Disclaimer: Harry Potter & all HP characters are copyright J.K. Rowling.
Hermione's POV
I opened my eyes, trying to figure out where am I. But the problem is my blurring sight. Nothing seems to come in sight clearly no
doubt I sure that I'm sober. I am lying on the ground and there's a weird numbness at the back of my head. It
feels like I've been hit several times there. Ouch! Besides, the atmosphere here's chilling, I could feel the cold floor on my back and it
made me shiver. Then I try to get up, using my right hand, I tried to push myself up. But when I moved it, it feels like there's a rush of
blood back into it's veins. This is mainly because I haven't moved it since last night or whever was that. The filling of blood into my
veins brings back life into my numbed hand, but at the same time, I could feel this soreness all over it. I fought it and when my palms
touched the ground, I tried to push myself up, with my back lifted a little above the ground. But, suddenly it hurts so bad that my
energy drained immediately. The pain was too hard to endure so I let go. Before my head landed, I mentally prepare myself for a
hard landing, but what surprises me is that I landed on something soft.
"OUCH!!" I heard someone yelled out. I recognised that voice. Malfoy. His yell sort of made my vision clearer, I assume that was
because I was shocked by it, although I don't believe something like that would happen. Then I turned my head and saw that I was
lying on his lap.
"Get off me mudblood!" he yelled at me with gritted teeth.
I did not answer him, the whole situation was akward, I here have a horribly numb hand, and I can't get myself up, then I fell down,
landing my head on MALFOY's lap. Sick wasn't it? I was giving him an angry glare when he notices my hand, it was well, quite out of
place, and swelling in purple. My fingernails were in dark mauve since there's no blood have been there the whole night.
"What happened to your hand?" he asked, in slightly softer tone.
"Numbed," was all I said. Then I tried to get up again, but my attemp failed. So I again, had a hard landing(on Malfoy's lap), but what
surprises me is that before my head fell on his lap, he quickly bend down and held me. He was taking so much precautios when
touching me, afraid that he might burn upon touching a muggle bare hand. Our faces were inches away and my hearbeat
rate suddenly went up, even faster than when I was very close with Professor Snape. (A/N: XD She likes Snape) His eyes widened in
shock too, and I caught a blush over his cheeks when he helped me up.
Funny, I seem to find Malfoy rather good looking in some angles, some that other people had not seen, like just now, yea the close up.
He went back at the corner and sat there, there was total silence between us.
"Hey Malfoy, we're back in our own bodies!" I said suddenly upon my discoveries. Wow! I'm back in my own body, and it's much better!
"I don't need you to tell me that," he replied coldly. "You're the cause of it!" he pointed his finger at me, what an irresponsible git he is.
Then he got up and walked towards the thick metal gate that is in front of us. Only now that I realised that we're in a dungeon, or
somewhere else like it. The whole place gave me an eerieness of the extreme silence. Every breathe I or Malfoy took could be heard
clearly, maybe we seem to be panting out of fright, but I wasn't sure.
Malfoy stood near the gate as he stretches out his hand to reach for something. I wondered what was he up to but I could not get up to
see it for myself.
"What d..." but before I could finishe, he place a hand with it's palm open wide, indicating that I shut up. "Ruddy git," I muttered beneath
my breath.
After a few moments, he turned around, smirking proudly as if he won't the Quidditch game. On his hands I notice there were a bundle
of keys, hooked on a thick and large golden ring.
"Look what I've got Granger?" he asked me while holding up the keys carefully, not wanting to make a sound. I looked at him with a
bewildered expression, where the hell did he get it? Don't tell me Lucius Malfoy sent it?
"Where have you get it from?" I asked him blankly. His smirk grew, and he pointed his finger towards the gate. There I saw a trog, a
sleeping trog. Unlike other of these creatures, you may think that they snore loudly when they're asleep, however this one was an
exception. It didn't. It's sleeping position looked rather decent, it was in a sitting position, where it's hands were claps together, on top
of it tummy. Gosh, I've never seen something quite like it.
Since the incident with trog I had in first year, I seem to have some fears towards them. Big ugly and uncivilised things they are. I was
looking and analysing this one, but was suddenly interrupted by Malfoy's rude remark.
