After delivering Weasley to The Dark Lord, Draco headed home without his friends. He knew that Blaise and Theo had only done as they were instructed, and he certainly didn't blame them for following Hermione's directions, but that didn't mean he liked it. Right at the moment, his feelings about what had been done to Hermione were too fresh, and he didn't want to risk his friendships with Blaise and Theo by taking his frustration out on them, and at the moment it would be so easy to do just that. Luckily, Blaise and Theo understood his desire to be alone, although they made sure he knew that he couldn't avoid them forever and sooner or later things would have to return to normal between them.
Secreting himself away in his personal wing of the manor, Draco proceeded to drink far more than he usually did, resulting in him eventually falling into a drunken sleep. When he awoke the next day it was already mid-morning, but despite the thumping headache he knew how to rid himself of some of his frustrations over Hermione. After showering and downing a hangover potion, he grabbed a quick bite to eat before heading to Voldemort's house to make a request of his girlfriend's father.
"Draco, are you feeling better this morning?" Voldemort asked the young wizard.
Voldemort had known the previous day when he'd arrived with their prisoner that he was struggling with what had happened with Hermione. Not that Voldemort blamed the young wizard as he himself wasn't really happy with the plan, but at least he hadn't seen his daughter suffering, whereas Draco had witnessed her distress first hand.
"A bit," Draco admitted. "But I know what will make me feel even better."
"And what is that?" Voldemort questioned.
"Ten minutes alone with Weasley," Draco answered. "I just need to work out some of this frustration. The last thing I want to do is take it out on Blaise and Theo when they were just doing as they were ordered."
"If you want ten minutes with our prisoner then it's yours," Voldemort offered magnanimously. "My only request is that you don't kill him."
"I think I can manage that," Draco replied. "Do you know when you're going to dispose of him yet? Or are you going to send a message about a meeting before you get rid of him?"
"I think the message will be delivered via the boy's body," Voldemort answered. "And since we want to get this plan moving, I think it'll be delivered tomorrow. So if you want those ten minutes, you need to get cracking. He doesn't have very long left."
"By the time I've finished with him he's going to wish you'd offed him the second he arrived here," Draco said with a dark chuckle.
Thanking Voldemort for allowing him his request, Draco headed down to the dungeons where he, Blaise and Theo had deposited Weasley the previous evening. When they'd thrown him into the cell he hadn't been restrained, and unsure if Voldemort himself would have visited the prisoner and restrained him, Draco prepared himself for an assault as soon as he opened the door. Casting a protective bubble around himself, which would fill the doorway until he could get the door shut behind him, Draco opened the door and stepped inside the cell.
Draco had barely entered the cell when there was a flash of red to the side and Weasley barrelled straight into the bubble Draco had created, causing him to go crashing to the floor as the spell repelled him. Before he could get back onto his feet, Draco fully entered the cell and closed the door behind him. He then dropped the bubble as it was no longer needed as by the time it came for him to leave he planned to have Weasley blubbing on the floor like a baby.
"Get up Weasley, you don't need to grovel at my feet," Draco snorted, kicking out at the redhead who was stumbling his way back to his feet. He wasn't looking in the best of shapes, so Draco suspected that Voldemort had been down to visit his prisoner.
"What do you want, you bastard," Ron spat, finally getting to his feet and backing as far away from Draco as he could get.
"I just popped in to say hello," Draco chuckled. "I thought you might still be in shock after discovering who Hermione truly is."
"I don't care about that bitch," Ron spat. "She may have betrayed me, but she won't do the same to Harry. This plan of yours is stupid. Harry won't face him until he's ready."
"And you don't think Hermione can persuade him otherwise?" Draco chuckled. "You don't think she can get in his head when people are dying for him? Although would she truly need to? Are you saying Harry's selfish enough to let people die rather than face The Dark Lord?"
"This is about more than just Harry," Ron argued. "Besides, it doesn't matter what Hermione says, Dumbledore won't let Harry sacrifice himself."
"How thick are you, Weasley?" Draco laughed. "That is exactly what Dumbledore wants. Only he wants the sacrifice to be at a time of his choosing. Well, it's not going to happen. We're going to be the ones dictating when the final showdown comes."
