Chapter Four
Hermione explained her dream to Draco and he listened intently. She had fallen asleep so suddenly that she had tore a page to the book she had been skimming. It had been hard for Draco not to notice.
She rather bored him, but lately, anything was weird and had a suspicious nature to Draco.
"I really got something out of it!" she told him.
He nodded blankly.
"No, I did!" she exclaimed. "Someone is gathering us to them. It is almost as if they are building a person. With the right parts, it could even be a weapon that they are building! You-Know-Who has a body already, there is no use for one, but why not take parts instead if wholes when they are more easily manipulated that way?"
He nodded.
"Yes, Voldemort this, Voldemort that! Do you ever get bloody tired of it? I mean, take a sodding break!" he exclaimed.
Madam Price glared at him, her finger to her lips. He blushed slightly.
"When you are with Harry," she said with the same calmness she normally spoke, not showing outward offense to his comment, "It is your everyday. There are no breaks from danger that is always there."
He huffed and rolled his eyes.
"Sounds familiar," he said, looking past her.
Hermione waved her hand in front of his face.
"I'm over here!" she said.
"I know!" he exclaimed, his eyes slightly wider in frustration.
"Then continue looking!" she exclaimed. "We don't have all the time in the world!"
"Yes and you are missing your classes!" he replied.
She fingered the time-turner. She had "stolen" it back from Professor McGonagall.
"Not really," she said.
He rolled his eyes again and picked up a book from a pile he had made.
Ron pet Sirus on the head and crossed his legs. Prongs, as Sirus referred to Harry's father, and Harry had been talking for a while.
Sirus put a paw on Ron's leg.
"I know,' he said, "it is hard being his best friend. James and Harry alike are the center of attention. The difference is Harry is important. His life plays a major role in everyone's future. He won't always be able to save anyone. That is why he has you!"
Ron shook his head.
"I am not meant to be of importance! I don't even think I was supposed to meet him! I am like a pillow, if it makes any sense at all! When he gets tired, he can take a break with me," Ron replied. "I am almost like the only person who he doesn't have to be a hero around!"
Ron could have sworn Sirus laughed.
"You have just described yourself as important," Sirus said.
"Yeah," Harry said to his father, "I found your diary and found that entry!"
"Yes," his father replied. "It was the good old days. You look so much like me but I can see your mother in you, especially in your eyes."
Harry felt so comfortable with his father.
They had talked about so much and his father was so loving, understanding, and, what mattered most, he was accepting and unconditional.
"If only your mo-" his father began.
Harry's eyes widened as his father began to disappear. He reached out, tried to stop it.
"No!" he screamed.
Harry could no longer see him. He looked over to Ron, who was in just as much alarm.
"Welcome," a voice laughed.
Draco flipped through the copy of Romeo and Juliet he had found.
"Ron, this is a rather curious book!" he said. "I wonder if you would like it!"
Draco found his page. He sat in the infirmary next to Ron's bed. Hermione was still looking but he had taken a break.
"'Welcome, gentleman,'" Draco began from a random point in the book. "'Ladies that have their toes unplagued with corns will walk about with you.'-Do you get it, Ron? Ah! My imagination has gone uncanny- 'Ah, my mistresses, which of you all
"' Will now deny to dance? She that makes dainty,
"'She, I'll swear hath corns. Am I come near you now?'"
Draco began to laugh.
"This Capulet guy is pretty funny!" he remarked.
"Are you talking to yourself?" a voice questioned.
He swung around. Hermione was behind him, amused.
"Yes, it makes me more admired!" he remarked sarcastically.
She shook her head.
"You are such a smarmy brat!" she exclaimed.
"You must admit then, that I make smarmy brat look good!" he exclaimed.
She shook her head, rolling her eyes toward the ceiling.
"I found something," she said after a few minutes.
Harry watched as the doll transfigured into a boy his age. The boy laughed hauntingly. He had dark hair like hair but his eyes were blue and seemed to hold tiny flames within them. It was as if the boy held his own little Hell within himself.
"Hello and welcome to your nightmare! I will be your tour guide!" The boy said. "You can call me-"
"Oh fun!" Ron interrupted. "We get a tour guide! Do we get name tags too?"
Harry glared at him. It was no time to be funny.
"What?" Ron exclaimed. "I just wanted to liven it up! I am used to Draco's comments for goodness sake!"
