A/N: Hey everyone! Okay, not bad this time, it only took a little over a week to get this chapter out, BUT, I have a four day weekend comin' up sooo, expect another update soon. Though a review may speed up the process, grins ENJOY!

Disclaimer: if you STILL haven't figured out who this belongs to, I'm giving up. :)

Chapter 10: Reunion…Of Sorts

As depressing as it was to be throwing bits of shriveled carrots into grimy, foul-smelling cells, Hermione was much happier. After ten minutes of carefully setting carrots on the stained, stone, floors; she had come upon none other than Padma Patil, who, if she recalled correctly, had been a Ravenclaw in her year. They had chatted for a moment, tears shining in both young girls' eyes, before Hermione realized she was neglecting her duties and promised to return soon.

Other than Padma, however, she had not come upon any familiar faces. Smiling gently through the rusty bars of the cells to the sad occupants within, Hermione began to get desperate. She had not seen nor heard from her friends, and was starting to worry.

Reaching the end of the last crumbling stone staircase, Hermione came to the final floor. A faint tingle of recognition washed over her, and, dropping the bag, she ran down the corridor to one of the last cells. Peering through the bars, she saw two red heads, their heads burring into the crook of their arms, sleeping. Grinning slightly she glanced at Fred, and faintly wondered who the other flame-headed form was.

"FRED!" Her intended whisper came out slightly louder than intended . . . It, apparently, was effective nonetheless, Fred jerked awake and sat up, a slightly annoyed expression on his face.

"What?" Hermione winced. His voice matched his expression, venomous. Then, slowly, his annoyed face melted into one of surprise and pleasure. "Hermione?" His voice, now incredulous, had a slight twinge of joy in it. She could only nod.

Fred jumped up and started towards her, embracing her through those blasted cell-bars. Hermione smiled, joy touching every inch of her face. That joy however, was nothing compared to the happiness she was about to encounter. Over Fred's shoulder, she noticed a red headed girl, standing up and brushing herself off. A red head that looked suspiciously like—

"GINNY?" This was not intended to be a whisper. A grin appeared on the girls face as she too rushed towards Hermione, shoving Fred aside and embracing her long time friend. Tears stained her thin face, Hermione pulled back slightly. "What are you doing here?" Ginny shook her head giving her a meaningful look before turning away. "Ginny, what—" She was cut off however by an entirely too familiar voice from behind her.

"Ah, how touching, the reunion of Mudblood and Muggle-Lovers." Whipping around Hermione nearly hitting her nose on the chest of Draco Malfoy, who was standing much too close for comfort.

"Would you shut up Malfoy? You're the one 'serving' Tom Bloody Riddle, the single most famous HALF BLOOD known to the wizarding world!" The damaging, statement she had so longed to shout at him since she first saw him at this wretched place burst from her mouth before she had time to contain herself. The cold and murderous look on his face was enough to scare Lord Voldemort himself.

His hand slowly pushed her back into the cell and pushed, hard, extremely hard. Hermione resisted the urge to cry out and bit her lip. He lowered his head menacingly to hers, and hissed into her ear. "Watch yourself. Granger." And walked off.

Panting slightly, Hermione thought that that, by far, was the on of the scariest things he had ever done, his voice, filled with loathing, scared her beyond belief, and it made no sense.

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'You're the one serving Tom Bloody Riddle . . .' Those words. . . . 'most famous HALF BLOOD known to the wizarding world. . .' Draco was beyond mad. How he loathed Granger, how he wished he could just cut her, hurt her, cause her more pain than ever before . . .

How dare she. She, Mudblood scum of the earth, make it seem as if he, Draco Malfoy, heir to the Malfoy fortune, was serving some lowly half blood. 'But aren't you?' That annoying voice in the back of his head asked. A low growl escaped his lips, Granger would pay, he would personally make sure of that.

0 o 0 o 0 o 0 o 0 o 0 o 0 o 0 o

If it weren't for the fear running wild throughout her body, Hermione would most certainly have a smirk of satisfaction plastered all over her face. However, since one Draco Malfoy had nearly scared her out of her wits only moments ago, Hermione was far from smirking.

Turning slightly towards Ginny and Fred, who were staring at her with their mouths slightly open, she attempted a nervous smile.

"So, Ginny." However terrified she was, Hermione Granger did NOT stutter. "Why are you here?" Shaking her head slightly as though to rid it of a bad thought, Ginny smiled, leaning in closely.

"I'm on a mission, for the," she leaned in closer, as if she didn't want anyone to hear, so she was whispering in Hermione's ear, "Order." Whatever fear that was running through Hermione's body was stifled, replace with a rush of adrenaline and excitement. The Order of the Phoenix? Ginny? Why? There was resistance after all! Questions rushed through her brain, but were stopped before she could speak.

"No questions, not now, later." Ginny's voice cut through her thoughts. Though disappointed, a grin flitted across Hermione's face. Someone, someone was fighting this evil. And 'someone' hopefully included Dumbledore and the Boy Who Lived himself. Coming back to the present, Hermione realized that, once again, she was neglecting her duties. Exclaiming her hurried but thankful goodbyes to her closest friends these days, Hermione started off in the other direction, intent not to be punished but one Lucius Malfoy.

Fate, however, apparently had other plans. Hurrying down the corridor, only thinking of excuses should Lucius decide she was late, Hermione collided with a firm body, who, like her, was rushing down the corridor in the opposite direction. Looking up startled, and fearful, she looked into the equally startled eyes of Ron Weasley.

"Ron!"

"Hermione!"

She embraced her best friend tightly, the tears that had resided from earlier began staining her face once again. He pulled back suddenly, going rigid.

"How do I know you're Hermione? Supposedly she was sent to Malfoy Manor." Hermione nearly laughed, everything seemed funny now that she had most of her friends back with her.

"Go on you git, ask me a question." She sounded exasperated. Narrowing his eyes Ron spoke.

"What secret did you hide from Harry and I in our third year?"

Now she snorted, speaking lightly. "The Time Turner of course." A grin spread across his face, embracing her once again. But she frowned. "Why are you still here? From what I've heard there's still resistance, why aren't you out there?" A dark look spread across his face.

"I cant find a way out of this bloody Prison," he snorted, "I thought you were supposed to be the most brilliant witch of our year, you should know that Azkaban is on an island." Red tingeing her cheeks she nodded. Of course, Azkaban was isolated in the sea. Her frown deepened.

"And you've managed not to get caught?" Suspicion was beginning to creep through her, how had he managed that when this was supposedly the head quarters of the Death Eaters? He spoke.

"Listen, I—" he was interrupted from a noise coming echoing down the crumbling staircase.

"GRANGER!" she winced, it must be more than an hour. Glancing up at Ron, she found he was gone. She looked around, seeing no sign of her flame haired friend, she focused her attention to the stair case, from which emerged, a very angry looking Draco Malfoy.

"Your late." Somewhere between a satisfied smirk and a sneer settled on his face, fear spread through her as she remembered Lucius Malfoy's icy words:

"You are to return here in one hour hence forth. If you fail, you will be, severely punished."

A/N: Well, for my chapters that one was pretty long. I hope you enjoyed this one, it has a lot of plot development. I have a 4 day weekend ahead of me so I should be on my way to another update, but I would appreciate a review, I LOVE reviews, and reviewers, how bout this, COOKIES FOR MY REVIEWERS! I love you ALL! Thanks!

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