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Thank yous to all who Followed, Favorited and Reviewed last chapter. Jeb59, GhostWriter1964, Calimocho, StormWitch19851, DeadDelta, Raven that flies at night, moonlightkiss1515, Jily71102, and xXMizz Alec VolturiXx; I really appreciate the love, hate and comments. lol. I realize cliffies aren't always well liked, but unfortunately things happen and they are needed on occasion.

Hope this makes up for my two recent cliffhangers!

Sirius landed painfully on his back with the still unknown Death Eater on top of him, after the tackle and subsequent portkey traveling. The back of his head hit the ground so hard that his vision had become blurry and there were random circled of light that were floating around in front of his line of sight.

He felt as the Death Eater stood up and began calling out to someone else, but Sirius could only make our every few words. He couldn't string together what was going on around him until two sets of hand grabbed his upper arms and heaved him to his feet.

Sirius found that he was unable to balance on his own. The two cloaked and masked Death Eaters dragged him up to the front stairs of an old decrepit mansion. His head lolled back as they passed through the giant front door, and Sirius took in the extravagant and impossibly tall foyer of the old house.

"Get that one secured in the back storage room before we summon the Dark Lord here," a disembodied voice called down from somewhere. Sirius thought he saw a shadowy figure looking over the upstairs landing. The voice also struck a familiar cord in his memory, "And make sure that the buffoon is restrained in one of the front rooms. I'm sure the Dark Lord will want to deal with him as quickly as possible for his failure."

Sirius heard screaming protests come from someone as he was carried into a back room and seated down in a surprisingly comfortable chair. His arms and legs were quickly bound to the chair with rope from a hastily muttered Incarcerous. Sirius was then left completely alone in the dark room.

Sirius tilted his head back on the cushioned chair and tried manically to remember any kind of spell that could alleviate the pressure in his head or help heal the bruising that he was almost positive that his brain had sustained.

"I can't fall asleep…" he mumbled to himself.

The wizard wasn't much of a Healer, but he knew a few basic things from some of the interesting situations that he and James seemed to have found themselves in during Hogwarts. They hadn't always been able to go to Poppy, so they had forced themselves to learn a few rudimentary things about healing.

"Episkey should help a little I think…" Sirius had never done wandless magic successfully before. In all honesty, he hadn't really put much effort into practicing it since he saw no reason to not have his wand around. Strangely enough, the Death Eaters had not checked him for a wand. He assumed that they believed him disarmed when he arrived, being tackled to the ground by one of their cohorts.

His wand was still in the secret, slim pocket against his thigh; but they didn't give him much comfort since he couldn't move to retrieve it.

Sirius began to think of what Hermione would do if she was in this situation, "She would probably never get into this kind of situation in the first place."

He screwed up his face dejectedly and tried to refocus on the matter at hand; he needed to get a hand free.

His mind was still a bit muddled as Sirius mentally shuffled through spells that could help him get free from the ropes that were binding him to the chair. He needed something simple; since he was having to use wandless magic, simple was the only possible way this was going to succeed.

A small smile crept across his lips as he remembered a spell that Professor Flitwick had taught them second year, "Diffindo."

Nothing happened.

"Bollocks…" Sirius closed his eyes and concentrated his foggy brain on the rope wrapped around his right wrist.

"Diffindo."

Still, nothing happened.

"Bloody hell…" He squeezed his eyes tightly as he completely cleared his mind and focused solely on the rope. It was a basic, twisted, rope. Sirius imagined the cord being sliced cleanly through by a sharp, serrated blade.

"…Diffindo."

The slight pressure that had been holding Sirius's right hand to the chair's arm was gone; his arm was free.

Just as he had maneuvered his wand from the secret pocket, there was a loud noise from right outside of his door. He hastily shoved the slip of wood up his right sleeve and whispered Incarcerous, while making sure his fingers remained in contact with the handle of the wand.

The door banged open and a very unwelcomed silhouette fell in front of Sirius, "Hello, dearest cousin."

"What do you mean he's been kidnapped? I thought this was supposed to be a simple interview with an old lady?!" Hermione didn't mean to yell, but the shock of the situation was causing her to process things too slowly to keep her emotions in check.

Lily and James still stood in the hallway of the Cottage. They had explained everything in as much detail as possible, as quickly as possible. And now Hermione's brain was trying to catch up to the reality of the situation.

"Her nephew… he wasn't her real nephew. He was some Death Eater on polyjuice. We vetted the man several times before we set up any interview visits; everything was in order with him," James insisted though his voice wavered almost as much as Hermione's.

