As expected, Sirius didn't break and reveal anything, even under severe torture. For Hermione, it was both frustrating and exhilarating to watch her father in action. On the one hand, it was great to finally see her father in action and discover just what he was capable of, but on the other hand it was worrying that it was her boyfriend that was in trouble, and the reason she was seeing her father in action was to save Draco.
All the time Sirius refused to talk, Hermione struggled not to run off to the Order and demand answers, but remembering her promise to her father, she stuck around until the day after Sirius had been captured posing as Draco. In the time she remained at home, Voldemort and Lucius checked the magical cuffs they'd been working on and they gave Hermione half a dozen cuffs to take with her to the Order. Unlike normal handcuffs, the enchanted ones only went around one wrist, meaning they were easier to get onto people. Voldemort explained that the second the cuff was clasped around someone's wrist and closed, it would transport them to the manor dungeons, where he and Lucius would then ensure the prisoners were secured tightly as they awaited punishment.
After what seemed like an eternity it was time for Hermione to return to the Order and see what she could find out. Before she went, they tried one final time to get Sirius to talk, but by that point he'd been tortured so badly he could barely moan, let alone give them any information. Hermione suspected he was in such a bad state that he might not even be alive when she returned, especially if Voldemort and Lucius had another go at him, which they were likely to do as they were both furious about Draco's kidnapping.
The other thing Hermione did before she went to the Order, was change out of her usual clothes. When she was with Harry and Ron she didn't like to draw attention to herself, so her sexy, attention grabbing clothes were cast aside and she dressed more casually in jeans and a plain t-shirt. She then pulled her long hair up into a high ponytail to disguise the fact it was much tamer than she allowed it in school. After shrugging on some comfortable boots and a boring black jacket, Hermione headed off to visit the Order and get some answers.
When she arrived at Grimmauld Place, she found the house deserted aside from the annoying portrait of Mrs Black, who began to scream and shout at her arrival. The first time Hermione had visited the house, she was worried that Mrs Black would be able to tell she wasn't a muggleborn as she was an enchanted portrait, but she gave Hermione just as much abuse as anyone else. Interestingly she never referred to her as a mudblood, but none of the others had picked up on that fact.
"Shut up you rancid old bag," Hermione snapped, yanking the curtains over the portrait and stifling her screams. "Hello, is anyone here?" she called as she moved further into the old house.
When she got no reply, Hermione checked the front room and then the kitchen as they were the rooms used most often. Finding both rooms empty she checked all the upstairs rooms as well. When she found no sign of anyone, she looked for anything that might tell her where Draco was, and who else was involved in his kidnapping. Sadly she found nothing, and she returned to the kitchen no further forward than when she'd arrived.
"What now?" Hermione muttered to herself.
As if to answer the question, the front door opened and Hermione heard someone, or possibly a few people enter the house. Before she got a chance to investigate who had arrived back at headquarters, the kitchen door flew open and Harry and Ron burst into the room.
"Hello boys. Did you miss me?" Hermione asked, smiling at her good fortune. Not only was it the two people she really wanted to talk to, but they were alone, meaning she might be able to get the information out of them even quicker.
Much to Hermione's surprise, Harry rushed over to her and embraced her, all the time telling her how much they needed her. As Ron said virtually the same thing, Hermione had stop herself from smirking wickedly. Unless she was very much mistaken the boys were going to give her all the answers she needed, without her even having to press them. This was going to be easier than she thought, and she might even be able to save Draco that day if she was lucky.
"Is there a problem?" Hermione questioned innocently, remembering to act as though she didn't know what they'd been up to.
"A major one. We desperately need your help, Hermione," Harry answered.
"Sit down and tell me all about it. I'll do what I can to help," Hermione said, smiling reassuringly at the two boys.
Hermione noticed the relieved smile the boys shared, but neither of them noticed her brief grin of triumph as she sat the two boys down and made them cups of tea. She then sat down with her own cup, ready to hear what had been going on, and how they wanted her to help them.
"I don't know where to begin," Harry said with a sigh as he took a sip of the tea Hermione had made for them.
"How about the beginning," Hermione urged gently. "Something's clearly happened, and whatever it is, it's got the pair of you spooked."
"We're in trouble, Hermione," Ron said. "Big trouble."
