Don't worry, I have not fallen off the Earth. I'm very sorry for not updating but I have become so busy and as a result, I'm not sure when I'll be able to update next. Hopefully by next Saturday, but I'm not too sure about that. Anyways, thanks to everyone who's reading and everyone who reviewed!

Dsiclaimer- I do not own harry Potter or any of its characters. They are all owned by J. K. Rowling but I do own those characters, which you don't recognize.


Charles Duprés hit the soft carpet with a rather loud thud. His body convulsed exactly two times before his jaw snapped open. A rather tan hand grasped his jaw and poured a greenish looking liquid down his throat. The hand shoved his jaw closed as Charles's face began turning green. In a matter of seconds, his face returned to normal.

Charles opened his blue eyes and was met by a pair of rather angry eyes remarkably similar to his own. His eyes widened as he struggled to get off the floor. Unfortunately, he could not do anything as his legs had decided not to move. He looked up with fear all over his face at a tall woman with course brown hair and tan skin that resembled leather to a degree.

Sitting behind her with his legs crossed was a man with slicked back black hair and black eyes. He was drinking a cup of coffee and reading a newspaper.

Charles forced himself to put on a facade of cheer as he turned back to the woman. "Mom...what a pleasant surprise. You should have told me I was coming-

He was cut off as his body sailed through the air and smacked into a wall. The woman marched over to him, her eyes ablaze. She took him by the collar and snarled, "You think you're very clever, don't you?" She dropped him back on the ground and glared at him. "We worked very hard to get you in there, Charles."

He looked up at his mother with a glare. Wiping the blood off his lips, he muttered, "You got to the girl because of me..."

His mother swiveled around to face him with an ugly sneer on her face. "That's not the point Charles!" She turned to the man behind her and said, "Ruin, aren't you going to say something?"

The man looked up from his newspaper at his wife. "What's there to say? He found the weak link. He did exactly what the Master asked." He set down the paper and said, "I'm sure you hoped that he could have stayed there longer, Renée, but he couldn't."

Renée shook her head and looked disapprovingly at her son. "I still don't see how a mudblood can be the weak link." She fixed her gaze on her husband and asked, "Draco Malfoy is one of the most powerful wizards in Britain if what the Master has told us is true. How is a simple mudblood the key to his downfall?"

Charles, who was still on the floor, clutched his wrist, which was throbbing with pain and replied, "He's rather fond of her..." Renée looked at him sharply. "They went to school together, Mom. Then they both became Aurors and they had an accident that turned her blind. She stays with him and he and his mom take care of her."

Ruin let out a slight chuckle as Renée rolled her eyes. She looked at her husband with a slight frown and said, "Being fond of someone is not a weakness. I'm fond of my dog, Ruin, but I wouldn't be heartbroken if it died."

"That's not exactly fondness," muttered Charles struggling to get up. Renée turned to her son and sighed. She strode over to him and helped him up. Feeling his wrist for broken bones, she pulled out her wand and a pink glow issued from it. Charles moved his wrist around and grinned, finding that it was not broken anymore. Renée pulled her son to her and rubbed his head as he tried to get away from her.

"You make me want to torture you sometimes," she said to him.

Charles shook himself out of her grasp and glared at her. He straightened out his clothes and said, "Can I see her?"

"Who?"

"Hermione."

Renée raised an eyebrow and asked, "She is...?"

Charles rolled his eyes and answered, "The mudblood."

Renée gave a disgusted look and said, "The mudblood has a name?" She looked at her son who was very serious and said, "Ask your father for the key."

Charles smirked at his mother who proceeded to throw him another glare. He looked down at his father who was calmly drinking his coffee and reading the paper. "Dad?"

Ruin did not even look up as he said, "Yes?"

"Can I have the keys to the dungeons?"

"You should know by now that we don't own anything in here anymore."

Charles frowned and asked, "What do you mean?"

Ruin sighed and set down his paper. The Master owns everything that once belonged to us. We own nothing anymore." Ruin tiredly rubbed his temples causing Charles to see how serious the situation really was. Ruin was a jovial person in reality. Nothing could tire him out easily. He was an avid supporter of the dark side. He was not one of those people who felt that they had to have a dark attitude to match the side he was on. As a result, his demeanor surprised Charles.

"Dad, what...how is this possible?"

A dark look settled over Ruin's eyes as he muttered, "The Master is a very smart man. He knows everyone's weaknesses." Ruin looked past Charles at Renée who avoided his eyes. "You cannot refuse the Master, Charles. It is better that you learn that now than too late."

Charles frowned at his father and asked quietly, "What is going on?"

Ruin looked helplessly at his wife hoping that she would be of use but Renée merely turned her head away. He looked back at his son and sighed. "You don't belong to us anymore." Charles felt his blood go cold as the words were emitted from his father's mouth. "The Master dabbles in very dark magic. So dark in fact that he managed to get a hold of the...strings that hold me and your mother onto life. If you disobey him or displease him in any way, he won't hesitate to cut them..."

