He wasn’t sure how his Eurasian eagle owl had found him, but it had been comforting to know that at least something had been looking for him. After only a few short hours, however, he bid her adieu and her bright yellow eyes glowered at him. Clicking her onyx beak and flapping her strong, magnificent wings, she launched herself off his arm and disappeared into the horizon.
Would she be back? Draco turned his head over his right shoulder and squinted. He could hear song birds in the distance chirping merrily. He hoped his father’s minions wouldn’t recognize her. She’s a hard bird to miss, though. Draco sighed, pain and anguish seeping out of his body.
Minutes passed. Hours passed. The young man ached for his world to end. He readjusted himself slightly to face the sun’s last kiss on the top of the trees’ newly budded leaves. The sky was filled with brilliant oranges, pinks, and purples. Draco took a deep breath and wished for a sleep as permanent as the snake that slithered underneath his translucent skin.
A door opened and commotion below unsettled the quiet air that had encompassed him.
“MOVE OUT OF THE WAY OGRE! WE HAVE PRECIOUS CARGO HERE!” A woman’s pitchy voice yelled from beneath the floor boards.
“I am not budging until I get an order from Lucius. So you can remove your wand from your…” A raspy voice fired back. He was interrupted mid sentence.
“Mulciber…”
Draco recognized his father’s threatening drawl immediately. He pushed himself up from the floor and eyed the platform quickly. After running his hand through his hair, he straightened his once collared, very tattered shirt. Draco awaited his visitors.
Three figures emerged from the stairwell. The husky Death Eater and a female Draco could not distinguish stood at the far side of the tower and hugged the shadows cast by the large telescope. Lucius nodded to his companions and made his way towards his son.
Draco looked away and grunted an acknowledgment. His lips drew into his trademark scowl as he felt a cold hand lift his chin gingerly.
His father’s grey eyes met his almost immediately. No expression was found in either man’s face. A frigid wind howled through the support beams of the tower.
“I raised you, groomed you, taught you.” The older man whispered through his teeth. His long, white hair was drawn into a ponytail. His skin was smooth as stone with the exception of two crow’s feet formed around the corner of his emotionless eyes. He was wearing a black traveling cloak and dragging a large burlap sack behind him.
Draco closed his eyes tightly and pulled away from his father’s touch. He felt Lucius’s warm breath against his skin.
“You were a full-blooded Malfoy,” the murmuring continued. “But… you betrayed the name. For what, I ask you, FOR WHAT?”
Draco felt the breast of his shirt rip at as his father took hold.
“SO YOU CAN SIT SILENTLY AT A DESK TAKING ORDERS FROM OTHERS? SO YOU CAN BE A PIECE OF TRASH THE MINISTRY FORGOT TO TAKE OUT? TO BE SUBSERVIENT? TO BE GOOD?”
Lucius released him and backed away. Draco could hear him dragging the burlap sack on the floor as he began to pace the platform.
“Son, I know what happened at my trial. I know you spoke. I know what you shared.”
Silence filled the air and Draco heard footsteps move closer to him again.
“OPEN YOUR EYES COWARD! DID I RAISE YOU TO BE A COMMONER?!?”
Draco’s eyes flew open and burned with hatred at the man he once yearned to be. He spit at his father’s fine leather black shoes.
“I suppose that is a yes. Well my son, I took out your trash.”
A look of question clouded the young man’s eyes and he glanced down at the cloth sack that was deposited before him.
“Yes, your trash. Lucius gestured to the sack, “the only proper way to transport mud bloods.”
***
“I need to speak to the Minister, Heinrich. It is of dire importance.”
Harry’s path was blocked by twin aurors as the doors of the elevator closed behind him. After much persuasion and an agreement of a dinner, he had managed to convince the last two aurors in the elevator to bring him from the mail room to Kingsley’s floor.
