Chapter 18

"Let go of me you Ingrades!!!" Malfoy yelled as he was drug along by two deatheaters, who were ignoring him.

In front of Malfoy, Four other deatheaters were dragging Harry and Ron along too, they were struggling against their captors.

The deatheaters stopped at a door and flung Harry and Ron carelessly into a cell.

"Don't think much of the famous Harry Potter now!" one of the deatheaters jeered as he kicked Harry in the stomach causing him to double over in pain and gasp for breath.

"I demand that you release me at once!" Malfoy shouted as they reached the door of Harry and Ron's cell.

"As you wish, Mr Malfoy!" one of the deatheaters holding him jeered. He then promptly picked Malfoy up by the waistband of his trousers and the scruff of his neck and threw him into the cell, sending him bowling into Harry and Ron much like a bowling ball knocking over pins.

The door was slammed shut and they heard the deatheaters laughing as they left.

Harry was still trying to get his breath back from being kicked, but having Malfoy sprawled over you isn't the best treatment for such an ailment.

"Ow!" Ron moaned. "Malfoy, gerroff me!"

"My apologies Weasley!" Malfoy said as he got up and dusted himself down again.

"You alright there, Harry?" Ron asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Harry replied, one hand on his stomach as he stood up and looked around the small cell.

"We have to help Hermione!" Harry said determinedly.

Ron nodded. "But how? We don't even know where you know who took her!"

Malfoy was searching for his wand in his robes and wore a perplexed expression, which quickly turned to outrage. "I've been robbed!!! My wand's gone!!"

Harry quickly searched for his. "Mine too." He announced sadly.

Ron didn't even bother looking for his. It was probable that the deatheaters took his wand too.

"Now what do we do?" Ron asked, sitting down on the floor and putting his head on his knees.

Malfoy stood fuming, tapping his foot repeatedly on the stone floor.

Harry paced up and down trying to think.

Meanwhile, up in her proverbial tower, Hermione fumed at being tricked and locked in a room. She could quite safely say, this sucked!

She figured she might as well see what kind of room she was in and began to explore. There was a four poster bed covered in dusty green covers, a wardrobe and a bathroom off to the side.

Going into the bathroom, which turned out to be quite luxurious and she decided that since she was going to be locked up in this room for a while, she might as well get something out of it.

She turned on the taps and found that rose scented water came out.

Surprised that Voldemort would have a bathroom like this in his gloomy castle, she took off her evening gown and laid it on a nearby chair, then slipped into the hot, rose scented bath, allowing the bubbles and warmth calm her down and let her think clearly.

This was an awful predicament that she was in. Here she was, stupidly making a deal with Voldemort so that her friends could go free and now because Voldemort was such a jerk, they were all imprisoned anyway! And she was being held captive to be used for Merlin only knows what, and Snape was somewhere in the building probably unable to help in any way. On top of all of this, Malfoy 'fessed up to being in love with her in front of Harry, Ron and Voldemort and all of his deatheaters!!

The only comforting thought was that Dumbledore was on the case!

Hermione sighed. "It just can't get any worse can it!?"

Suddenly, a loud THUD was heard at the window.

Startled, Hermione froze in the bath and stared at the window trying to see what had hit it.

Then, a tapping noise started and the window started rattling.

Cautiously, Hermione got out of the bath and wrapped a towel around herself and crept over to the window. Her heart was beating fast and she tried to swallow her fear as she reached for the handle of the window and opened it slowly.

She let out a startled scream as she saw a flash of white and red. She spun around and saw to her relief, a familiar snowy white owl and a Fawkes, Dumbledore's phoenix perched on the sink and vanity.

"Hedwig!" Hermione said rushing towards Harry's owl. There was a note tied to her leg and she held it out so Hermione could take it.

She opened the note and read it :

Dear Hermione,

Don't worry! As I write this letter, I have the order ready for action! We will come to your rescue in time, I am sure. As it is, we are having a spot of trouble locating your exact whereabouts within the castle, you wouldn't happen to know your whereabouts would you?

As I mentioned before, do not worry. We'll be there soon and Professor Snape is trying to find Mr Potter, Mr Weasley and Mr Malfoy too. If he succeeds in finding them before we find you, you may be rescued before we get there, but we will get there anyway and go to battle if we must.

Sincerely,
Albus Dumbledore

Hermione felt a little calmer knowing that a plan was in action. She trusted Dumbledore with her life anyway, this was merely an opportunity to prove that!

She turned the paper over and noticed that Fawkes was carrying a golden quill. She took it gratefully and began writing her reply.

Dear Dumbledore,

Thank you for helping so fast! I've been so worried!

I am not sure of my exact whereabouts within this castle, however, I do know that I am in a room numbered as 20. I hope this helps! Please hurry, Voldemort said something about preparing for the ceremony. I don't know what he is talking about, but I suspect that I will play a role in it, and I really don't want to do that!

Sincerely,
Hermione Granger

She tied the letter to Hedwig's leg and stroked the two birds. "Hedwig, thank you for bringing the letter, I need you to take my reply back to Dumbledore. Will you do that for me?"
Hedwig hooted and nipped Hermione's finger affectionately.

"Fawkes, your are always such a comfort, and thanks for the pen!" Hermione told the beautiful bird.

Fawkes sang a few soothing notes as he flew around the room before joining Hedwig as she soared through the window and out of site.

Hermione sighed and went back into the bathroom to fetch her dress. It was covered in dirt and leaves and bits of twig.

She shook it to get most of the stuff off but it still looked dirty. She wished that Voldemort hadn't taken her wand. This dress could really have used a cleaning spell!

