Chapter Two

Someone was placing a damp cloth to her head, making Hermione groan and open her eyes. Her vision was swimming and she felt like she was going to be sick. She rolled onto her side, to the edge of the bed and threw up on the floor.

"Scourgify." She heard a male voice say.

She looked towards the source but could only make out the outline of a male.

Although she didn't think it would do any good, she decided to try talking to him. "Please…help me…I need to get out of here, please." Hermione could feel tears welling in her eyes and blinked them back.

"Now now mudblood, the Dark Lord doesn't have any plans to let you go anytime soon." A derisive drawl came from the man.

He stepped forward, the light shining on his face. Hermione gasped. It couldn't be…

But it was. There standing before her was Draco Malfoy, ex-schoolmate and apparently future Death Eater if he wasn't one already.

"Malfoy?" Hermione said breathlessly. "But how…why…what happened…how could you!" She yelled the last one.

"Well mudblood, you see it was really quite easy." Draco said, sitting in the chair by the bed Hermione was laying in. "That fool Dumbledore was throwing a ball for the school when we attacked. The old coot really shouldn't have, it made everything easier for us if everyone was in one room. Our objective was to capture anyone from the Order…or kill them."

Ron laying on the ground, his glassy eyes not seeing anymore…

Hermione stifled a sob at the memory and forced herself to look at Draco so she could understand what he was saying.

Draco was smirking at her as if he could read her thoughts.

"Anyways, the students were dancing, having a glorious tie I'm sure," he said sarcastically. "Then we came in and everybody started to run around like chickens with their heads cut off." He let out a short laugh at that. "I was cursing as many of them that I could, and then I saw you standing there, quite a sight to see actually. Your hair had come loose, your dress robes torn and bloodied up. But you were defenseless. You weren't keeping a watch around you, you just stood there looking like you would Avada the first person who came near you, good or evil."

Hermione remembered now. She had just seen Ron fall because of the Death Eater's curse. She had hexed and cursed him, of course, and then stood there, not knowing what to do, how to avenge Ron. Feeling her heart break at the thought of him, feeling so defenseless, so helpless.

Draco continued his story. "Well I wasn't about to come near you, I wasn't about to be bested by a mere mudblood. You went to join the fray, and so did I. I'm not really sure what happened next, I was busy with that Thomas kid, that Gryffindor. He tried to curse me but I dodged it and killed him."

At this, Hermione brought her hands to her mouth and gasped, tears stinging her eyes.

Draco kept talking. "I turned around just in time to see you hex someone and then I put the full body bind curse on you. I picked you up over my shoulder and left with the other Death Eaters, apparating here once we were outside the gates. And now here we are. You are my prisoner, for the Dark Lord's use, and I very much doubt that you will be saved."

Hermione took this all in, shaking a little bit. "I'm going to die." she whispered, staring at the bed. "I'm never going to see my parents again, or Crookshanks. I'm never going to see Hogwarts again, or any of my friends." She turned her head to Draco and looked at him, her eyes threatening to spill tears. "I'm going to die aren't I?" she asked, whispering.

Draco sat back in his seat and looked thoughtfully at her. "Probably. If you can survive the beatings, tortures, and the Dark Lord himself, it will be something else." He turned his head a way as a single tear trailed down her face. "It's always something."

Hermione was still on her bed awhile later, sometimes sleeping and sometimes thinking of what Malfoy said. She had already discovered there was no way off the bed, it was like there was an invisible force field around it. So she sat there, trying not to think, but losing the battle. She couldn't stop thinking of Ron…

It was their sixth year, and after casually dating for awhile, Ron had finally asked her to go steady.

Valentine's Day, Ron handing her a rose, telling her he loved her.

Just last month, their one year anniversary, and they would start talking about the future, each trying to see how the other felt about marriage.

Ron, dancing with her at the ball, laughing, his eyes crinkling at the corners.

Ron, laying on the ground. Bloody. Dead.

"No!" Hermione shouted out loud, snapping herself out of her reverie. She started to cry, she couldn't help it. Ron her best friend and first real boyfriend, was gone forever. She cried harder and tried to leap off the bed, only to find herself stopped by that invisible force. She started beating her hands against it crying harder than ever.

"Why? Why couldn't you just leave him alone?" Hermione screamed. "Why him, why me? Why…why…" She dropped her hands to her sides, giving up for now. She lay back down on the bed, wetting her pillow with her tears but not caring. She was in a numb sort of shock, eventually falling asleep.

Draco slipped back in the room and sat in the chair he had occupied earlier. He was, after all, ordered to watch her, keep her good and ready for the Dark Lord.

He felt no sympathy for her. No, he was a Death Eater now, and a firm believer in the purification of wizards. He had better be rewarded for capturing her too, or else…well he would think of something. But for now, his only orders were to watch her. So he settled down in his chair, preparing for a long night ahead.

Okay, so here's the second chapter! Hope you guys like it. My first chapter got 79 hits but only one review, thanks to Medieval Myth!

So please PLEASEEE review, for my sake, just so I know my story is worth anything lol :-P

thedustbunny