Lorien11 - Oh, thanks. I was wondering how I could make it easier because
some people don't like the update alert things, and you better believe I'm
12, because I am!
Soldier of Mercy - You're a red belt in. . .? Tae Kwon Do? And if you are, it's different for me, because I have a belt in between black and red. I'm currently a black belt and I am getting my second degree black belt on Saturday. I've been doing Tae Kwon Do for six years. Anyway. . . enjoy the chapter.
Artemis MoonClaw - LOL, yes, they seemed to fit perfectly, didn't they?
Cloudy Crystals - What was funny about it? Maybe I don't see the funniness because I am the author.
ShadowRogue - Yes, it was sad, but it had to be written.
Christie - Sorry - I used to be able to update more frequently - I am so stinkin' busy now it's not funny.
Da-lil-one114 - Hey chinagurl! Thanks for reviewing!
Lynseyax Heparedds - Ehm. . . I don't. . .know? LOL! Hi Jade! =D
Darkmoon of Shadows - Muffled suspense? Something new for me to take into consideration! HA! Wow, such compliments - thank you very much.
Love-princess1 - Ha! I got it out BEFORE SEPTEMBER! YAY FOR ME!
ILUVRONWEASLEY - What about it made you giggle? For her middle name, I was looking for names that mean things in other languages for my original story, but I found that and it has to do with intelligence and insecurities, so I was reminded of Hermione, that's were I found it.
Blueamber - LOL, then in about three chapters you will be REALLY happy, won't you? And no, denial isn't good for you or your skin, is it?
Slytherinangel922 - You don't have to wait long, do you?
Willowfairy - Well, I'm glad you're back.
Rotae - Hmm . . . HAM? LOL, that sounds more like Malfoy than Hermione, doesn't it? Yes, I am 12, not thirteen, and I didn't think I was that good. Thanks for loving my story, and whoopee! I updated!
M.J. Kobayashi - Yes, she is, and I am swamped with things to be doing, but I will NOT stop writing. =D
Chapter 26
Hermione took it upon herself to avoid making any kind of contact with Draco whatsoever over the next few weeks. She had no idea as to whether he knew that she had seen the memory, and she didn't want to have to face him, she didn't know how to react to anything anymore, because nothing was making much sense.
Her thoughts weren't muddled as she had thought they would be - she was actually quite blank of any thoughts and emotions which was what worried her the most. She wasn't having panic attacks or anything - she felt nothing at all.
She didn't want to be in love with her enemy - not in love, infatuated - and she denied it at every opportunity and then when the opportunity wasn't presenting itself. She was sure that anyone who was paying any attention whatsoever would have been able to tell that something was wrong between the two of them.
She snapped at any mere mention of his name, and she lost all self-control when anything happened because of him. It hurt her more to think that she was the only one having these feelings - he felt nothing toward her at all. She was the one that felt in this one sided relationship, and she didn't know how much more she was going to will herself to take before she lost it altogether. She was torn between logic and feelings.
Her logic told her that this all could be a joke and that she didn't know how to read her feelings, and her feelings told her logic to stuff it in a corner and abandon its preaching exercises. She was going to have to get used to being confused every day of her life, and she might as well start here, because feelings like these were going to haunt her for the rest of her life.
~+~
It went on until Hermione couldn't take it anymore. She couldn't stand not talking to someone, but she couldn't stand talking to someone. She finally made the decision that she was going to have to talk to someone, soon too, and she didn't know who to talk to.
She wasn't going to give anyone that she used to be friends with satisfaction of knowing that she needed them when they didn't need her in the least, but she wasn't about to talk to someone she didn't know about her deepest problems and secrets, and she had no intention of ever facing Draco Malfoy ever again, so she was stuck in a deep rut that she had no hope of emerging out of.
Hermione skipped all of her classes that day, and instead, spent all of her time at the library. It wasn't like anyone would notice anyway. She was gone all the time anyway, doing studies for Dumbledore, pretending to do studies for Dumbledore, trying to regain her sanity - all of which were done in the library.