Lily tried to take a step forward, "We need… OW." James caught his fiancé before she collapsed on the floor. "I'm fine; I'm fine," Lily insisted as Hermione stepped forward with sudden concern replacing the anger in her eyes, "We need a locator spell."

Hermione shook her head, "That wouldn't help. If they went back to a Death Eater base, they'll be heavily cloaked. A locator spell won't work; they aren't strong enough."

"A Blood spell might work, though," Regulus's voice was ragged as he propped himself up on the stair railing.

"What are you doing? I told you to seal yourself in the room!" Hermione ran forward and tucked herself under the boy's arm to help steady him.

Regulus offered a strained laugh, "How's the weather this very fine night?"

Hermione rolled her eyes. "It's a code phrase I told him to use to confirm it was me," she explained to the very confused Lily and James.

"What's a blood spell?" Lily asked as James helped her to the sofa in the sitting room.

James took a pillow and propped up the redhead witch's leg on the couch before straightening up and looking around the room, "It's very old magic. Outlawed centuries ago, but many of the pureblood families still pass on the teachings." He walked off and found the door to the library.

"Go with him… Mia. The Potter's aren't archaic enough to have actually taught James anything about Blood Magic. He won't know what he's looking for," Regulus pushed Hermione away from him and staggered over to one of the chairs next to Lily. "We need a book titled, 'Family Magic.' Sounds much more harmless than it is, I assure you."

Hermione nodded her head sharply and jogged to the library. She had seen that book while she had reorganized the library this summer. Hermione had assumed that it was a Black family heirloom, so she hadn't looked through the book for fear of intruding. She had carefully set it aside and remembered asking Sirius to find a place for it... which means she had no idea where it had ended up.

James stood on his toes, his finger flying over the covered of the books on the highest of the third bookcase as he searched for a title that might signify Blood Magic spells lay within the binding. She grabbed his arm and pulled the wizard to the center of the room with her just to make sure she didn't hit him with a book, "Accio 'Family Magic.'"

A thick tome came flying off the top of the farthest bookcase.

It had been hidden behind an ornamental vase that Hermione had used to try to decorate the room, "Why did Sirius hide this?"

James looked at her with wide eyes, "No one's supposed to have these kinds of spell books anymore. I guess Sirius felt that rebinding the book wasn't enough to hide it. But he also wanted it to be readily accessible if needed."

"What?" Hermione opened the book and found that the cover page didn't match the hardback cover. She ran her fingers over the title, 'Blood Magic; The Intricate Power of Pureblood.'

"Oh," was the only thing that Hermione was able to say in reaction to the book in her hands.

James took the book from her, "Don't bother trying to analyze it. The spells work just as well if your Half-blood or Muggle-born. But those populations weren't daft enough to use their own blood in spell work." He led the way back into the sitting room, "Where going to need a map of England."

Hermione left again and ran up to the bedroom she shared with Sirius. She crawled under her side of the bed and murmured a disillusionment charm over the little purple beaded bag. Hermione opened the bag and quickly summoned the map that she had stashed away there over a year ago and ran back down to the sitting room.

"Will this do?"

"Yea, that's perfect," James said as he pulled the coffee table in front of Regulus and opened the map flat against the smooth surface, "Did you find it yet?"

Regulus was hurriedly flipping through the thin pages of the book, "No… it should be toward the back. Uncle Al showed it to us once, said it was one of the only useful spells in this thing…AH HA!" The wizard pulled out his wand and laid the tip of it on his left hand.

"Wait!" Hermione held up her hands to halt the boys motions, "What are you doing?"

"For Blood magic, we need blood... obviously," Regulus drew his wand over his palm and sliced the skin there. He made a tight fist and hung his hand over the map of England to allow the blood to pool on the page.

Hermione frowned, "But you're still recovering Regulus. You could have used my blood."

"No, I couldn't. My blood will be more effective when looking for Sirius; brotherly bond and all…" Regulus waved his wand over his hand again and the skin around the cut immediately knit itself together. He then wove his wand over the blood and chanted, "Inveniam Viam, Sirius Black. Inveniam Viam, Sirius Black."

The small pool of blood began to tremble and then suddenly darkened from bright red to an ink black. A thin line extended from the black circle and began rapidly tracing the outlines of the map. It looked like an intricate spiderweb as the black lines traced over the whole of England. Hermione was very doubtful that the spell was going to reach a helpful conclusion with over a dozen lines now spreading over the map.

