When they heard the rattling of the stove Harry and Hermoine glanced at each other. After Ron had left, Harry had adjusted the wards so that he did not have access anymore. Harry still considered Ron a friend, despite his departure. But who knew where he ended up in this world that was full of threats, if Ron would be captured by death eaters there was a possibility that they would use his knowledge to attack them, for example by putting him under the imperius curse. So someone arriving trough the floo network could only mean bad news.
"Quickly Hermoine, break the floo connection" Harry told her in his voice that was still hoarse from his previous experience, they had built in a self-destruction system in the connection, that would break it after a few seconds. The idea was that they could use it to escape while the connection would be destroyed after them for their pursuers.
They quickly made it back to the living room, but before anything could be done, the stove door opened and two robed figures rolled in the living room. Hermoine quickly pointed her wand to the activation rune above the stove and sent a pulse of magical energy towards it, the floo connection would self-destruct and the two death eaters would not get any back-up. Harry sent a stunner to the closest figure, but his opponent was quick on his feet and raised a shield.
Harry felt wobbly on his legs, his confrontation with Voldemort had left him physically and magically drained. As Hermoine was sending spells towards the two cloaked figures, he raised his own shield to protect Hermoine and himself, but he could not make it as strong as he normally would. A quick series of curses broke his shield and before he could even think about dodging or raising a new one he was hit by a spell. And after that… darkness.
Harry groaned as he regained his consciousness, his head was spinning as if he had been through a few cycles of a washing machine. He kept his eyes closed to recompose himself, he could not hear the usual noises of a wizarding battle around him, so either something had gone very good, or it had gone very bad. His doubts were quickly taken away as he heard a voice he knew very well: "Everything all right there Potter? Do not throw up in your cell." Harry groaned a second time, that voice belonged to his Hogwarts nemesis, Draco Malfoy.
Slowly as the spinning subsided, he opened his eyes and noticed that he was lying in the corner of the living room, around him metal bars formed a screen between him and the rest of the room. As he slowly sat up he saw Malfoy standing in the middle of the room, rummaging through their bags and he spotted Hermoine in a similar situation as him in the other corner of the living room. She was looking at him sadly as she said "I am sorry Harry, after you went down I could not handle both of them."
"It's ok, Hermoine, we will get through this." Harry replied to her, but he knew their situation was dire. He watched as Draco was going through their stuff, it seemed like he was sorting everything on and around the table. He had collected the food, made a few big piles of books and was now rummaging through their camping equipment. The door to the bedroom turned into horcrux room was open and he could hear someone else moving there.
Harry could only observe what was happening, he spotted Hermoine's wand and his own lying on the table, but there was no way to reach them at this moment. As Malfoy was finishing up his work, the second figure came back in the living room. Harry recognized her as well, if Draco Malfoy had been his Hogwarts nemesis, then Daphne Greengrass would be Hermoine's. Both girls were at the top of their year when it came to grades and while Draco and Harry would mostly clash in quidditch or some duelling in the hallways, Hermoine and Daphne would battle each other in their schoolwork. This rivalry grew further because they both excelled in the same classes. Both of them competed for the top spot in arithmancy and charms and while most of the times Hermoine had come out on top, on occasion Daphne had stumped her with her work in these fields, which would immensely frustrate Hermoine.
Another point of frustration for Hermoine was Daphne's appearance. While the muggle-born witch was quite insecure over her own looks, Daphne was considered a pure-blooded beauty by boys and girls alike. It did not help that she was aware of this and that she possessed a certain controlled coolness that intimidated anyone that would approach her.
While Harry certainly thought that Hermoine should not feel insecure about the way she looked, he thought his friend was very pretty with her brown wild hair and her slender but still curved body, he had to acknowledge that Daphne was stunning in her own way. With her dark hair, piercing blue eyes and well-shaped figure, she was a girl that turned many heads.
In general he would consider Hermoine and Daphne like fire and ice. The passionate Hermoine would have her heart on her tongue and would go straight for her goals when she was convinced of the right path, anyone standing in her way feared her at such a time. Daphne on the other hand would rarely be seen in any kind of confrontation, however she would work in the shadows and rumours of what happened to those that opposed her surrounded her. Both had fearsome reputations within their own year and the years above and below.
Greengrass ignored both of the prisoners and addressed Malfoy: "So, did you find anything useful?"
