A/N: Mild Language bordering on PG/PG-13. But the situation called for it.
Chapter 68: Trapped
Harry heard a few of the girls shriek, as everything went dark.
“What the bloody hell?” he heard Ron say.
There was a thud, and they all hit a wooden floor.
“What’s happened?” Katie asked.
“It was a Portkey…” Luna said.
“It couldn’t have been a Portkey!” Ron said. “It was a bloody rock! We’ve been sitting on it for twenty minutes!”
“Be quiet! All of you!” Harry hissed. “And take out your wands!”
They all fell silent, and looked around at their new surroundings. They had certainly left the Hogwarts grounds. They were in a dark room, and one window was letting in a few beams of dusty sunlight. There was no furniture in the room, no fireplace, nothing. A few of the floorboards gave a small creak as Hermione rushed over to the window and looked out.
“What do you see?” Harry whispered, moving slowly towards her.
“Nothing,” Hermione said quietly, sounding somewhat panicked. “Just fields.”
“Luna was right…” Katie said. “It was a Portkey. It must have been…”
“Then why didn’t it transport us until now?” Neville asked.
“It waited until Harry sat down,” Ginny said.
“You don’t think…?” Ron asked, he looked at Hermione. “Is that even possible?”
“Portkeys can be designed to activate only upon the touch of a specific person; but those Portkeys are usually designed for security purposes.”
“Well, apparently their handy for kidnapping, too…” Harry whispered darkly.
“You think we’ve been kidnapped?” Susan asked, sounding frightened. “Kidnapped by whom?”
“Voldemort,” several people said at once.
“How did they get the Portkey onto the grounds?” Neville asked.
“Pettigrew and Malfoy…” Katie said.
“What?” Susan asked.
“It might be better to explain that later,” Hermione said. “Now we have to figure out where we are, exactly…”
“Voldemort’s headquarters…” Harry said. “I’ve seen the rooms in some of my visions “ they look similar to this.”
“Well, where are his headquarters?” Ron asked.
“No clue…” Harry said. “But the Order has a good idea.”
“So, what are we going to do?” asked Ron. “We have no idea how to get out of this place or how many Death Eaters could be here…”
“And even if we make it out of the building, we won’t make it very far in open fields…” Luna added, looking out the window.
There were footsteps somewhere outside the door; everyone tensed up. Harry felt Katie grip his arm. He lifted his wand to point towards the door, the rest followed his lead. The footsteps stopped outside the door; Harry could tell it was more than one person. The door handle turned, and the door opened slowly, and Bellatrix and Lucius entered the room, their wands drawn.
“Thought we heard voices…” Bellatrix said, with a mirthless smile spread against her face.
“We’ve been expecting you, Potter…” Lucius said. “It appears as though Wormtail is not entirely incompetent after all…of course, it was Draco’s idea.”
“We regret to inform you that the Dark Lord is not in at the moment…” Bellatrix said. “He’s off running a small errand, but he’ll be with you in a while; I hope you can be patient…”
“In the meantime…” Lucius said in his cold drawl. ‘Let’s see who we have here… you’d be Katie Bell “ am I correct? Yes, I remember you from that incident last year at Hogwarts…”
Katie just glared back at him.
“I believe I had the pleasure of meeting your mother, Ms. Bell…” Lucius continued.
Harry felt Katie’s arm trembling.
“I must give you condolences for your loss,” he said, a sick smile across his face. “After all, it was my wand that brought about your mother’s death.”
“Don’t listen to him, Katie,” Harry whispered, putting his arm around her, still holding his wand hand steady on Lucius. “Just ignore it.”
“Her life might have been spared if she didn’t insist on getting in my way,” Lucius continued. “But I had important business to attend to, and I just couldn’t risk delays “ but no harm, no foul…”
“I suppose that important business you’re referring to is the extermination of innocent lives, Malfoy?” Harry spat.
“Call it what you will…” Lucius replied casually, before moving around the group. Bellatrix followed him with his eyes. Harry looked at Katie to see if she was alright. Her eyes told him she was scared, but determined.
I’ll stun Bellatrix, you stun Lucius…
As he looked into Katie’s eyes, her voice echoed in his mind.
I’ll squeeze your hand three times…
Harry nodded. Katie flashed a small frightened smile.
“Ms. Granger, how nice to have you here “ I thought I sensed the foul stench of Mudblood from down the hall…” he sneered.
Hermione just stared back at him, unfailing in calm and cool.
“And the two youngest Weasleys… prepared to join your father, I suppose?”
Ginny didn’t look frightened, though her bottom lip was trembling; Ron moved in front of her, his free-arm still grasping Hermione’s hand. Harry moved his own arm from around Katie, and grasped her hand.
“Shut your mouth, you murdering bastard…” he said fiercely.
Hermione gave a small squeak, looking at Ron. Lucius just laughed mirthlessly and continued with the rest of the group.
“Ms. Lovegood, if I remember correctly?” he said, reaching Luna. “I recall that you fought quite valiantly in the Department of Mysteries last summer… I do hope you’re father’s doing well “ The Dark Lord isn’t too pleased with assistance the Quibbler has given young Mr. Potter…”
Luna did not respond to Malfoy’s implied threat, she merely looked back at him, her eyebrows raised and moved her wand closer to his heart. He narrowed his eyes upon her for a moment, before turning to Neville and Susan.