"Have you done gawking at him?" he smirked once more. "Awww, handsome thing isn't he?"
Damn him. Having pleasure and making fun of me for looking at a trog? I was only analysing it. That git sure has loads of trash to talk.
"Shut up Malfoy," I said with gritted teeth. "Now how should we get out?" I asked him in a lower tone.
He cleared his throat. "Finally," he said. "Here I have the keys, and that handsome out there is fast asleep," Malfoy once again
was trying to get me mad, he spoke that handsome thing in a fakely twitch voice.
"But there's too many keys, how should we know which one fits?" I asked, scared and confused now.
"Fear not Granger, most of they keys here are huge, but only these two are small enough to fit the keyhole here," he pointed this fact
out while I was so darn oblivious to it. "You could be so stupid at times mudblood," he chorlted joyfully. Damn you Malfoy, for you just
touched a nerve this time. I got up hurriedly despite my state and snacthed the keys off from him. Walking in small and unstable steps,
I reached the gate and tried opening it. I put in the first key which turned red when inserted into the keyhole, the door flew open
immediately.
So the two of us flee at once. Taking brisk steps while trying to keep the keys from clanking louder, I covered them with my robe and
held them tight in my arm. Suddenly I tripped and thus I lost grip on the keys. They fell on the damp stone floor and made a noisy
clanking noise, this woke the trog up. It opened it's bead-like eyes to look around, and when it found out that we were loose, it came
chasing in our direction.
Panicked and scared, I tried to get up and run. Malfoy watched the trog with horror as he urged me to run. Soon when I get on my feet,
we both run again. The only thing we had in mind is that we had to get out, and in this very place, it's easy to loose whomever who
was chasing you, not to mention yourself too.
But oopsie, it looks like the trog knew this place too well, it chased us and got us running to a dead end(although I don't know how).
Now, we're in deep trouble, having a humungus thing that could crush your skull with one blue and with no where else to run. Merlin
help us! Then out of nowhere I had a crazy idea, I clutched my fist and stood in a kung fu fighting pose. With my legs half bending a
widely parted, my fist held like Jackie Chan when he's preparing to punch someone. For Malfoy, he just stood there, eyeing me like
I've lost my mind.
"Don't come any closer trog!" I yelled, trying to sound brave.
The trog suddenly show faint signs of fear, it stood where it was and let out a gesture. "Uuhh...?"
"I know tae kwon do and kung fu you know! Hyaa!" I blab out again. The trog flinched.
It sure sounded stupid I know, but this is the most I can think of now, now where the hell is my wand? Besides, I still need to rescue
my dad. If only I know this place like the back of my hand. I then turned towards Malfoy, who is now shooting me weird gazes, as if he
didn't believe the trog was afraid of me. But then he too posed a kung fu like pose, trying to make the trog think he could fight. Malfoy
stood rather straight, with his chin raised up, his chest a little forward, his right hand swayed above his head and his left hand was
straightened out beside, with his palm curving down.
The more I look at him the more it tickled me. No doubt he did try to stand like a kung fu master, but I couldn't help thinking that he
would start dancing ballet in just a while. That git sure has a weird sense of humour.
"Trog!" he spoke at a higher notch and paused, "I know Mu Shu since young, so don't you dare attack me!" he told the trog, smirking
like he's the victor.
"It's WU SHU Malfoy!" I wishpered to him through gritted teeth.
Soon, the trog gave us a gleeful smile which gave a good look at it's decayed and yellow teeth. I felt like the trog's telling us that it
knew that we tricked it. Oh Merlin! Then it paced closer to us, Malfoy was now fidgeting for something in his uniform and just a second
before the trog attacked him, he pulled out his wand and yelled "Mucoid Anamalia Up!"(slug curse)
The trog stopped immediately. Then we saw a slug coming out of his mouth but all the trog did was push it back and chewed it. Ewwww.....
how disgusting. Malfoy nearly threw up at the sight of it while I frown with disgust. After the trog gobbled down this slug, more came
into it's mouth and it kept chewing and enjoying it's meal, this is our chance. As it was distracted with eating slugs, we made our move
and run past it. But too bad, it notices us and the chase starts again.
