Chapter 11: Overheard in the Dungeons

"DRACO!" Her voice screamed in panic. He was running; sprinting as fast as he could towards her. Nothing else mattered but her safety. He didn't feel tired, or out of breath; he couldn't feel the muscles throbbing in his legs, or the sweat dripping down his face; he couldn't hear his feet crashing against the ground, or the other voices yelling around him; all he could feel was his heart pounding; all he could hear was her voice.

He slowed as he came into a clearing, 'She should be right here!' he thought, looking around frantically. He didn't know why she was supposed to be there or where he was, but she was supposed to be here, in the clearing, waiting for him.

"You won't find her here," his mother stepped out from behind a tree, looking at him worriedly, "I'm sorry, son, they took her."

"NO!" he said angrily, "No, she has to be here!"

"She's not, Draco. I tried to protect her but there was nothing I could do. She's gone."

A blood-curdling scream filled the air and their heads shot up.

"Do you think—" Draco started, his mind working overtime.

"It sounds like there's still time, but not much," his mother said, hugging him tightly. She stepped back, "Good luck Draco."

He nodded, unable to form words and took off at full speed towards her voice.

As he approached his new destination, a low, sinister laugh filled his head and everything went black…

Draco jolted up from his sleep, his heart still pounding. Standing before him was Voldemort.

"I see you've found time for a nap," he said slowly, walking towards him. Draco saw Hermione standing against the opposite wall out of the corner of his eye.

He felt relief, seeing her there, as well as fear and anger towards the wizard in front of him.

Voldemort lifted his wand, "Crucio!" he said, watching as Draco fell to the floor, writhing in pain.

"Stop it!" he heard Hermione yell, looking horrified.

Voldemort lifted the curse, turning his wand on her, "Coangusto," he said in a dark whisper.

Draco looked over from where he lay weakly on the ground.

Hermione's eyes bulged slightly and she gasped for breath. She fell to her knees, clutching her throat; he was strangling her. Draco's mind was racing; he had to do something. He tried meekly to push himself off the ground to no avail.

"You're going to kill her!" he said angrily.

Hermione was starting to feel light headed; the need for air was crucial. Her eyes started to cloud over; Draco's terrified face was the last thing she saw before she blacked out completely, falling to the floor.

Voldemort lifted the curse, his lips curling up into a sneer. He turned back towards Draco, "Would that be a problem, young Malfoy… if she were to die?"

"She's all you fucking gave me to keep sane," Draco said, " She didn't even do anything."

"You'll both meet the same end eventually," Voldemort hissed before apparating out of the room.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"Bella," Lucius greeted her as she closed the door.

"Draco," Bellatrix raised her eyebrows at him.

"Right, Granger," he corrected himself.

"How's everything going on your end?" Bellatrix asked him, sitting down on one of the desks.

"Flitwick worked like a charm and Professor Trelawney will be next Tuesday after class," he told her, "He wrote me earlier saying to spread it out a little more as to alleviate suspicion."

"I see," Bella nodded, "I got Professor Babbling the other day, so I should save Sprout for next week then?"

"Maybe a couple weeks, He didn't specify how long in between would be a good idea, so maybe we should go one per week until further notice."

"Fine," she said, sighing, "This is quite different than I remember it, here at Hogwarts."

"Well, you're in Gryffindor, that certainly changes things," Lucius smirked.

"Yes, it does. All they want to do is sit around and chat all day and everyone is so upbeat and cheery. It's too much."

"Have you learned anything of importance?" Lucius asked.

"Well I have the where-abouts of every member of the Weasley family," Bellatrix stated proudly.

Ginny finally turned the corner where she had seen Hermione walk around a few minutes ago. She had stalled in case Hermione decided to backtrack, since she was, oddly, in the dungeons. Ginny put her ear up to the door, listening closely to see if she could figure out what Hermione was up to.

"Impressive," Lucius said, walking closer to Bellatrix, "You know I remember all the times we used to spend in this room together, Bel-Granger."

"Oh, now, I don't think Cissy would like it much if we were recounting old memories," she batted her eyelashes at him, her lips curling up.

"Safe to say she is far away from here," he whispered, running his finger slowly across her cheek.

Ginny pressed her ear harder, it was getting difficult to hear more than a couple words of the conversation, but it sounded intense.

"I've been waiting a long time for an opportunity like this," Bellatrix whispered back as Lucius swooped down and kissed her roughly.

After a few intense minutes Lucius pulled back, "We should get back, but I look forward to our next meeting. Tuesday night."

Bella watched him, breathing heavily, as he sauntered off, winking as he left.

Ginny, hearing footsteps coming towards the door, ducked into an alcove and peaked around as Draco Malfoy walked out of the room, straightening his robes and heading towards the Slytherin dormitories. She was so shocked she didn't even have the heart to move as Hermione exited the room a few minutes later, walking unknowingly by Ginny's hiding spot and off towards Gryffindor Tower.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

After a while, Ginny finally moved from the alcove, walking dazedly back up towards the Tower as well. Hermione and Malfoy? How was that even possible? The boys would never speak to her again. Should she tell them? No, she shook her head. She obviously had to talk to Hermione first. She would tell her what she heard and allow Hermione to explain.

The thought of it was just so outrageous that she couldn't wrap her head around it. What was there to even explain? Malfoy was their sworn enemy… and it was only a couple weeks into school, how had that changed so quickly?

Before she knew it, she had reached the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"Pilfering Pixies" she mumbled. The portrait swung open and she climbed through. She saw Harry and Ron sitting across the room and waved.

