A/N - Sorry for making you wait, everyone - this chapter had a lot going on so I wanted to make sure it was perfected before I released it. Enjoy!

Their eyes met. Hermione could almost feel the hot fury pulsating off his body from where he stood. She gulped, her eyes brushing across the room – she had left one of the wardrobe doors open. There was no getting out of this.

"Bold." Liam whispered, his voice unwavering. For some reason, it sounded different... mature.

Dangerous.

She raised her chin defiantly, though her insides were churning.

"You didn't expect me to sit around and accept this, did you?" she said.

Liam sneered and took a step forward with an uncharacteristic air of confidence. Hermione stood in her place stiffly, refusing to succumb to fear. The room suddenly felt smaller and a chill ran up her spine.

"No. Though I thought you'd be a bit more careful," he replied, saying the last word slowly, savouring it. He took another step towards her, bright gaze locked.

Hermione bit her lip, but stayed in her place. Without her wand, she felt defenceless, and wondered about its whereabouts.

"I told you not to try and leave," he continued, eyes flicking down to her arm. Angry red lines were criss-crossed on it. Hermione pulled her sweater sleeve down consciously, hiding them.

"I'll find a way out of here," she said, keeping her voice level. "If my friends don't find me first."

Liam smiled, but there was no warmth in it. A puppet's smile. "I'm sure you also noticed the house has been charmed to look destroyed to outsiders. Burnt down, in fact.

There was a pause. Hermione tried to digest the information he gave her.

Another step, and now they were nearly touching. "No one can ever find you. And you can't... get... out."

Before she could answer, his face twisted angrily and he grabbed her throat. Hermione's gasp was cut off as he tightened on her airway, and she thrashed her arms. She blinked up at him, tears rapidly forming in her eyes.

Liam's dark eyes bore down on her. There was no human emotion in them. Her focus blurred slightly as she became faint and her arms went limp.

And his grip continued to tighten. "I can end this," he simply said. With that, he flung her aside and she slammed into the wall. Hermione gasped for air, sliding down to the ground weakly.

Her head spun and she fought to keep her eyes open.

"But I won't..." She felt him grab her wrist and he began to drag her out of the room.

Hermione's head banged up against each step of the staircase as she was dragged down like a lifeless rag doll. A quiet moan escaped her bloody lips at the excruciating pain, but she was much too weak to fight back. Finally, he flung her off the ground and onto a bed, back in her bright room, meant to signify comfort.

She lied there, face down, her body aching. The feeling returned to most parts of her body and she raised her head feebly.

Liam stood there, observing her. Strangely enough, the nervous boyish look he usually sported has returned and he looked at her curiously, a hand on his temple like he had a headache.

"Well," he mumbled. His voice sounded normal again. "When you feel better, I expect you to put this on." He placed a tiny bottle on the bookshelf. Hermione couldn't figure out what it was, as both of her eyes were swollen.

Before he closed the door, he turned around and gave her a – a sympathetic smile?

"I'll be back."

Ron and Harry were ready. After agreeing it was time to take action, they planned to leave the upcoming weekend. Neither of them had an idea about where they were going to stay, or how they were going to travel, but that was the least of their worries. As long as they were out there soon, they felt like they weren't letting Hermione down.

Nobody knew. Ron was certain there would be another uproar of panic when their fellow Gryffindors realized they had suddenly disappeared overnight, but someone would figure it out eventually. At first, they realized it was a bit irrational. Everything the trio did was irrational, and now, without Hermione, it was even more so.

It wasn't until Hogwarts went into another state of emergency that they knew it was absolutely necessary.

The morning before Ron and Harry planned their leave began typically. Students filed into the Great Hall for breakfast before the start of classes. The atmosphere at Hogwarts was still wary, but chatter slowly cropped up again. One step towards normalcy, for many.

Ron yawned, spreading some cheese across his second bagel. He'd hardly gotten any sleep the past few days after the meeting with the Aurors and the dark bags under his eyes proved as much. McGonagall strode past and shot him a critical glance – Ron tried to flatten his unruly hair down, annoyed. Though McGonagall looked just as stressed out as most, that didn't stop her from sorting everyone out.

Harry slung his bag off his shoulder and slumped down in front of Ron, grabbing his own breakfast.

"Tomorrow," Harry said lowly, spreading butter on toast.

Ron nodded, eyes darting to both his sides. No one seemed to be eavesdropping.

"You reckon you're ready?"

Harry shrugged, taking a bite out of his toast. "As ready as I'll ever be."

They ate in silence. The owls swooped in with the day's post, dropping packages and letters alike. Ron narrowed his eyes across the Hall at the Slytherins, many of whom were boasting about their giant parcels full of treats from back home. Either they were hiding it, or they were already over Pansy's death. He looked away, disgusting.

"They sent letters home, you know," he said, downing his pumpkin juice. "About everything. Some students have already been pulled out."

Harry nodded, eyes lost in thought. "The Dursleys could care less."

"Mum sent me a letter the other day, went bloody mad by the looks of—"

Ron was cut off by a bloodcurdling shriek, followed by several others in a domino effect. It came from the other side of the room, and all the students whipped their heads towards the Slytherin table, trying to figure out what had happened. Ron heard an 'Oh my God!' come from several students and the alarm escalated. Benches were scraped back and students stood up, craning their necks and trying to glimpse the Slytherins.

Ron and Harry scrambled up onto the bench along with Dean and Seamus, looking out across the Hall.

"Blimey..." Ron heard Seamus whisper to his left. Blimey was an understatement.

Several Slytherins were on their knees, clutching their faces and screaming Among them, Ron recognized Blaise Zabini and Draco Malfoy. The rest of the Slytherins were backed up against the stone wall, terrified at the sight before them. A fair-haired female was already sprawled motionless on the ground, a ripped letter in her hand; the one who shrieked first, Ron guessed.

A second later, Vincent Crabbe, who was gaping next to Malfoy, ripped out a shout of pain. Ron saw his face disfigure and become blotched with red and black blemishes, the same time Malfoy and Zabini toppled over and stopped moving.

"It's CONTAGIOUS!" a voice screeched, and everyone's interest in getting a glimpse disappeared – the only thing that ran through the minds of the students was 'get out'.

Ron scrambled off the bench, following the stampede out. There was a hold up at the entrance, and people fought over who got to leave first. Ron turned around and noticing he had lost Harry in the throng. He could hear McGonagall's voice shouting at students not to breath the air, and he clamped a hand over his mouth. The students' shrieks didn't cease as they pushed each other out of the Great Hall, trying to escape the horror behind them.

A tiny Hufflepuff girl with ginger pigtails stood off to the side, her hands clamped in fear. Her small face was pale and her eyes wide. She had to be in first year. Ron felt a pang – she reminded him of a young Ginny.

"Don't just stand around! We've got to GO," he cried, grabbing her hand and pulling her along with him. "And cover your mouth!"

The small girl gripped his hand tightly and did as she was told, looking afraid and confused.

As everyone flooded out, Ron's mind whirled like clockwork. What the hell just happened? In all of a few moments, Hogwarts was dragged right back down into a state of fear. He still couldn't find Harry and hoped he was with Ginny – who knew how many others succumbed to whatever that was back there.

With the expressions swimming around him, Ron knew what the underlying question was.

Was anyone truly safe?

Hope you enjoyed that! REVIEW PLEASE, they motivate me to update quicker - I hate leaving a lot of people waiting if it's asked for.

I hope you're all enjoying your weekend!

-heylooklisten