Hermione's gaze swung to Draco and her eyes grew hot with anger. Within seconds she had flown out of her chair and tackled Draco yelling indistinguishable obscenities. As soon as it started it ended when Draco finally got a grip on his wand and pointed it at Hermione.
"Incarcerous!" He bellowed. The next thing Hermione knew she couldn't move her arms or legs. Malfoy quickly pushed her off of him and stood up, dusting off his robes.
"You know Granger, for a mud-blood, you throw a pretty good punch." He said smirking a little and rubbing his face. Casey stood still in a corner of the room simply gazing at Draco. Draco noticed him and rolled his eyes before growling.
"This is your cue to leave." Casey gave a curt nod and disappeared with a crack. Once alone Draco gazed down at Hermione who still lay on the floor, ropes binding her.
"Now…I'm just here to talk. If I let you go do you promise to be good?" Hermione bit her lip and forcefully nodded her head. Draco smirked and waved his wand, the ropes disappearing. Hermione slowly stood up, glaring at the hand Draco held out to help her. She turned her back on him and threw herself into one of the chairs. Draco nodded a little and sat in the chair across from her.
"So…" He began. Before he could continue Hermione cut in.
"What do you want?" She growled at him angrily.
"I'm here to help." Draco stated simply. Hermione scoffed.
"You put me here now you want to help?" Draco nodded.
"Not help, per se. More like…Strike a deal." Hermione turned away from him.
"What makes you think I'd ever strike a deal with scum like you?" Draco nodded.
"Because if you strike the deal, you get to go back and marry Potter and live happily ever after." Hermione slowly turned her head towards Draco, the curiosity in her eyes growing.
"So if I agree to this deal…You'll let me go?" Draco nodded.
"Exactly." Hermione closed her eyes in thought.
"What do I have to do?"
--
Harry quietly trekked down the empty halls of Hogwarts. His invisibility cloak in his pocket and his broom carried over his shoulder. As he approached the Great Hall he was thankful to see everyone was still eating and even Dumbledore had chosen to join the students at the head of the staff table. He quickly sprinted away from the hall and made his way towards the forbidden forest. Once he was securely hidden among the trees Harry mounted his broom. He wished he had the other members of the DA with him, but he knew they'd only try to talk him out of it.
It was his fault this happened anyway and he was going to fix it. He mounted his broom and was prepared to kick off when he heard rustling in the bushes beside him. He un-mounted his broom and stooped down low beside the high bushes.
"He knows! You told me he'd never find out!" A voice exclaimed. Harry immediately recognized Ron's voice. Malfoy sounded bored as he answered.
"It isn't my fault YOU got caught." Harry heard shuffling and realized that Ron must have tried to attack Malfoy.
"Don't make me curse you Weasel. I'll do it in a heartbeat." The shuffling had stopped and suddenly it was silent again.
"Now that you've got that out of your system, I have news. She agreed." Ron seemed surprised when he answered.
"She ACTUALLY agreed?" Harry could hear the smirk in Malfoys voice.
"Well, I told her if she did she'd get to see Potter again." Ron scoffed a little.
"So it's tonight?" Ron asked.
"You know where to go?" Malfoy asked.
"Or do I need to draw you a map?"
"I know where to go" Ron snarled back.
"Good. Meet me there at midnight than." Malfoy said before turning away and making his way back to Hogwarts. Harry quietly snuck away from the bush and threw his broom over his shoulder. He'd have to wait until midnight.
As he approached the castle he acted surprised to see Ron approaching at the same time.
"Hey, what's up?" Ron asked in a voice barely above a whisper. Harry shrugged casually.
"Not much decided to do some flying, get my mind off things. Was just heading to bed, it's nearly midnight." He said emphasizing the word midnight. Ron didn't seem to notice and nodded.
"Yeah…I'm going to go for a little walk and I'll be up there in a bit." Ron said walking away from Harry. Harry waited a few moments before racing up the Gryffindor tower and grabbing the Marauders Map. He hastily threw the invisibility cloak over himself and raced out of the tower following the dot labeled 'Ronald Weasely.' After following Ron for a few minutes Harry realized that Ron was heading towards the Room Of Requirement. As Ron approached the door Harry snuck as close to him as he dared to. As the door swung open Harry stealthily followed Ron inside, narrowly missing getting shut in the door.