“I am sorry Mister Potter, but Minister Shacklebolt has a visitor and has directed that there be no interruptions.” The tall, bald auror looked down at Harry and shrugged his shoulders. He looked to his identical brother, Henry, who shook his head.
“Just let him know I am here, he’ll change his mind. I need to leave on assignment. I’ve done all the work that I can do here in the city,” Harry pleaded with the brothers.
Heinrich spoke again. “If you want to speak with him, you’ll have to wait. Under most circumstances my answer would be a ‘yes,’ and you know that. You need to respect his wishes.”
He let out a large sigh and turned to face the elevator.
“Damn it. Well then call the lift.”
Harry gripped the frame of the elevator entrance as he waited for the doors to open.
“Hermione, I will see you soon,” Harry whispered to himself. As he stepped into the elevator he didn’t catch the conversation between Henry and Heinrich occurring just a few feet behind him.
“Here’s Miss Granger now, should we hold the elevator?”
“No, she looks like she is taking her time. We will just catch the next one.”
***
Harry immediately began weaving through the crowded atrium towards the telephone booth that led to the street.
“Potter, we meet tonight. You promised.”
He raised his hand in acknowledgment to the blonde, curly haired reporter that he had just passed.
“Are you going to ignore me?” A thin hand grabbed at his black shirt and held tight.
Without turning, Harry stopped in his tracks and rolled his eyes.
“Rita. I need air. Let me be for now. I will see you tonight, don’t fret.”
The woman huffed, but found something else that caught her attention.
The doors to the booth finally opened and he lept into it. He just needed to get out of the ministry.
Harry stepped out onto the busy sidewalk. He waited for the traffic to clear so he could make his way to the park. Before he could clear his head, a familiar figure stepped into his field of vision across the street. It was the same bag lady that had uttered the prophecy to him and Hermione, which felt like ages ago. Harry had to speak to her.
***
“DRACO?!?”
She was trying to control her heaving chest and racing mind. None of this made any sense. Hermione saw the blonde figure begin to stir across the platform. He opened one eye.
“Hermione. Thank God.” Draco said quietly. He closed his eye again and lay motionless, but the snoring did not resume.
The moon shone brightly into the tower. Hermione stood up shakily with her back against the telescope. Everything was out of place, including the fact that Draco had just called her by her first name.
“I have got to be dreaming.” Hermione said out loud to herself. “I have been under a lot of stress lately, it would make sense if my brain coped by manifesting loony dreams.” She nodded and crossed her arms over her chest.
“I assure you that you aren’t dreaming.” Draco spoke as he continued to lie there.
Hermione hesitantly walked over to the shredded burlap cloth that she initially had thought was a blanket. It was laying a few feet from the young man.
“What are we doing here then, if I am not dreaming?” She picked up the cloth and rubbed it with her fingers. Looking up at the moon, she walked over to the side of the tower and tried to push the thought of this much too surreal moment out of her mind.
“Long story. Trust me.” He opened his eyes and glanced over at the back of the bruised, brown-haired girl.
“Well, Draco, if I am in fact not dreaming, then you best start talking. If I am dreaming, well I will probably wake up some time during the story and will be quite amused. So go ahead. Humor me.”
She turned around to look at him and caught a mixed look of misery and desperation; something that she had never seen before. Goose pimples prickled on her skin.
“My dad kidnapped you with the intent to torture and kill, I would assume. That scum reporter actually brought you here.”
His face fell blank and his gray eyes watched her carefully.
The last thing Hermione could remember was … Rita Skeeter.
“Bloody Hell,” she muttered.
Hermione took a quiet but deep breath to regain focus and remain calm. She reminded herself that she was a very strong and capable woman. She was not going to let Draco see her become weak. He was bred to take advantage of the weak.
“No kidding,” uttered the platinum-haired man as he rubbed his eyes. From the moon light, Hermione could see that his shirt and pants were badly torn. His skin was burnt and several dark bruises laced his face and arms.
