Disclaimer: JK Rowling is the brilliant mind behind the Harry Potter world, I just roll with it.
I must have fallen asleep at library, Hermione thought as she groggily opened her eyes. She had a massive headache and her muscles felt strange and stiff. Coming to the awareness of her surroundings, she realized that she was not in Hogwarts. Frantically, she looked around the room she was in, searching for clues as to where she was.
It was a small room with light green walls, a brown wooden wardrobe along the wall across from her, a small book case with only a few books on is shelves, and a window on the left side of the room. Hermione was thoroughly confused. She was lying in a rather comfortable, yet completely unfamiliar bed, in a strange room with a headache and no recollection of how she got there. Her heart began to quicken it's pace. What had happened to her? Had she been kidnapped? If so, who would have captured her? Why would they have taken her? How did they get her away from Hogwarts? It was supposed to be safe there! Why was she in this bedroom instead of the dungeon she thought of under the consideration of being kidnapped?
She tried to concentrate on the last thing she remembered. She recalled being in the library with Harry and Ron. She had been slightly annoyed that they asked her to look over their Defense Against the Dark Arts essays when she still had so much work to do herself, but they had pleaded with her so she had given in. They left after she gave them their work back, she remembered that. Then she had opened her textbook for Arithmancy. She absolutely loved the class but the text was such a boring thing to read, and she had an essay to write for the class. She must have fallen asleep because she didn't remember anything after that.
Hermione's body told her that she had been hit with a stupefying curse, probably after she had already fallen asleep. How had they gotten her out of Hogwarts? Surely there was a lot of protection against such things, especially now that Voldemort had returned.
Slowly, she slipped off the bed and moved to the window, her muscles aching with every step, head spinning slightly. Maybe she could see something that would give her a sense of her location. Her heart dropped when she found only trees as far as she could see. It was still dark outside, but Hermione could tell that the sun was nearly rising from the glow that came over the horizon.
Then, she had an idea. Her wand, where was her wand? Did she still have it? Why hadn't she clooked for it earlier?! Checking the pocket of her robes where she normally kept it, she found it missing. Without much hope of finding it, she thoroughly checked every inch of the room to no avail. Finally, she collapsed back onto the bed.
Hermione thought of anybody who would want to kidnap her. All of the possibilities made her skin crawl, but none of them made sense with her current situation. She was stuck in the middle between fear and confusion. Anyone capturing her for Voldemort would have kept her, a muggle-born somewhere much less comfortable, but she couldn't think of anyone else who would take her from Hogwarts. What would Voldemort even want with her? Sure she was close to Harry, but wouldn't he want to deal with someone of "better" status?
The door creaked behind her and Hermione whipped her head around to see who it was, instantly regretting the fast motion as it sent another wave of dizziness hit. Who she saw sent terror flooding through her. Was Harry right? Was he a death eater? What did this mean? Was he here to bring her before Voldemort himself?
"Relax Granger," Malfoy scoffed. "No one's going to hurt you."
"Then why am I here?" she demanded to know.
"Can't say exactly," he replied. His tone turned a bit of Hermione's fear to annoyance.
"And why can't you tell me Malfoy?"
"Just can't. But get cozy cause you'll be here a while," he told her.
"Excuse me? You can't keep me here. People will notice my absence!"
"Well they won't find you!" he sneered.
"What do you want from me?!" Hermione yelled.
Hermione saw something strange flash in Malfoy's eyes, but in a second, it was gone and he was storming out of the room, slamming the door behind him. She stared after him in frustration. What was going on here? That was when she noticed the plate of food on the night table.
Why would he give her food? Was it poisoned? It didn't make sense that someone would go through all the trouble of kidnapping her and putting her in this comfortable room if they were just going to kill her.
Hermione was so conflicted. Was Malfoy the one who had kidnapped her? Was he working for Voldemort like Harry suspected? Her stomach growled hungrily. She hadn't eaten in quite a while. Should she eat the food? It truly did smell delicious, but Malfoy had given it to her. What if it had some kind of terrible potion in it, not to kill her, but just to make her suffer? That would be more like Malfoy. He would never willingly provide sustenance for her; someone of such 'low' blood status. Hermione decided that she would hold out. She would not give Malfoy the satisfaction of her falling for his tricks.
May as well try to find a way out of here. She decided. She headed to the door and stared at the knob. Maybe he had been too flustered when he had stormed out to lock it. Timidly, she wrapped her hand around the knob, half expecting to be shocked or burned by some kind of spell. Nothing happened. She turned the knob, and nothing. It wasn't as though her hopes had been overly high on the door being unlocked. She had been kidnapped after all. Hermione chuckled ruefully at her own stupidity. Of course Malfoy would be sure to lock the door. He couldn't have her escaping because of his own temper or forgetfulness, especially if he was working for Voldemort and for some reason he wanted her there and alive.
