Wow, ok, I'm back. Here's another chapter. Hope it pleases you…heehehe

"Malfoy," Hermione whispered, tugging on his sleeve. "Look at the water."

Malfoy obediently looked over the edge of their dangerously small boat and saw the carnage. He screwed his nose up, then reached out of the boat, as if he was about to touch the water, but Telms voice stopped him.

"I wouldn't do that Mr. Malfoy." He warned softly.

"Oh?" Malfoy asked, his hand hovering just above the misty surface.

"Well, you may if you like…" Telms said off handily. "Though you should be aware that the water isn't exactly healthy."

"You don't say." Malfoy replied sarcastically. "The dead bodies don't give it away or anything."

"Why is it so dangerous?" Hermione asked, before Telms could throttle Malfoy, as he looked like he was so interested in attempting. Slowly, Telms turned his gaze to Hermione, and wondered for a brief second if he should bother answering the Mudblood.

"When the Dark Lord moved into the Lake…well…no one really knows what happened apart from all the creatures in the lake started to die, and the water got poisoned."

Must have been his black nature, Hermione thought bitterly. It honestly wouldn't surprise her.

The shore was now impossible to spot from the boat through the thick mist. Hermione couldn't see more than a meter around the boat in all directions and was suddenly extremely happy that she and Malfoy had stuck together. If she was left alone on the shore, she possibly may have been pissing her pants by now. Besides, Malfoy was right- he had put up with her emotional break downs and…okay…he wasn't exactly supportive, but he didn't let her fall to pieces.

Hermione's thoughts now wondered to Voldermort's house, lair. She honestly didn't know what to expect. If it was a dark castle, it would look way to cliché for Hermione's taste- a castle is sort of like a real villains typical hide out, and Hermione never understood why. Like, for Voldermort, he wouldn't want just anyone seeing where he lived, and if someone could somehow break through that magical barrier at the edge of the forest that had caused Hermione and Draco to plummet to the ground off their broomstick, then surely a giant menacing castle in the middle of a swamp would attract attention.

Unless he hid it using invisibility spells….Hermione thought. In any case, Hermione hoped it wasn't a castle. She had no choice but to wait however, as;
A) she couldn't see it through the fog until they were much, much closer

B) she couldn't ask Telms to describe it to her because she doubted he would and because he already seemed uncomfortable about addressing her question about the lake. Maybe it was her blood that makes him so shifty.

They had been sailing smoothly through the fog for about fifteen minutes in total silence when Hermione glanced over her shoulder and saw the mist was beginning to part. She felt her heart beating in the back of her throat. They were so close now.

She had been expecting a grand entrance, maybe like huge gates on the water, torches on top of them, highlighting the gloomy look they gave off…but no. There weren't any gates of any description.

After five minutes of the mist slowly clearing, Hermione slowly swiveled in her seat along with Malfoy so they were facing each other, but looking in the direction they were slowly sailing in.

"Oh my…" Hermione let her voice trail off. It wasn't as dramatic as she had imagined, or as grand. No. She had thought that someone like Voldermort would want to show off his powers and riches, but no.

What was slowly looming in front of them was a cliff side. That's all- just a bleak, black rock cliff side with the lake's disgusting water lapping up against it. One thing that was out of the ordinary however- there was a tunnel of sorts right ahead of them and it looked as though they were going to sail into it. The tunnel entrance was dark so it was impossible to see into, but the mouth was about five meters wide and tall. Strangely, the mist didn't reach the cliff face- it was like it simply ran out a few meters in front of it. Hermione wasn't complaining. It would have been unbelievably spooky if the mist trailed them into the tunnel.

Hermione found herself gripping the edges of the boat tightly with her fingers so that her knuckles were painfully white. But she didn't turn around. She refused to turn around and set her spine straight- if she did, she may miss what could possibly be waiting for them in the tunnel.

In two minutes, they were going through the tunnel entrance. It was dark, cold, damp and it echoed the sound of water trickling. Hermione shivered. Her eyes were wide now, trying to see anything but of course, that didn't make a hoot of a difference. It was still dark. But after another few minutes, the tunnel seemed to widen, as the sound of trickling water echoed more, and Hermione suddenly realized they were in a cavern of some kind. In the cavern, there were lanterns, sparsely, very sparsely scattered around the room.