The boy shook his head, glaring.
"No," Harry said.
Ron gave him a look.
"No," Harry repeated.
"Call me Tom," he said stiffly, holding back his anger.
"Okay Tom," Harry said, stalling while his mind woke up, "Why don't you tell us a bit about yourself?"
"I have no times for your mind games, Potter. Maybe killing me wasn't enough fin!" the boy snorted.
Harry gave him a puzzled look.
"That's right, Potter! How did it feel to beat me in your second year? Don't act so surprised! No book binds me now!" Tom said.
Harry shook his head as Ron came and stood beside him.
"I mean, I thought if Harry Potter could take my soul and kill it, why not do the same to him, slowly? I tried to bring you here but got the filthy Weasley. It's not a problem! I don't want every part of you, Potter! I am just gong to steal your body like in a horror movie, only for real!" he said. "Like your heart, it is too- I don't even want to say the word! And this Malfoy, Draco, will do nicely! I only need tell him who I am for him to follow me! If not, his father can do the job!"
Tom ran his hand through his hair and grinned again. The ground swirled beneath them. They found themselves in a place full of paths. The one in the direct center seemed to zoom up beneath his feet as Harry looked around frantically. This was one bad nightmare.
Suddenly, it stopped. Harry stood before a padded chair with his name on it.
"Have a seat, Harry," a voice said as Tom walked out of the darkness in the room. Tom held out his hand and blasted Harry into the seat. Suddenly, the chair jerked. Harry swung his head around. The lettering flew off in the form of bats leaving the words "TOM V. RIDDLE" on the chair. The padding sunk into the chair and became stone. Before all of this, though, clamps closed onto his wrists and ankles.
"Why don't you lay back your head, Potter? I am sure you'll find it most comfortable!" Tom laughed.
Harry sat up a little straighter. When was this going to end?
Draco looked past her as the shadow behind the curtain moved. He quickly went to look. Ron began to struggle with some imaginary force as if he was tied down. He clenched his fists so they were bone white. Afraid, Draco tried to open them. Once he pried one open, it closed on his hand. He muffled a scream as it felt like his hand was being crushed. Draco twisted and pulled his hand out of the grasp.
"Hermione!" he called.
"It's happening to Harry too!" she replied.
He hurried over. Sure enough, it was.
"We need to do whatever it is now!" he exclaimed/
She nodded and opened the book in her hands.
"There is a way to enter their dreams and bring them back to consciousness but it risks ruining their mental health!" she said.
Draco rolled his eyes.
"Can't happen to Weasley! His mental health is already ruined!" Draco said. Hermione glared at him.
"What?" he cried. "He likes me, doesn't he?"
She flipped to a page and began chanting words he didn't understand.
Draco noticed they were surrounded by darkness. Slowly, his eyes adjusted. Mainly because there was a dim light from a source he could not identify. In front of them, there were three paths: one in the center, one to the left, and one to the right.
"Malfoy, take the middle. I am going to the right!" Hermione said.
"Why can't I choose the one I want?" He asked.
"Fine," she said.
"I'll go left," he said.
She started down the right path.
"Wait!" Draco cried.
She stopped.
"Aren't you going to ask me why?" he exclaimed.
"Why?" she asked, rather annoyed.
"Because the left is where I would go to find my father. It is the evil side, the side I belong on!" he exclaimed.
She rolled her eyes, as it made no sense. Draco knew that but that didn't stop him. He charged down the left path at a fast pace. Soon, he came to another fork in the "road." He didn't know which way to go. While deciding, he looked at one path and saw, as each was more like a tunnel, on the walls that were so black, it looked like they were nothingness had signs. The one to the left had "kidneys, large intestine".
Draco realized it was like a body. It was as Hermione had said. Maybe she hadn't gone crazy after all. He thought of what she had said about Harry, Ron, and her. They were each part of a body.
Draco looked at the signs. He couldn't find one he wanted. Draco chose the one that said "lungs."
He ran down the path. Draco found himself in a room. There were two chairs, both on opposite ends of the room. Each had a name written on it. Officially freaked out, Draco wondered what to do. In doing so, he leaned against the wall. Instead of supporting him, he fell through. Draco found that it was another passageway that hadn't been lit up. He put his hand around him and found the walls. He used them to guide him through. At the end, he was in another room, only there was someone there. The person was obviously male and somewhat tall. The person was slumped over; their head sagged onto their chest as they breathed in and out slowly. The person's shoulders shook. It seemed as if the person was crying.
