A/N) So, here we are with another update! I know its a rather boring chapter title... but I couldn't think of a better one... I think I'm running out of ideas, especially considering for chapter 55 I am unable to come up with a proper title for it! This is the last short chapter, the chapters following this one will all be between 3000-5000 words. Enjoy!

And I just want to thank everyone who reviewed the last chapter.

Chapter Fifty: Explanations

They had been questioned and briefed by Kingsley Shacklebolt for hours but now they had been released having given enough information about the attack. As the only students who had stayed and fought, it was obligatory for the Aurors to question them, just in case they could help them with their investigation. When asked whether he could see Sirius, Kinglsey shook his bald head, telling Harry that the Headmaster wanted a word with him.

"Do you think the others know about Hermione yet?" asked Harry as he and Ron walked towards the Headmasters office, armed with the password.

Ron shrugged. His eyes were red and he had been very quiet since Kingsley had released them. "I don't know."

Harry bit his lip. "They'll get her back." He certainly thought they could.

"Harry, do you have any idea what Bellatrix Lestrange will do to her just because she is Muggle-born?" retorted Ron angrily, his eyes flashing and his face going red. "To people like her, Hermione is a disease that needs to be wiped out!"

Feeling uncomfortable, Harry reached out to Ron. "Don't think like that; there is always hope."

Ron puffed. "If she gets out of this, Hermione won't be the same!"

Awkward silence fell between them and by the time they reached the statue guarding the entrance to Professor Dumbledore's office, Ron was walking behind Harry, his hands stuffed into his pockets. "Do you want to come up?" asked Harry, tentatively. He said the password and the stairs began to rotate upwards, Harry (followed by Ron a moment later) stepped upwards, waiting for the stairs to stop rotating before taking the last few stairs and knocking on the wooden door in front of him.

The door opened and Harry was greeted by Professor McGonagall, whose sympathetic expression surprised him. "Potter, Weasley, please sit down."

Harry and Ron took the two chairs in front of the desk; their Transfiguration Professor standing behind them, her hands clutched in front of her.

"Before I continue, I must ask Harry, are you employing Occlumency?" asked Professor Dumbledore, his eyes sweeping all around the office, but avoiding Harry's gaze.

Harry mentally checked his shields and found to his surprise that he wasn't. That shouldn't have happened.

"Please protect your mind. Stress and worry can cause the shields to fall without one knowing. You may find that in the coming days you will find it hard to keep the shields up; I must ask you to pay close attention to them. We cannot risk Voldemort getting into your mind, especially in light of what has happened today." Obviously Harry's surprise at finding his barriers down had not come as a surprise to Dumbledore.

Quickly, Harry inserted the shields, and sat back in his chair, waiting for the Professor to look at him. "Professor?"

Dumbledore's eyes focused upon Harry's and then moved away. "Did you feel any urge to attack me just now when I looked at you?"

"No sir," replied Harry, feeling confused.

"Good." The Headmaster's eyes focused on him once more and stayed put. "I thought it prudent that you heard this from me, Harry, rather than the Aurors. Miss Granger was not the only one taken by the Death Eaters this evening."

Harry felt his heart grow cold. Even before the words were uttered, he knew where his godfather now was: it explained his absence and why Kingsley had bypassed his question. "No..."

"I'm afraid to tell you that Sirius was captured as well. We are doing everything we can to find both Miss Granger and Sirius. We do have leads however any attempt at a rescue mission must be carefully planned. Neither of you will be permitted to participate –" here Ron opened his mouth to retort, but Harry shot him a warning glare, - "if a rescue becomes possible. It is my duty, Harry, to warn you that you cannot – under any circumstances – fall for any tricks. It is essential that you keep working on your Occlumency, if you do not, you will endanger yourself and others. You may have mastered the technique but you have lost two people you care for – you may find your barriers shattering without you knowing. Check them regularly and keep busy."

Harry nodded, not liking what the Headmaster wanted him to do. Did he really expect him to sit still while Sirius and Hermione were in the hands of Voldemort? Sirius would want me to stay out of trouble.

"If Voldemort gets into your mind he can send you false images that you may believe are real due to the circumstances... and could even be real... he will attempt this. Do not let him lure you into a trap."

"I won't," muttered Harry.

"Why did they take Hermione?" demanded Ron, when no one spoke for a few minutes.

"Ah, Mr Weasley, I was just getting to that," replied Dumbledore calmly. "Honestly, I do not know. Bait to lure Harry into a trap could be one of the reasons."

"It couldn't be because she's a Muggle-born and they hate people like her, is it?" snapped Ron.

"Mr Weasley!" reprimanded Professor McGonagall.

Dumbledore waved a hand in his colleague's direction. "It is alright, Minerva, it is understandable for Mr Weasley's outburst. He is worried about his friend; I would be too if I were in his position. The Order of the Phoenix, at this very moment, are working on locating Miss Granger. You know about the Order, having stayed at Headquarters during the summer, you know what we are capable of doing. Faith goes a long way in making what we want, happen. We have people working on this even now and we won't stop until we can retrieve both Mr Black and Miss Granger from enemy hands."

Ron didn't reply, but his face was burning brightly. Harry reached out to touch his friend's arm, his head whirling with the fact that two people he loved were in the hands of the enemy. I have to keep a cool head. If I don't... he shivered, not wanting to think about the consequences.

"Come along, boys," said Professor McGonagall. "I need to speak to Gryffindor House, I will escort you back as well."

