Author's Note: Okay since I'm in a particularly good mood, I shall write. (Normally, I have writers block and am discouraged by the few reviews I get, but whatever.) Don't forget to review!

runaway mental patient: You're absolutely right. I'll add an explanation to that later. After all, muggles and wizards/witches have fireplaces, although the muggles only use them for fire, not traveling.

forbiddenlight: Aw, thanks. You're so great. People like you make me want to write more. –hug-

Jaina Solo Potter, DudettRin101, gilmoregirl450: Thank you bunches for your support! I appreciate it.

Chapter Three: Locked Up

Hermione smiled as she lay in her bed at home. She had a pain in her hip where she had been lying on a hard spot, but she still snuggled against her pillow. All of a sudden, she realized what had happened. And without opening her eyes, felt around. The touch was cold, and it felt like concrete. Her eyes flew open and she realized that this wasn't her bed. Looking around, she saw that they were in an average-sized concrete room. There was nothing in it. Except, why was she leaning on something softer than concrete. With a small scream, she leaped up. In her attempt to move away, she fell over.

Draco Malfoy sleepily opened his eyes and looked at her, dazed for a moment. Then his eyes grew wide and he swiftly stood up. He smoothed out his rumpled clothes. "So where'd the pillow go?" His voice still sounded sleepy and slurred, as though he were drunk. He was still trying to wake up. "Th-that wasn't a pillow." Hermione felt her cheeks grow steaming hot and found herself staring at the floor. "Um, I thought you were a pillow too…" Embarrassed, she moved out of the way of his stare and examined the nearest wall.

She suddenly grew angry. She was angry at the Malfoys. The people who caught her. Everyone in the world infuriated her. "You were the one that brought me here, weren't you?" She abruptly pointed an accusing finger at him. "No way!" Draco was now wide awake. "I was the one that tried to bloody save your muggleborn arse." It was true. Hermione sighed and sat. She leaned against the wall and closed her eyes. After a while of silence, she stared straight at him. "You said muggleborn." She commented, almost surprised. He blinked at her. "Wha--? Oh." He shrugged and stuck his hands in his pockets. "I guess."

There was a different air in their surroundings than before. It felt rather pleasant, despite their circumstances. She smiled and began to relax a bit when someone slammed open an almost invisible door that she hadn't noticed earlier. "I see you two are awake." Said an all too familiar voice. Hermione instantly rose at the sound of it. "Do I know you?" The cloaked person stood in the doorway and she tried to peer inside his hood to see his face. "Who are you?" She demanded loudly.

"Hermione. I'm shocked! You can't remember me, Harry, one of your best friends?" He took down his hood. A large grin was on his face and he was just as she had remembered him. Just a bit dirtier. "Harry!" She threw her arms around his neck and almost strangled him. "Oh, I'm so glad to see you! I thought you were dead!" Draco eyed him warily, a frown upon his face. "But you were killed." He stated as though it were the most obvious thing in the world. "Then how could I be here, Malfoy?" Harry laughed.

Hermione looked questioningly at Harry, completely ignoring Draco. "Of course you're here, Harry!" She beamed cheerfully. But somewhere inside of her, she felt that his laugh was different. And he seemed a bit odd, too. But she was too delighted to think much about it. Tucking these thoughts in the back of her mind, she continued grinning like a fool. "So, Harry. How did you escape? Everyone thinks you're dead!" Harry looked startled. "Well, uh. Um. I don't want to talk about it Gran-Hermione." He gave her an encouraging smile. Draco was still leaning against the wall, suspicious of him. Voldemort had claimed that he was victorious and that he saw Harry die with his own eyes. The Lord wasn't dense. He knew when someone was dead or not.

"So." She gazed up at Harry with shining eyes. "Can we get out of here, please?" He nodded and replied, "Why not?" He took her hand and started to leave. "Wait." Draco interrupted. "As much as I hate to interrupt such a nice reunion, Granger belongs to me. She is my property and I bought her with 300,000 galleons." He sneered and clutched her other arm. "You can't own someone." Harry answered calmly. Hermione watched the two argue for quite some time and she grew bored. She'd lost them at the 'someone'. Harry seemed to be winning, so she didn't get into it. Having two boys fight for her was actually new to her. Even if they weren't fighting for the reasons she would have wanted.

