Disclaimer: I do not own any of the characters below. So please don't sue me! Thanks! =)

A/N: So… how was the first chapter? Was it good? Good enough? Or was it just all right? Hope you reviewed the first chapter before proceeding to reading the second one. Thanks.

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Soft Cries In The Night

"No! I don't want a butter beer! I don't want anything! I just want Hermione back!" Draco yelled over the din in the pub down Diagon Alley, making the people around them stare at the threesome.

Ron balled his fist angrily. "Don't we all do?! Sitting here and whining won't exactly bring her back, right?!"

Harry gulped nervously, facing the two angry, red-faced boys in front of him. "Right," he stammered. The three of them were in the pub right now, only about an hour or two left from their curfew to return to Hogwarts. Draco was devastated to find that Hermione was gone after he had woken up with a large lump on his head.

Angrily, he had stormed into Hogwarts and cuffed Harry on the neck, with Ron trying desperately to ward Draco off, but to no avail.

Harry was almost dead from lack of air when Dumbledore stopped them and demanded sternly that they should solve all their problems calmly. So Draco had no choice, other than to let go of Harry's neck and face Dumbledore, with a look of fear and worry in his eyes.

Dumbledore, sensing the trouble brewing among the three boys, quickly summoned all three of them to his office and sat them down.


Draco quickly explained and Harry denied the accusation just as quickly. Of course, Draco didn't believe a word that Harry said until Dumbledore himself said that Harry and Ron were with him the time when the kidnapping happened.


Utterly devastated and not knowing where to look for, Draco's shoulder slumped and Dumbledore, pitying the poor boy in front of him, let him, along with Harry and Ron, go to Hogsmeade once more to comb out the entire area, especially near Knock-turn alley, for a few more hours.

After searching for an hour or two, the night sky started turning dark, and Harry had suggested them to go for some drinks to cool themselves off, especially Draco and Ron. Ron was just angry that Draco lost her, and for Draco, he was just upset that Hermione was gone. Ron was also rather distracted about something else, though Harry had never gotten around to asking him what happened on the island and who he got for the assignment.

The last time Harry had finally had the time and energy to ask the latter question, Ron blew him off completely, saying that he did not want to talk about it ever.

"Look, I did not lose her, all right?!" Draco shouted, uncaring of the number of pairs of eyes staring at them.

"Well, then, she certainly didn't lose herself!!" Ron retorted, equally angry.

"Just shut your mouth, Weasley!"

"Oh, so it's back to name-calling again, huh, Malfoy?" Ron spat bitterly and sarcastically.

Draco ignored him and took a large swig of the beer in front of him, spilling most of it down his front without even knowing it.

"I'm starting to wonder if you have a hand in this kidnapping case of Hermione," Ron mumbled.

That was the last straw. Draco knocked his cup askew and butter beer flowed down the counter like the Niagara Waterfalls.

Slamming Ron against the hard stone bricks of a wall, Draco shouted, "Do you think I would have Hermione hurt?! Do you?!"

Harry would have suspected that Draco did have something to do with Hermione being gone, but after seeing how upset Draco was and how he had tried drowning himself along with his troubles in butter-beer, he suspected him no more.

Ron slowly shook his head to Draco's yelled question, and Draco started to loosen his grip on Ron's collars.

"I need to go," he said suddenly, slamming a few coins on the counter, where the bartender started clucking his tongue in disapproval. With that, Draco left the pub, leaving Harry and Ron to stare at his retreating shadow.

Alone in his room, Draco shut his curtains and cast a binding spell on them so that they wouldn't open, not even with Hercules there to try. And he also cast a silencing spell, so no one would hear his soft cries in the night.

Monday morning came as swiftly and surely as the owl post that day.

Owls of different colors swooped down with fluttering wings and landed smoothly on their respective tables, in front of their respective receivers.

Draco didn't care about what the others received, not that he used to. He had turned his ginger ale into strong liquor, and had started to drown himself all over again.

Of course, Dumbledore saw him cast the spell, along with Professor McGonagall. She had tried to stop him, but Dumbledore laid an assuring hand on her forearm, insisting her to sit down. She had protested slightly, but then understood what Dumbledore had meant and accepted it perfectly. She just hoped from then that Draco wouldn't have much of a hangover.

Draco was about to drift off into unawareness again, which sometimes meant that he was drunk, when a school owl landed on the Slytherin table, in front of him. He sat up straight, fully awake now, and began ripping the envelope apart.

The short note read:

She is in my hands now. If you want to see her again, come to Hogsmeade tonight. Alone. You will find her at the Shrieking Shack. If you don't come by the twilight hours, you'll never see another hair of her again.

Clutching the note tightly in his balled up fist, Draco walked over to the headmaster and whispered in Dumbledore 's ears.

Almost the whole hall watched as Dumbledore shook his head and Draco looking almost desperate, something so rare that people stared.

"Please, professor. Can't you see? If I don't go, Hermione will die!" came his soft plea.

"But if you go, you might not come back, too, Mister Malfoy," reasoned Dumbledore.

"I don't care," Draco hissed. "I just want to get her back. So is it a yes or a no? Can I go or not?"

Dumbledore shook his head once more. "Hogwarts is the safest place, Mister Malfoy. Don't go and get yourself into trouble," he warned quietly.

Draco spat out, "fine", turned his back at the headmaster and sat down at his seat.

He didn't mean to be rude to Dumbledore, and Albus knew it too. The boy was just too distraught to mind his manners, as he told Professor McGonagall.

One thought just reeled in Draco's head. I will find her, and no one will stop me.

He borrowed Harry's Invisibility Cloak, but didn't tell him why. He just said that he needed a quiet walk in the pitch, and didn't want anyone to disturb him, so he needed the cloak for absolute privacy.

Harry had his suspicions, of course, although he didn't ask. Much, anyway.

Draco slipped out of the trapdoor, which he had found in his earlier years. It led outside, to the exact path to Hogsmeade.

Running, he finally reached the Shrieking Shack. As he entered the quiet room, he slipped off the cloak and looked around. A tall shadow loomed across the

room.

He was about to go over when he saw a glimpse of silver. No, it can't be, he thought despairingly.

He tried opening the door, but it was locked. Before he could even utter the spell "Alohomora", Lucius snatched the wand away from him.

"One wrong move, boy, and the Mudblood won't live long enough," he hissed dangerously.

Knowing that he had fallen into a trap that was somewhat inevitable, Draco let go of his wand, which cluttered to the ground with a 'bump'.

The next thing he knew, he was transported to another place with his father, using a Port-key.

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*to be continued…*

A/N: I personally think that this chapter was just all right. Not good, and not bad either. I don't know. Give me your reviews? =)