Disclaimer: This is merely a work of fanfiction; all Harry Potter-related characters and plot details are intellectual property of Ms Rowling.
A/N: There's a whole lot of swearing in this chapter, which I apologise for, but would have to stick by it because everyone's getting confused and frustrated. But from the next chapter onwards, there's all kinds of action. Hope that will be exciting (:
Meanwhile, do enjoy this one, and let me know how you've liked my fic so far! (: Shoutouts of thanks to my reviewers, and those who added me on alerts/favs, really appreciate it! (:
"What on earth is Zabini doing with Slughorn at this hour?" demanded Ron, with a disgusted look on his face. "Sucking up to that frog face?"
"And why would Slughorn still be up in his office waiting for Zabini? He's usually off to bed by now!" Harry whispered, getting excited. "Which can only mean that this is a planned meeting!"
They stared at the parchment for a while. Zabini had entered Slughorn's office and seemed to stay there for a while.
Suddenly, the marker vanished.
"Oh!" Hermione gasped.
"Where'd he go?" Ron stared in disbelief, trying to make out if Zabini had vanished to another place in Hogwarts.
But he was no longer on the map.
"He can't have Apparated!" Ginny frowned. "Or did Slughorn Vanish him?"
"Whatever for!" Ron was completely bewildered.
"Does a Death Eater have the ability to Apparate, since he's well aware of Advanced Charms?" Corrinne turned her fiery red eyes towards Hermione, who shook her head.
"I think..." Hermione turned towards the fireplace. "That's where he went."
"What?"
"He was standing right here when he entered the office." Hermione jabbed at the parchment. "He wasn't standing near Slughorn. He didn't go there just to talk to Slughorn, he wanted to get out of Hogwarts. And that's the exact place where Slughorn's fireplace is."
"You're right!" Harry realised. "He must have travelled by Floo!"
"Slughorn let him use his fireplace to travel out of Hogwarts?" Ron stared, skeptically. "Are we saying that Slughorn is now one of them too?"
"He was approached by them several times," reminded Harry, pushing up his spectacles and looking very grim. "Either that, or Zabini could have blackmailed him. He's one of the most naive professors around, and he's got plenty to lose – this job is the only thing keeping him safe, if he's innocent."
"Well, what are we waiting for?" demanded Corrinne, impatiently.
"We can't just go barging in on Slughorn after the last incident!" Ron suddenly sounded rather clearheaded. Then he shot Hermione a rather pointed look. "Not least after we were made to look like idiots when he didn't remember a thing about the Party."
Hermione looked abashed.
"I'm getting a little confused here," mumbled Neville, and they all looked at him. "Okay actually, never mind..."
"No, you're right, Neville," Ginny jumped in. "There're too many things happening at one time and we're not drawing links. Are we assuming that Zabini kidnapped Astoria Greengrass and Draco Malfoy?"
"I think we can be fairly sure he kidnapped Greengrass," said Harry, who suddenly looked enlightened about something.
Hermione stared at him. "Why are you so sure? Remember, Astoria was abducted from her bed. Daphne said Pansy Parkinson had only seen Millicent Bulstrode leave the room and come back. Nobody else appeared to have left the room."
"Zabini and Parkinson are together!" Harry stared back, triumphantly. "That's what I wanted to say! I've been noticing that Parkinson has been hanging out with him so often that it's a bit unusual considering she used to have all these girls tagging along with her."
Hermione recalled the first day when she went to find Daphne Greengrass at the frozen lake. True enough, Pansy Parkinson had not been with the gang of Slytherins. Neither had Blaise Zabini. Even though they were supposed to be always with Draco Malfoy, Pansy in particular had always been chummy with her girls. Hermione wondered why she never took notice of this earlier.
"So," continued Harry. "We can't possibly take Parkinson's words for it. Either Zabini would be able to get into the girls' dormitory fairly successfully because Parkinson gave the password to him, or that she had abducted Astoria herself. If Zabini is really able to perform that whatever-Disillusionment Charm, then he would have been able to silence and make Astoria invisible in order to get her out of the room."
"That sounds like a very plausible theory," Ginny mused.
Suddenly, something struck Hermione's mind – like a bolt of lightning that illuminated everything clearly for her – and she could have slapped herself for not thinking of this earlier.