"Hello?" Draco said.
The person lifted up their head slowly. It was then that light flowed into the room. Draco noticed the person was cuffed to the chair by manacles. Their hair shimmered from the light. Draco could recognize the fiery red hair of a Weasley anywhere.
"Ron?" Draco asked.
The person stared at him, blankly. Their eyes drooped and they had bags under them. Draco came closer.
"Merlin, man! What is wrong with you?" he asked.
He didn't say anything.
Draco took out his wand from his pocket.
"I wonder how I can get you out of here! I mean, I would think you would have tried!" Draco said.
He put his wand to one of the fetters.
"Alohomora!" he exclaimed.
It opened. He smiled to himself and did the same to the others. Then, he said another spell, the reductor curse, after he helped Ron off the chair. The chair exploded and Draco and Ron were protected only by Draco's shield charm. He hit Ron.
"Hey! Wake up!" Draco exclaimed.
Ron glared at him and Draco knew he was awake.
"Now, get up!" Draco commanded.
Ron stood up slowly and swaggered. Draco helped him steady himself.
"You're going to need to run!" Draco exclaimed.
"Why?" Ron asked.
"Just do it!" Draco replied and sprinted off.
Hermione walked down the path. It never really branched out to the right, always the left. Knowing bad things are always left, she stayed going forward. It went up at a slant. She wondered how she was ever going to find Harry or Ron. They were so important and close to her, she was used to knowing when she got father away or closer to them. Right now, she felt neither. Hermione didn't know how that worked.
Then, she wondered if her spell had even work! It had warnings underneath the spell to tell her what could happen if she had said it wrong. Hermione began to become quite nervous at the thought.
Hermione noticed that the floor, or path, had widened. It was all she could see, as the walls that she had found were there were so hard to see. In the center of the circle the floor formed, there was a chair. It was padded with red fabric and noticed it had her name on it. It was almost as if someone had taken a desire that was there, even though she hated that she felt it, and brought to life, well, this place at least. It seemed almost like a trick. Hermione knelt down before the chair to see if there was a switch or something on it. She didn't see anything dangerous. With a smile and what she would call a wicked thought, she sat down in the chair.
"Temptation is so well rewarded," a voice said.
Manacles rose out of the padding on the chair, holding her to it. Her feet as well as her hands were bound with cold steel. The padding, then, disappeared, becoming stone. It felt as if something moved through her hair. Hermione screamed and shook her head. Bats came flying from just above her head.
"Or maybe that is just me!" the voice continued.
Out of the darkness walked a man. He had black hair and blue-fire eyes, a description she had never hoped to do more that picture.
He heard Ron running behind him to catch up. They went back to where Draco had first appeared. He stopped and waited for Ron. Draco heard a high- pitched scream. When Ron appeared, Draco said, "Ron, take the right path! Use your wand and find Hermione! Listen for her to scream again! I am going to take the middle!"
"What's down the middle?" Ron asked.
"I'm going to find out!" he said.
Draco went off without another word. He looked at the paths to figure out which way he was going. Every now and then, part of the path would branch off, but Draco kept straight. Eventually, he did come to a fork in the "road." He looked at the paths and noticed the middle one wasn't labeled. His sense of curiosity drove him forward. Eventually, he found a room similar to the one he had found where Ron had been. Again, there was a guy with his head slouched in a chair. Draco knew who it was. Draco walked over and shook the guy.
"Potter, you prat, wake up!" Draco exclaimed.
It didn't work. He tried Alohomora on the manacles. They opened but Harry seemed to still be stuck to the chair.
"Lumos!" Draco whispered.
His wand began lit at one end. He saw more clearly. Something kept Harry to the chair. Above it said, "TOM V. RIDDLE." Curiously, Draco ran his hand over the name of his father's lord. The manacles closed again. His eyes widened. The name was a key. He ran his fingers over the name again and after they opened, Harry slid out of the chair, limp. Draco used an awakening charm, as Harry really needed it. His eyes opened slowly. "Why are you doing this?" Harry asked, still groggy.
"Everything I do is for Ron," Draco said.
"No," Harry said, "Ron would save me himself."
Draco was amused but also aggravated.