We ran as fast as we could but the trog still caught up with us. Without wasting any time, we ran again, this time we came to a passage
which forked into three different paths. All of them seemed dimly light. There were chilling winds blowing from the firts one, it spooked
the day light(was there any?) out of us. From the second one, Malfoy claimed he could feel weird auras issueing from there. What was
more frightening was that he also claimed that he felt like there's death bodies inside. We surveyed the third path, it was deadly silent,
so silent that it feels like a hell of death in there.
Because there was no sound nor aura(as Draco stated) coming from there, so we decided to took it. But before we could enter it, the
trog suddenly lashed out at me. He striked me hard on the back and I fell down, then he hammered both my legs with his meaty fist. It
really hurts, and worst of all, I can't seem to feel my legs. That makes it impossible for me to even move them, now I can't walk. I was
parralyzed by this blow, but still, I tried to escape but pulling my body with my hands, to no avail. It came back again, this time with
it's hand high up in the air, gathering it's utmost strength to give me the last blow. I shut my eyes tightly, not daring to look what was
going to happend next. About Malfoy, I couldn't even think of what happened to him....
End of Hermione's POV
When Hermione was preparing for the worst to come, she suddenly felt being lifted up. It was Draco, he had no choice but to carry her.
(since he found out that she couldn't walk) At that very moment, Hermione felt a great relieve and was very grateful for Draco to get
her out. But then, she was carried in a weird position. Draco swung her upper body on top of his shoulder while clutching her legs. He was
running with all his might, he ran so fast that Hermione had problems staying still and not fall off. So she cluthced his neck for support.
Her heart thumped faster the moment she moved closer to Draco. As he ran faster trying to loose the trog, she hold on tighter onto his
neck for her dear life.
"Not so tight Granger! I can't BREATHE!" yelled Malfoy.
Hermione loosen her grip a bit as she watches out for the trog. Then they arrived at a place with a lower entrance, it looked like a
tunnel. Shabby and dirty, both of them could smell the foulness of dead rats. With no choice left, Draco stepped into it, the height of
the tunnel is just a little above him so Hermione have to squeeze while they were inside. The trog followed them until the entrance of
the tunnel. Because it was far too huge it can't enter the tunnel, but still the brainless thing insisted on going in. So it went in straignt
without bending lower.
Needless to say, it's head hit hard on the entrance and it fainted at once. This leave both Hermione and Malfoy relieved.
"Pathetic," sneered Draco. He had forgotten that he made a fool out of himselft and nearly wet his pants when the trog was around.
Hermione rolled her eyes in annoyance, "what a fool" she thought.
By now, they've arrived at yet another junction which split into two more path ways. The path ways were no more inside tunnels and
the ceiling there was about 15 feet high. These path ways looked fairly alike, both had thick concrete walls which are made out of
granite stones, same goes for the floor. The place were as usual, dimly lit with torches that are hung on the wall, supported by gothicly
carve stone statue.
They both stopped in front of the both path ways, deciding which one to take.
"Take the left one Malfoy," Hermione pointed to the left path way.
"Nope. The right one Granger," Draco retort. He then headed towards the right one with Hermione still hanging on his neck.
"Malfoy! The left one!" demamded Hermione as she pulled his collar hard.
"NO!" Draco snapped.
"What if a trog reappears here?" Hermione said threateningly. And she sure hit a good spot because Draco's expression grew darker
upon hearing it. He looked at her and the other two path ways for a moment. Then fumbled into his pocket for his wand. When he got
hold of the wand, he bend down, with his hand still supporting Hermione at her waist, place his wand on the floor, in between both
paths and turned it. Hermione looked at him as if she didn't believed it. "He is so childish!" she told herself mentally and rolled
her eyes again. Indeed, who would use his wand like this to decide which way he will be going?
Unfortunately his wand pointed at the middle. Great. Draco took a quick glance at his wand again, then he picked it up then lifted
Hermione to that odd position again. Whithout asking her approval, he marched straight into the right. As they entered the right, they
could hear moaning and cryings. Funny she thought, for she seems to hear her father or sense his presence. So she urged Draco to go
deeper into the place.
