I'm soooo sorry I haven't been updating! My life has been kind of hectic lately. I hope I will get the final chapters up this week but I'm not making any promises. :) I apologise for any grammar mistakes I make, I have some problems with my new contact lenses and can't concentrate when I read it through. On to the story!

/Linda

Chapter 7

Harry and Hermione stood outside the mansion of Mr. Leroux, looking up at the large building.

"Not even a fence. This should be rather easy," Harry said, confident that this was going to be the easiest task ever. Hermione was not as easily persuaded though.

"I'm sure there are other things protecting the house, he can't possibly leave it unattended when he is away." She grabbed her wand in her hand and mumbled a charm to reveal alarms and similar security systems. What she found was not nearly as pleasant.

"Harry?" He turned to look at her and was immediately captured by her beautiful eyes.

"Yes?" Hermione found she was equally mesmerized by him but tried putting it aside; this was business, not pleasure.

"I... It seems there is no muggle security." Harry noticed how anxious she looked and became a little worried.

"What is it then?"

"Charms." Harry looked at her incredulously.

"You mean he is a wizard!" Hermione nodded in reply.

"Well... We will just have to remove them then." They started working but it turned out to take longer than expected.

Hermione cried in frustration.

"Why can it never go smoothly? How's it going over there Harry? Harry?" Hermione looked around but Harry was nowhere to be seen. Suddenly she felt someone breathe right next to her ear and she tensed before realizing it was Harry. She turned around, opened her mouth to speak and was almost shocked when he seized the opportunity and kissed her. Hermione pulled back after a while, looking at Harry quizzically.

"What was that for?" Harry grinned.

"For being so smart. Come on, I've found a way in." Taking her hand he started leading her towards the house and managed to get them both inside without getting caught. They searched everywhere but couldn't find a single clue as to where Mr. Goodwill could be held captive.

Ending up in the library they both sat down and sighed.

"Now what?" Harry asked, his shoulders slumping with tiredness.

"I don't know. Look at that book over there; doesn't it seem a little out of place?" Getting up Hermione walked towards the book and tried taking it from the shelf. It almost seemed stuck though and when she pulled it fell onto its back. Rustling could be heard and then one of the walls suddenly disappeared. Harry and Hermione looked at each other briefly before rushing to the new doorway. A cold breeze hit them and they could smell salt in the air. There were stairs going down, seemingly forever, in the tunnel opening up before them.

"Let's go," Harry said, nodding towards the stairs. They entered the dark, dank place and as soon as they were both inside the door slammed shut, causing Hermione to jump and grab Harry's hand. He smiled and entwined his fingers with hers before lighting his wand.

"When did you become so jumpy?" Harry asked Hermione, making her scowl at him.

"When did you last become locked into a cave, the only way out through the stairwell to hell?"

"Good point."

As the only option was descending the stairs they decided to do just that, still holding each others hands. Further and further down they walked until they reached the muddy bottom. Ahead of them was one huge tunnel that seemed to go on straight forward for miles.

"This seems to be the only way. Considering the facts that we have been walking downwards for almost an hour and the ceiling is dripping, I'd say we are under the water," Hermione told Harry and turned to look at him.

"You think so? We have to go this way to investigate though; it seems far too suspicious to have a tunnel like this leading from the house." Harry lifted his hand and stroke Hermione's cheek with his thumb, making her shudder with pleasure.

"Are you not thinking about the possibilities of this being a trap? Who wouldn't go down a secret passage if they found one at the house of a suspected kidnapper?" Hermione's question hung in the moist air for a while before Harry answered.

"I need to go Hermione, I can't leave now. If Mr. Goodwill is somewhere on the other side I must find him, no matter what happens." Hermione felt tears coming to her eyes and wondered why she was so sensitive these days. 'Because I love Harry and can't live without him.' She took his hands in her own and moved closer to him.

"I... I can't lose you Harry; you mean too much to me," she whispered, her voice thick with emotion. Not being able to hold back anymore she hugged him fiercely, afraid of her feelings.

"It's ok Hermione; we will get out of this alive." Harry kissed her then, long and passionately, and Hermione's worries withered away into nothing as she felt his tongue play with hers. Breaking away panting they realized they had been lingering too long and, hand in hand, made their way to the other side.

A door. A locked door. That was what they came across when they reached their goal. Harry swore inwardly and slumped against the wood.

"You don't happen to have a hairpin do you?"

"No Harry. You haven't forgotten about being a wizard right?" Harry cocked one eyebrow, not understanding what she meant.

"Oh, honestly!" Hermione exclaimed and moved to the lock in the door. Raising her wand she looked meaningful at Harry before speaking.

"Alohamora." The lock clicked and a creak could be heard as the door opened. Harry quickly scrambled to his feet and looked at the room now visible to them.

"Brilliant. I know you'd be valuable to have around." Hermione blushed but Harry took her hand, a grin plastered on his face, and led them into the unknown.

The room was dark and made out of stone, resembling a large cave. The walls looked slightly burnt, something both Hermione and Harry noticed. Suddenly a noise could be heard from one of the walls and the couple instantly froze.

"Harry?"

"Yes?"

"What was that?"

"You don't want to know." They both turned around slowly only to face a huge pair of yellow eyes. Hermione gulped.

"Is that a..." The animal roared, the sound echoing through the entire cave.

"DRAGON!" Harry and Hermione yelled simultaneously before Harry once more took Hermione's hand and dragged her to the only opening he could spot before the dragon decided to have human toast for dinner. Running was the only thing on their mind and they kept up the pace until they found another locked door. Harry learnt his lesson well and managed to open the door with a simple Alohomora and slammed it right in the face of the dragon. Harry looked at Hermione with a grin.

