Muttering.

It was all around him.

It was closing in. On his left, on his right, in front of him. Something was behind him, but he didn't know what.

Hermione. Ron. Kelly. Voldemort. Wormtail. Malfoy Manor! Click.

"Yeah, well, 101 ways to kill Voldemort sounds better to me."

"Agreed. Unanimous?"

"Of course!"

Harry slowly opened his eyes. Ron, Hermione, and Kelly were whispering all around him. Ron was bound in front of him, Hermione to his right, Kelly on his left.

"How will we get out of here? I mean, we will, won't we?" Hermione asked, concerned.

"Hermione, I promise you," Kelly said, "we will leave here alive."

The two made eye contact and seemed to make an unsaid agreement on the subject.

"Well, I don't know how you two can be so confident," Ron said, trying to shift from the magical ropes that bound him. "I for one am not. Wonder if Harry is…" Ron looked Harry's way. "Oh, Harry! You're awake!"

"Yeah…" Harry said, moving his neck from side to side because it ached. "And… you got your body back, Kelly?"

Kelly nodded.

"Well, what d'you think? Think we'll get out of here?" Ron asked.

Harry said nothing. He knew Kelly wasn't telling something, but what? How far would her secret get them? Could her secret help them escape? "Dunno."

Kelly leaned her head back against the post that she was bound to. She looked up at the ceiling, thinking. "You know…" she said suddenly. "I was wondering…. Ron, Hermione, what happened to your wands?"

"Voldemort took them," Hermione said, sighing. "We had almost escaped, but he was waiting for us at the door. He took our wands and led us back upstairs. Almost… fatherly. It was very uncharacteristic of him, like he was mocking being nice."

Kelly was about to speak when a loud sound interrupted her. Ron and Hermione exchanged worried glances, while Harry and Kelly could only look at each other, horrified.

"We have to get out of these bonds," Kelly said, trying to slip out of hers.

"Why?" Ron asked, as he watched Harry and Kelly struggle desperately.

"Because that sound," Harry said, throwing himself against the pole that held him, "means a troll is coming."

Pound. Pound. Pound. Pound.

Hermione took a sharp intake of breathe. "Oh god…"

"Ug… what is with these people and trolls?" Kelly said, agitated. She was now pushing with all her might to get the bonds off as the troll's footstep's neared.

"Tuh, like I know--" Harry stopped dead.

"What is it?" Hermione asked.

Harry felt again. Something sparked behind him.

"I've got them!" Harry exclaimed, his first ray of hope in his back pocket. "I've got…" He felt again. "I've got four wands in my back pocket! But… Kelly and mine… ours smashed…."

"Apparently not!" Kelly exclaimed, and she seemed more relieved than any of them. "Can you toss them to us?"

Harry grabbed one of them and tried to move. "I think… no! I can't move over far enough!"

Kelly's breathing started to shallow. "Harry, you've got to hurry and find a way because--"

There was a huge explosion from Harry's left, behind Kelly. The wands flew out of Harry's hand and the giant figure of a troll slowly came into view, though it was quickly concealed by a huge cloud of smoke and debris.

"NEVER MIND!" Kelly yelled over the rush of debris.

Smoke was everywhere from the wall the troll had crushed. Harry couldn't even see his own feet in front of him. He felt for the wands, but couldn't feel anything. The troll's pounding, signaling its movement, erupted again, and Harry didn't move. It sounded like it was headed toward--

"KELLY! LOOK OUT! IT'S COMING RIGHT--"

The troll's club came smashing down--right where Kelly was.

"NO!" Harry screamed, thrashing wildly at his bonds that kept him from helping her. He turned, he twisted, he felt blood falling into his hands where the ropes were so tight around his wrists, but still he refused to stop.

"Harry," someone said gently behind him. "Harry, stop, and I'll help you out."

Harry didn't dare believe his ears. "K-Kelly?"

"Shh…" Kelly whispered. Harry stopped struggling, and the bonds immediately released him. He turned around, but could just barely make out her outline through the smoke.

