"You look great," Draco said with a smirk, his hand on Hermione's elbow as he steered her down the hallway of the abandoned construction site that the Portkey had dragged them to.
"I will kill you, I promise," Hermione threatened, trying to pull down the hem of the short dress she had been forced to wear. The all-black dress was low-cut in the front, showing more cleavage than Hermione would have preferred to wear. The corset-style top of the dress melded into a lacy skirt that went mid-thigh. Her wand was tucked into the side of the corset along her side. Draco had insisted that she wear the dress to fulfill her role as an auction girl. While Hermione had seen the way that Ariana had dressed, she hadn't considered that she would have to do the same.
"Draco!" called August Sappington's harsh voice from in front of them. "Where have you been? The auction is about to start."
"My apologies," Draco said coolly, slipping back into the role that he played so often. "Brooke here didn't get her letter from you so I had to fetch her myself."
"Yes," said August wryly as he reached them, looking Hermione up and down. "I'll bet you did. Let's go."
"Who is heading the auction?" Draco asked, following August as he led the way down the empty hallways.
"You are," August spat, his voice managing to sound even more unnerving when he was angry. "She's decided to make you her little pet. That's completely fine with me. But once I have my new hideout, you're staying here with her. I don't want you in my faction anymore."
Draco remained silent. Hermione's high heels clicked softly on the ground as she tried to keep up with the two other men.
"Draco, in here," August said, directing Draco into a room to their left. "Lorelei will teach you the curses that you'll be showing at auction. Brooke, come with me."
Hermione watched nervously as Draco entered the room without looking back. A small flash of jealousy had gone through her when she heard August call Draco Lorelei's "little pet," but that was just a small annoyance in the grand scheme of things. Draco would be heading the auction—did that mean that he would have to actually use one of those terrible curses as a demonstration for the audience? And where was Gary? She knew that she would have to make it through this auction before she could search the place. It simply wouldn't do to bring the entire gang down onto her head by fleeing to try to find Gary.
"Miss Locke, please come through here," August said, opening a door for Hermione. "I assume that you know what to do in your role as auction host."
Hermione nodded confidently, though all she had was Draco's hasty instructions before they left. She stepped through the door in front of him, holding back a gasp as she realized that she was in a roomful of people. About fifteen men milled about the room, all fashionably dressed with drinks in hand. Unlike the rest of the building, this room was fully finished. The walls were painted a soothing blue color and comfortable auditorium seats lined the floor. A stage at the front was brightly lit by an overhead chandelier. As Hermione walked in, the room hushed as every eye turned to her. The men immediately found their way to seats.
"The curses we have up for today are the Tonguetwister Curse and the Acid curse," August murmured in her ear.
Not very creative names, Hermione thought to herself. Nervousness bubbled up in her stomach as August strode away from her and into a seat in the audience. Every eye was on her as she stood, frozen with fear, in the doorway. Suddenly, a clear picture of Gary came into her mind. She realized that she had to do this for him. Pasting a warm smile on her face, she strode confidently up to the stage. All she had to do was remember what Ariana had done at the last auction.
"Hello," she said brightly as she reached the stage. She looked down at the people below her, trying to keep her disgust for them off her face. They were despicable human beings, every one of them. "Welcome to our auction. I'm Brooke Locke, and I'll be your host for this afternoon. We have two items up for bidding today, and we accept Galleons only as payment."
A soft click at the back of the room drew her attention, as well as everyone else in the silent room. Draco Malfoy strode into the room confidently, his face cool and expressionless. He looked resplendent in the solid black suit and green tie that he had donned before they left his penthouse in London. He made his way to the stage. Lorelei slipped through the door that Malfoy had come from and took a seat near August.
"This is Draco Malfoy, who will be demonstrating our products for today," Hermione said, hoping no one would hear the hitch in her voice as she spoke his name. She searched his eyes for some clue as to what the plan was. Draco finally reached her side and met her gaze briefly, his face inscrutable. Receiving no help from him, Hermione turned back to the audience, clasping her hands in front of her casually so no one would see them shaking.
"Without further ado, this is the first curse: The Tonguetwister Curse," Hermione announced, hoping that her unease didn't show.
One of Lorelei's men strode to the stage, dragging a sobbing middle-aged woman behind him. She appeared to be Silenced, for which Hermione was deeply grateful. Her gratitude didn't last for long, however, because with a wave of his wand, the man who'd pulled her up there took off the Silencing Charm. "Help me!" the woman screamed, pleading with the audience, all of whom had interested, unsympathetic faces.
Hermione felt sick.
