Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, he and his story belong to the amazingly brilliant J.K. Rowling.
A/N: First off, I am so so so sorry about the delay in updates. I am apalled with myself for taking so long because it isn't fair to all of you to have to wait so long. I hope you can forgive me. I would also like to thank everyone who has reviewed any of my fics because part of the reason why I have taken so long to update is because I have begun working on an original novel. The support I have recieved from all of you here is part of the reason why I started writing something of my own, and I am very grateful for it. So thank you.
Now, onto Harry Potter related topics, I hope everyone enjoyed the holidays and had a Happy New Year. I also hope you all are as excited as I was to learn the title of the final Harry Potter book, it's so exciting! Now that we have a title, my goal is to make sure that both the fics I am working on are finished before the final HP book comes out, so I am going to work my hardest to get it done.
I hope you all enjoy this chapter, and I thank everyone ahead of time for sticking with it. Enjoy!
Chapter 11: Missing Persons
Hermione woke up the next morning feeling as if the previous four days hadn't even happened. She felt completely relaxed and confident, confident that things would be better from now on. She smiled sweetly at Draco as he slept soundly beside her. She noted with interest that his brow was creased as if he was thinking really hard. 'Must be dreaming,' she mused to herself.
Hermione brought her hand to his face lightly stroked his cheek down to his jaw. Her fingers hardly touched his skin, yet the slight gesture seemed to calm his dreams for his face relaxed. Hermione smiled again and then shifted so that she could see the clock on the wall. She sighed when she found that she would have to start getting ready for training soon, she just didn't want to leave the comfort of the bed, or the happiness she felt in Draco's presence.
"Draco," she whispered as she stroked his face again, "Draco wake up."
Draco groaned and opened his eyes groggily. His eyes were hazy and he blinked several times as if he didn't believe Hermione was really lying next to him.
"Wake up sleepy head," Hermione teased with a giggle.
Draco smiled and brought his hand up so that it was covering hers, which was still on his face. He then guided her hand to his lips and kissed her palm.
"Good morning," Hermione smiled.
"Mmmm, yes it is," Draco agreed as he released her hand so that he could stretch.
"I'm glad you think so, you didn't look so happy while you were asleep. Did you have a dream or something?"
Draco stopped stretching and looked at Hermione with a curious expression. "I don't think so, not that I can recall anyway."
"Hmm," Hermione shrugged it off then made to get out of bed.
But Draco was too quick for her; he snatched her around the waist and turned her back towards him. Hermione laughed, it was definitely more fun to wake up like this. "And where do you think you're going young lady?" Draco asked in a mock patronizing tone.
"I think," began Hermione, going along with the game, "that I'm going to take a shower."
"Before giving me a kiss good morning? I think not."
"Of course!" cried Hermione with an overdramatic gasp, "how could I have been so thoughtless?" Hermione laughed as she wrapped her arm around Draco's neck. Draco responded by tightening his hold around her waist, bringing them so close together that their entire bodies were touching.
Almost at once their tender morning kiss turned into a very enjoyable morning snog. The only downside was when Hermione forced herself to put a stop to it before she completely lost herself. Neither party was too pleased about ending the fun, but Draco didn't complain when she finally broke away. The apologetic look on Hermione's face told him very clearly that it pained her just as much as it did him to stop.
While Hermione was in the shower, Draco ordered an exorbitant amount of food for breakfast and it was delivered just as she finished getting dressed. Hermione gasped when she saw all the food. "Wow! Is there a small army joining us for breakfast that you neglected to tell me about?"
"I couldn't decide what I wanted," retorted Draco defensively as he piled a little bit of everything onto his plate.
Hermione shook her head, amused at her boyfriend, and then selected a wide variety of foods herself. "So" she said once they had both settled down and started to eat, "are you going to talk with your mum today?"
Draco swallowed his toast and then took a rather large gulp of orange juice. The two then engaged in a staring contest of sorts, Draco was trying to get Hermione to relent; Hermione on the other hand was looking more stubborn and determined than usual.
"You're not going to get off my back about this until I do it are you?" Draco asked when he finally decided the staring contest was pointless.
"I just don't want to come between you and your mum," Hermione insisted, her stubborn glare fading to a concerned gaze.
"What's going on between Narcissa and I is not your fault."
Hermione pouted, "but it would make me feel a lot better if I knew you'd at least tried to work it out."