"Weasley is busy saving Hermione," Draco replied.
Harry stood up slowly.
"Let's go," he said.
Draco looked around the room. There was a door on almost every inch of the wall. He looked at all of them.
"Look," he called to Harry, "this one says, 'mind.'"
They opened it and walked up stairs that were before them. At the top, they tried to open the door. Instead, they fell through. They saw into the room. They saw Hermione and Tom, but they were stuck inside the door.
"So, I see you like my traps!" Tom laughed.
Ron ran down the path. He really didn't know why. Maybe it was because there was a protective side of him that finally decided to show itself. He didn't really think about it much further but rather slowed to a power walk.
Ron had simply not chosen another path. He didn't want to chance straying because it could get him even more lost. This way, he only went straight.
Ron heard commotion not far ahead. He quickened his pace and stopped as it turned a corner. He glanced around it. Ron saw something that shocked him. All together and defenseless were Draco, Harry, and Hermione. Hermione had been chained to a chair as he had with the words "TOM V. RIDDLE" engraved above her head.
Speaking of Tom, Ron saw him hovering behind the chair, a hand on his hip. The other hand was pointed at Harry and Draco as he gawked in pleasure and amusement. Surely, it was odd. Harry and Draco were somehow halfway in the wall, almost fused with it. "Surely, I did not anticipate for young Malfoy here so soon, but it was to be expected of course! Saving Mr. Potter is not a trait I have seen before in your bloodline!" Tom said. Ron definitely was puzzled. It made no sense how Tom, the one from the diary that had knocked out his sister and nearly killed her, could be here. He didn't even know where "here" was. Harry had destroyed the Tom in the diary.
Sirus had said that when you died, you lived your worst memory over again. Yet, Ron hadn't been a part of Harry's and he certainly wasn't dead. He didn't know how such a place as they were in could exist.
"I am surprised you can see at all with that atrocious haircut!" Draco exclaimed. Hermione looked in his direction. He managed to catch her eye. Her eyes got wide and became pleading, asking for something.
Ron picked out his wand from his cloak. He pointed it at Tom. Instead of casting a spell, he stared at the wand. Something was stopping him. He couldn't think of anything that could.
Finding his voice, Ron cried, "Avada Kedavra!"
A light shot out from his wand and struck Tom square in the back. Everything except Tom, Harry, Draco, Hermione, and him became blackness. Tom laughed.
"I am already dead!" he exclaimed. "You can't kill me and you sure as well can't hide!" He turned and faced Ron. His hair seemed to flare up and the fiery color hidden in his eyes became dominant. Ron wanted to cower but he couldn't really manage to do anything.
"Reducio!" a voice cried.
Before Ron knew it, he was standing before a high-pitched talking action figure. Draco came up beside him and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Didn't know you had it in you to commit a dark curse!" Draco remarked, raising his eyebrows.
Hermione held a bottle in her hand. He had no idea where that came from but he took it. She was no longer in a chair and hadn't been in it since he had said the curse. Hermione nodded. He looked at her, puzzled. It took him a moment to realize what he was supposed to do.
Ron bent down and placed the jar over-top of Tom. He then slid it so that Tom was inside of it. Hermione tapped it and placed a strong shielding charm around the jar so Tom couldn't get out if his wand worked in miniature size.
"We make a great team!" Ron said.
Draco laughed.
"A team? I don't call this teamwork! I mean it was more like all of you guys getting rescued!" Draco smirked.
"Keep in mind, Malfoy, you were the one stuck in the wall!" Harry exclaimed.
"Well, so were you!" Draco retorted.
"Shut up or I'll break your pretty boy nose!" Harry exclaimed.
"So you admit that I am prettier than you!" Draco laughed.
Harry took a step closer, his fist in front him.
"I think everything is going to be okay," Ron said to Hermione.
Hermione nodded.
"How are we going to get out?" she asked.
He nodded toward where he came from as the paths reappeared.
"Follow me," he said.
They walked all the way back to the place where Hermione and Draco had come in. "So, where's the door?" Harry asked.
"We don't need one," Hermione replied.
"What? Let me guess, he is the key!" Draco smirked, gesturing towards the jar. Ron nodded.
"Exactly."
Ron held the jar and threw it like one who was passing a football would, mashing it against the wall. Instead of some door appearing, the walls became visible, the floor gone, and they fell.
