"In My Life"

Chapter 9

Disclaimer: I own nothing but the plot.

Hermione was trapped in her cell for thirteen days, occasionally given food by a servant she did not recognize. She had often asked this servant how long they planned to keep her there, or what time it was, as she had no watch of her own. To these questions the servant said nothing, only bringing her food and fresh clothes of Mrs. Malfoy's when the ones she was wearing got dirty and worn out. She didn't spend much time doing anything in particular, more just thinking, or fiddling with her wand. Though she knew she had remembered some spells while she was in her hotel room, she couldn't for the life of her remember what they were. In any case, she didn't see what the use would be in escaping if the Malfoys could merely catch her again and put her in a cell with higher security.

During her thirteenth day of imprisonment, Hermione once again spent her time thinking over everything that had happened to her in her mind. Her thoughts kept wandering back to Draco, whether or not he had really planned her capture, whether Lucius had made everything up to make her feel alone…. She couldn't decide. However, towards the end of that day, so much thinking about Draco had convinced her that he had been tricking her the entire time. Tricked her into being alone in her hotel room that night, tricked her into believing he had changed since Hogwarts…. And why hadn't he told her when he discovered her true identity? Why would he have let her lie to him? What trustworthy person let their girlfriend go on with a lie if they knew the truth?

By the time she was thinking of terrible ways to plot revenge on Draco, she had completely lost track of everything else. Hermione sighed and slowly reached out and picked up her wand, examining it carefully. She heard the sound of someone walking on the floor above her. She thought about how long she could possibly have been there. Was that the rest of the cast above her? Could it possibly be the evening of the tenth? She heard laughter upstairs. 'I have to warn them!' She thought suddenly, standing up quickly. She took one last glance at her wand before walking over to the door. 'Now, how does that spell go…?' she stood there, trying as best she could to remember….

"Alamado," she mumbled. "No, er… alohana?" She cursed to herself as she tried several different nonsense words to no avail. 'Why can't I remember?!' she asked herself angrily. "Wait! Alo-…Alom-, no…Alohomora!" Hermione almost yelled in excitement as the door before her swung open.

Hermione quickly left the small cell-like room in which she had been confined and closed the door behind her. She ran down the narrow corridor, guessing the direction of the stairs.

Five minutes later, above her, a servant ran up to Lucius Malfoy and whispered some interesting news in his ear.

"What?!" exclaimed Lucius, loudly enough to arouse attention from the surrounding guests. Lucius smiled at the people now looking at him curiously. "Excuse me for one moment." He told them politely, leaving the room to enter his office down the hallway.

"What do you mean, Nicole Madison has escaped?" He asked his servant furiously. "That door was sealed magically!"

The servant looked apologetic. "She must have broken through the lock! Ms. Madison is no longer there. She could be anywhere in the manor by now."

Lucius scowled. "Tell every employee. If anyone should see Ms. Madison, they are to notify me immediately. Do you understand?" The servant nodded. "I'm going the dungeons to have a look at that lock." As soon as Lucius was preparing to leave, another servant rushed into the office panting.

"Pardon me, sir, but your son has just arrived."

Draco had spent the last few hours lying on his bed in his apartment, trying to read, but more thinking about what he had said to Hermione and how it must have sounded to her. Though he had spent much time trying to think of other ways he could have told her about the plan, he didn't see how it could sound any better than it had. Sighing, Draco lazily got out of bed and headed to the window. It was late evening now, and the sun had set, leaving the sky a twilight blue. Draco began to wonder how much time he had wasted thinking about something he could not change, and looked at his alarm clock. It read 7:35.

Draco then began to wonder how long it had been since Hermione had spoken to him. He had tried for over a week now to continue on with his life; to convince himself that their relationship was over, but he had decided to think about her today. His calendar told him that it had been thirteen days since that morning in Hermione's hotel room. Thirteen days seemed like a long time ago….

'If today is the tenth,' Draco thought to himself, 'Then tonight is the opening night of the film!' Draco realized with a jolt. 'Wait… opening night?! The party!' Draco suddenly grabbed his coat and keys and disappeared with a small POP! to Hermione's hotel room.