Then suddenly that lines stopped moving and the darkened blood seemed to disappear into the paper. Before Hermione could question what had happened, a small fleur-de-lis resurfaced on the map.

Regulus used his wand to enlarge that section of the map and they found that the mark was over a vast area of farmland outside of Cambridge, "There isn't any indication, but I'm guessing that there is a rather nice house out there. The Dark Lord seems to appreciate the finer things."

"Do you know the place?" Hermione asked as she went a few steps to the coat closet and pulled out a light jacket.

"No. Haven't been briefed on every hideaway yet… being new and all," Regulus motioned disgustedly at his bandaged arm. Lily and James shared a knowing look and tried not to show their pity and worry over the issue.

"So how are we going to apparate there?" Hermione bent down and began to tend to Lily's leg. She mended the gash and wrapped the wound in new bandages treated with an anti-scarring potion.

Regulus flipped a few more pages in the book, "You let my blood call to his blood and I take you all along for the ride, apparently."

Hermione looked up from her seat on the floor. She didn't like the possibility of exposing Regulus as a traitor, "Fine. You apparate us all there; but as soon as we arrive, Lily apparates you back." She held a hand up to silence the boy, "Sirius would never forgive us if you got caught. No arguing or fighting; Lily brings you back here immediately. Understood?"

Regulus reluctantly nodded.

"Bellatrix. Lovely as always," Sirius kept his voice even so as not to set his cousin off in any way. He needed to be along again so that he could find a way out.

"The Dark Lord will be along shortly. He is very eager to speak with you again," the witch took a few steps into the windowless room to get a better look at Sirius. "But don't worry cousin. He asked me to not torment you this time. He's insisted that you be in one piece when he meets with you… but afterwards, I may be allowed to come see you and help rid you of those awful blood-traitor ideals."

"I can hardly wait, Bella."

The door to the room closed sharply behind her. And soon Sirius heard horrifying screams coming from the front of the house.

He sighed deeply and released all the ropes binding him to the chair. He cast a quick healing spell and stood. Sirius crept to the door, trying to listen for guards in the hallway. He heard nothing so he inched the door open and slipped into the empty corridor and turned the corner.

Regulus held his freshly cut hand out as he began chanting again, "Deducent me ad Sirius. Deducent me ad Sirius."

Lily stood on one side of the younger Black brother and Hermione and James stood at his other side. They all linked arms as the spell began to pull them up, off of their feet, and squeeze them out of existence.

They reappeared a few yards away from an old crumbling mansion that stood alone at the top of a small hill.

Regulus bent over and rested his hands on his knees; the magic had sucked away most of his energy.

"Lily, take Reg and go; now," Hermione's eyes pleaded as she looked at her friend.

Lily nodded and looked at James briefly, "Be safe."

"I'll see you soon," James affirmed in a stern tone.

Lily took Regulus's arm around her own shoulder and disapparated away.

Hermione and James stuck to the shadows of the large oak trees that were sporadically placed around the large dilapidated house. They saw light coming from the front of the house and saw shadows moving behind the thin curtains there. Hermione pointed to the back of the house and James followed soundlessly as she led the way.

They found a broken window and were able to reach in and unlock the panel. James climbed through first and Hermione followed. They both had their wands at the ready as they quietly crept through the dark house.

A scream pierced their ears; it sounded like it was coming from the front of the house where they had seen commotion and shadows. Thankfully, it didn't sound like Sirius.

Hermione pressed suddenly herself against the wall and pulled James back so that he was flush next to her; she had heard a small creak around the corner.

Just as Hermione was about to raise her wand and cast a nonverbal 'Petrificus Totalus,' A pair of familiar grey eyes met Hermione's gaze.

She launched herself at Sirius and almost knocked him over. James spared a brief smile, but soon pulled the two apart and reminded them that they still needed to get out of the house.

Hermione nodded and led the way back to the room that they had found an entrance in. James pocketed his wand and climbed back out of the window.

"WHERE IS HE," a booming voice called out from a few rooms over.

"Shite," Sirius pulled Hermione behind him and told James to step back, "Bombarda Maxima!"

The wall holding the broken window exploded, leaving a generous hole for Sirius and Hermione to run through.

Before they began to run to catch up to James, Hermione spun around and shouted 'Incendio' and lit the curtains and the carpet aflame before turning back and grabbing Sirius's hand.

