Oh my God! There's two dead people here!

For Merlin's sake, Hermione, get a grip! It was either you or him!

I know, but he didn't have to get killed! Putting him unconscious would have done it too!

I think you have to thank Neville. He was the one to choose. He was the one who killed him. He was the one who saved you now.

I know, but…

You're alive! That's what counts! Imagine if you died - you'd never see Harry again!

Dismissing these thoughts for the sheer horror they represented, she got up and took a look at Neville. He shook from head to toe, but still had his wand pointed towards Draco. "It's okay, Neville. I think he's pretty much dead" she said, still bewildered.

Neville finally let himself loosen up and sat heavily on the ground, his mouth still agape. "I… I killed him" he said, his lips trembling, making it hard to understand what he was saying. "I killed him."

Hermione sat beside him, feeling a bit more relieved. "No, Neville, you didn't kill him."

Neville looked at her, his shock suddenly replaced with a mix of fear and confusion. "I didn't? I-I didn't kill him?"

For the first time that day, Hermione smiled. "No, Neville. You saved me."

Neville seemed to consider her words carefully and it took him some time to react, but he finally let out something Hermione took as a smile.

"Thank you, Neville. Thank you very much" she said truthfully. "You truly have the Gryffindor spirit."

Neville relaxed a little bit and started to breathe at a slower rate.

Suddenly, Hermione remembered that she still had a task to accomplish. With a jolt she jumped to her feet, startling Neville. "Come, Neville. Let's get to Hogsmeade. We're not safe in here. There's still a battle being fought outside."

They strode down to the secret passageway and got in.

"How did you find me?" asked Neville after a few minutes walk along the passsage.

"I had the Marauder's Map and I saw that Malfoy and Crabbe were up to no good with you."

"How do you know this passage?"

"Harry told me about it. Sometimes Harry, Ron and I used it for… well, for many things. Anyway, the Map would have shown it. By the way, this reminds me. What were you doing over there with those two?"

Neville seemed to think before he said anything. "I was caught in the crossfire between an auror and a Death Eater. The auror won, but he didn't seem to notice I was there, hiding behind a column. He went away and I tried to go after him to ask him where I could hide. Unfortunately, Malfoy and Crabbe saw me and came running after me. Malfoy is much quicker than I am so he grabbed me and took me up there, where he knew no one would interrupt them. By the looks of it he was happy about this battle and was very confident that You-Know-Who would win. He had already tortured some students, probably because they confronted him. He didn't stop babbling about the bright future that expected him once the Dark Lord rose once again to power… And then you came." He paused for a moment "Pretty stupid of me. I was caught because I was a coward." He added, angry at himself.

"No, Neville, you weren't a coward. It took a lot of courage to take down Malfoy like you did, specially after what happened. I am very proud of you, and don't you forget it."

Once at Hogsmeade, Hermione and Neville found themselves in a ghost town. No one was in sight and the only noise was the ocasional blast coming from Hogwarts. Colourful sparks were visible from a good distance. If she didn't know better, she'd say there was some kind of a fireworks show going on that night.

Both stopped to wonder the terribly amazing sight of the blasts against the dark horizon, but suddenly they heard a noise coming from a house twenty feet to the left. Alarmed, they turned around, their wands ready for anything. Hermione signaled Neville – who was trembling with fear once more – to follow her. They moved closer to the house, ducking from windows and looking around for any sign of an intruder.

Both got to the house as quietly as possible. Reaching close to the door, Hermione whispered "Alohomora". The door opened slightly and without a sound. For a few moments Hermione didn't move a single inch and just stood listening.

Nothing seemed to move, for the house was as silent as a tomb. However, Hermione was sure the noise came from there, and so decided to adventure herself in. Pretty reckless thing to do, Hermione! Why don't you just go up to Voldemort himself and try to reason him! Who knows, maybe he'll listen to you! Please, don't go in there! You're walking into a trap!

Ignoring the bolts of reason her brain furiously tapped into her conscience, she quietly entered the wooden house. The students were there, she knew it. What other reason could there be for a noise in an otherwise deserted town?

"Lumos" whispered Hermione. Great. First you walk into a trap, then you create light. What next! Might as well just get up and yell to everyone that you're here!

"Er… Hermione?" winced Neville, who was right behind her, trembling "Are you sure of this?"

Even Neville knows it's a mistake! "Come on, Neville. Can't be worse than the Department of Mysteries."

"Well… we were six at the time. Now it's just you and me."

"The Death Eaters are all at Hogwarts, probably getting beaten by Dumbledore and the others. Be positive" she said in a low murmur, trying to convince herself as well.

Before she could even get a good look of what was around her, she felt something tuck her in the head. "Ouch! Neville, be carefull!" she whispered. Just then she felt another thing hitting her right on the shoulder, and it was a harder blow. Neville was hit by something too and was rubbing his left arm. In an instant she reckoned they were being attacked.

