Hermione touched the ground in a very unfamiliar place. She looked up to find herself standing in front of a very large, expensive-looking mansion. She blinked, assuming this could only be the home of Draco Malfoy. She was right, for at that moment, an older woman who bore a striking resemblance to Draco came outside.
"Draco!" she spotted Hermione and Ron, then narrowed her eyes slightly, "Finally caught one of the filths? Bring him in then!"
Draco stepped inside the mansion with Hermione, Crabbe and Ron (Ron was being dragged) following behind him. Draco told the story of what had happened to his mother, who nodded, and grinned at Ron.
"Excellent! We can finally get rid of the Weasley scum!"
Hermione was already glancing around the mansion, trying to think of a way she and Ron could escape.
"Where do you want to do this, Granger?" Draco said suddenly.
Hermione looked up, "Hmm? Oh… well, somewhere private, preferably." she said quietly. Draco nodded.
"Holler if he tries anything. We'll be in there teaching him a lesson if anything does happen." Hermione gave a short nod.
"I hardly think it will be necessary." she began, but Crabbe interrupted, and cracked his knuckles at Ron.
"If you try anything, I swear I will make sure your death is slow and painful." Draco grinned at Ron,
"But if you cooperate, it will be painless. Maybe."
Draco pointed his wand at Ron's hands and flicked it. Ropes shot from the tip of the blonde boy's wand and wrapped themselves tightly around Ron's wrists.
Draco led Ron and Hermione to a room on the second floor. There was nothing inside, except for a window in the top corner. Draco looked at Hermione, and spoke quietly.
"Get any information you can, and don't be afraid to hold back. Not that you ever do." he shrugged, "This room is apparation-proof. So he won't be able to get away even if he did somehow get hold of your wand."
Hermione nodded, "Excellent. Please leave us alone. I would like to question him in private. I'll be ten minutes. He'll be begging to give answers by then."
Draco grinned and closed the door, locking it from the outside.
Hermione silenced the room, then turned her attention to Ron, who was glaring up at her. "Okay, we'll have time for questions later! Right now, we have to get out of here!"
Ron looked up at her as if she was planning something, "What the hell… I thought I was being brought her to be tortured!"
"I would never do that to you Ron! I'm not a bad person. Please believe me!"
"Hard to believe when you went death eater…" he spat.
"I did-- You know what? I'll have time to explain later! I'll tell you everything I know, and you let me know what's going on, okay? I want to know what happened to everyone."
"Why? So you can find and torture them to?"
"Ron! I'm not going to torture anyone! I'll explain everything if you'll just let me think for a second! Now… We're going to have to find a way out without the Malfoy's knowing. This room is under enchantments, so apparating is out of the question…"
"What are you doing? Why are you trying to save me?"
She stared up at Ron. "Because, I'm not who you think, Ron. I'm not the death eater traitor you think I am! I'm the same Hermione you knew years ago! Now, please! We only have a few minutes before they come back!" She glanced across the room, and her eyes fell on the window.
"That's it!" she pointed at it.
"You're mad. We're not going to be able to fit through that! Besides, it's way the hell up there!"
Hermione pondered, "Well, it won't be hard to make it bigger, and I can always use Levi Corpus to get us up there."
"And what happens when we fall to our deaths? We're not exactly on the 1st floor, Granger."
Hermione sighed. Ron was still calling her Granger… "I'll use a cushioning charm then. Like you did with the bottle of dittany."
"How do I know you won't kill me when we get down?"
"Ron, trust me. I know it doesn't mean much, but I'm not trying to hurt you. Please… just trust me."
Ron didn't say anything, and he looked away, but he seemed to be okay with the plan.
Hermione pointed her wand directly the window. "Engorgio!" she called. The window instantly became large enough to fit one person at a time through. Hermione looked at Ron, "Okay, we only have a few minutes--" she froze when she heard knocking at the door, and Crabbe asking if she was through.
"Quick!" Hermione breathed. She pointed her wand and whispered, "Levi Corpus!" She raised him to the window, where he hung weakly. Hermione pointed her wand once again, aiming directly at he window, "Accendio!" she breathed. Instantly she was shot into the air, where she made a grab for the window.
"We'll have to jump, but I'll cast the cushion--"
"Hermione, what's going on?" she heard Crabbe from outside. Hermione pushed Ron from the window and leapt out herself. She watched as the two of them plummeted to the ground. She pointed her wand at the ground and concentrated hard, performing a cushioning charm as best she could. She hoped it'd be enough.
She needn't worry. The ground she had landed on felt like a cushion of air. She sighed in relief, and sat up. She felt for her wand, but found it missing, "Oh dear. Ron I seemed to--"
She looked up to see Ron standing up, and pointing her own wand at her. His hands were free of the bindings now.
"Start explaining, Granger."
Hermione's eyes narrowed, "Ronald Weasley! We haven't escaped yet! They can still find us if they look outside! We'll go to your house. They don't know where it is, so let's--"
"I'm not taking you to my house! Think you can just trick me like this? This was your plan all along, wasn't it?"
"Ron, please! I told you--"
She heard noises coming from the room they had been in. At any moment, they would look out the window and see them. She could already hear Draco and Crabbe screaming in rage.
She looked back to Ron quickly. He had raised Hermione's wand, about ready to apparate. Apparently he thought the distraction would be enough time. Hermione glared and leapt at him, holding his arm tight as he dissapparated.
They appeared in the green area Hermione had recognized as the place Ron had taken them before. Ron turned to her.
"Explain. Why did you do it?"
Hermione sighed, "Ron, I couldn't just let you die. They were going to kill you, had I not gone along with it."