“Mr. Longbottom, how are your parents? Still suffering from insanity?” he asked Neville. “And your grandmother “ is she out of St. Mungo’s yet? I daresay she’s safer there… and who is this?”
His eyes rested upon Susan.
“If I’m not mistaken, you’re the Minister’s niece? What a pleasure to have you with us “ I’m sure the Dark Lord will be overjoyed,” he said, speaking in a frighteningly icy tone. “I believe you lost family members to our cause? I heard they didn’t go down without a fight. Not that you should be proud, after all, they did lose in the end…”
Susan, out of everybody, was most affected by Malfoy’s taunts “ Harry thought she might cry, but she at least kept her composure, and did not remove her glare from Malfoy’s face.
“Well “ now that we’re acquainted…” Lucius said, moving back to the front of the room, standing with Bellatrix. “We’ll have to decide what to do with you until the Dark Lord…”
Harry felt Katie’s hand squeeze his three times. Within a split second, they both lifted their wands.
“Stupefy,” they both said together, and two jets of red light emitted from their wands, hitting Bellatrix and Lucius, and sending both to the floor, unconscious.
“Alright…” Harry whispered quickly. “They’re down, but we don’t know how many more there could be “ we’ll move out of this room, but we all have to be very quiet… Hermione, Katie - do you know if there’s anyway we can place Silencing Charms on our movements, only? I want us to be able to speak to each other if necessary…”
Hermione and Katie nodded.
“It’s N.E.W.T. level,” Katie said. “So I can perform the spell…”
“Me, too…” Hermione said breathlessly.
“Can the two of you do the spell on the rest of us, too?” Luna asked quickly.
They both nodded, and immediately started charming the others, while Ron and Neville moved Lucius and Bellatrix into the corner of the room.
“What about Disillusionment Charms?” Harry asked.
“No…” Ginny said. “We shouldn’t, too risky “ we want to be able to see each other, too…”
Harry nodded.
“Alright “ everyone, we’re going to try and find a way out. Keep your wands ready…don’t talk unless it’s absolutely necessary…”
They crept over to the door, not even a slightest creak from the old floorboards beneath them. They slipped out the doorway. The hallway was quite wide, and it allowed them to walk in a makeshift circle, all of them keeping an eye on a different direction.
To the direct left was a solid wall, ahead of them was a long dusty corridor, and to the right another, equally dark corridor. Harry turned to the others and nodded to the right. They all followed him as he proceeded down the hall, with Ron and Neville at the back.
“Avery “ where’s my father?”
Harry froze. He felt a few people bump into each other behind him.
“He went with Bella to the holding room because they heard voices “ we think Potter arrived, and brought some friends with him…”
“And nobody went with them?”
“Do you really think they need help with a couple of kids?” Avery asked disbelievingly. “Relax, Draco…”
They heard Draco mutter indistinctly, and then the sound of his footsteps walking away from Avery. Harry continued walking again “ he couldn’t quite tell where there voices were coming from, but it would certainly be smarter to keep moving than to stay in one place waiting to be attacked. They kept moving, past a few closed doors, until finally they reached the middle of another hall, and a spiraling staircase. Harry stopped “ downstairs seemed like the most obvious way out, but he wasn’t sure if it was a wise idea or not. He turned to the others.
“What do you think?” he mouthed, nodding towards the stairs. None of them looked sure of what to answer.
“Hold on a second…” Harry whispered, feeling. “Where are Ron and Neville?”
Everyone turned around.
“They were right there “ just a few moments ago,” Ginny said. “They were taking up the back…”
“Well where did they go?” Harry asked.
“They wouldn’t just leave, Harry!” Hermione said, in hushed panic. “Oh, no “ something’s happened to them…”
“If I were you, Granger “ I’d worry about myself at the moment…”
It was Draco. He was standing in the shadow of the hall, a few feet away. He had his wand pointed at Harry. The others turned their wands on Draco.
“Don’t even try,” he smirked. “Everyone knows you’re here “ you’ll never make it out alive…”
“Well, maybe we can take you down with us…” Katie threatened.
“You haven’t got it in you, Bell,” Draco muttered.
Harry heard more muffled footsteps around them, and quickly realized that no less than six Death Eaters, plus Malfoy, were surrounding them. Harry felt sick.
“Do you want to come peacefully, or will we have to take a few of the girls down, Potter?” one of them growled.
Harry didn’t respond “ he didn’t want anything to happen to his friends, but he certainly wasn’t going to lower his wand.
“Downstairs, now!” the same Death Eater said.
They obeyed. Harry let the girls go first, and then followed them, still keeping an eye on the Death Eaters that descended the staircase behind him.
“In there…” the Death Eater commanded, opening a door. The six of them edged their way into the room, and the door was slammed shut behind them.
“Colloportus,” they heard the Death Eater say from behind the closed door.
“Why the hell are we just doing as they ask, Harry?” Ginny snapped once they were alone.
“What do you want to do, Ginny? Attack them? That could get us killed…”
“Oh, and I suppose being locked in a room until You-Know-Who gets back isn’t a death sentence in itself?”
“We’re alive, we need to stay alive, and that’s all that matters. Dumbledore says the Order has a rough idea where the headquarters are…”
“That’s not good enough!”
“Calm down…” Luna said. “It’s better than nothing. Harry’s right “ we need to focus on staying alive, and attacking Death Eaters when we are outnumbered isn’t the way to go about doing that…”
“What about Ron and Neville…” Hermione sobbed. “Harry - What if they’re already dead?”