Charles looked upon his father's words with horror. He had fantasized about being one of the most loyal servants of a Dark Lord. He could lead a life where he held all the power in his hand. People would bow down to no one but him and his Master. While he would still have to bow down to the Dark Lord, he would live the perfect life. This was not at all perfect. This was blackmail.

Treacherous thoughts began to emerge in his head. Their family had taken the Master in when he had no one to turn to. They gave him clothing, shelter, food, and they had supported every decision he made in order to further his grasp of power. He should be bowing down to them, not the other way around. He shouldn't be allowed to hold the life of the two people Charles cared about the most in the palm of his hand. He tried frantically to wipe them out so that the Dark Lord would not be able to hear them.

He swallowed nervously and dropped his head slightly. Pushing his black hair out of his face, he looked back at his father and said, "So this is how it's going to be forever?" Ruin gave a barely noticeable nod and went back to reading the paper as though nothing had happened.

Charles turned around to look at his mother but found that she had already left the room.

Hermione Granger was miserable to say the least. She knew for a fact that she was not at St. Mungo's. To make matters worse, she was chained to a wall somewhere and her head was still pounding without any intention of letting up.

She hadn't eaten in a while and despite the fact that she knew that no one was there, it made her feel uncomfortable when her stomach growled.

Her wand was back at the manor as well. Whoever had taken her was not Draco for a fact. She knew something was wrong from the start but she had not trusted her instincts. It was one of the first things that an Auror was taught to do and she mentally slapped herself for not remembering. If Mad-Eye Moody were still alive, he would have been screaming in her head, "CONSTANT VIGILANCE!" He was paranoid for a reason.

This brought another question to her mind. How did the person who kidnapped her get into the Malfoy Manor in the first place? She knew that the wards on the place could not be fooled. They listened only to the owners of the house rather only to Narcissa Malfoy. From what Draco had told her, even he would not be allowed to control the wards until his mother died. Hermione also knew that after Charles's arrival, Narcissa had told the wards only to let the real Malfoys, Hermione, and Charles into the manor. That left no room for anyone else to come into the manor.

Perhaps Charles disguised himself as Draco to get her to come with him. He certainly was the shady type and she had done her best to avoid him. Yet, she found that he wasn't too bad underneath. Something inside her assured her that Charles would never do that. He was a straightforward type of person. He would have just asked her to come with him somewhere and tricked her into going into the fireplace.

Hermione shook her head and let out a groan as the chains cut into her wrist. They seemed to be growing smaller and smaller by the minute. Going back to what she was thinking about, she realized that nothing made sense. Unless there was an unknown relative Draco had, that left no one but Lucius Malfoy who had been dead since the end of the war. Or at least he was thought to be. Hermione thought back to the conversation she had with Narcissa the day she arrived at the manor.

"I'm sorry…"

"Don't be…the healers did all they could to help him. They were very close friends of his, in fact." Narcissa took out a handkerchief and blew her nose. "It must weigh heavy on their consciences that they could not save him."

Frowning to herself, she pulled her knees up to her chest and hugged them. The healers were friends of his. She shook her head wondering what Death Eater would turn around and become Lucius Malfoy's healer. A mentally unstable one would. She almost laughed out loud at the thought but then realized something. When Lucius Malfoy was reported dead, she had been at Ron's house. Ron and Harry had been rather drunk as they were celebrating the end of the war.

She distinctly remembered Ron saying something about him because right after he had said it, Hermione had slapped his head so hard that he had fallen over pulling Harry down with him. She frowned wishing she could remember what he said.

Out of nowhere, it came to her. "Too bad he died at his manor, eh Harry? The reporters could have taken pictures of his...hiccup... body at St. Mungo's and we could have had a blast throwing...hiccup...firewhiskey bottles at them."

He had died at the manor, not St. Mungo's. There had never been a funeral. No body was buried. Hermione knew that wizards were rarely cremated. It had something to do with not wanting to release dead souls and their magic into the air. The manor popped into her head and she realized something else. Every portrait in the house except for one was a portrait of a family member of the Malfoys. Dead family members. The healers had been friends of his, presumably Death Eaters...

Suddenly, everything snapped into place. There was no portrait of Lucius Malfoy because he was not dead. But, people thought he was dead even though there was no funeral. To have a funeral, there had to have been a body. No one paid attention to the fact that there was no funeral. Just the news that he was dead was enough to occupy a person's mind. But if a powerful Death Eater had been treated by his so called friends who would stick with him till the end, they would ensure that he did not die.

Where did Narcissa fit into all of this? She must have called Lucius's friends to the manor wanting to avoid a scene with reporters, which was what Harry and Ron had wished for. They must have taken him into a private room and told her not to come in unless she was called. Hermione smiled despite her current conditions. They must have found a way to save him but, knowing that no one would be content until he was dead, managed to hide him somehow.

Narcissa was probably called and told that before they could save him, he mysteriously vanished. The Death Eaters would have told her that he was as good as dead. Come to think of it, she never said that Lucius was dead. She always stopped her sentence right after his name or said that he could not be saved. She never said that he was dead. That's what she must have told Draco though. Hermione knew that Draco was convinced that his father was dead and would refuse to hear anything else about it.

