Chapter Three

Chapter three

Harry and Hermione awakened from their spell-induced slumber to find themselves lying on sofas placed in front of a roaring fire. Blinking to clear the fog from their eyes, they soon realized that they were still at Grimmauld Place, and more specifically, in the study. With the fire and the heavy blankets they had been covered with, they were oppressively hot, and Hermione felt as though she had sweated out all the water in her body. Her throat was parched, and not thinking about what had happened before and that she could be in danger, she tried to get up so that she could find a bit of water. It was when she tried to throw the blanket off that she realized that she could not move.

"Hermione?" Her name came as a whisper from the other side of the fireplace. She could see a little over the arms of the two sofas and saw that Harry was placed in much the same position that she was, as her mirror image.

"Yeah, Harry?" she asked.

"Are you all right? Only, you don't look overly concerned with our situation," he stated calmly.

Hermione thought for a moment. What situation? Then it all came back to her. Being the only two left at Grimmauld Place, Harry hurrying her to run out, the dark cloaked figure, and the incredibly powerful hex that seemed to have taken them both out at once. She suddenly felt panic rising swiftly in her throat, but willed herself to calm down and began to try to be rational and figure out who had them.

She looked sharply at Harry, who appeared serene; although, he should have been more concerned than she. He was the person who would bring prestige to the Death Eater who brought him to Voldemort, and he was acting as though this sort of thing happened every day.

Harry smiled at her. "It's fine, Hermione. Let's just go with it."

It was then she realized that Harry must have been given something, like a calming potion. She could not, for the life of her, think of what could cause him to react this way. Even a calming potion would have allowed him to be lucid enough to believe that their positions were precarious.

"What is going on, Harry?" she asked. He had looked away from her and rolled his head back as she spoke. "Are you ok? Who hexed us? What did they give you?"

Harry was quiet for a moment; then he opened his mouth to speak. Before he could utter a sound, however, a voice from the end of her sofa spoke softly.

"Me."

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Hermione swiveled her head to look at the person standing at her feet. Her eyes narrowed as she tried to get beyond the blurriness that was still plaguing her eyesight. The person stepped forward, better illuminated by the firelight, and Hermione gasped. Standing before her was Lucius Malfoy.

"What are you doing here?"

Lucius came closer, and as he did so, she took in his appearance. His robes were worn and tattered, and there was dirt, leaves, and twigs clinging to them. His face was deeply lined, with grime ground into them, making him appear older and more menacing, his eyes holding the haunted look that she had seen in Sirius' so many years before. His hands, and especially his nails, were also deeply embedded with dirt. What struck her the most was his hair. That beautiful, long, white-blond hair had obviously fallen out in clumps; the scalp where the clumps had been was red with sores. What hair he had left was still long, but there was no luster left, just a dingy yellow hue with large flakes of skin clinging to the shafts, where he had obviously scratched at the sores.

All in all, it was a horrifying sight, one that Hermione would be haunted by for a long time to come. If he had not been so evil, she would have felt pity for him. Now, all she felt was revulsion.

Lucius sank down onto his knees by her head, joints popping and a slightly guttural groan coming from his throat. He closed his eyes against the obvious pain and then looked closely at her. "I know that you won't believe this, and I am not going to try to convince you to believe me, but I wish you no harm. I have given Potter a Calming Draught mixed with a little Veritaserum to keep him from yelling anymore. He was terribly loud."

Hermione stared at him with wide, fearful eyes. "You don't intend to harm us, yet you gave something to Harry that will cause him to go into a coma within the next few hours?" Hermione began struggling within her confines. "Tell me what you want and then let us go so that I can get him the antidote!"

"Hush, Miss Granger. I have the antidote, but I will need you to listen carefully before I administer it. You will tell me what I want to hear or your precious Harry will not get what he needs. Do I make myself clear?"

Hermione could only nod her head, tears forming in her eyes when she would have thought that she had no liquid left in her body to create any.

"Good," said Lucius, leaning in close to her face. Hermione grimaced through her tears as his rancid breath washed over her, adding moist heat to her already over-heated skin. He was so close that she could see his chipped and rotten teeth between his slightly parted lips, and she had to force back a wave of nausea.

"What do you want from us?" whispered Hermione as she tried to turn her face away.

Lucius grabbed her chin with his grubby fingers, forcing her to look at him.

"I want to know where my son is."

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At the time that Lucius was administering his potion to Harry and Minerva McGonagall was announcing Hogwarts' new owner, Ginny Weasley was waiting patiently with Ron by the fireplace in the Gryffindor common room. Ron, however, was not being patient. They had been waiting for Harry and Hermione to come through for about half an hour, and there was no sign of them.

"Ginny, they should have been here by now! What else did they have to pack? You know it isn't safe there anymore! What if something has happened to them? I'm going back to get them!"

Ron had been ranting for about ten minutes before this last proclamation, so it had surprised the calmly complacent Ginny when he had reached for the Floo powder and actually had some in hand before she could get to him. Just as he was about to throw the Floo powder in, she clutched at his arm and pulled him back.

"No, Ron!" she yelled. "I am sure that they are fine. Remus said that Hermione was still packing up the library and that it might take a little while. Besides, Grimmauld Place is still safe for a couple of hours yet. The protections have not worn off completely."

Ron frowned at her for a moment, then put the Floo powder down on the mantle. "All right, Ginny. I'll give them thirty more minutes; then I am going back to get them."