Near the end of the day, right before dinner, Draco Malfoy waltzed in, and she attempted to hide herself and make herself as small and invisible as possible, but it didn't work and she was right in his line of vision. To her utter horror, he walked right toward her and her table, sat down directly across from her, and leaned over to her, his face saying something impassive, but she was too stricken to say anything.
Now, in her nightmares, this normally was the horrible and ghastly part where she woke up abruptly, finding herself safely inside of her bed, but she couldn't wake up now, and she was inches away from his face, waiting for whatever was going to happen to happen and get over with.
"Don't talk to me anymore - leave me alone, got it Granger?" he said, and he made to get up and leave quickly, but Hermione grabbed his sleeve savagely and pulled him back down into his seat with a THUMP!. She needed to make him speak more words, because things needed to start making sense and they were going to start making sense. . .NOW.
"What do you mean?" she asked. "Why did you even bother saying that to me if you know I wanted to avoid you anyway?" Hermione asked and Draco's face remained as neutral as ever, which completely angered Hermione. When would he learn to show some kind of emotion that would let someone know what was going on in the overly large head of his?
Draco whipped around, very suspiciously, making sure that nobody was watching or listening to him, which made Hermione even more suspicious than she already was with the whole matter. What was so important that he had to make sure that nobody was listening? And why did he have to play the 'James Bond' character. She almost snorted when she thought of him introducing himself.
'My name's Malfoy. Draco Malfoy.' Her attention was immediately turned back to him, however, when he spoke again.
"My father is after someone, he wants to kill them." Pause for dramatic effect. "Immediately." Hermione rolled her eyes at this statement. Like she didn't know this information already?
"Duh, Malfoy, I already know that." He looked confused for a moment, so Hermione went on.
"Harry, everyone's always after Harry." Hermione said matter-o-factly, and Draco gave her a look of venom.
"No, he's not after Potter." He said, as though he were trying to stress his non-existent point. The urgency in his voice seemed to make Hermione want to listen, but his words were just so preposterous that she didn't want to believe them, no matter how much truth actually rang in them. She simply refused to believe what she was being told to believe.
"He's after you, Hermione, he wants to kill you." Draco's words were hushed, as though he didn't want to speak them, but was being forced to. That, or, maybe he wasn't supposed to be seen with her?
"Why would your father want to kill me?" Hermione asked stupidly, even she was aware of how dumb she sounded, but she couldn't take her words back now, so she might as well play the dumb.
She was beginning to believe this charade when words from the past hit her and they hit her with such force that she couldn't remember why she had even considered speaking to him in the first place.
"I'm just a lowly mudblood, remember?" she asked scornfully and made to get up.
"He wants to kill you because you have access to the powers of the founders. He wants me to be the only person with the powers so he can - so he can - do . . . things with my power, alright?" again, Draco made to get up, but Hermione decided now would be a nice time to try to talk to him.
"No, not alright. Why do you let your father walk all over you?" Hermione asked, and by the confused look on Malfoy's face, he didn't have a clue what she was talking about.
"Look, I know things that he's done to you when you were younger." Hermione said delicately, and she watched as he immediately turned away.
"I'm not going to talk about that stuff, alright? Just steer clear of my father, and stop poking into my business. Just leave me alone." With that, Draco walked away before Hermione's brain even had a moment to register what had happened, let alone think of some excuse to make him stay.
~+~
She couldn't make up her mind whether she wanted to talk to him or not, she didn't know whether she COULD talk to him or not. Everything was so mixed up inside of her that she was sure something was going to come out wrong, or something was going to com out that she didn't WANT to come out, and that could have worse consequences than having something come out wrong.
She shuddered at the thought of Draco - no, Malfoy - knowing her deepest and most sacred thoughts. He would most certainly abuse the privilege of knowing her secrets, and, pretty soon, the entire student body would also know her secrets in a matter of seconds.
Sighing to herself because she was trying to release her pent up frustrations and worries, Hermione decided to go to the library, like she always did, but was stopped short by some words that were echoing around in her mind.