Draco was not about to let their pleasant morning turn sour because of his mother, so with a deep sigh of resignation, he conceded. "Fine, I'll go to the Manor today and try to work things out. But," he added before Hermione could speak again, "if it doesn't work out after I talk to her, can we please forget about it?"
Hermione wanted to say 'no absolutely not, we'll deal with it until it's resolved!' But she too was enjoying being together again too much to spoil it now. "Okay," she nodded, finding herself unable to say anything more.
"Thank you," smiled Draco as he pulled her in for a loving kiss.
The two spent the rest of their morning flirting, kissing and making plans to meet for dinner that night at a restaurant in Diagon Alley. When Hermione finally forced herself to leave, Draco insisted on apparating with her to the Ministry.
Once they'd arrived, Draco immediately pulled Hermione into a deep kiss that demanded more. As much as she tried to resist the temptation, she had just begun to really loose control of her senses when there was a loud clearing of the throat from right beside her. Hermione opened her eyes and wrenched apart from Draco, who had either not heard or had chosen to ignore the interruption. Hermione blushed scarlet when she saw her two best friends standing right beside her wearing un-amused looks on their faces. She became instantly flustered and fidgety, Draco however kept his arms wrapped around her and was completely unabashed, even a bit smug; he seemed to find the whole situation funny.
"Err…right, I've got to go," blustered Hermione as Harry and Ron rolled their eyes and turned away without a word.
"If you must," sighed Draco, making no move to release her.
"I'll met you at the restaurant," Hermione gave Draco a quick kiss and pried herself from his grasp, "don't be late!" she smiled as she took off after Harry and Ron.
"Same goes for you!" Draco called after her, not entirely joking.
Draco watched her rush through the long hall, already wishing he was with her again. His thoughts were so distracted by Hermione that he failed to notice the man who had followed the two of them since they'd left the hotel. Nor did he notice that that same man was now walking rather quickly down the same corridor Hermione had just raced through.
Draco hung around in the Ministry lobby for a few minutes thinking about what he should do for the rest of the day. He knew that the sooner he confronted his mother the better, because no matter what happened at least then it would be over with. However a very large part of him would have rather not gone to see her at all. 'Hermione will ask about it tonight,' he reminded himself.
He considered his options; one, he could not go to see his mother and just invent an encounter between them. He was positive he could make it sound convincing, then everyone would be happy and he wouldn't have to even see his mother. But then that nagging voice inside his head, which had never existed prior to his relationship with Hermione, spoke up and reminded him how guilty he would feel if he lied to her. Again a feeling that he had never experienced until Hermione came into his life. It was this nagging voice, which introduced the possibility that a talk with Narcissa could end positively. Maybe somehow he'd get her to see his side of the story and accept the manner in which he wanted to live his life. 'Not likely' his usual voice of reason countered. Draco huffed, he strongly believed that talking with Narcissa again would get him nowhere; she was just as stubborn as he was, so the likelihood of her backing down from her position was slim to none. But he'd give it a shot for Hermione's sake. The worst that could happen would be for him to leave and return to the hotel. So there was no real major downside anyway, at least not as long as Draco managed to ignore the part of him that cared about his mother. That shouldn't be too hard, right?
Draco did not allow himself to ponder the situation further; he knew if he did he'd think himself in circles and end up standing in the middle of the Ministry lobby looking like an idiot. So of course, as he was never fond of looking or feeling like an idiot, he dissaparated on the spot and a moment later found himself standing in the entryway of his Manor.
Deciding he would rather catch Narcissa off guard than shout for her, Draco quietly made his way though the Manor looking for either his mother, or one of the house elves who would be able to tell him where she was. He was walking through the hallway when he spotted Narcissa's personal elf stumble out of the breakfast room and into the hall holding a large silver tray above its head. Draco smirked to himself and strode in his usual arrogant manner into the room without bothering to knock. "Mother, I believe we have somethi…" Draco stopped dead in his tracks when he found that Narcissa was not alone in the room. Sitting across from her was a strikingly beautiful young woman just about Draco's age. She had long raven colored hair, which flowed, perfectly straight down her back, as well as deep blue eyes, which were presently gazing directly at Draco.
"Ah Draco, I'm so please you could join us," Narcissa smiled as if Draco had not just barged in on them. "Allow me to introduce you to Adrienne. Adrienne, this is my son Draco."
