Hermione's breath rushed out of her as she tried her wandless magic again. So far all she'd been able to do was move a spider away from her. Granted it was a highly poisonous spider and she'd have been in trouble if it bit her but it was still frustrating that she was unable to free herself. With a groan she flopped on to the mat. She had no idea how long she'd been there but she was starting to feel faint from the lack of food and water. Giving up on magic, she decided to take a Muggle approach. She began to scream at the top of her lungs. She screamed until she could feel her throat burning. She screamed so loud, the spider moved to the other side of the room without magic. She screamed and screamed until the door heaved open and Marcus Flint stood in the doorway.
"WHAT IN MERLIN'S NAME IS WRONG WITH YOU?" he shouted. "WILL YOU STOP THAT BLOODY SCREAMING?!"
Hermione stopped screaming and stared at him. "What are you doing here?" she asked. "Where is David?"
"Dead," he replied. "Months ago. Unfortunate for both of us, it's me who has been slaving away for you."
"You?" Hermione questioned, watching the spider moving behind him. "But why?"
"Someone had to keep an eye on Potter's Mudblood," Flint told her. "In case we...needed you for something."
"Who is we?" Hermione asked, watching the spider stop directly behind Flint.
"You don't need to know," he answered. "Are you finished screaming?"
Hermione glared at him in response. Then she got an idea. "What's behind you?" Hermione shouted, widening her eyes.
Flint whirled around and the minute he turned his back Hermione used the magic she had left and moved the spider directly on to his shoulder. The magic agitated the spider so the minute it landed, it sunk its teeth into his neck before scurrying away.
"What the-?" Flint shouted, grabbing his neck. "A spider? That's the best you can do?"
"That is what is affectionately known as the Bellatrix spider," Hermione told him matter of factly. "After it bites, you have about 15 minutes before it spreads throughout your body, possibly less since it bit you right in the neck."
Flint looked horrified as the blood began to seep through his fingers. "There's an antidote," he said. "There has to be."
"Of course," Hermione replied. "In my lab at St. Mungo's."
Flint moved so quickly Hermione didn't have a chance to defend herself when he backhanded her across the face. "You stupid bitch," he shouted. "You think I'll let you free? I'd rather die."
Hermione wiped the blood from her lip. "Fine," she replied. "You will if you don't let me heal you."
"No, no," he said, beginning to pace. "What about Exsugo?
"What?" Hermione asked.
"Oh it figures the ONE thing the brightest witch doesn't know is the spell that could save my bloody life," he moaned.
"It's a spell?" she questioned. "I've never heard of it, what does it do?"
"It forcibly removes things from the body," he told her quickly. "In this case you'd use exsugo venenum, for the poison. You have to put your wand directly on the entrance of the wound and it goes from the wound into the wand. You then have to expel it from the wand, usually into a bottle or vial."
"That's fascinating," Hermione said, forgetting she was a prisoner, excitement at the new information taking over.
Just then Flint dropped to his knees. "I can feel it," he gasped.
"Give me your wand," Hermione said. "Let me go, let me help you."
Flint cast a quick spell and Hermione felt the ropes burn. "What was that?"
"My wand can't be used to release the ropes," he smiled, blood seeping from his mouth. He held out his wand.
Hermione hesitated.
"That Gryffindor heart in you can't let me die," he said, choking on the words and the blood dripped down his face.
Hermione set her jaw and took the wand from his hand. He collapsed in front of her and a vial rolled out of his pocket.
"Exsugo venenum," she said, holding the wand to his neck. The wand began to vibrate and Hermione watched in horror as a thick, purple substance began to move from the wound into the wand. A minute passed, then two. Hermione watched as the bleeding slowed, then stopped completely. The purple substance disappeared completely but the wand began to shake violently in her hand. Moving carefully, Hermione removed the cap and placed the tip of the wand into the jar.
"Expulso," Flint told her, beginning to sound like himself.
Hermione said the spell and watched as the purple venom shot from the wand into the jar. She quickly capped the potion and before Flint could take his wand back, stunned him. He hadn't planned on her thinking that quickly, she reasoned. His desire to live had clouded his judgement. Lucky for her. But now what? She had his wand but couldn't use it. She'd had trouble with the stunning spell, the wand didn't like being used against its wizard. She sat debating whether or not to try a patronus with the wand when she heard a crash from above. Someone was here. She hit Flint with another stunning spell to be safe. Chances are whoever it was was working with Flint and she needed to be ready. Hermione awkwardly held the wand trained on the door and waited for it to open. She heard shouting now and more crashes. Then all of a sudden she heard a loud bang right outside of the door. She clutched the wand as the door swung open and she fired.