He let out a quiet breath of relief and gazed around the room. It appeared to be empty except for a rather large cabinet on the far wall, which Malfoy was leaning against.
"You ready Weasel?" Rons face grew slightly pink as he mumbled and answer under his breath. The cabinet door swung open revealing a long tunnel similar to the tunnel Harry used to sneak into Honeydukes his third year. Malfoy climbed in first and Ron followed shortly. Harry waited a few second before climbing in after Ron, afraid that if he waited too long he'd lose track of them.
It seemed to take forever before they finally reached the door at the end. As it swung open Harry recognized the shop as Borgin and Burkes. Ron and Malfoy quickly climbed out of the cabinet as hurried out of the front door and down Knockturn Alley. When Harry thought they'd never stop walking, they finally did. Malfoy turned to Ron.
"Ok, from here we have to apparate." Ron looked like he had swallowed a slug and his faced turned a tint of green. Malfoy must have noticed.
"Don't be such a baby Weasel, it's simple." Ron nodded and swallowed.
"Just think of a house that's at least 50 times bigger than yours and you got Malfoy Manor." Malfoy said smirking a little. Harry could have sworn Ron as about to punch Malfoy, but was surprised when Ron choked back his anger.
"See you in a bit." Malfoy disappeared with a crack. Ron closed his eyes tight and appeared to be concentrating. Harry could hear Ron mumbling under his breath and leaned close and was unable to stop a smile from coming across his face as he heard Ron repeating the words destination, determination deliberation.
Harry jumped back a little when Ron suddenly disappeared with a loud crack. Harry adjusted his cloak and knew the only way to get to Malfoy Manor quickly enough was to apparate. He'd just have to hope they were distracted or too stupid to notice another crack. Harry closed his eyes and imagined being inside Malfoy Manor. The next thing he knew he felt the sick sensation of being squeezed. As he felt his feet hit solid ground his opened his eyes and began breathing hard. He still hadn't got used to apparating. As his vision cleared he realized that he was whole and that he was in a large room. Instead of walls bookshelves lined the room with only one set of tall oak doors leading out of the room. As Harry approached the shelves, he wasn't surprised to see the title of nearly every book was a book on the dark arts.
As he wandered the shelves he heard a booming voice from behind the closed oak doors. He was unable to make out what the voice was saying, but by the cheers it received Harry assumed the voice must have had good news or must have been very popular. Harry slowly approached the door and opened it a crack before carefully slipping out. He wasn't surprised to see a very large circle of Death Eaters in dark robes. He carefully slipped around the Death Eaters and got into a position to better see the center of the circle. He was surprised to see Ron over towered by a very large looming figure.
Ron clutched his arm and Harry felt his heart drop when he realized what had happened…
"Bring out the girl!" A voice from the crowd shouted. A pair of doors from behind the large figure flew open and Malfoy came out carrying a struggling Hermione. Harry's heart soared. She was still alive. She was ok. Hermione continued to struggle as she and Malfoy fought their way through the crowd and into the center of the circle. As the got into the middle Malfoy released his grip on Hermione and sent her spiraling to the floor in front of Ron. It seemed to take Hermione a second to catch her breathe and finally she looked up.
A look of pure relief spread across Hermione's face as she saw Ron standing before her. She quickly got up from the floor and wrapped her arms around him. Hermione stepped back as she realized Ron wasn't hugging her back. She looked at him for a moment confused and noticed Ron clutching his arm. Her face fell even though he was far away Harry could see the tears form in her eyes.
"Ron?" She asked hesitantly.
"Please Ron…Tell me that isn't what I think it is…" She whispered. Ron slowly moved his hand away from his arm revealing a freshly made dark mark on his forearm. Hermione fell to the floor, too stunned to speak or even stand.
A lone figure emerged from the crowd and began to speak.
"The boy's assignment is simple." The crowd hushed and appeared more interested.
"In order to prove his alliance to our Dark Lord, the boy must kill the girl!" The voice shouted. Hermione's eyes widened and she looked up at Ron hoping for it to be a trick. For Ron to be pretending in order to help her. For Dumbledore and the rest of the Order to burst through the doors any second now. Her hopes were shattered as Ron reached into his robes and slowly pulled out his wand. Hermione cowered away from Ron as he pointed his wand at Hermione.
"Ron…Please don't do this…" Hermione whimpered. Ron seemed to be deaf to pleading for he continued pointing his wand at Hermione.
"Avada…"