Disclaimer:Nope, still don't own him or his cohorts, JK Rowling has the pleasure of that.

A/N:Straight to the thank yous. MiSSxMELON - I know what you mean about Hermione's reaction. It's just I was trying to get across how much her friends and family mean to her. I figured that she would be so happy to just be back with them that she would temporarily forget about what happened. But don't worry, it will come back to haunt her. ICE is very good by the way.;-) CharmedLeoLvr - Someone after my own heart with that name. I love Leo, I think he's great. Well, here's the update, was thatsoon enough?:-) Super - I'm glad you liked the last chapter, it was a difficult one to write. I always struggle to put emotions, and actions with it, on paper. GeekGoddess1 - Thank you for your wonderful review. A friend of mine said exactly the same thing about Lucius when I started writing this story. As to his wand, I have a plan for that. maile - I'm glad you liked the humour. I fought hard with myself as to whether I should put it in or not. As you can see, myself won. Angelzeus a.k.a Miss Faloola - It's about bloody time you reviewed, after all the sneaky previews I've given you. Don't you dare plot, I have plans for this story so you can hold you horses on hurting me if I stop. Huggles for a muggle, Missy Moo. Padfoot's-Luvr - Thank you for the review, reviews always cheer me up.

Hope you like this one. This is another one I struggled to write. I also ask for forgiveness in advance if you see any appalling grammar or spelling mistakes, I was too lazy, again, to checkit over.Enjoy.

Chapter Twelve

Hermione was jolted from her sleep by screams. She blinked hard to make the dark room come into focus. She turned to her right, where the screams were coming from, and found Harry clutching his head. Pain etched all over his face.

She was out of the bed in a flash. Other figures were climbing out of bed. Harry, Ron, Tonks and Lupin had stayed in the hospital wing with her. Madam Pomfrey hadn't been happy about this arrangement but she could see her patient needed the company.

Hermione took hold of Harry's left hand, which he gripped with all his might. Ignoring the pain in her hand, she bent down to talk in his ear.

"Harry, can you hear me?" The rest were now round the bed, watching in horror. Ron had seen this happen before but it still didn't get any easier seeing his friend in such distress. Tonks and Lupin had never seen it happen and felt completely useless as they watched Harry thrashing his legs in pain.

"He's punishing someone." His voice echoed around the hospital wing. He couldn't tolerate the pain, his head was on fire. He could hear the screams of a man. "He knows you're gone."

'Lucius,' Hermione thought, 'He's punishing Lucius.' Her stomach lurched in fear of what was happening to Lucius. Her eyes widened in shock, she was actually caring that he was being hurt, even after everything he had done. She shook her head slightly, pushing her thoughts to the back of her mind and concentrated on Harry. She squeezed his hand tightly.

"Harry, listen to me," He screamed as another burst of pain swept through his head from his scar. Madam Pomfrey came running into the hospital wing. "Are you listening?" Harry finally managed to nod, his eyes were tight shut. "He's not here. Don't let him control you like this. You're here with me, Ron, Remus, Tonks and Madam Pomfrey. You're in Hogwarts and he won't come here." 'Come on, Harry.' She urged silently.

"He won't stop." He wailed. Tears were coming through his closed eyelids. He felt sick and was verging on unconsciousness. Madam Pomfrey stepped forward but Lupin stopped her.

"There's nothing we can do, Poppy, except to have a good potion for his headache when it's all over."

"But shouldn't we get Albus. Surely he would be able to stop this." She urged. She had never been unable to treat a patient and she disliked it very much.

"You're right, Albus should know about this. Would you call him, Poppy?" Tonks asked, getting more upset by the second. She nodded and raced back down the wing.

"You need to stop concentrating on him and what he's doing." Hermione scolded in Harry's ear. "If I can fight him off when he was in my mind then you most certainly can." Ron finally picked up on Hermione's plan. He remembered when he had had toothache when he was little and his mum had told him to play a game and it would go away. She had been right, he had stopped thinking about it and it was gone, that was what Hermione was trying to do for Harry. He took Harry's right hand and bent down to his other ear.

"She's right you know, she always is and you don't want to argue with her. You've seen what her temper is like." Sadly this joke was lost in the seriousness of the situation. "Harry, listen to us. You need to block him out."

"Come on, Harry. Take control." She urged.

"What she said." Ron added.

"I'm......trying....h-he's......too angry." He said through deep breaths. He could hear him throwing curse after curse. The rage was too much to handle, he had only felt like this once. He had wanted to kill Lestrange for taking away Sirius but he didn't have the power, and he wasn't a killer. The pain suddenly intensified greatly to a point that Harry hadn't thought would be possible. It was never-ending. 'Please stop.' He pleaded within himself.