Hermione grinned slightly and muttered, "He's not dead…Well I'll be damned."

"That can be arranged."

Hermione tilted her head towards the voice and winced as the chains tightened around her wrists. "Lucius Malfoy. I would say that it's smashing to see you but as I'm sure you must already know I can't see a thing."

Lucius Malfoy chuckled and leaned on the silver cane in his hand. "Of course I know, my dear. I arranged for it to happen myself."

"What?" Hermione froze and listened for a reply. She had not been prepared for an answer like that.

Lucius looked at her from the other side of iron bars and replied, "You are indeed the brightest witch of your age and I am sorry to hear that the rumors don't lie." He shifted his weight onto his other foot and continued, "You were the only one who noticed that your boss, Mr. Ringler had been acting a bit strange…strange things can be done with the Imperius."

Hermione gasped softly. How could she and Draco have not recognized the signs? Now that she thought about it, they were all there. It must have been the fact that since he was the head of the Auror department, he would never be prey to the Imperius curse. At least she had noticed something and told Draco to look out for it. It was easy to see that he did not heed her warning.

Lucius coughed interrupting Hermione's thoughts. "The wizard who did this to you," he said, a cruel smile appearing on his face, "could not have gotten access to that particular curse unless he was the owner of a particularly useful book, of which there is only one copy." Lucius smiled widely showing all of his white teeth and said, "As I'm sure you have already figured out, I am the owner of that book. That is the reason that no one's found a cure for your…affliction."

"You monster," hissed Hermione. "Why are you doing all of this?"

"Ah, I'll get to that in time, Ms. Granger." Lucius brushed off his robes and said, "Well, with your boss under the Imperius curse, it was not that difficult to have him send you and Draco to the store. It was all a matter of timing. Igneus revealed himself at the right moment and you were hit exactly how you should have been. That completed the first part of my plan or at least I thought it did."

"What do you mean?"

"Patience is a virtue, Ms. Granger. You were supposed to be a distraction. With Potter and Weasley out of the way, I only needed to get Draco out of the way in order to take over the ministry."

"What about the minister?"

Lucius dismissed her question with a wave of his hand and replied smugly, "I took care of him a long time ago." Hermione scowled and gasped as the hand cuffs cut into her skin once again. Lucius did not notice and kept talking. "Draco was supposed to stay at home and take care of you the entire time. I knew my son well enough to see that he had a very guilty conscience. Unfortunately, I did not count on Narcissa pushing him to go back to work while she looked after you.

"That led me to see that my son was not as weak as I originally thought he was. It was as though he had built a stone wall around himself." Lucius smiled uncannily and looked down at Hermione. "I needed to find another weakness so I sent my beloved nephew, Charles Duprés to gather information about the three of you."

"What?" Hermione's eyes widened though she was unable to see anything. "Charles has been working for you all this time?"

"Well, I own him so he has to do whatever I ask of him. I don't reward him for his services."

Hermione spat in the direction where she hoped he was standing and nearly cried out loud as the chain dug into her wrists. She could feel something cold begin to slide down her wrists.

Lucius laughed and shook his head. "Silly mudblood. You must have realized by now that whenever you do something I don't like, the chains will get tighter." Hermione scowled at him and gasped as they grew tighter. Lucius laughed once more and said, "Charles was able to find out quite a few things during the short period of time he was there. I wanted him to stay for a longer time but he was rather careless and was caught. He did find what I was looking for though…"

"And what does that have to do with me?" Hermione shuddered as more blood began to drop down her wrists.

She felt a chill go down her spine as the door to her cell creaked open. The clacking of Lucius's cane came soon after as he strode over to where she was sitting. He grasped her chin sharply, nearly cutting into it with his fingers. He turned her head from side to side causing Hermione to want to throw up.

Lucius dropped her head and looked down at her with a frown. "You are wondering what role you play in all of this?" Hermione nodded, waiting for an answer. "Why, you are Draco's weakness."

Much to her surprise, she found herself laughing at the statement. "Me? Draco's weakness? I think you've made a mistake." She laughed once more and cried out as the chain dug even deeper into her skin. If he kept this up, her hands would be gone in no time.

"No, no, no, I assure you, I have made no mistake. Draco has grown rather fond of you." Lucius stroked his chin thoughtfully and said, "Charles noticed it the minute he saw the both of you."

"You're lying."

"I assure you I'm not, Ms. Granger." Lucius sneered at the blind girl and said, "You would have been blind not to see it." He paused for a second then said, "Oh, I nearly forgot, you are blind."

Hermione shrieked and lunged at him, wanting to rip his face to pieces. Lucius was ready for this and struck her down with his cane. Hermione flew into the wall with a cry and clutched her cheek, which was bleeding.

Lucius looked down at the crying girl with a smirk and said, "You would do well to act…accordingly. You wouldn't want to see Draco hurt now, would you?"

"What do you even want with him?" she cried, clutching her cheek. Blood was pouring down her face and onto her robes at an alarming rate.

Lucius laughed and said, "That, you'll have to figure it out on your own. You can do that, can't you?"

Hermione didn't answer him as he walked out of the cell with his cloak billowing behind him.