A/N: Just a very quick one…once again thanks so much for all the awesome reviews!
Iluv2dance (btw so do I lol): actually no I don't have any other stories, this is my very first one I've ever attempted to write…EVER. However, I am currently starting work on 2 new stories. One is going to be another Draco/Hermione fic (of course coz I'm so in love with those 2) called The Angel's Eyes (which BTW I have just finished the prologue and hope to have it up by the time this chapter is up so look for it!), I'm hoping to possibly make this one into 2 stories or possibly MAYBE even a trilogy but we'll see about that and the other is going to be a special one written for my friend Tif and it's going to be a story about Lily and James called Destined to Be.
BUT please do not worry lol…I will NOT stop writing this story…it's probably about half done now (I'm guessing on this one btw) and I refuse to give up now! I do want to instill on my reviewers however that it is because of all of you that I continue to write every day…without the awesome words from you guys, it would be pointless.
Chapter 18: Kidnapped!
Over the next few weeks following their memorable New Years Eve gala, Draco and Hermione had edged their relationship very slowly out into the open. It was definitely not taken well at first but gradually most of the students began to accept it…all except for the Slytherins that is, especially Pansy Parkinson. But that was to be expected, after all most of the Slytherin families were loyal Death Eater families and Hermione just happened to be Harry Potter's best friend.
The new couple continued on with their lessons with Snape as well, coming along extremely quickly, picking up every new thing that Snape asked of them very easily…almost like second nature. Their telepathy distance was increasing as well. No longer did the pair have to be in the same room. In fact, it seemed they could now communicate throughout the castle. Hermione found this out one afternoon while she sat through her Muggle Studies class. Draco was on the other side of the castle at that time for his History of Magic class. Hermione was sitting in class, nonchalantly taking notes when suddenly she heard Draco's voice softly, almost as if he were whispering in her ear.
' 'Mione….'Mione? Can you hear me?' Draco's voice came through her mind. Hermione glanced around the classroom for a moment, thinking that maybe she imagined it or something. After all, they'd never been this far apart and been able to communicate before. She ignored it and went back to her note copying.
' 'Mione, can you hear me? I'm totally bored stiff here and if I don't have someone talking to me I swear I'm gonna jump out a window!' She heard his voice again, this time accompanied by his subtle laugh. She lowered her head to her paper and concentrated, sending a message back.
' Draco aren't you supposed to be in Binns' class? Do you realize we're clear across the castle from each other?' She relayed, a tiny smile forming on her lips. She hadn't heard his voice all day because this was one of the days they shared no classes.
' I know, it's cool. What class are you in right now?' Draco's voice asked her.
'Muggle Studies'
'Well that's got to be an easy as hell class for you' his subtle laugh came back again. ' So come on…talk to me. I'm dying here! Besides, I miss you.' Hermione's smile heightened hearing that last comment.
' I miss you too Draco. Wish I could see you but it's not going to be till later tonight. I promised Harry and Ron that I'd meet up with them in Gryffindor Tower after dinner.' After she relayed that she could swear she could hear Draco giving her his little puppy dog whimper. She couldn't help but giggle to herself.
The remaining classes went by like a breeze with Hermione and Draco passing hidden messages to each other. After their classes were over, Hermione quickly made her way to her dorms in hopes of being able to catch a moment with Draco before dinner. When she reached the Heads dorms, she found that unfortunately the dorms were empty. Sighing and shrugging off the slight disappointment, she simply dropped her books off in her room and changed out of her school uniform, opting for a comfortable pair of jeans and cuddly, crème colored, chenille sweater (since it was still crisp in the evenings in late January/ early February) and headed towards the library for a few moments of leisurely studying. Hermione's study habits had slowed down a little since the start of her seventh year. She no longer spent hours upon hours in the library every night but instead opted for a couple hours every other day and made a pact with herself that she would not spend all of Friday nights in the library anymore. So tonight, being Friday, she was going to simply read up for her own leisure before dinner, leaving her homework behind in her dorm.
As she relaxed on her favorite chair in the library reading up on Egyptian mythology (her favorite non-school related subject), she got a weird feeling, like someone was watching her. Hermione kept pulling her sweater tighter around her body, looking anxiously around the area she was sitting in. She was reading about one of her favorite stories, the tale of Isis and Osiris. The sensation kept getting more intense as she was reading through the book and finally she gave up, closed her book and left the library quickly…having never felt more uncomfortable in that place before in her entire school career.