At first, Hermione thought they had been randomly placed, then her breath caught in her throat as they passed the first lantern. It provided enough light for Hermione to get more of an idea of the layout of the cavern. The tiny and narrow stream they were on hadn't changed in size- was still five meters wide- but on both sides, there were ledges of some kind that were about three meters wide. So, in all, the entire width of the cavern was about eleven meters.

It took Hermione a moment to realize the ledges were actually pathways of some kind. On the walls, which Hermione noted were strangely smooth, considering it was made of solid rock, she saw what had made her breath catch in her throat- fireplaces. At least a dozen fireplaces in all, carved into the walls of the cavern on both sides. It took Hermione a second to realize that the lanterns were placed over each fireplace. It took her another second to realize that the fireplaces weren't just used for roasting marshmallows- they were somehow connected to the flew network.

Her eyes were wide as she studied the cavern and the boat continued on its easy sailing. A second later, one of the fireplaces lit up the cavern in a bright green glow. Malfoy and Hermione shielded their eyes, waited for the glow to disappear, then dared to look.

Standing on the ledge on Hermione's side of the boat was a death eater, dressed in the black robes and skull mask. He was watching them pass, not moving a molecule in his body. Hermione felt extremely uncomfortable.

As the boat passed through the cavern, the paths on either side of them narrowed again, and became a little more than a meter wide. The boat kept going, and Hermione suddenly saw more Death Eaters watching them from the ledge, not moving. They just watched the boat pass.

After a few more minutes, the path on Hermione's side shot off to the left, and when they passed it, Hermione saw it was a narrow staircase that was swallowed by the rock and gently turned to the right. The path on Malfoy's side still continued, with Death Eaters watching them like it was some kind of ceremony.

Finally, just when Hermione was beginning to feel claustrophobic, the boat jolted to a halt even though the stream continued. As there was nothing but solid rock on Hermione's side, she looked over to Malfoy's side, the right side, and saw the path had once again widened and standing before them was another staircase, but wider then the one Hermione saw a few minutes ago.

The Death Eaters however, weren't walking up it. They stood around it, like they were just about to start ascending when something had caught their attention.

"Get out of the boat." Telms said, pointing to Malfoy.

He slowly, and wobbly got to his feet, then stepped out onto the rock ledge. He turned and held his and out for Hermione. She struggled slightly more than Malfoy, but he managed to steady her and held onto her as Hermione stepped off the boat and stood next to him. Malfoy turned again, as if to offer Telms his help, thought better of it, and just waited for their guide to lumber out of the boat. By the time Telms was standing beside them, the boat was rocking violently, and the Death Eaters were sniggering.

"Don't you all have somewhere to be?" Telms snapped at them. "Be gone with you!"

Hermione and Malfoy both exchanged a smirk as the Death Eaters shrugged but didn't move. Telms, very angry, turned to the teenagers. "Well, what are you waiting for?"

"We don't know where we're going." Malfoy said, sounding bored.

Telms's eyes narrowed and his mouth sucked up like he had swallowed an entire lemon. "Follow me."

Malfoy and Hermione followed Telms over to the stair case, passing the Death Eaters who stood like statues. It was very unnerving. When Hermione walked passed them, she couldn't even hear them breathing. The only thing that moved was their eyes.

They started walking up the stairs, which only lasted ten steps, and found themselves in a corridor. Right next to them, was an arch way that disappeared into the rock after you went up a few steps. Hermione was curious as to where it went, but couldn't be bothered to ask.

Telms, apparently, wasn't going to explain either as he briskly led them up the corridor. Hermione found herself sticking very close to Malfoy as they walked along the hallway, which wasn't decorated in any form. It was just solid rock walls, no carpet, no paintings or pictures.

They continued walking in silence.

Eventually, Telms stopped at two doors. "He's waiting for you." He said, turning to face them.

"Great." Malfoy said as Telms went to stand behind them.
"Thank you Malfoy." Hermione said quietly as he reached for the door handle. His hand paused.