She eyed him wearily. He had his foot back. He could have quite successfully raided St. Mungo’s. This could be a set up. For what, she was not sure.
He wrapped his arms around his knees and appeared to be evaluating the cuts on his arms.
“I don’t suppose they let you keep your wand, did they?”
Hermione remained silent. His question triggered memories of the ministry and her meeting with the minister just a few hours earlier. Surely she could only have been unconscious for a few hours.
“And if they did?” She finally spoke. Draco’s eyes studied her face and frowned.
“Well if they did Granger, I would hope you would be smart and contact your beloved auror boy toy, not sit with me here in this wonderful place and banter over tea and crumpets.” He gestured around him.
Hermione felt her face begin to burn.
“If you want me to do anything, Draco Malfoy,” she sneered, “stay put and don’t do or say ANYTHING. I will have you know that I can hurt you.”
Draco closed his slightly open mouth and glared at Hermione, waiting for her next move. Returning his threatening look, she reached for her ears and slowly removed her earrings.
Her fellow prisoner’s eyebrows immediately flew up and a crooked smile crossed his face.
“Granger you have got to be kidding me. Do you usually remove your earrings before a fight?”
“Trabaugeo,” she spoke firmly, never losing eye contact with Draco.
Hermione caught Draco off guard. He had not expected her to have a wand. A look of shock and astonishment covered his face as she returned her wand earring to its normal size.
Giving him her sweetest smile, she pointed her wand at him and winked.
“Any final words, Draco?”
The young man grew pale and his breath caught in his throat. He had not expected this either. All of his attention remained on her.
“Expecto Patronum!”
A silvery otter jumped from her wand and began to swim in the air around them.
Creating an iridescent streak behind it, the room around them shimmered.
Hermione shook her head and spoke. “Harry, please alert the minister and the rest of the auror team. Lucius Malfoy has Draco and me trapped in the Astronomy Tower at Hogwarts. I don’t know about the guards or security here. Please help.”
The otter jumped over the side of the tower and disappeared into the night.
Darkness once again filled the platform with the moonlight hiding behind a cloud.
Hermione and Draco watched each other. She was no longer able to read the expression on his face. Why was he in the tower with her? What would cause his father to hold him prisoner, if that truly was the case? Was she being set up?
A sound in the tower caused both of them to jump. Draco mouthed “hide the wand” and Hermione nodded and returned the wand to its earring form. He put his finger up to his mouth and he stood up to walk toward the stairs. Hermione backed toward the guard ropes and curled up into a ball. This was it.
A door opened and two low voices could be heard conversing down below them.
Hermione put her head to the floor boards but could not make out what was being said.
The voices ceased only for a moment with yelling taking its place.
“Let go of me! Let go of me!”
Hermione scrambled to her feet and her heart leapt into her throat. She recognized that voice.
A stocky Death Eater threw Ron onto the platform. She saw Draco begin to back up and Ron grope around on the floor to gain his bearings.
“Hermione?”
She watched Ron crawl around on the floor. She could not believe her own eyes. Hermione remained quiet until the Death Eater made his way through the door below.
“Hermione?!” Ron spoke again, this time more frantically.
“RON!”
Hermione ran over to Ron. Grabbing his hands, she drew him up from the floor into a big hug.
“I thought you were dead!” Tears filled her eyes and she tried to blink them away. Resting her head on his shoulder, she saw Draco watching from the shadows with a look of indifference.
He smelled just like she had remembered. She pulled herself away from the ginger’s embrace and felt his face with her hands. He was clean shaven and his hair was still short. Freckles littered his face. Ron kissed her forehead.
“I am so glad you are all right, ‘Mione.” He gave her a small, sad smile.
“Oh Ron! I am so sorry for everything that has happened! Where have they been keeping you? Were you hurt?”
“Shh… Hermione. No I am the one that needs to apologize.” He put his finger up to her lips. His big blue eyes glistened as they caught the reemergence of the moon light.
