Very very sorry for the long wait. I meant to post this on Sunday but the site was being weird so I did not. I really don't know when I'm going to update again because I have a lot of things going on until the first week of May. Then I'm free for a few weeks then I have to study for finals then school is out! That's still very far away...
Anyways, thank you all for reviewing and here's the next chapter.
Disclaimer- 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 that you do not recognize.
Hermione was slumped against the wall of her cell, her head in her hands. It had been about five days since she'd been brought here. She had been given a good meal while in here. She supposed that it was the most she would get though.
She wanted to go home. Not to Draco's house but back to her own home with her own parents. They were probably unaware that she was being held captive in god knows where. They would probably never find out about it. It was usual for her not to talk to her parents for a few months at a time. Hermione brushed away the tears that sped down her cheeks.
One thing she could not believe was that Charles had been working with Lucius the whole time. To her, he did not seem like the type who would let anyone control what he did. But he did.
She had an odd dream the other night. It was rather hazy but it involved her and Draco. Hermione could not remember more than that but it was a rather nice dream. She missed him in an odd way. It hadn't been too long of a time since she'd seen him but they had only been around each other every day for about two months.
She missed the sound he made when he walked. He was not loud or anything but his steps were almost dangerous in a sense. There was a cocky sense of confidence in how he walked but that only added to the sound he made.
Hermione missed his touch. They were not intimate or anything but every time he walked with her, he would hold her hand or touch her waist. She knew that it was only a friendly gesture; she was sure he only meant it in a friendly gesture at least. But, she liked it. It made her feel protected in a sense. Every time Charles had been following her or doing something to her, Draco would take her hand and give her a reassuring sort of squeeze and take her away from him.
Merlin, she sounded like a hopeless romantic. She almost smiled despite her situation. Here she was locked in a cell in some random place that was home to Lucius Malfoy and she was fantasizing about his son, who was a wonderful person once you got to know him.
She was getting ahead of herself. There was nothing between the two of them. Things would go back to normal once she got her sight back. That or she would die down here and nothing would happen anyways because she wouldn't be there for anything to happen.
They were not even friends. He was just a man who always kept his word no matter he was asked. A very handsome man at that…
A soft creaking jerked Hermione out of her thoughts. She could hear footsteps walking towards her. It was not Lucius for every time he came down to see Hermione, he always came with his cane. These were rather familiar footsteps.
Hermione pressed her back against the wall and said, "Charles."
Charles Duprés looked through the bars of the cell at her and dropped his head. "Hermione."
"What do you want?" asked Hermione coldly.
Charles shrugged pathetically and answered, "Nothing...I just came to see how you were doing."
"Am I supposed to be thankful for that?"
"I should think so," sighed Charles. "After all, you haven't had any company down here apart from Master." The last word came out of Charles's mouth with a slight bit of hesitation that Hermione refused to acknowledge.
Hermione's mouth quirked slightly as she muttered, "Master...dear old master." She drew her knees towards her chest and placed her arms on top of them. "It must be nice working for him. After all, it's only your life he has in his hands."
Charles gazed at Hermione with an unreadable expression. After a while he said, "He would never kill any of us."
A laughed bubbled forth from Hermione mouth. "Charles, Charles, Charles, Charles...you don't know anything." Hermione clutched her knees tighter towards her chest and said, "You don't know what it means to be in the service of a tyrant like him, do you?"
"That's lovely coming from you," he spat, his eyes flashing. "You don't know either."
"I'm sure I don't know anything from your point of view," she replied pointedly, "But, I could tell you stories of Death Eater meetings that would make you sick to your stomach. Some of them, I saw with my own eyes, that is when I had my sight." When Charles said nothing, she said, "I fought in the war. Don't tell me that I know nothing."
"You don't seem like a war veteran," he admitted. "Look at you now. You're pathetic, lying here having given up all hope."
"You think you know everything but in reality, you don't." Hermione pushed her hair out of her face as she felt it tickle her nose. "You are terribly sheltered Charles. You've grown up here not knowing that the next day you might be dead."
"And you did?" drawled Charles staring at her.
Hermione ignored him and asked, "Where exactly am I?"
"Give me one good reason why I should answer that."
Hermione scowled and answered, "It's not like I'll be able to tell anyone." When Charles didn't answer her, she said, "You are no fun at all."
"You don't strike me as a person who would like fun people." Charles's blue eyes gleamed with slight humor.
Hermione sighed. "Where am I?"
"In a cell, darling," he muttered.
"Do not call me that ever again," she snapped. "Where is this cell located?"
"In a dungeon," replied Charles with a slight smirk on his lips.
Hermione stuck her lip out and whispered in a deadly quiet voice, "Has anyone ever told you that you are infuriating?"
"Only every single day of my life," returned Charles cheekily.