"Delude yourself all you want, it won't happen," Ron insisted stubbornly. "Harry will never do as you want."
"Oh, I think he will," Draco retorted with an amused chuckle. "My guess is that he'll break once we take your sister."
"Ginny," Ron gasped. "You stay away from her, you monster."
"There's no point threatening me, you can't do anything about this Weasley," Draco snorted. "In case you haven't noticed, you're at the disadvantage here. In fact, you won't even survive another twenty four hours. But don't worry, you'll have company soon as we plan on taking another couple of people before we turn out attentions to your sister. And after already losing you, I'm betting Harry won't let the Weasleys lose another child. What do you think? Do you think he'll sacrifice himself to save your sister?"
Instead of answering, Ron let out a low growl and Draco only just realised what he was planning before the redhead charged at him. With so little time to react, Draco didn't manage to get entirely out of the way and Ron managed to take them both down to the floor. Fortunately Draco managed to hang onto his wand and after a small skirmish where both of them exchanged a few kicks and punches, Draco got the upper hand and pinned the redhead beneath him.
"I've been wanting to do this since the moment I set eyes on your pasty skin and garish red head," Draco hissed, aiming his wand at Ron's heart. "Crucio!"
Having learnt the unforgivable curse from a master, his Aunt Bellatrix, Draco knew exactly what he was doing to cause Ron the most pain and damage possible. Ron's cries of agony rung around the dungeons as Draco got up off the floor, all the time keeping his wand firmly pointed at Ron and the spell still going strong. As he looked down at a wailing Ron, visions of Hermione lying all battered and bruised in the cottage entered his head, and he increased the intensity of the curse. It did feel good to work out some of his frustrations, and it was all the better that he was taking it out on someone he had always loathed.
Eventually he lifted the curse, although Ron was still crying and moaning in agony on the floor. Draco knew if he had done the job correctly, and he was confident he had, that the pain would last for several more hours. However, he knew he could deliver one more blow to Weasley. An emotional blow that would hit him just as heard as learning the truth about Hermione had done.
"Since you won't live to see it, I'm going to share a little secret with you, Weasley," Draco said, nudging at the redhead with his foot. He was still crying and in pain and didn't respond, but Draco was sure he could hear every word that was being said. "I know Harry will sacrifice himself for your sister as it's already been decided. Only it won't be a sacrifice as he's on our side as well. In fact, it was his idea to take you first. He and Hermione planned this whole thing. He even set it up for you to be at the cottage alone with Hermione. He asked Dumbledore to give you that assignment, and you were so desperate to feel useful, that you believed it when you were told you were the only one for the job. You haven't just been betrayed once, Weasley, we've been duped twice over."
"I don't believe you," Ron gasped through his obvious pain.
"Oh yes you do," Draco cackled. "Because it all makes sense now, doesn't it. Why you were suddenly cherry picked to do such an important job when Dumbledore has never given you a second look before. You're going to spend your last hours thinking about what I've told you, and I bet before you go, you'll be able to see through the lies and manipulations. Hindsight is a wonderful thing, Weasley, so use it and finally see all those little cracks that have always been there between you and Harry. You know in your heart that I'm right, and if The Dark Lord wasn't planning on disposing of you soon, that knowledge alone might well have killed you."
Feeling much better and far less tense and frustrated, Draco left a whimpering Ron lying on the cell floor. He then thanked Voldemort again for a chance to blow off some steam before he headed off to find Blaise and Theo to let his best friends know that everything was okay between them and that he didn't blame them for anything they had done to Hermione the previous day.
Given the tender state she was in, Hermione found herself confided to bed for longer than she would have liked. Although she was well aware that if Molly hadn't been so pre-occupied worrying about Ron it would have been a lot longer she was out of action. But with Molly at The Burrow, supported by her husband other children, Hermione was able to rise almost twenty four hours after returning to Grimmauld Place. While she'd been in bed, Harry had visited her and kept her abreast of developments, but it was still nice to be up and about.