"Rookwood! That's who is getting Zabini in to do all this! He must be trying to stop Dra – Malfoy from getting to the ..."
She stopped short. Malfoy had not wanted the rest to know about the diadem Horcrux.
"The...?" Harry stared at her.
It occurred to her that maybe she should really check on the diadem.
She grabbed the Cloak of Invisibility beside her and swung it over herself.
"Hermione!" Harry gasped in alarm, as his best friend disappeared before his eyes. "Someone stop her!"
But Hermione was already up and running towards the portrait hole. She was out before the rest could shut the door on her.
Running, and running...
Panting heavily, Hermione ran up the stairs, her heart thumping crazily. Not just because she was running, but because she was now terribly worried and frightened. Neville was right – everything was confusing and befuddling her, she didn't know where they should start... and right now she really wished that at least Draco Malfoy was beside her telling her to stop worrying the hell out of herself – that kind of curt reminder might do her flustered self a little good.
She came before the wall of the Room of Requirement.
Steeling her nerves, she paced up and down outside the Room, remembering what Draco had told her about how he had opened it. I want a place where I can hide something... Hide something...
No door.
She stopped and groaned in despair. She didn't have anything to hide, that must be why.
Hermione dug around her robe pockets. But she knew... she didn't have anything valuable enough.
There was nothing else – but Harry's Cloak of Invisibility.
Nooo... Harry won't forgive me!
But there was little she could do. She couldn't possibly risk running back into the common-room for fear of the rest stopping her and forcing everything out of her.
She closed her eyes and resumed pacing. I want a place where I can hide...
Finally, to her relief, the outline of the door appeared.
Quickly, she entered the musty room, slamming the door after her.
There were all kinds of things in the room – a rickety ladder, scattered books, old cupboards, rusty poles, a haphazard pile of dusty Gryffindor Quidditch jerseys... Hermione took off the Cloak and stepped through the mess gingerly. The air was rather choking, and she coughed as she made her way to the end of the room.
Then she spun around, and an idea came to her. Harry's Cloak had the same outer colour as the Quidditch jerseys; nobody would know the difference!
She tiptoed through, scanning around in hope to see the bust of Rowena Ravenclaw that Draco had described. But everywhere was mostly furniture and old books and metal pieces; she could hardly see...
Her hands were removing the jerseys, when she noticed what was beneath them. Her heartbeat accelerating, she quickly took them off –
She had found it.
But there was no diadem.
Hermione placed her hand on the bare top of the bust, only to sweep off a layer of dust and grime. But the stone below sparkled occasionally. She looked down at the floor.
No diadem.
Was it destroyed? Was it...
Hermione didn't even know if she was feeling despair or outrage... a sudden emptiness had overcome her.
No answers. All these questions in her head – none of them were meeting with answers. She couldn't even tell if the missing diadem was because Draco had destroyed it, or that Rookwood had reached it first. She couldn't even tell what had happened to Draco. But...
It then occurred to her that Draco would not have destroyed the diadem unless he was forced to.
She gently placed Harry's Invisibility Cloak in the midst of the jerseys and put the whole pile back where it was. She knew better than to defy what she originally asked the Room of Requirement for; the Room was notorious for not letting people out until it used the Room for the intended purpose.
Then she stood up.
Draco would not have destroyed the diadem unless he was forced to.
Which meant that he had met with trouble here. In the Room of Requirement.
But how did the person know the key to coming into this particular room? Draco had apparently only visited this Room twice – the first time was the disposal of the pendants, the second being the Hufflepuff Cup. Even somebody who followed him wouldn't have known exactly how to come in... how did Zabini know?
Hermione moved around, touching the sides of the rather ominous-looking armchair with its arms curling in like a monster's, fingering the dusty teak of a cupboard. She tried to open it, but it was locked. She pulled out her wand, but the Unlocking Charm did not work. Frowning, she moved onto another cupboard. This, too, was locked.
She then came to a pile of huge framed paintings stacked up on the ground. She privately wondered who would sneak in such large paintings. Then she realised that they were defaced and ripped at certain parts, with rather grouchy occupants that were throwing insults at her when she walked by. The chorus of cries and yells and shouts grew louder as she stared. Wincing, she tried to walk away from them.