"For what exactly?" he asked curiously, glancing at her.

"Everything." Hermione replied as Malfoy smirked at her in an actual friendly way, and then dramatically pushed the doors open so they flew back. The room they cautiously walked into wasn't especially huge, but then, with a home carved into a mountain or cliff side, Hermione guessed you couldn't exactly have the luxury of spacious rooms, after all, you would be limited.

The room was in no way decorated and was lit only by torches that were stuck to the wall. There were no chairs, tables, bookshelves, carpets, paintings, shelves of any kind…it was completely bare. Standing in the room was only one man- Voldermort himself. Slowly, he turned to face them.

"Ahh." He said, his eyes surveying them. "Here you are."

"Yes." Malfoy said carefully. "Here we are. Are you here?"

Voldermort smirked at him. "Very clever Mr. Malfoy. Yes. I am here as well. In the flesh, as you put it earlier on the bank."

Malfoy shrugged.

"You did very well my boy." Voldermort said, waving at them to come closer. Neither teenager moved. "You needn't be afraid." To show her point that she was, Hermione swallowed loudly. "Ahh, my little petal. And how did you hold up on your journey?"

"Poorly." Hermione answered truthfully, trying to inject some venom into her voice. She failed fabulously.

Voldermort tuttered. "I am sorry to hear that. I knew the trip wouldn't let you come out without a few scars…I do hope you feel better soon."

Hermione couldn't believe what he was saying. There was no way that he was being genuine. There was something here that she was missing. Surely. Voldermort sensed her uncertainty.

"I am sure you have realized by now my dear," Voldermort said, arms behind his back. "That you are simply bait."

"Yes." Hermione said.

"Well good." Voldermort's eyes were boring into her own. "After a while, I was afraid that my plan wouldn't work- you and master Malfoy hadn't turned up, and I was beginning to think you were dead." Voldermort didn't even bother to pretend to be that concerned. "So I was forced to send one of my Death Eaters out to search for you. After he saw you were still alive, he returned to me, and I was relieved to hear that my plan was still in action. But then, you and master Malfoy still hadn't turned up at the lake."

Malfoy was extremely tempted to say sarcastically that he was sorry. But he held his tongue.

"Then another part of my plan came into doubt." Voldermort continued. He was about to kept talking, and explain what he meant when the doors to the room banged open, and a short, stubby man came running into the room, fuming from the ears.

"TELMS!" the man shouted, not even seeing the other company in the room. "TELMS, YOU STUPID SON OF A MERLIN'S UNCLE!"

Hermione, completely alarmed by this turn of events, turned and saw Voldermort was watching this event with a touch of irritation and amusement. She spun back around to see that was happening now.

Telms had spun to see who was shouting at him, and his face dropped. "What do you think you are doing Fisher?"

"You where only told to pick up the boy!" Fisher screamed, stopping in front of Telms and spraying spit everywhere. "I was charged with picking up the girl!"

"The plans had changed." Telms said, trying to be heard and speak through the spit.

Hermione and Malfoy shivered in disgust.

"My Aunt Merlin they changed!" Fisher bellowed. "You just couldn't take it that the job had been split between us!"

"Have you even looked around the room?" Telms asked, curiously.

"Do not change the subject!" fisher shrieked.

"Enough of the yelling!" Voldermort said, barely raising his own voice.

Fisher's face was suddenly drained of colour as he dared to look over Telms shoulder. "My Lord," he groveled, getting to his knees. "I do beg your pardon…I had no idea you where here…"

"Get up you idiot." Voldermort snapped. Fisher nearly broke his back with the speed in which he tried to comply.

"My lord, no one told me the plans had changed…"

"You should have listened then!" Telms injected.

"Me? Me?" Fisher turned back to Telms. "I always listen! It's you who gets into trouble for not paying attention!"

"I completed the job though didn't I?" Telms pointed out, which caused bright red spots to appear on Fisher's cheeks.

"You did this on purpose!" he shrieked in a high pitched voice, pointing a finger accusingly at Telms. "You where trying to get back into his good graces after last time…you betrayed me! You back stabbing, traitorous, son of a-"

Voldermort's patience for this argument had apparently come to an end. Both Fisher and Telms were blown off their feet with one swish of Voldermort's hand, and slammed into the walls on opposite ends of the room. They slid down to the ground, unconscious.

