“A- Adrienne.”
My mouth went dry. I couldn’t think. I couldn’t breathe. This was it “ I was going to die. Here, in this kitchen. The final frontier. Beyond the veil. Death. The end.
The corners of Adrienne’s mouth pulled into a rictus of pure insanity. She looked crazed. Her eyes were bloodshot and wild, her face white and pale. She looked like one who would kill for pleasure. I braced myself, waiting for the blow. Either death or torture would come next, I knew it. This was it.
“Hermione,” she calmly for her appearance. But still, her hair was perfectly groomed, her robes neat and clean as ever. I found it odd that I was standing in the presence of a Death Eater.
“Actually,” she said pompously, “the presence of two Death Eaters. The Dark Lord has accomplished me as a Legilimens.” She sneered, and I saw, emerging out of the darkness, a second form.
“Malfoy,” I muttered. He didn’t look surprised that I recognized him, for although he wore a mask and a hooded cloak that threw his face deep into shadow, his cold grey eyes pierced through. Even he, in the Dark Lord’s inner circle knew that those eyes were unmistakable to any who knew him.
“Silence, Mudblood!” Even if I had recognized him, he wasn’t going to let me get away with disrespect of his master and brethren. “You speak,” he said in a voice of deadly calm, “and you shall die.”
I shuddered. From what I had heard, Draco Malfoy was very good on his word, when it came to issues like these. I had heard Harry speak of it briefly and Ginny had told me many things “ I knew that the only way to deal with wizards like these was to challenge them, but not to push it too far. Malfoy’s cold eyes glinted with malice, and Adrienne continued to look crazed.
“You’re coming with us, Granger,” Adrienne said quietly. “No, not a word. And now.”
~*~*~*~
“What’s wrong, love?”
Ron sat on the couch, staring helplessly toward the fireplace into the empty grate. His face was no longer tearstained and pale, but vacant and lost. There was a hole in him now. All he could see was Hermione’s face “ that is, until his mother grabbed his arm, jerking him out of his reverie.
“Ronald,” she said. “Tea.”
“No thanks,” he muttered.
“Now.”
Ron groaned and rose up from the sofa, his mind still reeling. A kiss, a last kiss, a sorrowful gaze, and she was gone. Forever. Out of his life. His mind was still swimming. It wouldn’t leave him alone. Something was wrong … horribly wrong …
“What is it, dearie?” Mrs. Weasley pressed on, coddling him. “You haven’t spoken properly since you came home.”
“It’s “ it’s nothing,” he said, shaking his head, trying to clear it. He already knew something was wrong, damn it, he’d already lost her for good. But, oh but his mind wouldn’t leave him alone. Something bigger … something worse was happening.
“No, Ron, it’s not,” she said. “And if you can’t tell your own mother “”
“I’ve got to go,” he said abruptly, standing up and knocking the teacup over. Even if his mind was just playing tricks on him, it was better to go than to stay here waiting and wondering.
“All “ all right dear,” stammered Mrs. Weasley, looking slightly put out. “I’ll be here when you get back.”
Without another word, he left. This “ this was all wrong. He was supposed to be sad, yes, but … this was different. Wrong. Where was she now? He had to go and find her.
“Hermione?” he called, coming through the door. “Hermione? Mione, where are you?”
It was deadly silent. It was still dark in the house. Giving up his search for Hermione, he rounded the corner. “Hannah? Hannah?”
Hannah came out of the parlor, looking confused. “I thought she would have answered you at least,” she said, her brow furrowing. “I called her from the hall and she didn’t answer. I reckoned she wanted to be alone, what with --” She stopped rather abruptly. “What do you want with her?”
“I only need to see her,” he said, looking around behind him as if hoping she might appear. “Just “ just make sure she’s safe. Have you seen her?”
“Yeah, she was …” Hannah said, scratching her head. “Well, I thought she was in the kitchen. I didn’t hear her move.”
Something hung in the air that wasn’t comforting. If only he could figure it out … she had been to court … with Adrienne. …
Adrienne. She must have come here! With a great bound he leapt into the kitchen, perhaps expecting to find them there, but there wasn’t anything.
He rounded on Hannah. “Did you see anyone?” he asked, rather more sharply than he had intended. “Did anyone come in?”
