A/N: Hallo! I have also come back with a new chapter for this fic! Aren't you all proud of me? I am! (grins like an idiot)
Hermione heard the dialogue between Draco, Blaise, and Wormtail. She thought they were kind of hypocritical, seeing as how they were trying to help her escape the house, but she wasn't complaining. Anything to get me out of this situation.
Suddenly, the room felt a lot colder, then she heard the voice of Voldemort. "How right you are, Malfoy. How right you are." Hermione nearly passed out. He's here! Oh, shit! What do I do? What will Draco and Blaise do? Oh, shit shit SHIT!
Hermione was about ready to tear her hair out. Finally, Draco spoke. "My Lord, please." He bent down and kissed the hem of Voldemort's robes.
"Please what? All I want to know is what's going on here. Who would like to explain?"
Hermione saw through his brave face. She knew he was terrified, yet he spoke up first. "My Lord, Wormtail here was about to do something unforgivable to the Mudblood Auror we captured. We wanted to turn her over to you." He bowed deeply, along with Blaise. Hermione was a little irritated that he had called her that again, but she also understood why he did. It wouldn't do to blow his cover, after all.
"And just what was that, Wormtail?"
Draco was sweating under his hood. He was sure everyone else in the room must be able to smell his fear. He had just lied through his teeth to the Dark Lord and wasn't dead yet. What's going on? He looked to Blaise, whose eyes looked just as puzzled as Draco felt. They turned to look at Wormtail. He was actually shaking now. "Well, speak up, Wormtail. What were you planning on doing to our favorite little Mudblood?"
Wormtail's eyes were rolling back in his head now. "Nothing, Master, nothing, I swear! I would never do anything unless it was on your instruction, you know I am faithful to you. My Lord, please, I wasn't planning on doing anything with her! I was merely - "
"Liar," Voldemort breathed. "I know when I'm being lied to. You two," he snarled, pointing at Draco and Blaise, "I will deal with later. You, however," he said, turning back to Wormtail, "seem to need another lesson about fidelity. Crucio!" he shouted. Wormtail shrieked and thrashed around on the floor. "M-m-m-my L-l-lord AAHHH! I di-di-did-didn't - "
"SILENCE! I have heard enough out of you. You will leave here and return to my father's house. I will deal more in-depth with you later. Get out of my sight," he shouted over the sound of Wormtail's screaming. He lifted his wand and Wormtail immediately stood up and Disapparated. Voldemort turned his gaze on the two Stunned Death Eaters. "What say you? What happened here? Be quick about it."
"My Lord, I do not know! We were merely attempting to apprehend the Mudbloood and we were Stunned without any warning! Please show mercy, my Lord," the man cried, kneeling on the floor at Voldemort's feet and kissing his hem. Voldemort kicked at him.
"Get out of my sight. I have nothing to say to you right now." The two men scuttled away in a hurry. He turned and looked at Draco and Blaise. "Well, Malfoy, Zabini, what are you doing here?"
"We were searching for those Muggle lovers, my Lord, and saw Wormtail bending over and didn't know what he was doing, so we each shot a Stunner, but missed and hit the other two."
"Right. Well, whose idea was it to sneak in here when your orders were to fight the Ministry?"
Draco swallowed. He didn't know what to say.
Blaise suddenly spoke up. "We saw some members of the Ministry come inside and we came to see what they were up to." It sounded like a really stupid reason to Draco, but hell, who knew what would go over with Voldemort?
The two waited with baited breath. Finally, Voldemort replied, "All right, then. Who did you find?"
"Well, my Lord, no one, until we saw Wormtail with the other two bent over the fireplace. We assumed they saw someone, then we heard what Wormtail said, and we thought you might like to question her before anyone did anything to her."
Damn, he's a good liar. Draco was busy looking at a spot on the floor near Voldemort's feet when he felt, more than saw, movement coming from behind him. He glanced towards his feet, where he felt a slight pinch, but saw nothing. Then he felt it again. It was a slight twitch of his cloak. A crazy idea entered his head. Is it her? He didn't want to bring any attention to it, so he stayed still and kept his mind blank. He knew the Dark Lord was very, very good at Legilimency and didn't want to screw things up for what he was pretty sure was Hermione's escape plan.
He struggled to bring his attention back to Voldemort, who was speaking again. "Well, then. Let's get on with this, shall we?" He smiled evilly and pointed at the floor where he knew Hermione had been. "Ennervate." There was no movement.
"Well, well. She's escaped, then, has she? Let's go find her."
Oh, dear Merlin, he knows. Hermione was terrified. It's going to be close. Hermione was terrified.
While he had been lecturing the Death Eaters about their responsibilities or whatever he was going on about, Hermione had felt the Stunner wear off. As quietly as she could, she rolled away from Voldemort and crawled towards Draco. She tweaked his cloak and saw him look down to investigate. She did it again, and felt him stiffen slightly beside her. She knew he knew who it was and what was going on. Satisfied with that, she started to walk softly across the threadbare carpet towards the ktchen. Thank Merlin I know which floorboards are squeaky. Hermione was about two steps from the kitchen tile when she heard Voldemort give instructions to find her.