"Although Sirius is in even more trouble," Harry added. "We need to save him. You have to help us Hermione."
"And I will," Hermione said reassuringly. "But you have to tell me what's going on. What on earth have I missed?"
Harry and Ron took a deep breath and together they told Hermione the entire story. They started with how Sirius had snatched Draco on the spur of the moment and kept him a prisoner. They then went onto to discuss the plan Sirius had come up with and their part in it. And finally they told her how Sirius had failed to come back from the manor, and now they didn't know what to do.
"Wow," Hermione said with a low whistle, pretending to be stunned when really she was fuming mad. "I take it you haven't told anyone else in the Order about what's happening."
"We tried to tell Remus this morning, but Mum was around," Ron admitted. "She'll go mad if she finds out, Hermione. We thought if Remus would help us, we could use Malfoy to get Sirius back and the rest of the Order need never have to know what's happened."
"Where do the rest of the Order think Sirius is?" Hermione questioned.
"With a woman," Harry replied with a shrug. "According to Lupin, he regularly goes missing for days on end while we're at school, and when he returns, he's always full of stories of the witch he's been with. Everyone thinks that's where he is, and he'd just been irresponsible."
"Yeah, Mum's ready to kill him," Ron said with a wince.
"I'm surprised she hasn't tried to take you back home with her," Hermione remarked.
"She threatened it, but I said Harry and I wanted to revise so she's letting us stay here," Ron said. "I guess she can't make us go home since we're both seventeen, but she'll certainly put the pressure on if Sirius doesn't return soon."
"So will you help us, Hermione?" Harry pleaded.
"I don't really know how I can help," Hermione replied. "I can't believe you would do something so reckless. You were just asking for trouble kidnapping Malfoy and sending Sirius to the manor posing as him."
"You're going to tell someone, aren't you?" Ron questioned, sounding defeated.
"I really should," Hermione said sternly. Telling anyone else was the last thing she wanted, but she had to maintain her cover for a little while longer, and the good girl she'd been pretending to be would certainly consider informing the older members of the Order."
"Please don't," Harry begged, before Hermione could say anything else. "If we thought it would help Sirius, we would have already told someone. But Sirius wanted us to keep quiet, even if he didn't return. Dumbledore and the others wouldn't approve of what we've done. They might think it's a lost cause rescuing Sirius, and they might just let Malfoy go. We might not be able to save him, but we have to at least try. Please Hermione, he's the only family I have left. Please help me save my godfather."
Hermione pursed her lips as though she was mulling over Harry's words. Of course she was going to agree to help them, but she had to make it look as though she'd been genuinely convinced by Harry's heartfelt plea.
"Okay," she said finally. "This goes against my better judgment, but I'll help you."
"Thank you Hermione," Harry gushed, relief flooding his face. "You have no idea what this means to us."
"I'm sure you can make it up to me in the future," Hermione said. "Now, if I'm going to help, we need a plan. Although, I assume you already have one."
"Not really," Ron confessed with a grimace. "We know we can't just break into Malfoy Manor, especially as they'll be on alert by now. We were hoping to use Malfoy in same way."
"How?" Hermione asked. "You can't just send him back home and get him to release Sirius."
"Why not?" Harry asked, an idea clearly forming in his mind. "If we put him under the Imperius curse, he'd had no choice but to do what we said. We could force him to free Sirius."
"If Sirius has been captured, and it's looking like he has, Malfoy's parents are going to know he's missing," Hermione pointed out. "With Sirius posing as him, they're going to assume the Order have him. Malfoy can't just go home as though nothing's happened. His parents will be all over him, and they might work out he's under our influence."
"So what do you suggest?" Ron questioned, clearly annoyed that Hermione had shot down the one and only plan they'd thought of. "We could try appealing to Malfoy's better nature, but I don't think he's got one."
"I don't know," Hermione said, sighing as though she was frustrated and trying to think of a plan. "But I do think we need to move fast. It's a miracle the dark haven't already launched an attack to try and get Malfoy back. If we don't save Sirius soon, I think the rest of the Order are going to discover what you've done."
"Maybe we could use Malfoy as a ransom," Harry suggested. "We could get him to send a message to his parents, arranging a meeting. When they turned up, we can offer an exchange. They get Malfoy back if we get Sirius back."
