Chapter 37

Hermione sat with Harry and Ron at lunch the next day, trying to appear normal, and failing miserably. "Only two more hours," she kept telling herself. She wondered briefly why she was even bothering going to lessons today; she was so anxious and distracted that even her professors couldn't keep her attention, a first in her entire career at Hogwarts.

"So," started Ron, bringing Hermione out of her thoughts. "What's the plan to get Keely back?"

Keely looked up from rolling a cherry tomato around her salad plate with her fork. "Hmm?" she asked.

"I said, what's the plan to get Keely back? When do we leave?" answered Ron.

"Oh, that. Well, I'll explain it tonight, in the common room. There's no time to get into it right now." She glanced at the giant clock on the wall above the staff table and said, "Speaking of no time, I've got to go to Arithmancy." She pushed her plate away from herself and stood. She gathered her book bag, waved half-heartedly at Harry and Ron and left the Great Hall. "I'll see you two later."

Harry and Ron said, "Bye," in unison as they watched her turn the corner.

"She's up to something," Harry accused. "I've never seen her so distracted." He pushed his plate away from himself and stood. "Come on," he started. "It's free period, let's follow her."

"But Harry, she's going to Arithmancy. I don't want to sit through a lesson I don't have to," said Ron around a bite of his roast beef sandwich.

"I don't think she has any intention of letting us in on the plan to get Keely back, and I don't intend to let her go without us."

"What are you talking about?" asked Ron, his eyes narrowed in suspicion.

"I'm talking about the fact that she snuck out of our room last night with my invisibility cloak, and then today she's been avoiding saying anything to us if she can help it. She's been more distracted in class today than she's ever been. In Charms today, Flitwick asked her to demonstrate the silencing charm and she asked him to repeat himself, remember?" He waited while Ron thought about it for a moment. When he nodded, Harry continued. "When have you ever heard Hermione ask a teacher to repeat something?"

Ron nodded slowly. "You're right, Harry. She's never had to have a teacher repeat anything. So what do you think it means?"

"I think it means she's got something big on her mind. Something that's making her anxious. And she's avoiding us because she thinks she can keep us out of it! But I'm not going to let her do that." He grabbed Ron's arm and pulled him up. "Come on. I need to go get my map. If she's got my invisibility cloak we're going to need the map to find her!"

"Did you hear that, George?" came a familiar voice to Harry's left side. "He's putting our gift to him to excellent use!"

Harry and Ron turned to find smiling twins, though admittedly the smiles weren't as sincere as they normally were. Fred was taking Keely's kidnapping hard.

"So who are you looking for, my lightning headed friend?" asked Fred.

"Hermione," Harry answered. "I think she's going to try and rescue Keely by herself. She's got my invisibility cloak, so I need the map to find her."

"Not by herself," interjected Ron. "She said last night that she was going to help Malfoy rescue her."

Fred's face reddened in fury. "Hermione's going off to help the slimy git who kidnapped Keely in the first place?" He shook his head in disgust. "That bloody git probably just wants to keep her out of the way while he keeps Keely locked up!" he spat vehemently.

"Listen, Fred, I don't trust Malfoy either, that's why we have to follow Hermione!" He looked at the twins expectantly. "Are you two in with us?"

The twins nodded in unison. "Of course we are!"

"Right, okay then. We need to go to our dormitory to get the map." The four boys practically flew out of the Great Hall and up the stairs to Gryffindor tower.

~:-|-:~

Hermione bent, invisible, over Harry's trunk once again. She slowly lifted the lid and peered inside. "It has to be here," she said to herself as she riffled through the trunk. She sighed in frustration when she couldn't find it. When she was sure it wasn't there, she let the lid fall closed. She stood and looked around the room. "Where could it be?" She walked to the head of Harry's bed and sat near the night table. She opened the drawer and searched through it, disappointed that it wasn't there, either. She bit her lower lip in thought. She was sure that when she was nowhere to be seen after classes ended, he'd check the map to see where she was. By now she was sure he realized that she hadn't given him back his cloak and would be suspicious of her and when Harry was suspicious of someone, he followed them. The invisibility cloak did not hide her from the map. She had to find it! Still invisible, she got onto her hands and knees and checked under his bed. When it wasn't there she lifted the mattress slightly. No luck… His pillow moved a bit with the shift in gravity and she saw the corner of an aged piece of parchment. She nearly squealed in relief when she pulled the map free from its hiding place. She was nearly to the door when she heard Harry and Ron on the other side along with Fred and George.