"Well that's better isn't it?" Voldermort said calmly. "Now, where were we? Ahh yes, another part of the plan had come into doubt. It seemed that dear old Harry Potter either hadn't received the letter you sent, or simply hadn't bothered to reply."

Hermione had completely forgotten her letter that she sent to Harry, saying she missed them and that apart of her believed they didn't miss her. Had Harry really not bothered to reply?

"Well my question was luckily answered not too long ago when your father master Malfoy, turned up here." Voldermort was smiling. It didn't suit his face at all. The muscles looked like they had never been bent into that position before so it looked unnatural. "He was carrying this." His hand slid into his robes and he pulled out a letter. He handed it to Hermione who immediately noticed it was Harry's hand writing. "Now, you may notice my dear that we haven't opened the letter."

"There are other ways to read it." Hermione said, unable to help it. She pocketed the letter anyway, to read when she had some privacy.

"Indeed. What a clever little one you are." Voldermort surveyed her like a bug that didn't appeal to him. After a weird silence, Voldermort smiled again. Still, it was strange and unnatural. "Now its time for us to sit back and let my plan work itself out."

As if he had called them, even though Voldermort hadn't uttered a sound, two Death Eaters walked into the room. "Do not worry." Voldermort said. "There will be much to entertain you in the meantime."

Hermione shivered at that. His idea of entertainment was probably polar opposite to hers. The Death Eaters grabbed their arms and pushed them out of the room. Voldermort turned back around, studying the wall with interest. He was only alone for about a minute when Lucius Malfoy entered the room, robes swishing behind him.

"Are they here? Is my son okay?"

Voldermort slowly turned. Despite Lucius's cold nature, there were times when Voldermort believed the man truly cared, if only for a second, for his son's well being. "Yes. Your son did extremely well. The girl was in good shape."

Lucius sighed. "And how about your plan my lord? Is it still able to go ahead?"

"I believe so, yes."

"And the chemistry?"

"Between the two of them?" Voldermort asked. Lucius nodded. Voldermort smiled chillingly. "It couldn't be any better. They are very close. So close in fact, that your son didn't wish to leave her at the lake alone. He was actually very determined that she came with him."

"I hope…" Lucius coughed uncomfortably. "I hope he wasn't… insubordinate?"

Voldermort shook his head slowly. "No…well…in a way yes, but it was all in good spirits Lucius. It was actually quite amusing."

"I apologize my lord." Lucius said, bowing his head.

"For what? Your son has inherited your sharp tongue Lucius." Voldermort said, waving his hand. "Among the other qualities that he has taken from you."

"Should I be proud of that?" Lucius asked carefully.

"It depends. You should be prouder then their parents." Voldermort waved a hand at Telms's and Fishers unconscious bodies. "Merlin, you should have heard them. Yapping away. It was truly unbelievable. I got a headache."

Lucius was aware of Voldermort's apparently ecstatic mood- probably because of his success in his plans, and Lucius certainly wouldn't want to be the person to put him out of that mood. It was strange to see him like this… "What would you like me to do with them?" he asked carefully.

"Those two?" Voldermort shrugged. "Let them cool off in the pool."

Lucius nodded. "And my son?"

"Let him rest."

Lucius nodded again, then pulled out his wand and pointed it to the two unconscious bodies. He was anxious to see his son, see how he held up. As the days had slipped past, Lucius had too found himself wondering if they were alive. If his son was dead, Narcassia would kill him, and if the girl was dead, Voldermort would bring Lucius back, so he could kill him again. Lucius also wanted to know how his son had reacted when he couldn't use his wand in the forest.

Ten minutes later, after Lucius had completed his task with the two unconscious bodies, he returned to the hall where most of the Death Eaters were gathering. When Telms and Fisher woke up, they would scream and panic after discovering they were nose deep in a pool, tied to wooden poles.



Harry and Ron were called into Dumbledore's office not long after they had returned from the Lake with Ginny. Ginny left them, after swearing not to repeat anything, and went to Dumbledore's office.

