I'm so happy that I can finally update my story!

Disclaimer: Nope, not mine

~CHAPTER NINE~

Just before dinner Hermione returned to her dormitory with a large pile of library books, to finally do some homework.
On her way she saw Professor Snape in the hallway.

"Good afternoon Professor," she greeted him. Snape didn't respond and continued walking.

Wondering why he ignored her, Hermione walked up the ivory stairs to her rooms.
She expected to be greeted by Crookshanks, but her cat wasn't in the common room.
After putting the books on the desk, she started to search her rooms for him.
She found Crookshanks in her bedroom, sitting on her bed, hissing at something.

"What is it? Do you see a spider again?" she asked with a wide grin on her face.

The last time her pet had been hissing like that was because of a little spider on the wall.
This time though there was no spider, there was nothing on the wall at all.
It is probably just nothing, Hermione thought as she walked back towards the common room.
Suddenly she saw something moving from the corner of her eye, and it wasn't Crookshanks.
As quickly as possible she turned around.
She caught a glimpse of a person who was wearing a dark brown cloak with a hood that covered his or her face.
Suddenly the person threw some sort of ball at her.
Before she could wonder why someone would come into her dorm and throw a ball at her, Hermione caught it instinctively.
It was only then, as her vision started to blur, that she realized that it wasn't a ball, but a portkey.

As soon as her vision became clear again, Hermione looked around. She was in some sort of forest.
Maybe it's the Forbidden Forest, Hermione thought.

Suddenly she heard someone behind her yell, "Stupefy!"

Everything around the Head Girl became black.
When she came to, her vision was blurry and she found that someone had chained her to a tree,

"It looks like the filthy mudblood finally woke up," someone sneered.

"What?" Hermione asked confused "What's going on?"

She could hear a few people laugh, but could not figure out how many.

"We are going to have a little fun," one of them said.

Finally Hermione's vision cleared and she could see who the person was. It was Draco Malfoy together with Goyle.

What were they doing here? It was a well-known fact that Malfoy was scared to go anywhere near the Forbidden Forest.
Where was Crabbe? This was the first time that Hermione saw Goyle without Crabbe.
Then she remembered that there had been someone in her dorm.
It was probably him she thought.

Hermione didn't speak but searched for her wand, hoping that the two boys wouldn't notice.

"Are you looking for this?" Malfoy asked her, smiling evilly. He held out her wand.

"Let me go!" she shouted as loud as possible, hoping that someone would hear her.

After screaming for help a few times, she saw that the two Slytherins were laughing at her.

"No one can hear you out here, mudblood," Malfoy said.

Malfoy took something out of his pocket. It was long and shiny, but Hermione couldn't see what it was.

"You hold her arms," Malfoy instructed Goyle.

Goyle held Hermione's arms behind her back against the old oak tree that she was chained to.
The grass, still wet from the rain that had fallen that same morning, made the earth around the tree muddy and hard to stand on.
Hermione's feet kept slipping. Malfoy stood a few feet away from them, on the solid grass.

"Now we are going to play a little game," Malfoy said with a big smile. "I'll ask you a question and you are going to answer it."

Hermione gulped, she didn't like the sound of Malfoy's little 'game'.

"And what if I don't know the answer?" she asked carefully. Goyle started to laugh.

 "You'll see what happens then," Malfoy replied.

"Now first question: Where did you hide the book? We couldn't find it in your old room, so where did you hide it?"

What on earth was he talking about she thought.

"Book, what book?" she asked.

"Don't act like you don't know what I mean," Malfoy hissed at her.

"I'm not acting. I really don't know what you're talking about!" Hermione exclaimed, panicked.

With a couple of steps Malfoy was standing right in front of Hermione.
She could now see what the long and shiny object had been.
It was a dagger. Malfoy nodded at Goyle who tightened his grip on her arm.
Hermione screamed at the top of her lungs as Malfoy made a large cut from her shoulder to her elbow.

"That's what happens when you don't know the answer," Goyle whispered in her ear, still holding her arms that were now covered in blood.

"Now I'm going to ask you again and you will answer like a good little mudblood," Malfoy barked at her. "Where is that white book?"

"I really don't know what you're talking about. I don't have a white book," Hermione told them.

"Wrong answer, mudblood," Malfoy spat as he made another cut, this time in her right arm.

Several questions, and cuts, later Hermione saw something move behind Malfoy.
Maybe there was somebody there who could help her she thought hopefully.
She started to scream for help again.

 "Can't you make her shut up?" Goyle asked his friend.

"Just leave her here," Malfoy answered smirking at Hermione who by now was covered in mud and blood.

"Look, now she really is a mudblood," Goyle said with a big smile.

The two Slytherins walked away, laughing. Hermione looked up just in time to see Malfoy throwing her wand in the bushes.

Just after they had left, something moved in a nearby tree.
Hermione sat up and immediately started to struggle against her chains, afraid that there was some kind of horrible beast behind the tree.
She called for help again. Two bright purple eyes looked through the leaves at her. Hermione knew those eyes, she had seen them before.
Suddenly she realized what she had seen behind Malfoy. It was Ninfa.

Ninfa flew towards the Head Girl as fast as she could. She tried to break Hermione's chains, but it didn't work.
When she saw all the blood, Ninfa's eyes widened in fear. She took a few steps back and flew away.