"No. Why did you bother saving me? You've always been out to kill me!"
" I haven't! Well maybe, but I don't… never mind. I don't want you dead, Ron. Believe me. I'm not the Hermione you think I am! I don't want to be a death eater. I'm not trying to sabotage you. I'm really not one of You-know-who's followers."
Ron narrowed his eyes, "Liar. You've been a follower for ages!"
"Maybe I was! But no more! I could never betray you! I didn't want that life for myself. I never expected my life to turn like that… Just with a few gulps of a potion."
Ron jabbed his wand at her. "What potion? What the hell are you talking about?"
Hermione blinked. She hadn't realized she hadn't told him. Why hadn't she? It would explain everything! "Well… 10 years ago, when I was 16... When we were 16."
Ron's expression softened. He seemed to be reminiscing.
"It was when you and Lavender were going out. I… I was so jealous, Ron."
"You were?"
"Yes, now let me finish. I was so jealous of you two. I just wanted to skip over your whole relationship. So I ended up in the room of requirement, looking for something that could transport me to the near future. I expected to go forward a couple of weeks at most! Well, I found a potion inside. I expected it to work the same as my time-turner, so I drank the whole goblet. I thought one swallow would be an hour. I was wrong. When I finished the potion, I found myself standing in a ruined Hogwarts, 10 years later. I was confused Ron. Everything had changed. I don't remember anything about becoming a death eater. I don't remember hurting you and Harry. I'm really sorry, Ron… I messed everything up, just because I was a jealous little prat." Tears started to fall from her eyes.
Ron blinked at her, and his expression softened, "Hermione…" she jumped when she felt a hand on her shoulder. Had he just called her Hermione? That must have been a good thing. "I.. I guess it's not your fault. You know how potions can work sometime. Maybe someone put the imperius curse on you during those years? I don't know… but if you weren't really… there for it, I'm not blaming you, that much." he added with a crooked grin.
Hermione opened her eyes, beaming when she saw that smile. She hadn't seen it in 10 years, and now looking at it was like heaven, "I'll fix everything, Ron. I don't know how, but I--"
Ron shook his head, "I don't think there's anything you can do, Hermione. Sorry I… kind of, you know, tried to kill you."
"You had the right Ron. I don't blame you. You thought I was working for You-Know-Who for the past 10 years."
She looked up at him, the tears starting to dry. "What happened on your side? What happened to your family? Are they all in hiding?"
Ron raised a hand to her. "I'll tell you at my place. Much safer. We haven't been caught yet at least." Ron turned away from her.
"Ron, what?"
Ron raised his wand and waved it in a bizarre fashion, while muttering words under his breath. Blue smoke emitted from his wand, and a red door rose from the ground. Ron put his hand on the door and it turned green, then clicked. It swung open, revealing a long spiraling staircase going down. Ron looked at Hermione, "C'mon, then." he said and stepped inside.
Hermione stepped forward into the dark staircase as the door shut. She felt a rumbling, as if the door was now retreating back into the earth. Ron walked down the spiraling staircase, Hermione following after him, feeling slightly frightened. The red door that had taken them down waited for them at the bottom of the stairs, which they reached ten minutes later. Ron stepped in front of it. Hermione heard a feminine voice ask who it was.
"It is I, Ronald Weasley. My patronus is a jack russel terrier. You gave me a golden chain with the words 'My sweetheart' on it in our sixth year at Hogwarts for Christmas." Ron breathed.
Hermione blinked. Hadn't Lavender gotten Ron something like that? To her horror, an older version of Lavender Brown opened the door.
"Oh Won-Won! I was so worried!" she said and threw her arms around him. Ron patted her on the back and Hermione noticed that Lavender's belly was beginning to swell. She felt jealousy swirl within her. Ron had… married her?!
"Won-Won, what happ---" she blinked when she saw Hermione, then pulled out her wand, 'What are you doing here?!"
Ron raised his hand, "No, Lavender… It's okay. I'll explain everything inside!"
Lavender narrowed her eyes, "But… she's a death eater!"
Ron sighed, "Just let us trough, Lavender!"
Lavender pursed her lips and moved aside. Hermione followed Ron inside, her eyes instantly running across the house. It was a tiny little thing. The ceiling was round and somewhat low. The kitchen seemed to be cleaning itself. A low table sat in the living room, which was decorated with shades of pink and purple. Hermione didn't know what Ron thought of this house. It seemed more Lavender's taste. She wandered around the house as Ron began to explain. There was log hall that went downstairs even more. There were two doors at the bottom of the hall. Hermione took a look in the left one. More pink and purple. There was a queen sized bed in one corner of the room, and several pictures on the wall of Ron and Lavender. Hermione spotted something blue and glowing in the opposite corner.
Curious, she stepped toward it. She pushed a curtain back and found a large brown pot there, containing a blue substance that was neither gas or liquid. A pensieve. Hermione stared down into the pensieve. She bent over it, examining figures that seemed to walk on the bottom. She'd read about them, but she'd never really seen one. They were supposed to hold memories… Hermione looked deeper inside, and felt herself slipping. She panicked for a moment, as she realized she was tipping into the pensieve.
That's a wrap to chapter 3! It seems that Ron is finally beginning to trust Hermione again. And Hermione seems to be trying to come back to the 'good' side! What memories will Hermione find in the pensieve? You'll find out next chapter. I'll try and get it up tomorrow or maybe Sunday. So, what did you guys think of this chapter? Read and Review, please. :^) I'd appreciate it.
Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter. If I did, I would be very rich indeed.
