Emerald Eyes

Author: Her-mee-o-ninny (but you can call me Danni)

Title: Emerald Eyes

Rating: PG-13

Disclaimer: Sigh...I do not own Harry Potter, nor am I making money from this story.

A/N: Ya, ya, I know...last chapter kinda sucked. Sorry about that, I really don't have an excuse. I was pretty much just tryin to get the chapter to you as fast as I could and well...it sucked, lol. Nevertheless, thank you for the reviews. Keep 'em comin! Hope you like this chapter! I had a new idea, and figured , "Hey, why not?", hehe.

Chapter Four: Kidnapped

It was 9:55 am and Harry was extremely anxious. He was pacing back and forth in his room waiting for the sound of a car, doorbell, knock...anything. He looked down at his rather dilapidated clothes (hand-me-downs of Dudley) and made a mental note to shop for new clothes, however unpleasant that may be. He finally sat down on his bed and gazed out the window.

Harry's eyes widened when he saw a familiar middle-aged woman materialize on the front steps of the Dursley's house. The initial shock of seeing the zany, pink haired witch appear in front of his eyes quite fast, being used to apparition by now, however Harry was curious as to why she was even there. He had, despite his poor mood, made sure that he sent an owl to the Order every three days, sometimes just sending 'Dursley's are behaving' or most often than not, his crude sarcasm got the better of him by just sending 'Still alive'. At that point, he figured that he might as well see what was going on, so he ventured downstairs (thankfully free of any Dursley) and opened the door.

"Hello Harry!" Tonks exclaimed quite happily.

"Uh, hey, Tonks," he said, confused by her happy tone. He had figured something must have been wrong. "What's going on?"

"Oh, Harry! Can't an old friend come to check on you once in a while?" Tonks answered in an unusually loud voice.

"Tonks?" Harry asked bemusedly.

Tonks pulled Harry into a tight hug and whispered, "Don't blow it, Harry."

"Wha-?" he started.

Tonks let go of him and said cheerfully, "Well, aren't you going to invite me in?"

"Uh..." Harry said, his confusion multiplying. He moved aside to let the witch in and he closed the door behind her.

Tonks muttered a charm to make sure no one could hear their conversation and turned to Harry, now with a quite serious face.

"Tonks? What's going on?" he repeated.

"Alright, we don't have much time, so I'll explain quickly," Tonks said, taking a deep breath before continuing. "Harry, Hermione's been taken. We've been keeping an eye on her as much as you lately. I know you thought the war was over, as well as most everyone else, however the Order has always believed that the war will never be over. Our suspicions this time were certainly right. A new leader of the other side has risen and from what we've seen, she is even more powerful than Voldemort. We believed that Hermione would be a target and obviously we were correct. Unfortunately, one of our so-called trusted members of the Order had betrayed us and Hermione was taken this morning. She seemed to be on her way to see you. Is there anything you know?"

"Ye-Yeah...Hermione sent me an owl yesterday. She said she would be picking me up to spend a week in London with her. The owl must've been intercepted," Harry answered. Guilt swept throughout his body.

"Yes, that's what we suspected. Well, grab your cloak, we need to leave," she said quickly.

Harry searched through his trunk for his school robes and pulled one out. Tonks sigh exasperatedly and said, "No, no, your invisibility cloak!" She hurried over to his trunk, pushed him aside, and rummaged through his trunk to find the cloak. She packed everything back up, shrunk his luggage with a flick of her wand before placing it all in her pocket, and threw the invisibility cloak over Harry's head. Tonks then opened the front door, turned, and yelled cheerfully, "Nice seeing you Harry! I'll come back with that in a few weeks!"

They both turned and Harry noticed Mrs. Weasley sitting in a blue Ford Anglia shockingly similar to the one he and Ron had crashed into the Whomping Willow during their second year. Tonks walked over to the car to greet Ron's mother.

"Hello, Molly! Right on time. I was hoping you'd be able to bring me. Hopefully I'll be done with these raids soon. Those poor Muggles..."

"Yes, yes. The front seat is full, so you'll need to sit in the back, Nymphadora," Mrs. Weasley said with an innocent smile.

Tonks shot her a look and opened the back door very wide. Before she got in, however, she bent down to say to Mrs. Weasley, "I'm changing my name." They both chuckled and Harry realized that Tonks was waiting for him to hop into the car. He quickly climbed in, immediately followed by Tonks, who slammed the door shut.

Mrs. Weasley rolled her window up and said, "Alright Harry dear, you can take the cloak off now. It's safe in the car."

After a very long conversation with Tonks and Mrs. Weasley, Harry was properly caught up on the details of what had been going on. He was shocked that after being so confident that he had defeated the last hope for any evil left in the wizarding world, nothing had truly changed. Things, instead, had just gotten much worse.

For the rest of the ride, Harry stared out the window, returning to his state of depression. The only time he truly came back to reality was when he realized the car had gone invisible after coming out of a dark tunnel in the middle of the countryside. The rest of the time, he continued to drown in renewed guilt. This time, however, instead of flashbacks of Sirius, his mind filled with thoughts of Hermione. 'I'm so sorry, Hermione. I won't give up on you.'.
Her head was pounding. She tried to move, however her body simply refused to react. Hermione's caramel eye's fluttered open, stinging from the flashes of orange and red light flickering in front of her. A sudden wave of heat enveloped her body. Her eyes finally adjusted and she realized that a ring of fire surrounded her. Hermione instinctively tried to shout for help, but it seemed as though her voice refused to work, as well.

A woman's voice could be heard over the roaring of the flames. Shrill laughter echoed throughout the chamber, sending shivers up Hermione's spine, despite the incredible heat.

"Hermione, Hermione. What's the matter?" the woman's voice said tauntingly. "Surely the cleverest witch of her age would be able to realize that good never truly conquers evil. Oh, I'm sorry...you really did think that your precious Harry had finally defeated us all. Oh yes, Voldemort's gone, but he was expendable compared to myself."

Hermione finally was able to regain strength in her body, now attempting to struggle against the invisible ropes that bound her.

The woman sighed and chuckled wickedly. "Tied too tight, are we? Let me loosen things up a bit." The invisible ropes apparently "disappeared" because Hermione was able to move freely. She quickly stood up, but screamed when the ring of flames around her rose with a flash, blocking her view of the room. They just as quickly died down, allowing her to see her kidnapper. She was shocked by the woman's beauty, expecting to see a female version of the snake-like Voldemort. Instead, an attractive woman stood in front of her. She had long, sleek blonde hair and a perfect complexion. If she hadn't had an evil flickering in her eyes, which Hermione somehow suspected was not a reflection of the fire, as well as a horrible sneer, Hermione would never have guessed the purely sinister voice came from such a woman. The woman began to laugh shrilly once again.

"Veronica Maleficent welcomes you to my humble abode, Miss Granger," she said bowing her head, while still staring at Hermione with a deathly gaze. Hermione stood frozen to the spot, one lone thought traveling through her mind, 'Harry...'.

A/N: Yes, well as you can see, even though I may like reading "fluff stories", it bores me to write continuous fluff. Hope I didn't disappoint anyone and apparently, this story may be much longer than what I expected it to end up being. PLEEZZ Review!! Good or bad, it doesn't matter. I love getting feedback on my writing. It always helps. I also love hearing your own predictions on what might happen. Just anything you can think of, put in a review!! Thanks so much!! Next chapter'll be coming soon!!