Chapter One: The Beginning

I was running down the hall, doing a quick scan of the rooms. They'd be searched up and down when the next group of Aurors that came behind. Once I had searched most of the first floor, Harry caught up to me.

'Do you think you could go check out the basement?' he asked, pointing to the door. I nodded.

'Yeah, no problem.' I opened the door, wand out and ready as I crept down the stairs. It was dark, and so I whispered as quiet as possible, 'Lumos.' A light flickered from the tip of my wand, filling the room. As I hit the bottom of the stairs, I saw something in the far corner move.

'Is there anyone down here?' No answer. I turned away for a second, and found myself on my back on the ground, a body over me, one hand holding my wrists above my head, another hand over my mouth. I opened my eyes and found two silver eyes looking back at me. Lucius Malfoy. I tried to scream, but his hand muffled it.

'Shut up, you stupid girl,' he said. I stopped trying to scream, and instead tried pulling myself from his grip, which only tightened. 'Stop it, or I promise you I will kill you. Now, I am going to remove my hand. And you will not make a sound.' I nodded, full of fear. He slowly removed his hand off of my mouth. I closed my eyes, taking a deep breath.

'Why didn't you leave when you had the chance? You could have aparated and been going.' He smirked as he sat up, his hands still gripping my wrists, pulling me up with him.

'I couldn't leave without you.'

All of my Auror training I had had never prepared me for a moment like this; soo panic stricken I was afraid to move. I was trained against Dark Wizards, but only one compared to Lucius Malfoy; and that other one was the one that Harry, Ron and I and fought so hard to try to defeat for all these years, never succeeding.

'Why is that?' I finally asked, as Lucius muttered a spell, binding my hands behind my back. He stepped in front of me, his silver eyes meeting mine.

'The Dark Lord wants to talk with you, my dear.' He stepped away, giving me my first good look at him, and he I.

He wore a black and dark green cloak that hung down loosely around his body. His once long platinum blond hair had since been cut short from the last time I had seen him; probably an attempt to rid it of the ratty, stringy tangles and knots his time in Azkaban had brought. He had slight bags under his eyes; nothing too drastic or noticeable, but enough to age his face a little, which was in addition to the hallowing in his cheeks and the more noticeable thinning of his face. He looked a lot older than I knew he was.

'Well. Seems you've gone and grown up,' he said.

'Hermione?' Harry's voice dragged down the stairs. 'Are you alright?'

'Answer him!' Lucius hissed.

'Y-yeah,' I stuttered, my gaze still on Lucius. 'I'm fine.' I prayed that Harry would recognize the fear in my voice. I heard the floorboards above us creak, and the figure walking stopped right above us, at the door to the basement.

'Do you need any help?'

'No.' My voice was shaky. Slowly the floorboards creaked again, as Harry stepped onto the stairs. I saw his sneakers first as he came down, and Lucius stepped behind me, grabbing my wrist again. He had my wand in his pocket, and his want in his hand. His wand arm wrapped around me and I closed my eyes, hearing Harry yell my name. It faded away as the familiar sensation of apparating over took me, pressing me until my feet hit the ground of our destination. Lucius let go of me and I hit the cement floor, my hands still tied tightly behind my back.

'Finally Lucius. I was beginning to think the mudblood had proved to much for you,' hissed a voice from in front of me. Lucius dragged my to my feet again and I raised my gaze to meet that of the Dark Lord Voldemort, his red eyes searing into me as he looked me up and down, his starch-white face sporting a happy smirk.

'But here she is, my Lord.'

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A/N – oooo cliffie! Haha … pls review… the more reviews the sooner the next chappy will appear. Sorry this is so short, btw