A/N: HBP doesn't exist! (not here anyway!)

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Escape

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Hermione and Draco spent a few hours at the Malfoy Manor before finally deciding to go back. They flooed to the house and immediately felt that something was wrong. Hermione ran toward Severus' study, only to find that it was empty. She ran down the stairs and into the living room, closely followed by Draco, to see Severus sitting on the sofa. She surveyed the room quickly, and saw that Tonks was lying in a corner of the room, unconscious. She turned back to Draco to find that he was being restrained by several men in masks.

"Hermione…" Severus started, an apologetic look in his eyes.

"Ah, Severus," Voldemort purred, stepping out of the shadows, "My ever-faithful servant. I see that you have succeeded in procuring my friend here. I must say that I was beginning to doubt your loyalty, but you have redeemed yourself."

"I- I…" Severus tried to say something- anything- but could only stutter incoherently.

"My graciousness has left you speechless," Voldemort said, "How cute…"

"My Lord, what should we do with Mr. Malfoy?" one of the masked men asked.

"Let him go," Hermione said, turning on them, wand already drawn and at the ready, "Let him go or I'll hex your balls off."

"My dear girl," Voldemort said, "You don't have feelings for Draco, do you?"

She didn't even turn to look at him when she answered. "Order them to let him go."

"Why should I?" he said, sounding very much like a spoiled child, "I have no use for them, so hex them if you wish."

Hermione growled. "Fine, if you don't care about them, how about I hex myself? I could do with a few warts, don't you think? A boil here and there… and maybe tentacles, just for good measure."

"You wouldn't dare…" Voldemort scowled, "Nobody defies me, least of all a whore."

"If you let him go, we won't have a problem," she said, quite evenly.

"Very well… let him go, then," he said, and Draco was released. He ran quickly from the room, completely ignored.

"My Lord," Severus said, "What are you going to do with the girl?"

"As I promised, you may have her first," he replied, "And then I will punish her suitably for her little fit of disobedience."

"But, My Lord…"

"Surely, Severus, you do not mean to question my judgements," Voldemort snapped.

"No, My Lord… as you wish," Severus said, lowering his eyes.

"Get on with it!" he said.

"Right now?" Severus exclaimed.

"Yes- now! You will do this at my leisure, not yours," Voldemort said.

"No!" Hermione yelled, "You don't have to do this, Severus!"

"Yes, I do…" he said, advancing on her.

"Severus…" a weak voice said from the corner, and they looked over to see Tonks rising slowly from her place on the floor.

"Tonks!" Hermione exclaimed, "Get out of here! Go get help!"

Before anybody thought to stop her, Hermione had levitated the entire jar of floo powder into the fireplace and Tonks dove into it, yelling the first place that came to mind, which was the Leaky Cauldron. Moments after that Severus reached the spot where Hermione stood. He grabbed her arm, trying to make it look as forceful as he could without actually hurting her, and pulled out his wand.

"I'm sorry, Hermione," he whispered, before turning to the Death Eaters and yelling, "Stupefy!"

Draco chose this moment to reappear, disarming Voldemort just as he was raising his wand. It dropped to the floor with a clatter and they sped from the room. They ran up to the study, where they knew there was a working fireplace, and flooed to Grimmauld Place. When they emerged from the fireplace, they were greeted by Tonks, Molly, Ron, Harry, Ginny, Neville, Luna, Arthur, and Moody.

As soon as she was on her feet, Hermione turned to Severus. "I can't believe you did that!" she screamed, "You realize that you're probably at the top of his hit list, now? How could be so stupid?"

"I'm stupid? I just saved you from having to go back to that bastard, and now you're calling me stupid?" Severus said, "I don't believe you!"

"Thank you, very much, for saving me, but I wish you would have done it discreetly," she stated, "I don't want to see you get hurt…"

Severus' expression softened, but when he opened his mouth to reply she rounded on Draco.

"And you…! I can't believe you came back! What if they had noticed you before Sev stunned them?" she grabbed him by the front of his shirt and he braced himself to be punched- again- but it never came. Instead, he felt soft lips pushed against his own, and he wrapped his arms around her. "Thank you, though… both of you."

They just nodded, too completely stunned at her sudden moodiness to speak. Harry and Ron laughed.

"Told you she was insane," Ron said, clapping Draco on the shoulder.

"So, what are we going to do now? We can't go back to Hogwarts, can we?" Hermione said.

"No… I guess you can't," Dumbledore said, stepping out of the kitchen, "I suppose you'll just have to take your NEWTs the day school starts again and graduate as soon as possible then."

"How do you know we all want to graduate early?" Draco asked.

"He knows everything…" Severus said, "It's bloody annoying."

"Thank you, Severus," Dumbledore said, "But I hardly know everything. Even I cannot know what flavor one will get with Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans. I can't tell the difference between toffee and earwax."

Harry laughed at the fond memory of his first year.

"If we're taking the NEWTs when school starts, we had better get to studying," Hermione said, "Get everybody over here tonight and I'll let you all copy my notes over the materials that will most likely be covered."

They groaned collectively. It would be a long night.

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Okay… this chapter was pretty short, but the next will be longer. I'm already working on it, in fact. This one is just to tide you over! Review, now!