"Hey, Gin, come here!" Ron called.

Stuck between wanting to rush upstairs to Hermione's room and not wanting to seem off, she walked over to the boys, "What's up?" she asked.

"Ron was just wondering about your friend Susan, we heard she's dating Seamus now."

"You sound like a bunch of gossiping girls," Ginny laughed.

"Well it's just that Seamus has never fancied anyone before, so we're a bit interested!" Ron said, his ears reddening.

"She's a nice girl," Ginny said, "Very sweet, I can see why he'd be interested in her. I think they were placed as partners together in Herbology. I guess he was really nervous and accidently cut off the wrong leaf of a Tentacula, it nearly strangled him!"

The two boys looked at each other and laughed, "Sounds like Seamus," Harry said.

"Well I'll let you girls talk," Ginny grinned, "I'm going to go upstairs and read for a little bit."

"Alright we'll see you later," Ron said as he turned back to Harry, who gave Ginny a quick kiss before grabbing his quill to re-start on the History of Magic essay.

Ginny let out a deep breath, glad they hadn't suspected anything was wrong. She reached the dormitories and knocked softly on Hermione's door.

"Come in," she heard.

She walked in, closing the door behind her, Hermione was sitting on her bed with her Potions book open, "Yes?" she asked.

"Hey Hermione, I think we should talk. I overheard you and Malfoy talking down in the dungeons earlier…"

Bellatrix froze.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

As soon as he had the power to lift himself up and over to Hermione, Draco wrapped her tightly in a blanket and lay her head on his lap, and his own back against the wall. He stroked her hair as he watched her intently, waiting for her to become conscious again.

What were these dreams? He wondered, And why did they make him feel for this girl the way they did? As he looked at her, he genuinely felt connected to her. Even the touch of her skin was intoxicating. He wanted to look deeply into her eyes again, he wanted to kiss her, protect her.

Draco shook his head, What was he saying? Sure, he cared that she was safe, but only because her safety meant his safety at the moment. Maybe that's what the dreams were trying to tell him. He needed to protect her because they were in the same position, and if she died, he would too.

He could feel his exterior shutting itself off angrily; he was acting like some love-struck schoolboy, which he certainly was not.

Hermione opened her eyes weakly, surprised to find herself breathing steadily, her head resting comfortably on Draco's lap.

She looked up him, smiling weakly. As she was looking at him, she was confused. His fingers were in his hair as though he had been running them through it, and he was looking at her, half passionately, and half coldly; his eyes looking like they were clouding over by the second.

"Malfoy?" she asked groggily.

Draco moved his hand to the stone floor, looking away, "You can probably sit up now."

She sat up slowly, her eyes never leaving him, "Thank you… for taking care of me," she said.

Still in a weird place, Draco gave her a half nod, wanting to both hug her as tightly as he could and get as far away from her as possible.

"Are you alright?" she asked.

"Fine," he said shortly.

"Can you just tell me what's on your mind?" Hermione asked softly, "I'm not trying to pry, it's just sometimes I feel like you care about me and other times I feel like you wish Voldemort would just finish me off."

Draco felt his chest tighten at the last part, "Of course I don't want him to finish you off," he blurted out, turning towards her.

When their eyes locked, Hermione saw genuine fear at the thought of it and did the only thing she could think of. She pulled him to her and captured his lips with her own. It was fierce, but slow.

Draco let it happen. She pulled him in and there was nothing else he wanted in that moment. Her lips were soft on his, she moaned, barely audibly, into the kiss as she pulled gently on his lower lip before he slipped his tongue in to meet hers.

Hermione shifted swiftly, straddling him. She felt a little light headed, maybe from the curse from Voldemort, maybe from the increased rate her heart was beating at.

Draco tried to snap back to reality, the angry part of him pulling on her hair as the other part of him ran his hands gently over her body.

Hermione breathed sharply as he pulled her hair. Ignited, she ran her hands through his, pulling on it lightly and battling back against him.

Draco could feel himself giving in to the passion between them. Angry at himself for letting this go on as long as it had, he pushed her off of him. She fell back against the wall, breathing heavily.

Draco stood up, giving her a dark look and walking briskly to the other side of the room to cool down.

Hermione, stood up and walked over to him, annoyed, "No, not this time," she said, spinning him around and crashing her lips back onto his.

Draco felt, once again, the passion wash over him and he picked her up. She wrapped her legs around his waist and he pushed her back against a wall, his hands fumbling around the bottom of her shirt.

Hermione bit his lip and he pushed his tongue roughly into her mouth in response.

His hands roamed under her shirt. Her bare skin was electrifying, so warm against the cool air.

Hermione let her nails grip Draco's back; never in her life had she had a moment like this. She felt an animalistic sense of passion where everything was spontaneous and new, and it all felt so right with Draco.

Draco moved his lips to her neck, sucking gently at her skin, wanting nothing more than to rip her clothes off.

Hermione felt him push his hips into hers and she moaned, tilting her head back.

Draco smirked, "You like this, Granger?" he whispered in her ear, sending chills down her spine.

Hermione didn't say anything; she simply ran her nails down his arms.

A loud *POP* broke the two apart, Hermione catching herself against the wall as Draco jumped two feet back.

Wormtail looked at the two suspiciously.

"WE WERE ARGUING," Draco yelled as a defense to the accusing look, infuriated and still full of passion.

Wormtail jumped a little, dropping a new backpack and setting down two plates of food before quickly apparating from the room.

Still breathing heavily, Draco and Hermione looked over at each other.

o-o-o-o-o-o-o