THANK YOU for your fantastic REVIEWS! Anyway, here's chapter three. I apologize if it's quite short; it's supposed to be filled with sort of cliffhangers. Anyway, MUCHOS GRACIAS!
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.
"Mum!" Ron shouted as he went in the front door, clutching twigs in his right hand. Ginny was behind him, her face filled with smears of dirt. He spotted Harry by the fire, reading Quidditch Through the Ages for the nth time.
"Yo, mate!" He called out, dropping the twigs beside a small, round couch. He joined Harry and took the book away from him. "I figure you're going to be a bloody good quidditch player if you won't become an auror."
Ginny got one of the throw pillows and hit Ron squarely on the head. "Idiot. Of course Harry's going to be an auror. He's going to be the finest the ministry has ever seen," She sat beside Harry, even through her gut was quite apprehensive of the move. "Don't listen to him."
Harry simply smiled at the both of them. Before, he would join Ginny in teasing Ron's ignorance, but now it seemed that all of the energy was sucked from his body. He had no reason to laugh, or to make jokes. All he knew was that there was a war coming and Hermione may be in enemy territory when it starts.
"Done already?" Mrs. Weasley asked as she went in the living room. As usual she was cooking; that was all she ever did—cook, clean and worry. "Here you go." She said as she took out two silver coins from her pocket. "Two fat sickles for your trouble."
Ron got the shinier coin and started to examine it. "I still don't get how acorns come from Austria."
"There are acorns in Austria. There are acorns all around the world!" Ginny said, taking her sickle and quickly putting it in her pocket.
"That's supposed to be Hermione's job, correcting me," He said, taking one of the cookies from Harry's saucer and munching on it contentedly. "By the way, where is she?"
Mrs. Weasley gave Harry a nervous glance. "I think you'd better sit down for this."
Hermione skipped all the way to the last door in the hallway. The place was more than enormous, and it took her hours exploring the mansion. There were three libraries ("Full of dark books, perhaps") 25 bedrooms, where she found her suitcases in the most luxurious one ("Thanks, Tonks"), four major dining halls which featured the four colors of the Hogwarts school ("I have a feeling not all of them were Slytherins") two kitchens, and other rooms that made her question who was living in the place exactly.
As she held the solid gold knob, she noticed something different on it. A small emerald snake was coiled around it, and no matter how hard she twisted and pulled it would not open. Taking out her wand she performed a simple alohomora spell, but the door still won't open. She then noticed an inscription below the doorknob.
Lineage pure and bloodline in,
You will discover the mystery within.
She knew it meant no one outside the pure blood families could open the door and discover what was inside. She tried a couple more spells to get around the bewitched room, but to no avail. Giving up, she went back down where she knew Mrs. Weasley sent food in the Gryffindor dining room, and remembering to ask Lupin whom he knew could open the door.
He was very anxious, something that he knew he must not feel. He is superior above all else, and it was the job of his minions to feel anxious for him. After all, he could have them all killed with a wave of his wand. A small, balding man with a shining steel arm scurried to his side, his face distorted with the ugliest of emotions.
"W-we coul-ld not-t f-find young M-malf-foy, My L-lor-rd." He stuttered, then suddenly covering his face with his platinum arm, as if shielding himself from an unwanted attack.
His eyes lit up with fury, knowing that it was stupid of them not to find a young, coward boy. Wormtail then proceeded to tell him that the boy had cast Crucio on Hathorne Nightsent; to which he smiled; and vanished off into the night.
"I will not punish them for now, Wormtail." He said in an icy voice. "Send more Death Eaters to Knotsville." His long, pale fingers ran through the emerald inscription, feeling their words. "We will find young Draco."
"What is it, Mum?" Ginny asked; clutching tightly the pillow she used earlier to hit Ron with. Mrs. Weasley sat down and glanced at Harry, to which he gave a small nod.
"Hermione was tasked by the order to spy for them," She started, "Us, I mean. She's now in Knotsville, which you probably know where, and her job is to observe the behaviors of her neighbors—"
"Our schoolmates." Harry finished.
"And how long—" Ron asked, but Mrs. Weasley immediately cut her off.
"Just this morning. Don't worry about not being able to say goodbye, I can bring you along when it's my turn to check," She explained.
"Bloody hell," Ron said, standing up. "Will she be safe?" He asked.
"Very. I promise you that." Mrs. Weasley answered.
"I think I'll go up now," Ron said, walking like a mindless zombie up the stairs. Ginny followed him.
"I think they took that quite well," Harry said, going back to his book. Mrs. Weasley smiled nervously and walked back to the kitchen. Moments later, they heard screams.
Hermione was drinking her after dinner tea when she heard incessant knocking on her door. "Coming!" She said, placing her cup on the desk and getting her wand. She performed a spell that changed her simple shirt and jeans ensemble to a flowing velvet robe. Opening the door, she was surprised to see a spark of light go in her house and suddenly disappear into thin air. Below her was a boy, looking very wounded. She panicked and pulled the boy in, and shut the door immediately.
She bent down to check who he was, and was surprised to see the familiar platinum blonde hair, now messy and cold, gray eyes that looked dead and helpless. It was Draco Malfoy, and before she could blast him to oblivion, she heard him whisper two words she never thought she'd hear from him.
"Help me," He said almost inaudibly, and then fainted into her arms.
Will Hermione keep him, or send him off to Azkaban? Most importantly, why did Draco happen to choose this house? Review to find out!