"Well, it is Granger, so naturally I found a huge collection of books. I have sorted them according to theme so that we can focus on breaking the wards. They have quite a good amount of provisions, so we should be good for a while if we don't overdo it. Other than that there is some camping equipment, for tonight we can give them some duffel bags, there is an extra one for me and you can use the couch." Draco informed her.
Daphne nodded and replied "For the moment that will be sufficient, I assume that there used to be a bed in the other room but that they removed it. I have studied the artefact briefly, I am not yet sure of its function, but it will be interesting to discover it. However I can tell that there has been a huge discharge of magical energy in that room recently. I think this confirms our suspicion, something these two did has made the inner circle nervous, that is why we had to intrude in such a hurry when were not yet satisfied with our preparation."
As Hermoine and Harry were trying to listen, Draco nodded and replied: "Yes, that would also explain why it was so easy to defeat Potter, normally it would have been difficult to overcome them if he was fighting on full strength. It seems like he invested a lot of power in that room, he does not show signs of sickness and their food supply is sufficient, so that would not explain is exhaustion."
Harry was surprised by these words, this was the closest Draco had ever come to giving him a compliment. Now that he thought about it, it also struck him as odd that he had not suffered through any form of gloating from the blond wizard. In the past any opportunity to rile up Harry or Hermoine, like besting them in a duel, would have led to a variety of insults and imitations, but now he had quietly done his work, hardly acknowledging the two of them. Meanwhile the two Slytherins continued their conversation.
"We have to report to Rookwood right away", said Draco, "I will get the mirror."
Both of them sat down at the table, facing the direction of their two prisoners so that they could keep an eye on them. When they were both ready, Draco said "Rookwood" to the magical mirror in front of them. After a few moments Harry and Hermoine could hear the voice of the Death Eater coming from the other side.
"Malfoy, Greengrass. Good of you to finally contact me. Report please."
"We have succeeded Sir, we have penetrated their defences and have captured Potter and Granger. We have also taken control of their possessions." Draco replied.
"Then why am I not standing in that wretched cabin with you, Malfoy? We have tried the floo connection, but anybody coming behind you was unable to access the cabin. The connection does not seem to work anymore. Did you close it of?" Rookwood inquired.
This time Daphne answered: "It is our belief that they destroyed the connection right after we made it through, Sir. We have found the remnants of what seem to be self-destruction runes near the stove, the connection to the network appears to be completely gone."
Rookwood sounded irritated: "Then you will just have to lower the wards for us, from the inside that should be easy. Can you let us in within the hour?"
"That will not be possible, Sir. A first observation shows that the structure is quite complex, even from this side. We might need several weeks or even months to dismantle them safely." Daphne replied evenly.
"Several months? Do I have to remind you of what is at stake here, for every one of us and for the both of you in particular?" Rookwood sounded really angry now, "I need a more accurate estimate by tomorrow and your required time will be shorter than several months, Greengrass."
Daphne nodded briskly: "I will have some preliminary studies ready by tomorrow, Sir."
"We have found a magical artefact in one of the rooms here, Sir." Draco said, "We believe it was used recently to…"
"You will not study this artefact, Malfoy." Rookwood interrupted him, "and you will stay clear from it as well Greengrass. These orders are from the Dark Lord himself. You will solely focus on breaking the wards and getting us in there, you will stay clear of any magical objects or artefacts that those two lighties have in their possession. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, Sir." Both Greengrass and Malfoy replied.
"Then I will leave you for now. I will await your report in the morning, I expect you to contact me at 9 o'clock. Finite." Rookwood said and closed the connection.
Both Greengrass and Malfoy were silent for a moment after the call ended. Just before it seemed like Greengrass wanted to start speaking again, both of them and Harry heard chuckling coming from the corner of the room. It started slowly but after a couple of seconds Hermoine's chuckle turned into full on laughter which continued for a full minute, until Malfoy finally said: "What is wrong with you, Granger? You do understand the huge amount of trouble you are in?"
"Trouble for me?" Hermoine repeated still laughing, "What you fail to understand Draco, is that you face much bigger problems than me." Suddenly she stopped laughing and turned deadly serious, "Because the way I see it, your failure to break our wards will result in an unhappy Dark Lord. And an unhappy Dark Lord will result in punishment for the two of you and everybody near you. And I want to make one thing very clear, you and that slag over there will never break our wards."
With those final words Hermoine lay down and faced away from the room. If the call with Rookwood did not make the two Slytherins paler, that declaration certainly did.