But attacked by who? And who would attack them by throwing objects in their direction?

Rolling to the side and urging Neville to do the same, she hid behind a six feet tall clock. "Nox." The light from her wand disappeared, and now they were completely engulfed by darkness at one of the ends of a twenty feet long corridor.

From a distance of probably ten feet she heard the faintest of whispers and then some footsteps. Feeling confident that whoever it was she was facing was coming in her direction, she tapped some courage and stepped out of the protection of the clock. Neville gasped.

"Impedimenta!" she heard, and saw a bolt coming towards her. Managing to dodge the spell, she yelled "Stupefy!" pointing her wand to the other end of the corridor, and jumped back to her previous position behind the clock.

A flash of red light lit the narrow space momentarily before hitting a large black shadow, which fell to the floor with a deaf thump. Instantly she heard someone – a girl – scream "Chris!"

Hermione dared to take a peak at what was going on and managed to see the outline of someone kneeling next to a body on the floor, dragging him to one of the rooms along the corridor.

"Is he dead?" she heard someone else whisper.

"No" answered another one. "He's only stunned. Ennervate."

"Who are they, Hermione?" asked Neville, nervously.

"Don't know, but I guess they're not Death Eaters. They wouldn't be throwing objects or just trying to disarm us in a fight." She paused for a second. "Maybe they're the students I left behind." Slowly she crawled into open space, but was soon racing back towards Neville and the relative safety of the clock after a dozen attempts to stun her barely missed the target.

Hermione paused a few seconds, listening to the muffled noises coming from across the corridor. Suddenly a big thump was heard and the clock began rocking dangerously from one side to the other.

"Not like that!" she heard someone whisper angrily. "Here, let me do it. Reducto!"

Both Hermione and Neville flinched as the spell opened up a crater in the wall just inches from the clock.

"Idiot! You can't even hit the clock! Give me that!" she heard, and didn't need to listen anymore to realize what their next target was.

She threw herself down and dragged Neville along, as the clock was blown into thousands of shards of wood and metal, but before she could get up already they were surrounded by black shadows aiming at them with their wands.

"Expelliarmus!" one yelled, and both Hermione and Neville's wands flew out of reach.

"Lumos" said another, and a magical beam of light hit Hermione right in the eyes, making her flinch and momentarily blind.

"Galloping gargoyles! They're from Hogwarts!" screamed the first one.

Hermione heard them all sigh with relief.

"Hi, I'm Chris. Chris Munster" said a boy, arguably the same age as Hermione's, as he stretched his arm towards her and helped her get up on her feet.

"Er… Nice to meet you… Chris" was Hermione's response.

"You're that girl that got us out from Hogwarts, right?" said a high-pitched voice coming from a little girl Hermione recognized as being a first year Hufflepuff..

"Yes" said Hermione. "Sorry for all this…" She turned back to Chris "Were you the one I stunned?"

He laughed. "Yes, that was me. Pretty reckless thing to do, just walk up to someone you're facing, eh? I guess I thought you were that girl we left back at Hogwarts, but after you stunned me we all thought that you could be a Death Eater after all."

Hermione laughed, and saw that Neville was smiling as well. "I wasn't very prudent too."

"So, who's winning?" asked the little girl.

"I'm afraid I don't know" answered Hermione truthfully. "The only thing I do know is that we're safer here."

"Yeah, that's what the man told us" answered another student from Gryffindor.

"What man?" she said, frowning.

"The man who told us to get in here. He said we were safer inside. I believe his name was Nicholas."

"Nicholas?"

"Yeah, Nicholas Malfoy."

Hermione froze as the sound of the word Malfoy reached her. For a few seconds there was just silence. She exchanged concerned looks with Neville and saw that he too knew what it meant.

"Where is he?" she snapped, turning to the other students.

"Across the street, over there" said Chris, pointing out to the window where a wooden hut was barely recognizable.

Hermione thought for a few moments. "People, we've got to run out of here."

The students looked at her as if she had suddenly gone mental. "Run?" asked a Slytherin student, shyly, "Why? We're safe here, aren't we?"

"Don't you see? It's a trap!" she said, starting to feel her heart in her throat. She stepped forward but the students barricaded her. She tried to push past them, but they held her firm. "What are you doing? Let me pass!" Suddenly she noticed all of them were looking pale and their gaze wasn't focused, like they were looking at something beyond her. They under were under the Imperius curse.

"They won't let you pass, until I tell them to" came the reply from the far end of the corridor, a dark blur against the walls. He moved forward and reached them. Hermione tried to retrieve her wand from her cloak but then she remembered she didn't get her wand back. "Brilliant thing, a child's mind. Even more beatiful, if you add some more children to the mix." He inhaled deeply and let out a long breath, looking like someone smelling fresh bread in the morning. "Would you like a taste?"