Instead, she tripped.
"Ow!"
She broke her fall with her hands, nearly missing the edge of a frame. Clambering up, she heard a very tiny voice shout amidst all the yelling,
"Get this thing off me! I can't sleep! Get it off, you stupid girl!"
Hermione stared at the first painting, which was a rather sulky looking witch who yelled at her to stop staring. But she was standing, so it didn't seem like she was the owner of the voice. Quickly, she removed the first painting, and the second – a rather nasty-looking goblin – and then she saw who had spoken. It was a grumpy old wizard in his pyjamas, sitting on a bed looking terribly black-faced. He pointed at the middle of his bed and glared at Hermione.
"REMOVE IT NOW!" he screamed, shrilly.
Hermione looked perplexed. "There's nothing there!"
"No, you silly girl, whatever you put underneath! Or was it you? Oh who cares! Get it out NOW! I WANT MY SLEEP!"
Hermione realised that he meant what was under the flap, or rather part of the picture had been torn, so there was a massive flap that was hanging off the picture. She reached behind and the wizard yelped,
"Get your fat fingers out of there NOW!"
"I need to pull it out!" Hermione retorted, and her fingers touched something cold and hard. Surprised, she yanked it out. The wizard yelled again, and screamed a rude insult. But Hermione was not listening.
She stared at the offending object in her fingers.
It was a ring.
"Oho, so that's what it was! You girls should know better than to leave your precious things lying around and sticking it beneath my bed! I couldn't sleep the whole day!" And the wizard gave a loud "hrrrumphh!" before he clambered into bed and turned his back on Hermione, pretending to snore very loudly.
Hermione stood up, and held the ring up. She turned it slowly, and noticed that there were carvings.
She brought it closer to her eyes, and let out a soft gasp.
The word 'PARKINSON' was clearly etched into the inside of the ring.
"What was she doing here?" Hermione whispered in disbelief.
But it all fit. Blaise must have told Pansy about Astoria Greengrass, and she must have tailed Draco to this Room. She had somehow found the clue to this room was to bring something precious and hide it, and she had hidden her ring. And she must have been the one who kidnapped Draco.
This just heightened the complexity of things. If she had kidnapped Draco, then who had Blaise been looking for? The way he stared at Hermione earlier on – he could only have been looking for either of the two.
If Blaise had kidnapped Astoria, and Pansy had kidnapped Draco...
Unless they both had different agendas?
Hermione stared at the ring in despair.
Then suddenly, her hand dove into her robe pocket and pulled out the coin. If he wasn't going to message her, then she'd do the messaging.
"Please tell me you're okay..." she whispered, her breath faint. Then she closed her eyes and muttered some words, as she pressed her thumb on the coin and raised her wand over it.
-.-.-.-.-.-
"Damn it, this lock doesn't open!" Draco sank down after multiple times of casting spells at the door.
"Draco, what exactly is going on? What's with the crown, and why is Rookwood against you – I mean, aren't you all supposed to be..."
"Death Eaters?" Draco snorted. "We're fakes, that's why."
He couldn't be bothered to hide the truth anymore; there was no point in keeping allegiance with the Dark Lord – not only was he dying to stab the diadem with the fang in his robes, the thought of Rookwood becoming even stronger than the Dark Lord – or should he say,Voldemort, was nauseating, to say the least.
"I don't understand..." Pansy backed into the wall. "I could tell you were furious at being asked to be part of them... but then I thought..."
"Yeah, in the end, I still got sealed with a kiss," Draco replied sarcastically, as he rolled up his sleeve to watch the black mass swirl into the sinister Dark Mark. Pansy did not flinch; she was eyeing Draco with a confused look. "Look Pansy, if I have to tell you the whole story now, we'd be dead by the time I'm barely halfway through. On the other hand, I seriously need to know how the hell you got involved in this, so that I can figure out how to get out of here, how to get that diadem back, and what has happened to Astoria!"
Pansy was about to argue, but she saw the glint in Draco's eyes – he would do anything just to get the information out of her. Obviously between Draco and Rookwood, she trusted Draco more. Sighing, she looked away.
"What exactly do you want to know?"