Here, Harry heard both good and bad news.

"The good news is," Minerva began. "Severus has already picked up some interesting information. Apparently, Miss Granger and Mr. Malfoy had left on some kind of trip, heading somewhere."

"And the bad news?" Harry asked nervously.

Minerva hesitated. "We don't know where that is."

Harry and Ron nodded slowly. "So now what?"

"Now that we know Miss Granger couldn't possibly be under any spells to prevent her mind from being unlocked, Albus can try to gain access."

Harry groaned. "I thought we had already decided-"

"Harry, this is the best time to act." Minerva pointed out sharply. "If Albus thinks Miss Granger is in pain, he can end the connection quickly. No one will be the wiser."

Harry was looking at Dumbledore, who was nodding slowly. "I promise, I would rather die then cause pain to one of my own students."

Harry believed him, and even his own argument from before was out dry. "Fine."


After Hermione and Draco had left Voldermort's presence, the Death Eaters with them had guided them through multiple hallways and corridors. Eventually, they found themselves in a room, alone, with two pillows, two blankets, and nothing else. No window, no torch which therefore meant no light.

Hermione grabbed her pillow and blanket, then crawled to the corner of the room and curled up in a tight ball. To her surprise, even though she was scared out of her wits as to what was going to happen to her in the near future, her exhaustion took over and she was asleep minutes later.

Malfoy was just as lucky. He was on the opposite side of the room, stretched out, resting his head on his hands. Before he drifted off to sleep, he had time to think despite what might happen soon, he was glad to be out of that forest. He also managed to wonder where his father was before his eye lids dropped and he was unable to open them again.

Neither of them opened their eyes for quite a few hours. Malfoy was the first to wake. He had never felt more refreshed in his life. When his eyes adjusted to the dimness of their prison, he could see something near the door. It looked like two cups of water. Would Voldermort honestly want to poison them after all this time? Nah. Never the less, Malfoy couldn't persuade his aching body to roll to his knees and get a drink.

Instead, he just lay there, in the dark, eyes open, thinking. His mind was wondering a fair amount and eventually, it came to a conversation he had had with his mother. It was about his relationship with Granger. It had taken place at the manor, in the garden. Malfoy couldn't believe how long ago that felt. It almost felt like it was another person, and Malfoy had simply stumbled on their memories. But no. he knew he had had the conversation with his mother. He still remembered feeling repulsed by her suggestion that he and Granger had a connection.

He had been outraged, angry, and terrified that his mother knew something about his feelings before he had. How could that happen anyway? So what, who cares that she shared the same DNA? How did that give her the power to know what his feelings were about someone before those damn feelings had become clear to him?

But now that Malfoy had been through what he had recently been through, he couldn't help but wonder if his mother had been right. Have they got a connection? Well their journey through the swamp had been bumpy- they had argued many times…but maybe that's why they had the connection. Maybe his first impressions of Granger had been wrong…maybe he had judged a book by its cover. And he had to admit- he had had plenty of chances to let her die…but he hadn't. No he hadn't. In fact, in some cases, he had pushed his life aside in order to save hers.

But then…

Malfoy felt a thousand thoughts course through his mind. After a confusing moment, they came to one very, very good point. Something his mother, his father, and Voldermort himself had been wrong about. It was something his mother had told him without meaning to.

"Your father…he…was the one who suggested it. You know Hermione's going to Voldermort's home this week…he thinks you two have a connection and if she can trust you, she will tell the Dark lord everything he wants to know."

Well Hermione hadn't. She hadn't told Malfoy diddily squat. She definitely hadn't seemed to trust him…but then again, he supposed it was hard to forget all the things that happened at Hogwarts. And maybe she did trust him, but Granger didn't strike him as the type to just blurt out that she trusted him.

More questions flew in front of his minds eye.

Did she trust him?

Was he going to get out of here soon?

What were his true feelings towards Granger?

Did he like her?

Was there a connection…or possibly chemistry?

Had he been wrong to label her before even knowing her?

Should he have saved her life in the swamp?

Should he had convinced her that they could simply turn around out in the forest, and find a way out, return to Hogwarts and pretend nothing had happened?