Draco stood motionless just inside the door, unable to remove his gaze from the girl in front of him and temporarily unable to recall the reason he had come in the first place.
Adrienne flashed her pearly white teeth in a smile, and stood up to curtsy to Draco. When the eye contact was finally broken, Draco shook himself out of his trance, and his reason for storming into the room returned to him. He nodded his head to Adrienne out of habit and politeness however he made no move to join the two women. Instead he cleared his throat and turned his attention to his mother. "Mother, may I speak to you for a moment?"
"Of course dear," replied Narcissa, "come sit down."
"No Mother, I'd like to speak with you alone."
"Draco, that is incredibly rude, to leave our guest all alone s soon after she's arrived. Especially considering how much she's been looking forward to meeting you. Isn't that right Adrienne?"
"Oh yes Mrs. Malfoy, I have been looking forward to this for a long time."
"Please dear, I told you to call me Narcissa,"
"Of course, my apologies Narcissa."
It was all Draco could do not to sneer at the haughty exchange and sickening formalities. Visions of the countless functions and balls his parents had dragged him to flew through his mind and he almost felt physically ill at the memories. However, he knew that if he was going to have any hope of getting through to Narcissa, he'd have to play her game. "I did not intend to be rude," he began, "however there is something rather personal that I would like to discuss with you for a moment mother. I'm afraid it cannot wait."
Narcissa scowled, she was not stupid, she knew very well what the topic of conversation was likely to be, and she was angry that Adrienne was not proving to be enough of a distraction to get Draco's mind off of his filthy girlfriend. "Fine," she spat through gritted teeth, "Adrienne if you'll excuse us, we'll be back in a minute."
With that Narcissa followed Draco into the room down the hall, which happened to be a study. Draco was leaning back against the desk glaring at Narcissa when she entered. Narcissa glared right back for a long moment before finally breaking the silence. "Well, what is it, we haven't got all day and you have a guest to attend to."
Draco scoffed, "no Mother, first off she's your guest, you invited her, I want nothing to do with her." Narcissa opened her mouth to interrupt, but Draco was too quick for her. "I came here with the intention of reconciling our differences. I know that you can't accept that Hermione is my girlfriend at the moment, so all that I ask is that you understand and respect my right to make my own decision in my own life."
"You are right about one thing Draco Malfoy, I cannot and will not accept that mudblood as being worthy of you. You are my son and you deserve better, you should know that. Clearly that thing has done something to alter your mind, but I will correct that in time."
"Mother! You're not listening to me; Hermione has done nothing but good for me. She's the one who told me to come here to try to talk to you, but if you're not going to listen then I'm not going to try anymore!"
"Draco I've had enough of this, you're whining like a four year old. Now get in there and entertain Adrienne like a good host."
Draco let out a roar of frustration, "that's it Mother, I've tried my best. Goodbye." Draco calmly held the door open and gestured for her to leave.
Narcissa was silently fuming; she glared at her son, trying to cause him to back down. But he was just as stubborn as she or for nearly a minute the two stood glaring at each other wearing matching icy expressions. Finally, Narcissa spoke, her indignant tone illustrating just how furious she was, "You will regret this Draco; and I will be there when you realize your mistake. You will loose your interest in this mudblood eventually, but I will always be your mother. Remember that."
With that, Narcissa haughtily strode passed her son and out the door. Draco remained motionless at the door reflecting upon his mother's words until after he had heard Narcissa apologize to Adrienne and then both of them leave the Manor. It was only then that he allowed himself to exhale. "You're wrong Mother, and I will be here when you finally see that."
- - - - - - - - - -
The trainees spent the entire day tackling the obstacle course to practice their stealth abilities. Only this time the course was larger and more challenging than the first time. Now that Hermione had made up with Draco, she was able to perform nearly flawlessly each time. "Excellent Hermione!" congratulated Kingsley with an approving smile.
Hermione beamed, it felt wonderful to be performing her best again. By the end of the day she was exhausted but happy nonetheless. She did well in training, she was going to work on her Order task, and then end the day with Draco. Everything finally seemed to be balanced and going well, and the relief Hermione felt was indescribable.
At the end of training, Hermione stood with Harry and Ron in the Ministry lobby. "Guys Moody wants me to come for extra training tonight, so I probably won't be back until late."
"Oh, are you learning some difficult spells then?" questioned Hermione.