Hermione explained her dream to Draco and he listened intently. She had fallen asleep so suddenly that she had tore a page to the book she had been skimming. It had been hard for Draco not to notice.
She rather bored him, but lately, anything was weird and had a suspicious nature to Draco.
"I really got something out of it!" she told him.
He nodded blankly.
"No, I did!" she exclaimed. "Someone is gathering us to them. It is almost as if they are building a person. With the right parts, it could even be a weapon that they are building! You-Know-Who has a body already, there is no use for one, but why not take parts instead if wholes when they are more easily manipulated that way?"
He nodded.
"Yes, Voldemort this, Voldemort that! Do you ever get bloody tired of it? I mean, take a sodding break!" he exclaimed.
Madam Price glared at him, her finger to her lips. He blushed slightly.
"When you are with Harry," she said with the same calmness she normally spoke, not showing outward offense to his comment, "It is your everyday. There are no breaks from danger that is always there."
He huffed and rolled his eyes.
"Sounds familiar," he said, looking past her.
Hermione waved her hand in front of his face.
"I'm over here!" she said.
"I know!" he exclaimed, his eyes slightly wider in frustration.
"Then continue looking!" she exclaimed. "We don't have all the time in the world!"
"Yes and you are missing your classes!" he replied.
She fingered the time-turner. She had "stolen" it back from Professor McGonagall.
"Not really," she said.
He rolled his eyes again and picked up a book from a pile he had made.
Ron pet Sirus on the head and crossed his legs. Prongs, as Sirus referred to Harry's father, and Harry had been talking for a while.
Sirus put a paw on Ron's leg.
"I know,' he said, "it is hard being his best friend. James and Harry alike are the center of attention. The difference is Harry is important. His life plays a major role in everyone's future. He won't always be able to save anyone. That is why he has you!"
Ron shook his head.
"I am not meant to be of importance! I don't even think I was supposed to meet him! I am like a pillow, if it makes any sense at all! When he gets tired, he can take a break with me," Ron replied. "I am almost like the only person who he doesn't have to be a hero around!"
Ron could have sworn Sirus laughed.
"You have just described yourself as important," Sirus said.
"Yeah," Harry said to his father, "I found your diary and found that entry!"
"Yes," his father replied. "It was the good old days. You look so much like me but I can see your mother in you, especially in your eyes."
Harry felt so comfortable with his father.
They had talked about so much and his father was so loving, understanding, and, what mattered most, he was accepting and unconditional.
"If only your mo-" his father began.
Harry's eyes widened as his father began to disappear. He reached out, tried to stop it.
"No!" he screamed.
Harry could no longer see him. He looked over to Ron, who was in just as much alarm.
"Welcome," a voice laughed.
Draco flipped through the copy of Romeo and Juliet he had found.
"Ron, this is a rather curious book!" he said. "I wonder if you would like it!"
Draco found his page. He sat in the infirmary next to Ron's bed. Hermione was still looking but he had taken a break.
"'Welcome, gentleman,'" Draco began from a random point in the book. "'Ladies that have their toes unplagued with corns will walk about with you.'-Do you get it, Ron? Ah! My imagination has gone uncanny- 'Ah, my mistresses, which of you all
"' Will now deny to dance? She that makes dainty,
"'She, I'll swear hath corns. Am I come near you now?'"
Draco began to laugh.
"This Capulet guy is pretty funny!" he remarked.
"Are you talking to yourself?" a voice questioned.
He swung around. Hermione was behind him, amused.
"Yes, it makes me more admired!" he remarked sarcastically.
She shook her head.
"You are such a smarmy brat!" she exclaimed.
"You must admit then, that I make smarmy brat look good!" he exclaimed.
She shook her head, rolling her eyes toward the ceiling.
"I found something," she said after a few minutes.
Harry watched as the doll transfigured into a boy his age. The boy laughed hauntingly. He had dark hair like hair but his eyes were blue and seemed to hold tiny flames within them. It was as if the boy held his own little Hell within himself.
"Hello and welcome to your nightmare! I will be your tour guide!" The boy said. "You can call me-"
"Oh fun!" Ron interrupted. "We get a tour guide! Do we get name tags too?"
Harry glared at him. It was no time to be funny.
"What?" Ron exclaimed. "I just wanted to liven it up! I am used to Draco's comments for goodness sake!"