There was nothing all along the way, for all they could see are rooms with their door tightly shut, some chained. At first Draco wanted
to back out but Hermione insisted he go on or leave without her. To her surprise, he agreed to go further and all he said was, "just
make sure I don't die here." The moanful sounds and crying became louder and clearer, so this means that they're nearer to whatever
that was producing such noise. Then at the end of the way, there they saw, men, women and children savagely locked up in a cage.
The cage was rather big, it was about the size of a room, caging up about 20 people.
Sitting in the middle comforting a little girl was a man, he is in his mid 30's. He has honey brown hair and hazel brown eyes. The man
wore a pair of dark blue jeans and a white t-shrit, with a Pikachu on it. Immediately Hermione recognised that he was her father,
because that Pikachu t-shirt he wore was something she got for him as a birthday present, well she thought it was cute.
"Dad!" she called out. Draco turned towards her, asking where he is.
"There! The man wearing a white Pokemon t-shrit," described Hermione clearly.
"Poket what?" Draco asked blankly.
"Oh nevermind, he's just right there," she pointed once more.
They moved towards the cage and Hermione called out to her father once more. The man looked at her instanly, there was a blend of
surprise, joy and bitterness in his face.
"Hermione! Are you Hermione?" he spoke in a low murmur, not wanting to make any loud sound.
Hermione nodded. She got Draco to let her down, then leaned towards the cage for support.
"DON'T!" her father spat instanly. Hermione felt fire burning on her palms when she touched the iron bar on the cage. It caused she to
let go and balance, then fell down. "Granger!" Draco yelled out in fear. "This cage is surrounded by some kind of invisible fire Hermione.
The wizards cast some spell on it to prevent us from escaping," her father continued. This made Draco's look dropped even darker.
"Like an inferno," Hermione supplied bitterly.
"Wizards? Who?" Draco asked Hermione's father.
"I don't know. They were all hooded looking people," replied Hermione's father. "Anyway, you two better get away from this place,
now!" he ordered.
"But dad..."
"No buts Hermione!" her father interupted. "Better out now than never, this place is deadly," he finished in a dictating tone.
Hermione took out the bundle of keys from just now and threw it into the cage to her father.
"Dad, here's the key." She was still sitting crippled on the floor where she fell down, Draco was standing beside her.
"Thanks dear, now get going!" her father ordered.
Suddenly, they heard footsteps echoed in the empty passage way accompanied with low murmuring. It alarmed all of them and in just
a while, the moaning and crying stopped. It was as if everybody knew what was heading here.
"Hermione, go now! Quick! They're coming!" he father ushered in an undertone. He then turned to Draco, hinting that he too should
leave.
Hermione still was reluctant to go and tears were escaping her eyes, but Draco had already carried her up in attempt to leave. Hermione
struggled while Draco moved but to no avail, she still had to leave.
The footsteps could be heard more clearly now, and the murmur became loud evil cackles. Three hooded figures stroded over the long
passageway. Their whole body were covered in velvety green cloaks. The only feature visible is their gleaming dark green eyes which
sparkle every once in a while when contacted with direct light.
Draco, who was now running along the passageway heard them coming closer, so he opened a door that wasn't chained up and hid
inside. When inside the room, Draco had a hard time figuring out the way. It was dark, not to mention morbid, and like the other places
they had just been(in this unamed building), it had an eerie yet damped atmosphere, added with bone chilling cool air surrounding it.
What he found most difficult is to move around this room avoiding a sobbing Hermione from getting something knocked on her head.
Then he felt a sofa with his hand, trying to see whether it's safe to sit on or not, he pressed his palm lightly on it. After comfirming that
it was OK to use, he sat Hermione down.
Hermione is still sobbing, she hiccuped sometimes too. Draco loathed the sticky situation he is in now: stuck with a mudblood, hunted
by a trog, trapped in an unknown place and worst of all, having people he didn't know controlling the whole situation. As for now, he
needed to get Hermione to stop sobbing or those hooded figures her father spoke about earlier will hear them.
He sat down next to her, feeling very irritated and uneasy of her sobbing, he finally told her to stop.
"Would you stop that Granger?" he muttered in a barely audible pitch.
Her sobbing stopped at once.