"That was close." Hermione frowned.

"What are you so happy about? We could have been killed."

"But we weren't, were we? Come on, let's see where we are." They walked through another passage before reaching a new staircase. Since that seemed to be the only way out of there they decided to ascend it. At the top they could glimpse a bright light and continued on despite the fact that they were both dreadfully weary. When reaching the final step both Harry and Hermione nearly collapsed, their legs resembling wobbling pieces of Jell-O. Hermione tripped and almost fell, but Harry valiantly caught her before she tumbled to the floor.

"Are you alright?" he asked concerned. Hermione looked up at him, noticing that they were standing very close.

"I think so. Thanks to you that is." She leaned in to kiss him quickly on the lips but Harry put his arms around her waist and opened his mouth for her to explore. Hermione wasn't slow to realize what was happening and she put all her love into the kiss. A while later they pulled apart, both out of breath. Thoughts started spinning in their minds and the urge to reveal their hearts secret wishes only grew.

Silently they decided to discuss this later and moved on to see where they were. Hermione took Harry's hand and he smiled appreciatively at her. They went forward until they came to a large hall. It looked almost like Hogwarts but with slight differences. Suddenly a piercing scream could be heard, causing them both to jump. There was no mistake that the sound came from someone in great pain. Harry and Hermione started running towards the sound and stopped when they reached a wide open door. Inside they were met with a sight neither would forget for a long time. On a table none other than Mr. Goodwill was lying on his back, facing a machine that at any moment would cut his throat. One of his legs was cut off, causing blood to spray the walls around him. Realizing that he would surely die of blood loss if they didn't move fast, Harry and Hermione ran to him and somehow managed to destroy the machine before it was too late. Hermione's skills in healing came in handy as she stopped the blood flow and managed to make the wound stabile until they could take him to St. Mungos. Harry tried speaking to him.

"Mr. Goodwill, can you hear me?" The man nodded in reply, too worn to be able to respond properly.

"We are Auror Potter and Auror Granger from the Ministry of Magic and are here to rescue you. Who did this to you? Who constructed this machine?" Mr. Goodwill turned to look at Harry, his eyes flashing with anger.

"Leroux." That was all he could manage before he passed out.

"We'd better hurry Harry; Leroux will probably be here soon since he must have come home to a disturbed house."

"Don't you think we should try catching him?"

"No, it will be too dangerous."

"You go with Mr. Goodwill; I can stay to challenge him." Hermione almost panicked when Harry told her that.

"No way! If you stay then I will too." Harry went to her and took her hands in his.

"You can't. I will not allow you to get hurt!"

"Why can't I stay with you!" They were practically yelling at each other.

"Because..." Hermione lifted her eyebrow.

"Because what?" Harry let go of her hands and turned around, his back to her. He sighed and almost whispered when he spoke.

"Because I love you." Hermione stared at him incredulously before his words finally made sense to her.

"What?" she whispered to him, her eyes starting to tear up.

"Look, I know this is bad timing and I'm sorry for ruining everything but mmpf..." Harry didn't get to say what was on his mind, Hermione had pressed her lips to his before he could finish. He was surprised at first but soon opened his mouth, his tongue meeting hers. Hermione pulled away reluctantly and looked him in the eyes.

"I love you too." She laughed and hugged him, patiently awaiting his moment of clarity. It came a few seconds later. Harry lifted her up in his arms and twirled her around, kissing her again and again. A moan from the table pulled them out of their joy, remembering suddenly that this was no time to talk about this.

Footsteps could be heard in the hall and they knew they had to move fast if they wanted to stay alive.

"There's no time to go now, we'll have to fight him," Harry told Hermione and they quickly set up a plan.

Leroux heard the noises long before he saw what caused the commotion. He started running towards his torture chamber, hoping that the intruder hadn't found that one yet. When he reached the door it looked intact and inside seemed as quiet as it should. Opening the door carefully to have a look he found nothing, the room was empty. 'EMPTY! Fuck! Where is Goodwill?'

Harry and Hermione stood ready behind the open door, awaiting the right moment. They heard Leroux walk inside and waited for him to venture a little further into the room before Hermione cast the Full body binder on him, making him fall to the ground with a loud thump.

"I told you this would be easy," Harry cockily said as he went to Leroux. This seemed a bit too simple though and Hermione couldn't help but shudder, a bad feeling emerging from the pit of her stomach.

"Harry... I think we need to get out of here. Now!" Harry looked at the panicked expression on her face and decided to trust her instincts. He nodded and they levitated the bodies the only way they could go; forward. As silent as they could they walked along the hall. Suddenly a strange sound could be heard from behind and they immediately froze. 'Shit!' Harry thought.

"Harry? What is that?"

"I don't know exactly but I suggest we start running. Fast." They looked back and could finally see what was following them. An entire herd of, what can only be described as, killing machines were hunting for their blood. Frantically started running they went through a door and found themselves inside a new mansion. The room seemed to be decorated in 19th century French style and was obviously a living room. Moving along they managed to find the door out and burst through it, levitating bodies following closely. The sight that met them slowed them down.

The view was magnificent. They were on another island altogether, facing Rarotonga. The mansion was located on a mountain that Harry strongly suspected was an old volcano. He turned to look at Hermione.

"Do you think it's safe to apparate from here?" she asked him, her entire body looking worn from everything that has happened. Harry couldn't help but feel worried about his darling.

"I hope so because here they come!" The machines came through the door just as Harry grabbed Hermione's hand and managed to touch both Mr. Leroux and Mr. Goodwill when he apparated them all away from that horrible scene.