Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter or anything that is affiliated with it. The only thing that I own is the plot.
A/N: thanks for all the reviews that I received on the last chapter. I'm glad that everyone liked it. I also want to thank everyone that either gave me a website or a name for Voldemort's son. I'm closer to deciding on the name now.
Chapter Fifteen: The Rescue
Hermione woke up to find that both her ankles and wrist were bound together by ropes. Once her eyes had adjusted to the darkness, she was able to make out that she was in an old house filled with destroyed furniture. She had been here before; it was none other than the Shrieking Shack.
"So you finally woke up?" squeaked a small voice, which was filled with terror.
"You? How? Why?" Hermione asked in shock. Peter Pettigrew. How could he have kidnapped her?
"My Master will be so glad when I bring you to him. I will be rewarded beyond any of his followers. Not only have a kidnapped Harry Potter's best friend, but a second Zabini child that has been hidden from my Master." Pettigrew squeaked, not making any move towards her. Even with her bound, he was terrified to go anywhere near her. She was a smart witch and he didn't want to take any chances until night fell and they could be on their way.
"How do you know?" Hermione asked in shock, but there was also a hint of fear in her voice.
"I was sent to overhear information that the order had, but instead I found something better. I was in that classroom where Harry and you talked, in my animagus form, of course. I heard you say that you were the twin sister to Blaise Zabini. Wait until my Master hears this. I guarantee that their will be hell to pay." Peter answered and for the briefest of seconds the fear left his face only to be replaced by a smug look.
"He'll never find out," Hermione snarled. "They will know that I am missing. They will search for me and when they find me, you will get what you deserve."
"No one will find you. Not a single person will know that you are missing until it is too late." Peter answered before leaving the room, letting the door slam behind him.
- x -
Once Harry and Ron reached their common room, they allowed the group of Slytherins in before bolting upstairs to get the map from Harry's trunk.
"So this is what their common room looks like?" Draco asked. "I'm not impressed. Ours is so much better than this."
"We've seen your common room, Draco," Harry answered as he and Ron descended the stairs. "There is no need to lie. Ours is just more comfy and not nearly as cold."
"What? When have you been in our dorms." Blaise asked, as far as he was concerned no one from any other house had ever been inside the Slytherin Common Room.
"No time," Ron answered before turning to Harry. "Should we activate the map in front of them?"
"Might as well," he answered, sensing that Snape already remembered the old parchment from third year. "I solemnly swear I am up to no good."
Quickly five set of eyes swept over the map. At first they couldn't find where Hermione was, fearing now that she had already been taken off Hogwarts ground.
"There!" Blaise suddenly shouted, pointed to a dot that was labeled 'Rayanna Granger'.
"Rayanna Granger?" Harry asked.
"The map must not know by what name to label her. What I am more concerned about it the dot labeled Peter Pettigrew that is no farther than a foot away from her. I think that we have just found out attacker. Now if you would follow me, I think that we must be on our way to the Shrieking Shack."
With that Snape headed out of the common room, follow closely by Ron and Harry, who just wanted their friend safely returned to them. For a moment, Blaise and Draco stood shocked, never having heard the real story behind the shrieking shack, before running to catch up with the group that was now at least fifteen feet ahead of them.
Once they had reached the Whomping Willow, Snape prodded to tree with a stick and then he turned to talk to the four boys behind him.
"Bringing the four of you here may not have been the best choice of action. However, I know that none of you would have stayed put if I had ordered you to stay in the castle. Since you are here, I expect you to help in any way possible. Our goal is to make sure Hermione is brought back safely, once we have her, we can go after Pettigrew. I'll lead and take care of Pettigrew if he is a problem. Potter, you will help me, the rest of you will get Rayanna out of danger." Snape said before drawing out his wand and entering the tunnel.
To Harry, it seemed like the tunnel was a lot longer than he remembered. Finally the tunnel ended and the five of them emerged in a room. With a quick sweep of the room, Harry noticed Peter Pettigrew, the rat that was the cause of so much pain, in the corner, wand draw and eyes shifting to a closed door to his right.
"Hermione must be in there," Harry whispered to Ron, indicating to the door where Pettigrew was looking. "I'll take care of him. He'll pay for what he has done to Sirius, and my parents."
- x -
Hermione was sitting on the floor, silent tears running down her cheeks, when she heard the door open. Hastily she rubbed the tears away. The last thing that she would do was give that rat the satisfaction of seeing her cry.
"What do you plan to do now? You said we weren't leaving until it was dark. I know time hasn't pasted that quickly." Hermione snarled without looking to see who had come in the room.
"Hermione?" Ron's voice asked as she heard several pairs of feet coming towards her.
The first person she saw was her twin brother as he began to untie the ropes around her wrist. Smiling, she looked down and saw that Ron and Draco were working together to loosen the ropes around her ankles.
"You came," Hermione said, throwing her arms around her brother once her hands were free. "You actually came."
"Of course we came." Blaise answered. "We didn't spend so much time searching for you to let you go so easily."
"Your stuck with us," Draco answered from behind Blaise. "And I guess were stuck with your friends. Could be worse." He said shrugging his shoulders.
"Where's Harry?" Hermione asked, wondering if Harry had come with them.
"He's with Snape. Probably giving Peter what he finally deserves." Ron answered.
- x -
"Peter Pettigrew, did you actually have to courage to kidnap a child? My niece at the very least?" Snape taunted to man, whose only response was to raise his wand. "Expelliarmus!" Snape yelled, and Peter's wand was instantly in his hand.
Noticing the look on Peter's face, Harry knew what he planned to do next. "No, not again. You won't get away with it," Harry said, anger in his voice, as Peter changed into a rat. Raising his wand, he pointed at the rat and yelled "Petrificus Totalus!" stopping the rat dead in his tracks. Picking it up by its tail, Harry made sure that Hermione was safe before making his way back to the castle to clear his late godfather's name.
A/N: Well that is it for this chapter. Not exactly my best. I had trouble with this chapter. I wasn't quite sure how I should write it. I hope everyone enjoyed it. Please leave a review telling me what you thought of the chapter. Thanks as always for reading.
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