I woke up in the infirmary with Harry and Sirius next to me.
For a few blissful seconds, my mind was blank and everything was back to normal.
Harry was home.
Sirius was alive.
Blaise is-
Reality came crashing down on me like the Whomping Willow.
"Blaise? Where's Blaise?" I panic, thrashing about.
"Calm down 'Mione." Sirius puts a hand on my shoulder and snatches it back as if he was being burned.
"Calm down? You want me to calm down?" I ask angrily. "Death Eaters have my friends!"
"'Mione, we'll get them back." Harry tries.
"Just like we'll get Sebastian back, right? How well is that going for us? It's been months Harry! He's probably dead by now and Blaise won't be far off." My breathing gets more shallow and erracting as I rant on and I can smell Hyssop crackling in the air. Sirius' alarmed face in the corner of my eye does nothing to help calm me. I can hear the two muttering but, I can't make out what they're saying over the sound of my breathing.
"Please don't hate me 'Mione." Harry says with an apologetic look in his eyes.
"Wha-"
I feel another sharp sting as I dissolve into darkness again.
Blaise PoV:
I feel cold, damp, stone against my cheek as I slowly open my eyes.
"Good morning Sleeping Beauty." Leona's voice is raspy from the cold air. She's perched on a stone bench with Michael asleep in her lap. "I don't suppose you know where we are?"
I sit up slowly, my body protesting the movement, and scan the room. My eyes settle on a crest above the barred doorway and I breathe deeply.
"I do." My words feel heavy and foreign.
"Wait- really?!" Leona gasps with hope in her eyes.
I point to the crest decorated with a falcon carrying a key.
"Ad Nominis Umbra? What the hell does that mean?" She asks.
"Into The Shadows; it's my family's crest. We're in Zabini Manor."
Leona grasps pnto Michael a bit more tightly with a steeled look in her eyes.
"We aren't getting out of here, are we?"
I try to find words but, none came out. I think of Hermione and I can't breathe.
"They'll find us." My words sound resolute but, I am not.
The cackling rings throughout the dungeons followed by a frustrated scream.
"Bellatrix." I shudder.
The noise gets closer and Michael rouses from sleep.
"That sounds like crazy on a stick." He comments.
"Oh, she is. She's Voldemort's general and a bit more." I comment.
"No way." Leona says with a disgusted face.
Her laughter gets closer along with the cries of a small child.
"Pretend to be asleep, now." I whisper. I close my eyes and a few moments later I hear the cell door open.
"You're not as much fun as I thought you'd be." She says, presumably to the child with her. "I'll make sure to grab and older one next time. I want a child I can teach things to; one I can play with."
I hear a soft plop next to me and the cell door close again. With a final goodbye, I hear the loon skip away and open my eyes.
In front of me is a small child, probably around a year and a half with golden eyes filled with tears.
Just like hers.
"Sebastian?" I breathe.
The child's face lights up with recognition and he claps happily. He wobbles over to me and lands on my stomach.
"Oh my god. We found him." Leona rushes over and inspects him. His dirty curly brown hair and golden eyes just like Hermione's. "He doesn't look too bad. He has slight bruising on his arms and cheek but thats looks to be all." She sighs with relief.
"He looks so much like Hermione." Michaels comments "It's uncanny."
"'Mione?" Sebastian bubbles. "'Mione! I want 'Mione!"
Without hesitation, I pull him into my arms tightly.
"We'll get you to 'Mione." I breathe. "I promise."
I try to ignore the fact that Sebastian being here means my father had a part in her parents' deaths.
Hermione PoV:
My body feels heavy when I wake up again. Opening my eyes felt like I was lifting weights.
I look around the dark room and see that I'm alone this hands try to rub my eyes but, something stops my arms.
"They had to strap you in, you nearly attacked Madame Pomfrey." Ersilia says, walking out of the shadows.
Just like her brother, invisible unless they want to be seen.
"How long have I been asleep?" My words feel like glue, coming out slow and slurred.
"Almost a week." She says ruefully. "Classes have been cancelled due to the attack and a lot of students were taken out of school by their parents."
"A week?" My voice comes out as a hoarse whisper.
They've been missing a week already?
Ersilia notices my lost expression and chooses her words carefully.
"We have a plan to get them back. We know where they are. We were waiting for you; Theo and Draco wanted me to tell them as soon as you woke up but, I wanted to talk to you first."
"You know where they are?!" I pull against my restraints "How?"
"That's what I wanted to talk to you about. When the leader ordered the others to capture us, I knew the voice." Her solemn voice became quiet and she looked truly scared.
