"You're lying!" Miley said, her eyes squinting in question.
"I wish I was!" Hermione said sadly. "Dumbledore…"
Miley cut her off. "I don't want to hear! You're just saying that to get me to come back, but it won't work!" she said shaking her head angrily and backing up till her back hit the counter.
"Miley, please, I'm not lying!" Hermione said reaching out to her.
"No!" Miley yelled. "Get out!" Miley ran from the kitchen and somewhere a door slammed closed. Hermione knew there was no use arguing. Nothing she could say could make things better. She stood from the chair and went to the doorway of the kitchen.
"I'm sorry, Miley!" she said to the empty kitchen. She left the kitchen and walked to the front door. She was reaching out to grab the door handle when it was thrown open. A girl entered and Hermione recognized her at once. Hermione nodded her head in greeting and tried to walk through the still open door, but the girl held out her hand and Hermione saw she held a wand.
"Going somewhere?" the girl, Courtnie, said stepping forward causing Hermione to step back. The girl shut the door and Hermione heard a click as it locked. Hermione was suddenly scared. She didn't like the way the girl was looking at her.
"Look, I just came to see Miley!" Hermione said.
"Ah, but there lies our problem! You shouldn't of come, but since you're here…!" Courtnie said smirking, twirling her wand through her fingers. Hermione looked from Courtnie to the door to the hall leading down to three doors, wondering if she could make it to Miley before Courtnie did anything. Unfortunately Courtnie saw.
"I don't think so!" she said grabbing Hermione's arm. "I need you to pass along a message for me!" Hermione winced as her grip tighten.
"Why would I do anything for you?" Hermione asked, knowing it was stupid to ask. It was pretty obvious now that Dean wasn't the only one working for Voldemort.
"If you want to live you'll do as I say!" Courtnie said her grip tighten even more. Hermione nodded her head. "Good girl!" Courtnie said, letting go of her arm.
"What's the message?" Hermione asked, rubbing her arm.
"Miley belongs to the Dark Lord now! Anyone who attempts to find her again will die!" Courtnie said. The evil in Courtnie's eyes told Hermione what she said was true. "Oh, and one more thing!" Hermione didn't things could get any worse. Courtnie raised her wand. "Stupefy" A short burst of green light shot from her wand and hit Hermione in the chest. She fell back and everything went black before she hit the ground.
"Hermione?" she opened her eyes and saw red. At first she thought it was blood but as her vision cleared she saw it wasn't blood at all. It was red hair that sat atop her boyfriend Ron Weasley's head and next to him she looked into the concerned blue eyes of Dumbledore.
"Ron? What…where am I?" she asked. It was then she noticed she was outside and lying on a dirt road. She sat up slowly, supported by Ron, and realized she was in front of the gate leading into Hogwarts. The moon that hung high in the sky told her it was sometime past midnight.
"We were hoping you could tell us, Ms. Granger!" Dumbledore asked. Ron helped Hermione up off the ground to a standing position and she saw that Harry stood next to Dumbledore, looking worried.
"I was with Miley!" she said. Her memory was foggy. "she…she was angry when I told her about Dean! She told me to leave. I went to the front door but…oh god Courtnie!" she said her memory coming back.
"Courtnie? Wait, isn't she the girl Miley introduced us to?" Harry asked, looking from Hermione to Ron. Ron shrugged his shoulders.
"She works for Voldemort too! She..she told me she wanted me to pass along a message right before she knocked me out!" Hermione said. She remembered the look in Courtnie's eyes just before the hit spell hit her. Hermione would have died if it weren't for the message. Ron said her name, snapping her out of the memory.
"What message?" Harry said.
"Miley belongs to the Dark Lord now! Anyone who attempts to find her again will die!" Hermione answered repeating word for word what Courtnie said.
"We have to go back!" Harry said.
"We can't! You heard what Hermione said!" Ron said.
"I don't care, Ron! This is Miley were talking about! I would do the same if it were you!" he said looking annoyed.
"He is right!" Dumbledore said. Harry looked at him surprised. He expected Dumbledore to disagree. "Plus I know you will go weather I agree or not!" he said smiling at Harry.
"What I would like to know is how you got back here? Lucky Harry and I were at Hagrid's and saw the red sparks or you would have been out here all night!" Ron asked.
"Red sparks?" Hermione asked.
"Yeah! They shot up in the sky right above where we found you!" he said.
"I don't know!" she said.
"You are safe and that is all that matters!" Dumbledore said. He looked back at Harry. "I know it is urgent to get back to London as soon as possible but I believe it is time to inform Professor Snape of our findings! I know he would want to come along!" he said. Harry agreed even though if he had a choice he would have left right away. The look on Hermione and Ron's face told him they felt the same way. They followed Dumbledore up to the castle and to the dungeons.
Hermione, Harry and Ron waited outside Professor Snape's office while Dumbledore went inside. As much as they tried they couldn't hear what was going on inside. Five minutes later Dumbledore and Snape emerged. From the look on Snape's face he didn't take it well.
"We will side- along apparate to London! Hermione, Ron, we will be with me! Harry, you will apparate with Professor Snape!" Dumbledore said. He went to Hermione and Ron and they both took a hold of each of his arms. Harry walked to where Snape stood and did the same. Just like the other times Harry had side-along apparated it wasn't pleasant at all. Everything went black and he was pressed very hard from all directions. He couldn't breathe as if something was tightening around his chest. He felt his eyeballs being pushed back into his head and suddenly the feeling went away. He could breathe again. He looked around and he realized they stood outside the theater Miley preformed in.
"Lead the way, Ms. Granger!" Dumbledore said. Hermione lead them down the street and turned down a short alleyway to another street. They followed her into a rundown apartment building and went up the second floor.
"There!" Hermione said pointing to a door half way down the hall. Snape raised his wand and the door exploded, sending wood flying into the hallway. No one came out of the other apartments. Either they were used to things blowing up or no one was home.
"I ask that you three stay here!" Dumbledore said. He didn't wait for an answer. Snape and Dumbledore disappeared inside. No one spoke. All was silent except for the sound of each of them breathing. The silence was broken seconds later by the sound of glass shattering. Harry ran inside the apartment. Dumbledore stood just inside the doorway. Severus stood a few feet away, his head down in a defeated way. In front of him was a broken mirror. Shards of glass lay on the floor beneath it, speckled with blood. A small puddle of blood sat a few inches away. Harry looked at Snape and saw that both his hands hung by his side. The right was covered in blood. His other hand was clenched. If Harry had to guess he would say the right was broken. Harry looked at Dumbledore.
"What happened? Where's Miley?" He asked though he already knew the answer.
"She is gone!" Dumbledore said. He looked as sad as Harry felt.
"What do we do now?" Harry asked. Hermione and Ron now stood behind me, just inside the door.
"I'm afraid all we can do is wait and hope she is okay!" Dumbledore turned away from Harry and walked to Snape. He put his hand on his shoulder. "I am sorry, Severus!" Snape didn't say anything. "Harry, Ron, Hermione, I think we shall leave Professor Snape to his thoughts! If you will!" He said holding out his arm. They had no choice but to grab ahold. Dumbledore turned and they automatically tightened their grip on him and all three closed their eyes. When the squeezing feeling past they opened their eyes and found themselves back where they started, standing in front of the gate to Hogwarts. The one thing that was on everyone's minds as they stood in outside in the dark was Miley. Where was she? Was she okay? Would they every see her again?