"No! Come back!" Hermione yelled, but after a few seconds the Forest Fairy was out of sight.

Hermione felt her hope dwindle and she sat back, with tears in her eyes.

Ten minutes later she heard someone talking.

 "I…I don't think this is a good idea," a familiar voice said. "Where are you taking me?"
"Help," a bright voice said. "Come."

"Come where?" the familiar voice asked.

Hermione shot up. "Help! Help me!" she yelled.

She could hear footsteps coming her way.

Ninfa had returned with Neville Longbottom. She gestured at Hermione.

"Help," she said again in a bright voice.

Neville ran towards Hermione and released her from her chains. Hermione was glad that they had learned that spell during their DA training.
Ninfa was hiding in the bushes again, or so they thought.

A few seconds later she returned with Hermione's wand.

"What happened?" Neville asked worriedly.

"Malfoy," Hermione said.

With the help of Neville and Ninfa, she was able to walk out of the forest towards Hogwarts.
It was still hard to stand on her legs after being chained to the tree for so long.

"How did you find me?" Hermione asked Neville.

"I was collecting some herbs for Professor Sprout, near the Forbidden Forest when Ninfa came towards me telling me that she needed help," he explained.

Ninfa smiled when she heard her name.

 "Help," she said with a smile. Hermione got the feeling that that was one of the few words she could say.

Dinner had already started when Hermione, Neville and Ninfa walked into the Great Hall together. Hermione's arms were covered in dried blood.
Ninfa nervously walked next to Hermione, her big purple eyes looked at the large amount of students.
It was obvious that she wasn't used to being in the presence of that many people.

There was a long silence before all the students began to whisper. Hermione looked at the head table, and saw the shocked expressions of the professors.
Professor McGonagall and Professor Sprout were whispering to each other while they looked at Hermione.
Professor Snape however, was the only one who continued eating his dinner as if nothing had happened.
Hermione wondered why he acted like nothing had happened and what he was going to say when he would find out that two Slytherins were responsible for this.
Then she wondered why she cared so much about what Snape thought. Professor Dumbledore stood up and walked towards them.

"You three follow me," he instructed them briefly.

Dumbledore led them to the hospital wing. A few minutes later Madam Pomfrey had healed the cuts on Hermione's arms.
The cuts didn't even leave a scar.

"Now I want to ask the three of you a few questions in my office," Dumbledore said.

When they had arrived there Dumbledore immediately asked what had happened.
It took a while before Hermione finished telling him the entire story, from the mysterious person in her dormitory to Neville rescuing her.

"So what you are saying is that Mister Malfoy did this to you," Dumbledore asked. Hermione nodded.

"Are you willing to take Veritaserum to confirm that?" Dumbledore asked sharply.

"Yes," Hermione answered.

Dumbledore nodded and rang a small golden bell that Hermione had never seen before. Dobby appeared next to Dumbledore.

"Dobby, would you please summon Professor Snape for me. Ask him if he is able to bring a bottle of Veritaserum," he told the house elf.

"Yes professor Dumbledore sir," Dobby said and left the office without making a sound.

"Mr. Longbottom, may I ask you how you found Hermione?" Dumbledore asked Neville.

Neville's face started to turn red.

"Well I was collecting some herbs for Professor Sprout, near the Forbidden Forest, and suddenly Ninfa ran up to me.
She told me that she needed help, so I followed her," he told the Headmaster.

"She spoke to you?" Dumbledore asked amazed.

"Yes," Neville said, a bit scared at Dumbledore's amazed expression.

"Can you speak English?" Dumbledore asked Ninfa.

Ninfa smiled at the Headmaster at hearing her own name, but didn't talk. She started to play with her long braids as she looked around the office.

"She doesn't say much," Neville told the Headmaster.

For a few moments Ninfa stared at the little window in Dumbledore's office. She stood up, walked towards the window and looked out.
The Headmaster and the two Gryffindors watched her behavior in silence. The Forest Fairy turned around, waved, and leapt out of the window.

The office door opened and Professor Snape arrived, followed by Dobby. Neville suddenly got nervous.

"Ah, Professor Snape. Did you bring the Veritaserum?" Dumbledore asked the Potions Master.

Snape got a small vial out of his robes, which he put on the Headmaster's desk.

"What's Longbottom doing here?" Snape asked sharply.

Neville gulped and shifted in his chair.

"Mr. Longbottom helped Miss Granger," Dumbledore explained. "A Forest Fairy talked to him; she just flew out of the window."

Snape snorted at this.

"If you say so Headmaster," he said sarcastically.

"Miss Granger, would you please drink the Veritaserum?" Dumbledore asked her.

Hermione nodded and drank the potion. Dumbledore started to question her about what had happened.

"You were attacked by Draco Malfoy and Gregory Goyle?" Dumbledore finally asked again.

"Yes," Hermione said.

Dumbledore and Snape exchanged glances.

"Impossible," Snape told Dumbledore.

Hermione turned her head towards the head of Slytherin.

"But I took Veritaserum," she said in her defense.

When he didn't respond to her, Hermione looked back at Dumbledore for support.

"I'm afraid that Professor Snape is right, Miss Granger," he told her, "both of them have been in the infirmary since lunch."



Thank you all for the reviews, I never knew people actually liked this story!
I'll try to update as soon as possible :-)

~Tikina~