"Ersilia?" For once, I fear the answer to my question.
"It was my father."
The next few hours were a whirlwind of activity. THe fog that clouded my head had lifted and I could finally think with a clear mind.
"We're going to enter through the greenhouse. It has the only passage my father doesn't know about. I'll scout out the area from above then, we'll move when I give the all clear. No doubt father is keeping them in the dungeons below the estate; they are warded and guarded. Blaise, Leona, and Michael won't be able to use magic while they're in there." Ersilia spoke with a wisdom rarely seen in a witch so young.
"Spoken like a true Ravenclaw." Jace chuckles through his apathy. He hasn't been the same since they took Leona.
"Janet and Harry will take out the guards. Ersilia you search your father's study; you know the manor better than anybody here; see if there is anything on why he decided to attack Hogwarts."
"Oh you mean a reason other than the fact that he's just a crazy bastard? No offense."
Ersilia shoots a look of silent rage at Harry. He gulps. "None taken."
"Jace and I will work on the wards around the cells then. We have to do this as quietly as possible, see if we can't get in and out without them noticing until after we're long gone."
"Won't there be wards at all the entrances?" Janet asks.
"Above all else, my father is a cocky bastard he never put wards around the manor because, No one dare break into Zabini Manor. My mother however, she'll know that we'll try to get our friends and will have put up extra precautions to slow us down. We'll have to be careful. She's one vindictive bitch and no doubt is pissed Blaise and I took off."
"What are we going to do?" Teddy asks, motioning to himself and Draco.
Ersilia takes a deep breath.
"There is one factor we can't account for." Her words are sharp. "Bellatrix was scheduled to stay at Zabini Manor a week after Blaise and I left. Whether or not she actually is there or not, is completely unknown. If she is there, You two will have to distract her."
The group goes silent as the reality of the situation finally hits.
Professor Sinistra walks into the common room with a flourish of her robes.
"The Headmistress isn't happy but, she realizes there's no stopping you all. She'd be here but, she can't officially condone a rescue mission lead by students into a Death Eater's home."
"We understand." Draco speaks up for the first time since I've woken up. His face is gaunt and pasty like I've never seen before and it worries me more than words ever could. "We better get going."
"Be safe all of you. I expect you back in class next week. Theodore, may I speak to you for a moment?"
The two leave the common room while we finish preparing.
"Remember, no magic if you can help it. Use your weapons and be a quiet as possible." I remind as I slip my fourth blade onto my belt.
We take the Floo to a nearby town and make our way through the dense forest until a large building creeps over a hill. Ersilia affirms that it's Zabini Manor and takes off in her anamgi form.
The blood pumping through my veins makes my ears ring so badly I almost miss the signal.
I look behind me and see everyone staring back, waiting for me to lead them ahead.
"We're getting them home today. We stay together and we have each others backs, no matter what." I'm not one for speeches so my words are curt and forceful but, they get the job done and I see a fire light in their eyes, blocking out the fear and uncertainty. Ersilia dives into a chimney like lightning and we begin our trek on the ground beginning in a tunnel not far from the greenhouse.
"This is the tunnel they used to run away? It must've took them ages to dig this out." Jace whistles.
"Yeah well, I don't blame them, if the stories about the Zabinis have even a grain of truth to them; I'd want to get out by any means necessary." Draco explains. "Bellatrix fits right in with them."
I think back to the time Blaise and I spent together; he never mentioned his home life or why he and Ersilia needed to get out so badly.
I could only imagine.
"This is it. Harry and Janet go first; clear out anyone you see. You're sure that your Blood Magic can't be traced?"
Janet nods. Harry lifts the stone tile and climbs into the greenhouse followed by Janet.
"No mercy."
Jace and I follow suit with Draco and Theo behind us. The few wards that blocked our path were easily dismantled and any guard in our path were taking down swiftly by Janet.
Harry's face blatantly shows his discomfort with the brutality but, he keeps his mouth shut.
I've spent too much time in my own blood to be bothered by it and if I'm honest with myself other than Blaise, the battlefield is the thing that makes me feel most alive.
We find the staircase to the dungeon with ease; Janet and Harry stay to keep watch while the others and I continue our descent.
A spell flies past my head and crashes into the ceiling above me. At the bottom of the staircase, a Death Eater curses and flings another spell. I bolt off the stairs, clearing an entire flight in one leap; landing on the wizard, knife in hand. He collapses with a low gurgle.
I wish I was better than this.
I wish I didn't like this.
But, I do.
I kill because I'm hungry.