"How--?"

Kelly held up a wand, though Harry could barely see it. "Come on," she said. "We need to free the others before--"

Pound. Pound. Pound. Pound.

"Come on!" Kelly exclaimed. She threw a wand at Harry and rushed toward where the troll sounded like it was headed: Ron. Harry followed her, but could barely keep up because of the fact that he could barely see her. She stopped suddenly as she reached him, Harry almost tripping over Ron's long feet.

Kelly tapped the ropes that bound Ron and muttered something so soft in was incoherent. The bonds bounding Ron dropped limply and Ron stood just as the troll's outline came into view--about two feet away.

Kelly thrust Ron his wand and the three rushed toward Hermione as the troll's club came crashing down. Kelly reached the pole and bent down--then gasped. Harry and Ron looked around her, and Harry had to grab Ron's mouth to stop him from screaming out loud.

The ropes that bound Hermione were broken, and Hermione herself was gone.

The smoke was clearing now, and they could vaguely see the troll wondering where Ron had gone. Harry looked around and saw a door that was open. Someone just vanished behind it, someone who looked like--

"Hermione!" Harry exclaimed and he rushed toward the door.

"Harry, what--?"

But Harry was out the door before they could finish. He looked around. Hermione vanished around another corner. He ran after her, and he could hear her footsteps quickening. Had she switched places with Voldemort and was leading him into a trap?

"Hermione!"

Hermione didn't answer. Harry turned the corner, but she was gone.

"Harry, did you see her?" Ron asked as he and Kelly caught up.

"Yeah, but she… she didn't stop," Harry said.

"Could she and Voldemort have switched?" Kelly asked.

"Maybe. She didn't answer me when I called her," Harry said, looking up and down the hallway again.

"So… what do we do?" Ron asked. "We can't just leave her!"

"No… no, we can't," Harry agreed.

"But… what if we can't find her?" Ron asked, alarmed at the very thought.

Kelly looked at him. "Well… I don't and won't like it, but… we may, well…"

"But we can't leave her!" Ron moaned.

An explosion came from behind them; the troll had burst through the wall and was looking right at them with red, cat-like eyes--Voldemort's eyes.

"Oh yes we can," Kelly said, grabbing Harry and Ron's hands and pulling them around the corner. They were sprinting to the other end, but the troll was quickly gaining. This was no longer an ordinary troll.

"You don't think," Harry wondered aloud, "that Voldemort would be… er… willing to put himself in such a sickening creature?"

"I wouldn't put it past him," Kelly breathed, sprinting forward and keeping pace with Harry, who was an extremely fast runner, though he didn't look it.

They turned a corner, and saw the stairs ahead.

"Come on, let's go, let's go!" Kelly yelled to Ron, who was lagging behind.

"I'm… trying…" Ron wheezed.

Meanwhile, the troll was gaining. It was nearly about to trample Ron.

"RON! GO FASTER!" Harry screamed as he and Kelly reached the stairs.

Ron didn't even bother to reply. He did seem to run faster, however, when he felt the troll breathing down his neck.

Ron reached the stairs and together they raced down them, the troll now deciding if it was safe to follow. It took one cautious step forward, and the stairs sank below it, trapping its foot in the wood.

They went down until they reached the edge of the stairs.

"The maze," Kelly said, already starting ahead.

"Kelly, wait," Harry started.

"I know," Kelly said. "Ambush. It would be perfect. But as far as we know, there's no other way out without getting killed. I'm not too keen on jumping."

Harry nodded and he and Ron followed her, Ron taking a tighter grip on his wand. Harry reached into his robe and pulled out a wand. Instead of his own, it was Hermione's.

He looked at the wand longingly, hoping against hope that they would find her. A crash took him back to reality, however--Kelly had demolished part of a wall and was now going through it, Ron close by, beckoning to Harry.

Harry put Hermione's wand away, took out his own, and followed them.