Not that much had happened since her dramatic return. Dumbledore had gone to check out the cottage, along with Alastor Moody and Kingsley Shacklebolt, but they had been unable to trace Ron's kidnappers. They had found evidence of apparition, but it was impossible to follow as the end destination was somewhere not accessible to the public. Dumbledore also thought it was likely the final destination was heavily warded, which was why they couldn't even get a rough location. Apparently, Hermione's apparition trial would have been the same if anyone from the dark had returned and tried to track her as she'd returned to a private residence that was heavily warded.
Harry also informed her that speculation was rife as to how the Death Eaters had found Hermione and Ron, and a lot of suspicion was falling on Dumbledore as he'd been the one to give Ron the location of the cottage. When he realised people were questioning him, Dumbledore had floated the idea of a ward accidently being set off when Hermione and Ron arrived at the cottage, prompting someone to turn up and investigate. However, when Hermione heard this theory, she instantly dismissed it.
"No," she said with a stubborn shake of her head as Remus and Sirius, along with Harry, brought her up to date with what she'd missed while she'd been in bed. "I was there, I know what happened. This wasn't someone turning up to investigate and taking advantage of the situation, they were lying in wait for us. They even knew who to expect."
"I did say Dumbledore was clutching at straws with that suggestion," Sirius snorted. "Although I do find it hard to believe he would have given anything away to the enemy."
"I think that's the biggest reason why I doubt the idea of him being the leak," Remus admitted. "I just can't see what he could possibly gain by betraying us. He's worked for years to bring down the dark, he wouldn't side with them at this point. Besides, he and You-Know-Who would never survive working together. They'd kill each other simply to be top dog."
"There is one more person who knew where they were going yesterday," Sirius remarked. "Someone who isn't here to give his side of the story."
"Ron?" Harry questioned, pretty shocked by Sirius's suggestion.
"Aside from Dumbledore, he was the only one who knew where he and Hermione were going," Sirius pointed out. "Neither you nor Hermione had any idea, did you?"
"No," Harry admitted as Hermione also confirmed she'd been clueless and completely in Ron's hands. "But what would Ron gain by betraying us to the dark?"
"Who knows, but I think we have to admit that the potential for Ron to go rogue is there," Sirius said, clearly getting ready to voice his theory. "Darkness can be very tempting, especially if you feel you aren't important in the life you do have. We all know how Ron struggled with his perceived inferiority to his brothers. And even to you, Harry, he plays second fiddle. The dark could have exploited those feelings of insecurity and prayed on his weaknesses. Maybe this is his way of finally standing apart from everyone else in his life."
"I'm not sure I buy that," Remus said, although both Hermione and Harry heard the hesitance in his words, almost as if he was arguing against the theory because he felt it was the right thing to do.
"It could explain why he was taken and Hermione left to come back," Sirius pointed out. "I know you said the choice of who to take seemed random, Hermione, but what if it wasn't? What if the reason Ron was taken was because he was in on the plan. For all we know he's cosily tucked up with the dark, spilling all of our secrets."
"No, I won't believe that," Harry said, loyally defending his so called best friend. "I can't believe that."
"Unless you can think of another explanation, it was either him or Dumbledore that set the whole thing up," Sirius said to his godson. "I don't like the idea of either option, but we need to keep an open mind."
"You do that, but I wouldn't offer those opinions around Molly," Remus advised his best friend. "Not if you want to keep all of your body parts."
"Don't worry, I'm not totally insensitive," Sirius protested. "And I truly hope I am proved wrong. I hope there is some other explanation and that neither Dumbledore nor Ron have turned on us."
Sharing an amused look, Hermione and Harry had to be careful not to laugh as they considered how Sirius would react when he discovered the truth. Somehow Hermione suspected he would much prefer it if either Dumbledore or Ron did turn out to be the leak. Quite honestly, she thought he would prefer anything but the truth. Anything but learning that one of the leaks was his precious godson. But unless Sirius was one of those taken before the big showdown, he would discover the truth and learn that he had put his faith in the wrong people and the one person he would always consider above suspicion was the one person who had betrayed them in the worst possible way.