"Oh, and Harry, your godfather might have informed you of our lessons. In light of recent events I request your presence in my office, tomorrow evening. Better to start as soon as possible rather than wait another week," added Professor Dumbledore as Harry and Ron followed McGonagall out of the office.

"Yes, sir," answered Harry.

They didn't even give anyone a chance to talk to them when they clambered through the portrait hole; Professor McGonagall behind them. Before she was through, Harry and Ron were halfway through the common room towards the stairs which would lead up to the boy's dormitory. They were at the door to the fifth year dorm rooms when they heard their head of house begin talking to the ensemble students. Her voice drowned out when they shut the door behind them.

Neither of them said a word: instead both sat down on their beds and laid there, unsure of what to do and wondering whether they would see Hermione or Sirius again.

They hadn't even drifted off to sleep by the time the rest of their dorm mates came to bed a few hours later, but none of them disturbed them, choosing to leave the two friends alone.

Harry lay on his back, mentally checking his barriers. I'll end this one day, he vowed.

When she awoke, Hermione found herself in a cold and dreary cell. She blinked rapidly trying to adjust her eyesight to the darkness. Where am I? The last thing she could recall was the sound of Bellatrix's laughter as she had tortured her. The force of Side-Along Apparition had knocked her fully unconscious. What do the Death Eaters want with me?

As she cast her eyes around the small, dank and dark cell she spotted another shape propped up against the wall on the far side of the cell. Her heart beating in her chest hard, Hermione crawled forward on her hands and knees. She took a sharp intake of breath as she recognised the other prisoner. Grey eyes flickered open as she approached. "Sirius?" she breathed.

"Hello Hermione," he said. He tried to move his arms but discovered to his chagrin that he could not. "Ah, hands tied behind back, that's a problem. Guess I'm more of a flight risk then you." He was also aware that the wrist that had been broken in Hogsmeade had been healed. Odd, they don't usually do that... It wasn't something he was going to concern himself with right now though.

Hermione swallowed, hardly daring to believe he was here. He must have woken before me. He's not surprised to see me. "Why are you here?"

She could see him raise his right eye eyebrow in the dim light. "Information that Voldemort wants. He's been after me for a while, surely you knew that?"

She nodded. "I did, but..."

"You want to know why they took you too, don't you?" he asked, guessing the reason for her hesitation.

Hermione crawled forwards and sat beside him, leaning her head back against the stone wall. "It's because of Harry, isn't it?"

"I don't think so," whispered Sirius quietly, "for me yes, but not for you."

"Then why?" asked Hermione, her voice shaking with just a little bit of fear.

Sirius sighed. "I don't want to say this because I hope I'm wrong..."

"I'm not afraid," she stated. "I want to know."

A small grin spread across Sirius' face. "Lily said that to me once, just before Harry was born that she wasn't afraid when she really was. I know you are, Hermione, and that's why I can't tell you."

"Would it better for me not to know because you want to protect me? Surely, it would be better for me to be prepared, even if you are wrong?"

Sirius groaned. "Please don't use that logic on me."

"I'm thinking that always works, right?" she teased. Despite their situation, it felt good to joke; it was the best way to deal with things.

"I swear you are Lily Evans re-incarnated," he mused. "She could always get me to talk when James could not. Got me into trouble a few times with James, she did."

Hermione grinned, but she didn't know what to say. She sat back; legs curled up to her chest, and laid her head on her knees, staring at the cell door that locked them in their prison. On the door was engraved a large M on a crest. It looked like it had been carved in. "Sirius, what does that M stand for?"

"Malfoy," he said bitterly.

"Malfoy? Draco Malfoy?" she gasped, shock running over her features.

"Unfortunately..." he replied. "We are in the cells of the manor house that belongs to the Malfoy family. With Lucius in prison, it seems this house has become Voldemort's headquarters. The Riddle House is too obvious a place to hold us – it would be the first place the Order will look. I'm sure Voldemort doesn't want me escaping so quickly." He tugged at the chains that held his hands behind his back. "Though this cell has only slightly changed since the last time I was last in here: the chains weren't here then."

"You were here before? Why?" demanded Hermione. When had Sirius ever visited the Malfoy residence?

"Narcissa Malfoy, Draco's mother, is my cousin. When I was a kid I had to come here for socialising events." He rolled his eyes and would have crossed his arms if he had been able to. "When I started Hogwarts and was sorted into Gryffindor, going to those events which were filled with Slytherins was not the best place for me. My parents took no notice and my aunt felt that I needed to be taught a lesson for betraying my family's honour, so a lot of the time I spent trying to hide from Lucius Malfoy and my cousins: inevitably they caught up with me and as punishment they locked me in here, usually for a few days without food or water, I might add."

"But – but – but that's abuse!" Hermione was flabbergasted.

Sirius tried his best to shrug. "My parents approved of their actions. That was just one of many contributing factors that was the reason for why I ran away from home. Once I was sixteen, my parents could no longer drag me home from the Potter's. My family was not a nice one to be a part of, Hermione, that's why I fight back against them."

"Sirius..." began Hermione, but she didn't know what to say to him. What could she, who knew so little about the Wizarding World, say to a man that had been abused by his family just because he had not lived up to the dark and evil ways they supported?

To be continued...

Please let me know what you think! I couldn't resist putting in that little bit of history for Sirius... I'd imagine that once it became clear he wasn't going to follow his family's path, he would not have been treated very nicely at all...

Next chapter: The House of Gaunt in which Harry's lessons with Dumbledore finally start! Will be posted on Monday.

the-writer1988