Beside her, Draco slowly removed his wand from the pocket of his suit jacket. He raised it over the woman who curled up on the stage in front of him, begging for mercy. His eyes locked with Hermione's, just for a second, and she saw the resignation and self-hatred in his eyes. Then he looked away, muttered an incantation under his breath, and waved his wand in a jagged, complicated movement. The woman let out a high-pitched scream and grabbed at her mouth.
Hermione fixed her gaze firmly on the audience, refusing to look to her right and see what was happening to the woman, refusing to look at Draco's face. She understood that he was making this sacrifice, this blow to his personal integrity not to hurt the innocent, in order to save Gary's life. But it didn't make this any easier.
The audience watched in morbid fascination as the woman's tongue grew longer and longer, choking her throat as it slithered out of her mouth and continued growing, wrapping around her neck and chest, suffocating her as well as obstructing her breathing. The woman's tongue constricted her body slowly but surely. The woman continued letting out garbled shrieks that grew fainter and fainter until she collapsed on the ground with a thud.
Now that the show was over, the audience looked at Hermione expectantly. Hermione blinked several times, trying to recover from the horrific scene she had just witnessed. "We're going to start the bidding at 400 Galleons," she murmured, her voice low and husky with unshed tears.
Luckily for her, the audience took her tone as sultry instead of tear-choked. The bidding commenced. A stocky, black-mustached man was the winner with a bid of 850 Galleons.
"And finally, we have the Acid Curse," Hermione informed the audience once the dead woman had been removed from the room.
Lorelei's man reentered the room, this time levitating the body of an unconscious young teenager in front of him. He was clearly too heavy to drag. Lorelei's man placed the young man in front of Draco on the stage and muttered, "Ennervate." Blue eyes blinked heavily as the sandy-haired young man opened his eyes.
Cold horror coursed through Hermione's body as she recognized who the teenager was. "Gary," she breathed. The audience didn't hear her, but Draco did. His gaze snapped from Gary to Hermione and back again. His face, always pale, turned absolutely stark white as he realized what had happened. Instead of being locked in the cages, Gary was in front of him, so that he would have no choice but to curse him.
Gary Saunders, Hermione's friend and fellow Auror, slowly shifted into a sitting position. He looked gaunt and exhausted, but a glimmer of recognition shone in his eyes as he saw Draco standing above him. "Mr. Malfoy?" he stammered, struggling to his feet. He didn't recognize Hermione in Brooke's body, of course.
Draco aimed his wand at Gary, preparing to speak the curse. Hermione's heartbeat pounded in her chest. What could she do? Two of them versus every man in the room plus Lorelei and August. She was hopelessly outnumbered, just like last time.
"I'm an Auror," Gary said, his voice cracking a little as he tried to face down Draco Malfoy. "Put your wand down!"
The audience burst into hysterical laughter at Gary, their raucous laughter startling him. Draco hesitated, his wand on Gary as the young Auror faced the crowd uncertainly. He won't do it, Hermione told herself, pleading inwardly to Draco. She had promised that she would leave Gary if it would blow their cover, but she just could not follow through with it. If Draco murdered Gary, she would kill him, she really would. Please don't let him do it!
In that instant, everything seemed to spring into action. Without warning, Draco lunged forward and grabbed Gary by the back of his shirt. "Go!" he shouted to Hermione, pushing Gary in front of him as he ran for the door that they had come in through. He moved so quickly and with such immediate speed that he was outside the room with Gary before anyone could react to stop him.
Lorelei and August leapt to their feet, fury in their eyes as they screamed in unison for their henchmen to follow Draco. The moment Draco and Gary made it out of the room, a loud crack signaled their disapparation. The audience burst into chatter. Some men spoke up angrily, while others seemed to be merely curious.
Hermione, on the other hand, remained still and unmoving at the microphone. In all the confusion, August and Lorelei appeared to have assumed that Draco had yelled "Go!" to Gary, not her. She had decided in that split second to stay and see if she could find "Maximilian" in all of the confusion. While Lorelei furiously explained what happened to the six men who had come to her aid, August merely watched, his sharp eyes traveling around the room. His eyes finally lingered upon Hermione, who could feel herself pale more than she already was.
"Everyone, please calm down," she said soothingly above the crowd, hoping to defuse August's suspicion by helping out. To her disbelief, the grumbling audience actually quieted, staring back up at Hermione expectantly. Even Lorelei lowered her voice and directed her henchmen out of the room, leaving Hermione handle the angry potential customers. Now that she had their full attention, however, she had no idea what to do.
