Chapter 19: Voldemort's Plan

"What sort of plans?" Hermione asked bravely, trying to show no fear in front of Voldemort. She straightened her posture the best she could and glared back at him. Voldemort did something unexpected at that point. He pointed his wand at her arms and feet and muttered a spell, unbinding them to allow her free movement again.

"You see, my dear Mudblood, you are going to be the key to my immortality. You are going to open the final obstacle in my way." Voldemort sneered at her.

"What in the bloody hell are you talking about! I'm not helping you with shit you foul snake!" Hermione spat back at him, struggling to stand up and face him.

"Ah, and that is where you would be wrong. You will help me because you are the only one with the power to do so." Hermione looked at him like he was completely insane again, having no clue whatsoever what he was talking about.

"Yes I am forgetting your ignorance on the matter. Let me catch you up to speed. I need you to open the Book of Ani(See Author's Note at the end of the chapter), the final obstacle in my way to immortality." Voldemort told her, Hermione staring back at him with a mixed look of utter hatred and somewhat confusion.

What in the bloody hell is he talking about? That's just completely impossible not to mention totally absurd! Hermione thought to herself as Voldemort finished his little speech.

"You are a bloody moron! I cant open that book you idiot, no one can! Only a direct descendant can open it and due to the fact that I have no other magical lineage, it cannot possibly be me so, sorry, but obviously one of your blubbering, idiotic lap-dogs made another mistake." Hermione spat back at Voldemort, earning her a very strong and painful Crucio for her tone.

The Dark Lord held his curse upon her till she felt like her whole body was just going to give up before releasing it and laughing maniacally at her limp form laying motionlessly on the cold cement floor.

"You will learn soon enough child. I suggest you take the time to think very carefully about your options. Until next time Mudblood." Voldemort said after releasing the curse from her writhing body.

He then turned and swept from the room, his black robes billowing dramatically behind him. Her hot tears stung the sides of her face as they flowed ceaselessly from her stinging eyes. Her body limp against the hard floor as she cried herself to a very uneasy sleep, praying that Draco would find her…and that she'd be alive long enough to see him again.

As Harry, Ron, and Draco dashed through the gargoyle and up into the Headmistress' office, Draco suddenly fell to the floor, seemingly in pain. His breathing became ragged and he clutched his chest as if he was expecting his heart to jump from it at any moment. Draco had never felt such pain and he knew instantly what the pain felt like….it felt like being bashed by a hundred sharp knives. His mental power kicked in and after a short moment he realized that he must be feeling what Hermione was feeling at that exact moment.

Oh my god. Hermione! Draco called out desperately with his mind, the pain suddenly subsiding.

"Malfoy! Get up! What in the bloody hell is wrong with you!" Harry shouted back when he noticed that Draco had fallen down on the stairs. "Ron go get McGonagall. Something's happening!"

Ron rushed on ahead of the trio and into the office. Harry watched as Draco's ragged breathing became more normalized again and the color returned to his pale cheeks. Draco's grip loosened on his chest and he started to try and get back to his feet, very shakily, his hand reaching out and grasping the stone wall beside him to help him keep his balance.

"Harry, it's 'Mione. She's in trouble." Draco gasped out through shallow breaths as he fought to regain control. As soon as he was steady enough to stand without supporting himself with the wall, he took a deep breath and charged the rest of the way up the stairs. Harry looked at him worriedly for a moment and then rushed up after him. When they reached the landing in front of the Headmistress' door, they nearly collided with a flannel clad McGonagall who was rushing out of the heavy wood door and was heading to the stairs.

"Headmistress! Hermione is missing, she's in trouble! We've got to find her NOW!" Draco hollered at McGonagall as he saved himself from colliding with an unsuspecting Headmistress.

"Professor McGonagall, we need to use your fireplace!" Harry interjected before McGonagall could question Draco. "We need to get to Grimmauld Place and call an emergency meeting."

Before she even had a chance to respond, Harry rushed past her into her office with the other two boys directly on his heels. In a matter of a couple minutes, all three had gone through the Floo, landing in the living room of 12 Grimmauld Place where Harry was already sending out the signal for the rest of the members to respond immediately. The three paced through the room until the familiar POP s from people Apparating was heard around them as the other members began appearing. As soon as Lupin appeared, he ran over to Harry.

"Whats going on Harry? What's the emergency?" he asked Harry worriedly.

"Ask Malfoy.", was all Harry could say. He looked as if he was about to have nervous breakdown. Lupin rushed from Harry to Draco who was sitting in the corner with his head in his hands, trying to keep himself calm enough to reach out to Hermione's mind.

"Draco, what's going on? Harry told me to ask you about it." Lupin asked warily. He knew that Harry knew better than to call emergency meetings without an actual emergency.