The trio ran to the outskirts of the protective wards around the old mansion; glancing back twice to make sure no one was following them as they ran behind the thick trees. They felt the shielding magic fall away as they stepped beyond the heavy cloaking spells. Hermione smiled brightly as they took a breath and turned to apparate.

"Going somewhere?" Bellatrix appeared in front of them and blasted all three off of their feet. Hermione landed badly on her wand arm and quickly switched to her left hand as she rose up to face the manic witch.

James and Sirius, who had landed close together, stood up and turned toward the wild-eyed witch as well. Bellatrix quickly waved her wand and the boys felt their bodies completely freeze in place next to each other. She now turned all her attention onto Hermione.

Bellatrix took a step forward, closing some of the space between herself and the blonde witch, "There are even more rumors about you since the last time we met, little girl. It's been said that you've joined that silly group that Dumbledore formed; that you're feeding them information that you can't possibly know."

"You and your master give me far too much credit," Hermione poured all her anger and resent into the comment, hoping to throw off Bellatrix's thought process if she could cast enough doubt on herself, "What could I possibly know that would be helpful to anyone. All I want to do is be a teacher!"

The cackle that erupted from Bellatrix made Hermione's skin crawl, "You plan on hiding at Hogwarts? How ingenious; safe under Dumbledore's watchful eye. He'll only protect you while you're of use to him. But as soon as you lose your usefulness..." She offered her hand, "Now you might only be a half-blood. But the Dark Lord has given me specific instructions to collect you for him; to offer you a seat beside him as he removes the puppeteers of our world, like your dear Dumbledore."

Hermione scoffed, "Your Dark Lord wanted to kill me just a few months ago. Why would I believe that he wants me to join your side now? I thought purebloods were the only ones that mattered?"

A sneer pulled at Bellatrix's lips, "… I believe my Master might have mentioned something about 'A means to an end' when he spoke of offering you a place within our ranks." She gestured at the boys, who were stock-still behind her, "He also offered places for your cohorts if it meant securing you."

Hermione gazed at the two wizards, still under the full body-bind curses, "You'll spare all of us... if I agree to join you?"

Bellatrix nodded curtly, "Those are my orders."

There was a moment of silence as Hermione calculated how to get past the witch and grab her friends so that she could apparate them away to safety.

She took a few steps around Bellatrix, "That is a very generous offer. I'm sure the Dark Lord doesn't give this kind of thing lightly… but I'm afraid I'll have to decline."

"Have it your way little witch; Crucio!"

"Sectumsempra!" Hermione ducked and rolled, narrowly missing the unforgivable, after she shot off the cutting curse. She hated the idea of using a dark spell, but she needed something that was guaranteed to occupy Bellatrix as she ran to collect her friends.

Hermione didn't bother looking back as she heard the other witch scream in pain. Hermione sprinted forward and grabbed both James and Sirius's arms; a very clear imagine of the Cottage came to her mind as the squeezing pressure of apparition took them all away from the stampeding sound of approaching Death Eaters.

When they arrived on the grass a few yard beyond the wards of the cottage, Hermione sighed a breath of relief. She quickly cast the counter spell for Petrificus Totalus and then collapsed to her knees, completely exhausted by the night's events.

"I've got her, James. You go ahead and check on Lily," Sirius knew that anxious expression on his best friend and waved him toward the house.

Sirius squatted down and quickly captured Hermione's lips in a searing kiss before swiftly picking her up and cradling the witch to his chest. Hermione clutched at Sirius's shirt and allowed her wizard to carry her back to the house.

"We need to stop getting into dangerous situations. It's exhausting," Hermione muttered as she closed her eyes and pressed her face into Sirius' broad chest.

"I know, Love. I'm sorry. But you know that the situations aren't going to get any less dangerous anytime soon," Sirius kissed her temple as he reached the stairs at the front porch.

"I know… I just… I can't lose you Sirius."

He dipped his head down so his lips were buried in the witch's wayward hair, "I love you too, Hermione."

Hey all! I'll be taking a week off for holiday and family time next week. But I will be back the first Monday of December. (I made sure not to do this to you all during one of my cliffhangers.) Love you all and let me know what you thought of this one! Don't worry, much more to come.

Delta - Sirius was taken as a consolation prize. The Death Eater hoped that bringing Sirius to the Dark Lord would save his skin since he lost Bathilda. Sorry that was confusing!

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Always,

Misha

Ps. Check out the other stories by me: 'Begin Again,' 'The Bookworm and The Prankster' and 'Penelope Jackson: The Lightning Thief.'