"Hermione? Hermione, please wake up." A soft, gentle voice was calling me awake, and I let it pull me out of the deep darkness of my sleep. I became aware of someone stroking my hair, and of a gentle rocking motion as I woke up. I could recognize the voice now, it was Fred, and he sounded upset.
I blinked my eyes open, and realized I couldn't actually tell if I had opened them, it was still dark. I tried opening my eyes again, but nothing changed, I was surrounded by the suffocating darkness. Someone was holding me, but it didn't do anything to calm my fears as the memories of what had just happened resurfaced in my mind.
"Fred?" I yelped, looking around the crushing darkness wildly. Had they taken him? Had he been hurt? Where were we?
"Hermione?" Fred's voice question. The rocking motion stopped and I felt arms wrap around my shoulders tightly. "Thank Merlin, you're awake!" he gasped, pulling me into a warm, solid chest. I clutched onto it, feeling shaken and lost in the surrounding blackness.
"Fred, where are we? What happened?" I asked, shaking in his hold. I hated confined spaces, I was extremely claustrophobic. His hand moved from my shoulder to my back, holding me securely and making me feel slightly safer.
"I'm not really sure on either account, 'Mione." He said quietly. "The man that attacked the shop brought in friends, and we loss the fight. I woke up in here a while ago, I'm not sure how long it was exactly. I felt my way around the room, it's a dirt floor by the way, and found your body."
"Have you explored the rest of the room?" I asked hesitantly. I was scared to know the answer.
"No, I've not had the chance." Well, that was worse than if he actually had. Now we'd have to explore and see what it was like together. Merlin, I was not looking forward to that.
"Are you injured at all?" he asked suddenly, surprising me out of my thoughts. I blinked and did a quick body check, nothing hurt, and I could move all my limbs. "I couldn't tell for sure, I didn't feel any blood or anything broken." He continued while I checked myself.
"No, I'm okay, what about you?" I whispered, fearful suddenly.
"Thank Merlin for small favors." He breathed out, pulling me a little closer. "I'm fine too."
"You don't have a wand, do you?" I asked hesitantly. I'd just realized I was without one. I had no doubt his was missing too, but I could still hope.
"No, only thing I've got is a meter of string, three bouncy balls, and a puking pastille." A meter of string, balls, and a pastille? I didn't even want to know why he had that. I dug my hand in my own pocket and searched around in it. A galleon and a quill.
"Darn it, I've just got a galleon and a quill." Fred chuckled at that, and the sound was surprisingly comforting.
"Don't suppose we could buy our way out with that, huh?" I chuckled at his remark, feeling slightly better.
"I guess we should explore the room, huh?" I asked, my voice shaking only a little. I felt him move against me and then his hand closed around mine, his long fingers weaving with mine.
"Yep." He said in a more cheerful voice. I felt him move again, and then I loss contact with his warm body. I paused for a second, disoriented in the darkness until I felt him give my hand a gentle tug up. I moved my legs underneath me and pushed myself up from the hard dirt floor. Fred helped pull me up and steady me when I was standing.
"Where should we start?" I asked, feeling lost in this darkness.
"Well, how about we choose a direction and walk with a hand outstretched until we hit a wall?" He asked, I turned towards his voice so I could face him.
"Alright, sounds like a plan. Do you want to keep track of the paces , or should I?"
"Paces?"
"Yes, paces. We'll need to know how big this room is, you never know when that could come in handy. Plus, it might give us a better idea of just where we are. I take two steps for every one of yours, so I'll keep track." I said, straightening my robe and pulling it more tightly around my shoulders. It was extremely cold in this, well, whatever we were in.
"Okay let's go this way." He said. I waited for a moment and then gave an annoyed huff.
"Fred, put your hand down, I can't see where you're pointing."
He gave a low laugh. "I just realized that." I felt a gentle tug on my hand towards the left. "How about this direction?" he asked, giving me another gentle tug.
"Sounds good to me." I said, taking a step towards him. He waited a second, and then he stepped forward. We made our way forward slowly and unsurely, tripping once and nearly falling. After twenty steps for me, ten for Fred, we felt something.
"'Mione? I just found a wall." I took another half step forward and my hand came in contact with the same wall. It was hard, cold, and also made of what felt like dirt. I moved my hand towards the left, pausing when I felt the warm flesh of Fred's hand.
"Yep, it's a wall." I said, trying not to sound too worried. "Which way do you want to go next?"
"This way." He said quietly, giving my hand a gentle tug towards him.
"Okay, wait a second." I said, pulling him to a stop as an idea occurred to me. "I'm going to mark this wall so we know we've been here."
"Clever." He said, sounding genuinely impressed. I grabbed my quill out of my pocket and dug some of the hard packed dirt out of the wall. I made a big x on the wall, deep enough that we'd feel it if we came across it again.
"Okay," he said once I was done. "You keep your hand on the wall while we walk, let me know when we reach the corner.
