I can't be bothered getting a quote. I'm tired but have fun reading it.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

Growls and barks sounded through the clearing. Hermione stared at the creature that was held by a chain in disbelief. She looked at Sirius to see him staring openmouthed at it. Fuck, Hermione though.

Sirius voiced his opinion. "What the hell is this?" he asked in disbelief, looking at the werewolf with disdain. "Are you seriously thinking of setting a werewolf on us?" Sirius continued as he stared into Malfoy's cold, hard eyes and let out a snort.

"You'd best shut your mouth Black," Malfoy sneered, taking the end of the chain from the companion on his left and giving it a shake. "Wouldn't want my hand to…" he smiled maliciously "…slip."

"You're a fucking nut," Sirius told him coldly. "What ever happened to blowing holes in people's asses? What happened to using a wand?" He rolled his eyes. "No – here I am about to have a bloody werewolf attack me." He shook his head. "What is the world coming to?"

Hermione placed a hand on his chest to stop him from jumping on Malfoy. "Sirius, calm down-"

Sirius looked at her with narrowed eyes. "I think this is a situation where I can complain all I want," he shot back. "I think having a werewolf set on me is a pretty good excuse to complain!"

"Shut up Sirius," Hermione told him sharply before turning to Malfoy. "What the hell do you want Malfoy?"

Holding the chain tightly, Malfoy gave her a smile that smacked bang of complete asshole. "Now now, we have all night to talk through wants," he told her.

"I haven't got all day," Hermione answered quickly. "We have things to do, people to kill…the usual stuff. We may even have time to fight for our lives at one point tonight," she continued as she started to pick nail polish from her nails. "God knows why this stuff seems to latch itself onto me."

Sirius snorted. "You're a walking disaster Hermione. You, Ron and Harry."

"Shut up Sirius," Hermione told him.

Sirius raised a brow. "Did you tell me to shut up?"

"Sure did, do you have a problem with that?" Hermione crossed her arms across her chest.

"If you think you're going to get away with that-"

A shot of green light shut them both up. "Now that I have your attention," Malfoy said in clipped tones with his wand in his hand, "we have business to conduct."

"Look Malfoy, we don't know what the hell you want," Hermione bit back, "so cut the niceness and just tell us. That way we'll all be happy."

Malfoy snorted. "I doubt neither of you will be happy by the end of this night." He gave the chain another shake.

"Then what the fuck do you want?" Sirius shouted at him, his fists clenched by his sides, "Either tell us what you want or set the fucking werewolf on us now."

Malfoy raised his wand and pointed it at Hermione's head. "Both of you, sit. Now."

Falling down onto her backside, Hermione felt Sirius sit a beat later. They had to be calm and collected if they were going to get out of this, especially with the werewolf growing restless and growling a whole lot more. Hermione felt beads of sweat roll across her forehead. She raised a shaky hand and wiped the perspiration with the back of her hand as her eyes darted towards the werewolf. Luck wasn't exactly on her side tonight.

Malfoy handed the end of the chain to one of burly companions and moved across the clearing until he was a few feet away from Hermione and Sirius. "You will both listen hard and carefully," he told them with his wand loosely by his side. "I want you to both throw your wands to my feet. Now."

Hermione stifled a curse. Why hadn't she just put her hand into the pocket of her jeans and grabbed her only protection. Her eyes once again went back to the werewolf and her brain immediately blamed it on the growling creature. Yes, that was the reason she couldn't think straight.

Moments later, with Sirius' and Hermione's wands both at his feet, Malfoy smirked and put his foot on Hermione's wand. "My job would be a whole lot easier if I snapped this," he said and looked to his foot, his smirk turning into a cold smile. "I can no longer count the number of times you have wiggled from death."

Sirius snorted. "That wasn't because of Hermione's wand, it's because she's smart and your not."

Malfoy's wand pointed between Sirius' eyes. "Shut up Black or I'll kill you right now!"

"Do it," Sirius replied instantly, "because I've had enough of this shit. I've got a headache and I just want to be on my way. Or die. Either way I'll be in a better place…anything is better than looking at the ugly mug you call a face."

