Disclaimer: In case you have been living in a cave on mars with your fingers in your ears for the last ten years or so; JK Rowling owns Harry Potter and all terms and characters associated with the fandom. I only own the story, some characterisations and an occasional OC, I try to limit them as much as possible. Song lyrics which may crop up now and then will be attributed as appropriate.

Chapter 6 - I must belong somewhere

"Leave the secret talk on the trundle bed.

Leave the garden tools in the rusted shed.

Leave those bad ideas in your troubled head today.

Leave the restless ghost in his old hotel.

Leave the homeless man in his cardboard cell.

Let the painted horse on the carousel remain.

Cause everything must belong somewhere.

Just like the gold around your finger and the silver in his hair.

Yeah, everything must belong somewhere.

I know that now, that's why I'm staying here. …"

Bright eyes

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Hermione blinked her eyes slowly she had been aware that something bad was happening from the moment that the food shoved into the holding cell, where she and many other muggleborns had been kept, had actually been enough to feed them all. Like the others, her ravenous hunger had been enough to prevent her from stopping to think and instead had ate as much as she could. Since then, everything had been a blur, her dreams had been disturbed by images of a man dragging her, she couldn't see anything though, no matter how hard she had tried to force her eyes open. A woman's shrill voice had screamed in her head, she'd been talking about Harry.

Harry had saved her life. She remembered being captured by Death Eaters after the battle and while two of them had debated whether or not to kill her, another had recognised who she was, a member of Potter's inner circle, she could be useful, have good information. She had debated with herself long and hard while she had waited to be interrogated as to whether she should hold her tongue or tell them things about the rebellion, things which they more than likely, already knew but could save her life.

She knew that Ron was dead now, she had listened at the door of the holding cell carefully everyday, hoping to hear a drop of information, news that somehow, there was hope for her. The guards had been gossiping, discussing a public execution, they had started to laugh and talked about how foolish the Weasley boy had been for being stubborn and refusing to relent even though Potter was dead. She had cried herself to sleep that night, Ron was gone, Harry was gone, she was alone. The best thing she could hope for now would be to be given a quick and painless death. She assumed it would not be long before all the muggleborns that had been rounded up would be killed before long.

Therefore it surprised her when she cracked her eyelids open further to discover a very light room, sun streaming through windows which hurt her eyes which had become so accustomed to darkness. Everything seemed so blurry to her and she let out a small call of surprise from her hoarse throat when a dark face suddenly appeared to her and sounded out to somewhere else. "She's awake."

Next thing she knew, a cup of hot liquid was thrust into her hands and she was urged to drink it by the dark figure in front of her, who surprisingly, became more clear the more she drank. Finally, necking the final drops of the cup, even though it had burnt her tongue a little, she looked up once more, seeing that things were a lot more clear and it was Blaise Zabini who stood in front of her, albeit still with a slightly fuzzy outline.

"Tea. Best thing for a hangover, or a potion-over, whatever. We weren't sure how much they gave you to knock you out, we just had to wait." Blaise plucked the cup from her hands and sat down on a table in front of her. "You're not supposed to be here, someone else was but there was... a problem, now we're stuck with you."

"Why..." Hermione croaked a little, she coughed, trying to make her voice a little clearer. "Why are you being nice to me? What's going on?"

Blaise laughed, a deep belly one, right from the stomach, he looked at her with a raised eyebrow. "Granger, I love the assumptions you make. I'm not being nice to you, quite frankly we're both sick of the sight of you already and you've only been here an hour. The only reason we're grateful your not dead is that it would have tripled the paperwork we already have to do, now as to what's going on." He stood up, turning behind him he picked up a pile of clothes and threw them at her. "Muggleborn re-assessment. All the mudbloods are being distributed as servants, wandless servants, to those who were willing to put up with them today."

She looked down at the pile of clothes in her arms. "Well why am I here?"

Losing patience slightly Blaise narrowed his eyes. "I told you, you're not supposed to be, we got stuck with you, follow me."

He started moving out of the room, Hermione quickly got to her feet and started following him, the house seemed huge, but a lot smaller than she had envisioned the Zabini mansion being from what she had heard about it. He led her down the hallway, past a rather grand looking staircase to a door which she guessed was next to the kitchen from the smells that were permeating around her. He pushed open the door and pointed inside the room. "This is where you will be sleeping."

She poked her head around the door, looking inside she saw a fairly small room, but generous considering what she could have been given to sleep in. She guessed it was probably the smallest room in the house, inside of it stood a single bed, a set of drawers, a small desk with a wooden chair tucked under it and a lamp on top. She peered quizically at a door at the back of the room and looked up at the dark skinned wizard, who for the first time she noticed, now bore a thin scar on his cheek, although it looked to be fading.

"That's the bathroom, theres a bath and toilet in there." He gave her a stern look. "Don't look so surprised, like I said, someone else was supposed to be here and this room was already like this, maid's room or something, I forget, we've only been here a couple of days." He pointed inside the room. "Go in and get changed Granger. I've chosen to make the best of a bad situation, bear that in mind before you think about back-chatting me at any point. When you are wearing more apropriate clothes, come back into the living room and I'll show you the rooms you'll need to be in and what you'll be required to do while your here."

"Is it just you and your mother who live here?"

Blaise raised an eyebrow. "No. Me and Draco live here. It's the old Black family manor and a word of warning, he's not too happy about having to put up with you being here, so don't cross him. I've been told about your lippyness in the past, well know this Granger, it's a different world now, so you better get used to it." He shut the door, leaving her alone to sit on the bed, placing the clothes she had been given, next to her.

She really was alone now, stuck with one wizard who was only willing to tolerate her as long as she didn't give lip and another whom she had hated and he hated her in return since the day she started Hogwarts. She wondered who the other person was who Blaise had spoke about, the one who was supposed to be there instead of her. From the way he had spoken, he was rather pissed off about the fact that whatever plans he had been made had now been spoiled.

Sighing to herself, she picked up the robes, if she could make the best of it, get an idea about what kind of safeguards were in place in the house, in the country, she could maybe find a way of escaping. She had no wand to aparate with and she had never been any good on a broom, but there had to be a way somehow. She wondered how many of the Weasley's were alive, if she could make it to one of them, but hiding her could likely put them in danger beyond measure. No, she was stuck there. At least for the time being, she sighed to herself as she started to peel off the torn robes she was wearing, things could not be any worse.

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Author's Notes:

I did have a lot more to add to this, but I don't have time to write it right now as I have to disapear, hopefully you guys enjoyed it anyway and I shall get the next chapter out asap.

(BTW: writing without Bright eyes, INCREDIBILY hard...)