Dumbledore was now coming down the hospital wing with Madam Pomfrey behind him.

"How long has it been happening?" He asked as he reached the bed.

"He's been like this for almost ten minutes, maybe longer." Tonks was verging on hysterics as she told him. Why couldn't she help? This was horrible.

Dumbledore took the place of Ron and looked down thoughtfully at Harry.

'Tom, stop this.' Dumbledore pushed into Harry's mind. Harry screamed; Voldemort's anger had just doubled.

'Let me go. Let me go. Let me go.' Harry thought over and over again. He heard a cruel laugh as the man screamed louder. Everything went black for Harry; he didn't feel the burning pain in his scar leave him.

"Poppy, we'll need your best potions please. You know which ones." Dumbledore instructed. Finally, she could help him. The headmaster watch Hermione stand up straight, still holding on to his hand, stroking his hair back. "How are you feeling, Miss Granger?"

"A lot better than Harry at this moment." She didn't even look at him when she spoke, she just watched her friend. How many lives was Voldemort going to ruin?

"Nymphadora, have you calmed yet?" She nodded, ignoring the use of her first name. "I understand that you may have been distressed at seeing this for the first time, but I can assure you that Mr Potter has a strength that I have yet to even see in a fully grown wizard." Hermione smiled at the remark. No matter what, Harry always got through the toughest situations. The toughest had been losing Sirius, but he did it.

Madam Pomfrey came back with two potions; a soothing potion to wash away all his aches and pains and a dreamless potion for after he had spoken with Dumbledore. Ron went to sit back on his bed, not sure what to do now. Lupin watched Hermione, admiring the strength that she was showing. The way Ron and she had tried to help their best friend through the pain; it reminded him of his schooldays. James and Sirius should be here.

"Harry," Hermione gently shook him, "Harry, wake up." His head felt like it had been hit with a thousand bludgers at full speed. His body felt like every bone had been broken. Madam Pomfrey was already pouring the potion into his mouth before he could open his eyes. He felt it wash away the pain instantly. Hermione handed him his glasses as he sat up.

"What happened, Harry?" Dumbledore asked, getting straight to the point.

"He knows Hermione has escaped." She felt that lurch again, hoping Lucius was still alive. No one saw the sadness flicker across her eyes. "He's still angry, I can feel it still. His Death Eater was really paying the price for letting Hermione get away." Harry could still hear the screams, they were bloodcurdling and painful. But who was it he was punishing? If only he could see the face then he could be punished for taking his best friend. Dumbledore didn't push for any more.

"It's best you all get some sleep now. We have a long day tomorrow." He informed them with his usual little chuckle; it was as though someone had told only him a joke.

"How you feeling, Harry?" Ron asked from his bed as he lay down.

"Goodnight and feel free to fight the bedbugs." Dumbledore said to them as he swept out of the hospital wing. Hermione giggled as she climbed back into bed. It was then that she noticed Lupin only had pyjama bottoms on and nothing else. Thankfully no one saw her blush. 'Get a grip, Hermione.' She mentally scolded herself.

"I'm fine now thanks to that potion." Harry told Ron. "I honestly thought the pain was going to kill this time. It gets worse each time." Hermione could definitely understand what Harry meant now.

"We'll get him someday." Ron said defiantly; his fighting spirit lighting up in his eyes. "He'll pay for taking Hermione." She smiled at Ron over Harry, who was now fighting off Madam Pomfrey's fussing. It was almost like she had taken lessons off Mrs Weasley. Lupin made sure that Tonks was fine before getting into his own bed. She had been shaken up from what she had just witnessed. So much so that Lupin wasn't sure who he should have tried to help, Harry or her.

"Take the potion, Potter." The medi-witch growled dangerously.

"But I'm fine honestly. I'll get to sleep by myself." He fought back. Hermione sunk down on to the pillow as she watched the argument with Ron watching on the other side of Harry, trying to stop himself from laughing. She gave up.

"Suit yourself." She huffed as she stormed off. The candles went out as she closed the door behind her. Hermione watched Harry in silence as he lay down.

"Hermione?" Ron whispered.

"What?" She whispered back.

"Who was you-know-who punishing?"

"I can't say." She wasn't ready to tell the whole story yet. She would tell them everything, even about the kisses she had shared with Lucius, but it wasn't going to be in the near future.

"Why not?" Harry asked in a whisper.

"Please let me just tell you when I'm ready?" After a few moments of silence Ron finally spoke up.

"How did you escape?"

"Ron, I will tell you all of this when we don't have to whisper." Harry could be heard laughing under his blankets. "What's funny?"

"Nothing." He whispered after he finally had the fit under control. "I just missed you so much."

"Me too." Ron added quickly.

"And we love you more than anything else in the world." Harry continued.