'. . . stop poking into my business. Just leave me alone . . .' something was wrong with those words. They hadn't sounded like hollow threats as his words normally did. Something had been different about his words, as though he didn't want her to see him saying something. . .
Or doing something . . .
Hermione immediately forgot all of her plans that she had had and began running down the halls toward the Advanced Transfiguration dormitory, hoping that something horrible hadn't happened before she could reach it. She didn't know how, but she had this feeling in her stomach that something was going to happen and there was nothing happy about it.
She rushed through the door by banging on the portrait and gunning it up the stairs, and when she opened the door, she did so quietly - she didn't want to inadvertently cause something bad to happen because that was what she was trying to stop.
She glanced around the room, looking for something and anything that was out of the ordinary. Her eyes finally came to rest on Draco Malfoy's form, leaning against the window frame, standing on top of the windowsill. She let a small gasp of air escape her when she realized how stupid she had been. Nothing was happening.
But then she looked closer and noted the way his hands were positioned on the wall, the way his body was leaning and the defeated way his body stood and it all made sense to her. He was going to kill himself, and not just kill himself, but the muggle way. The painful way.
She didn't dare to move, not knowing whether her movement would spur him to jump right then or not, and she didn't even breathe, afraid that she might cause something else to happen if she dared.
Somehow she had to make him come down from there, but she had no idea how. What was she going to do? For once in her life, Hermione Granger didn't know what she was supposed to do. She didn't know the answer.
She could run and pretend that she didn't know about it and pretend to be shocked like everyone else when his lifeless form was deposited into the ground, but she would never forgive herself. Even if she didn't like him that much (LIAR, her mind yelled) she couldn't stand to see him die, especially if she could do something about it, but the thing was, Hermione wasn't she that she could do something about it.
She was worried that if he even briefly heard her, he would jump without looking back, and then there would be nothing she could do.
He moved, situating himself closer to the edge, and her mind screamed at her to do something before it was too late. She had to do something now, or else he was going to jump and fall to his death. She had to make her arms and legs work before she was forced to watch and hear someone die.
Again, he inched closer to the edge, and Hermione couldn't move. She was rooted to the spot, forced to watch without actually having the ability to move her body parts. She was forced to watch some sick movie, and she couldn't breath, she couldn't move at all.
He picked up one of his feet, dangling it haphazardly over the edge, and suddenly her frozen-ness evaporated. She sprung forward and seized a large mass of his robes, jerking him backward and causing him to tumble down onto the floor, on top of her and her book bag, but she had succeeded it her mission, for now anyway, but he was now more angry than she had ever seen him in her life.
She couldn't tell whether he was more angry at her, for stopping him, or at himself, for not carrying out with his plan before someone came in and stopped him from doing so. Either way, he was seething, and she didn't like to see this side of him any more than she wanted to see him dead. Tough choices.
"Granger." He muttered, slowly advancing on her, and she stumbled backward. She had never seen such fury in anyone before, not even when Harry had been mad at Voldemort for ruining his life and killing his parents.
She wouldn't have been surprised of Draco pulled out his wand and started casting unforgivable on her. His fury reached every feature on his face, every bone in his body. Even his eyes, his normally stone cold and unreadable eyes were blazing with hatred, and Hermione decided that it was time to. . .
RUN.
~+~
Hermione had run into the library, and she was panting, but she was sure that she had lost Malfoy, or he had given up the chase, for now.
"He'll probably kill me in my sleep." Hermione thought. She turned and heart s rustling of paper in her pocket. Puzzled, she reached in to find out what was going to be inside of it.
It was an envelope that had her name on it, but she didn't recognize the handwriting and there was something hard inside of it.
She unfolded the note and let the small stone slide into her palm.
Hermione -
This was given to me a while ago, and I though you might need it more than I do.
Dean
Hermione peered curiously at the stone in her hand, wondering what it was, and when she looked at it, she gasped. It was a moon-stone. These were one of the rarest things on earth - how was it that he managed to get a hold of one? They were very expensive too - why was Dean giving this to her? It made no logical sense at all.