The students, still under the curse, created a hole in the barricade just with enough space for the man to pass. He reached his own wand and touched his forehead with it, creating a bright silver spot. Neville ran for the door behind them but, much to his disdain, found it magically locked. Hermione didn't dare move but cursed her luck. The man's wand tried to reach her forehead, but she dodged it. She was starting to pace backwards but four students grabbed her and didn't let go. Neville had been held too. She tried to shake them, but their grip was firm and didn't let her move an inch. The man's wand finally touched her forehead, creating a silver link between their heads.

Instantly she started seeing images flowing around her. It was as if she was in another dimension, watching the lives of many people go by. She recognized their fears, took peaks at their happiest moments and tasted their emotions. Suddenly it vanished, as quickly as it came. She felt dizzy and noticed that she was kneeling to the ground, gasping for breath.

The man let out an evil laugh. "Too much for you?" he asked. "Too bad you don't like it… I think it's great for an appetizer."

"Who are you?" she asked, although she was afraid she'd already know the answer. She got up but still felt dizzy.

"Oh, how rude of me" the man said with forged politeness. "I am Nicholas Malfoy, although some people call me by the name of Patrick Moonruck. And yes, Draco Malfoy was my nephew." He seemed to stop short at this, but then just shrugged. "I didn't like the bastard, anyway."

Hermione stared at him, mouth agape, unable to think properly. Who is this man, really?

"I believe the answer to your question is quite simple. I secretely work for Dumbledore. Yes, I know, you have never seen me before and Dumbledore's never spoken of me, but that's what it's all about isn't it? Secret job. Well, even if it weren't secret I think we wouldn't have met either way. I've never been to Hogwarts before."

"Never?" And how does he seem to know what I'm thinking!

"No. I studied at Durmstrang. And to answer yet another unverbalized question I'm a very powerful mind controller. Only the Dark Lord and Dumbledore can deny me access to their minds."

"Why are you doing this?"

Nicholas Malfoy – or Patrick Moonruck – scratched his chin for a few seconds, frowning. "I guess I was seduced by the powers of the Dark Lord… Besides, Dumbledore doesn't pay that much for my services. I'm tired of the old git."

"What do you want from me?"

"I'm afraid I can't be quite sure, Miss Granger." he said calmly, a devilish smirk imprinted on his face. "Let's just say we're using you as a bait."

"How do you know my name?" she asked. Suddenly the dizziness disappeared, making way for absolute panic.

"Even though Dumbledore never speaks of his students to me, I believe everyone in the UK must know you."

"How?"

"I thought you to be a very intelligent girl" he said, looking slightly surprised. "Perhaps you're not as smart as –"

"You didn't answer my question" she interrupted.

The man gave her a blood-freezing glare. "Why, your pictures on the Daily Prophet, of course."

Hermione's brains worked furiously to remember what she had done in the past to deserve a spot on the Daily Prophet. Then it all dawned on her. "The Tri-Wizard Tournament… Harry…" she whispered.

"Ah, yes… It seems Mr Potter developed quite a few strong feelings for you."

Hermione snapped back to reality in a split second. "What do you mean?" She felt herself blush and her heart pumped furiously.

"You still don't understand? You're leading him to us, that's what it means."

"What!"

"The Dark Lord knows a great many things. One of them is Harry's greatest weaknesses. His loved ones. And I believe this time we won't fail."

"How can you be so sure?"

"We have our ways to make it happen…" said the man with an evil laugh, turning back. He strolled forward to the the far end of the corridor and disappeared in the darkness.

Hermione felt herself sink. It would be over. Reckoning Harry would risk his life for his friends without second a second thought, she knew he would come for her rescue if he knew she was being held by a Death Eater. Probably they'd lead him to Lord Voldemort himself and make sure he'd die. The thought of being the bait for Harry's trap made her feel terrible. She wished she could throw herself from a rooftop and die if that, somehow, helped Harry and kept him in the safe hands of Dumbledore.

She could only pray for him.

A tear dropped from her cheek and she realized she was starting to cry. A stream of tears soon erupted from her eyes as she imagined Harry getting killed because of her. Images of her loved one laying dead at the hands of the devil in person sent a bolt of something between being helpless and desperate.

The sounds of Neville struggling with the students awakened her from her transe. Like Neville she had been taken to a large room, presumably within the house. She had been tied to a chair without a fight but Neville wouldn't make his imprisonment an easy task. The students were still under the Imperius curse and they had no idea of what they were doing.

Finally Neville had quit fighting. He looked exhausted as one student tied a rope as tighlty as he could to his body, making him wimper.

The students exited the room after verifying that they were indeed well tied up.

Hermione closed her eyes and repressed her feelings of despair. I have to warn Harry…She couldn't imagine how she could help him now, but she knew she had to try.