"Maybe you could start with how the bloody hell you knew about the Room of Requirement – have you been tailing me?" Draco glared daggers at her.
"It's not my fault that you were so bloody obvious coming out from that door," Pansy shot back, coldly. "I saw you some other day walking out from there, and I wanted to know what you were doing in there. When I came to the door – or wall, rather, the door had disappeared – I figured it was the same room Potter and his stupid gang used last year in their fight against Umbridge. We found it altogether, if you can recall."
"Some other day?" The only other day was when he went to dispose the Greengrasses' pendants in the room. He could have slapped his forehead. In his hurry to join Blaise for class, he had been fairly oblivious to being subtle.
"I can guess – you were trying to hide the pendants you stole from Astoria and Daphne, right?"
Draco's eyes snapped wide open; he stared at her in utter horror. "How did you know?"
Pansy refused to look at him, her hands balled up tightly into fists. "Astoria had been looking relatively uneasy of late. She knew that Granger was with you when you went to Dumbledore's office, when nobody knew – even Potter was going around looking for her while Blaise and I were finding you. Speaking of which..."
"No, Pansy, I told you I won't explain till you finish," Draco cut in, thickly.
Pansy threw him a vicious look, then she turned away again. "So Blaise and I suspected something was wrong between you and Astoria, which was really strange considering you two weren't close. Blaise finally went to ask Daphne about it..."
"That bleathead!" Draco exclaimed, furiously. "And she told me no one knew!"
"You said she is a bleathead," replied Pansy, in a bored voice. "Do you expect anything less?"
Draco didn't like being told, however indirect, that he was stupid for believing Daphne Greengrass. "Get on with it."
Pansy was irritated with Draco's tone, but she could sense that he was terribly desperate to know what she had to say, so she continued. "Well, somehow Blaise managed to get out of Daphne the fact that their pendants were stolen by you, and it was the night before I saw you come out of the room. So I had a good feeling you had used that room to hide the pendants."
Draco felt as if he hadn't given Pansy much credit for her intuition before. But he decided not to look too amazed, and scowled instead.
"But before we could do anything, Rookwood had invaded my fireplace that night." Pansy gritted her teeth. "He accessed it by invading my own home – he threatened my parents into lending him the fireplace. He said he would make sure I wouldn't return home if they refused him."
It was Draco's turn to curl his fingers into fists. Augustus Rookwood was a Death Eater through and through – cold, cruel, and downright callous.
"So he told me that there was this crown belonging to Rowena Ravenclaw in Hogwarts, and demanded that I find it for him. I told him this place is humongous, but he wouldn't listen, he even threatened to kill my parents. But I knew that he wouldn't, because even though we are neutral, my father had assisted some of the Death Eaters before. So I gave him a condition – to make sure Blaise didn't join the Death Eaters."
"I can't believe you two are..." Draco muttered under his breath.
"Rookwood agreed, then he added you know about the place. When he said that, suddenly I felt that the room you came out from was highly suspicious. It was the perfect place to hide something nobody else could find, as long as you told the room to turn into something you wanted it to be."
Pansy gave a mirthless chuckle. "I was so silly. You should have seen me. Taking things outside the room every day at a time when no one would see me. Asking the room to let me hide something. Hide something important to me. Hide something close to me. I couldn't possibly say 'hide the diadem of Rowena Ravenclaw'; I didn't have it! But eventually I figured it out."
"Hide something precious."
Trial-and-error! To think Pansy Parkinson had revealed his secret through trial-and-error! Draco didn't know whether to laugh or to be incensed. It was so stupid. He was so stupid. How could he have let Pansy notice?
"I wasn't even hiding the diadem." He chortled fakely. "The diadem was in the room all along. The first time I used the pendants, remember?"
"Well, clearly it worked anyway." Pansy shrugged her shoulders. "I had brought along a photograph of Blaise and I."
Draco raised his eyebrows.
"Shut up."
"I'm not saying anything."
Pansy glared at him. "WELL, when I went in, I discovered the diadem by mistake really, because I saw the Gryffindor Quidditch jerseys. I was reminded of that bitch who knocked Blaise off his broom during the last match."