The boy shook his head, glaring.
"No," Harry said.
Ron gave him a look.
"No," Harry repeated.
"Call me Tom," he said stiffly, holding back his anger.
"Okay Tom," Harry said, stalling while his mind woke up, "Why don't you tell us a bit about yourself?"
"I have no times for your mind games, Potter. Maybe killing me wasn't enough fin!" the boy snorted.
Harry gave him a puzzled look.
"That's right, Potter! How did it feel to beat me in your second year? Don't act so surprised! No book binds me now!" Tom said.
Harry shook his head as Ron came and stood beside him.
"I mean, I thought if Harry Potter could take my soul and kill it, why not do the same to him, slowly? I tried to bring you here but got the filthy Weasley. It's not a problem! I don't want every part of you, Potter! I am just gong to steal your body like in a horror movie, only for real!" he said. "Like your heart, it is too- I don't even want to say the word! And this Malfoy, Draco, will do nicely! I only need tell him who I am for him to follow me! If not, his father can do the job!"
Tom ran his hand through his hair and grinned again. The ground swirled beneath them. They found themselves in a place full of paths. The one in the direct center seemed to zoom up beneath his feet as Harry looked around frantically. This was one bad nightmare.
Suddenly, it stopped. Harry stood before a padded chair with his name on it.
"Have a seat, Harry," a voice said as Tom walked out of the darkness in the room. Tom held out his hand and blasted Harry into the seat. Suddenly, the chair jerked. Harry swung his head around. The lettering flew off in the form of bats leaving the words "TOM V. RIDDLE" on the chair. The padding sunk into the chair and became stone. Before all of this, though, clamps closed onto his wrists and ankles.
"Why don't you lay back your head, Potter? I am sure you'll find it most comfortable!" Tom laughed.
Harry sat up a little straighter. When was this going to end?
Draco looked past her as the shadow behind the curtain moved. He quickly went to look. Ron began to struggle with some imaginary force as if he was tied down. He clenched his fists so they were bone white. Afraid, Draco tried to open them. Once he pried one open, it closed on his hand. He muffled a scream as it felt like his hand was being crushed. Draco twisted and pulled his hand out of the grasp.
"Hermione!" he called.
"It's happening to Harry too!" she replied.
He hurried over. Sure enough, it was.
"We need to do whatever it is now!" he exclaimed/
She nodded and opened the book in her hands.
"There is a way to enter their dreams and bring them back to consciousness but it risks ruining their mental health!" she said.
Draco rolled his eyes.
"Can't happen to Weasley! His mental health is already ruined!" Draco said. Hermione glared at him.
"What?" he cried. "He likes me, doesn't he?"
She flipped to a page and began chanting words he didn't understand.
Draco noticed they were surrounded by darkness. Slowly, his eyes adjusted. Mainly because there was a dim light from a source he could not identify. In front of them, there were three paths: one in the center, one to the left, and one to the right.
"Malfoy, take the middle. I am going to the right!" Hermione said.
"Why can't I choose the one I want?" He asked.
"Fine," she said.
"I'll go left," he said.
She started down the right path.
"Wait!" Draco cried.
She stopped.
"Aren't you going to ask me why?" he exclaimed.
"Why?" she asked, rather annoyed.
"Because the left is where I would go to find my father. It is the evil side, the side I belong on!" he exclaimed.
She rolled her eyes, as it made no sense. Draco knew that but that didn't stop him. He charged down the left path at a fast pace. Soon, he came to another fork in the "road." He didn't know which way to go. While deciding, he looked at one path and saw, as each was more like a tunnel, on the walls that were so black, it looked like they were nothingness had signs. The one to the left had "kidneys, large intestine".
Draco realized it was like a body. It was as Hermione had said. Maybe she hadn't gone crazy after all. He thought of what she had said about Harry, Ron, and her. They were each part of a body.
Draco looked at the signs. He couldn't find one he wanted. Draco chose the one that said "lungs."
He ran down the path. Draco found himself in a room. There were two chairs, both on opposite ends of the room. Each had a name written on it. Officially freaked out, Draco wondered what to do. In doing so, he leaned against the wall. Instead of supporting him, he fell through. Draco found that it was another passageway that hadn't been lit up. He put his hand around him and found the walls. He used them to guide him through. At the end, he was in another room, only there was someone there. The person was obviously male and somewhat tall. The person was slumped over; their head sagged onto their chest as they breathed in and out slowly. The person's shoulders shook. It seemed as if the person was crying.
