Disclaimer: It all belongs to J. K. Rowling
Chapter 10
Letters and Searches
Malfoy Manor, 11:00 am
Draco waited at the top of the stairs until the death eaters left. After that, he slipped outside and came back in as if he had just gotten home. He strolled into the kitchen where his mother was instructing Nikki to make lunch. "Hey mum, where's the Prophet?"
"On the table."
"Since when did you become so interested news Draco?" asked his father.
Draco shrugged, "Just nothing else to do." He grabbed the paper and hurried out of the room. Once upstairs, he opened the paper and found a grinning picture of Hermione staring up at him. He scanned the article and skipped the description until he finally spotted where it said, If you have any information please contact Albus Dumbledore at Bridgeford Castle in Scotland.
Dumbledore! That was it! All Draco had to do was send a letter to Dumbledore. Draco hurried to his room and found a piece of paper.
Dumbledore-
I found Hermione. She is here at Malfoy Manor. There are also some other Prisoners here from the Order of the Phoenix. Hermione is not with them she is safe and hidden. I don't know how long I can hide her please come as soon as possible.
-Draco Malfoy
He left the letter on his desk and went back downstairs. "Where is Henry?" he asked his mother when he saw the empty owl cage.
"Your father had to use him," she answered, "Why?"
"Oh, just wondering." He replied and went back up the stairs. He went back to the secret room where Hermione was looking at another book about Hogwarts. She looked up at him and smiled.
"The pictures move in this one." She told him in awe. He leaned over and saw a picture of a feast in the great hall, there were hundreds of kids talking, laughing and eating.
"Judging by the floating pumpkins I'd say it was the Halloween feast." He explained.
"Do they really float?" Hermione asked. Draco looked up and was surprised to find how close his face was to hers but neither moved away.
"Yes."
"How?" she whispered.
"Enchantments." He replied.
"And-" she didn't get to finish her sentence. It was impossible with Draco's lips pressed to hers.
"Draco?" he pulled away from Hermione at the sound of his father's voice coming from his room. He put his finger to her lip, signaling her to be quiet. He moved silently to his closet and pressed his ear to the door. He heard his father's footsteps in the room. Finally he heard them leave and fade down the hallway. Draco sighed and went back to Hermione.
"I need to go, my fathers looking for me," before turning to leave he leaned in and gave her another kiss on the lips. He found his father in his study. "Maury said you were looking for me." He said.
"Yes, your mother told me you were looking for the owl," Lucius answered, "was there a particular reason why?"
"Uhh…no." he was not able to think of a good excuse.
"Well he's back now." He said, "Go, I have stuff to do." Draco nodded and slipped out of the room and back upstairs. The first thing her realized when he reached his room was that the letter to Dumbledore that was on his desk was missing.
Father must have taken it. Draco thought, I have to get Hermione out of here. He went to the room in the back of the closet. "We need to get out of here." He told Hermione.
"Why? What's wrong?" she asked in alarm.
"It's my father," Draco explained, "He-" before he could finish the door swung open and Lucius came in.
"Finally Miss Granger," he said pointing his wand at her, "I thought you would never arrive. You must come with me know." He knew that she wouldn't just come willingly so he cursed her to try and make her, "Crucio!" he shouted. Suddenly Hermione remembered the danger of that curse.
Flashback
Moody raised his wand again, pointed it at the spider and muttered, "Crucio!"
At once the spider's legs bent in upon its body; it rolled over and began to twitch horribly, rocking from side to side.
End Flashback
Draco jumped in front of her, intercepting the curse and cried out in pain as he dropped to the floor. "I will talk to you later," his father sneered at him, "but for now, stay out of my way!" he looked at Hermione who was now pale and too scared to speak, "You, come with me!" Not wanting Draco to get hurt anymore, and not wanting to get hurt herself, she obeyed.
"No!" shouted Draco, but he was to hurt to get up in time. By the time he reached the door Lucius had pulled Hermione out it and locked Draco in.
Mercer, 11:00 am
"Thank you!" Ginny called over her shoulder to Stan as she stepped off the night bus in front of Luna's house. The door of the house swung open before Ginny could knock and Luan pulled her in.
"My father's not home. Hermione lives just a few blocks away so we can walk there." She said, "But we have to be back before my father gets home. He wasn't happy about my adventures last year so I'm not supposed to do anything that has to do with the D.A."
Ginny nodded, "Alright, let's go. What street do they live on?"
"Kenyer lane." They walked in silence until they reached the street they were looking for. "It's number 155." Luna said, "The big white one over there." Taking a deep breath Ginny went up to it and rang the bell.
A friendly looking woman opened the door and smiled politely at her, "Can I help you?"
"Is this the Granger residence?" Ginny asked.
"Yes."
Luan explained, "We are looking for Hermione Granger, does she live here?"
The woman frowned, "Yes, but she is not here right now. Why do you need her?"
The two girls looked at each other. Ginny sighed and said, "Look, my name is Ginny Weasly, Hermione has probably mentioned my brother Ron?" the woman nodded and Ginny went on, "Well Hermione was supposed to come to Grimmauld place but she never showed. The two wizards who were sent to meet her at the train station are missing and we are hopping Hermione is not with them. My brothers and their friend Harry Potter went to look for her but we don't know where they are now. So if Harry, Ron, Fred and George came here or if Hermione is here please, I need to know."
The women stared at her with a worried look at her face, "Hermione never showed up? She ran away and left a note saying she was going to Grimmauld place." Ginny and Luna shook their heads, "You had better com in." said Mrs. Granger.
The Middle of nowhere, still 11:00 am
"Okay, so I swear I have seen that same rock at least 5 times." Harry said.
Ron nodded, "So have I, I think we should go back. We probably have a better chance with the train"
"Well," said Harry, "that shouldn't be hard considering, I'm pretty sure, that trail," he nodded to a path to his right, "is the one back to Applewood."
"Fine!" cried George in an exasperated voice, "you two wanna go back and wait fro the train go right ahead!"
"But we are going back to London!" added Fred. The two other boys shrugged.
"Alright," they said and headed back to Applewood.