A/N: Sorry it took me so long to update! It was just nobody seemed to review so I thought I took a wrong turn with the direction of the story but the I check like a week later and saw how many people did review which inspired me to write this amazing chapter! Enjoy!

Literally In Hell With: Draco Malfoy

Chapter 9

Layers of the Earth

Draco, Hermione, and Ron were led to a place that all of them thought was heaven. The jail was even bigger then the last one. Instead of having a couple of cells it only had one. The only thing was that the one cell was bigger then any house any of them had yet to see in Hell.

The best part about it was Hermione and Draco where temporarily un-cuffed.

It had two floors and it was padded with red carpet from wall to wall. Hermione squealed as she saw her knew home. Draco grinned and walked into the cell without a complete. Ron gave a look of disapproval and joined the others.

Hermione fell onto the soft sofa and hugged the pillows around her. "I just can't believe it!" she said happily. "I feel like I've already reached heaven!"

Ron made a loud sigh to get everyone's attention. "That's what they want you to feel like."

Draco laughed. "So what are you the new expert on Hell?"

Ron glared at him. "For your information, Malfoy, I know a lot more about this place then you can imagine."

Draco laughed again. "And how's that Weasley? We've been down here longer then you and we still don't know shit about this place!"

"Cho studied mythology," Ron's voice lowered and Hermione could tell just saying her name made him hurt.

Hermione pushed herself up so that she was sitting on the couch and joined the conversation. "It doesn't matter how he knows. Please continue with what you were saying before."

Ron seemed thankful for Hermione's statement. He wasn't looking forward to giving details about Cho and her pointless career. "They're trying to trick us. They want us to be happy just so they can tare everything away once again. Do you under stand? Something very terrible is about to happen."

With these words the atmosphere of the room change. All smiles had faded as realization struck. What Ron said made perfect sense. Both Draco and Hermione knew this but neither wanted to recognize the fact.

"We have time though," Ron continued. "I know they do take Quidditch as a serious thing down here, which means we really are playing. I'm not sure how much time we have but at least we have it."

"Are we going to escape?" Hermione asked.

Ron nodded his head. "We are going to try."

"This is outrageous!" Draco shouted. "This is my one time for peace for what four years? I don't care what is going to happen afterwards! I need a break and I'm going to take it!"

Draco stormed up to the second floor. There were some crashing sounds. Draco was having a fit.

"This is what they want to happen." Ron stated to Hermione. "They want us to fall apart so we fail the match."

Hermione shook her head back and forth. "Ron this isn't right. I don't think I can take much more of this."

Ron walked over to Hermione and put his hand on her shoulder. "I'll get us out."

Hermione violently pushed herself up from the couch and tugged away from Ron. "So you'll get us out. Then what? We are still going to be stuck in this- this- this- place!"

"You can continue your search for heaven!" Ron protested.

Hermione shook her head. "From everything I heard from you everything here is just an illusion. Everything is just to bring our hopes up and crash them down. I bet there isn't even a heaven!"

Ron frowned. He knew he had to eventually crush Hermione's spirit but it hurt more then he planned. "There is a heaven Hermione. I just don't think it would be floating in the middle of Hell."

"Why, did Cho tell you that?" Hermione snapped. She soon stormed up the stairs joining Draco. "I can't stand him."

"Well he's in love with you," Draco murmured. He was lying a silk red bed and staring at the ceiling.

"He ruined are only chance for peace."

Draco laughed and turned to his side so that he was facing Hermione. "Weasley's right. They never wanted us to be in peace. We can't even go a few minutes without fighting."

Hermione walked over and sat down next to him on the bed. "Do you think we will ever get out of here?"

Draco shook his head. "I don't know. I just don't know."

"I wish I was back at Hogwarts then maybe I could change and find myself in a better place." Hermione said thoughtfully.

"I'm not sure if Hell's much worse then my life." Draco stated.

Hermione turned her head to look at him. "Stop being so dramatic."

"I'm not. This whole time I've been wondering if I made the right choice. I mean if I could do it again would I?"

"Do what?"

Draco paused for a moment. "You know." He said hesitantly.

Hermione still wasn't sure what he was talking about. "I don't know."

"Come on Granger, I thought you were smarter then this." Draco sighed. He looked at Hermione and waited for her response.