Fortunately for Draco, exhaustion and a foreign wand caused the spell to shoot to the left, missing Draco's head by a millimeter.
"Bloody hell woman!" Draco shouted, staring at Hermione. Her breath hitched when she saw who was in front of her. Her hair was wild, her lip was bleeding, she was filthy and Draco thought his heart would burst. She'd never looked more fierce, more beautiful.
"Draco?" she managed.
His name snapped him out of his observation and he rushed to her, kneeling on the floor and pulling her into his lap, taking her in his arms. She burst into tears and he whispered to her, kissing the top of her head, forgetting the auror team, Harry, his mother, and focusing solely on his witch. He had her back, he thought wildly, he had her back.
Harry stepped into the room and chuckled. At the sound, Hermione looked up at him. "Harry!" she cried and tried to jump up to hug him but was pulled back by the ropes.
"Get these off her," Draco snapped. "A whole team of you and no one untied her yet?"
Ignoring Draco, Ron walked into the room and with a wave of his wand, the ropes disappeared. Hermione moved from Draco's lap and threw herself into Harry's arms. He held her for a few minutes before passing her off to Ron. She mumbled something into his chest.
"You found me," she said again. "How did you find me?"
"Malfoy," Harry told her and Hermione's eyes filled with tears and she extracted herself from Ron's grip and went back into Draco's arms. He tightened his arms around her and put her on his side.
Harry gave Flint's unconscious body a kick and looked at Hermione. "You know we were worried about you," Harry told her with a laugh.
Ron laughed as well and said, "Can't imagine why."
Hermione gave a watery laugh and wrapped her arms tighter around Draco's waist as she felt the first tremor.
"Can we go?" she asked. "I'd really like to get out of here."
"We'll be at Hermione's flat if you need her," Draco said to Harry and Ron.
"Bring her to the Manor," Narcissa cut in. "The girl needs to be cared for."
"She needs to go to St. Mungo's," Harry chimed in.
"No," Hermione said, through her teeth, fighting another shiver. "My flat."
"Ms. Granger is about 10 seconds from an episode," Narcissa said briskly. "I have the potion she needs at the Manor but if she prefers her flat Draco and I will take her there."
Harry, Ron, and Draco all looked at Hermione alarmed by Narcissa's words. Hermione could feel their eyes on her and she couldn't hold it anymore. She began to shake.
"Mrs. Malfoy, can you apparate Hermione and Draco to Hermione's flat?" Harry asked. "You should be able to get in since you're with Hermione, her wards should adjust."
"Ms. Granger's wards accept me," Narcissa replied, sweeping forward. Draco lifted Hermione into his arms as the shaking began to worsen and Narcissa apparated them away. She apparated them directly to Hermione's front door and was grateful when none of Hermione's neighbors were around. Not bothering with the locks, Narcissa magically unlocked the door. Draco moved quickly to Hermione's room, his mother directly behind him. She opened the drawer next to Hermione's bed as Draco placed Hermione in her bed. He sat himself behind her and held her as his mother tipped her head back and poured the potion down Hermione's throat. The shaking subsided a few minutes later and, once it had passed, Hermione curled herself into Draco's lap.
"Thank you," she whispered. "For everything."
"I'm feeling a bit tired, so I'm going to return to the Manor," Narcissa said. "Floo me if you need anything."
"Thank you mother," Draco said as he ran a hand up and down Hermione's back. "I'll floo you in the morning."
Narcissa walked to the bed and placed a kiss on Hermione's head. "You made it," she said, so low that only Hermione can hear. "He can't hurt you."
Hermione gave her a small smile and nodded. Narcissa moved away from Hermione's bed and left the room.
"Sleep," Draco said, moving them so they were both under her covers and she was curled at his side. "I'll be right here the whole night."
With Draco's arms around her and his words echoing in her mind, Hermione felt something she couldn't quite name but before she could think about it, she fell asleep.
A/N: Okay, so I obviously had to have Hermione save herself and the guys show up after she'd basically taken care of the situation. It just didn't feel right to do it any other way! Also, I should have mentioned this before the spells I made up are words in Latin translated via Google translate. Latin is not one of the languages I know!
Review, favorite, please & thank you! :)