August folded his arms across his chest interestedly. Hermione attempted a joke. "Well, that gave a new meaning to the phrase 'stage fright.'" She watched their faces carefully. A few men grinned, and one even chuckled. "Rest assured, you will still have a chance to bid on the Acid Curse at a later date. How many of you would like to see the Acid Curse performed on our escaped friend back there?"
Loud affirmations met her ears. August watched her carefully, clearly wondering where she was going with this. "For your patience and continued loyalty, you will all be invited back for another auction, during which we will have three curses up for bidding instead of just two. Also, we'll be demonstrating our curse on Mr. Malfoy, since he has apparently decided that he'd rather save a worthless teenager than do his job."
The malicious and vindictive personalities of the audience showed through as every single man rose to his feet and cheered. A half-smile showed on August's face as he watched her cater to the needs and desires of the audience before her. As Hermione met his eyes warily, he nodded slightly. Relief relaxed the young woman's tense muscles a little.
August took the stage and concluded the auction. "Mr. Magnus Campbell," he said to the man who had now purchased the Tonguetwister Curse. "Brooke will escort you to a room where you will learn your new curse."
The stocky man grinned and approached Hermione.
"Hello, sir," Hermione greeted him, smiling. She hoped that her smile was genuine enough; her nerves were so wired and jumpy that she had to consciously will herself to relax.
"Why hello, Miss Locke," Magnus replied, a southern twang in his accent. "I just can't wait to learn this excitin' new curse!" The pleasure in his tone made Hermione cringe inwardly with disgust. She didn't just want to arrest the creator of these curses, she wanted to arrest every damn wizard or witch who had ever purchased one of them!
Hiding her disgust, Hermione led the man out of the main room and back down the hallway she had come in from. She wasn't sure of the exact room that she was supposed to take him to, but she figured that it was probably the room that Draco had gone into to learn the curse in order to show it at the auction. As Hermione approached that room, Lorelei poked her head outside impatiently, pasting a fake smile on her lips as she saw Magnus and Hermione.
"Please come in, Mr. Campbell," Lorelei said, ushering the man in. "That will be all," she said dismissively to Hermione. The door slammed in Hermione's face.
Alone in the hallway, Hermione let out a shaky sigh. She hoped with all her heart that Draco and Gary were safe somewhere. Another part of her was nervous at the realization that she was completely and utterly alone. There was no backup from Harry and no help from Draco that she would get on this. An image of the tortured prisoners she had been unable to save flickered across her brain. She couldn't let them down. She'd do whatever it took to find and arrest the person responsible for the curses, as well as the entire gang.
Hermione removed her wand from her dress, getting down to business. While August and the rest of the gang was busy trying to figure out where Malfoy had gone and Lorelei was busy teaching Mr. Campbell his new curse, she might as well search the building.
"Point me," she murmured, focusing her mind on the name Maximilian. It was a long shot, since the Point Me charm would only work if whatever she was searching for was within about 300 yards, but she tried it anyway. A Locator Charm would be ideal, but like the Polyjuice Potion, it required a sample of the person you were attempting to search for. Also, since Gary hadn't been able to be found with a Locator Charm, it stood to reason that Lorelei had some sort of wards to prevent such spells. Her brown eyes widened in surprise as her wand shuddered and swiveled to point down the hallway in front of her.
Knowing that she had no time to waste, Hermione headed down the hallway, her wand aloft and ready for action. She passed the auction room quickly, her heartbeat accelerating with every step that she took. As she proceeded down the hallway, the walls and floors grew increasingly less and less finished. Freshly-painted walls turned into cracked and peeling walls, which then turned into just bare pieces of plywood. The hallway itself got narrower and narrower. Ahead of her, she could see darkness where the flickering torches along the wall ended. Yet the hallway still continued. Cautiously lighting her wand, Hermione continued slowly. Her wand continued to point forward under the influence of the Point Me spell.
Suddenly she realized that she was no longer walking on an actual floor but on chunks of wood laid carelessly across the rocks and dirt that littered the ground. Her soft breathing was the only sound she heard besides her own footsteps. A few hundred yards on, the hallway suddenly ended. A single steel door barred her way. It was locked with a massive padlock.
"Alohomora," Hermione whispered, but the door didn't budge. She didn't give up. With a sigh, she mentally rolled up her sleeves and began speaking a series of complicated charms that she had been taught that would override the powerful locking spell that had been placed on the door in front of her. It took her two full minutes to say the entire spell—two long, tense minutes while she resisted the urge to keep looking over her shoulder for pursuers. Finally, with a loud clunk, the padlock opened.
Hermione held her wand cautiously in front of her and slowly pushed the door open. Nothing in her years of schooling or extensive training could have prepared her for what she saw.