Hermione thought for a minute. Then it clicked. Hermione was surprised at herself for not realizing it earlier. She usually caught onto things quickly. "Oh," Hermione said quietly. Was he opening up to her?

As if Draco read her mind he said, "Yes. I finally realized that it doesn't matter anymore. We don't even have wands and I'm not too sure we have blood either. And obviously we're stuck together, look we can't even be apart when we aren't handcuffed!"

"Are you saying that we're equal?" Hermione grinned.

"Down here we are," Draco sighed, "but I still detest you."

"Of course Malfoy." Hermione smiled. She knew what he was saying. Hermione noticed that he had quickly changed the topic. She wanted to know what he was about to confess to her. She was sure he was going to say something about his suicide. "What were you saying before?"

Draco was silent for a few moments. "I don't know why I'm telling you this."

"I am very trust worthy." Hermione pointed out.

Draco shook his head. "No, I don't trust you. I think it's just because you're there."

Hermione frowned at these words. She would never admit it but she actually liked the idea of Draco confiding in her. "Oh," she said quietly. "Well then go on."

"To start off I never meant to kill anyone, but I guess accidents aren't taken into consideration down here. It was only supposed to be me. Everything just went wrong and all I could think of was surviving. It would have been worse then Hell if I lived. Everyone would have known what I have done."

"So why did you do it?"

"Well you know my father was in prison. I was assigned a task that risked my parents' lives. If I didn't complete it then they would die. I didn't want to fail. I wouldn't have been able to cope with it. I thought if I died in an accident maybe my parents would have a chance of surviving."

"So in a way you sacrificed yourself for them…" Hermione thought out loud.

Draco shrugged. "I guess. What's with that face?" Hermione's face had lit up. It was practically glowing.

"Malfoy, you made a sacrifice! The ultimate sacrifice! That's a one way ticket to heaven!" Hermione squealed. "There had to be some kind of mistake. You don't belong here!"

Draco looked puzzled. "Of course I do. I'm a murderer."

"You sacrificed yourself," Hermione protested. "That beats anything."

Draco sat up from the bed. "Well if it does then how I'm still stuck down here?"

Hermione frowned. "I'm not sure. It could have been a mistake."

"I doubt it. Granger you just don't get it. I deserve to be here." Draco sighed.

"Hermione!" Ron shouted from downstairs. "Come down quickly and bring Malfoy!"

Hermione and Draco exchanged glances before jogging down the stairs. Standing inside the cell next to Ron was a demon, but not any demon. It was the one at the Quidditch match! Hermione noticed his muscular body and the huge horns, the biggest she had seen so far.

The demon smiled when he saw Hermione approach. "Hello," he said. His voice was deep and had a tint of being possessed in it.

Hermione nodded her head. "Hello."

"I am the demon who was monitoring your room. I overheard the conversation you had with him. You're right. He doesn't belong here."

There was a moment of silence as everyone took what he said in. All of the expressions were blank.

The demon continued. "I'm usually not supposed to report things like this. We like to keep our guests," he grinned that evil grin all demons had in common. "But in this case if you do me a favor I'll do you a favor."

"And what exactly is that favor?" Draco asked. He knew nothing good was to come.

The demon focused his attention on Hermione. He slid his eyes up from her legs, to her waist, to her chest, then finally her face. While doing so he examined every curve on her body.

"Out of the question!" Everyone was surprised to see that it was Draco who yelled this. "There is no way you are landing one finger on her!"

The demon shrugged. "I guess I should be leaving then." He winked at Hermione before leaving. Everyone watch him blankly as he left the building.

Ron eyed the wooden self where the demon had been standing next to. He walked over to it and picked up something. Neither Hermione nor Draco could see what it is. Ron tightened his grip around the object before turning to face the others. "He left the keys," Ron said with amazement.

Draco ran over to Ron and stanched the keys out of his hands. "There are thousands!" Draco cried. "We'll never be able to figure it out!" Draco shuffled threw the keys and examined the lock to see if any matched.

Hermione joined them. "This has to be a trick."

"We'll never know until we try," Ron insisted. "Go on Malfoy."

Draco still was searching through the keys. There was one that caught his eye. It was wooden and small. Draco took this key and put it in the lock and turned. The key instantly snapped in half.