She smiled and he wiped the tears from her cheeks.
“Hermione, I am so sorry for all of my short comings. I will make all of this up to you; I will fix this. Please just remember all the things that I have done right and forget the wrongs. Please?”
“Oh Ron, what have you done? Nothing at all!” Hermione furrowed her eyebrows and searched his eyes for an explanation. He wasn’t making any sense. Kidnapping does that to people though, and he must have been held somewhere else, she thought. At least they had reunited them. Here they were, two – no three prisoners.
Ron encircled his arms around her waist.
“Hermione, most importantly though, I love you.”
Hermione gasped and looked up at her red-headed suitor. This was the last thing she expected to hear, especially in their current predicament. Was it love that he felt for her? She didn’t know how to respond, as her body was barely able to comprehend that he was even standing in front of her. A thought came to mind and she quickly changed the subject.
“You wrote that letter to me, didn’t you?”
His eyebrows rose and then wrinkled into a frown.
“Letter? Not recently. What did it say?”
“Nevermind, Ron. I am so glad you are here!” She embraced him again and he raised his hands to become intertwined with her tangled hair.
Ron began moving in for a kiss, but Hermione pulled back hesitantly. “Don’t worry though, Ron, we contacted Harry. We let him know we were here. Everything will be fine.”
She smiled at him and tilted her head towards her suitor’s.
“WHAT?” Ron pulled back on Hermione’s hair.
His face flashed a momentary look of disgust.
“OUCH! Ron that hurt!”
She was no longer smiling. Something was wrong. The atmosphere of the tower became electric with all three prisoners growing stiff with tension.
“Uh, Sorry ‘Mione. What did you say again?” Ron spoke quietly. He let go of her hair and stepped back.
Out of the corner of her eye, Hermione saw Malfoy move closer to them.
Hermione rubbed the back of her head.
“I said that we contacted Harry. He will be on his way with the rest of the aurors.”
Ron’s face became impassive. He surveyed the tower and his eyes landed on Malfoy.
“Of course you would. How could I not have thought of that?” Ron’s voice came out bitterly as he stuck his hands in his pockets. Hermione watched the day to night change in her friend’s mood.
“I am sure Malfoy has been taking good care of you too. How many guys do you have attending to your needs? My sister was right, Hermione. You do belong on the corner.”
“Ron, that is hurtful! Why are you behaving this way?” Hermione’s voice was shrill and she took a few steps away from the one she had just embraced.
“He told me this would happen. Why didn’t I listen?”
“Who? My father?” Draco, breaking his silence, spoke flatly, now only a few feet from the couple.
Ignoring Draco, Ron once again replaced the distance between him and Hermione and grabbed her arms tightly.
“You don’t love me do you Hermione? You never did. You have always loved the Chosen One. I will NEVER be good enough for you!” There were tears in his eyes as he shook Hermione.
“RON, PLEASE STOP!” Hermione sobbed as she tried to make eye contact with him.
“THIS ISN’T YOU!”
With that, he pushed her to the ground. Watching her on the floor, he wiped his eyes and brushed off his shirt.
“RON! WHAT IS WRONG? DON’T YOU WANT TO BE RESCUED?!?”
Ron glared at Hermione and snarled.
“I can take care of myself. I don’t need Harry to save me. When he shows his face here, I’ll make sure that he’ll be sorry that he came. He will never again mess with Ronald Weasley. Good bye Hermione.”
Ron turned and walked down the staircase. An exchange took place, the door opened and Ron’s footsteps slowly faded away.
Hermione felt as if someone had ripped her heart out of her chest and she screamed.
Her shriek echoed through the trees, startling a flock of birds that quickly flew away.
There were only two prisoners left in the tower.
***
So what did you think about Chapter Eight: Three Prisoners? Please leave a comment - anything and everything is appreciated! (Plus, feed back lets me know people are reading and interested :) ) Again, much thanks to my three editors, Callie, Frank, and Dianne!
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