Sorry it took so long for the update. It took reading alot more fiction for me to get back into it. Unbeta-ed.

dodges the knives and tomatoes thrown at her MEP!

He was awoken in mid morning by the sound of a hatch opening. He looked blearily up to see that a bowl of some oatmeal type substance had been messily shoved into the room. Draco felt like he had been to hell and back. Most of his body seemed like it was throbbing and as he began to shift into a sitting position, the rest followed suit with a massive protest.

While swinging his legs over onto the floor the rattle of chains that followed made him cringe. His arms were tied behind his back. Lucious must have thought it amusing to chain his foot to the bed also so that he could barely reach the door or Hermione, who was still tied standing up but looked basically unharmed. He breathed a gasp of relief and then in hushed tones called to her.

Hermione's head turned slightly from its bent down position and she gave him a nod.

"Thank Merlin you' re alright!" Draco whispered and his enthusiasm fell as he saw that she was crying.

"Hermione...Hermione whats wrong?" He became a little frantic. Here they were in a quiet dangerous situation and she was the one crying. Hermione Granger one of Gryffindor's finest was the one crying, not him, and this scared him.

The tears that sparkled down her cheeks were full of hopelessness. "Please just tell me whats wrong? Are you hurt? Was it something they said to you? Something they..di...Something they did?" His heart sinking at that thought.

Hermione nodded her head. "Please just speak to me! Tell me what's wrong...I think I will just go totally insane if I don't hear the sound of your know-it-all voice...Just speak!"

She lifted her head and gave him a look that turned his mind to ice. Then she began to mouth words which he could not hear and slowly it dawned on him. Hermione could not speak.

Two days earlier.

Two figures in black whisked down a dark alley. They stopped to catch their breath before turning into a doorway. The shorter one looked both ways before speaking in a low crackling voice.

"You know what you have to do."

The other nodded and then said, "But we still don't know how to get into the building undetected, and the only way to catch them is to trap them unawares."

The shorter figure shifted and replied with reverence. "I have been tracking you for years and I know that you will figure it out, even through my disappearance you stayed loyal to our cause and I sense a great magic within you. Less of course to mine...but great none the less.You will find a way." The younger man chuckled at his leaders joke and nodded staring off into the distance.

The ancient man went to put a hand on the taller ones shoulder but let it hover, then decided against it. Moments of weakness such as this were not to be tolerated. He counted on the young man who had flourished under his guidance and any sign of resignation or weakness was unforgivable. He needed to feel that his leader held complete faith in him and had no fear. No one could ever know of his utter terror or all would be lost.

With one last glance behind him and the parting words of, "I will contact you the usual way when I make some headway." The two ran down separate ways of the alley and all that was there to observe this brief but vital meeting was a lone cat eating some tuna scraps from a garbage can, who ignored them entirely.

After a stunned silence of five minutes Draco cleared his throat causing Hermione to jump.
"I had no idea that this would happen, I just want you to know that. I don't know if you believe me but I just had to say it. I feel like I am going insane here..."

An awkward silence followed this and Draco felt a small flush of embarrassment at himself for thinking again that she would reply. This was in every sense of the word bad. Here he was chained to a bed with very realistic and panic striking thoughts of what would happen to them both and he had no one to comfort him; his own thoughts flying through sickening scenarios one after the other at a terrible rate. It turned his stomach somewhat and after a few minutes of hyperventilation he vomited over the end of the bed with Hermione watching him fearfully.

Well at least she stopped crying he thought ruefully before he broke into laughter which dribbled into a gasping cry. "Hermione what are we going to do?" Draco whispered after he had calmed down into a stillness of shock. "That's a very good question Draco." Hermione thought.
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Hermione had been awake long before Draco had. She had watched the dim light begin to illuminate the small filthy room and Dracos shivering form. Her thoughts went slow, as if her brain could only think of one thing at once. She had been dancing. She lowered her eyes slowly to look at herself. She was wearing her dress for the dance. Dancing was fun. Neville dances quiet nicely. Harry and Ron are gone. Its the last dance. I dance with Draco. He is on the bed. He looked so nice in his tuxedo. I dance with Draco. He is warm and I feel safe. The lights go out and I can't see but my hearing is acute. He is screaming my name. I think I yelled back and then I wake here.

Her thoughts began to move faster as a sharp pain shivered down her spine. Why am I standing? Where am I? What happened at the dance? Think you nit wit think, You got top marks in DADA and now in adverse conditions you turn into a nit wit. Her breathing increased as she tried to recapture the calm that she had before.

She thought dully, You are in shock but that does not mean this emotion can not help you out in this situation. Okay, now first asses the situation. I am tied to a pole in a dirty, wet, ten by about thirteen foot room. I cannot move and I fear that more attempts will cause my body more harm and that is unnecessary until I feel I can escape. Draco is tied to the bed, he may have been knocked out physically, or magically. He is still alive because I can hear and see him breathing. Now the fun part. Who has us locked in this room, and why are we together?

