The Sleeping Princess

17- A Dark and Slimy Cell

Pain…

That was all Harry could feel. His head was pounding and he could feel something sticky and hot dripping down the side of his head. His cheek was lying against something cold, hard, and slimy as his shoulders felt like they had been forced out of their sockets and then beaten back into place. He tired to move, but realized that he was tied with his arms behind his back.

He groaned out, trying to remember what happened, and he heard a voice whisper, "Harry?"

Feeling like he rather have done anything but force his eyes to open, he squinted at first… the first thing that he noticed was that his glasses were gone and everything was blurry. But he could make out Hermione's petrified face across from him behind bars.

"H-Hermione?" he croaked out, his voice sounding hoarse.

"Oh, Harry," she moaned in relief. "I'm so glad… for a while there I thought…"

Harry groaned again as he rolled over onto his side so that he could see better. "What happened?" he asked looking around him to see that the room they were in was made of dark, slimly stone—the same as the filthy floor. There were no windows, and only a large wooden door that led to the outside world. There were bars around him, and Hermione was in a cell just across from him. There was no sign of Ron.

He looked around and then up at her to ask, "What happened?"

"It all happened so fast," she whispered. "I just finished getting the water when suddenly these men with masks jumped out and attacked us. One of them had a club and took you out. Me and Ron didn't last for much longer than that. They hit and knocked him out to, but I was still awake when they dragged us here to this awful castle."

"Who's castle?" he asked, forcing his aching body up against the wall until he was in a sitting position. "What's this about?"

"They keep calling him the Dark Lord," she whispered, fear in her voice. "There's only one person it could be…"

"Voldemort," Harry whispered, having already guessed that he was the one behind it all. "But what about Ron?"

"I don't know," she moaned. "They had him in here a while ago, but just before you woke up, they came in and took him. I don't have a clue to what happened." She shook her head. "I'm sorry, Harry."

"Don't be," he croaked out. "None of us were paying attention. How could we expect this to happen?"

"They took everything," she whimpered. "Everything they had. When they saw the sword that Ron had…"

Harry cursed under his breath. So now Voldemort had both the key and the sword. That was when he felt the pouch under his shirt and he let out a small sigh of relief. The stone were still safe then. But first things first, he had to get them out of here. They would worry about what to do when they were out of here.

He didn't have long to wait however, about ten minutes later he heard voices outside the large wooden door and suddenly it was flung open, blinding them both with light for a moment before two shadows appeared, dragging a body with them. They unlocked the door to an empty cell and threw it in there. With a surge of fury, Harry saw that it was Ron—who was whimpering slightly.

"Ron!" he gasped as the two men in skull masks laughed.

"Don't bother," said one of the men stupidly. "You all will get what's coming to you in three days."

"What are you all talking about?" Harry demanded as fiercely as he could despite the fact that he was stuck here and hurt without being able to so much as move.

"Master says that you three will be dead in a few days," the other said.

"If you're going to kill me, why not get it over with now?" he demanded.