"I don't know what he's got planned, but I have a feeling that something big is coming that they're not telling us." Harry was now speaking in a whisper. "The last time I was with Moody, as I was leaving I overheard him talking with Dumbledore. It sounded to me like Snape has disappeared."
Hermione gasped.
"Yeah, I think they're worried that Voldemort discovered him as a spy."
"Oh no!" Hermione cried a bit louder than intended.
"Shhh!" Harry hissed. "So I won't be back until late, what are you two doing?"
"I've got a date," Ron said proudly, causing Harry and Hermione to roll their eyes.
"I'm going to do some research then go out with Draco," answered Hermione.
Harry sent her a stern look, but did not comment. Hermione knew that he was just worried for all their safety and his disapproval had less to do with Draco than it had to do with his general concern, so she did not comment. "Alright then," Harry said. "I'll see you both tomorrow morning then."
"Bye," agreed Ron.
"See you," nodded Hermione. As the boys made their way to the floos, Hermione walked to the muggle London entrance. She had decided to take muggle transportation in order to give herself a bit of a break between training and research.
As she waited for a train in the Underground station, she felt a strange sensation pass through her. A tingling, which made her feel as if something wasn't right. She did her best to shake it off, but it persisted even after she got on the train and sat down. Hermione glanced around the car, but other than a mother with her son and a rather shady looking man sitting in the corner behind her, there was nothing out of the ordinary.
Once the doors shut and the train started, Hermione wanted nothing more than to get off. 'I should have just apparated,' she berated herself. Luckily, the Hall of Records was only one stop away from the Ministry of Magic, so Hermione did not have to wait too long to get out. Once she did get off the train, she took a breath so deep one might think that she had held her breath for the entire ride. Her relief was only temporary however, when as she rode up the escalator, she saw that the shady man who had been sitting in the corner was now walking towards the escalator as well.
Perhaps it was just Harry's concern that made her nervous, but for some reason she felt that there was something not right about that man. Once out of the station, she walked so fast that she was nearly running. And when she was forced to stop at a crosswalk, she saw to her utter dismay, the shady man was pushing through the crowd directly towards her. As soon as she was able to go, she bolted across the street and down the sidewalk. The weight of her bag tired her quickly, but she still kept going. She focused all of her energy on getting to the Hall of Records, where she would be safe and able to contact someone.
She darted into the alleyway and was mere feet from the door when there was a loud pop and Hermione barreled directly into whoever had apparated in her way. The collision caused her to stumble backwards, but before she hit the ground, two hands grabbed her and yanked her forward. Hermione opened her eyes to find that she had crashed into the shady man from the train; apparently he was a wizard. His hand was over her mouth before she could scream, and before she even had the chance to fight back, he had dissaparated them away.
Hermione wrenched away from her captor as soon as she felt her feet on solid ground. She dug into her pocket for her wand, but the man was too quick. By the time she spun to face him, his wand was aimed at her, and her wand was flying in the air as he disarmed her. In the next moment, she found herself bound with cords so tight she was sure they were cutting into her skin. She could not move, for when she did, the cords dug in deeper causing her to wince in pain.
"Let me go!" Hermione screamed.
The man casually silenced her, and then chuckled as he picked up her bag. Hermione shrieked and mouthed words of protests, but her efforts were silenced. And her struggle only served to make the man laugh harder. Her eyes widened in fear as the man pulled out her notebook with all of her notes from her Order task in it. He flipped through it and raised his eyebrows in exaggerated interest. "Hmm, interesting, perhaps my master would like a look at this." The man smirked, "I'll be sure to give it to him when he returns." With that, the man swept from the room, Hermione's notebook in hand. Leaving Hermione all alone and silently helpless.
Hermione's blood ran cold, her face was white and it was all she could do to not panic. She tried to maneuver her fingers around the cords in an effort to escape, but it was no use. She was beginning to loose feeling in her extremities due to lack of blood flow because of the cords, and she knew that the only chance she had at surviving was to remain calm and form a plan. But where was the hope, Harry and Ron wouldn't even know she was missing until tomorrow morning, and if Voldemort returned before then, she would probably be dead before anyone even knew she was gone.
Hermione felt tears form in her eyes at the thought of death. The idea that she would never see her friends again and that they too were at risk terrified her. And Draco, she had only just made up with him, she couldn't stand the idea of never seeing him again. When she felt the first tear roll down her cheek, she mentally slapped herself. She could not afford to break down now, she had to get it together and form a plan.