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Down in the Great Hall, voices of protest were still ringing out when there was suddenly a loud crash of thunder. The magical ceiling had come back to life, having seemingly lost all its magical properties after Dumbledore's death. Dark clouds swirled together in small cyclones, and the wind whipped through the Hall, tearing at clothing and tapestries. A cry was heard from several people in the crowd and everyone looked up to see what was going to happen. Lightening flashed and more loud booms could be heard, shaking the floor and reverberating through the entire castle. As the chaos subsided into a fearful silence, so did the storm inside the building.

Minerva turned to look at Danae. "Did you do that?" she asked in a whisper.

Danae turned shocked eyes from the ceiling to her old head of house. "I think. . . that was the castle," she whispered back.

At the thunder, Draco had cowered down slightly beside Severus, who had barely acknowledged the booming noise and was scanning the people in the Hall. The silence had allowed Draco to hear the whispers between the two women, and he'd had an epiphany. He moved toward them, and in a surprising show of courage, lifted the hood on his cloak and said in a quietly penetrating voice, "The castle is protecting its new owner, and you would all do well in accepting her."

Draco revealing himself did not create the disorder that Severus had thought it would. There were several gasps, much mumbling, and murderous looks from the people who had not fallen or sat down due to the surprising display of the castle's sentience. This shock allowed him to feel safe enough to lower the hood of his cloak also, which he did amidst louder, but not as vicious, murmurs.

Severus had had his fill of looking at those amongst the house tables and turned his attention to those behind him while Minerva and Danae were discussing how to explain Danae's presence. Many, he knew, had known Danae while she had been a student here and thus knew her parentage. Most, however, did not. What concerned him was not their reaction, but the reaction of Remus.

Tonks had been trying to help Remus up off the floor after she'd screamed, and Molly Weasley, still in tears, had helped. They had gotten Remus to sit up, and he was slowly coming to, the thunder of the last five minutes or so helping that along. Severus, mindful of the reaction he might get from any of the three, cautiously moved toward Remus and held out his hand. Remus looked at it, then at him. After a moment, Severus had begun to think he would be rejected yet again, but Remus seemed to make up his mind, squared his shoulders, and took the proffered hand.

Gratefully, Severus helped Remus up. When he was able to stand without losing his balance, Remus gazed at Severus with sorrow, pity, and a little anger in his eyes. Severus met his look steadily for a few moments, then flinched slightly when Remus raised his arm.

Remus grimaced at Severus' reaction, but slowly followed through with his action and placed his hand on Severus' shoulder and squeezed. This show of support from Remus caused a ripple effect, a release of tension for those who had been at the High Table, namely the main members of the Order. In her relief, Tonks went to Remus' side and took his free hand in hers.

Severus smirked at Remus, who smirked back, then motioned over his shoulder to Danae. "I think that someone would probably like to know that you don't plan on being mad at her."

Remus looked at Danae, then back at Severus. "I don't know if I can do this," he said. "It's been a long time."

Tonks looked between them in confusion and reluctantly let go of Remus' hand as he pulled away from her, saying, "I guess it's better late than never, though."

Remus slowly made his way to where Minerva and Danae were still debating. As he reached them, he slowly stretched out his hand and lightly tugged on a lock of Danae's hair.

"Danni," he said as she turned to him. Time seemed to stop for just a moment as she took in his countenance and appeared to hold her breath. Finally, tears formed in her eyes and spilled down her cheeks as she gave a cry and launched herself at him.

Remus gripped her tightly, having thought he'd never feel her that close again. She still seemed to fit just right in his arms, and her scent had not really changed; she just now had an underlying smell of earth and animal that appealed to his baser instincts. He did not have long to revel in her, though, because just a few moments later, the doors to the Great Hall burst open again and Ginny came running through.

"Harry and Hermione have been captured!"

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A/N: Nope, not going to apologize. I will give excuses, though. I am majoring in history and anthropology and have been extremely busy, not only with school, but some real-life problems as well. I know it has been almost a year since I updated, but things are looking better for me-in all ways. I have no classes this summer (this means more time to write!) and just knowing that I will be graduating next semester is a load off my mind. I will try to update two more times after this, but I can't make any promises. Although I have the summer off, I do go back to school in the fall and from then on will be starting graduate school. In the meantime, I am also studying for my GREs, which I will take in July, and will have little free time as I am also helping my parents remodel a house. However, what little free time I will have, I plan on using to write and beta-read for a friend of mine (whose story is really good, and I am trying to convince her to post). Wish me luck in cranking out as many chapters as possible!

A/N 2: I really have to give props to Vaughn, my beta, who read and corrected my most atrocious spelling, grammar, punctuation, and canon mistakes. You are the best-thanks for your help and continuing to beta for me after all this time.

A/N 3: I know it isn't very long, but the action will really start picking up in the next chapter. I want to thank all of you who have reviewed this and my other fics, and want to send a message out to Sandra, who sent me an email a while back in reference to another story I had. I just want to say that I am working on it, although it is slow going. Thanks for asking.

Disclaimer: Although a poor imitation, and the fact that I am obviously not the writer of such wonderful works of literature, I must plead with all of you not to think that I am the brilliantly awesome J. K. Rowling, nor do I wish to do anything but emulate her. Imitation is the highest form of flattery, and if that is my intent (to flatter), then criminal and civil crimes are not committed. Please do not utilize various attorneys to prosecute me for my obsession.

P. S. Don't you just love the word, flatter? I wonder who first came up with the meaning "to compliment" for it and why they would use it when it clearly means that something is more flat than something else?