In a panic, she pressed herself against the wall, map firmly in hand, as the door knob turned. Harry, Ron, Fred and George filed in. She crossed her fingers that they wouldn't close the door, that way she could sneak out and still make it to Arithmancy on time.

With Harry in the lead, they made their way to his bed and stood around him as he lifted his pillow. He stared disbelievingly at the empty spot on his mattress where his map usually sat. "It's gone!" he cried, repeating the search Hermione had just finished. "Hermione!" he said her name as a near curse. "I'll bet you she took it! She knew we would follow her, so she took it!" He stood and angrily threw his pillow at the wall! "She's going to get herself killed, or locked up right beside Keely!" He grabbed a fistful of his hair in each hand as he sank onto his bed, resting his elbows on his knees! "We're going to lose both of them!"

Hermione held her breath as tears began to pool in her eyes. She put a fist to her mouth and bit her knuckle to keep from crying out. She had to get out of here.

The Ron sat next to Harry while Fred and George lowered themselves onto Ron's bed, facing the two underclassmen.

"Calm down, mate," Ron said, trying to keep his own panic from escaping. "We'll find her."

"He's right," agreed Fred. "We'll get her. Then we'll get Keely. We'll get them both back. I'm sure Dumbledore has nearly found a way to get Keely back by now. It's been nearly a week since Malfoy sent Hermione that letter."

Hermione fumed at the mention of Dumbledore. Yes, it had been nearly a week since she had gone to him with Malfoy's plea for help. He had summoned Snape to help him with a plan of some sort, but so far, nothing had come of it. Dumbledore didn't seem to be doing anything at all. And Snape was no more help than the headmaster. She had braved a trip to his desk at the end of Potions today to ask him if he had any news or if there was anything she could do (she really didn't like Malfoy's plan). Snape had glowered at her and said, "The Headmaster has things well under control," then dismissed her without allowing her another word. She wondered what Dumbledore and Snape were doing to get her best friend back, because it seemed to her to be precious little.

She inched her way toward the door. It was blessedly open. If she could just make it to the door without being heard she could be on her way. She breathed a sigh of relief when she reached the stairs and wiped her tear-stained cheek with the back of her hand as she descended into the common room and out of the portrait hole. She knelt down and pulled the bag containing her books and everything she had collected from Keely's trunk the night before and placed the Marauder's map on top of the pile. She removed the cloak and pushed it inside before closing her bag and returning it to her shoulder. She stood woodenly and with a heavy heart made her way to Arithmancy.

~:-|-~

Two hours and ten minutes later Hermione stood at the open front gates of Hogwarts. She had put on the invisibility cloak right after Ancient Runes and hurried to the edge of the Hogwarts grounds. It was a good thing she had, too, because it was obvious that Harry and the Weasleys were determined to stop her. She had a difficult time avoiding them. It seemed as though they knew the exact route she would take to get out of the school.

When she was two blocks away from Hogwarts she pulled off the cloak and held out her wand. Seconds later the violent purple Knight Bus came to a screeching stop in front of her. She gave Ernie Prang the address of Malfoy Manor and handed the fare to Stan. She took a seat near the front of the vehicle and held on for dear life.

Six minutes and four stops later she stumbled off the bus, trying to regain her balance. As soon as she was alone again she pulled the bag from her shoulder and retrieved the cloak along with Malfoy's directions on how to get into his house undetected and where to meet him. She covered herself with Harry's cloak and started in on the journey that could quite possibly end in disaster.

She heard a rustle of leaves in front of the mansion and turned to face the sound.

"Psst… Granger!" came a loud whisper. She peered at the bush where the voice had come from and saw Draco's head looking back at where she had disappeared from.

"Malfoy?" she asked in confusion.

"Yeah, it's me. Come over here and take the cloak off so I can see you!"

She hurried to his side and revealed herself to him. He pulled her into the bush and put a finger to his lips telling her to shhhh. "We have to be quiet."

"What are you doing out here? I thought I was going to meet you inside."

He shot her an odd look of amazement and said, "Do you remember how the book Dumbledore showed us said that true empaths can "melt the hardest of hearts without even trying?" At Hermione's nod, he continued, "Well, she "melted" my father's cold heart! He's on our side now!"

Hermione looked momentarily surprised, and then brightened. "But that's great!" She started to rise. "Now we don't have to hide!"

Draco grabbed her wrist in a vice grip and pulled her back down. "Yes, we do! She's melted my father's heart, and that is great, but… You Know Who is in there and he isn't on our side."

