Wai, thanks for all the sweet reviews!

KEEP REVIEWING! -Nikki & Nanja

Chapter 10: The start of a long journey

They had to wait untill the evening to use the invisibility cloak to get out of Hogwarts.

"Come on Ron, are you ready?" Harry whispered.

"Coming, coming..." Ron whispered back.

They got under the invisibility cloak and snuck out of the common room. Quietly, they walked along the corridors until they ran into Mrs. Norris, Filch's cat. If Mrs. Norris was here that meant that Filch wasn't far away.

"Come on, we have to go faster before we run into Filch" Harry whispered.

They ran along the corridors, went around the corner and walked right through Peeves.

"O my god!" Harry whispered. "We went right through Peeves!"

"Maybe he didn't notice..." Ron whispered back with a hopefull expression on his face.

The hopeful expression faded when Peeves started yelling. 'Help! Help! Intruders!! Students in the corridor!!'

"RUN!" whispered Harry. They got away as fast as possible.

They ran out the door and straight into the forest.

"Whew, we got out safely. Where do we go now?" Ron said between breaths.

Harry looked at him with a blank expression. "O my god! I don't know... " he said.

At the same moment Hermione was looking for any ways she could use to escape. There wasn't one. Snape was still tied to the wall, so he wouldn't be of any help. She didn't even want his help anyway, after he tortured her with the Cruciatus Curse.

"Harry... Ron... where are you?" she whispered softly and looked out of the small window.

The door of the room opened. She saw a face, a pale face and a black figure. Voldemort. He went straight passed her cage, towards Snape. Snape looked up and Voldemort grabbed his wand. Hermione turned her head away.

Harry and Ron were still on the same place as an hour before.

Ron's stomach grumbled. "I'm hungry!" he said.

"You're always hungry!" Harry replied. "And we don't have time to eat. We HAVE to find Hermione before it's too late."

"Well, how are we going to find her anyway?! We've been at the same place for an hour! We're not getting anywhere!" Ron said, getting annoyed. "And I'm NOT always hungry!"

"Wait a sec... do you remember that spell, that charm that can read peoples minds?" he asked Ron.

"Yeah... so?" Ron asked.

"We could use that to read Hermione's mind and find out where she is!" Harry explained.

"That's a great idea!" Ron said. "But I don't remember the spell... and even if I did, do you think it'll be strong enough to read Hermione's mind? We don't know where she is, she might as well be somewhere really far away!'

'Yeah, but I can try!' Harry said.

He raised his wand "praesentia presentia" he whispered.

Hermione felt a bit dizzy, what was happening? The room was spinning and she got goosebumps. Her head hurted and she could hear distant voice, talking vaguely, like in a dream. She could hear,... she could hear Harry!

"Hermione! I don't know if you can hear me, but if you can, can you tell us where you are?" Harry asked, feeling a bit stupid talking out loud to someone who wasn't there.

Hermione felt even dizzier and sat down "Uh,... I'm,... I'm in a cage,... in some kind of,... castle,.. it's on a rock,... I think it's across the lake,... "

Harry nodded and spoke "Ron and I are searching for you, so don't be afraid, okay? Everything's gonna be alright"

Hermione couldn't stop her face from smiling a bit "Thank you,..."

Harry looked at Ron. "She's across the lake, in some kind of castle. He locked her up in a cage"

Ron's face became pale "Then, what are we waiting for?"

They nodded and walked towards the lake.

Hermione didn't know how long she had been locked up, she just hoped that Harry and Ron would hurry up. She was afraid... She was afraid that Voldemort would kill her. Snape still hung on the wall, chained. He still hadn't said a word all this time. She wondered if he even was alive. She laughed, she still couldn't believe that he was Harry's uncle!

Hermione felt very thirsty. She wondered if she could get some water. She was afraid to yell, so she didn't. She wondered if Harry and Ron were alright.

"Come on Harry, hurry up. We have to get Hermione out of there!" Ron said.

"How are we going to get across the lake?" asked Harry, trying to keep up with Ron.

"I dunno,..."

"We could walk around the lake." said Harry.

"That takes a lot of time,..."

"But it is the safest. And I don't know any other way at the moment. If we stay here and try to come up with an idea, we will be too late!"

They started their walk around the lake, not bothering to take on the invisibility cloak because it was a very dark night.

In the distance they could see a castle coming closer, so Harry decided to walk a little faster.

"Are you sure that is the right castle? There are so many around..." Ron asked him.

"Of course I'm sure. I just feel that Hermione is in there. Come on, walk a little faster!" Harry said to him.

How can he feel where she is? Ron wondered with a confused look on his face. He had trailed so far behind that he couldn't even see Harry anymore. "Hey Harry! Wait up!!" he yelled. He ran along fast.

After a few minutes they reached the castle.