Into the Labyrinth - Dramione/Blinny

Ch. 13

She froze in her place and he paused as well, somewhat startled by her sudden stop. Staring at him in disbelief, she asked, "What did you say?"

He seemed amused by her sudden shocked expression as he repeated more slowly, "Should you and Ginny not complete the labyrinth in the allotted time, you two would remain in the Underground; I would make you my queen, and Ginny would become Blaise's queen."

She continued to stare at him in disbelief, and his smile slowly faltered as her expression remained unchanged.

The room and crowd around her began to blur as she realized he truly was serious about the proposition. Her chest tightened as everything suddenly closed in on her; the dancers, the room – it was all too much.

She immediately pulled away, forcing her way through the crowd of dancers that had gathered around them. Refusing to turn around, she quickly ran towards the wall to try and find a way out, letting out a frustrated cry when she found there were none.

"Hermione?"

She whirled around to see Ginny staring at her with the same panicked look. Ginny ran up to the wall and looked it up and down, putting a hand up to the wall.

"It's glass," She announced before quickly looking around.

Hermione watched as Ginny grabbed a nearby chair that was at a table along the edge of the room and she turned back around to face the wall. After hesitating for a moment, she threw the chair with all her might towards the wall, the two girls shielding their faces as the wall shattered in front of them.

The shrieks of the dancers surrounded them as the entire room seemed to fall apart. The floor shattered beneath them, and the two girls fell right through it. After a few seconds Hermione realized that their fall was slowing and they were more floating towards the ground.

But as she looked down she realized that it wasn't necessarily ground but what looked to be a large junkyard instead. She braced herself for the landing and was grateful that she at least landed on something soft, hearing a grunt from Ginny as she too landed not far from her.

Neither of the girls moved for a bit, both of them still in shock at the events that had just taken place. After about a minute of silence, Hermione looked over to Ginny and asked, "Did Blaise...?"

"Yeah," Ginny answered with a nod. "Did Draco?"

Hermione nodded as well, sighing and running a hand through her hair. "I wasn't expecting that."

Ginny didn't say anything, picking at her fingernails as she stared off in front of her. She looked down at the dress that she was still wearing, running a hand over the fabric.

Hermione shifted, pushing herself up off the mattress she had landed on. She let out a quiet shriek though when the pile of garbage she had used to push herself up emitted a frustrated noise.

"Get off my back!" She heard as she scrambled away towards Ginny who had frozen in her place, eyes wide as they both watched the pile that was previously deemed only junk turned into another creature with a mountain of dirt-covered toys, books, anything that could be thrown away.

The creature glared at Hermione as she turned around before saying in a stern, scraggly voice, "Why don't you look where you're going, young woman, hmm?"

"I'm so sorry," Hermione said earnestly, trying to not stare at the pile of trash on the creature's back.

There was an awkward silence as the creature continued to glare at Hermione, and then she let out another disgruntled hmph before turning away and disappearing into the junkyard.