Sighing, Hermione moved back over to the window and examined its edges. The glass seemed much thicker than the average window and appeared to be impossible to break without magic. She looked around the room and put one hand to her head as if that would stop the pounding there, or help her to think of a solution. The book shelf. Maybe that had some clues as to where she was, who was holding her, or why. Maybe some way of contacting her friends would be opened up to her. Reading almost always gave her solutions to her problems.
Hermione crouched down beside the small bookcase and examined the titles of the few books that lay there. They were mostly wizard fiction novels, and to her surprise, a couple muggle titles sat amongst them. None would be very helpful to her predicament, but they could pass the time while she was stuck there. She slid one of the wizard novels she had never heard of before off the shelf. It was an old looking, leather book, binding beginning to fray. She guessed that Malfoy wouldn't waste his good books on her. With the book in hand, she climbed back onto the bed and opened it.
The words were faded and the pages smelled dusty, but that wasn't why she couldn't concentrate on getting past even the first sentence. Hermione could not turn off her ever working mind. This was all so strange, and the very short encounter with Malfoy was even stranger. Why had he told her that no one was going to hurt her? It almost seemed as though he was concerned. No, that was a ridiculous thought. There was no way that Malfoy was concerned about her. The statement just made her question even more, why the hell was she kidnapped? If she wasn't going to be hurt, that did mean she wasn't going to be tortured for information, hopefully she wasn't going to be killed. Why did he tell her that? Hermione's eyes drifted over to the plate of food beside her, longing to eat it. Maybe he wanted her to let down her guard so that she wouldn't be expecting what was coming.
Then there was that look that only lasted for a moment. There was a softness behind his eyes, a look of frustration, of confliction. Maybe he really couldn't tell her why she was there. Would it really make that big of a difference to whatever plan they had if she knew? Hermione hated not knowing things, hated not being in control of the situation.
But why had Malfoy looked at her like that? She didn't know what it meant. Had it been pity for what was about to happen? A thought struck her with terror. What if she had been kidnapped to lure Harry out of Hogwarts to come after her? What if there was a trap waiting for him if he tried to rescue her? What if Harry was killed because of her? Now she desperately hoped that her friends had enough sense to let the adults handle this; but she knew in her heart that they weren't. If they got word of where she was or where they thought she was, they would come after her themselves.
Suddenly, what happened to her no longer really mattered. She had to get out for her friends or at least send them word that she was alright and not to come after her. The book she was holding dropped onto her lap. Hermione was disgusted with herself. How could she give up that easily? How could she settle for passing the time by reading an old book when her friends could be in mortal danger? She felt sick, not only from the headache that was pounding now more than ever but from her own stupidity. Why couldn't she have realized this earlier? When Malfoy had come in, maybe she could have jumped him and made her escape. She knew he probably had his wand and would curse her without a second thought, but at least she would have tried; at least she might have had some more information on where she was or what was going on! Malfoy may have magic, but Hermione was the top of the class, above even him. She knew he could definitely keep up with her, but maybe she could take him if she outsmarted him, if she really planned ahead.
Hermione looked around the room again, searching for some kind of weapon. The only thing she could see was a hard cover book. It would take a whole lot of force and the element of surprise, but it was worth a shot. She left the bed and walked over to grab the book. She had an idea. It might be completely insane and possibly get her killed, but at least she wouldn't just be sitting by and letting herself be used to get her friends to walk into a trap that would probably kill them.
She stood beside the door, muscles tense and ready. Hermione didn't know how long it would be until someone checked on her again, but when they did, she would be ready. She closed her eyes and pictured it. The book in her hands would surely break a nose and give her a few seconds of a head start. Not knowing the layout of wherever it was she was being kept could prove to be a difficulty in her escape, but she was a quick thinker so she was confident that she could figure it out. Once outside, she would run far enough away not to be caught up in any wards that were around the place, as it was certain there would be wards. From there, she could disapparate… that was where her plan ended and her heart dropped. She didn't have a wand. She couldn't disapparate and she didn't even know where she was. Was she even still in Britain? There was no way to be sure. Still, if she could get away, maybe she could find a town or village and contact her friends, and better yet, Dumbledore.
Hermione took a deep breath. This was going to be difficult, and possibly stupid. With adrenaline already pumping through her veins, making her heart beat fast and breathing deepen, she just wanted to get this over with. She took a deep breath and banged on the door. Maybe that would help speed things up. She couldn't wait there like this forever.
So, I decided to post another chapter this week, just to get things rolling. Thanks for reading! A big thanks to FortyFandoms for my first review! The past couple of days have been pretty crappy. I injured my back at work yesterday (I work at a pajama store so it was very unexpected), and today I am so very sick with the flu! Please give me some reviews to make my day a little better!