Here's chapter 8!
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Chapter 8: Truths

“Mr. Weasley? You mean Ron?”

Draco snickered and shook his head.

“Why don’t you just tell me what the weaselette and the bird saw?”

A few minutes went by with Harry repeating what Septimus told them, followed by a long silence as Draco processed the story in his head.

“You said the bird talked about a dark figure?”
“Yeah, apparently, that’s the one that caught Hermione and took her away.”
“I saw someone in a black cloak walking into the school earlier. But when I got downstairs, it was gone.”
“But the bird also said he saw red hair under the hood.”
“Which is obvious.”
“What do you mean? Do you think it was Ron?”
“No. I don’t.”

Harry gave him a curious look and watched as Draco headed into the connecting room. He followed and was amazed. There were books lining the walls all around the room. A small fire was going, along with two big chairs in the center of the room. Walking over to the side of the wall, Harry picked up a book and glanced at the cover. Human Terminology. Harry furrowed his brow and looked over to Draco.

“Umm…”
“What?”
“Human Terminology? This is a muggle book.”
“Your point?”
“Why would you, of all people, have this book? Something from the muggle world?”
“Because, Potter, I happen to find that things from the muggle world are not as pointless as my father had gotten me to believe.”

Shrugging his shoulders, he placed the book back onto the shelf and wandered over to one of the chairs. He plopped down and stared into the fire. He occasionally looked over at Draco, who was sitting in the opposite chair, playing hastily with his wand. The silence was soon broken. They both jumped when they heard a loud bang and a scream from down the hall.

*****
The room was cold and dark. She could feel the moisture of the air on her skin. Where was she? Her body ached and she could no longer find the energy to move her limbs. Slowly opening her eyes, she couldn’t see much. As her eyes adjusted to what little light was in the room, she noticed that there was a small bed in the room. Groaning as she moved her arms to pick herself up off the ground, she made her way over to it, thinking that it was better than staying on the cold, wet ground. The bed wasn’t any better, and she was wondering why she was suddenly confined to this small room. Her thoughts were cut short when she heard a key turning in the lock. With wide eyes, she kept her focus on the door as it slowly opened. She gasped and took a sharp intake of breath. Confusion was the only emotion she could feel at the moment, yet she was glad it wasn’t someone else.

“Mr. Weasley?”

Looking over to the direction that the meek voice came from, Mr. Arthur Weasley smiled slightly and nodded at Hermione.

“Hello Hermione, dear.”
“Wha-what are you doing here?”
“Well, same reason you are, I suppose. How are you feeling?”
“I-I’m a little sore but I’m fine nonetheless.”
“Hmm, yes. That drug did hit you a tick harder than I would’ve liked.”
“Drug?”
“Yes, dear. A drug. To make you pass out. Seems kind of vile when I put it like that, but I’m afraid this is not a comfortable situation.”
“I’m not sure that I understand.”
“There will be things in this world that you won’t always understand Ms. Granger.”

Hermione flinched at the sound of her surname. Mr. Weasley had never used her surname when talking to her. Ever. Something was off about him, but she couldn’t place her finger on it. But she was thankful that he was here.

“How did you get in here, Mr. Weasley?”

Arthur raised his eyebrow and cocked his head to the side. He pointed his finger towards the door, and talked to her as if he was talking to a four year old.

“Right through that door.”

Hermione opened and closed her mouth and stared at Mr. Weasley like he had three heads.

“You mean, you just walked in past all those people out there? Is this the new place for the Order? What’s going on?”
“Always the one to ask so many questions. My dear, I’m afraid this is going to come as a shock to you, but this is not the new place for the Order. We’re at Malfoy Manor, and you are going to soon be in the presence of one Mr. Lucius Malfoy.”
“Malfoy Manor?! Why would you bring me here?! Mr. Weasley, I don’t understand! Why am I here? Why did you…of all people?”
“Hush now. Get some rest. It’s going to be a long day if your energy is depleted.”

Millions of questions were running through Hermione’s mind. Why would Mr. Weasley bring her here? Did Mrs. Weasley know where he was and what he was doing? Hermione couldn’t get the questions out of her head and knew that she wasn’t going to get out of this place any time soon. She could only hope that Harry, Draco, or someone would find her.

Time passed slowly in that tiny room. She was frustrated that she didn’t have her wand, at least then she could conjure up a book to read, or even find a way out. The only thing that she could do was doze off. After about six hours from Mr. Weasley’s visit, the door opened, waking Hermione up from her delayed slumber. The glint of long blonde-white hair was unmistakable, and Hermione’s insides froze. Lucius Malfoy still looked as intimidating as he ever had. He smiled evilly as he looked on at Hermione.

Pulling up a chair, he sat down and crossed his legs.

“Ms. Granger.”
“L-Lucius Malfoy.”

Lucius frowned at the use of his name and took his wand out and pointed it at her.

“I will only say this to you once. Do not use my first name, understand? It is improper and I won’t have a Mudblood saying my name as if it was a useless piece of garbage.”
“But it is just a useless piece of garbage. Much like the owner of it.”

Lucius’s eyes flashed and a blue light flew out of the tip of his wand. The light hit the wall, causing a loud noise of cracking. But it did manage to hit Hermione’s shoulder, which caused her to scream in agony. Smiling wickedly, he lowered his wand and walked up close to Hermione. Getting in close, he leaned in so their faces were almost touching each other.

“I believe we understand each other now, am I correct?”

Hermione nodded fervently and turned her head away. ‘How am I going to get out of this one?’

*****
Draco bounded from where he was sitting and put his ear to the door. He heard a few more banging sounds, probably something hitting against the wall. Then, a small bit of talking. He recognized the voices. Both of them. He took a deep breath and slowly turned the knob of the door.

“Draco! What are you doing?!”
“We need to go out there, Potter! We’re not doing anybody any good by staying cooped up in here.”
“What are we going to do? Walk right out there and Avada Kadavra everyone we see?”
“Why not? They’re no use alive anyway.”
“No. Draco, you can’t do that. I understand that you want Hermione safe. Trust me, I do too. But we’re not going to make things easier for her if we cause this big commotion. We need to plan this out before we make a move.”

Draco thought about Harry’s words and let go of the knob. He hated to admit it, but Harry was right. Hermione was obviously being tortured enough; he didn’t want to make things worse for her. They both sat in silence for a few more minutes before the door opened. Mr. Weasley looked shocked when he saw Harry and Draco, but smiled like he normally would anyway.

“Harry! Draco! How good to see you! Shouldn’t you be at school?”
“Mr. Weasley?”
“Yes, Harry, that’s me. Quite unchanged.”

Mr. Weasley was acting as if nothing was wrong with the scene in front of him. Harry and Draco looked at one another, Harry with a look of confusion on his face and Draco with one of contempt.

“What are you doing here, Mr. Weasley?”
“Oh, well, it’s nothing too important. I just came here to…help out a friend. And now that I have, I was just on my way out.”
“What friend?”
“Why are you asking so many questions, Harry?”
“Why do you keep avoiding answering them, Mr. Weasley?”

Mr. Weasley couldn’t answer. He looked like he was having trouble finding the words, but wasn’t planning on speaking them either. Draco and Harry looked at each other as Mr. Weasley’s face started to turn a light blue. A green light emitted from his head. As it flew towards the window, Harry and Draco walked backwards and out of its way. Watching it leave, they heard a loud thump. Looking over, they saw Mr. Weasley on the ground.