"When I get out of here, I swear that I will strangle you to death, Charles."
Charles raised an eyebrow and replied, "Don't you mean if you get out of here?" He was answered by a shower of sparks behind him. He yelled as they landed on his back, burning him slightly.
"What the hell was that?" he yelped looking at her with wide eyes.
Hermione frowned and said, "What do you mean?"
"You- I- there were sparks on my back." Charles glared at her with anger as she stared straight in front of her. When he remembered that she could not see, his anger lessened considerably.
"It must have been accidental magic," concluded Hermione. "I get angry very easily. Many of my friends can attest to that." Hermione finished her statement with a cool expression on her face. "What did you really come down here for?"
"I told you. I wanted to see how you were doing. Give you a familiar face."
"I'm not an idiot, Duprés," she muttered coldly. Charles looked at her with slight apprehension as she referred to him with his last name.
"Fine then." Charles regarded Hermione coolly before grasping one of the bars with his hands and leaning his head against them. "Master sent me down here."
"Whatever for?" asked Hermione, the coldness not gone from her voice.
Charles's blue eyes bore into hers as he said, "Master wanted me to tell you that he's willing to give you your sight back."
Hermione's froze. Her sight. She wanted it back so badly. To be able to see color again. To be able to do what she wanted. She would be free once again. Not literally, but she wouldn't have anyone guiding her anywhere. She let out the breath she had been holding and dropped her head. There was obviously a catch. Lucius Malfoy would not willingly give back her sight for any slight reason.
Turning her head away from Charles, she said, "What does he want?"
"Pardon?"
"You heard me. What does Lucius want?"
"I- I didn't ask."
"Well, next time, ask," snapped Hermione turning completely away from him.
Charles closed his eyes as he sighed. It would not be easy telling Master that she had not given him an answer. Charles frowned to himself. He had not realized that he had begun referring to Lucius as Master in his head. He hated the man more than hell itself but he was powerless to do anything else.
As lifted his head off of the bars, he glanced back at Hermione who had her head in her hands. He ran a hand through his hair and muttered, "I'm sorry."
Hermione did not give any indication that she had heard him.
Charles walked away with a heavy heart and a horrible feeling in his stomach.
Draco was sitting outside on the balcony with a cup of hot chocolate in his hand. Hot chocolate was not his favorite drink but that was that there was in the house for some reason. he had been too lazy to conjure some coffee or fire whiskey for himself.
It was around five o'clock in the morning but, he was wide awake. He had not adjusted to the time in California as it was about eight hours behind the time back where he lived. It had been about four days since his mother and his aunt had brought him here. Much to his annoyance, both of them had been too busy for him to ask them any questions.
The only highlight of his day had been when his aunt had walked into the room he was sitting and crashed into the wall because her nose had been buried in a book. Draco had started laughing but quickly became quiet once she turned her full gaze on him. It was safe to say that he did not like her very much.
He was getting rather tired. Not sleepy tired but tired that he had not been able to get any further on where Hermione had gone. He hadn't gotten any dreams and he was not sure whether that was a good thing or a bad thing.
Draco was subject to a very odd feeling every time she appeared in his mind. It almost as though he wanted her-needed her with him. He thought that it was just that he felt overly guilty for not looking after her properly as the hospital had assigned her to his care but he was not so sure.
Every time he pictured her, her eyes always seemed to be her most prominent feature. Their rich amber color shone with emotion and much to Draco's intrigue did not look as though they were unseeing at all. They looked...not normal to say the least because normal eyes to him did not look that pretty but they looked...
Draco sighed and took a sip of his hot chocolate. He stared out into the bay, sprinkled with tiny lights that ran on some sort of muggle thing called electricity. He would never understand for all the world how any muggle things worked. Perhaps if he asked Ron Weasley's father he might know but to him, asking a Weasley to explain something to him was a blow to his self esteem. It would not do to have a Weasley teaching a Malfoy. Draco was a different person from what he had been at Hogwarts but some things for him would never change.
He had gotten to thinking about his dream. Dreams were a rare occurrence for him. This dream must have held some significant detail that Draco was not focusing on. Draco was not very fond of divination. In fact, he used to make other people do his divination homework for him. The tests on the other hand were very easy as he always had his mother to rely on. She was in love with divination. Her power, Draco shuddered slightly as he thought of it, revolved around divination much to his annoyance.
The power that his mother and her sisters had was a very enigmatic thing. Draco did not want anything to do with it, yet there was one simple thought that pulled at him and constantly nagged at him. They must have gotten their powers from someone. Things like these did not just come to three sisters. This thing must have been passed down from generation to generation in the Black family. If that was true then wouldn't he have some sort of power as well?
Draco laughed loudly then shaking his head, downed the rest of his hot chocolate almost burning his tongue in the process.
