::A/N:: I told you I'd be able to update soon! Okay so here's SotP 5. Thanks to all my reviewers, especially Angie, DansChickie, Crystal, Maria, Vinny, and Japanese Dragon. Halogen--I wasn't exactly sure what yours meant but thanks anyway lol.
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"Harry, wake up," someone called. Harry didn't want to wake up. He was afraid to open his eyes, although he couldn't remember why. His head hurt really badly and he felt very cold. "Harry," the voice called again. Slowly his eyelids parted.
Ginny was shaking him gently. Harry sat up and was astonished to find himself in a sort of cell. Ron and Hermione were lying nearby, both clearly unconscious, and Ginny looked very frightened.
"Ginny," Harry whispered, "what's going on?"
"They brought us here, Harry. I woke up when one of them was carrying me in this cell." Harry still looked confused. "Harry, the Death Eaters. Remember?"
Everything suddenly clicked and Harry remembered the crashing door, the pointing wands, the screaming. He froze as he realized the current situation. It was him and his three best friends, away from the Order, locked in a cell and guarded by Death Eaters. Automatically Harry looked around for an escape route, but there were no windows in the cell, and he could hardly see anyway. Everything was very dark, except for small patches of light radiating from torches outside the cell.
"Ginny, how long have we been here?"
"They only brought us in a few minutes ago. Harry, I think we're at the Malfoy's Manor. I saw Draco when they brought us in." Ginny trembled and Harry's stomach clenched. Not knowing what to do, he moved over to Ron and tried to wake him.
"I'm sleeping," Ron mumbled, but Harry shook him harder. "I'm sleeping!" Ron said again, more loudly.
"Ron, you need to wake up! We need to get out of here!"
"Out of where," Ron murmured.
"Out of this dungeon," Ginny said.
Ron opened his eyes. "What are you--?" he began, but then he registered the cold floor, the dark walls, the terrified expression on his sister's face. "Oh no," he said, realizing what had transpired. "How did they get us here?"
"I don't know, but we need to figure out how to escape," Harry replied.
Ron sat up slowly and saw Hermione sprawled on the ground next to him. "Hermione," he said worriedly, while tapping her on the shoulder, "wake up."
Unlike Ron, Hermione immediately regained consciousness. She bolted upright and was just about to open her mouth and say something when loud footsteps were heard. The four friends whipped their heads around and stared at the outside of the cell, waiting with bated breath to see who their visitor was.
"Well, well, well," said a cold drawling voice. "I see we're finally awake." Lucius Malfoy was peering eerily through the bars of the cell with a twisted smile on his face. "Oh boys," he called, turning his head down the corridor, "our little friends have decided to join the real world again. Do come and see."
Harry heard evil laughing and heavy footsteps coming their way. Lucius Malfoy was soon joined by MacNair, Nott, and Dolohov, all of whom Harry recognized from the Department of Mysteries.
"Let us go," Harry said through clenched teeth. Lucius just smirked more.
"Potter, you are not in a position to give orders. I expect complete obedience from you or else all your friends die." Harry saw Ginny shiver out of the corner of his eye.
"Why did you bring my friends here too?" Harry asked angrily. "I know Voldemort wants me dead, but they haven't done anything."
"Well, you see Potter, your friends are going to be very valuable to us today," Lucius continued.
"Oh yeah? And how so?" Harry said, trying to sound brave when in fact those words had chilled him to the bone.
"I'll be straight with you Potter," said Lucius, fingering his wand. "The Dark Lord still does not feel that he is in a position to act out in the open, so we've been given the honor of fulfilling his plans today. You know very well that he still wants the information from the Prophecy, and we're aware that you know it. Don't try to deny it," he said as Harry opened his mouth. "The Dark Lord always knows."
"So what does this have to do with my friends?" Harry spat. "You need me, not them. Let them go!"
"Potter, we know how you work," Lucius drawled impatiently. "Although you may be very brave and able to withstand certain amounts of torture, your concern for others can always be your downfall. It worked well enough last month, did it not?"
Harry's insides burned with hatred at the nasty smile playing on his face, but he continued. "I told the Dark Lord last month how your friends aided you in the Department of Mysteries, and he deduced that we could use them to manipulate you. We've been watching you Potter, and we knew you went to stay with those horrendous Weasley's, but when we broke into their house we saw on that clock that they were 'on vacation'. Dolohov easily traced you though, so that's how we came to kidnap you in France."
"Fred and George," Ron said quietly, turning to Harry. "They must've realized that someone had broken into the Burrow. That's why they came to the beach—to warn Mum and Dad."
"Wow, Weasel, how smart of you," Lucius said maliciously. "So, Potter, either tell us the Prophecy, or your friends will be hurt. We have some new torturing spells to test."
"And I want to try some more on that Mudblood," Dolohov hissed. "The curse I used on her last time didn't work to its full effect."
Hermione shivered and instinctively pressed her hand over her chest, where she had a scar from Dolohov's spell. Ron was shaking with anger.
"Yes, good point Dolohov," Malfoy said, eyeing Hermione. "Let's torture the girls first; they'll be weaker. We'll use Weasel boy as a last resort."
Macnair uttered an incantation with his wand and the door of the cell creaked open. Hermione and Ginny stepped backward toward the wall of the cell and away from the advancing Death Eaters. Harry and Ron stood in front of them with their fists raised, although they knew their situation was hopeless. They were both barefoot, wandless, and wearing pajamas.
"Don't make us kill you yet," said Macnair's deep voice as he crossed the floor with Nott and Dolohov. All three of them had their wands raised and pointed at Harry and his friends.
"Get Potter first," Malfoy said, leaning casually against the wall.
Nott grabbed the neck of Harry's tee-shirt and roughly pushed him out of the door. Ron tried to thwart Macnair and Avery from grabbing Hermione and Ginny, but Avery hit him with a spell and he keeled over backwards.
"Ron!" both girls shouted, but they were soon apprehended by the Death Eaters. Harry, who was being dragged down the hallway by Nott, could hear them kicking and sputtering.
"Ginny, Hermione, it'll be okay!" he said with a strangled yell while Nott tugged violently at the back of his neck. "I won't let anything happen to you!"
Harry heard Lucius Malfoy laughing as he struggled against Nott's firm grip. "Potter," Malfoy called, "your days of being a hero are over."
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