The ugly mug he was referring too contorted and twisted angrily. "I'm going to kill you before I die Black, mark my words I will," he said through clenched teeth and a shaky hand. "But, seeing as you care nothing for your life, I will get my information faster by doing this…" he grabbed Hermione by the hair and pulled her back to his chest. He fastened a hand around her neck and the tip of his wand to the side of her head.

Sirius narrowed his eyes.

Hermione started to splutter and gasp air.

"Tell me what I want to know, Black, or I will dispose of Miss Granger here," Malfoy threatened, squeezing Hermione's throat and making her gasp harder.

Sirius fisted her palms. "If you would tell me what you want, I would give it to you," he spat. He watched as Hermione brown eyes darted towards the other end of the clearing and he knew what she was suggesting. Turn into snuffles and save yourself. You're an idiot Hermione, he thought, as if I would leave you here to die.

Malfoy threw Hermione to the ground, watching with satisfaction as her shaken body struggled to sit up and gasp for air. He looked to Sirius and said, "So you're willing to cooperate."

"Yes," Sirius replied, looking at Hermione with a strained expression. His face was stony when his eyes met Malfoy's. "What do you want?"

Malfoy smirked. "Before Dumbledore died, he was working on a project. This project is a matter of great importance to my master. If holds to key to his future – our future. It will shape the world."

"Where do we fit into this?" Hermione asked in a breathless voice.

"When that Dumbledore died, my master has failed to retrieve the information that Dumbledore had obtained. It is hidden. But my master knows for a fact that Dumbledore would never let this information go. Even in his death, he would make sure that the right hands grab onto it, instead of it being lost forever." Malfoy eyed them curiously and continued, "And for some reason my master believes that you two are the ones Dumbledore would bestow this information on."

Sirius let out a snort. "So you have come after us on a hope that Dumbledore told us about whatever he was working on," he said before snorting again. "That's a pretty big guess."

"You were not his first guess Black so don't labor under any false pretenses," Malfoy sneered before looking pointedly. "His attack against Potter and Weasel were not just entertainment. My master thought that Potter would be the one that Dumbledore would tell but unfortunately, he wasn't."
"So Voldermort killed Ginny," Hermione hissed, "just because he didn't get what he wanted…" she paused, her eyes widening in sudden realization. Her eyes clouded with fury as she looked up to Malfoy. "Then you and your goons came into my house and killed my parents." Hermione jumped to her feet and pointed her finger at him. "You wanted to make me weak and vulnerable for the next time you came to visit. You killed them in front of me so I would be so torn that any information would come out," her voice was laced with anger. "Is that true?" She asked before shouting, "YOU FUCKING KILLED MY PARENTS!"

Hermione lunged at Malfoy just as he raised his wand at her. A shot of yellow light flew past her ear as she tackled Malfoy to the ground, swinging her fist into his nose. She heard commotion around her; Sirius shouting, him lunging for his wand, the burly companions firing curses.

Hermione didn't care about any of it. All that mattered was making Malfoy pay courtesy of her fist. "You asshole!" She shouted at him as her third punch connected with his cheek. "I hate you, I hate you, I hate you!"

Malfoy clipped her with his right fist in her eye but Hermione punched him even harder. Her anger came out in waves and her mind was completely focused on beating Malfoy to a pulp.

Well, it was completely focused until she heard one of Malfoy's companions scream, "The werewolf! Get out of here!"

A tiny part of her brain heard this but she punched Malfoy again and heard a definite crack!. She grinned and hoped his nose was broken. Someone pulled her off a bloody Malfoy and dragged her through the woods. They heard growls and spluttering but they were running too fast to see where they were going. They approached the edge of the wood, collapsing onto the grass when they broke free from the branches.

Sirius sat up. "Shit, please don't hit me ever again."

Breathing heavily, Hermione put her palm to her swollen eye and winced. "Do you have my wand?"

Sirius handed it to her then helped her to her feet. "It's going to be a long night," he told her as he looked towards the castle.

"Why?"

He turned back to her. "I have a feeling, from what Malfoy told us, that our next clue is in Dumbledore's office. And it involves that rubber."

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

I am soooooooooooooooooooooooooo sorry. I got back from NZ, got a job and had lots and lots of exams. This meant I couldn't update. But here it is and such a lovely chapter it is.