A/N: Still don't own HP. Or Draco :(
Torches sputtered in their brackens along every few meters of the imposing stone walls of Hogwarts, doing nothing to ward of the icy cold drafts even in the bowels of the enormous castle. The young Muggleborn witch walking along the lonely dungeon corridor pulled her cloak closer to her body with a shudder. It was going to be a cold winter, she guessed, since it was still mid-October. The stark flickering shadows made every turn and corner in the corridor seem foreboding and sinister.
Hermione Granger stopped outside the entrance to the Slytherin common room and muttered the password under her breath.
'Harry Potter is my hero.'
As Head Girl, she had the doubtful honour of assigning all house passwords. She smirked, picturing the expression on Malfoy's face as he was forced to say the password multiple times a day. Maybe I should change it after Halloween, she thought morbidly, her smirk widening. 'Muggleborns are gods' has a nice ring to it.
Entering the Slytherin common room, she was surprised to find a lone Draco Malfoy sprawled inelegantly on the couch near the fire, seemingly fast asleep. 'Think of the devil,' she thought.
His platinum locks were splayed around his head like a halo. Without the ever-present sneer on his face, he looked-dare she even think it?-handsome. She paused for a second, taking in the beauty of the scene before she could come back to her senses and realize that she was actually looking at Draco Malfoy, the bane of her existence.
As if feeling her stare, his eyes shot open, light grey orbs piercing her own brown ones.
'Mudblood,' he greeted. The sneer returned to his face, and despite his position, he actually managed to make her feel like he was the one looking down on her. 'What are you doing in the Snakepit?' he spat, using the nickname the Gryffindors had come up with for the Slytherin common room.
'I came to see Nott. He said he wanted some help with his Charms homework after dinner.' Hermione replied levelly as she settled into an armchair, trying to hide her annoyance at his unnecessary hostility. She looked around the empty room. 'Where is he? Where is everyone, for that matter?' It was just past dinner, and usually, the Gryffindor common room would have been packed for at least another couple of hours.
'I sent everyone to their dorms,' he drawled, pulling himself to a seated position, a predatory gleam in his eye. 'I needed a little time to talk to you. It appears you are even dumber than you look, Granger.' Hermione couldn't help the shiver that ran down her spine under his gaze as he continued to speak, a little menace entering his tone as he stood up, towering over her. 'I warned you, in no uncertain terms, to stay away from the Slytherins. Yet here you are, in our common room, no less.' He sneered down at her, his lips curling in a blatant show of disgust. 'You stupid Mudblood bint!'
Hermione was on her feet before she realized what she was doing, her arms shivering as she tried to reign in her fury. 'Who gave you the right to dictate what I do, Malfoy?' she spat back, practically radiating anger. 'Not everyone is as fucking prejudiced as you are. I don't know what you're playing at, but don't think for one second that you have any power over me. I was a fool to think you were any better than the Death Eater scum you call a father.' She knew she'd hit a nerve, but she didn't care. Who does he think he is? she thought furiously.
Malfoy's wand was drawn and at her neck before she could react. 'Watch your mouth, you filthy Mudblood bitch! Don't you dare compare -'
'Is there a problem here?' Theodore Nott stood nonchalantly at the door to the Slytherin boy's dorms, his wand held deceptively loosely in his hand, aimed squarely at Malfoy's chest. 'I'd put your wand away if I were you, Draco,' he added, his tone conversational, as if he were merely commenting on the weather.
When Malfoy didn't move, Nott tightened his grip on his wand and extended his arm out, as if to prove he wasn't bluffing, arching his eyebrow in an open challenge. Hermione took advantage of his distraction to raise her own wand towards Malfoy.
Clearly outnumbered, Malfoy backed down, his eyes still gleaming with anger. 'You're going to regret not listening to me, Granger,' Malfoy warned, a strange edge to his voice.
Fixing a glare on Nott, he quickly retreated from the room. Hermione followed him with her eyes until the door close behind him, just in case he tried anything else. 'What's his problem?' Hermione demanded the moment he was out of sight.
'He thinks he's protecting you.' Nott replied distractedly, his voice floating over from behind her, too close for comfort. Before she could react, though, she felt the tip of a wand poke the small of her back, and heard a muttered 'Stupefy!' Her world tilted, rapidly fading to black.
The first thing Hermione noticed when she awoke was the hard, cold stone floor beneath her. Where was the soft mattress she always slept on in her dorm at Hogwarts? Where was she?
Trying to stop her rising panic, she opened her eyes. She was in a dungeon of some sort, she guessed. A dim light lit her cell, but there was no indication as to its source. The room itself was roughly hemispherical, with a ceiling six feet high. One wall was covered in bars, and she could see a corridor beyond. What scared her most, though, was the harmless looking chamber pot in the back of the cell.
She needed to get out of there, and soon.
She tried rattling the bars in hope of dislodging them, but they appeared to have been magically reinforced. She desperately reached into her robes for her wand, only to come up empty. Sweet Merlin, where was her wand?
Quelling her rising fear, she struggled to her feet, only to stumble back to the ground as her head spun and pounded in protest at the movement.
However, as time passed, she realized that the more worrisome fact was the lack of a door. She even went as far as to feel every reachable inch of the wall and floor for a trapdoor, only to be disappointed.
Desperately, she tried to disapparate, only to find that she couldn't. Wherever she was, there were heavy anti-magic wards and maybe other protective enchantments her as well.
She huddled desolately against the cold wall, contemplating her predicament. There was only one conclusion-she'd been kidnapped.
Voldemort was gone, and the Death Eaters had gone into hiding. The threat was supposed to be over. So why would Nott kidnap her?
She was distracted from her thoughts a few hours-or was it a few minutes?-later by the sound of approaching footsteps. The person came into view, and fear clutched her heart as she recognized Rabastan Lestrange leering at her through the bars.
The wizard was as repulsive as she remembered from the few glimpses she'd caught of him at the Final Battle. The manic gleam in his eyes and his twisted smirk as he surveyed her made her throat constrict in fear, and she felt the adrenaline buzzing through her veins.
'Good day, Mudblood,' he mocked, 'I see you're finally awake. Do the accommodations live up to the Malfoy name?' he asked, looking around her cell.
So I'm back in Malfoy Manor, she thought, her hair standing on edge. Then another thought invaded her mind, sending chills down her spine-he wouldn't be telling me this if they planned to let me leave here alive.
'What do you want?' Hermione finally found her voice, and was relieved when it didn't betray her fear. 'If it's revenge you want, then kill me and get it over with.'
Lestrange simply chuckled. 'Brave. I like it. It'll be all the more fun to break you.' He licked his lips, eying her in a way that made her extremely uncomfortable. 'I don't suppose you would've heard of the Renascentia Potion? No?' he asked surveying her confused expression. 'It's a Potion for rebirth.'
And then it clicked.
Rebirth?
She gasped as comprehension sunk in, her eyes widening.
Bloody hell. They're going to try to resurrect Voldemort.
A/N: Good? Bad? Passable? Terrible? Amazing? Horrifying? Awesome? OMG WTF is this shit?
I wanna hear it all! So let me know what you think. PLEASE LEAVE A REVIEW!
~craaazyaboutMalfoy