Disclaimer: I don't own anything you recognize from the Harry Potter books or movies.
A/N: The story is going to include stuff from the sixth book, and from this chapter on I will not mention Dumbledore again.
Hermione woke up as the weak sunlight began filtering into her room. She changed into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt before she headed downstairs to eat some breakfast.
Her parents were talking casually to each other in the kitchen as she walked down the stairs. Hermione hugged them both before she poured some cereal for herself. She was lucky that nothing had gone wrong with the time turner, and that no one had died in the process, but the memories from last night still haunted her, and she did not want to know the consequences that could have happened if her other self had been killed.
After eating her breakfast, Hermione decided to tell her parents what had happened yesterday to make her have to com home from Hogwarts. For all she knew, they probably thought she had been expelled. They had just sat down in the living room right as the doorbell rang.
Hermione opened the door and slammed it after realizing who it was. Lucius Malfoy was standing outside of her front door. The deatheaters had found out where her family lived, and she had to get them out of the house as soon as possible.
"Hermione, what is going on?" Her mother asked from the other room.
"Mother, we need to get out of the house now."
"Don't be silly darling. Go let our guest in, it's not like he's a mass murderer or anything."
Her mother chuckled as she went to open the door.
"You see Hermione, it's only a traveling salesman, nothing to be afraid of at all."
"Yes, there is nothing to be afraid of." Lucius Malfoy said as he gave Hermione on of the famous Malfoy smirks.
Hermione ran up to her room to retrieve her wand as her mother gave Mr. Malfoy a quick apology and asked him to sit down.
Hermione got up to her room and locked the door behind her. She could not go back down even if her parents' lives depended on it. Lucius Malfoy had com to kill her, or worse, bring her to Voldemort, ending in more deaths than just three.
Desperately Hermione tried to decide what to do. Everyone who she knew who could help were to far away to contact in just a few minutes. Even if she could find Harry's phone number in the pile of papers on her desk, no one in that household would let Harry talk to her. Damn them all. Lucius Malfoy was in her house pretending to be a traveling business man, and her parents had fallen for the trick. Unless she thought fast, her parents would probably get killed. The only thing that would work would be a decoy.
Hermione rushed to her door to go and tell her parents something to get them to dismiss Malfoy, but as she reached the door, two words were shouted from the room below her. Hermione slid down one of the walls in disbelief. She quickly stood back up again when she realized the wall had moved. With a bit of moving around, Hermione found a staircase behind one of the wall panels. The staircase probably was used back in the eighteen hundreds when the house was built; it probably led to the kitchens.
Footsteps banged up the stairs as Hermione quickly closed the wall panel. She was in complete darkness once again. Spider webs fell across her face. At the end of the staircase, Hermione shoved against the wall and forced the hidden door to open. Just as she had suspected, the staircase ended up in the kitchen. Not bearing to go through the front room, Hermione ran out the back door with her wand in hand. She smiled when no deatheaters came out from the bushes as she held out her wand. The night bus appeared in front of her. Before the conductor could begin to speak, Hermione ran into the bus pulling him behind her.
"Take me to the Leaky Cauldron, and fast."
"That will be one galleon and six sickles please."
Hermione handed the conductor the money and found herself a bed. After about five minutes of constant jerking and shuffling, the night bus stopped in front of an old looking pub called the Leaky Cauldron.
"Miss Granger, where are you?" Lucius Malfoy said under his breath, his frustration doubling with every minute he wasted looking for this mudblood.
Hermione sat down at the desk in her room at the Leaky Cauldron. She had already written three identical letters: one for the order, one for Harry, and one for the Weasleys. Each letter listed the events of the night and asked for them to come meet her in front of Greengots tomorrow at eleven o'clock sharp. At the moment she was waiting for the three owls that Tom the innkeeper was bringing.
After awhile Tom finally knocked on the door. She rushed over to open the door, and there stood Tom with a tooth grin and three barn owls on his left arm.