Hermione's face paled dramatically. "You mean he's living in your home?" she squeaked.

"Yes," he nodded.

"Malfoy, we have to get her out of there NOW!"

"No, listen, if we sneak her out of the house, Voldemort will hunt us all down and reclaim Keely but kill the two of us, then there will be no one to rescue her! She's safe in there. He won't hurt her. He wants her too badly."

Hermione cringed in disgust. "He wants her? You mean as a lover?" The need to vomit nearly overwhelmed her, but she swallowed it back and stared at Draco who was shaking his head emphatically.

"No, no. Not like that. He wants her for her powers. It turns out that Keely's gift works both ways. We both know that she can take away someone's pain and anger, but she can also give it. I'm not sure how they found that out, but my father assured me it was true. She can give people unimaginable pain with barely a thought and without the aid of a wand." He ran a hand through his unusually mussed up hair and sighed. "If he could brainwash her into joining his side, she could destroy us all. With one thought she could turn people to anger. She could make them fall to their knees in pain. My father thinks she could influence an entire room at the same time. Imagine the damage she could do. Imagine the kind of death eater she would make."

"But," Hermione argued. "Keely would never agree to that. She hates violence of any kind. There's no way she would ever hurt people like that!"

"You're right. She wouldn't. But he's drugging her. He's feeding her potions to erase her memory. She'll only remember who he wants her to remember. And right now, all she remembers is me. I tried to clear the potion from her system. It worked for a while. But he's given her more. When I went to her room to visit her this morning I had to reintroduce myself to her. He found out I had emptied the potion bowl and filled it with pure water. He replaced the drug. Her mind is blank, but for me, and most likely him. But he's shown her nothing but kindness. At least on the outside." He spat in disgust. "He's made her believe her parents are dead, and that my parents have been raising her since she was a child."

Hermione's eyes filled with tears. "She doesn't remember me?"

Draco shook his head sadly. "No, she doesn't. I'm sorry. I told her about you and everyone at Hogwarts a couple of days ago and gave her back all of her memories, but this morning they're gone again." He choked back a sob. "She and I were going to be married on Saturday. You Know Who was going to do something at the ceremony that goes beyond the normal bonding. My father told me that somehow he was going to make it so after the consummation of our vows Keely's commitment to me would be so strong that there wouldn't be anything she wouldn't do to protect me. That way if the brainwashing didn't work, he could force her to do his will by threatening me."

Hermione's left hand flew to her mouth in horror as her other went to Draco's shoulder. "Draco, I'm so sorry!"

He snorted in derision. "We were almost too late. He wanted to move the wedding to last night. For some reason he's in a hurry to have her powers under his control. But somehow Keely convinced him to wait." He shook his head in amazement at that particular memory. "The only reason I can think of, is that he's trying to stay on her good side, so she'll do his bidding willingly."

A miniscule glimmer of hope shined through Hermione's eyes. "Do you think she could "melt" his heart, too?"

Draco shook his head. "No, I don't think she could. Keely may be able to "melt" hearts that are frozen, but there's no way anyone, not even someone as amazing as Keely, could resurrect one that's dead."

"You're probably right," she conceded. They sat in silence for a few moments, each lost in their own thoughts until Hermione studied Draco's gaze. "Is there any way I could see her now? I miss her so much."

Again Draco shook his head. "I'm sorry, but You Know Who has a big bowl full of surveillance potion that he keeps a very close eye on since he discovered I emptied the drugged water. The only ones allowed in her room are himself, me and my father. If you suddenly showed up, he'd know, and he wouldn't be happy about it."

Resigned to the fact that she'd be putting them all in danger if she attempted a visit, she sighed and moved onto their rescue plan. "Okay, so did you get it?"

Draco nodded slowly and reached into his pocket. He pulled out the time turner his father had given him the night before and held it out to Hermione.

Hermione draped the invisibility cloak over her and Draco and stood. She held her hand down to Draco to offer him a hand up. He studied her for a moment in deliberation then took it. She helped pull him to his feet and said, "Let's find somewhere we don't have to whisper so we can go over the details."

"I know just the place," suggested Draco.

Hermione followed his lead and they walked in collected silence for a moment. "I brought the stuff you asked for," said Hermione finally.

Draco nodded. "We can go through it when we get there."

Hermione smiled to herself at the changes Keely had wrought in the man walking next to her. Never in all of her life did she think that the pure-blooded Slytherin prince could actually act like a decent human being. Then her internal smile faded as her heart broke for him and for what he had committed himself to do.