"I suppose that could work," Hermione said thoughtfully. Personally she thought it was a terrible idea, and she couldn't believe Harry thought three teenagers could blackmail a dark and dangerous wizard like Lucius and get away with it. "Although getting Malfoy to co-operate could be tricky."
"Don't worry about Malfoy, he's exactly where we want him," Ron said with a smirk. "He'll do as we say without any problems."
"Is he hurt?" Hermione asked. "This would work better if he's unhurt. It shows goodwill on our part if we're returning him uninjured."
"He's fine," Harry said. "Probably a bit uncomfortable and tired, but we haven't hurt him in any way."
"You should probably take me to him," Hermione said. She'd been wanting to go to Draco since they second Harry and Ron confirmed they knew where he was being held, but she'd been patient. "It could be better if we're away from the Order while we're doing this. Someone could overhear us here, plus we might not be able to get away."
"But won't we be missed?" Ron questioned. "We don't want people looking for us."
"No, we don't," Hermione replied. She knew that before long people would be looking for Harry and Ron, but by that point it would be too late. "Will your Mum be back today, Ron?"
"I doubt it, she thought we were going to spend the day revising. She's likely not going to be back before tomorrow."
"Good, so now we've just got to think about the people here," Hermione mused. "I know. Leave a note saying you've gone to The Burrow for the rest of the day and will be staying the night. Remus won't check, and that way no-one will know you're gone until tomorrow morning."
"It sounds like a plan," Harry said with a nod. "But we'll have to move quickly before Remus or anyone else returns."
"So grab what you need and we can be going," Hermione said. "With any luck, this will be over by the end of the day."
"You're optimistic, Hermione," Ron said with a humourless chuckle. "This could end with us all ending up in serious trouble."
"You have to think positive Ron," Hermione said with a shrug.
Hermione was eager to get going now she was so close to seeing Draco, but thankfully it didn't take Harry and Ron long to gather the few bits and pieces they wanted and leave a note for Remus while she washed the cups they'd used and put them away. Picking up her bag, Hermione double checked there was no sign she'd even been at Grimmauld Place before following the boys' out of Order headquarters.
"Where to now?" She asked once they were outside an in a secluded area where no muggles would see them apparating.
"An old cottage belonging to Sirius," Harry said. "Hold on tight, Hermione."
Hermione detested side along apparition, but she didn't complain as she clung tightly to Harry. Ron clung onto Harry's other arm, and with a distinct pop they vanished into thin air when Harry flicked his wand. When they landed they were on a deserted coastal road. In front of them was a dilapidated cottage, and Hermione could smell the sea and hear the seagulls calling from the nearby shore.
"Now for the fun part," Harry said as he removed Sirius's wand and explained how it controlled the wards.
"Impressive," Hermione muttered, even though she thought it was very foolish of Sirius to connect the wards of the cottage to his wand rather than to himself. Anyone could steal a wand and use it, but it was a whole lot harder to force someone to personally break down wards they'd erected.
"Are we ready?" Harry checked, putting Sirius's wand into his pocket and raising his own.
"Ready," Ron confirmed, his wand held out in front of him like a weapon.
"Ready," Hermione said, raising her own wand. Only what neither boy realised was that the only people going to be on the receiving end of her spells were them.
"Let's go," Harry said, leading the way into the garden.
Hermione let Ron go next, falling into step behind the two boys. Knowing Harry was the faster of the two, Hermione angled herself so that she could shoot a spell past Ron and hit Harry. Just as Harry reached for the door, Hermione muttered a spell under her breath and a jolt of light flew from her wand, stunning Harry and causing him to fall on the floor.
"What the…" Ron spluttered, partly turning to see where the spell had come from but not moving quickly enough to prevent Hermione throwing the same spell at him and causing him to fall to the floor.
"Boys, you make things too easy," Hermione said with a low chuckle as she stepped over the pair, and plucked their wands from their frozen hands. She then also removed Sirius's wand from Harry's possession before pulling two enchanted cuffs from her bag. "I'll be seeing you both very soon," she vowed with a devious grin.
Snapping the cuffs onto both boys, Hermione watched as they disappeared from sight. Trusting that the cuffs had worked and they would both end up in the dungeons at Malfoy Manor, Hermione turned back towards the cottage.
"I'm coming Draco," she whispered, as she prepared to enter the cottage and rescue her boyfriend.