"Hermione is missing." Draco replied as calmly as possible without raising his head to look at the startled ex-Professor, but moved his hands so that they hung between his legs. "I had this awful dream that showed Hermione getting tortured somewhere and then I heard her voice asking me to help her. I went to her room but she was gone, her wand was there and the window was shattered. Harry checked some map thing and said that she wasn't anywhere in the castle or the grounds." Remus watched the young man relay what happened and saw a lone tear slide down the pale boy's face. Lupin nodded and went around to relay the same story to everyone else so they could begin to figure a course of action.

Draco sat in the chair, straining his mind to reach out to her. He had no idea where she was but somehow he had a pretty good idea who had her. He remembered that Snape had told them during their last lesson that their connection would continue to grow stronger and that eventually they should be able to connect with each other's minds no matter how distant they were from each other. And the letter that they'd received from Dumbledore at the beginning of the year had said something about sensing each others feelings and even possibly pinpointing their location. Draco had to try, he had to do something!

Hermione.. His mind pleaded, straining with all it's power to reach her. If she had reached him then he knew he could reach her, even if she was the stronger of the two (which Draco would never truly admit). HERMIONE! Answer me, Dammit!

He scrunched up his eyes and furrowed his brow in concentration. He didn't care about distance he had to reach her to know that she was alive. Draco didn't even want to think about the opposite. She just had to hear him, to answer him…she just HAD to.

HERMIONE! His mind called out desperately one more time. Finally he heard something. A very faint voice.

Draco? Please, help me... Hermione's voice sounded incredibly weak and it faded slightly at the end. For a moment he thought his mind was hallucinating things but then he heard it again and his heart leapt in his throat.

Draco, please! Voldemort! Her strained voice echoed into his mind once more, sounding more forced and desperate than before. Draco suddenly jumped from his chair and dashed to where Harry was conversing with the other members.

"Harry, Voldemort has her!" Draco blurted out as soon as he reached the group.

"What? How do you know?" Harry asked him, eyeing him suspiciously.

"Because Potter. She told me." Draco was met by a look of confusion and suspicion from the eyes around him. He rolled his eyes and groaned inwardly.

"Oh come on. Hermione and I can speak to each other through our minds remember? This is not the time to question me or suspect me of shit. Hermione is missing for gods sake and who knows what Voldemort's sick ass has planned for her! We need to get her back…NOW!" His voice was straining to scream at them by the end.

The group looked at the visibly shaken young man and nodded their heads. They only seemed to have one problem…no one had any clue where she might be being held at. Harry suddenly got an idea, remembering the letter he also received at the start of term.

"Hey Malfoy, do you think you can locate her?" Harry asked, receiving a puzzled look from the pale face of the young Slytherin. "I mean with that connection thing of yours…aren't you supposed to be able to locate each other or something?"

Draco glared at Harry for a moment and nodded, telling Harry that he would try. Draco left the group and walked into the quietness of the dining room. It was much easier to concentrate without tons of people murmuring frantically around him. He transfigured one of the dining chairs into a comfortable arm chair and sat down, leaning his head back very slightly and resting it on the back of the chair. He allowed himself to close his eyes and slouched slightly as he forced his mind and body to relax completely and emptied his mind of all thoughts but that of Hermione. Snape had barely begun to get into this part of their training for it was not something he could really teach them, they had to develop it themselves. All Snape could do was give them the basics of how to go about it. He'd told Draco and Hermione that if they were ever separated and needed to locate one another, they would have to start by visualizing the other person completely as if they were seeing them right in front of their face but in their mind. Then they were supposed to focus their energies into the other person's image, concentrating on their location and it was supposedly supposed to help them locate each other somehow. Draco wasn't sure if it would work or not but he was willing to do or try anything to get Hermione back in his arms.

Draco cleared his mind of all conscious thoughts and set to work visualizing his beloved. He pictured her face, how her cheeks would get a rosy glow whenever she was embarrassed. Her eyes how they would sparkle when they looked deep into his own. Her lips, the two blushing pilgrims reddened and swollen slightly after kissing him passionately. Next her hair formed, the way the golden strands glittering in the sunlight. Little by little, the rest of her gorgeous body formed in his mind and he could see himself looking her up and down mentally. He had never in his entire life seen a creature more beautifully innocent than his Hermione. Mentally pulling her image closer to him, he allowed his mind to lock on to her glinting honey brown eyes as he concentrated all his energies into trying to locate her. Finally, after what seemed like hours, he began to see the room around her, the hard concrete floor and stone walls. His image pulled backwards, further away from the room showing him the outside view of the place where she was being held and as soon as he saw it, Draco gasped out loud, snapping his eyes open and rubbing them insanely in disbelief before leaping to his feet and dashing back into the living room faster than he'd ever moved in his life.

"Potter…..I found her!" Draco relayed breathlessly as the boy to whom he was addressing just stared at him, dumbfounded.