They both sat down staticly, no one moved for fear of being discovered by those unknown hooded figures. Draco sat still too, even
though he knew that Hermione was feeling horrible but he would not bring himself to mollify her for he still thinks that she was the
cause of all this. However, he still pitied her, a little.
Hermione sat there quietly too. She was still feeling scared of what will happen to her father, at the same time, her whole body was
feeling beaten too. She assumed that her legs were broken but still was very grateful for Draco. If not for him, she would've been minced
meat now, in the trog's stomach.
After a long wait, when the heavy footsteps had long died down, the both of them were assured that they were gone, Draco dared
himself to speak again. "So how's your leg Granger?"
"I don't know, but it hurts very badly now," replied Hermione, she reached out to her legs and touched them softly.
Draco rose up and moved around the room gingerly, looking for a light switch or a torch. He walked with wide steps, taking every step
with cautios to avoid accidents. He suddenly remembered his wand and took it out, "Lumos!" he said, and a small beam of light shone
from the tip of his wand. Draco then walked back to the sofa. He sat down there, pointing his wand at Hermione's leg so he could get a
closer look at her wounds.
Since there was a small table just in front of them, he ordered Hermione to lift her leg a bit.
Hermione shot Malfoy a look of great disbelief.
"Either you lift your leg now for me to examine or you limp for the rest of your life," he told her coldly.
With no choice, Hermione tried lifting her leg, but unfortunately, it hurts too much and she lets it go. Her leg was stiffs and the moment
she let go of it, it pushed something off the table.
It happened to be a glass. The glass dropped and broke, making a high pitched cracking noise while it landed and broke.
Draco looked at Hermione with his eyes wide open while Hermione's mouth fell open, with shock.
A few moments later, they heard those footsteps again. This time they were fast and light, as if their owners are chasing something. All
of the sudden, when Draco and Hermione were trying to hide themselves the torches in the room lit up automaticly, and the door flew
open by itself.
Right before the door, there stood three hooded figure(again!). Draco and Hermione could not see any of their faces for all they see
were their silhoutes, even though the room was lit now. Then the figure in the middle stepped forward, they way he walked looked as if
he hadn't raised a foot, but instead glided. He moved nearer to Draco, then stood there, with his head tilted downward at Draco.
"Well well, what have we here?" the figure asked. There were no answers.
"Two undergrad Hogwarts students," he answered his own question mockingly. Draco and Hermione both shot him glares of greath loathing, with a
mixture of fear.
Bending slightly towards Draco, he lifted his pale yet long hand and reached for Draco's face. With the tips of his pointed fingers, he
pushed Draco's chin upwards with force, then removed his hood. "Son of Lucius Malfoy!" he hissed in a low tone only Draco could hear.
Then he straightened himself and turned to face the other hooded figure as he said aloud, "Son of the TRAITOR!"
This gave Hermione a little surprise, all along she knew that Lucius was in the Dark Lord's inner circle. Nevertheless, she also knew that
he held an important rank amongst Voldermont's followers, but traitor? Who did he betrayed? Draco had a great shock as well. His
highly regarded and respected father is a... a traitor? How could that be? What the hell is this man blabbing about? "Wait till father
hears about this! This nutter is going to spend the rest of his life in Azkaban!" thought Draco.
But before he could persuade his father to imprison this man, he was thrown into one himself. "Take them to the dungeon, and keep
them closely watched, " he told his followers sharply. "For I don't want any kids ruining my plan," he finished smoothly.
"Oh and one more thing," the man turned back and paused, "please bare in mind that I want them kept alive. However, do not hestitate
to use the Cruciatus Curse on them if need. Now clear off."
A/N: Was this chapter too long? I wrote this to make up for my loooong absence, so I hope you enjoyed it. But I think this
chapter sucked, not humourous at all(the storyline's never =P) and it's rather dark. After reading, don't forget to R/R. Constructive
criticims are openly welcomed. ^___^
ZILLION and ZILLION thanks to those who reviewed! I LOVE YOU!
Da pesky kid will be enjoying her 1 week plus stay at Singapore, and she hopes that you too enjoy your holiday. Whee! I have a bloody
2 months hol to waste!