Corrinne Whitemayer. The thought of her made Draco feel ill. The insults she had thrown at him about his father. And now she had indirectly made Pansy discover his secret. Screw you, Whitemayer...
"So I threw those jerseys into the far end."
"Right." Draco scowled till his cheek muscles ached. But he was really that pissed off. "I suppose thereafter you trailed me again to find out when I'd next go there, right?"
"Wasn't too long. You told that Mudblood..."
Draco made a growling noise. Pansy stared at him in surprise.
"What is with the two of you? How come Granger got mixed up with everything? You were so rude to her in Arithmancy the other time, and then later in Defence Against the Dark Arts, you lent her your textbook! I wanted to say something about it, but Blaise said it was best not to interfere with your moods."
"Damn right, that boy was," muttered Draco. "Can you carry on first?"
Pansy uttered a rude word, before she threw a glare at Draco once again. "Since you were so happily stuck in the broom cupboard, I thought I'd made a move ahead of you after hearing you say you were going that night. So I brought my family heirloom ring to open the room, and took back the photograph." She took the dusty photograph out of her pocket and stared hard at it. "And then you came. End of story. Now would you..."
"It was an act, Pansy. I meant for you to turn up."
"That doesn't matter now, does it?" Pansy retorted, stiffly. "All that matters is that we're both now stuck here, and Rookwood could just roast us alive!"
Suddenly, Draco felt a vibration in his pocket.
The coin!
This was the second time he had totally forgotten about it. Swearing loudly, he took it out, and saw that he had a message.
From Hermione Granger.
WHERE ARE YOU?
Gasping excitedly like a little boy who had just seen a cart of candy floss, Draco immediately pressed his wand to the coin and closed his eyes.
"Draco?" Pansy asked, completely taken aback by his actions and expressions.
When Draco opened his eyes, he gave Pansy an uncharacteristically huge grin that utterly confounded her.
-.-.-.-.-.-
Astoria wished she had her hands free at least to massage her throbbing head. It wasn't as if she had been knocked out; maybe she had been thinking too much lately. After all, her kidnapper – whoever it had been – had made use of some sort of spell to drift her into unconsciousness. And to have smuggled her out of the room – there could only be invisibility involved. Finally, she had woken up tied up to a chair – with real ropes nonetheless – and interrogated by voices that she couldn't match to faces. Primarily because she was stuck in this dark room with only a glimpse of light outlining the door.
She had given up struggling; her wand had been extricated from her robes, and the knots were too tight for her to wriggle out of it. Maybe it was the struggles that had made her head hurt. Or maybe it was the lack of light that was making her drowsy.
Damn you, Draco Malfoy! Maybe you could work those smartass brains of yours – and that Granger's – to come save me now?
The door opened.
"LET ME OUT OF HERE!" screamed Astoria, at the top of her lungs.
From the angle her chair was placed, she couldn't see who it was even with the light shining in. The door slammed almost immediately, and there was darkness again.
"Stop asking me questions, I'm sick and tired of not being able to answer anyway, so why the hell are you..."
"I know you can't answer any of it."
Astoria stopped short. This voice was nothing like the sickly-sweet or the gruff ones she had heard earlier on. This voice was familiar.
"You're just here as bait. Don't you get it?"
"Who are you?" demanded Astoria, squinting even though she knew it was hopeless.
She didn't have to squint for long. Light burst out in front of her; a wand had been lit.
The face of Blaise Zabini stared back at her.
Astoria screamed; she nearly fell back if not for Blaise reaching out to slam her chair back into the ground again, roughly.
"BLAISE?" she shrieked. "Did you kidnap me?"
"I thought you were smart enough not to question that," replied Blaise, blandly. Then he turned away, his wand swinging to illuminate the other end of the room. Only a table was there. He walked towards it and sat on it to face her. "Pretty simple. All it took was a Disillusionment Charm and a heavy Sleeping Draught. And Pansy, for telling me the room password and that Millicent Bulstrode walks in and out of the room at late hours. Perfect for me to transport you out without distracting others."
Astoria was horrified. "What are you doing this for!"
Blaise did not meet her gaze. Instead, he stared blankly at the wall in front of him. "Malfoy."
"Malfoy made you kidnap me?" Astoria's face grew hot with fury and disbelief.