As Hermione began to slowly regain consciousness, she opened her eyes and found that she was still…unfortunately…in the cold and damp room. However, it appeared that her hands and feet were no longer binded together and that most of her injuries were healed for some reason. She forced herself to think back to what happened before she fell unconscious and then she remembered Voldemort. He was saying something about her and the Book of Ani. But nothing he said made any sense whatsoever. She was practically an Egyptian History expert, she'd been studying it for years. She could even decipher hieroglyphics which was not an easy feat at all. She knew of the Book and she also knew to whom it had originally belonged. She also knew of the fact that only a direct descendant could open the Book. So what exactly did any of this have to do with her? Voldemort had told her that only she had the power to open the Book but that was impossible! To have that power than she would have to be…but no that was just absurd.

How in the bloody hell could I be a descendant of Osiris? Gods I knew Voldemort was bloody crazy but I never really thought he was truly THAT stupid to think that a muggle-born of all people could possibly be a descendant of a magical god. Hermione chuckled to herself silently. She had to get out of here and soon because she knew that as soon as Voldemort realized how much of a mistake he had made, she was as good as dead. Hermione knew she had to reach out to Draco again, to let him know she was alright so she sat herself down on the cold concrete floor and forced her energies into relaying the message to her love.

Draco….Draco….can you hear me? Hermione's mind sent out. This was getting frustrating…she was in trouble--BIG trouble--and the one person she could communicate with was taking FOREVER to answer her! (Okay so not really, but she's Hermione, she's panicky remember?)

Suddenly Draco felt a sudden surge of energy fill his body as Harry, Ron, himself and a few other Order members made their way towards Hermione's location. The surge was so great that Draco was momentarily knocked off balance and struggled to regain himself in the air. After a moment the energy subsided and he heard Hermione's voice again…only this time was different than when they normally would communicate telepathically. Normally their voices were soft, almost whisper-like. But not this time. This time it sounded as if Hermione were standing directly in front of him, yelling at him….it was that loud that he swore the others could hear her as well.

Draco Malfoy! Dammit…ANSWER ME! Hermione's voice yelled at him. I need you NOW! The energy surged him again for a moment and he felt the pendant around his neck (A/N I sort of forgot to mention earlier but Hermione no longer wore hers after their first lesson when she didn't have it but Draco still did because he hadn't fully mastered it without the extra help it gave yet….hence the whole 'Hermione being stronger' thing) begin to grow increasingly warmer.

'Mione, sweetheart, we're almost there. I promise I'll get to you soon….please hang on. He relayed back to her, using as much energy as he could muster while flying.

"We're almost there! About 5 more minutes!" Draco shouted to the entourage following closely behind him.

He leaned closer to his broom, increasing his speed as the others followed suit. Within a few brief moments, their destination came into view before them. A vast, swelling, black marble mansion surrounded by a silver colored, wrought iron fence, loomed menacely from the middle of the large forest area. He signaled behind him to land and he lowered his own broom down, touching the ground swiftly and lightly as the others landed almost simultaneously around him. He felt his pendant grow warmer again and he knew that Hermione was somewhere inside the vast estate, though he was still somewhat shocked that this was where he was being held. He had not seen this place since the end of the summer before sixth year…just after he had been given his Dark Mark and received that oh-so-unfortunate task. Harry came up beside him and waited for the next move.

Well I guess this is it…welcome home He thought bitterly to himself as he began swiftly moving towards the elaborate black gate that stood directly in front of him, the silver scrawling lettering spelling out the words that he had grown to hate the most…

Malfoy Manor.

A/N: Okay okay I guess I should clear up a couple things before I end this update lol.

First things first, I'm not sure how many readers know much about Egyptian mythology and history but the book mentioned in the beginning of the chapter, the Book of Ani, is also known by another name….(perhaps any of you who have seen The Mummy (1 or 2) will recognize it)---The Book of the Dead. Yes I initially got the idea while watching the Mummy Returns however I assure you that this storyline is MUCH different. And yes, the book of the dead really and truly IS a real thing. For a slight back history on it and how the whole Osiris thing ties in: Osiris (of Isis and Osiris) was the Lord of the Afterlife and in Egyptian mythology. Osiris was also the Guardian of Book of the Dead and was also known as the God of the Resurrection into Eternal Life. As for the book itself, it is said to contain many ways for one to escape the underworld's chaos. It is also said to hold an Alchemical Formula called I.A.O (Isis, Apophis, Osiris, Birth, Death, Resurrection)…in short…the formula for eternal life. Anyone unfamiliar with the Egyptian stuff should really read up on it…it's absolutely fascinating!

Also, the "tablet" from earlier chapters is changing just slightly, but I don't want to reveal too much so I hope no one is too upset. The next chapter will contain something very unexpected and probably very sad so I warn you all now.