A/N: Thank you to my lovely reviewers, pettybureaucrat and Ginny, for their enlightening reviews. I'm sorry they're so short Ginny, but I haven't got the attention span to write a lot, ha-ha. I'm glad you think I'm sexually normal by putting Ginny and Harry together. I'm not against non-canon pair-ups, I just can't write that way. Not for this story at any rate. But I'm rambling! I'll get to the chapter now…
III
When Harry awoke, he discovered an envelope sitting on his head, and Hedwig asleep in her cage. Hedwig, why didn't you just wake me up! he thought. Shrugging it off, he opened the letter, read it, and then ran to Ron's room. Her threw the door open and the loud crash didn't seem to wake the sleeping red-head.
"RON! Wake the bloody hell up!" Harry shouted.
"Whassamatter?" he mumbled sleepily, "can't a guy get 5 minutes of sleep in this place?" and promptly buried his head in his pillow. Harry grabbed Ron's head, stuck the letter under his nose without saying a word. Glaring at Harry for interrupting his sleep, he read the letter out loud.
"Dear Harry,
We've gotten word that Hermione might be in Snape's custody. We're not sure where he's at yet, but we'll sniff him out. Make sure you boys don't get into any trouble (tell Ron too). I'll owl you if anything else crops up.
Moony
PS. Under no circumstances are you to come looking for Hermione. Molly would have a fit if you disappeared too!"
Ron looked like he was about to be sick.
"Yeah," said Harry disgustedly, "we'll just sit here like good ickle boys while the Greasy Git has Hermione and has done God knows what to her."
"I don't care, I've got to do something or I'll go mad," said Ron as he rose to his feet, unconsciously clenching his fists and crushing the letter.
"Me too, mate," declared Harry, "so it's settled: we're going to find Snape. Where the hell is he? Ever since he killed Dumbledore he's been on the run."
"Well, it's not like we can owl Lupin back, or he'll know we're gong to find Hermione," said Ron flatly, "and… he'll tell my mum." Ron did not look pleased about the idea of his mother finding out about all this after she'd given them hell about leaving school to "go on holiday" (they hadn't told anyone the real reason they were going, and they definitely weren't going to), and Hermione getting captured was the last straw. According to Ron, she hadn't been that angry with any of her children since Percy became "such a prat".
"Maybe we can!" said Harry, "I've got an idea…"
• • •
Hermione whimpered in her sleep while she relived the terrible events of her capture…
"Come on Mudblood, plead with me to let you go," drawled a cold voice.
"You make me sick Malfoy," she sneered at him.
"CRUCIO!"
Hermione screamed in pure agony, straining against the invisible bonds holding her immobile in her dark cell underground, the very same one she was currently dreaming in.
"Want some more, Granger? Hmm, I didn't expect Miss Hermione Perfect Granger to last this long." Draco paused, then continued in little more than a whisper, "There are other ways of convincing you to reveal your secrets than this, you know. I could be murdering your family before your eyes, perhaps even killing the famous Harry Potter, or maybe that pure-blood traitor Weasley?"
No... she screamed in her mind. Thankfully, she was skilled enough at Occulumency that Malfoy had no clue the anguish that caused her. Outwardly, she gave no sign that she even heard his threats.
Another Death Eater stepped into the room just as Malfoy stepped up to Hermione and reached to undo her robes.
"Surely you don't want to dirty yourself by touching a Mudblood?" the Death Eater asked quietly.
"Who asked you, Snape?" Malfoy spat, irritated that his fun had been interrupted.
"If you had any sense at all, you might refrain from mentioning names, foolish boy!" Snape hissed, "You'll get nothing from her by rape. No subtlety at all. Perhaps you should have been a Hufflepuff."
"Go for it then. You won't get farther than I," said Malfoy, then whispered into Hermione's ear.
"I'll be back, don't worry Mudblood. Better hope you talk, or maybe we'll get to know each other better." He stalked from the room without a backward glance at Snape or Hermione. She repressed a shudder at the thought of Malfoy coming near her ever again, especially with that in mind.
Snape snapped her out of her dark thoughts. "You were looking for Horcruxes, weren't you? The Golden Trio of Potter, Weasley and Granger out to save the world."
Too shocked to do anything but stare, Snape continued, "Yes, Dumbledore trusted me with the information. And yes, I am still faithful to him. Spare me your incessant questioning." She had been about to open her mouth, but that made her snap it closed.
The next few minutes were spent in near silence as Snape told an awestruck Hermione everything, from the Unbreakable Vow he swore up to what he'd been doing for the Order.
"…So Hermione, I cannot let you reveal any of this to my colleagues that insist that you know the whereabouts of the rest of the Order of the Phoenix, or you might tell them. However, someone had to know, just in case. After all, the things I have done would make both sides race to kill me," said Snape with a mirthless laugh. "I'll be temporarily removing your memory so you can't tell anyone anything, not even your own name."
"I guess the 'insufferable know-it-all' will finally be silenced, right Professor?" she joked. What might have been a smile briefly passed over Snape's features, and then he raised his wand.
Hermione's world went black.
How was that? Too much information at once? I tried to make it longer for you, my faithful readers! Have a good one, I'll put another one up as soon as it's done. Cheers.