Did Voldermort sense a thing between them?

Was there a thing between them?

Malfoy groaned and in an effort to stop the stream of questions, he repeatedly hit his head on the rock floor underneath him. The dull thunking had woken Hermione. She rubbed her eyes in confusion, then looked around and realized what the sound was, after watching a dark cut out against the black background hit itself.

"Do you think a concussion will help?" she asked curiously.

Malfoy stopped. She was right. The questions hadn't stopped, if anything they had sped up, and all he got out of it was a headache. Malfoy cursed. Damn. Now the subject of his thoughts was awake.

"Are you ok?" Hermione asked, sitting up.

"Fine." Malfoy slurred.

Hermione spotted the water by the door. She slowly crawled over to the two cups and dipped her finger in one. She hesitated, tested the water and didn't keel over. The water was safe. Hermione grabbed the two cups, put her own beside her pillow then went to Malfoy. "Here."

"Is it safe?" Malfoy asked, despite the fact that he had already come to his own conclusion before that it had to be.

"I tested it and I'm still breathing." Hermione said, still holding the cup out to him. Malfoy slowly sat up and shifted his body so he was leaning against the wall.

"Thanks." He said, taking the cup and sipping it slowly.

"So what were you trying to do?" she asked, returning to her own small make shift bed. She leant against the wall as well, propping the pillow between her head and the rock.

"Just thinking." Malfoy replied hastily.

"I see." Hermione mumbled, sipping the water. It was great to drink something fresh and cold. "Did you manage to fall asleep?"

"Yep." Malfoy said, sighing.

They had been sitting there peacefully for a few minutes, both retreating to their own thoughts when the door to the room creaked open and someone stood in the doorway, holding a lantern out. It was Lucius.

"Draco." He greeted.

"Father." Malfoy said.

"How do you feel?" Lucius asked, stepping into the room. He glanced at Hermione but didn't greet her in any form.

"I've been better." Malfoy replied slowly.

"I can imagine." Lucius said, nodding. "I had to do the same thing once…of course, I didn't have company. When I arrived, I was in a slightly worse condition."

"Really?" Malfoy felt slightly better that he come out of the swamp in a better condition than his father.

Lucius nodded. "I am very proud of you."

Hermione could tell Draco was taken aback. She could see it in his eyes.

"And you," Lucius said, looking at Hermione. "Did better than I believed you were going to."

Hermione didn't say anything. Did she look like it had been a walk in the park?

"Well, no time for chit chat. Come on, on your feet." Lucius said, spinning around and leaving the room. Hermione and Draco cautiously got to their feet, unsure of where they were going. Draco led the way out of the room, closely followed by Hermione. Another Death Eater slammed their door shut when they were clear, and along with Lucius, led them up a corridor.

After a few minutes, they were walking towards a double door entrance to some kind of room. The doors opened on their own accord, and the Death Eater and Lucius didn't miss a beat as they walked into the room.

When Hermione and Draco entered, they both were shocked. It looked like a large hall of some kind, with two semi circle tables facing each other, a gap in between them so you could pass through. Voldermort was sitting in the middle of one of the half circle tables, and was watching Malfoy and Hermione carefully. They had entered through the back of the room, so they had to walk around the second semi circle table to reach him.

There were two seats vacant to his left, and one to his right.

Without asking, Hermione sat furthest away from him. Malfoy didn't mind, so he took the second seat, closest to Voldermort on the left, while Lucius took the empty seat to his right.

"So glad you could join us for dinner." Voldermort said, barely glancing at them.

Hermione watched as the Death Eaters settled down at the two tables. The plates in front of her were made of silver, with a snake carved in the center. After a click of the fingers, the plates filled with roasted meat, vegetables, and fruits. Hermione couldn't believe how her stomach growled and ached for proper food.

She and Malfoy didn't ask questions as they dug into their food, quickly followed by the rest of the room. Hermione noticed out of the corner of her eye that Voldermort picked a grape off his plate and ate it. He seemed to have a lot of table manners. He only pecked at his food.