She shrugged it off, however, and pocketed the stone, not really understanding why she even had it in the first place, and she leaned against the bookshelf, knocking a book off of the shelf. Instantly, she felt an odd sensation in her stomach, and with a plummeting feeling in her heart, she realized that she must have knocked the book off the shelf that accessed the "secret room" that she had seen before.
When the "transfer" was complete, Hermione stopped breathing as she took in the scene before her. Lucius Malfoy and a number of men that she didn't recognize were all standing in that room, there were no skeletons there as there had been last time, there were no knives with blood. It was an empty room save for the death eaters - no, someone had said they weren't death eaters - evil people that were crowded in the room.
"We've been waiting for you, Miss Granger." Lucius said, and Hermione wished she could faint like they always did in the movies, but she found herself unable to. "This won't take long." Lucius continued, and he pulled out a knife. It was all Hermione could do to keep herself from gasping. That was the knife that had "flown" of its own accord the last time she had been in here. She knew it, it had to be exactly the same, it looked exactly the same.
"What's the matter, Mudblood?" Lucius asked, mistaking her look of shock for one of horror. "Afraid that we might," he put the knife to her throat. "Kill you?"
"No." Hermione said through gritted teeth and she stuck her chin out proudly. If she was going to die, she wasn't going to die a coward.
"The Mudblood thinks that her friends are going to save her from this one, does she?" Lucius said hollowly and he and his friends began laughing, but new hope sprang in Hermione. Everyone was coming back from the exchange program today. Maybe Harry or Ron COULD save her. Maybe.
"Leave her alone, father."
Hermione would have liked to whip around, but the knife at her throat was preventing her. Malfoy - no, might as well call him Draco - had walked in, and his father didn't look happy.
Hermione gulped.
Somethings were about to get interesting.
~+~
A/N: Alright, so I'll TRY to get some more out before I go to California, but no promises.
ALSO!!!
If you've seen Pirates of the Caribbean, then please read my PotC fanfiction!
--Saquoia--
Soldier of Mercy - You're a red belt in. . .? Tae Kwon Do? And if you are, it's different for me, because I have a belt in between black and red. I'm currently a black belt and I am getting my second degree black belt on Saturday. I've been doing Tae Kwon Do for six years. Anyway. . . enjoy the chapter.
Artemis MoonClaw - LOL, yes, they seemed to fit perfectly, didn't they?
Cloudy Crystals - What was funny about it? Maybe I don't see the funniness because I am the author.
ShadowRogue - Yes, it was sad, but it had to be written.
Christie - Sorry - I used to be able to update more frequently - I am so stinkin' busy now it's not funny.
Da-lil-one114 - Hey chinagurl! Thanks for reviewing!
Lynseyax Heparedds - Ehm. . . I don't. . .know? LOL! Hi Jade! =D
Darkmoon of Shadows - Muffled suspense? Something new for me to take into consideration! HA! Wow, such compliments - thank you very much.
Love-princess1 - Ha! I got it out BEFORE SEPTEMBER! YAY FOR ME!
ILUVRONWEASLEY - What about it made you giggle? For her middle name, I was looking for names that mean things in other languages for my original story, but I found that and it has to do with intelligence and insecurities, so I was reminded of Hermione, that's were I found it.
Blueamber - LOL, then in about three chapters you will be REALLY happy, won't you? And no, denial isn't good for you or your skin, is it?
Slytherinangel922 - You don't have to wait long, do you?
Willowfairy - Well, I'm glad you're back.
Rotae - Hmm . . . HAM? LOL, that sounds more like Malfoy than Hermione, doesn't it? Yes, I am 12, not thirteen, and I didn't think I was that good. Thanks for loving my story, and whoopee! I updated!
M.J. Kobayashi - Yes, she is, and I am swamped with things to be doing, but I will NOT stop writing. =D
Chapter 26
Hermione took it upon herself to avoid making any kind of contact with Draco whatsoever over the next few weeks. She had no idea as to whether he knew that she had seen the memory, and she didn't want to have to face him, she didn't know how to react to anything anymore, because nothing was making much sense.
