Labyrinth of Life

Chapter 11: Snake Eyes

By coeurnoir

Draco's eyes edged open. He felt like he had just been hit over the head with a lead broomstick. As he slowly came back to reality he noticed that the death eater that had been in his chambers was gone. So was Hermione.

His eyes swept the room with blurry vision to notice the bathroom door ajar. Frowning he hauled himself up off the floor and walked slowly into the bathroom, his fingers running against the wall to help his balance. He walked into the bathroom to find Hermione curled into the corner of the shower. He wasn't sure what to think.

"Hermione? Are you okay? What are you doing in the shower – with your clothes on?" She didn't answer him. He opened the shower door and turned off the water, noticing in the process that it was scalding hot, and it was directed straight onto her.

He reached out to her but she cringed away.

"What the-.? What was that for?" he tried to reach for her again but she whimpered and tried to get further into the corner.

"What did that guy do to you after he knocked me out? Did he touch you? What did he do?" Draco was seething; he sat outside the shower, waiting for Hermione to calm down.

Hermione was freaked. She still felt filthy; she had been in the shower for over an hour with the water as hot as she could stand. When Draco came in she couldn't even look at him. That death eater had knocked him out as though he were no more than a child. She felt helpless and anything but safe.

She turned her head a little to see that he had stopped trying to reach out to her and was simply sitting outside the shower recess getting soaked by the spray. She slowly reached up and turned off the shower, her head still down.

"I'm sorry for wasting water," she whispered. Draco's head popped up in surprise, her voice was raspy so he gathered she had been crying for a while.

"It's okay 'Mione, I wont let him touch you again, this time I'll make sure okay? I'm so sorry I let him get to you. Please honey, come out of the shower." He held out his hand one more time. This time she took it. He helped her up and enveloped her in a huge black bathrobe, putting the hood over her soaking hair. Then he drew her into a loving embrace, not wanting to let her go unless something else happened to her.

Going into his wardrobe he found some clothes for her to wear. Considering that Hermione was about a foot shorter than him and a small-framed girl, the clothes that he found for her were a little too big. He had to try not to laugh as she came out of the bathroom in a jersey that fell halfway to her knees and sleeves way past her hands. The tracksuit pants were no better; they had been rolled up several times and were still too long. He shook his head and put his arm around her shoulders. Smiling down at her he asked her how she was going. All he got in reply was an unsure smile that barely reached her eyes. He knew it was going to take her a little bit of time to get over the attack, he hoped she would get over it okay.

Draco left her for a couple of minutes to take a shower and change. He didn't want to leave her so he only had a two-minute shower and got dressed as quickly as he could.

When he returned he found Hermione next to the window of the room, watching the sunrise with a wistful expression. He knew how she felt, he hated being cooped up in a room and no fresh air. He heard a key turn in the lock and the door open. Instinctively he put himself between whoever was opening the door and Hermione.

It was Lucius' two death eaters. One of which Hermione recognised all too well.

"We're to take you down to see the master. Come quietly or the girl gets it… again." He leered at her suggestively to which Hermione almost retched. Draco put an arm around Hermione and pulled her toward the door.

"We'll come quietly. You touch her though and you're dead." Draco led Hermione out the door and down the hallway.

To Draco's confusion, they weren't shown to Lucius' study but to the drawing room downstairs. They were commanded to sit on two armchairs and were left alone.

Hermione looked over at Draco with a questioning look, not saying anything unless they were being listened to. Draco answered her with a shrug.

Tonks was one of the members of the order that was actually entering the mansion to look for the missing students. Other members were in various areas of the grounds causing distractions for the death eaters so that they wouldn't discover her. She was investigating the bottom story first when she saw a group of death eaters approaching. Squeezing herself into a gap between a bookshelf and a suit of armour in the foyer she slowed her breathing and kept dead still. As the group passed she recognised almost every face, including one that she really hadn't wanted to see on this particular mission. This man wasn't supposed to be arriving for another couple of hours according to their sources.

She swore silently and didn't move until she couldn't hear them before removing herself from her hiding spot and following them. Wherever he was going, she was pretty sure she'd find the kids.

They were left waiting in the room for about half an hour before sounds were heard outside and the door was opened.

Half a dozen death eaters entered the room, one of them flicking his wand, causing chains to spring out of the armchairs and encircle their wrists and feet.

They weren't quite prepared for who entered the room next though. A tall, gaunt figure in long black robes swept into the room and surveyed the captives with a cruel smile. His red eyes set in his snakelike face flashed in the dimly lit room. His hands were pale like the rest of his skin and the long bony fingers laced together behind his back held his long black wand. A wand, Hermione thought that had tried to kill Harry so many times. She cringed as she thought of the boy she had thought was a good friend for so long.

"Children, welcome. I have been waiting impatiently to see you. I am told that you potentially have very interesting information for me. Unfortunately my servant was incapable of retrieving that information himself. So, that would explain the bother I had to go through due to my people's incompetence." A few of the death eaters behind him cringed. Obviously they all knew what it was like to fall short of their master's expectations.

Voldemort walked forward to another chair in the room and sat down looking at Hermione. Studying her, looking straight into her eyes. It was Haunting to look into the blood red eyes, but she was hypnotised by them and found she couldn't take her eyes away from them. She started to shake, her head was aching, and it felt like someone was trying to rip into her skull.

Hermione fought it with all her strength, she had never officially learnt occlumency or been taught about legilimens, but naturally she had read all about them and knew enough to know that Voldemort was attempting to get inside her head.

Draco looked over at Hermione and instantly recognised that she was being drawn into Voldemort's spell. Draco was and experienced Legilimens and could even give his father a very good run for his money. He found himself concentrating on Hermione, going into a slight trance as he thought only of protecting her. As he concentrated on it he also peeked at how her barriers around her mind were going. She had put them up unconsciously but they were starting to falter. As he watched Voldemort crashed through both of their defences.

Hermione felt the pain worsen and knew that Voldemort had found his way into her mind. Not knowing what she was doing she screamed in frustration and energy poured out of her in waves. The room around them turned white and there was a fantastic explosion. As the explosion died down she opened her eyes to see all the death eaters sprawled on the floor and Voldemort slumped in the chair. The chains that had secured them to the chairs were incinerated, along with most of the fittings in the room. Looking over at Draco she saw him rubbing his eyes and patting at his smouldering robe.

"Coming?" She asked Draco as she turned to leave the room. He followed her out of the room, only to run smack into another person that had been sneaking outside the room. Picking themselves up off the floor, the witch looked at them in surprise.

"I thought you two needed rescuing? Not an escort out of the building!" Tonks laughed and grabbed their arms and dragged them out the front door of the building. As they ran for the front gate Tonks was cursing Death eaters out of their way and sending spells at the front gates, causing them to explode off their hinges leaving the way clear for their exit. As soon as they were out of the gates Tonks turned around and grabbed hold of their arms, apparating them to the back yard of number 12 Grimmauld Place.

When they arrived people were swarming around them asking them how they were and what had happened. Hermione opened her mouth to reply to them and fell down in a dead faint. They looked across at Draco to ask an explanation for what happened only to find he was in the same condition.

A/N: read and review guys!!! i love reviews!!! if you dont give me them its like denying a child easter! pure torture...