"Hello?" Draco said.
The person lifted up their head slowly. It was then that light flowed into the room. Draco noticed the person was cuffed to the chair by manacles. Their hair shimmered from the light. Draco could recognize the fiery red hair of a Weasley anywhere.
"Ron?" Draco asked.
The person stared at him, blankly. Their eyes drooped and they had bags under them. Draco came closer.
"Merlin, man! What is wrong with you?" he asked.
He didn't say anything.
Draco took out his wand from his pocket.
"I wonder how I can get you out of here! I mean, I would think you would have tried!" Draco said.
He put his wand to one of the fetters.
"Alohomora!" he exclaimed.
It opened. He smiled to himself and did the same to the others. Then, he said another spell, the reductor curse, after he helped Ron off the chair. The chair exploded and Draco and Ron were protected only by Draco's shield charm. He hit Ron.
"Hey! Wake up!" Draco exclaimed.
Ron glared at him and Draco knew he was awake.
"Now, get up!" Draco commanded.
Ron stood up slowly and swaggered. Draco helped him steady himself.
"You're going to need to run!" Draco exclaimed.
"Why?" Ron asked.
"Just do it!" Draco replied and sprinted off.
Hermione walked down the path. It never really branched out to the right, always the left. Knowing bad things are always left, she stayed going forward. It went up at a slant. She wondered how she was ever going to find Harry or Ron. They were so important and close to her, she was used to knowing when she got father away or closer to them. Right now, she felt neither. Hermione didn't know how that worked.
Then, she wondered if her spell had even work! It had warnings underneath the spell to tell her what could happen if she had said it wrong. Hermione began to become quite nervous at the thought.
Hermione noticed that the floor, or path, had widened. It was all she could see, as the walls that she had found were there were so hard to see. In the center of the circle the floor formed, there was a chair. It was padded with red fabric and noticed it had her name on it. It was almost as if someone had taken a desire that was there, even though she hated that she felt it, and brought to life, well, this place at least. It seemed almost like a trick. Hermione knelt down before the chair to see if there was a switch or something on it. She didn't see anything dangerous. With a smile and what she would call a wicked thought, she sat down in the chair.
"Temptation is so well rewarded," a voice said.
Manacles rose out of the padding on the chair, holding her to it. Her feet as well as her hands were bound with cold steel. The padding, then, disappeared, becoming stone. It felt as if something moved through her hair. Hermione screamed and shook her head. Bats came flying from just above her head.
"Or maybe that is just me!" the voice continued.
Out of the darkness walked a man. He had black hair and blue-fire eyes, a description she had never hoped to do more that picture.
He heard Ron running behind him to catch up. They went back to where Draco had first appeared. He stopped and waited for Ron. Draco heard a high- pitched scream. When Ron appeared, Draco said, "Ron, take the right path! Use your wand and find Hermione! Listen for her to scream again! I am going to take the middle!"
"What's down the middle?" Ron asked.
"I'm going to find out!" he said.
Draco went off without another word. He looked at the paths to figure out which way he was going. Every now and then, part of the path would branch off, but Draco kept straight. Eventually, he did come to a fork in the "road." He looked at the paths and noticed the middle one wasn't labeled. His sense of curiosity drove him forward. Eventually, he found a room similar to the one he had found where Ron had been. Again, there was a guy with his head slouched in a chair. Draco knew who it was. Draco walked over and shook the guy.
"Potter, you prat, wake up!" Draco exclaimed.
It didn't work. He tried Alohomora on the manacles. They opened but Harry seemed to still be stuck to the chair.
"Lumos!" Draco whispered.
His wand began lit at one end. He saw more clearly. Something kept Harry to the chair. Above it said, "TOM V. RIDDLE." Curiously, Draco ran his hand over the name of his father's lord. The manacles closed again. His eyes widened. The name was a key. He ran his fingers over the name again and after they opened, Harry slid out of the chair, limp. Draco used an awakening charm, as Harry really needed it. His eyes opened slowly. "Why are you doing this?" Harry asked, still groggy.
"Everything I do is for Ron," Draco said.
"No," Harry said, "Ron would save me himself."
Draco was amused but also aggravated.
"Weasley is busy saving Hermione," Draco replied.
