Chapter 40-

AN-Here it is….

Once again, he was overcome with panic as millions of reasons flew through his head, none of them good. He ran around in the darkness calling out her mane, but was greeted with no reply. Draco knew this was bad. She was drunk out of her mind and wondering around outside at two-thirty in the morning.

"Hermione…Hermione…where are you??"

Draco ran back to the head common room in search of help. When he got there, he saw that Ron had woken up. He still looked completely drunk, but Draco had nobody else. Then he got idea, he had seen his dad use a sobering spell several times…'what was it?' he thought about it for a few minutes then it came to him. HE drew his wand and pointed it at Ron. "spell!!" he said and Ron blinked several times.

"What did you just do, Malfoy?" he said.

"Shut up and listen." Draco ordered. "Hermione is missing and we need to go find her. You are the only other person awake, so you are coming."

"Hermione's gone??"

"Yes, now get your cloak and your broom. We are going to try to fly around and see if we can find her."

Ron, who had never fully trusted Draco, nodded and ran towards his room to collect his cloak and broom.

Soon, they were outside getting ready to take off. "You go that way and I will go this way." Draco said as pointed in the directions. Draco was heading towards Hogsmeade and Ron was heading to the Forbidden Forest. Ron nodded again and they both pushed off the ground.

Draco soared across the lawn searching frantically. Soon, he reached Hogsmeade and decided to land. The town was totally shut down. Being that it was a holiday and all. Then, he reached the Shrieking Shack. There was a light on in the basement. Draco immediately ran towards the deteriorating house and entered.

Hermione woke up in a room that she didn't recognize. "Where am I and what happened?' she wondered as she tried to remember what had happened the night before, but all that she could remember was stepping outside for some air and falling.

She sat up and took in her surroundings. She was laying in a huge, king size bed. It had blood red covers, black sheets, and black pillows. The curtains that were tightly drawn around the bed, were also blood red.

Hermione tried getting off of the bed, but there was something holding her down. She couldn't move anymore than sitting up. She reached for her wand, but found that it was missing from her pocket. 'This is bad.' she thought, but her thoughts were soon caught off when she heard a couple voices approaching her.

"…She is the Dark Lord's daughter!! How many times do I have to tell you??" said a evil, yet strangely familiar voice.

"Does the Dark Lord have a kid?" Grunted another male voice.

"Apparently, Moron." said the first voice in an irritated tone.

"Oh."

"Well, lets get her ready. Her groom should be here very soon." the first one said as he pulled open the curtains on the bed.

'They have to be talking about me, but what do they mean groom? And who's getting who ready?' she thought, but her thoughts were interrupted when her curtains flew open and she was faced with a man that she knew all too well. She let out a yelp of surprise, but other than that, remained silent.

"Hello, darling. We are here to help you get ready for your engagement party." said the first man, none other than Lucius Malfoy.

Hermione gulped before saying, "And who am I to be marrying?"

Malfoy laughed before saying, "My son of coarse."

"D-Draco?"

"Yes." Lucius said with a slight hiss in his voice. "You and my son will reign over the dark world. You are the sole heir of the most powerful man in the world; therefore, you must marry a man who will be powerful enough to take his place. My son will be that man."

"What if I don't want to marry Draco?" She hissed back.

"You WILL marry Draco!!!!!!!!!!!" he yelled as he raised his hand and slapped her in the face.

Hermione's eyes welled with tears, but she tried to hold them back. She didn't want to show him any form of weakness. She had to get them out of this. "I HATE YOUR SON!!!!!" she yelled back.

"That is not true. I know of you and my son's relationship. The Dark Lord knows all." he said in a lighter tone.

"Fine, but I demand a meeting with my father before this 'engagement' party takes place." she said.

"All in good time." he said before chucking a deep crimson dress at her and turning to leave. "Put it on and be ready when I get back." he called over his shoulder. Then, right when he reached the door, he turned around and said, "I must go retrieve my son. He will be looking for you, no doubt."

With that, he swept out of the room and closed the door. 'Oh no, Draco….'

Draco pulled the door to the Shrieking Shack open and slowly stepped inside. He pointed his wand in front of him and tired to find a trace of something that might lead him to Hermione. He searched the main rooms for a few minutes before heading to the basement.

When he was in the basement, he continued to look around, but there was no sign that anyone was there or has been there for several long years. Finally, giving up on the Shrieking Shack, he headed back upstairs. 'Maybe Weasley found her.' he thought, hopefully, but he knew that that was just wishful thinking. 'Voldemort has to have her. I have to go to my house and find her.'