She looked around quickly. She could try to make it across the kitchen to the door, but there was rubble scattered all around and would give here whereabouts away almost immediately. There was a little space under the table, but that wouldn't really do any good; the table was pretty much out in the open, and she'd have to move a few chairs to get underneath. The her eyes set upon the hidden room's entrance. Hermione didn't think it was very wise to to back to the small room with no visible exit, but she was running out of options. She turned her head quickly and measure the distance between the group around the fireplace and herself, then the distance to the hidden room. It's my best shot.
She crept over to the hole in the wall and fell to her knees. She scampered over the few bits of wood and debris still on the floor and crawled as quickly and quietly as she could until she could stand up, then ran into the room. Now what? The only way I can get out of here is if I vanish into thin air. She stared at the wall for a minute, then smacked her hand against her forehead. She felt so stupid. DUH!
A memory came back to her at that moment. It was from first year, when Harry, Ron, and she had fallen onto the Devil's Snare. She had needed to start a fire, but couldn't because she didn't 'have any wood'. Ron had replied, "Are you a witch or not?"
With a small grin at that, she Disapparated out of the Burrow.
XXXXX
Ginny cracked one eye open. Where am I? What's going on? Her head was pounding, and she ached all over. The sterile white light of St. Mungo's made her wince. She closed her eye and tried to think. The last thing she could remember was... Hermione threatening to tell everyone what she did with Harry back at school. Everything that had happened flashed back into her head at that moment. She grimaced at the pounding in her head. Suddenly, one thought jumped in front of all the others, demanding attention. Her hands slid down over her abdomen, trying to determine if she and her baby were all right.
"Ginny? Ginny! Oh, dear, are you all right? How are you feeling? What happened? Oh, Gin, why didn't you tell me? I was so worried! I can't believe it! Gin? Are you awake? Are you feeling well? Ginny, say something! Please!"
Ginny turned her head in the direction of her mother's voice and smiled weakly. "I'll tell you on one condition."
"What's that, dear?"
"Dim the lights, will you? I have a splitting headache."
"Of course, right away." As Molly said it, Ginny could see through her eyelids that everything was a bit darker. She gingerly opened her eyes a little and squinted up at her mother.
"Thanks, mum. Now, which question do you want answered first?"
"Did you know you were... expecting?"
Ginny smiled innocently. "Expecting what?" she asked.
Molly flushed a little. "Expecting... an addition to the family?"
"Yes, actually." Her smile broadened a little, then her face tightened with anxiety. "Is it... is everything...?"
"Yes, the baby is just fine. A little overexcited, but just fine."
Ginny sighed in relief. "Oh, thank Merlin. I don't know what I would do if something had happened."
"Why didn't you tell me, young lady?"
"Welllll... it's kind of complicated."
"No, it's not. You say, 'Mum, I'm expecting a baby.' It's not that hard."
"Erm, well, that's not the all of it, is all."
Molly was getting a little exasperated. "What? Don't you know who the father is?"
"Mum! What do you think I am, a-a-a... a scarlet woman?" Ginny was flushing a brilliant shade of tomato.
"Well, I was hoping not, but I've assumed too many things in my time and been wrong, so I thought I'd ask."
"Well, no, that's not it. I know who the father is," she sniffed, slightly offended.
"And does he know?"
"Not yet. I was going to have dinner with him tonight and tell him."
"Do you expect he'll be helping with things, then?"
"He'd better if he knows what's good for him."
Molly smiled a bit at that. "Good, good. Will he be making an honest woman out of you, then?"
Ginny squirmed a bit uncomfortably. "Well, see, that's where the problem is."
"Problem? I don't see a problem with marrying the mother of his child. Why would there be a problem with that?"
"What was that, Ginny?"
"..." I wish I didn't have to tell her this all by myself. She's going to burst. Ginny mumbled something to her mother.
Molly laughed, but it sounded forced. "Ginny, you'll have to speak up. It sounded like you said he's already married."
Ginny looked up. "I did." Molly's face turned red, then drained of all color. Her mouth dropped open. Before she could say anything, her daughter added, "To me." She reached under her hospital gown and pulled out a white gold rope chain. "We couldn't afford rings, so he bought me a necklace."
"You mean... but... you're already... GINERVA WEASLEY, ARE YOU TELLING ME YOU'RE ALREADY MARRIED?"
"Um, yes?"
"AND WHY AM I JUST NOW FINDING THIS OUT? HOW LONG AGO DID THIS HAPPEN? AND WHO IN BLOODY HELL IS IT? I WANT SOME ANSWERS NOW, YOUNG LADY!"
Ginny sighed. "I didn't tell you because I thought you'd react this way." Molly tried to jump in and say more, but Ginny held up her hand. "It's been a few months, and you might know the man. He's working for the Order."
Molly looked on the verge of exploding. Her face was very red, and her chest was heaving up and down quite rapidly. She sat back in her chair with her hand over her eyes for a few minutes. Ginny didn't say anything. Finally, Molly sat up and looked Ginny in the eye.
"It isn't Draco Malfoy, is it?" Ginny squeaked and shook her head 'no'. Molly sighed in relief. "Good, because I don't think Mi would appreciate that."
