Chapter 12

"Why are you here? Why am I here? What's going on?" Hermione asked, coming back to her senses.

"I go where the Dark Lord requires me to go, Miss Granger." Came the slow cold voice of none other than Severus Snape.

"I'll bet I know something you don't, My-oh," sneered Hermione's once childhood friend.

"Nick, what are you doing with him? How are you even connected in all this? You're a muggle!" Hermione was lost as to how these two incredibly different men were working together.

"Yes, I am. But not for long. Did you know that the Dark Lord sometimes recruits muggles for certain jobs? He then rewards us. He is going to turn me into something special, a warrior, a werewolf," Nick said gleefully, if not a bit manically.

"What? Is that even possible? I thought you had to have magical blood to be able to turn, instead of just die from a werewolf bite," Hermione asked looking automatically to Snape.

"I assure you, Miss Granger it is possible. For once your incessant text memorization has failed you. This is the Dark Lord, he is capable of incredible magic. Mr. Smith here has been asked to carry out a task for the Dark Lord. You and that busybody group of yours have gotten a bit too close for comfort in the past weeks and we have brought you here to find out what you know," Snape said, looking rather bored with the whole affair.

"Nick, please think of your parents! You will devastate them, you'll never be able to see them again," Hermione pleaded, hoping to help him see reason.

"Don't you see, I don't need those filthy muggles! I am going to be a werewolf, I'll be powerful and strong. If you cooperate, maybe I can put a good word in for you, we could do this together," Nick said, caressing her face.

"You honestly think I am going to join Voldemort?" Hermione asked, her hands balled into tight fists at her side.

"How dare you speak his name? Filthy mudblood!" Nick shouted at her, and struck her hard across the face.

"Have you lost your bloody mind? Have they done something to you? You're a muggle! What do you know of any of this? What do you know about Vold- You-know-who, or mudbloods? You think they will honestly let you join them? You are expendable! You are nothing to them," Hermione asked him, holding her face gingerly.

"That's enough! You, go outside and calm down," Snape said to Nick, who looked ready to hit Hermione again. Snape turned to Hermione and spoke quietly so that only she would hear."There is a washroom through that door, do go wash up. Don't think of doing anything stupid, the room is warded against apparition. I will return shortly."

Hermione went into the bathroom and rinsed the blood from her mouth. She quickly looked around the small room, it was as bare as the bedroom. There was only a toilet, sink, and a small window high on the wall. She climbed up on the toilet and tried to look out the window, but it was too dark and there were no street lights.,She could, however, tell that she was in a muggle looking neighborhood, just at the end of the yard was a crosswalk and the silhouette of a street sign, perhaps in the morning when there was light she would be able to make out the street name.

Hermione decided to try and at least send word that she was alive and who had her. This was the only spell Hermione ever really had trouble with, Remus had told her once it was because she wasn't thinking of a powerful enough memory. She closed her eyes and focused her mind on the last time she was really happy, thoughts of Fred began flooding her mind and in no time she had produced a fully corporeal patronus and sent her message. She then returned to the bedroom to wait.

…..

Once it had been established that Hermione had in fact been take, everyone returned to the burrow. Fred, however, felt very little comfort at being back in his home, Hermione had only been missing a few hours, yet he felt as though he had been up for days. He spent most of the time pacing restlessly from room to room, then to the backyard and over again. His hair stuck up at odd angles from his fingers running through it and his lips were chapped and raw from chewing them absentmindedly. George had given up trying to distract and calm Fred and was sitting on the sofa reading through an old issue of Witch Weekly while Ginny dozed lightly with her head on his leg. Luna, Ron and Harry had all taken up post out it the backyard, none saying too much, each stuck it their own heads.

"Merlin's beard! Look!" Ron jumped up and pointed at a blue silver light that flashed past them into the house, the three of them ran after it.

"Fred, I'm alright. I've been taken by Nick and Snape. I think something is wrong with Nick, maybe the Imperious, or brainwashing, I don't know. I'm in a muggle house, but I can't see any street signs right now, it's too dark. I'll look again in the morning and try to send word." Hermione's voice filled the small sitting room.

Fred watched the silver otter disappear and sighed deeply in relief. "She's okay, she's alive and she has her wand…"

"Snape and Nick? How did they get mixed up with each other I wonder," George said, a furrow in his brow.

"We can ask Hermione that when we rescue her," Bill said from the doorway where he Mrs. Weasley, Remus and Tonks had come when they saw the patronus fly through the house.

"She's alive, that's what matters. There is nothing more we can do tonight, we have to hope that Hermione can send word tomorrow. For now we must get some rest, so we are able to move at a moments notice," Remus said.

"Come on, Gin, let's head up, get some sleep," Luna said to Ginny and took her hand, as they neared Fred, Luna looked him in the eye. "She will be back soon, you know as well as I do that if anyone were going to make her way home it's Hermione. Besides, you love each other too much to be away from each other too long."

"Thank you, Luna," Fred said quietly, a small smile on his lips because he had an overwhelming feeling that if Luna said it, it must be true.

…..

"Now Miss Granger, please tell me what you know of Professor Bradbury," Snape asked for what seemed like the hundredth time.