Her thoughts weren't muddled as she had thought they would be - she was actually quite blank of any thoughts and emotions which was what worried her the most. She wasn't having panic attacks or anything - she felt nothing at all.
She didn't want to be in love with her enemy - not in love, infatuated - and she denied it at every opportunity and then when the opportunity wasn't presenting itself. She was sure that anyone who was paying any attention whatsoever would have been able to tell that something was wrong between the two of them.
She snapped at any mere mention of his name, and she lost all self-control when anything happened because of him. It hurt her more to think that she was the only one having these feelings - he felt nothing toward her at all. She was the one that felt in this one sided relationship, and she didn't know how much more she was going to will herself to take before she lost it altogether. She was torn between logic and feelings.
Her logic told her that this all could be a joke and that she didn't know how to read her feelings, and her feelings told her logic to stuff it in a corner and abandon its preaching exercises. She was going to have to get used to being confused every day of her life, and she might as well start here, because feelings like these were going to haunt her for the rest of her life.
~+~
It went on until Hermione couldn't take it anymore. She couldn't stand not talking to someone, but she couldn't stand talking to someone. She finally made the decision that she was going to have to talk to someone, soon too, and she didn't know who to talk to.
She wasn't going to give anyone that she used to be friends with satisfaction of knowing that she needed them when they didn't need her in the least, but she wasn't about to talk to someone she didn't know about her deepest problems and secrets, and she had no intention of ever facing Draco Malfoy ever again, so she was stuck in a deep rut that she had no hope of emerging out of.
Hermione skipped all of her classes that day, and instead, spent all of her time at the library. It wasn't like anyone would notice anyway. She was gone all the time anyway, doing studies for Dumbledore, pretending to do studies for Dumbledore, trying to regain her sanity - all of which were done in the library.
Near the end of the day, right before dinner, Draco Malfoy waltzed in, and she attempted to hide herself and make herself as small and invisible as possible, but it didn't work and she was right in his line of vision. To her utter horror, he walked right toward her and her table, sat down directly across from her, and leaned over to her, his face saying something impassive, but she was too stricken to say anything.
Now, in her nightmares, this normally was the horrible and ghastly part where she woke up abruptly, finding herself safely inside of her bed, but she couldn't wake up now, and she was inches away from his face, waiting for whatever was going to happen to happen and get over with.
"Don't talk to me anymore - leave me alone, got it Granger?" he said, and he made to get up and leave quickly, but Hermione grabbed his sleeve savagely and pulled him back down into his seat with a THUMP!. She needed to make him speak more words, because things needed to start making sense and they were going to start making sense. . .NOW.
"What do you mean?" she asked. "Why did you even bother saying that to me if you know I wanted to avoid you anyway?" Hermione asked and Draco's face remained as neutral as ever, which completely angered Hermione. When would he learn to show some kind of emotion that would let someone know what was going on in the overly large head of his?
Draco whipped around, very suspiciously, making sure that nobody was watching or listening to him, which made Hermione even more suspicious than she already was with the whole matter. What was so important that he had to make sure that nobody was listening? And why did he have to play the 'James Bond' character. She almost snorted when she thought of him introducing himself.
'My name's Malfoy. Draco Malfoy.' Her attention was immediately turned back to him, however, when he spoke again.
"My father is after someone, he wants to kill them." Pause for dramatic effect. "Immediately." Hermione rolled her eyes at this statement. Like she didn't know this information already?
"Duh, Malfoy, I already know that." He looked confused for a moment, so Hermione went on.
"Harry, everyone's always after Harry." Hermione said matter-o-factly, and Draco gave her a look of venom.
"No, he's not after Potter." He said, as though he were trying to stress his non-existent point. The urgency in his voice seemed to make Hermione want to listen, but his words were just so preposterous that she didn't want to believe them, no matter how much truth actually rang in them. She simply refused to believe what she was being told to believe.