Harry stood up slowly.
"Let's go," he said.
Draco looked around the room. There was a door on almost every inch of the wall. He looked at all of them.
"Look," he called to Harry, "this one says, 'mind.'"
They opened it and walked up stairs that were before them. At the top, they tried to open the door. Instead, they fell through. They saw into the room. They saw Hermione and Tom, but they were stuck inside the door.
"So, I see you like my traps!" Tom laughed.
Ron ran down the path. He really didn't know why. Maybe it was because there was a protective side of him that finally decided to show itself. He didn't really think about it much further but rather slowed to a power walk.
Ron had simply not chosen another path. He didn't want to chance straying because it could get him even more lost. This way, he only went straight.
Ron heard commotion not far ahead. He quickened his pace and stopped as it turned a corner. He glanced around it. Ron saw something that shocked him. All together and defenseless were Draco, Harry, and Hermione. Hermione had been chained to a chair as he had with the words "TOM V. RIDDLE" engraved above her head.
Speaking of Tom, Ron saw him hovering behind the chair, a hand on his hip. The other hand was pointed at Harry and Draco as he gawked in pleasure and amusement. Surely, it was odd. Harry and Draco were somehow halfway in the wall, almost fused with it. "Surely, I did not anticipate for young Malfoy here so soon, but it was to be expected of course! Saving Mr. Potter is not a trait I have seen before in your bloodline!" Tom said. Ron definitely was puzzled. It made no sense how Tom, the one from the diary that had knocked out his sister and nearly killed her, could be here. He didn't even know where "here" was. Harry had destroyed the Tom in the diary.
Sirus had said that when you died, you lived your worst memory over again. Yet, Ron hadn't been a part of Harry's and he certainly wasn't dead. He didn't know how such a place as they were in could exist.
"I am surprised you can see at all with that atrocious haircut!" Draco exclaimed. Hermione looked in his direction. He managed to catch her eye. Her eyes got wide and became pleading, asking for something.
Ron picked out his wand from his cloak. He pointed it at Tom. Instead of casting a spell, he stared at the wand. Something was stopping him. He couldn't think of anything that could.
Finding his voice, Ron cried, "Avada Kedavra!"
A light shot out from his wand and struck Tom square in the back. Everything except Tom, Harry, Draco, Hermione, and him became blackness. Tom laughed.
"I am already dead!" he exclaimed. "You can't kill me and you sure as well can't hide!" He turned and faced Ron. His hair seemed to flare up and the fiery color hidden in his eyes became dominant. Ron wanted to cower but he couldn't really manage to do anything.
"Reducio!" a voice cried.
Before Ron knew it, he was standing before a high-pitched talking action figure. Draco came up beside him and put a hand on his shoulder.
"Didn't know you had it in you to commit a dark curse!" Draco remarked, raising his eyebrows.
Hermione held a bottle in her hand. He had no idea where that came from but he took it. She was no longer in a chair and hadn't been in it since he had said the curse. Hermione nodded. He looked at her, puzzled. It took him a moment to realize what he was supposed to do.
Ron bent down and placed the jar over-top of Tom. He then slid it so that Tom was inside of it. Hermione tapped it and placed a strong shielding charm around the jar so Tom couldn't get out if his wand worked in miniature size.
"We make a great team!" Ron said.
Draco laughed.
"A team? I don't call this teamwork! I mean it was more like all of you guys getting rescued!" Draco smirked.
"Keep in mind, Malfoy, you were the one stuck in the wall!" Harry exclaimed.
"Well, so were you!" Draco retorted.
"Shut up or I'll break your pretty boy nose!" Harry exclaimed.
"So you admit that I am prettier than you!" Draco laughed.
Harry took a step closer, his fist in front him.
"I think everything is going to be okay," Ron said to Hermione.
Hermione nodded.
"How are we going to get out?" she asked.
He nodded toward where he came from as the paths reappeared.
"Follow me," he said.
They walked all the way back to the place where Hermione and Draco had come in. "So, where's the door?" Harry asked.
"We don't need one," Hermione replied.
"What? Let me guess, he is the key!" Draco smirked, gesturing towards the jar. Ron nodded.
"Exactly."
Ron held the jar and threw it like one who was passing a football would, mashing it against the wall. Instead of some door appearing, the walls became visible, the floor gone, and they fell.