While they were quarreling, she was looking up at each of them when they talked, for they were both taller than her. Harry was skinnier and taller than Draco, but Draco had a fierce glare that intimidated many. "Hey!" Hermione disrupted their fight and pointed at Harry's forehead. "Where'd your scar go?" She squinted and saw that his forehead was just as normal as anyone else's. "I have no scar." He whispered in her ear and with an unexpected pull, Hermione was out of Draco's grasp and he was on the floor. Harry dragged her away, down what seemed to be pure black darkness. When she looked back, she saw that Draco had gotten up and was dashing towards them. "Granger!" She heard him shout in the distance.

"Where are you taking me, Harry?" She whined and pried his fingers open. This resulted in him tightening his grip even more. "Oh, I'm not Harry." He let out a cruel laugh that pierced the darkness and echoed in all directions. In moments, she found herself being tossed into a dark room and locked up inside. "Don't worry." He heard the imposter say. "I'll take care of your little friend. Malfoy, was it?" He snickered again and she heard his quick footsteps as she ran somewhere else. Her ear was pressed to the door as she tried to find out what was happening. After what seemed like forever, she heard distant voices. The sounds of yells reached her ears and she strained to hear them. Then, there was a thud and following that was silence.

She leaned against the door for a long time and then slid down slowly, tears coming to her eyes. All she could hear was her quiet weeping and she buried her face in her arms. "Draco." She murmured softly, mourning at the loss of something she could recognize. Even though he had been terrible to her, she thought that he was okay. After all, he did try to help her… And he was the only person she could really care for now that Harry was dead and Ron was somewhere far, far away. She continued sobbing until she heard a small thump.

Her head sprang up and she looked about the darkness. There was no telling what was in here, or how close they were. She didn't even know how big the room was. Or if it was even a room. All she knew was that she was leaning on the door. Slowly, she stood up and shouted a weak, "Who's there?" An eerie feeling crept throughout her body like an insect and she quivered uncontrollably. "Wh-who's there?" She asked again, and stepped forward, keeping her hand on the door so that she knew where it was.

There was no answer. Not even another thump. "WHO'S THERE?" She screamed at the top of her lungs. A hand clapped over her mouth all of a sudden and she tried to yell more, but the hand muffled her cries of help. She felt herself being held by the waist with one hand and the other still on her mouth. "Shush!" A rough voice told her. She could feel the warmth of a body behind her, and was immediately afraid. Without thinking, she bit the hand on her mouth, feeling the bitter taste of blood and sweat. "Ow! What'd you do that for, Hermione?" The man wailed. "Ron?" She recognized his whining. "Ron is that you?" She groped at the darkness until she felt someone's shirt. "Yes, it's me." He said. "Did that phony Harry trick you, too?" He held her hand. She could tell that he was grinning madly although it was too dark to see for sure. "Yes." Remembering this trick, she pulled away from him. "How do I know that it's really you?" She questioned almost coldly.

"Ask me questions if you'd like. I'll no doubt get them all right." He responded calmly and waited. "Alright, then." Hermione agreed. "That sounds reasonable. Now, first question: What are you most afraid of?" Without hesitation, he replied correctly. "Spiders." She nodded, pleased. Maybe it really was him. "Next one: Name three things we encountered during out first year when we were trying to retrieve the philosopher's (AKA sorcerer's) stone with Harry." "Fluffy the giant three-headed black dog, devil's snare, and giant wizard's chess." He said quickly.

"What language did we learn that Harry spoke in second year?"

"Parseltongue, the snake language."

"Who is Harry's godfather and what animal could he turn into?"

"Sirius Black and a black dog."

"Good." Hermione beamed. "It really is you, Ron!" She hugged him tightly, not wanting to let go. "Don't choke me to death, Hermione! We still have to get out of here." He sounded serious, but laughed seconds later. "Oh will mum and dad be surprised when I tell them of what I've been through." They laughed some more. "What did you go through?" Hermione asked him curiously. "I don't want to talk about it." Ron's voice grew bitter. "That's what Harry, I mean the fake one, said to me when I asked how he had survived." There was a hint of suspicion in her tone. "You've got to believe me Hermione. I'll tell you later, after I've understood what this is all about." He hugged her gently. "I promise. I promise with my life that I'm the real Ron. I just hope you believe me. Now how did you say you ended up here?" Glad to change the subject, she told him about reading the newspaper, being captured, being bought by Malfoy, the dirty bathroom, and then ending up here. She skipped the parts where she was stood on a platform almost completely naked in front of hundreds of people and the part when she woke up on top of Draco. "Wow. All that and it'd only been yesterday when you were caught."