He had no special power because he was Draco Malfoy. Draco Malfoy did not inherit anything from his parents apart from the name, dashingly handsome looks, and well, a lot of money.
Somewhere inside of him, a voice said, but if you did have a power like your mother or your aunt, you might be able to find Granger.
Draco snorted and thought, "Smashing, I develop some sort of lame power where I grow wings on my head and fly around singing that I'm a fairy. That's a wonderful way to find Hermione."
Referring to her as Hermione, are we?
"That's her name isn't it?"
What happened to Granger? That's what you've been calling her all these years.
"What exactly are you suggesting?"
I think someone is in love.
"Oh, shut up. You sound like my mother."
I don't see you denying it though.
"Anything that you say is untrue."
"Are you talking to yourself, Draco?"
Draco's gaze snapped up as he saw his mother looking at him with a raised eyebrow. "What?"
"You were talking to yourself, Draco," replied Narcissa looking at her son with a confused look on her face. "You are aware that talking to yourself is the first sign of madness."
"Please mother, I do not need your humor right now."
Narcissa sighed at sat down next to Draco. She pulled her black robe tighter around her body as a breeze flew by the two of them.
"I suppose you are feeling rather frustrated right now." Draco did not reply to her. He faced the bay with a stone like face. Narcissa frowned at him and said, "I apologize for that. Now what is it you want to know?"
"I...I don't even know where to start."
"That could be a problem," intoned Narcissa. Her blue eyes swept over the bay then returned to Draco. "We shall be staying here for a while, just to let you know."
Draco looked at his mother wishing that the crease lines in her brow would go away. He hated seeing her so worried. It made her look old. He did not like seeing her look old. It all served to remind him that one day she too would leave him like everyone else had.
"Why? Why are we here?"
Narcissa sighed and looked at the bay. The sun was starting rise and it looked rather ethereal. Placing a hand on her son's shoulder, she said, "Everything unwanted always starts with something unwanted. My visions were considered a gift for the most part. They come and go and I have no way of controlling them." She sighed once again and said, "They come in flashes. Therefore, I never know when they are going to happen."
Draco looked at her with question as he said, "This has something to do with the vision you had a while back, doesn't it?"
Narcissa nodded and tightened her grip on his shoulder. "I need you to listen to me Draco. I need you to believe me. Don't shut me out like you do to others when you don't want to hear what they are telling you."
"Is it really that bad, mother?" Draco's gray eyes caught the light of the rising sun as he turned to look at her.
Narcissa fixed her gaze on him as she said, "Your father is alive, Draco."
Draco's eyes widened with anger as he heard the words come from his mother's mouth. "You're lying."
"You know as well as I do that I do not lie."
"You told me yourself that he was dead." Draco got up from his seat and turned away from his mother sharply.
"I said no such thing," replied Narcissa calmly.
Draco shook his head and turned back to her, his eyes cold. "I don't believe you."
"You do not have a choice." Narcissa pushed away a piece of her hair that had fallen from its bun and said, "Do you really believe that I would lie to you?"
"Why wouldn't you?" snarled Draco.
"I have never lied to you, Draco, and I never will." Narcissa looked upon her son with an unreadable expression on her face. "Your aunt saw the vision as well as I did."
"Oh, so you show her the vision. That's rich."
"Draco, I do not see why you are making such a big deal out of this." Narcissa regarded her son with a serene expression on her face that did not betray what she was thinking.
He shook his head and laughed. Turning around to face her, he ran a hand through his blond hair and said, "I see what this is." He looked at her with an ugly look on his face and drawled, "You miss father. You still love him and want him back after all that he's done."
Narcissa stood up with a cool expression marring her features and calmly announced, "Draco, stop being an insolent brat." She began walking towards him, her blue eyes gleaming with malice. "I do not deny that I miss him but let me tell you one thing. I do not think that you fully understand the gravity of our situation."
"Well then, since you seem to be the authority on the subject, enlighten me mother."
Draco watched as his mother's eyes narrowed into slits. He could tell that she was seething underneath. He did care because to him, it was what she deserved.
He was not at all prepared for what happened next though. A second later, he was sprawled on the ground holding his stinging cheek. His mother was standing above him with a frosty expression on her face. Her eyes were wildly blue and Draco did not like it at all.
He had pushed her past her point of calmness, he did not deny that. In fact, he had always wondered what would happen if he tested his mother's patience too much. She was known for being the most calm and collected woman on the face of the earth. She had never hit him before though. Draco looked up at her, with an expression of fear and shock on his face.
He watched motionless as she bent down in front of him with an emotionless look on her face. It was times like these that she scared him. In a second, she had her wand out trained at Draco. She muttered something and Draco felt him go stiff. She had used the full body bind on him.