She shook her head. “I don’t know,” she said, shrugging a bit. “That is, I don’t think so. … I didn’t hear anything, once again, but I came back here when I saw her in the kitchen, and haven’t been back since. It’s been nearly an hour since that.”
She looked down. He knew she was telling the truth, telling him everything she knew, but where “
His eyes fell upon something lying on the table. But it wasn’t on the table … rather, it was the table. There, in the middle, burned into the fine polished oak was a human skull, a serpent twisting its way in and out “
“That’s it,” he said to himself. “Hannah,” he said, louder now. “It isn’t safe here. They’ve taken her.”
A look of horror came immediately into Hannah’s face. “They can’t be far,” she said, then understanding came into her face. “They’re at Aisling Hollow!” she shouted, her eyes frantic. “Aisling Hollow! Go!” Then at the puzzled look on his face, “Her home! The pit where the vermin meet! She only goes there. That’s where they’ve her … to murder … go!”
She pointed toward the fire place.
~*~*~*~
I was bound instantly. They dragged me through the fireplace, showing no pity to my discomfort. Malfoy’s cold eyes shone through the holes in the mask, carefully eyeing Adrienne’s back. Every once in a while he paused to sneer at me, then returned to speaking to Adrienne in a soft voice. There was a Silencing Charm placed on me, and I was locked with a Full-Body Bind, helpless to move, to speak, to plead.
I was locked inside a body I could not control. I spoke, but my lips remained silent. I moved, but my body moved not. I wanted to cry, to scream, to cry out … not to escape but to have some feeling in my person, but none would return. I was trapped inside the prison of my body … This, I knew, was what true torture was.
“Mudblood,” Adrienne said with a sneer, very like Malfoy’s. “Your destiny calls you. Have you anything to say for yourself?”
Fool! screamed my mind. Murderer, fiend! To bind your captives so! Death, lies, murder all worse than this! Kill me now and be done!
“Oh, no, no, no,” cooed Adrienne, her lips curling once again. “That won’t do. Fool? Fiend? Murderer? No, that won’t do. Not at all.” She sneered. “Fool? Oh, but I’ve trapped you here, have I not?” She spread her arms as if showing me about. “I could bury you alive and let you breathe … no one would ever be the wiser.”
A shudder gathered at the base of my spine, but my frozen state was unable to accommodate such an action.
“Yes,” she pondered. “It isn’t very comfortable is it? Perhaps … a taster …”
I had heard those words before. My mind cried out, but it was too late. It was pain, burning pain like I had never experienced before … white hot, like knives piercing my flesh … to die, that was nothing, but this “ this was beyond bearing …
It stopped. The hexes had been lifted and I lay spread eagled on the cold stone floor. They stood over me, menacing, cruel, and terrible. I couldn’t think anymore … I wanted them to kill me, to stop toying with me. Anything but more.
“No,” my voice came out as a croak. “No more … please …”
She began to laugh. It was high-pitched, cruel, cold, unfitting … her look changed … and as I looked into those cold, glinting, black eyes of hers, they changed “ from black to deep, flaming cruel red.
Her voice, too, was different. It came cold and high-pitched, laughing not at all like herself. “So …” it said menacingly. “You’re going to beg before you die. Not at all as I would have expected of you, Miss Granger, but not unbefitting to your kind.”
My mind burst with rage. It was too much … I would have killed him myself were it not for the prophecy! Worse than anyone … It was never Adrienne … never her in her right mind. Hot tears of rage poured from my eyes. No, it was him all along, infiltrating her mind … Even Malfoy looked surprised.
“Let us see …” he continued coldly. “Fiend? Perhaps, but not so much as filth of your lineage. Murderer?” A shadow passed over his face, and the glow returned to his eye. “One might say so. Purifier of blood, more than that. But even more, Mudblood, I am Lord Voldemort.”
My mind spun out of control.
“I am he,” he said, “who you have sought these many years, Mudblood.” A grimace spread over Adrienne’s face, brought to her through the Dark Lord. “It is unfortunate. Harry Potter is not here to thwart me once again “ he might have saved you. His misfortune is yours. But to me, it is a triumph beyond all reason. Mudblood, die, and meet your doom.”
He raised his wand against me, and I flinched. I would die upright. But, no, it was all fading and turning dark. The image swam before my eyes, and my head hit the floor. I knew nothing more.