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Chapter 16: Discovery:

The house they apparated to appeared to be on a deserted street, in a run down section of Muggle London. It seemed to be abandoned. There were boards on the windows and doors. There were no lights in any of the windows. Draco was concerned. This was the place where they had brought Hermione. Harry, Ron and Draco ran to the back of the building. Two other Aurors, whom Draco remembered from earlier that day, decided to watch the front. Draco was surprised that Potter had even allowed him to come. The fact that Draco insisted probably had nothing to do with the fact that Harry let him come. It probably had more to do with the fact that Harry wanted Draco to take Hermione's wrath when they found her.

Harry whispered to Draco, "Ginny said that they had burst into Hermione's parents' house right before I got back. Martini didn't even try to hide his identity. They stunned Ginny and then took Hermione and apparated with her from the front garden. They didn't even seem to care if any of the Muggle neighbors saw them leave. The trace led us to them here."

"What do we do now? They could be torturing or raping her as we speak. We shouldn't waste any more time," Draco whispered back.

"We need to wait for the other Aurors to arrive, and then we'll get the all clear to enter by Ron. He went around to the other side of the house, to see if there are other ways to enter. You have to stay here, Draco," Harry told him, "We can't risk them taking you, or all of this will be in vain. I let you come along, because I knew you would anyway, but on this I won't waver." Potter pointed his wand at Draco, to emphasis the point.

Draco knew that Pothead had a point. He just wanted all of this done. He nodded in assent. Weasel apparated directly in front of Harry and told him that Hermione was in a basement room, on the east side of the house. He could see her from a window. She didn't appear to be bound. There wasn't anyone in the room with her. There appeared to be three men on the ground level. Weasley said one of them was definitely Martini. He couldn't tell if there were any others. Harry told Ron to tell the Aurors out front what he found out, and then when the back up appeared, they would make their move.

"It's a shame there's not more of them here," Harry said.

"Oh, I forgot," Draco retorted, "you like it when the odds are stacked against you, don't you, Potter. Reminds you of when you used to fight Voldemort."

"That's not what I meant, Malfoy," Harry said sharply. "I just don't want a bunch of rogue Mud Ones out there, running amuck. It's bad enough we're still chasing old Death Eaters. Maybe we should just let them kill each other."

"That's very funny, Potter," Draco answered. Just then, Ron appeared again and gave Harry thumbs up. That must have been the sign. Harry and Ron ran around to the other side of the house. Draco remained behind.

The minutes passed by agonizingly slow for Draco. A half an hour must have passed. He didn't know if he should stay behind or not. He could help, dammit. He stood from his hiding place, and was greeted by one of the Mud Ones, who pointed his wands directly at Draco's chest. OH SHITE. The man pointed toward the woods behind the house, and made a signal for Draco to follow. Draco decided to draw his wand instead. That was a mistake. The other man disarmed Malfoy, and then captured Draco's wand in his hand. Now the damn terrorist had two wands pointed at him.

The man led Draco into the woods, behind the house. Where were all the Aurors? Had they been discovered? Draco didn't think so. He saw nothing going on in the house, and for some reason, this particular Mud One didn't seem to want the other Mud Ones to see him with Draco. He put one finger up to the mouth of his mask, as a signal for Draco to keep quite. Then, he led him deeper into the woods. How was he going to rescue Hermione if he was in the woods?

"Listen, you bastard, I'm not going any further. Just take me to your leader or whatever." Draco stopped dead in his tracks.

The bastard hexed Draco on the spot. He went ten feet backwards, and hit a tree. The wind was knocked out of him. He cracked a rib. When, not if, but when Draco got his wand back, that person was dead.

Draco was having trouble breathing and struggled to stand. "Listen you piece of shite, I don't care what you do to me; just tell me if my wife is alive."

The man took his hood off, and then his mask. "Why do you care?" said the person who had just cursed Malfoy. It was Hermione.

"What the hell, Granger?" Draco said, bent over in pain.

"Harry gave me this disguise, so I could escape the house unnoticed. Then, he told me to come find you and take you to safety, you stupid bastard," Hermione scolded.

"Listen, I knew you would be angry…" Draco started, but was cut off by Hermione.

"Oh, I'm not in the least bit angry. Why would I be angry? You forced me to marry you without a moment's notice, so you could fake your own kidnapping, not even worried about what that would do to me, and to top it all off, you kept me in the dark about the whole bloody thing!" Hermione was practically yelling. He wished she would be quiet. They might be discovered. Instead, she continued to yell, "Who do you think you are? Do you think I'm incompetent? Did you think I couldn't be trusted to help with the plan? Good thing Harry thinks more of me than you do, Malfoy. Good thing he told me the whole thing, even if he did wait until ten minutes before they kidnapped me to tell me."

Draco was now standing straight up, abet with some difficulty. "Harry said they took you before he got back there," Draco said with a wince of pain.

"Well, he lied! He lied to a liar. Call the lie police!" she screamed.

'The lie police?' he thought. "You're crazy, you stupid bitch. You hexed me. I think I have a broken rib."

"You'll have more than that if you call me a stupid bitch again," she said as she threw his wand to him. "Come on; we need to make sure Harry and Ron are okay." She started toward the house.

Damn them all. Damn all the stupid, brave little Gryffindors. He followed her anyway.

As they approached the house, they saw the Aurors leading Martini and the other Mud Ones outside. There were more of them present than they first thought. Draco lost count at twelve.

"Looks like Potter saved the day, Granger," Draco said through his pain. "Now, will you take your husband to the hospital?"

"I have no husband," she spat, as she turned to face him with a furious look on her face. "Ron will take you to the damn hospital. Now that the danger's over, I'm going back to my flat." She called Ron over, and then she turned back to face Draco. "I mean it, Malfoy; don't contact me for a while. I'm very angry with you, and I have to have time to think things through." She walked toward Ron, said something to him, and then she left.

"Malfoy, let me take you to St. Mungos," Ron said, as he started to take Malfoy's arm.

"Go to hell, Weasley. You, Potter, and Granger can all go to hell. I'll get my personal healer to see to me," Draco said through clenched teeth.

Harry approached the two men; he had overheard what Draco had said. "You knew this would be the probable outcome, Malfoy," Harry told him, "So, live with the consequences. Come on Ron, we need to get back to the Ministry." Draco saw Hermione's best friends leave, just as she left. He didn't care. He didn't need any of them.

Really; Damn them all.

(Coming up, Draco decides to invite himself to meet his in laws, and Hermione is not at all happy.) *2 more chapters to go.