With that, he ran upstairs, mounted his broom, and started flying towards where Ron was supposed to be looking. When he finally found him he asked if he had had any luck, but Ron said no. "Then I have to go to my house and find her." Draco said.

"You can't. You-Know-Who is there."

"It doesn't matter. I know that he's got her and I have to save her. You stay here and tell Dumbledore what happened. I am going to go now before it's too late."

Before Ron could say no, Draco had taken off and was on his way to Malfoy Manner. 'Please be okay.' he kept thinking over and over.

Ron flew back to the school and ran as fast as he could to Dumbledore's office. "Lemon Drops!!" he yelled and the gargoyle sprang to life and a staircase appeared behind it. Ron ran up the stairs and began pounding on the door to Dumbledore's office.

After about thirty seconds, the door swung open and Ron heard him say "Enter."

Ron began telling Dumbledore of that nights events immediately. When he was finished, Dumbledore sprang to his feet and grabbed Ron's arm. Ron closed his eyes for a second and when he opened them, they were standing in the middle of the head common room. Dumbledore performed some quick charms on Harry and Ginny before quickly filling them in. When he was finished he said, "I am going to go the Order's Headquarters. I want you guys to stay here. This is a job for the Order." with that, he disapparated.

"I thought you couldn't in or out of Hogwarts." said Ron automatically.

"Obviously Dumbledore can." Ginny said as she rolled her eyes.

"We can't just stay here while Hermione and Draco are out there. We are part of the Order too." Harry said. "Let's fly. I am sure that we can find Malfoy Manner. I heard it was huge. We can just fly in the direction Malfoy went."

Ron and Ginny nodded and they all got ready to go find Hermione. Soon, they were outside of the castle with their brooms in hand and their cloaks wrapped tightly around them.

"Alright, lets go." Harry said as he took off in the direction Ron pointed. Ron and Ginny mounted their brooms and followed close behind him.

'Please be okay, Hermione.' Draco thought over and over as he neared his house. He could just see it over the next hill. It was easy to find seeing as how it resembled more of a castle than a house.

When he finally reached the manner he decided to go in through the secret passage that he had built that led straight to his room. Not even his father knew about this passage. He had used it many times to escape whenever his father would come looking for him. This time was different though. Now he was sneaking in instead of sneaking out. He was trying to get to his father rather than away.

He landed about twenty feet away from the entrance to the passage and hid his broom in some bushes. He quickly crept across the lawn and just as he was about to enter, he saw three figures appear in the sky. Immediately recognized them as wizards on brooms, but he thought they were Death Eaters so he hid behind a bush and watched them land. They landed about fifty feet away from him and they were walking his way. Suddenly one of them lit his wand. Draco recognized they red hair immediately. It had to be a Weasley.

'I told him to stay where he was!!' thought Draco as he climbed out from behind the bush and started walking towards them.

The person on Ron's left stopped suddenly. Draco guessed that the movement had scared him. So, he stopped moving, put his hands in the air, and said, "It's me, Draco."

"Draco? Where are you?" Harry asked.

"Shh. I'm right in front of you. Keep walking, but hurry." he whispered.

Harry, Ron and Ginny began walking once more until they reached Draco.

"What are you doing here?" Draco asked when they were all behind the bush.

"We wanted to help Hermione too." Ron said.

"Now, how do we get in here?" Ginny said.

"You don't. This is too dangerous. You all need to go back to the castle and warn Dumbledore." Draco said as if that ended the conversation, but Ginny was a stubborn woman.

"No. We already told Dumbledore and we are going to help." Ron and Harry nodded. "Now, how do we get in without getting caught?"

"Fine, but I warned you." Draco said before gesturing for them to follow him. He led them to the entrance to the secret passage and held up a finger to his lips to silence them.

They crept along the passage for about ten minutes before they reached another door. Draco took out a key and unlocked it before motioning for them to wait. When they nodded he opened the door and climbed out of the hole. Seeing that the coast was clear, he told the others to climb out also.

"Where are we?" Ron asked as he looked around the huge room.

"My bedroom." Draco replied with a slight hint of pride in his voice.

"Cool."

"Okay, now we just need to find her." Draco said as if it was no big deal.

"What? You don't know where she is? This place is huge, we'll never find her!!"

"Patience, Weasel. I know this manner like the back of my hand. Follow me and try not to make a sound."

Ron turned red upon hearing the nickname, but decided to drop it for Hermione's sake. He, along with Harry and Ginny, followed Draco to the door…

An-'That's all Folks!! (for now anyway)' -Porky Pig-