It was so stupid! Draco walked furiously back to the Slytherin common room and flung himself down on the couch in front of the blazing fire. It brought back unpleasant memories of her laughing… and smiling… arrrrrggggggggggghhhhhhhhhhhh! HE WANTED A PENSIVE!!!!!!!!!

He took a deep breath and heard someone moving about the room behind him.

'Who's that?' He asked in a bored tone.

'Me.' Blaise came over and joined him on the couch. 'I'm so embarrassed about liking that Weasley girl… due to the curse of course, that I can't bear to show my face around Hogwarts.'

'What on earth do you mean??!! No one knew but me!'

'I still don't want to show my face.'

'Oh my god.' Draco shook his hair back. 'I went out with Granger… I can't believe I ever thought that was a good idea.'

'But you were a good couple.' Zabini bit his lip and glanced at his friend. 'Don't you think?'

'How exactly?' Draco asked with an arched eyebrow.

'You just are so similar.'

'HOW?!'

'Oh come on… your mannerisms for example… what happened when you both went out into the corridor?'

'We yelled at each other.'

'You didn't say anything stupid did you?'

'No of course not!'

-

Hermione stalked angrily over the grounds. That stupid slimy gittish bastard!! What the hell was wrong with him? He was so ARGHHHHHHH!!!!!!!! THAT BASTARD!!!!!!!!!!

She lost all stream of coherent thought and flung her satchel down on the ground in fury. Her short hair stuck up in all directions and in any other circumstances it would have been funny. Hermione couldn't believe it though! What the hell?!

She was well aware it had been a curse… not the curse she had originally thought… but why? Why had someone cast a curse on Draco? What was the whole aim meant to be of it? She rubbed her chin thoughtfully and her anger ebbed away; who had cast it on him? Oh and there was Blaise too… could it have been a Slytherin perhaps? No… they all respected each other far too much… a Gryffindor? No… they wouldn't have cursed their own… Ravenclaws weren't that petty. And Hufflepuffs weren't that vicious… maybe one of the teachers? No… it was them who got Dumbledore to take the curse off… Who else would want to wreak havoc at Hogwarts???

LUCIUS!!! It struck her like a heavy blow. He was evil, he hated Gryffindors, and he wouldn't blink at cursing his own son. It was a far shot, but why not? He would be strange enough to try something like that. She furrowed her brow in confusion and thought about various reasons… oh no!!!

Harry!!!

'What was that?' Harry asked suspiciously. He leapt to his feet and drew out his wand. 'VOLDERMORT WILL NOT WIN SO EASILY!! I WILL PREVAIL AGAINST DARKNESS IN THE END!!'

'See?? He is twisting your mind so you will become evil like him!!'

Was it her imagination, or had Harry become more paranoid as time went on because of her and Draco's relationship?? It was a well known fact that Lucius was a DEATH EATER. VOLDERMORT was Harry's arch-enemy!!! It all fitted together!!!

'I have to warn him!!' Hermione cried to no one in particular.

'No you don't.' A voice whispered hoarsely as they pulled a sack over her head.

-

Draco looked up from his book sharply and stared out the window into the approaching gloom of night. He'd hidden away in the Slytherin tower all day and still didn't feel like chancing a walk out in the halls. No teachers had come to find him… he'd hide for as long as he could without getting caught. He really didn't want to face the students now. Not after being so dopey around Granger.

He briefly wondered if she was still upset. She had seemed it earlier on… but surely she had been under the curse too?? She wouldn't have actually liked him would she have?? No, that was a preposterous idea!! It was Granger!!

-

Harry and Ron burst into the common room out of breath.

'We haven't found her anywhere!!' Harry cried whilst wringing his hands. 'I just know something had happened to her!'

'We should go to Dumbledore.' Ron suggested.

'Yeah.' The two bolted back out to portrait hole and headed up to the stone gargoyle. They hadn't seen Hermione all day, not since the episode at breakfast where she had run out of the room after Malfoy.

-

Hermione struggled furiously at the ropes binding her and tried to spit out her gag.

'Mphm mphm mhphmhpm hpmhm!!!!!!' She screamed indignantly. The Death eater guarding her rolled his eyes and went back to his book. Hermione whacked her heels against the stone floor causing him to start, and he gave her a filthy look.

'Will you just calm down and be a more placid captive?!' he exploded. 'Do you pay any thought to how I must feel in this dank dungeon??!!! NO!! You just go on and on and on and on, being a little brat, just because you're tied up!! At least you haven't been on fricken guard duty for four solid weeks!!!!' He took deep breath and resumed his seat since he had leapt to his feet during this enlightening spiel. Hermione gaped at him, well, tried to as she still had a gag, and tried to spit it out again.

'Mphpm!!'

'OH JUST SHUT UP!!! I THOUGHT THE FRICKEN GAGS WERE SUPPOSED TO KEEP CAPTIVES QUIET!!!' He tore at his hair and the door at the top of the stairs opened to reveal a lone figure silhouetted against the faint light.

'I'm here to relieve you Parkinson.' The man called out in a gruff unfriendly voice. Parkinson ran blindly up and out the stairs through the door, and the new guard wandered down to take a seat. 'Wonder why they didn't leave you untied in that cell.' He noted. Hermione glared at him and tried to spit out her gag once more.

'Mphm!!!' she told him. He nodded and took up a key. He opened the cell door and shoved her in, then motioned her to the bars so he could untie her through them.

'There, try and be quiet so I don't have to silence you.'

'Whatever.' Hermione muttered huffily. She rubbed at her sore wrists and sighed loudly. 'Why am I here?'

'So Potter will come and rescue you.'

'You could have convinced him of that without kidnapping me.' She pointed out.

'Yes but having you running around might have confused him a bit. He only has three brain cells; one to eat, one to sleep, and one to tell the others which one is which.'

'Oh when I get out of here…' Hermione fumed.

'I doubt you will. In fact, I'm not quite sure why the Dark Lord hasn't killed you yet. Maybe he likes you!' He snorted at his own joke and Hermione resisted the urge to scream incoherently at him.

'Do you know anything about the curses at Hogwarts?'

'You mean the one on Malfoy? Oh yes, it was to make Potter paranoid.' The Death Eater went on to explain everything and Hermione was stunned at how on the mark she'd been.

'Why didn't you just turn his pillow into a portkey and kill him immediately when he got transported to the spot you chose?!' She demanded. Honestly, Dark Lords were so stupid!!!

'Well, this seemed more entertaining, and Lucius got more points for being creative.'

'Points?!'

'In a manner of speaking! Not literally… but he does go a bit higher on the evil hierarchy, I mean, hell, I'm going to go a fair bit down after telling you all this, but it's just something you need to know, don't you think?'

'Excuse me? You're telling me all this stuff I'm not supposed to hear, just so you can get punished for it?'

'Exactly. I mean, I'm a very informative guard. This is what I'm meant to do.'

'Why?'

'Because I can! Now, there's probably going to be some amazing rescue attempt soon, so I'm going to nod off.'

'Alright then.' Hermione said in disbelief. The Death Eater settled down in his seat, and soon his loud snoring filled the entire dungeon. She gaped at him for a while and then realised it was all part of Voldemort's plan.

A/N: Well that took a while. Sorry!! I was just a bit distracted with my school results and such…