Hermione made her way down to the Great Hall where dinner was just starting so there were quite a few students already making their way in. The Gryffindor table was mostly empty still but Hermione made her way down the row and took her normal seat, still feeling the sensation of someone watching her. Keeping her head down and picking at her food, she didn't notice Harry sit down beside her and start talking to her.
" 'Mione, hey 'Mione….you there girl?" Harry asked her, trying to get her attention when he realized that she wasn't paying attention. He touched her arm gently and was surprised when she spun around with her knife and pointed it at him.
"Oh shit, Harry, I'm so sorry!" Hermione said, lowering the knife she was holding.
"What the hell Hermione? Um remind me never to touch you again if that's the response it brings. Whats going on with you tonight? Everything okay?" Harry asked, looking at his golden-brown haired best friend.
"Yea, um sure everything's fine. Aside from the fact that I think I'm losing my mind it's all good." Hermione answered, shrugging.
"You? Losing your mind? Doubtful hon. Seriously, what's going on?" Harry asked again, prodding her to tell him.
"It's nothing really. I've just had this weird sense all day and it's gotten worse tonight. I keep getting this feeling like someone is watching me, following me around and stuff. I know, its crazy huh?" Hermione said, giving off an unsettling and uncertain laugh.
"No, it's not crazy Hermione. Just be careful okay….I couldn't think of what I'd do if anything happened to you." Harry told her, grabbing her hand and squeezing it tightly, not noticing the jealous glare that was coming towards him from the Slytherin table. It was pretty common knowledge since their break up that Harry still held very high feelings for Hermione and Draco, for one, was somewhat jealous about this. He'd already lost Hermione to Harry once before, even if only for a couple months, and was definitely in no hurry to see it happen again. Draco eyed the two of them talking closely, Harry's hand still holding hers tightly.
Dinner ended and Harry, Ron and Hermione made their way to Gryffindor Tower. Hermione still had the feeling of someone watching her closely, even as she walked with her two best friends through the familiar corridors. She hadn't let go of Harry's hand since he'd grabbed it down at dinner. Not because she still felt anything for him in that way, but mostly because she was still slightly frightened and it comforted her. Draco, however, didn't know about what was going on with Hermione that evening and had followed them most of the way to the tower, watching the three friends as they made their way to the Gryffindor common room.
After the trio entered through the portrait of the Fat Lady, Draco made his way back to the Heads dormitories and into his bedroom, slamming his door behind him. He couldn't stand how close Hermione was being with Harry….not after everything they'd been through in the past few months. Draco wasn't blind, he knew how Harry still felt about her, the way he looked at her and found ways to be close to her. But he didn't want to let his jealousy take over. He trusted Hermione, he loved her. He would just have to talk to her when she got back from Gryffindor Tower. He laid back on his bed with a book, deciding he'd read a bit to pass the time till she came back. After what seemed like forever, he found himself drifting off to an uneasy sleep.
Hermione returned to her dormitory close to midnight and saw that Draco's door was closed. She peeked into his room, and seeing his sleeping form, decided not to wake him and walked back to her own room. She quickly changed into her pajamas and slid into her own bed, the feeling of uneasiness still adamant. Hermione tried to brush the thoughts aside and allowed herself to fall asleep, curled into a tight ball under her scarlet comforter.
Hermione was awaken a few hours later, however, by the undeniable sound of glass breaking forcefully. Keeping her eyes closed, she inched her hand under her pillow and clutched her wand as she heard the unmistakable sound of two whispered voices in her room. She opened her eyes slowly and found two hooded and masked figures standing over her bed. As she opened her mouth to scream for Draco, two pairs of hands shot out, grabbing and gagging her. Her wand was grabbed from her hand and tossed across the room. The assailants dragged her, kicking, off the bed. The binded her hands and feet together before grabbing her tightly again. Hermione watched as one of the figures pulled an object from their cloak pocket and felt her hand being forced to touch it. Immediately upon this action, she found herself being pulled forward from her naval, a pair of hands still clutching her achingly tight as she was hurtled through the portkey.
She landed with a very painful thud in the middle of a cold, damp, concrete room. The figures murmured to each other, too quietly for her to hear. A set of hands suddenly grabbed her again and shoved her forcefully into the hard brick wall, her forehead bouncing painfully off the bricks and her bound body falling limply to the cold floor. Without a word to her, her assailants moved hurriedly from the room, slamming the heavily iron door behind them, leaving Hermione alone and bleeding in the cold, dark room. She found that her hands were no longer binded, however her feet still were. She felt her forehead where it had bounced off the brick wall and noticed a small cut with a decent amount of blood gushing from it. Curling herself into a ball, she started to cry. Using every ounce of strength she had left, she closed her eyes and tried painstakingly to send a mental message to Draco.