"He's after you, Hermione, he wants to kill you." Draco's words were hushed, as though he didn't want to speak them, but was being forced to. That, or, maybe he wasn't supposed to be seen with her?
"Why would your father want to kill me?" Hermione asked stupidly, even she was aware of how dumb she sounded, but she couldn't take her words back now, so she might as well play the dumb.
She was beginning to believe this charade when words from the past hit her and they hit her with such force that she couldn't remember why she had even considered speaking to him in the first place.
"I'm just a lowly mudblood, remember?" she asked scornfully and made to get up.
"He wants to kill you because you have access to the powers of the founders. He wants me to be the only person with the powers so he can - so he can - do . . . things with my power, alright?" again, Draco made to get up, but Hermione decided now would be a nice time to try to talk to him.
"No, not alright. Why do you let your father walk all over you?" Hermione asked, and by the confused look on Malfoy's face, he didn't have a clue what she was talking about.
"Look, I know things that he's done to you when you were younger." Hermione said delicately, and she watched as he immediately turned away.
"I'm not going to talk about that stuff, alright? Just steer clear of my father, and stop poking into my business. Just leave me alone." With that, Draco walked away before Hermione's brain even had a moment to register what had happened, let alone think of some excuse to make him stay.
~+~
She couldn't make up her mind whether she wanted to talk to him or not, she didn't know whether she COULD talk to him or not. Everything was so mixed up inside of her that she was sure something was going to come out wrong, or something was going to com out that she didn't WANT to come out, and that could have worse consequences than having something come out wrong.
She shuddered at the thought of Draco - no, Malfoy - knowing her deepest and most sacred thoughts. He would most certainly abuse the privilege of knowing her secrets, and, pretty soon, the entire student body would also know her secrets in a matter of seconds.
Sighing to herself because she was trying to release her pent up frustrations and worries, Hermione decided to go to the library, like she always did, but was stopped short by some words that were echoing around in her mind.
'. . . stop poking into my business. Just leave me alone . . .' something was wrong with those words. They hadn't sounded like hollow threats as his words normally did. Something had been different about his words, as though he didn't want her to see him saying something. . .
Or doing something . . .
Hermione immediately forgot all of her plans that she had had and began running down the halls toward the Advanced Transfiguration dormitory, hoping that something horrible hadn't happened before she could reach it. She didn't know how, but she had this feeling in her stomach that something was going to happen and there was nothing happy about it.
She rushed through the door by banging on the portrait and gunning it up the stairs, and when she opened the door, she did so quietly - she didn't want to inadvertently cause something bad to happen because that was what she was trying to stop.
She glanced around the room, looking for something and anything that was out of the ordinary. Her eyes finally came to rest on Draco Malfoy's form, leaning against the window frame, standing on top of the windowsill. She let a small gasp of air escape her when she realized how stupid she had been. Nothing was happening.
But then she looked closer and noted the way his hands were positioned on the wall, the way his body was leaning and the defeated way his body stood and it all made sense to her. He was going to kill himself, and not just kill himself, but the muggle way. The painful way.
She didn't dare to move, not knowing whether her movement would spur him to jump right then or not, and she didn't even breathe, afraid that she might cause something else to happen if she dared.
Somehow she had to make him come down from there, but she had no idea how. What was she going to do? For once in her life, Hermione Granger didn't know what she was supposed to do. She didn't know the answer.
She could run and pretend that she didn't know about it and pretend to be shocked like everyone else when his lifeless form was deposited into the ground, but she would never forgive herself. Even if she didn't like him that much (LIAR, her mind yelled) she couldn't stand to see him die, especially if she could do something about it, but the thing was, Hermione wasn't she that she could do something about it.
She was worried that if he even briefly heard her, he would jump without looking back, and then there would be nothing she could do.
He moved, situating himself closer to the edge, and her mind screamed at her to do something before it was too late. She had to do something now, or else he was going to jump and fall to his death. She had to make her arms and legs work before she was forced to watch and hear someone die.