As she was too busy eating, Hermione didn't realize the doors to the food hall had opened. She didn't notice the large shape on wheels, covered in a green cloth that was pushed into the room by two men. She didn't see it was placed in front of Voldermort, in the very center of the room. But Malfoy noticed. He stopped eating, and felt his stomach go light, as if he hadn't just eaten half a feast. Oh Merlin no. he glanced at Hermione, who still remained ignorant, even though she had slowed down with the eating, and then at Voldermort who was looking directly at him, with an evil and cold glint in his eye.

This was just cruel.

Malfoy knew what was in that shape. He knew what was under the cloth. And he knew Hermione was going to freak when she finally noticed it was there.

After a second, when the room had strangely gone quiet- no forks, knives, goblets, plates clattering and no talking, Hermione finally looked up. She looked first at Malfoy, who was looking at the thing in the middle of the room with a look of absolute dread on his face, and Voldermort was now looking at Hermione with a look that send shock waves into her skin. It was beyond creepy.

Then, finally, Hermione dragged her eyes to center of the room. She had no idea what the box type shape was, nor why it was covered with a cloth. But most of all, she didn't know why everyone in the room was staring at the box with a strange look of anxious yet happy anticipation on their faces. Everyone except Malfoy and Voldermort of course.

When Voldermort was sure Hermione was paying attention, he waved his hand, and the cloth flew off the box. Hermione's eyes widened, her heart froze, yet it was beating extraordinarily fast in her chest and throat.

The box turned out to be a cage on wheels- but it what was in the cage that frightened Hermione. It was two women and a man. They were cowering on the floor of the cage, huddled together and looking so terrified at the people that now surrounded them. The Death Eaters were now practically rubbing their hands with glee.

Hermione felt sick. She watched, in horror as the two men who had pushed the cage into the room pulled out their wands and pointed them at the people in the cage.

The torture curse was screamed, and there were instant yelling and shrieks of pain coming from within the cage.

Malfoy was wincing. The Death Eaters were laughing and shouting for more. Hermione was swaying sickly in her seat. The screams echoed in her ears, tore at her heart and ripped her stomach apart. Her skin broke out in Goosebumps and shivers. She could feel bile rising in her throat.

The two women in the cage were holding their heads in their hands, on their knees, rocking back and forth, shrilling in pain and agony while the man in the cage was rolling around, kicking at the bars of his prison, yelling and shouting for help and out of pain.

Hermione swallowed the bile back, and it left a foul taste in her mouth. She had actually eaten in the presence of these animals. She was disgusted at herself. Hermione looked at Voldermort, who was watching the night's entertainment screaming and wriggling in front of him.

"Stop it!" Hermione screamed, though her voice was nothing compared to the shrills coming from the cage. "Stop it!"

Voldermort glanced at her, then back to the cage. Malfoy was watching Hermione, wondering what she was going to do.

She felt like her stomach was inside out, in knots, and was somehow finding its way up her throat. Her ear drums were about to explode. The laughing and gleeful shouts from the Death Eaters made her want to gag yet strangle them all. Hermione stood up so quickly her head spun, but she didn't sit back down. She tried yelling once more. "Stop it you monster!"

Still no one paid any attention to her. Malfoy wanted to say something to calm her down, but honestly, what could he say?

Hermione realized she would have to stop this herself. She quickly stood on her chair, jumped onto the table, scrambled over the top, then jumped down off the table and ran to the closest Death Eater pointing his wand at the muggles trapped in the cage.

Voldermort was watching her, head tilted as though this was an interesting movie. He made no move to stop her.

Hermione wasn't thinking. She whipped out her wand, forgot that for the last few days, she hadn't been able to use it, and pointed it at the Death Eater. All her anger, sickness and fear was coursing through her veins, along with a healthy mix of adrenaline, and she cast the first spell that came to her mind. Only problem was, she actually hadn't cast any spell at all, well by that, she hadn't uttered a word. She didn't have to. All her strong emotions had traveled through her fingers, and through along her wand.

