Hermione and the others fell to the ground with a thump; they had arrived at their destination. They got up, groaning and dusting themselves off. Hermione stood up to get a good look at where they were. It looked like a castle. It was dark, somewhat dirty, and had stone floors and walls. Everyone else was looking around, too. Ron came over.

"Are you all right?" he asked

"Yeah, of course." She said, chuckling slightly, "Where are we, anyway?"

"I don't know," said Ron, "Dumbledore won't tell me. He doesn't think it would be safe. He just said that it was somewhere that I'd been before. Damn Dumbledore, and his riddles."

Hermione laughed, still very curious as to where they were. Ron looked around at the people still recovering from their trip.

"I'd better go help." He said, running his hand through his hair. He gave Hermione a reassuring smile and walked away. He began helping people up, and making sure they were alright. Hermione, however, headed towards Dumbledore. When she found him, he was going through his list again, making check marks next to people's names one last time. He looked up and saw Hermione.

"Ahh, Hermione. Another name to check off," He said, and he made another mark next to Hermione's name.

"Can I ask you a question, Professor?" she asked quietly. Dumbledore chuckled.

"Hermione, you have already graduated, there is no need for you to call me 'Professor'," he looked back down to the paper, "It makes me sound so… old. Call me Albus"

Hermione sighed, "Fine then. Can I ask you a question, Albus?"

Dumbledore nodded, but did not say anything.

"Where are we, anyway?" she asked, looking around at the walls and ceiling with curiosity.

"My dear, I am afraid that I cannot tell you that." Replied Dumbledore, still looking at the parchment, and occasionally looking up to double check that someone had made it.

"Can't you give me any clues? Or anything!" asked Hermione.

"I shall give you one clue, but other than that you are on your own." Said Dumbledore, looking at her, "But I know what a clever one you are, so I am sure you will figure it out.

"Just don't tell anyone else once you get it." He whispered, "We are in a place that you have been in before."

Hermione sighed, throwing her hands in the air, "That's what you told Ron! That doesn't help me any!"

"Then I see it was a mistake to give Mr. Weasley a clue to where we are, even though I should have guessed that he would tell you." He laughed, "I'm sure you'll figure it out."

Hermione sighed, frustrated and walked away. Dumbledore watched her walk away, chuckled, and turned back to the parchment.

Hermione sat down on the dirty floor, with her back against the wall. She had her hand to her chin; she was thinking. She spoke aloud, but to herself.

"It's a place that I've been before. Well I've been in plenty of places before. He never said if it was a Wizarding place, anyway. But he also said that Ron had been here, and Ron wouldn't go to a muggle place." She said aloud.

"Why wouldn't I go to a muggle place?" said a voice.

Hermione looked up to see Ron looking at her with a confused look on his face. Hermoine laughed, "It's nothing against you, it's the truth. You grew up in a wizard family, you wouldn't just randomly go to a muggle area."

Ron sat down next to her, "What are you trying to do anyway?"

"I'm trying to figure out where we are, using the one clue that Pro- I mean, Albus gave me." She replied, still deep in thought.

Ron nodded, "You are never going to figure it out you know," he said finally, "I know that you were Head Girl and that you graduated first in our class, but really, this is Dumbledore we're dealing with. He's not going to just give you the answer."

"He said that I could probably figure it out." Said Hermione, folding her arms. Ron laughed and patted her arm.

"I'm sure you will, Hermione." He said, with a touch of sarcasm. Hermione rolled her eyes as Ron pushed himself up off the wall and walked away. Hermione continued muttering to herself, thinking. She finally sighed and gave up for now, but she continued sitting against the wall. Albus finished checking off his list, stood up and cleared his throat.

"Alright, alright, We've all made it here fine, so we're going to settle down now. You all remember your numbers, I presume?" several people nodded, and Dumbledore continued, "Okay then, good. I would like numbers 1 through 22 to go to my right," he gestured to a doorway on his right, "and I would like numbers 23 through 51 to go to my left."