She slipped back into her dress anyway and went and lay down on the dusty bed, and sleep came fast.

Meanwhile, somewhere in the depths of Voldemort's castle, Snape was pacing in his room trying to come up with a plan to get Potter, Weasley and Malfoy out of the dungeons and therefore creating a diversion, giving Dumbledore and the Order ample time to rescue Miss Granger.

He imagined he would somehow have to get guard duty over their cell, which proved to be difficult, seeing as he wasn't ever asked to guard anything.

Frustrated, Snape paced more frantically wracking his brain for a solution. Suddenly, a light bulb came on in his head as he remembered Potter and his occlumency from Last year.

It was a long shot, but it just might work. He got comfortable, closed his eyes and began to concentrate on getting into Potter's brain. Not a pleasant task, he thought, but right now necessity was the main thing.

This task was much more difficult than it had been in his classroom with the boy-who-lived-to-make-his-life-hell, seeing as they were further apart and separated by who knows how many stone walls and floors. It took Snape a good fifteen minutes to make contact.

In the dungeon, while Ron and Malfoy ranted and raved about how mad they were about Hermione, Harry was getting the feeling that someone was trying to get inside his head.

Due to being in Voldemort's castle, Harry instantly assumed the dark lord was attempting to control him again, so he began occlumency immediately.

Snape pushed further and harder with his mind, he knew Potter was resisting him, probably because he thought it was Voldemort trying to access his brain and not Snape. So, Snape decided to speak.

"For Merlin's sake, Potter, let me in! I need to talk with you!" He hissed angrily in his head.

Harry heard Snape's voice in his head, which was a pretty freaky thing to be hearing, especially inside your head, and warily let his guard down.

Ron noticed Harry's odd expression and tapped him on the shoulder. "You alright there, Harry?"

Malfoy shushed Ron, "Be quiet, I know what he's doing!" He said quietly.

Ron gave Malfoy a quizzical look.

"He's talking with someone, using his mind, I saw him and Snape last year practicing Occlumency." Malfoy explained impatiently.

Ron's mouth formed an "O" shape and he watched Harry closely.

Harry was frowning with concentration as he talked with Snape in his head.

"Where exactly are you?" Snape asked.

"In the dungeons." Harry replied.

"Yes I know that!" Snape hissed in frustration "But where in the dungeons are you?"

"Hang on" replied Harry "I'll ask."

Harry opened his eyes and looked at Ron and Malfoy, who were watching him with interest.

"Snape wants to know where in the dungeons we are, like what cell. Anyone know?" Harry asked.

Ron shrugged, whereas Malfoy got up and went to the door of the cell and peered through the bars in the door, putting his head as far out as he could and managed to get stick his head through the bars, giving him a clear view of the dungeon.

"Tell him we are in the 12th cell from the door to the Dungeons." Malfoy told Harry.

Harry closed his eyes again

"We're in the 12th cell from the door to the dungeons." He told Snape.

There was silence for a minute or so.

"Professor, can you hear me?" Harry asked, wondering why Snape hadn't said anything.

"Yes yes!" came the irritated reply "Just give me a minute to think."

"OH NO!!!" Malfoy wailed.

Ron started flapping his arms and going between Malfoy and Harry.

Harry looked up and saw Malfoy still standing at the door, his hands holding the bars.

"Who's coming?" he asked.

"No-one!" Malfoy replied angrily. "My head's stuck!"

"Who's coming?" Snape asked urgently. Even though Harry hadn't said "Who's coming" in his head, Snape still heard him.

"It's ok, Professor, Malfoy's just gotten his head stuck in the bars in the door." Harry replied.

"How the hell did he manage that?!" Snape asked impatiently.

"He stuck his head out there to count how many cells there were until ours, so you would know where we are." Harry told him.

By now, Ron was holding onto Malfoy's shoulders and had one foot against the door and was pulling for all he was worth to get Malfoy unstuck.

Harry got up and went to Malfoy. "Ron, you pull as hard as you can when I say." He instructed. Then, Harry took Malfoy's ears and tucked them so that they were between his head and the bars and told Ron to pull.

It took a good few minutes of pulling before Malfoy gave a yell as he came loose. The sudden give sent them all flying backwards onto the floor.

"What is going on there!!!" Snape demanded.

"We just got Malfoy unstuck, sir!" Harry replied.

Malfoy sat on the floor rubbing his ears and head. His ears were a bright red colour and he had marks from the bars on either side of his face.

"Okay, listen up, Potter!" Snape snapped "Now that I know where you are, I'm going to try and get you out of there, if you think of anything, you know how to contact me."

"Okay Professor!" Harry said.

"This is Snape, Over and out!" Snape deadpanned.

Harry laughed. Snape was gone.

"What's happening?" Ron asked worriedly.

"Snape's going to try and get us out of here." Harry told them.

"Alright there Malfoy?" Ron asked the disgruntled boy.

"I suppose I should be grateful that my ears are still attached." Malfoy muttered.

"So, when do you suppose he'll be coming?" Ron asked.

"It'll take him time to come up with a plan as well as to execute said plan, it'll take a few hours at least." Malfoy said.

"Then I suggest we get some sleep." Harry suggested.

Ron nodded and went to the pile of straw in the corner and began spreading it on the floor.
Malfoy and Harry seeing his idea, went and helped.

Before long, they had made a large deep pile mattress on the ground and settled down on it and tried to get to sleep.

A/N: Phew! That took ages to do! I need to go have a cup of tea, my brain hurts! Please R&R!!!!!!!!