The magic that came out the tip of her wand was amazing. She was practically emitting furious rays. She had never felt so sick, so angry, so furious in her life. The spell was a bright, vibrant red colour, and it shot out of her wand, hitting the Death Eater in the chest. It knocked him clean off his feet, sent him soaring above the heads of the Death Eaters that sat behind him, near the ceiling of the room, before he crashed into the rock wall, fell down to the ground and didn't move. Hermione didn't care. She turned to the other one pointing his wand at the defenseless muggles, and let the same anger hit him. The exact thing happened again. He hit the opposite wall with a loud crack, and hit the floor. Hermione had only just realized that the ground was shaking slightly.

The forks on the tables were rattling. The Death Eaters were stunned into silence. Hermione didn't care. She pointed her wand at the cage and screamed "BOMBARDA!" instead of just blowing the lock off the cage, the entire thing exploded and evaporated into a fine dust. Hermione didn't miss a beat as she leant down to check the muggles who were mumbling. She stood up, panting and shaking with rage. "You're all sick! So, so, so Sick! You're god damned animals!"

She was glaring straight into Voldermort's eyes as she said this. He didn't look offended, or shocked. He just stared back. "That was some mighty magic there Miss Granger."

Hermione was now aware that all of the Death Eaters were watching her cautiously. Malfoy was looking at her with his eye brows raised so high they almost disappeared into his hair.

Voldermort slowly stood. "How does it feel to have all that rage coursing through your blood stream?"

Hermione didn't say anything- she had never felt so much anger and magic running through her- she felt like she could zap something. Like her body was running hot on electricity.

"However, it was rude of you to interrupt the evenings entertainment."

"Rude? Rude?" Hermione yelled, unable to believe it. "You are a damn monster! An animal! There is no word in the English, or any language to describe what you are."

"I'm flattered."

Hermione was glaring at him but before she knew it, she was tackled to the ground by a group of spells and landed flat on her back. Three death eaters stood over her. Suddenly Hermione was screaming in pain herself, rolling around on the floor, exactly like the muggles had been doing moments before.

"What are you doing?" Voldermort asked the three Death Eaters sharply.

"We aren't doing anything!" One of them said, slightly panicked. "Just binded her."

Voldermort watched curiously as Hermione rolled around on the floor. She felt like someone was boring straight into her skull like she was on fire. But worst of all had to be the nails on chalkboard sound that she heard.

"Oh my, Cant any of you hear that?" she screamed. Everyone looked confused. "Make it stop! Please make it stop!" she began to whimper. "I'm begging you! Make it stop!"

Voldermort couldn't understand what was happening. No one was torturing her- they didn't dare lie to him. So why was she screaming in absolute agony that send shivers down even his spine?

Hermione felt like her head was on fire. Like she was about to explode.

"Hermione…" A voice whispered through the nail screeching sound. "Hermione…"

Suddenly the voice stopped and the pain stopped. After an odd silence, Voldermort spoke.

"Take her back to her room…and get these muggles out of my sight." Voldermort ordered. He turned to Malfoy. "You go as well."

Malfoy stood and quickly followed the three Death Eaters out of the room who had Hermione magically floating in front of them, writhing and trying to shout but one of them must have put "silencio" on her as no shout came out.

When they were back in their room, they took all the spells off her and abruptly left the room before she could turn and curse them. Hermione fell against one of the walls, using it to hold herself up. She couldn't breath. All the adrenaline had seeped from her body. She felt sick all over again and this time, she couldn't hold it in.

Malfoy watched, keeping his distance as she threw up. He screwed his face up but didn't dare say anything in case she turned that magic onto him. He had never seen anything like it. He could feel her anger and rage in the air. Her magic was practically bouncing off the walls. Similar to the two Death Eaters. It had looked like a force field had hit them.

When Hermione was done retching, glad to have that food, food eaten by those animals, out of her system, fell to her knees and began to cry. She was crying so hard that she shuddering. Malfoy didn't know what else to do so he walked over to her, pulled her gently away from her own vomit, and sat her back down against the opposite wall. He slid down beside her, and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. Hermione fell onto his shoulder, crying and shivering.

What had happened to her? Why had her head hurt like that? Was it the magic she had cast?

…

Or was it something else?

BOM BOM BOOOOOOOM!!!

Hhahahaha whats wrong with her?

Well I know…hheheheh….can you guess?

Hahha.

Update if you want another chapter!

Aj