"No, I kidnapped you to get Malfoy here."
The heat faded away, and a different kind of perplexity took over. "You..."
"I found out from your sister about the pendants," replied Blaise, still in that very bland tone.
"You're blackmailing him!" Realisation dawned upon Astoria.
"You are pretty quick after all."
"You're doing this for them? They're luring Malfoy out so that he can receive his punishment, aren't they? And they got you to do this? Wait, are you..." Astoria's head was throbbing even harder from all these sudden revelations.
A faint smirk appeared on Blaise's face.
Astoria gasped. "Another one!"
The smirk was replaced by a scowl. "Yes, another one. Will never be – the only one."
"You're insane, Blaise!" Astoria couldn't believe her ears. "Your family was supposed to be neutral! Why are you jumping into death?"
"I'm not here to listen to you preach!" Blaise suddenly yelled back, his fiery gaze back onto her in full force. "I'm here to find out why he stole your pendants!" His eyes narrowed. She knows that he deserves punishment. "Surely there must have been something..."
"Why don't you ask Malfoy!" retorted Astoria. "How the bloody hell am I supposed to know?"
At least, she only knew that he was blackmailing her grandmother about her connection with the ex-Death Eater. That was about all she knew – and she didn't feel like it was appropriate to tell this to Blaise.
When Blaise did not reply her, and instead looked positively furious, Astoria couldn't help but sense that something was not quite right.
The door swung open again.
Blaise was startled out from his position on the table; Astoria jerked on her chair.
"Hello sweetie, are you... oh, Blaise! What are you doing here? Having a nice chat?" It was that irritatingly sweet voice – it had to be a woman. The door slammed and the room was plunged into darkness before Astoria's eyes could adjust to the sudden burst of light earlier.
But Blaise's wand was still lit, and Astoria could see that he was frightened. Yes, frightened! He tried to put on a brave front, but suddenly a wand was thrusted beneath his chin to push his head upward, and he lost the courage. Instead, he began to shake.
"So..." The voice seemed to coil around the room like a venomous snake. "Where is Draco?"
The way she said "Draco" was as if he were an adored pet of hers. Astoria cringed at how sickening she made his name sound.
A Death Eater all right... but she still had no idea who it was specifically.
Blaise was perspiring so profusely, and shaking quite badly; Astoria stared at him in amazement.
There was a long silence, save for Blaise's heavy breaths, and lame attempts at opening his mouth to speak, but failing to.
The wand retreated; suddenly, Blaise was blasted into the wall with a loud thud; Astoria screamed instinctively.
The light from Blaise's wand was extinguished; the wand must have flown out of his hand.
"You fool..." The voice had turned cold and menacing. "Has he escaped?"
"I... I don't know..." Blaise managed to squeeze out. "He's... he's been missing..."
"Oh you incompetent fool, you...!" Whoever it was, was really mad and jittery. "Missing! Missing! Where could that rascal have gone to... old Dumblydork couldn't possibly be hiding him, could he, and Severus – oh, Severus has come back to us, he can't be keeping him... and now that the Dark Lord needs him, I'm supposed to keep an eye on that ruddy boy, so where can he be? Is it really that old man hiding him? TELL ME!"
"I really don't know! But I don't think so – Dumbledore's been looking very weak nowadays, he can't possibly be..."
"Weak? Is that so! I like the sound of that!" The voice burst out into girlish giggles. "How splendid, the Dark Lord promised me that would happen, and it did!" Suddenly, it changed to a thoughtful and cunning tone. "There's only one person now that could possibly know... I have to find Cissy... it's her son, she can't possibly just – oh argh! Now I have two useless children here, useless, useless!"
Whoever it was flung open the door wide, and the light from outside poured in to illuminate the whole room.
And its occupants.
"GREYBACK!"
The frenzied woman who was screaming...
Astoria had trouble breathing upon identifying her.
No wonder... no wonder she talked about Draco as if he was her kin...
Blaise was lying against the wall, weakly staring after the woman; his entire body was trembling.
Astoria's gaze shifted back to the woman, who was now looking directly at her and smirking.
"Hello, darling, do I look familiar?"
"Lestrange..." Astoria managed to spit out. "Bellatrix Lestrange!"