People began to stand up and gather their belongings. Hermione stood up, clutching her bag, and walked to Dumbledore's right, through the doorway. They finally reached the end of a hallway and entered into a small room. Along the wall were doors, and above each door were numbers. Hermione followed along the wall until she found the door with her number.

"Hmm, numbers 14, 15, 16, and 17," she said aloud, to no one specifically, "Well that's me. I'm number 14."
She picked up her bag once again, and entered the door. She immediatley saw two sets of bunkbeds, one against each wall. The next thing she saw was a woman with long green hair, sitting on the top bunk on her left. The woman wiggled her fingers at her and smiled. Hermione looked at her for a moment before yelling,
"Tonks!"

Nymphadora Tonks leapt down from the bunk to embrace Hermione. She was laughing as they hugged.
"I'm glad to see you, too, Hermione." Tonks said, "But I think . I think you are suffocating me."
"Oops, sorry," said Hermione, letting go of Tonks, "What are you doing here anyway? Shouldn't you be out with the other Aurors?"

"Yeah, I should," replied Tonks, "I'm only staying here for a little while."

"Oh, well I'm glad you're here. Do you know who else is in here?" asked Hermione

"No, I don't. They'll probably be here soon though." Tonks said. She was now filing her nails, which were long and lime green, to match her hair, "Hurry up and take the bunk below me, before some stinky old man comes and takes it."

Hermione laughed, but said, "That's not very nice Tonks, what if that 'stinky old man' turns out to be Dumbledore?"

"Dumbledore?" asked Tonks, "Yeah right, Dumbledore probably has his own castle to stay in, let alone a tiny old room with bunk beds."

Hermione nodded in agreement and sat her stuff down on the bottom bunk. She pulled open the drawstrings and began to pull out some of her belongings. She paused when came across a picture in a frame. It was a picture of Harry, smiling. It was a moving photo, and every now and then, Harry would look off to his right to look at someone, presumably, Hermione. He looked very dashing in this picture and Hermione remember begging him to let her keep it. There was a sharp intake of breath and it took Hermione a moment to realize it was her own. She began to sob uncontrollably and clutched the picture to her chest. Tonks hopped down from the top bunk again.

"Whatsa matter?" she asked. Hermione didn't answer, but continued sobbing and holding the picture. She was shaking very hard. Tonks, unsure of what to do, gently took the picture away from Hermione, and looked at it. Her expression changed from confusion to sympathy. She sat down on the bunk next to Hermione.

"Oh Hermione." she said, hugging her, "It'll be okay."

"H-h-how can y-you say that?" said Hermione through her sobs, "I d- don't even know if h-h-he's alive!"

Tonks looked like she was fighting an inner battle. She bit her lip and took a deep breath.

"Listen, Hermione.." said Tonks, slowly, "There's something that I found out. a few days ago. Dumbledore told me not to tell you, but I think I have to."

Hermione looked up at Tonks, with fear in her eyes, still sobbing.

"Hermione..." began Tonks, "They think they know where Harry is."

Hermione immediately stopped sobbing, "Well.. Well, where is he? Is he alive? How come no one has gotten him yet? Why didn't anyone tell me this! When can we go find him? Right now! Let's go right now."

Tonks grabbed her arm, and with the most serious face Hermione had ever seen her use, she said, " Hermione. Our intelligence tells us that Harry is under guard."

Hermione still looked confused, "Well what's the problem? Why don't we just go in and defeat the guard. We do have magic, or have you forgotten?"

"Hermione, we think he's under guard, and we think that V-Voldemort is his guard. We have no way to get in there to confirm this information, or even to rescue him."

Hermione's bottom lip began to quiver, but she kept herself from crying long enough to ask, "Well, where is he being held?"

"We think that he's being held in Hogwarts." Replied Tonks.

Hermione nodded, before breaking into sobs again, and Hermione just sat there, hugging Tonks.