"Will do." I said, and we began to walk again. We walked in silence, drawing comfort from each other's hands in the crushing darkness. 30 steps later (15 for Fred) we reached the corner. I laid my palm flat against it and felt around, stretching up to see if I could reach the ceiling. I didn't feel anything but the wall.
"Okay, let's check the next one." I said after a moment. I felt a gentle tug on my hand, and then we were walking again. We made our way around the entire room in that way. It was a square room, each wall was fifty of my steps across. I was really surprised at just how big the room actually was.
"Fred?" I questioned once we stopped walking. It was still painfully dark, but I was getting better at judging where he was at.
"Yes?" he asked, his voice going up a slight bit at the end like he was asking a question.
"Can you reach the ceiling?" I heard a faint rustle of robes, and then a huff of breath.
"Not by just stretching, I'm going to try and jump." I waited for a moment in silence. "Umm, 'Mione? I'm going to need my hand."
"Oh," I said, blushing. I dropped his hand and instantly felt worse. The darkness seemed to close in around me, suffocating me and cutting me off. I heard a whoosh of air and then a smack on the floor as he landed. I stood perfectly still and focused on breathing, forcing myself to stay calm.
"Nope, can't reach it that way either." He said a moment later. I waited silently, tears filling my eyes as his voice faded away.
"Mione, where'd ya go?" Fred asked, sounding confused.
"Over here, I haven't moved." I said, waving my arms around in hopes of brushing him.
"Okay," Fred said, sounding closer. A moment later I felt a hand on my arm and I almost yelped. "Gotcha." He said. His hand traveled down my arm until he found my hand again.
"I don't suppose you know how to do wandless magic?" Fred asked, sounding only slightly hopeful.
"No, I'd make a light if I did."
"That was going to be my suggestion. Oh well, guess it's just us and the dark." I felt a tug on my hand and then a slight smacking sound. "Come on 'Mione, might as well get comfortable." I lowered myself down unsurely, feeling extremely scared and worried.
"Okay, so there are no door or windows and we can't feel the ceiling." I summarized, looking around the darkness uneasily.
"Yep, we are in deep trouble."
"Fred, we passed deep trouble when the man brought his friends in the shop. We are over our heads now."
"How long do you think we've been here?" he questioned, scooting closer to me.
"I don't know, but we need to figure out a way-" I cut my statement off half way, I heard something coming from the other side of the wall we were leaning against.
"Did you?" He started, letting me figure out the rest of the question.
"The walls vibrating." I whispered back, clutching his hand and tugging it forward. We both scooted forward before turning around facing the wall.
It was starting to glow, emitting a faint light. I glanced over at Fred and saw him clearly for the first time in what felt like forever. He was covered in dirt and sweat, and had a long, deep scratch on his right cheek that looked painful. He glanced over at me with his bright blue eyes before looking back at the wall. I looked back as well, biting my lip in worry. It grew even brighter, and then the outline of a door appeared faintly dark against the glowing light. I tightened my grip on Fred's hand without thought, terror filling me as I looked at the appearing door. How had we not seen or felt it? Was it a notice-me-not charm or a concealment spell? Either way, we wouldn't have this problem again, we'd figure out a way to find it.
The light faded away and the crushing darkness swallowed us again. We sat perfectly still, still facing the wall. A moment later a deep scraping sound echoed in the room, and the door opened.
"Whys it dark in here?" A deep voice echoed. I heard the distinct 'whoosh' of a wand waving through the air, and then a glowing orb appeared in the middle of the air above our heads. Its light filled the room, allowing us to see our kidnapper for the first time. It was the same wizard who had come into WWW and attacked us. Fred and I both tensed up at the same time as we looked at him. The door was still open behind him, and I saw a chance to escape, we just had to take him out.
I let go of Fred's hand and steeled my legs to jump up. I felt him do the same next to me without looking. The dark wizard took a step forward, and we leapt. We lunged at him together, I was aiming for his waist, and Fred for his head. He took a step back and waved his wand, blasting us back into the far wall in a crumpled heap. I landed face first in the hard dirt, and Fred fell on top of me.
"Did you really think that would work?" he questioned, his voice mocking and cold.
"Well, we hoped." Fred said, righting himself and accidentally banging his elbow into my rib.
"I assure you it, was in vain. I've come to take the girl." Fred froze above me, before slowly turning towards the wizard. I was shocked, staring at the wizard in disbelief. What would he want with me? And who the bloody hell was this man?
"Come peacefully and I'll be gentle." He said mockingly. I didn't believe him, not at all. Still, I didn't want him to hurt Fred. I pushed myself up off the hard dirt floor, supporting my weight with my arms.
"Uh-uh, no deal." Fred said bitingly, placing himself between the wizard and me. An evil grin stole across his lips and fear for Fred rose up within me.
"No, I'll come." I said quietly, reaching forward and grabbing Fred's hand in my own. I squeezed it tightly, drawing courage from its feel, and hoping I was giving him some comfort.
"Smart bitch, I mean witch." He said, smirking down at me. Fred tensed and made to stand, but I put a hand on his shoulder to stop him. I stood up stiffly and dusted my robes off before stepping forward, my head held high and my heart racing.