"Oh, very good..." Bellatrix clapped her hands and beamed. "We're getting started!"
"Dog of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named!" Astoria's eyes flashed coldly. "And a female dog to boot. That just makes you a..."
Bellatrix's expression grew wild. She flew forward and slapped Astoria's cheek hard, causing the angry auburn-haired girl to scream,
"BITCH!"
"You need a little wash of your mouth, young lady." Bellatrix sneered, her thin fingers closing around Astoria's neck as the girl gasped for air. "How about..."
"Is she for me?" The gruff voice emerged. But this time – it was laced with – hunger.
Bellatrix let go of Astoria's throat, and Astoria coughed and hacked furiously.
"I've other important things to attend to than to kill a defenseless girl like you," said Bellatrix, smirking as she blew at her fingernails. Then she turned to the monstrous creature by the door. Astoria's eyes grew wide with horror as she realised that she had indeed been right – Fenrir Greyback, the most savage of werewolves, was there gloating with all the hunger in his eyes. This was not making her oxygen flow any better.
Bellatrix stalked towards the middle of the room, then she cast her gaze onto a shaking Blaise, who was wincing from the pain in his body.
"And you – can forget about staying as part of us. You know nothing anyway – the Dark Lord just wanted you to get Draco for us. But since you can't even perform such a single task, that's it. No wait, not just it. You'll pay for your mistake, Blaise. Punishment will come," her voice sneering, "for fools like you."
"No..." Blaise whispered. It was almost – a whimper.
Bellatrix ignored him and turned towards Greyback.
"Finish her off."
Greyback gave a terribly chilling snarl, and Bellatrix twittered happily as she exited the room.
"No... no... don't you DARE come near me, you beast... you..."
"It's been a while..." Greyback bared his teeth as he advanced, stepping away from the light. All she could see were his dirty-yellow eyes gleaming as they narrowed. "Since I've had the chance to tear someone apart bit by bit..." Even in the dim light, she could make out the fangs coming closer to her.
This is it... the end!
Astoria shrieked with all her might as he neared her. A sudden burst of courage seized her and she spat right into his face. But it only served to make things worse.
Greyback let loose a guttural snarl, and reached out to shove her chair to the ground. Her head hit the ground, her back against the wood of the chair, and every part of her was aching terribly.
But worst of all, was the fear that was pumping through her nerves as the monstrous figure of Greyback loomed over her. Her hands were still tied firmly around the back of the chair such that she couldn't even stop him. His strong hands – or were they paws – slammed on either side of her, his face drawing closer...
The end...
"TAKE THAT!"
Suddenly, the overwhelming presence was lifted off her, accompanied with a deafening howl – and ended with a loud reverberation.
She realised Greyback had been blasted against the wall.
Blaise Zabini was standing in the middle of the room, half-illuminated by the light streaming in from the doorway, dishevelled and panting. His wand was raised, pointing towards the wall where Greyback was. The slumped figure of the werewolf was barely visible. Astoria stared in a mix of astonishment, horror and relief all at once. Zabini looked equally surprised that he managed to knock Greyback out.
"You..."
Blaise just stared at his wand, and then at Greyback. A very hard look came over his face.
"Blaise..."
"Shut up!" He turned towards her, wildly.
"Look, there's no turning back..." Astoria stared at Greyback's still figure. "They're not going to take you back..."
"I KNOW!"
"Well, then stop standing there!" Astoria hissed.
For a fraction of a second, Blaise hesitated. Then he made an exasperated noise, and rushed forward to untie the knots. It proved difficult, for they were dead ones; in the end, he just wielded his wand.
"Come on!" He yanked her off the chair. Her legs were wobbly after not walking for days, and she was weak from hunger, thirst and pain. But Blaise supported her as they hobbled out, since he was in pain as well.
"My wand..." whispered Astoria, as Blaise wielded his wand over them to cast a Disillusionment Charm.
"How about your life!" Blaise shot back angrily, and then he hustled her along.
There was no sign of Bellatrix Lestrange. She must have left in a hurry to find Narcissa Malfoy.
"Blaise..."
"Shut up and just move!" He glared at her. "And don't thank me!"
Astoria closed her eyes, and just let him drag her off to safety.