It was very early the next morning, before dawn and Hermione had not been able to sleep. Snape had tied her to a plain wooden chair in the middle of the small bedroom she had been in since she arrived upon arriving back to the room and hadn't stopped questioning her since.

"Perhaps I should bring young Mr. Smith in to continue? Greyback has just arrived and would be more than happy to aid in the questioning as well," Snape continued after several minutes of Hermione's silent glares.

"Still nothing, then? Very well I will give you two hours to sleep, think over your situation and then I will let the wolf loose."

Snape walked to the door and looked back at her, Hermione was sure that his eyes flirted to her hair, where her wand was once again being used as a hairstick, but he never said a word about it. He waved his wand and the ropes that were binding her to the chair vanished.

Once he was out of the room Hermione stood and stretched out her arms and legs, trying to get the blood to flow properly after sitting for so long. She tentatively walked in a few wide circles to work out the stiffness and waited to make sure no one was going to burst back in immediately. A full ten minutes later she slowly made her way to the small bathroom again. She quietly climbed up on the toilet to look out the window, it was still before dawn but much lighter outside now. Her patronus was a bit easier to conjure this time and she sent her otter on it's way swiftly.

Climbing carefully off the toilet, Hermione swayed slightly. She turned the tap on and gulped down as much water as possible. The feeling of drinking so much so quickly made her feel a little nauseous so she made her way to the bed to lie down for a few minutes, though she didn't dare go to sleep. She let her mind relax, having her shield up for so long was adding to her already exhausted state, though she sent Remus a silent thank you for insisting she learn Occlumency.

…..

Fred was laying on his bed, eyes wide open, he kept thinking back to what Luna had said. Love, was he in love with Hermione? Did she love him? What was love exactly? Wanting to spend all his time with someone? Check. Thinking about someone all the time? Check. Worrying about someone else more than himself? Check. Yeah, maybe he was in love with her. Now he just needed to get her back.

"Fred, please come quickly, I'm at Keith and Linda's house. I know that Nick, Snape and Greyback are here, I don't know who else. I don't know where Keith and Linda are, if they're here. I have no idea if there are any other death eaters or if anyone else is coming. I don't think they are going to take my silence for an answer much longer." Hermione's voice filled the bedroom.

Fred had to admit, she sounded strong, not nearly as scared as he knew she had to be feeling. He immediately popped up, waking George as he did. Fred filled him in on his way to the kitchen, which was already full of people talking quietly, even given the early hour.

"Remus, she's at Keith and Linda's," Fred said quickly and proceeded to tell everyone what Hermione had said.

. At the moment Molly, Arthur, Tonks, Remus and the twins were the only Order members present, Bill was due back any time now. He had port keyed to Paris to bring Fleur and her parents back to the burrow, seeing as the wedding was this coming weekend. He had tried to stay and wait on word from Hermione but Fred and Remus had both insisted he go, knowing that it would be morning before they heard back from her anyway. Charlie and his friend Jacob, from the reserve were set to arrive soon as well, also for the wedding. Not knowing how many death eaters or what wards were in place at the Smith residence they agreed to wait for the eldest Weasley siblings to return, though Fred took a bit of convincing.

"Molly, we'll need you to stay and make sure Harry and the rest stay put while we're gone. We all know he and Ron will try and tag along," Remus said quietly as they all sat around the kitchen table. "Fred, George Bill and I can sidealong everyone else, We'll go to the alley behind that corner store a few streets away from the Smith's home."

"Have we heard from her then?" Bill asked as he walked into the kitchen with Fleur and her family.

Molly set about welcoming the guests quietly as Bill took her seat at the table offering her a quick kiss on the cheek in greeting.

"She's at the Smith's," George answered glancing at Fred who had become very quiet.

"Remus and I should go first and scout out as much as we can," Bill said once he'd been filled in. "We may be able to take down any protective wards that are in place and possibly get a better idea of how many we are up against."

"I agree, we need to remember that this is a muggle neighborhood, we should be as quiet about it as possible," Remus said.

"Once I get the go ahead, I'll go in and look for Keith and Linda," Tonks said, she too had an eye on Fred. "Then Fred, you and George go get Hermione out of there."

"Always up to rescue a damsel in distress," George said with a hint of a smile. "Just don't tell Hermione I said that… she'd show me damsel."

"What's going on?" Charlie asked walking into the kitchen. "Are we having a party?"

Molly, who had returned from showing the Delacour's their room hugged her son and the wizard with him tightly before allowing a small sob to escape. Arthur greeted them as well before wrapping an arm around his wife and quietly explained what had happened.

"Can we get on with this already? We're wasting time," Fred said, glaring at Charlie for the interruption.

"Right, Arthur, Charlie and Jacob, is it? You three should hang back and take care of any Death Eaters who try to escape," Remus said quickly to get back on track.

"I'm always up for a good fight," Jacob said easily.

"Come on Charlieboy, I'll fill you and Leroy in while this lot gets everything ready," Tonks said, ushering Charlie and Jacob into the next room. The last thing they needed right now was for Fred and Charlie to get into it.

….

"I thought you said two hours," Hermione muttered when the door to her room burst open.

"Looks like we had a change of plans, sweet one," Came a low growl. "My my, you are a pretty one."

Hermione's breath caught in her throat as Fenrir Greyback walked over and sniffed at her hair.

"Lets see if we can get you to talk, shall we?"