"I believe these are for you missus." Tom said as he let the birds step onto the window seal.
"Thank you Tom."
Hermione gave Tom a quick squeeze which made the old man smile even wider. Tom walked out of the door mumbling something about not getting enough appreciation for his age, and Hermione chuckled softly to herself as she gave an addressed letter to each owl.
After sending each owl on it's own way, Hermione slipped into her bed clothes and got into bed. This had been a long day, and everything had gone by too fast. For some reason she thought it was her fault her parents had died. A thought struck her. She had only heard Lucius Malfoy say the curse once. Maybe, if she was lucky, one of her parent's might have gotten away. After several minutes of deep thinking, Hermione Granger finally went to sleep.
"Well Lucius, did you get her?"
"No my lord, but we have captured one of her parents."
"You will get her tomorrow Lucius. Crucio."
Hermione woke up and stared at the ceiling for awhile, letting the events of the day before settle in. One of her parents was dead, and that was all she knew. She had to find out if one of her parents was still alive, and if they were, she had to find them. Hermione pulled herself out of bed and blindly reached for the glass of water she had left on the bedside table the night before. The only thing she found was a letter addressed to her. Knowing that owl post was not fast enough to get a reply from any of the people she had sent letters to, her hands trembled as she turned the envelope over.
A wax seal of the dark mark was the only thing that kept the envelope closed; Hermione shivered. She hoped it had been Tom that had gotten the letter up here, but no matter who took it to her room, Voldemort still knew where she was. Hermione broke the wax seal and began to read.
Dear Miss Granger,
Thank you for your hospitality last evening.
You seemed to have left before I could thank
You. But do not worry, your mother had a
Life taking experience and you father just
Happened to follow me home. If you wish
To see him ever again meet me at number
Forty-seven Knockturn Alley right after
You have finished reading this letter. I
Will be waiting. Be warned, your father's
Life is in my master's hands; Come Alone.
Lucius Malfoy.
Hermione read the letter over two more times before she realized what she had to do in order to save her father. Voldemort wanted bait, and she was one of Harry's best friends. She would probably be the easiest to capture with there being such tight security on the Weasley's house.
Hermione left her payment for the room on the bedside table and hurried down to Diagon Alley. The streets were considerably empty compared to the last time she had been here. Figures in dark cloaks stared into boarded up windows as if there were more than just wooden planks standing in front of them. A man in ragged clothing stared up at her from the sidewalk with bloodshot red eyes. Hermione quickened her pace even though she knew that what lay ahead of her was worse than what lay behind.
It was not long before Hermione reached Knockturn Alley and the people around her started looking worse. Men and women alike were crawling up to her, pulling at her clothing while begging for forgiveness. Hermione did not know what they were talking about, and she tried to walk away, but one of them caught her foot, making her stumble. She closed her eyes waiting for her face to hit the ground, but it never did.
Two large arms wrapped around Hermione's body right before her face hit the stone paved road. Hermione was too scared to turn around to see who her savior was, and closed her eyes as the man pulled her up. Once upright, Hermione started walking ahead, not brave enough to turn around.
"Not even a thank you from the Mudblood, how disappointing."
Hermione stopped in her tracks as Lucius Malfoy's harsh but elegant voice filled her mind. Before she could turn around, Lucius had appeared in front of her.
"Do you not want to see your father again Mudblood?"
"You are going to kill him anyways Mr. Malfoy, so give me a reason why I should not dissaperate right at this moment.
"Tell you what mudblood, if you come with me, I will set your father free forever."
"How can I trust you?"
"You have my word as a death eater."
A/N: I would like to thank F.I.C. Morph, Chrissy92, Raspberri13, Dracodolenz, Lovenotknown, Jess, Warpaint13, and Carebearerin for reviewing the last chapter. I'm leaving again tomorrow for Georgia, and I expect a lot of reviews when I get back. Thanks for reading (and hopefully reviewing).