A/N: Ok, ok – most of you don't like cliff hangers:) On that note, I will try not to do it again, although it is hard when your chapter finishes then! If it does happen again I will just try to update quicker.

Thanks though to everyone who has reviewed! I see some more people are coming on board which is very nice! I appreciate all of your comments.

A/N: I do not own Harry Potter or any of the characters.

Unaware of how much time had passed, Hermione continued to follow the dark hall in the Carney Estate and the little marble mouse. She had no idea how long she had been walking, but her feet began to hurt on the cold stones. Finally, she stopped. The mouse looked up at her and pointed to continue.

"No," Hermione insisted. "My feet hurt. If I had known that was how my night was going to be spent, I would have worn different clothes." She looked down at her lovely gown. Even in the dark light, she could see that the edges had been worn and some dirt was rubbing off on the fabric. She signed. No longer thinking that Draco was anywhere down there, she turned around. "I'm going back." After a moment (she half expected the mouse to argue with her), she turned around and headed back to the door.

Meanwhile, Draco, Ginny and Blaise were conducting a very busy and frantic search. They went through the main hall, its side rooms and the kitchen (the house elves were shocked at the intrusion and ran over each other trying to help the three wizards). They went upstairs. They searched downstairs. Finally, in a fit of desperation, Draco suggested they search the gardens. "Perhaps she got lost in one of the mazes." The group walked out to the garden. Draco issued a spell and the garden lit up with tiny lights in the bushes.

"You and Ginny search the east side, I'll look in the west." Draco ordered the couple. Blaise knew that Draco did not want anyone else to get stuck in the gardens so he agreed and followed Ginny to the left side stairs. They soon disappeared into the garden paths. Draco signed and started to the right to look for Hermione there. He should have never left Hermione from his sight, he thought as he began to follow the garden paths. When he saw Hermione's mother coming towards him, he apparated to his room for about a half hour. While he did not mind talking with Mrs. Granger, Draco had already had to endure young women's flirts and older women's (boring) conversation. At that point, he just wanted to lie down and relieve his mind before the host speech.

Coming downstairs to give his speech, Draco noticed that the house was on particular guard. His ancestors took many steps to protect the Malfoy and Carney families and he knew that they were nervous about this ball. He had tried to follow the proper procedures of providing the house with biographies of each guest, but it was still on guard. Walking into the dinning hall, Draco noticed that several figures were even moving – quite openly he thought. Thankfully, no one seemed to noticed the moving figures, but were enjoying their evening. That enjoyment was further expressed to Draco during his speech and afterwards as people talk with him. Finally, as they began to leave, Draco noticed that Hermione was missing from the ball. His house was not helpful in his quest as it was too guarded to give anyone helpful information.

Draco realized that he had stopped walking in the garden. Looking around, he saw that he was at the entrance to one of the garden mazes. He walked inside, hoping to find Hermione; wondering where she could be.

Hermione was getting rather tired and annoyed at the dark passage. While she wanted to explore the Carney Estate, this was not what she had in mind. Her feet hurt and it pained her to think that her gown was being ruined. "Ginny is going to kill me when she sees the gown." She thought grimly. She wished she knew what time it was. Ginny would get worried if she didn't show up soon. "Unless her and Bliase found more in common then just a love for conversation." She laughed to herself. Finally, Hermione saw a door in the hall, to her left. It seemed odd to Hermione since the door she entered in was a the end of the passage. Are there more than one entrances to this passage? Just wanting to leave, Hermione opened the door. There was a bright flash and Hermione felt her body being pulled toward it sharply. She was barley able to gasp when she fell unconscious.

When Hermione awoke, she knew that she was not inside the estate any more. Under her was a hard, cold slab of granite. Above her, Hermione just saw the stairs, shinning very bright. She tried to move, but found that her body would not respond. "I must have been put under a stunned spell," she thought. "But why? I was trying to leave the passage. That could not have been too bad."

She found that she could lift her head and looked down at herself. Everything looked to be normal. She put her head down again, relived. She didn't want to think that one of the transforming spells of the estate had be used. That would have been particularly bad if she was taken somewhere and had her legs transformed into hoofs or something like that. She tried to move again, but a particularly bad headache hit her. "Ok, I'll just lie her for a minute." She was getting a bit cold, but it was better than the way her head was hurting.

To her right, Hermione suddenly heard a noise. "Hermione?" The bush asked. Hermione began to shake from the cold and her confusion. She didn't say anything, but laid still on the stone. The voice came closer. "Hermione? Are you here?" It sounded familiar. She became aware of a light shinning through the bush and suddenly saw the silhouette of a man. "Hermione!"

Hermione couldn't move, but just watched at the figure came closer. Finally, she saw that it was Draco. Relief spread through her body. "I am still near the estate. I have been found. Draco can help me move again." She thought. Draco came to her looking very distraught.

"Were have you been? We have been searching everywhere for you!" Draco came over to Hermione and pull her up towards him. Seeing that she could not support herself, he leaned her against him. His arm supported her around her shoulders and she could feel him shaking. She closed her eyes and relaxed against his body for a moment. Finally, she looked up into his worried eyes.

"I got lost." She admitted. She was not sure if Draco would get angry that she wandered around the estate, but figured she could not keep anything like this from Draco. "I saw a mouse figuring moving in the dinning hall and decided to follow it. He took me to this doorway underneath the main staircase and said that you were inside." Draco frowned. "Well, he implied that you were there. So, I went inside and was walking for such a long time. Finally, I told the mouse that I was going to turn back. I opened the first door I came to. I was pulled toward it and there was bright light. When I woke up, I was here." Hermione felt exhausted. "I can't move my body, Draco!"

Draco quickly put his jacket around Hermione. She melted into the warmth of the jacket and the smell of his cologne. Suddenly, she realized that she could move again. She lifted her arm in wonder, but let it drop right away. She was still exhausted.

"I don't know why I am so tired!" She confessed to Draco. "I just walked for a bit!."

Draco looked guilty. "I think my estate is to blame for that. You probably know already, but the house is very powerful and there are a series of traps to protect my family for enemies." Draco looked down at Hermione and gently brushed some loose stands of hair from her face. Hermione smiled up at him. "I am very confused as to why they took you though. You were not a threat to anyone and they know that you are a friend of mine! I am very disturbed by this."

"Draco, I'm sure the house was just very worried with all of the people around." Hermione wished that he would just be quiet and hold her. She felt so comfortable in his arms and didn't want to do anything than just be there with him.

"Yes, but I need to be sure this doesn't happen again." Draco started to raise from the bench. Hermione started to rise as well, but fell back when she felt too weak. Draco immediately swept her up in his arms.

"No- I'm ok." Hermione stammered. Draco looked down at her.

"You can barley move your arm! No, we are going back to the house so that you can get warm and a doctor can look at you. Then we will put you to bed."

"Bed?"

"Yes, I have more than enough rooms for you to stay in. I do not feel comfortable for you to leave the estate in the condition you are in. You must stay until you get better."

A/N: Ok, I have completely ran out of time so I will post this now. It is the weekend, but I will try to get my next update in by mid-next week. I hope you are enjoying it!