Again, he inched closer to the edge, and Hermione couldn't move. She was rooted to the spot, forced to watch without actually having the ability to move her body parts. She was forced to watch some sick movie, and she couldn't breath, she couldn't move at all.
He picked up one of his feet, dangling it haphazardly over the edge, and suddenly her frozen-ness evaporated. She sprung forward and seized a large mass of his robes, jerking him backward and causing him to tumble down onto the floor, on top of her and her book bag, but she had succeeded it her mission, for now anyway, but he was now more angry than she had ever seen him in her life.
She couldn't tell whether he was more angry at her, for stopping him, or at himself, for not carrying out with his plan before someone came in and stopped him from doing so. Either way, he was seething, and she didn't like to see this side of him any more than she wanted to see him dead. Tough choices.
"Granger." He muttered, slowly advancing on her, and she stumbled backward. She had never seen such fury in anyone before, not even when Harry had been mad at Voldemort for ruining his life and killing his parents.
She wouldn't have been surprised of Draco pulled out his wand and started casting unforgivable on her. His fury reached every feature on his face, every bone in his body. Even his eyes, his normally stone cold and unreadable eyes were blazing with hatred, and Hermione decided that it was time to. . .
RUN.
~+~
Hermione had run into the library, and she was panting, but she was sure that she had lost Malfoy, or he had given up the chase, for now.
"He'll probably kill me in my sleep." Hermione thought. She turned and heart s rustling of paper in her pocket. Puzzled, she reached in to find out what was going to be inside of it.
It was an envelope that had her name on it, but she didn't recognize the handwriting and there was something hard inside of it.
She unfolded the note and let the small stone slide into her palm.
Hermione -
This was given to me a while ago, and I though you might need it more than I do.
Dean
Hermione peered curiously at the stone in her hand, wondering what it was, and when she looked at it, she gasped. It was a moon-stone. These were one of the rarest things on earth - how was it that he managed to get a hold of one? They were very expensive too - why was Dean giving this to her? It made no logical sense at all.
She shrugged it off, however, and pocketed the stone, not really understanding why she even had it in the first place, and she leaned against the bookshelf, knocking a book off of the shelf. Instantly, she felt an odd sensation in her stomach, and with a plummeting feeling in her heart, she realized that she must have knocked the book off the shelf that accessed the "secret room" that she had seen before.
When the "transfer" was complete, Hermione stopped breathing as she took in the scene before her. Lucius Malfoy and a number of men that she didn't recognize were all standing in that room, there were no skeletons there as there had been last time, there were no knives with blood. It was an empty room save for the death eaters - no, someone had said they weren't death eaters - evil people that were crowded in the room.
"We've been waiting for you, Miss Granger." Lucius said, and Hermione wished she could faint like they always did in the movies, but she found herself unable to. "This won't take long." Lucius continued, and he pulled out a knife. It was all Hermione could do to keep herself from gasping. That was the knife that had "flown" of its own accord the last time she had been in here. She knew it, it had to be exactly the same, it looked exactly the same.
"What's the matter, Mudblood?" Lucius asked, mistaking her look of shock for one of horror. "Afraid that we might," he put the knife to her throat. "Kill you?"
"No." Hermione said through gritted teeth and she stuck her chin out proudly. If she was going to die, she wasn't going to die a coward.
"The Mudblood thinks that her friends are going to save her from this one, does she?" Lucius said hollowly and he and his friends began laughing, but new hope sprang in Hermione. Everyone was coming back from the exchange program today. Maybe Harry or Ron COULD save her. Maybe.
"Leave her alone, father."
Hermione would have liked to whip around, but the knife at her throat was preventing her. Malfoy - no, might as well call him Draco - had walked in, and his father didn't look happy.
Hermione gulped.
Somethings were about to get interesting.
~+~
A/N: Alright, so I'll TRY to get some more out before I go to California, but no promises.
ALSO!!!
If you've seen Pirates of the Caribbean, then please read my PotC fanfiction!
--Saquoia--