She leaned towards him and whispered, "In all my life, I have never seen anyone act with as much contempt and lowliness as you have just done." She sneered at him and asked in a deadly quiet voice, "What on earth possessed you to speak like that to your mother?" She placed both her hands on Draco's shoulders and drew herself level with his eyes. "Rest assured that if I ever hear anything that disgraceful come from your mouth again, I will not hesitate to punish you."
She watched him with an emotionless mask that Draco hated. He hated it because it was not who she was. It was the result of fifty years of being brought up in a pureblood society with prissy rules that were never meant to be made in the first place. Everything about it was fake. And to see it on his mother's face was not something that Draco enjoyed. At least seeing her look old made her human.
"Your father is alive whether you like it or not. He is the one responsible for the abduction of Hermione Granger. I need you believe that for me, Draco." When Draco merely glared at her, she said, "I know that you do not want to believe it but if you want even a chance at rescuing her, you need to accept it. Do you remember what I told you the day he 'died', Draco?" Narcissa frowned at her son who kept his glare steady. "I told you that he was gone, not dead. Never have I once said that Lucius was dead."
Narcissa looked at her son, her eyes softening slightly. She did not mean to strike him. Draco needed to be told his limits. He had overstepped them and he needed to be reminded of the consequences. In her mind, she admitted that it was wrong of her to strike her only child but, she had let her defenses slide since Lucius had disappeared.
Draco's eyes were hard with anger as he took in Narcissa's statement. In his mind, he knew that she would never lie to him. He should have known that his father would never go away. His death was too good to be true. If the man could escape from Azkaban, he could obviously escape from death as well. He looked her as she watched him with her blue eyes. She pulled out her wand and muttered the counter curse. Draco relaxed as he felt that his body could move again.
"Are you alright now?"
Draco did not look at her. When he finally did, he said, "He'll hurt her."
"What?"
"He'll hurt Hermione."
Narcissa nodded gravely and said, "He might. But there must have been a reason that he took her in the first place."
Draco shook her head and said, "I can't let him hurt her." He looked up at his mother and said, "I gave them my word that I would look after her, mother."
Narcissa nodded slightly and smoothed back his hair. "It's alright, Draco. We'll get her back."
Draco shook his head and stood up. "I'll kill him if he touches her."
"Draco, calm down." Narcissa pulled Draco down into the seat next to her.
Draco looked at her suddenly and said, "You know what's going to happen, don't you?" His reply was a nod. "But you don't know when?" Narcissa shook her head. "Then tell me what's going to happen."
"I can't do that, son."
"Why not?" demanded Draco.
Narcissa sighed and said, "Another downside of having this power. By knowing what happens in the future, the fates take into account any sort of action that the seer or the vision receiver might take in order to change the course of the vision. As a result, those who know what will happen are powerless to do anything."
Draco looked at his mother, emotionless. "What then? Does this whole thing rest on me?"
"Don't think of it as a chore. You want to rescue Hermione Granger because it is the right thing to do. Your aunt and I are there to help you and guide you."
"You and dear aunty," muttered Draco dryly.
Narcissa frowned and asked, "Why is it that you dislike her so much?"
"I just…I don't know."
Placing her hand on her son's shoulder, Narcissa said, "She's not going to take me away from you if that's what you're worried about." Seeing Draco's expression not changing, Narcissa said, "She did not have to welcome me into her home; after all, I did cast her out with the rest of my family. But, Draco she did. She welcomed me home with open arms." Narcissa grasped her son's hand and said, "She cannot leave us even if she wanted to."
Draco turned away from her and glanced at the tall buildings on the hills of the city in front of him. He looked back at his mother and said, "I still don't like her. Nothing will change that."
"Give her a chance, dear." Narcissa smiled grimly and said, "Andromeda is a very interesting person once you get to know her."
"I suppose you are saying that from experience?"
"No, I am not." Narcissa turned away from him and said, "I am very regretful for that." Draco rolled his eyes. "You would benefit greatly from having a close relationship with her. There is much you can learn from her."
"Like what?" retorted Draco, fixing his steely eyes on her.
"Just talk to her. Sit down and make a conscious effort to talk to her."
"That is such a motherly thing to say, mother," retorted Draco dryly. "I never expected to hear you say that."
Narcissa cracked a smile and chuckled. "By the way, we need a few things from the market."
Draco raised an eyebrow and asked, "The muggle market?"
"Heavens no, the wizarding market." Narcissa frowned and said, "China Town, if I'm not mistaken."
"I suppose I could go. I need to get out of this place." Draco ran his hand through his hair and stared out at the bay. He turned to look at his mother but found that she was already gone.
I was wondering... would anyone mind if I brought Charmed into this...just the sisters? They wouldn't play a major role or anything but after all this is San Francisco and that's where Charmed takes place. Tell me what you think and don't forget to review!