She began by surveying her surroundings. She saw that she was in a very old, dingy, rundown room that was covered in dust and looked completely inhabitable to her. 'Where am I?' she wondered. The house looked like it could fall apart any second at the slightest breeze. The wood was splintered and it reeked of mold, the windows were so covered in dust that she could not see through them. Many of them were cracked, and one even had a hole in it, which was the only way she was able to see outside. Though from the little she could see, she doubted that there was anyone for miles around. This certainly wasn't the type of place she imagined Voldemort adopting as a headquarters; then again, she wasn't sure that was what this was. Perhaps this was nothing more than a holding pen, a temporary prison for her to wait in, until he arrived and decided to kill her. The thought made her gulp.
The longer she stood, bound and alone, the more exhausted she felt. Her entire legs seemed to be going numb from limited blood flow, and the cords were making her entire body sore. There was a ratty old chair in the corner near the broken window and, despite its appearance it looked inviting to her. Hermione tried to hop over to it, but the cords cut into her skin and she fell halfway across the room causing a jolt of pain to hit her chest. She tossed around on the ground, but could not manage to stand or even sit back up. She might as well have been immobilized for all the good it did. In fact, she wished she had been immobilized, because then she wouldn't have tight cords cutting off her circulation.
So there she lay. She lost track of how long she was there, motionless and in pain. But the lack of blood flow was quickly taking its toll, and Hermione felt herself fading in and out of consciousness. She tried to focus on listening for any sound that would indicate something. But the minutes ticked by with nothing until she finally shut down and faded into darkness.
- - - - - - - - - -
After he had reclaimed the Manor back, Draco checked out of the Phoenix Grande and returned home along with Mimi. A sense of relief and control filled him when he returned to the Manor. He was home, he was no longer allowing his mother to control his life, and he and Hermione were back on good terms with each other. It felt good to have a life that was going well and under control.
That evening, Draco got to the restaurant about ten minutes early and decided to sit at the bar while he waited for Hermione. He sipped on a firewhiskey as he waited; he did not begin to get antsy until he realized that Hermione was five minutes late.
After a few minutes, he took a long sip of his drink and looked at the time again, the seconds were ticking on and Hermione still was not there. 'Probably got side tracked again,' he justified to himself. But when it got to the point where she was 20 minutes late, Draco knew something was wrong. He knew Hermione; there was no way she would be more than a few minutes late after what had happened last time. Draco didn't know what to do. He didn't want to leave only to have her arrive and see him not there. But on the other hand, he didn't want to sit there waiting like an idiot any longer either.
In the end he sat for another ten minutes, constantly watching the entrance like a hawk, but still there was no sign of Hermione. Finally, he slapped a handful of sickles on the counter for his drink and swept out of the restaurant. 'Maybe she went to the Manor instead,' he thought. But he doubted it; the plan had always been to meet at the restaurant; that had been Hermione's suggestion to begin with. Something else had happened and what frustrated Draco most was that he had no way to find out what was going on, because he had no way to get in direct contact with Hermione.
Once he'd apparated back to the Manor, he went directly to the study to write Hermione a note; he was rather proud of the way he was managing to keep his temper under control thus far, though at the same time he was expecting one hell of an explanation from her. He finished the note quickly and took it to Aries at once. It was the only way he could think of to find out where she was and what had happened, so while it wasn't his first choice, it was his only option. Aries was munching on a dead rat in the owlry when Draco interrupted his meal.
"Take this to Hermione right now, and make her give you a response before you leave," Draco ordered.
Aries, who normally would have squawked at an interrupted meal, seemed to understand the urgency in his owner's tone, for he did not make one hoot of complaint as Draco roughly tied the letter to his leg.
"Now go, and get there as fast as you can!" Draco called out the window.
Aries hooted in confirmation and flew off into the sunset. The eagle owl flew as fast as his wings would carry him, and luckily the breeze was in his favor. His instincts were taking him in a direction he had never flown before; especially not to get to the recipient he was traveling to. He felt the magical energy fade as he flew over a predominantly muggle area, and it made him incredibly uncomfortable. His senses went into overdrive, and while he would have preferred not to fly any further, Draco had demanded the letter get to Hermione in a hurry, and Aries was not the sort of owl who would disobey a direct order from his owner.