A split second later, Draco found himself in Hermione's very neat room. He searched quickly around the small space for any sign of Hermione, but she was nowhere in sight. Draco hoped against hope that she hadn't gone to Malfoy Manor thinking she could warn everyone. However, as Draco double-checked the room, he saw no sign of Hermione. In fact, it looked as though Hermione hadn't been there in ages. Draco looked suspiciously from the dust covering her chest of drawers and desk to the hook on the back of the door, on which hung her jacket. When he looked down, Draco realized that absolutely everything in the room was the same as when he had last been there. Everything, even Hermione's shoes, which sat by the door to the bathroom. 'What the hell is Hermione doing wandering around without her shoes or coat, in the middle of November?' Draco thought, pacing nervously around the small space. Draco could only think of one reason why Hermione was not here and, by the looks of things, hadn't been for days… and that one reason had to do with Lucius Malfoy. Without further hesitation, Draco disappeared once again with a small POP!

Hermione raced around the dungeons of Malfoy Manor. They were enormous, and Hermione kept getting the strange feeling that she was going in circles. After a while, she paused for breath, unsure of which way to go: forward, left, or right. 'This place is a maze!' She thought to herself, frustrated. Hermione recalled that Draco had once mentioned the south door of his manor back at school. She wondered if that could possibly mean that there was a stairwell somewhere to the South. Hermione decided it was worth a try when she remembered that she had no idea which direction South was. Frustrated, she whispered, to no one in particular, "Please, something give me a sign! Any indication of South! Just point me in the right direction!" To Hermione's amazement, her wand left her hand of its own will and pointed down the hallway to her right. Awestruck, Hermione thought for a moment and realized what had happened. "Point me! Of course!" She thought to her self incredulously as she grabbed her wand and hurried down the corridor to her left.

After jogging down the same corridor for a few minutes, Hermione looked up and saw a stairwell leading up to the main floor. She could hear voices floating down from the party up above. 'Excellent.' She thought smugly.

Draco stormed through the front door of what had been his home for almost his entire life. Though not a particularly cozy place, the manor brought back many memories for Draco, and he paused for a second before storming over to one of his family's servants, who greeted him warmly.

"Master Malfoy, sir. I didn't know you could make it this evening."

Draco smiled briefly at the servant before saying, "Gerard, can you please get my father? I have to ask him something."

Gerard's smile faltered for an instant and returned. "Why don't you come in, Master Malfoy? Your father is currently with the guests."

Draco stepped closer to Gerard, his expression determined. "No, Gerard. My father will come here and speak to me. Please part him from his beloved guests and bring him here. It will only be a moment."

Gerard hesitated, but eventually left the front hall to go get Lucius while Draco paced back and forth, hearing the cast and other guests laughing from another room. It was several minutes before Gerard returned with Draco's father, who was grinning broadly, but whose eyes remained as cold as ever. Anger suddenly boiled up inside Draco.

"Father, what the hell have you done with He- …Nicole?" Draco asked coldly, narrowing his eyes at Lucius.

Lucius continued to smile. "She's fine. She is undoubtedly among the other guests as we speak."

Draco was surprised. "Among the other guests? What in god's name do you mean? Where is she?"

Lucius didn't answer any of Draco's questions, but continued to speak. "Draco, I have something to show you." He nodded at Gerard and another servant who had accompanied him into the room. At once, the two servants each grabbed one of Draco's arms and began to forcefully push him in the direction Lucius was now walking. Draco was caught off guard, but did not react or speak as the whole lot of them descended the flight of stairs to the dungeons; he only glared.

Eventually they reached the cell where Hermione had been held prisoner. Draco stood back and watched as Lucius examined the door and the cell within carefully. "I don't quite understand, Draco. You see, there was a magical lock on this door, and I don't see how Ms. Madison could have escaped…." Lucius said more to himself than to Draco, who was still being held by the servants. After a while, Lucius pulled his wand slowly from his pocket and muttered something under his breath. The lock clicked back and forth once, before whispering eerily "Alohomora."

Draco's eyes widened in shock as the strange voice came seemingly from the lock itself. The voice sounded vaguely familiar to Draco, but very distant, as if it were a memory of someone whispering, or a ghost. Lucius swallowed, and then looked coldly back at Draco.

"Well, Draco," Lucius said calmly, though his anger was evident on his features. "I suspect that you are not sharing all you know. Do you think that wise?" Lucius was slowly stepping closer to Draco. His voice was becoming softer, while at the same time more menacing. "Draco, does Miss Madison know about the magical world?" Lucius clenched his fists in rage, glaring ever more harshly at Draco. "Well?" he whispered when he was only a foot from his son. "Is she a witch?"

A slow smile stretched across Draco's face.