickly down the hall.
Well that's the it of that chapter. Don't worry, I didn't forget about Hermy's dream of Harry. They'll get back to it. Hopefully chapter 11 will be up soon. I hope anyway. So . . . please review b/c I love you all soooo much. Yay you!