Back at Hogwarts, still sleeping in his Head Boy dorm, Draco heard a very faint murmur in his mind. His dream suddenly became incredibly unsettling as the voice became louder.
Draco found himself in a cold and dark room. He seemed to be floating over a scene that was taking place below him. There were three people in the room, two were cloaked and masked….Draco knew immediately that they were Death Eaters. The third figure was screaming out in pain and writhing on the floor as the two Death Eaters threw a Crucio at her already bloodied body. The figure on the floor was definitely a girl, he could tell by the screams. Her feet seemed to be binded as she was forced to kneel in front of the assailants. Her hair was damp and matted to her head and around her face. Draco found himself floating closer to the scene as realization dawned on him. That was no girl they were torturing…it was Hermione! He watched painfully as one of the cloaked figures conjured a long whip and began cracking it across her back, the blood seeping through her dark tank top. Hermione screamed out again and the scene began to fade away.
As he awoke from his startling dream, he heard the voice in his head growing even louder than it was before and he finally realized who it was.
'Draco, please…help me…' Hermione's words rang through his mind painfully. Draco immediately jumped from his bed and raced out the door and through the common room till he reached her door.
Please, gods, please let her be here…he thought to himself before shoving her door open. He surveyed the room in front of him. There was broken glass all over the floor from her window, her bed looked as if someone had just been wrestling around on it. He scanned the room and his eyes came to lie on an object laying on the carpet a few feet from the door. Upon closer inspection he saw that it was Hermione's wand. His heart immediately jumped into his throat as he remembered his dream he'd just had.
Oh gods, no. Please no. Please let her be alive. He cried to himself as he tore from the room and out the portrait hole.
He needed to find her and he needed help. The first person that popped in his mind was non other than Harry Potter himself. Draco dashed to Gryffindor Tower and screamed the password (which he had overheard when he followed the trio up earlier that evening) at the Fat Lady who was dozing loudly and did not take to kindly to being woken up so early. Draco mumbled an apology and dashed inside, looking around, trying to figure out where Harry's room was. Cutting through the common room he noticed that he didn't have to look far because Harry was fast asleep on the common room couch in front of a dwindling fire. Rushing over to the sleeping boy, he quickly and furiously poked at him until he woke up, dazed and confused.
"What the bloody hell are you doing here Malfoy? And better yet, how in the bloody hell did you get our password?" Harry asked agitatedly, rubbing his eyes and glaring at the blond boy who was now pacing impatiently in front of him.
"Don't worry about how I got it right now Potter. Hermione's missing and I think she's in trouble." Draco told the barely awake boy, trying not to yell at him for asking such trivial questions at a time like this.
"What! How do you know?" Harry asked hurriedly as he jumped to his feet, completely awake.
"I had a dream and when I woke up I thought I heard her calling to me in the back of my mind so I went to check her room and there was glass everywhere. Someone broke in through her window and took her. I found her wand lying by the door. Now come on! We've got to find her!" Draco rambled to Harry, growing impatient at all the questions.
Harry looked at him for a moment before dashing from the common room and up the left side staircase. He returned a few moments later with a ragged looking Ron, carrying a silvery cloak, his Firebolt and what looked like a blank piece of parchment. Draco looked at him curiously, trying to figure out what Harry was doing. He watched as Harry muttered a few words to the parchment and tapped it with his wand. The parchment immediately began filling. Harry and Ron scanned through the parchment, opening it a couple times to be sure then Harry muttered a few more words and the parchment magically blanked itself once again. Shoving the map into his pocket, he grabbed his broom again and looked at Draco, a sincere look of horror mixed with determination on his features.
"Hermione's definitely not in the castle or the grounds. We need to talk to McGonagall." With that he led the way out of the portrait and down the halls to the Headmistress' office.
Back in the cold room, Hermione found herself coming out of unconsciousness. Her body ached immensely. Her head was throbbing from being smacked against the brick wall so many times during her beatings. She still hadn't seen or heard anything other then the two men that came in on occasion to curse and whip her around. She had no idea why she was there or even where exactly she was.
Suddenly the door to her cell burst open and a new figure came billowing into sight. The new figure needed no introduction, Hermione knew immediately who it was. Lord Voldemort.
"Ahh, the young Mudblood. How nice of you to join us." Lord Voldemort hissed , walking towards Hermione, who was using every ounce of her courage not to cower in front of him.
"I have great plans for you, Mudblood. You and your blood traitor boyfriend." Lord Voldemort emitted this very evil cackle as his red slit eyes bore into her own.