Simple. Voldemort has captured us. I would bet my hat on it...if I had a hat at the moment but why put us in the same room? Is it possible that they found out about Draco's deflection and that this is some sort of pay back to him? When she opened her mouth finally to call out his name she found that her throat was dry and no words came out.

She frowned and tried again to no avail. Okay this is another thing...Why am I making no sound? I have not lost my hearing because I can hear dripping water and rats fussing about..so that leaves me to believe that my voice is gone. This entire thought confused her so greatly that it took a few seconds before it sunk in. It was then that she began to scream but not even a gasp passed her lips.

Hearing footsteps down the hall she instantly collected herself and waited in slight fear. They stopped at the door and Hermione watched as a small hatch opened and a sloppy bowl of something was pushed through. It was then that Draco awoke. Hermione tapped her foot after he had asked, "What are we going to do." to get his attention. When all he did was stare at the door she stomped repeatedly and he jumped and turned to her.

"Oh." He said lamely, "What?" Gesturing with her head at the small window, he stumbled numbly into a standing position with a grunt and rattled over to the wall. "I can't see much. It looks about mid morning and I can see trees. I know where we are. I don't know if you have guessed, or if you have seen my Father yet. We are in my family's secret dungeon. I know its pointless to hope that they will focus on me and not harm you." Draco slumped awkwardly on the floor and shuddered. "I don't know how many of us from the school were taken. It all happened so quick. I think it was yesterday that I was lead to my Father, where he tried to get me to tell him about The Order of the Phoenix. I have no idea what he is talking about." Hermione almost grinned at this. Certain people among the members had spells cast on them. Hermione had discussed this long ago with Dumbledore when she first started doing wandless magic.

Draco had a spell cast on his mind so that whatever information he had obtained about the Order would be removed until the counter spell was cast. This prevented him from giving anything away even if he wanted to. Hermione had cast her own spell on herself. Until her wand was returned and she was perfectly safe by Dumbledore could she have it reversed. She had taken away her voice. This way even if through Occulency Voldemort found out about the wandless magic there was no way he could ever prove it possible. Draco also had had any memory of Hermione using it blurred so that it appeared to him that she was using a wand. She tapped her foot and tried to give him an encouraging smile but it faded weakly. "Be brave Draco. I have hope that we will get out of this alive." She thought and wished that he could hear her thoughts. Here they were wandless, trapped and being held by an insane man who just happens to be Dracos Father.

She closed her eyes and prayed. "Please let them find us. Please let everyone be alright. Please give Draco strength."

"Anyways, if we could escape this room, which I am sure is being guarded, this place is a magical maze. I know a little about it but not enough that if we were to get out that we would not be trapped by the maze itself." He leaned against the wall frowned and then leaned forward as his hands crunched behind his back.

"I don't know if they have caught Harry or The Headmaster. I am sure that he would have gloated more if they had so that proves that there may still be hope." A look of mirthful horror dawned on his face. "Oh Lord, I have just placed our only hopes with scar head and the stupidest smart man alive. I think I should fear for my sanity. The ones that could save us are the ones that would have got us into this mess to begin with." He laughed and glanced up at her only to hang his head in shame at her frown.

"I know I know. You have faith in them. Hell, if you do then I should too. Well at least I still have my good looks and charm. I should be looking at this from a more positive point of view. And everyone always said that sarcasm was a bad way to deal..."

Draco's ramble was interrupted by a cold voice. "My, my. You sure are talkative today. I am sure we can put that to good use. I see the positive as being you still alive so that I can torture you more. I have always wanted to see how much Vertimsuem one could take before dying." Dracos and Hermiones eyes snapped up at Lucious who was casually standing in the doorway. "But then again I am sure the abuse will deteriorate the will and ruin the experiment a little, but not the pleasure I will get from it. Grab him." A tall black wizard who looked like they could crush Dracos head with their hand stepped forward and be spelled the chain off of his leg. Draco wanted to protest but resisting or not had the same result, smacked around more. Its just that one carried some dignity as long as he could hold the blank face and be obedient. Lucious smirked and stepped around his son into the room to stand in front of a fearful Hermione who had wide tearing eyes.

"No! Fath..." Lucious's smile turned into a glare and he slapped her hard leaving behind a large red hand print. Draco started to have trouble breathing. He turned to face his son while dusting his hand off on his cloak. "Know that you make me do this. She could die quick and slightly painless which is a death that she does not deserve or she can die slowly. It is your choice. Although on the matter of your own death there is no discussion. It will be slow and painful and you will watch this filth die regardless. It is only fitting."

"Now come on boy. You won't die today but lets see how much we can get out of you in blood and screams before I will have to stop my fun. Be brave for Daddy. The longer the show goes on the better." Draco's breathing returned and he snarked. "Of course Father. I would not show anything but the best for you." The slap he got snapped his neck. "Well that was the wrong response I guess," he thought, head ringing.

Turning his back on him and sniffing he walked down the hallway as the tall man shut the door and dragged Draco with him, saying, "Of course we start on the Mudblood tomorrow. I am sure for sure a hideous creature her screams will be delicious." It was then that Draco's weakly built walls crumbled and he began to screech. Lucious just smiled. "You can watch if you like, make it a duet."