- - - - - - - - - -
The sun was setting outside the dusty windows when footsteps finally sounded on the old wooden floors. The figure sneered at the filthy girl who lay bound and unconscious on the floor. The figure aimed his wand at the girl and the cords disappeared. Her robes were torn from the tight cords, and red lines crisscrossed all over her hands, which were purple and bruised. The figure wrinkled his nose at the despicable sight and muttered in a snakelike voice, "enervate."
Hermione groaned and stretched before she could stop herself. She was expecting to feel the binding of the cords, but instead found that she was able to move around freely. She blinked in surprise, the optimistic side of her entertaining the hope that it was just a horrible nightmare and that the day hadn't even started yet. But when her eyes greeted her with the sight of the decrepit room and when she found the most frightening man, err thing, she had ever seen standing above her, she knew that this was no nightmare. This was real, and things had just gotten unbelievably worse.
"Miss Granger," Lord Voldemort hissed, "what a pleasure to see you again."
Hermione got to her feet, but did not speak; instead she glared at Voldemort with a resolute expression. She was determined not to show a hint of fear. If he was planning on killing her now then she was determined to die a true Gryffindor, brave until the very end.
"Nothing to say? Perhaps you are to afraid to address Lord Voldemort."
"You don't scare me," Hermione stated, showing no trace of fear.
Voldemort smirked, "ah yes, that infamous Gryffindor bravery. I assure you it will get you nowhere with me."
"Then why bother talking to me at all, why not just kill me and get it over with?" spat Hermione. Since she was sure she would die, her courage was making her reckless. It didn't matter how much she pushed him if she was going to die. And since she had no wand to defend herself, she would fight as hard as possible with words, the only weapon she had.
Voldemort chuckled, it was a sound that sent chills up her spine, and they were not the good kind of chills, but the ones that froze her in her place. "You would like that wouldn't you? Yes, you would much rather I kill you before I strip you mind of its secrets."
Hermione tried not to show her surprise, but some of it must have shown on her face.
"Yes, I know you are a member of Dumbledore's bloody Order of the Phoenix, and I will learn all you know before I kill you. "
"Well then you will be disappointed," Hermione shot back. "Because I know nothing about Dumbledore's plans."
"Hardly surprising," mused Voldemort in an offhand tone. "No intelligent person would trust any real secrets with a teenage mudblood. However, lucky for you, you are more valuable to me alive than you dead at the moment."
Hermione had no idea what Voldemort was talking about, and she could find no reason why Voldemort would find her valuable to him if not for Order secrets.
"Perhaps you are wondering what I mean," Voldemort interrupted Hermione's thoughts.
Hermione quickly stopped thinking and closed her mind, reminding herself that Voldemort was possibly the greatest legilmens in the world, including Dumbledore, and she could not risk him seeing any thoughts no matter how trivial they might seem to her.
"You Miss Granger are the bait." Voldemort paused, allowing her time to think.
Hermione gasped, "Harry," she breathed.
Voldemort chuckled, clearly enjoying the emotions playing across his prisoner's face, "Indeed, Potter would come to rescue just about anyone, but that is not the only reason I chose you. You are the only one who will lead the other one I want into my trap as well."
Hermione felt her heart stop, "no!" her cry came out in a whisper, and it delighted Voldemort to no end.
"Yes," Voldemort hissed, "you are the only one who will be able to lead both Potter, and the traitor directly to me. So enjoy your life while you can Miss Granger, because after you have led them to their deaths, you too will die. Or perhaps I will let you live after I kill them, a long and terrible life."
"You will never win, they'll kill you and then we will all laugh at your ugly rotting corpse!" Hermione yelled.
"Crucio!" Hermione hadn't even seen Voldemort whip out his wand before the pain was upon her. The fiery needles killed her already tender bruised skin, and after a time she was in too much pain to even scream. It was only when she was on the floor and felt herself slipping out on consciousness again that the curse was lifted.
Hermione mustered up the strength to send a glare at Voldemort, but he took no notice. Instead, from the depths of his robes, he removed an item that was very familiar to Hermione, her notebook. Voldemort flipped it open and pretended to peruse through it. "Magical creature lists," Voldemort mused, "interesting. You seem to have paid special attention to which wizards they have associated with in the past. Good to know Dumbledore is intending to form an army with some of these groups. It gives me a head start in contacting them."