"In the universe." Ron was getting carried away.

"I love you both. I don't what I would have done if we had never become friends." She had tears of happiness in her eyes. Just twenty-four hours ago, she had been at Lucius Malfoy's mansion; another kidnapped victim of Voldemort. She would never have believed this is where she would have been had she thought that far into the future.

"Will you three go to sleep?" Lupin whispered, "You have all tomorrow to talk."

"Sorry." Three voices replied. Hermione lay there wide awake, listening to the different types of breathing from her friends. Her thoughts had worked their way back to Lucius. She hated herself for caring even this much about it him, he didn't deserve it.

Lucius woke up just as it was starting to get light outside. He found himself under the window in the dining room. He could hear the rain beating against the window and the wind whistling through the tiny gap at the bottom. His body was screaming at him not to move.

He slowly but surely forced his body to stand. He was leaning heavily on the windowsill, preparing himself for the arduous task of walking. He went to take a step forward, however his leg had other plans, it was staying put. He tried again and this time stumbled across the small gap between the wall and the dining table, and only just catching his balance with a chair.

How could he have been so foolish and let her escape like that? He had deserved everything he gotten off the Dark Lord. He leant on the back of the chair trying to breath through the pain. His muscles felt like there were on fire. He started walking along the table towards the doors, using each chair as a leaning post.

He only got to the third chair along the, now what seemed to be, mile long table. Damn Narcissa and her need to host dinner parties for people who were beneath him. Well she was gone now so this table could go too.

He spent ten minutes trying to pull the chair out so that he could sit in it. He caught his reflection in the shiny mahogany as he lowered himself on to the chair. He was one big mess. He hadn't realised it, but his left eye was almost swollen shut and a shiny purple. He dried blood running from his nose and bottom lip. His hair was messily coming loose from its black ribbon. His clothes were ripped here and there, and if he wasn't mistaken, he could see dark patches on the black material that used to be his shirt. He gingerly lifted it up and looked down. There were cuts and bruises all over his body. It looked like someone had taken up tap dancing on it.

He growled as he put the material back down. The pain was getting more unbearable by the minute. Well he had to admire the mudblood for her silly braveness. She had taken beatings like that for the better part of her time here and she had never asked for something for the pain. She had just lived through it. He frowned at himself, why was he even thinking about her? She was not his problem anymore.

"Nolly." He croaked. The house-elf appeared with a crack. Before the little being was able to bow, Lucius was already giving him orders to get him potions.

After he had been tended to by his house-elf Lucius got a long, hot shower. He felt like he was trying to wash his thoughts away as well as the dried blood. His mind refused to have its attention on something that wasn't Hermione Granger.

'She's just a mudblood. Everything you felt wasn't real. She's not good enough for you.' He kept thinking it over and over again. It didn't help as another voice kept shouting back, only louder. 'She's not Nerissa. She kissed you back, that has to mean something.' Lucius was shaking his head as he got out of the shower and dried himself. What was going on with him? Just yesterday he had been ready to let her die without a second thought about it.

He slowly got dressed, his ribs were not happy about being moved about like that. They had been the only broken bones in his body and he left them broken as a reminder to his foolishness. It didn't stop him wishing that he could still see Hermione.

He stormed into his study as best he could without flinching from the pain, and sat down at his desk, snatching the paper up. A picture of Hermione was waving up at him, his heart pulled at him. He read the article:

Missing Girl Found

It was with delight that Albus Dumbledore, Headmaster of Hogwarts,

informed the Ministry of Magic that Hermione Granger had been found in Hogsmeade. A reliable source from the Ministry told us the following:

'Miss Granger is safe and well. We have yet to find out where she has been

but we fear this may have been the work of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named.

She will be questioned when she is ready.' The Headmaster refused –

Story continued on page ten.

It was then that he realised something. His mansion wasn't swarming with aurors. She hadn't told them. Surely she couldn't have waited to have told Potter what had happened to her?

"I've been told the mudblood escaped." A cold voice stated behind him. "I can't believe I'm the portrait of a fool, and did you see what she did to me?"

"At this moment, it is not a concern for me." He replied coolly, staring at her picture. The painting stomped out of the frame in annoyance.

Should he leave the country or should he stay and wait to see if she says anything? He went to grab his wand from its rightful place on the desk; it was gone. How could he have forgotten? She had taken it, after all that was how she escaped. If only he had resisted that damn urge to kiss her, then none of this would have happened. He had made a decision to put a stop to it just minutes before it all went wrong for him.

He needed to see her. Then it hit him, he felt like all the wind had been knocked out of his lungs. How could this have happened? Why her? She was dirt to him. That was it; he was going to see her, even if it meant going back to Azkaban. She had something that belonged to him and he wanted it back.