Hermione herself had never apparated before, she was an underage wizard! It would be against the law to do such a thing. The feeling she got from this short experience however, suddenly made her very glad she had not ever attempted it. It was like being under water. Everything was blurry and hazy and her head felt like it was about to burst.

Despite the fact she was being kidnapped, Hermione's first thought was whether or not this person knew how to apparate properly. She had heard horror stories from Mr. Weasley about people who had tried to apparate and been splinched. All at once, her ears stopped ringing and in one swift motion, she felt herself falling and landing painfully on a carpet bellow.

After her vision had focused, she was able to take in her surroundings. She jumped back in surprise when she saw movement on the carpet on which she was laying. Once the initial shock had passed, she looked down at the carpet cautiously. The movement had been a snake. Not a real one, but a picture of one. It must have been weaved into the intricate, threadbare carpet and magicked (Hermione supposed) to slither around the elaborate M which had also been weaved calligraphy style onto the carpet.

Transfixed, she made to touch the serpent when a hand suddenly gripped her arm and pulled her to her feet. Twisting with a great amount of effort, she was able to extract herself from the man's grip and fell unceremoniously to the floor once again. From beneath his black hood, the met let out a virulent laugh and began to remove the mask that covered his face, and then paused.

"Well, Granger, it has been fun, but I think stunning you is in the best interest of both of us," the man said. "You see, it's not just for my safety, but for yours too. You could hurt yourself with all that flailing."

"Since when have you had anyone's best interest at heart, Malfoy," Hermione said harshly, pushing back her hair to see properly, "especially mine?"

"You do make a good point," Draco said, pulling his mask back and letting the hood fall to his shoulders. "I suppose this would be much more fun if you were coherent enough to feel the agony I am sure to cause you."

"I don't doubt you have something terrible planned," Hermione replied, keeping eye contact as she rose to her feet and took one step back from him. "But before you start, I need you to answer a question."

"As long as it doesn't involve, "will you save me please Draco", then go on," he smirked.

"Were there any other Death Eaters with you when you came to my house?" she asked quickly, praying that there had not been.

He kept her in suspense for a moment and then asked, "Why does it matter?"

"Was there any one else there to hurt my parents?" she said, a bit more loudly as panic began to settle in her mind.

"I don't believe I can divulge such…" Draco began but was caught off guard when Hermione rushed at him smacked him across the face, in quite the same manner she had in third year. It had become a second nature when she was around him. When he made her this mad, she had the urge to strike him clear across his pale, bony face. Not to her surprise, he did not take the sudden slap well. Grabbing her just bellow the shoulders, he pushed her into the nearest wall and came so close to her face their noses nearly touched.

"You would think someone in you situation would watch their steps a little more closely… and they call you a bright witch," he spat out sarcastically.

"It wasn't as dumb as you make it seem," Hermione replied rather confidently, though rather a bit shaken after being slammed into the wall. "You see, I figured, since I am most likely going to be killed anyway, I may as well die knowing the last thing I did was give Draco Malfoy exactly what he deserved."

"Really, you were thinking that way?" Draco said, a demure sneer crossing his features. "Maybe what you should have thought was if you were a bit nicer to me, I may not have had to kill you. Could have right well kept you as my servant."

"I think I'd rather take death, if you don't mind," she replied, nose crinkling in disgust.

"Now, don't get such an ugly look on your face," he said, backing up and fixing his grip on her arm. "I have someone here who has literally been dying to meet you…."

A/N: Well there is another revised chapter. Very different from the other but I think much better written. Now for those who are just beginning to read the story now, it won't make very much sense from this point on. I ask everyone to please be patient and I am shooting for one revision a day now. The whole story should be finished by the end of the month (hopefully) as I will be on vacation and have plenty of time to write. I know many of my original readers have given up on this story, but thank you for those who are still reading and reviewing. It makes the writing worthwhile to know people are still reading. Thank you all so much. Update will be here soon!