One More Year

Chapter Thirty-Four

The room was pitch black.

A suffocating familiar musty odour clung to the walls. The only sound was of water rhythmically dripping.

Hermione's still form laid in the middle of the floor, blinking her eyes groggily, trying to make sense of her surroundings. Her cheek lay against a cold hard stone floor that felt rough against her skin. Her head throbbed and she let out an involuntary groan as she tried to rub her eyes, but realized that she was restrained. The cords cutting into her wrists and ankles painfully, causing her to lose circulation. Her fingers and toes all felt numb. The slightest movement caused a jolt of pain to radiate through her body. Her heart was racing as her body trembled, both from fright and the freezing temperature. Her breathing increased, the sound echoing strangely throughout the room.

"Hermione." A voice hissed.

She laid stiffly on her side blinking until she could finally focus. She tried remembering how she got here, and her head pounded with the effort.

"Hermione." A different voice whispered.

She tried turning her head towards the voices but still couldn't see them. They were behind her and the thought that some unknown wizard was behind her, caused the panic to swell inside her. She started twisting and turning until she managed to flip herself over.

"Wh-where am I?" Hermione asked voice rasping hoarsely as her eyes flicked back and forth throughout the room, trying to see something.

"Malfoy Manor. In one of the dungeons." An unfamiliar voice answered quickly in a hushed tone.

"What? Why?" she blinked rapidly trying to clear her head and focus on what was happening.

"I'm not sure. The Malfoys kidnapped us and took our wands. We're not sure why they took you too." A female voice spoke quietly and urgently. "Are you able to free yourself? We're tied up and can't move."

Hermione's head continued to thump but she pushed aside the pain. She needed to think. The more she focused the more confused she became. This didn't make any sense. Why would the Malfoys kidnap her? Were they really that against her and Draco's relationship? She shook her head lightly, but the motion caused a wave of nausea to roll over her as she squeezed her eyes tightly shut until it passed. She tried again to concentrate and decided to work on what was in her control first. She needed to free herself. She started wiggling in her spot and was about say the incantation to release the bonds using wandless magic when she felt the ropes become slack. She hadn't been tied up very well at all, it appeared her captures were relying more on the fact that she was wandless and was locked in a dungeon to incapacitate her.

She slowly rolled over, moving onto all fours. She paused, trying not to retch, as her head spun. She took long deep breaths and started to shuffle her way over to the others. Feeling for them in the dark. She reached the first captive and groped towards her arms to determine how she was shackled. Her wrists were bound together behind her back. "What do they want?" Hermione asked as she considered trying wandless magic again, the thought of having to concentrate that hard with her head pounding made her gag.

"My name is Sam. This is Saxon and Lovell," she started speaking in hurried whispers. Hermione assumed she motioned towards them, but she was still unable to see anything as she fingered the ropes trying to pull them loose. "The Malfoys killed my brother and Saxon's mother and tortured Lovell before the war." Hermione could hear the sadness in her voice as she finally managed to pull one of the knots loose. "The Malfoys knew that we could go to the authorities and provide testimony that would have them thrown back in Azcaban which is why they captured us and brought us here." A wave of guilt rushed over Hermione. She had been responsible for freeing Narcissa and Lucius. She had always suspected they weren't as innocent as she had initially thought, especially after Hannah's story.