"Well that was a stupid guess," Ron hissed.

Draco glared at him. "Then why don't you try it Weasel?" Draco shoved the keys into Ron's chest and backed away from the cell bars.

Ron picked a key up a random and shoved it into the lock. When he turned it the key had burst up into flames. Ron quickly dropped the keys out of shock.

Draco laughed. "Nice job."

Hermione sighed. "You two are both being stupid!" Hermione bent down and grabbed the keys. She took a silver skull shaped key and shoved it into the lock. She twisted it and there was a click. The cell door swung open but the key disappeared. "I think we can only use them once."

"Hopefully we won't need the other two in the future," Ron said looking down at the snapped wood and pile of ash.

Draco pushed past both of them. "You know we will," he hissed. "Come on."

Ron and Hermione quickly followed him. They came to two more locked doors. Both times the keys where handed to Hermione as she was the lucky one at guessing. Both times she had gotten them right. Two more keys disappeared.

They stepped outside to find that a snowstorm had started. Draco laughed and both Ron and Hermione looked at him. "It's funny because Hell is always supposed to be hot." When neither of them laughed Draco shrugged, "Neither of you ever had a sense of humor."

The snow stormed never seemed to stop. After a while of walking the three of them found themselves up to their knees in snow. Hermione stopped walking abruptly. "This is crazy!" she shouted. "We don't even know where we are going!"

Draco stopped and turned to look at her. "Well we can't just stop here. We'll freeze!"

Hermione still didn't move. "I don't care. I'm not going anywhere until this storm clears up."

Ron walked over to Hermione and pulled on her arm. "Come on Hermione, we can't stop here."

Hermione sighed but this time she listened. Draco didn't seem too happy about that. They continued to walk for a few miles before coming to a stop.

"That's it!" Hermione squealed. "I'm done!" She flopped onto the pile of snow and sunk in it. Both Ron and Draco exchanged looks before going to help her up. When they got to the place where she had sunk they both looked down. There was nothing there.

"What the hell…" Draco said. He stuck his head father into the whole. "She's not there!" Suddenly Draco felt himself loosing balance and falling head first into the hole. He expected to land quickly but he did not. He found himself to continue to fall.

As he fell he saw himself going through different layers of the earth. Soon the dirt around him began to become hard and he found himself being thrown against every rock that came his way. The temperature started to get hotter and hotter until he felt like he was being cooked alive. That wasn't the worst part.

Soon he reached the brightly colored liquid. Draco was sure it burned his flesh right off and his bones where coming undone with it. The liquid smothered him making it hard to breath. As Draco opened his skinless mouth to breathe the liquid poured in and Draco began to choke but soon the choking stopped and so did the pain. Draco felt light as if he where nothing, as if he had lost his entire body.

The light soon became brighter. Normally the light would have burned his eyes but Draco knew he had none. He also wondered how he could see but quickly pushed the thought out of his mind. It was foolish to question anything in Hell. The surrounds became solid and Draco flew right through them as if he where a ghost. He felt unstoppable now that he had no more body. Draco was beginning to like the feeling.

Suddenly the bright light began to fade away. It soon became dark and Draco felt that the rocky surroundings where too familiar. Soon he felt an extreme pain as his bones began to mend back together. It was hard to heal when there was a rock hitting you every other second.

The growing pains stopped and the itching began. He felt new organs growing inside of his body. It itched so badly. Draco would have taken the pain over the itching. Soon he began to see light. It was dim but Draco knew his long journey was coming to an end. The rocks passed and everything became dirt. Soon Draco felt himself being thrown into the air and landing on his face. It wasn't a hard land but Draco noticed that his hand still did not have any skin. As he watched it more closely he saw the skin begin to grow. He heard footsteps coming his way.

Draco looked up and saw that he was in a city. It did not have a lot of people but there where towers that seemed to go father then the sky. There weren't any signs of grass or animals and every so often you would see a group of people scurry by.

Hermione bent down so that she was in eye contact with Draco. Part of her face and arms was still missing flesh. She smiled when she saw him. "I think we finally made that hole to China."

A/N I hope you liked it! (And got the joke!) Please review! It means the world to me, plus the story will get updated faster! REVIEW.