A/N: Hey guys! Another update cool huh? As it turns out I do go on vacation. Tomorrow! Mallorca here we come! And a little bird whispered in my ear that the hotel may actually have wifi. Interesting...
Motives
Oh Merlin! Did this girl like to hear her own voice or what! Hermione thought after listening to Astoria going on about how Hermione messed up her latest shopping trip during the past 20 minutes.
Astoria kidnapped her and all she had been talking about was how Hermione screwed up her scheduled shopping spree. Seriously? Like she demanded to be kidnapped!
"…And that's how you cost me the French designer shoes I've been looking for the last six months!"
Hermione had enough of this, she'd rather have torture than listening to one more word about clothes. No, she wouldn't, but she really wanted to be left alone! Shouldn't a kidnapped person be locked up alone until they trembled with fear for what the kidnappers would do to them? And how could shoes be THAT important?
"I'm sorry I interrupted your shopping spree but I didn't ask to be kidnapped! I would be more than happy to leave if you would let me."
Astoria's beautiful face twisted into something close to an evil smile. During Astoria's triad the past half an hour Hermione had tried to find a flaw in her seemingly perfect appearance but had not found one, until now. The eerie smile she now displayed made Hermione wish for an end to the shoe crisis story. That smile could not mean anything good.
"But I would love to hear about why you have been looking for those shoes in six months."
"Oh no," her eerie just grew wider. "You're right. It seems like I have been somewhat sidetracked. Please forgive me that was not my intention. You see I can be a bit obsessed when it comes to clothes."
"You don't say.." Astoria gave her a pointed look at the comment but otherwise ignored it.
"I suppose you want to know why you've been kidnapped."
"Yes, that would be very kind of you." Hermione said sarcastically. She may look cool and level-headed on the outside but on the inside Hermione's feelings and thoughts were in turmoil. She was not afraid to confess that she was scared out of her wits, but she was at the same time insanely curious why she had been kidnapped.
"Well, it's just that you got in the way mudblood. If you hadn't done that, then I would've been happy just to keep sending letters. You should know not to stick your nose where it doesn't belong, and such actions have consequences.
"You see. I would have loved to subtitle separate you and my Draco. But then Marcus reported something utterly repulsing when he shadowed you to your healers appointment yesterday. "
'My Draco'? hmm… so that's what all this is about. But wait! Did she just say that Flint followed me? Oh Merlin! That must mean that she knows…
Unconsciously her hand reached her stomach, as both a reminder and as protection.
"Good. You seem to know what I'm talking about. This was highly unfortunate, but a baby would bind you and Draco together forever, and I can't accept that. You see… I have been patient, knowing that he will return to me eventually, but-"
"Return? Did you ever have him before?" Hermione interrupted, extremely doubtful that Draco would ever have been with a psycho like her.
"Didn't he tell you? We were engaged." Her ice-blue eyes glistered dreamily before they turned to stone.
What! They had been engaged? "I noticed the past tense, so why don't you do like Draco and put it behind you?" The statement had made her heart hammer louder than she thought was even possible. Had he been engaged to this basketcase? But then she'd noticed the key word in the sentence: were. Instantly she had become more relaxed. Relaxed enough to aim a blow at Astoria.
That may not have been the smartest thing Hermione had done in her life.
Suddenly she received a hard slap that made her chin and cheek go numb and forced her head to the side. The aftershock echoed through her skull and Hermione's brain felt like it had turned to mush.
It was probably not the hardest hit in the history of the world but with her previous injuries that sole hit made her see spots again.
Somewhere in the dizziness she was quite astounded that the bitch actually touched her. She had thought that Astoria would be the kind to use her wand rather actually physically hit someone. Well the bitch certainly never seemed to surprise her.
And Hermione was not ashamed to use such a strong word as bitch against her. She didn't usually use that kind of language but that's what Astoria was, a bitch, and it isn't mean if it's true.
But really she must have offended her quite a bit with her comment if Astoria would just hit her like that. Note to self: don't try to enrage Astoria Greengrass when held captive.
"It may have been past tense but let me tell you this mudblood," She whispered in a deadly low voice as she hunched down to Hermione's level. "I will get him back. You will not end a completely pure bloodline. That would be a disgrace to every ancestor that has put down heart and soul to carefully select the right spouse, to ensure blood purity for centuries. You and your kind disgrace the land we walk on, but I can't do anything to change that when not even the Dark Lord managed it. However, what I can change is who will be the future Mrs. Malfoy. And I will do anything in my power to ensure that that will be me. Starting with eliminating you!"
Hermione was still stuck on the floor, not daring to move. Was she really going to kill her? She had never have time to think about what the purpose was for the kidnapping, and after she understood that it was about separating her from Draco she still hadn't really thought about what was going to happen to her.
Now realising that her life might be over, she felt and overwhelming horror and sadness – not for herself, but for her unborn child. It was supposed to be born, take its first steps, go to Hogwarts and live a long and happy life. She might have only known about the little bugger for a couple of days, but it was hers and she would do anything in her power to save it.
She didn't want to know her fate, but she had to ask anyway. She had to have all the facts.
"Are you going to kill me?" she was surprised that she managed to keep her voice steady, but she was glad it was. Hermione didn't what Astoria to know how scared she really was.
Astoria let out fanatic laugh. "Kill you? Why would I do that?"
"But you said you were going to eliminate me?" Hermione questioned again, not understanding but feeling insanely relived that her and her baby's life would not end tonight.
"Yes, eliminate you as a threat to the position of being Mrs. Malfoy. I always assumed that those who called you Brightest Witch of the Age were lying, and I guess I was right. Do you really think that Draco would be with me after I killed his last girlfriend? Of course not! That sadly leaves out option nr 1; even if that was the one I would have been voting for. Now I'll have to go for option nr 2 which means that I will torture you until you give up your relationship with Draco." She said with a false smile.
"But let's start with that tomorrow, shall we?" she continued as she rose from her hunched position beside Hermione before heading to the cell door.
Just as she was about to leave the cell she stopped and turned back to Hermione.
"Oh, and just to be clear, that child has to go. We can't have a half-blood bastard running around, can we?" She started to laugh that creepy, fanatic girlish laugh that that bounced across the dungeon as she closed the heavy door.
Hermione still sat leaning against the wall with her heart sinking in her chest as she heard the laugh fade away in the corridor beyond her cell door.
She would survive this, but her baby would not. For the first time since the kidnapping started Hermione felt her eyes water up and tears rolled down her cheeks for the loss of a baby she hadn't even had the chance to meet yet.
A/N: Just two things: shoes can be that important and the motto: 'it isn't mean if it's true' comes from Vicxie22 and quite sums up our relationship. I think the mean things, and she puts my thoughts into words = epicness complete!