Hermione did not have the strength to form a comeback; she was using all her energy just to stand up again.
Voldemort threw the notebook at her feet, "I have wasted too much time in the presence of filth, enjoy living while you have the chance. I'm sure you will be seeing your rescuers soon, not that they will be able to do much."
Before he left, he cast some sort of charm that created a silvery ring of mist around her. Hermione was certain that this was some sort of cage, and she was not daring enough to find out what would happen if she tried to pass through the ring. Long after Voldemort had left, Hermione was lying on the dusty floor staring up at the ceiling. A feeling of hopelessness engulfed her, and for the first time since she'd been kidnapped, she allowed herself to cry.
As the tears flowed, she hoped against hope that neither Draco nor Harry would come searching for her. She did not want their lives to be put in danger because of her. But there was nothing she could do about it, there was nothing at all to do now, but wait and pray that everything would turn out all right.
Hours later, in the dead of night Hermione was sitting on the hard wooden floor. She couldn't sleep, all she could think of was her friends, family and Draco. Harry and Ron wouldn't even notice she was missing until the next day, but Draco would know something was wrong. 'Right,' she thought to herself sarcastically, 'and the first thing he'll think is, I'll bet she was kidnapped by a death eater and brought to an abandoned house somewhere to be taunted by Voldemort.'
No, if she knew Draco, he would be livid with her, and probably would wait for her to contact him. The thought of Draco being angry with her nearly caused her to break down again, she needed him right now, more than she needed anyone else.
She allowed herself to get lost in memories of times she and Draco spent together. She was so deep in thought that she did not hear the owl hooting through the crack in the glass. But she did hear the shattering of the window. She jumped at the sound, and was so excited to see Aries fly in through the window (which was now even more shattered) that she forgot about the silvery mist surrounding her, and ran right into it.
The second she touched it, her entire body exploded in pain, she screamed so loud that had there been anyone in the surrounding area, they would have heard it for sure. Aries flew back at the sound and seemed too afraid to approach her again. But Hermione ignored the pain and focused on the bird, "Aries," she whispered urgently, for she was not sure if she was alone in the house or not, "Aries you have to go, go back to Draco, it's not safe here!"
Aries squawked and ruffled his feathers as if in disagreement, he pecked at the knot on his leg until he had freed himself of the letter. He then took the letter in his beak and flew halfway across the room until Hermione cried out again.
"No! You can't come in here, it will hurt you too! Just please go back to Draco, make him understand how much I love him, make him understand how sorry I am!"
Aries nudged the letter across the floor.
"Aries I can't read his letter, you can't get it through the mist, just go!"
Aries didn't like the feel of this place, and with Hermione urging him to go, he managed to ignore Draco's order from before. Feeling a mixture of reluctance and relief, the owl flew back to the windowsill.
"And Aries," Hermione called, her voice sounded tired, as if her throat was sore.
Aries turned his head back to Hermione, whose eyes were now shining with renewed tears.
"Say goodbye to Draco for me," she said with a sob.
Aries wanted to fly to her shoulder, and offer what little comfort it was possible for an owl to offer. But instead all he was able to do was hoot in reassurance and fly out the window.
Seeing Aries leave was like twisting a knife in her chest. At that moment she wished she had a knife so she could end her misery then. But as soon as the thought entered her head, she slapped it away. Thinking like that would do her no good. Besides, Harry and had faced Voldemort before and saved the day, and Draco had saved her before as well. Hermione just wasn't used to being the one who needed saving, and she did not like it one bit.
As she gave herself a mental pep talk, her eyes fell upon Draco's note, which Aries had left behind. She knew someone, either Voldemort or a Death Eater would find it, and she was terrified at what it might say. It was too far away to reach even if she stretched, and there was no way she was touching that silver mist again, it was as painful than the cruciatus curse, and she wasn't about to inflict that sort of torture on herself voluntarily. That would just be something she'd have to deal with later, until then all she could do was sit and hope.
To prevent the despair from overwhelming her, Hermione tore a page of parchment from her notebook and loaded a quill with ink. She was not about to live long enough to allow Voldemort to use her as bait, but before she did anything about it, there were some things she needed to say. And so she wrote, pouring her heart out onto the page, and writing all the things she had never said to everyone she cared about I her life.
I hope you enjoyed it, and I look forward to hearing your thoughts in a review! Thanks.
passes out a box of chocolate frogs to each reviewer.