Several girls screamed at the sight that came through the door. Lucius Malfoy was there, wand at the ready, glaring around at them all. And when his eyes landed on Draco and Hermione, he looked like he could rip down the entire school.
He pointed at them. "You," was all he could say as he glared at his son and Hermione.
"Lucius, what are you doing?" Dumbledore said, stepping in front of Draco and Hermione as Lucius advanced towards them.
He pulled up his sleeve, only to reveal the dreaded Dark Mark, the sign of a true Death Eater, on his arm. "Lord Voldemort has sent me. Sent me to murder those two." Everyone gasped as he pointed at the two figures behind Dumledore.
"He wouldn't really kill his own son, would he?" a voice whispered in the crowd.
Lucius eyes darted over to where the voice came from. He looked like a madman on a killing spree, if one thing was for sure. His eyes were wide, and his face was twisted into a crazy expression. You'd be frightened at the very sight of him.
"Draco... I'm scared..." Hermione said in a squeaky whisper. He wrapped his arms around her tighter.
"I won't let him hurt you, Hermione," Draco whispered back.
"Lucius Malfoy, I demand you leave this very instant!" Dumbledore suddenly shouted, pulling out his own wand and pointing it at Lucius.
Lucius chuckled. "You wouldn't have the guts to hurt me." Dumbledore's eyes narrowed.
"Are you sure about that, Lucius? You are aware I can be very... unpredictable, if you will," Dumbledore replied. Lucius stared at him for a second, that crazy look still in his eyes.
"I don't care. Now, get out of my way!" Lucius said angrily, storming towards Dumbledore and violently pushing him out of the way.
Hermione grabbed Draco's left arm tightly and slighty hid behind him as Lucius looked down upon them, a look of hatred in his eyes. Draco couldn't help but feel a little scared of his father as well.
"You betrayed Lord Voldemort, Draco... and now you'll pay for it," Lucius said in a menacing tone.
"What are you gonna do to him?" Samantha asked suddenly from the crowd of people closest to them. Lucius looked over at her, glaring at her as well.
He took a few steps towards her. "Do you dare question me, Baracudan?" Samantha took a step backwards. Even she was afraid of him, and Samantha was probably the bravest Slytherin in the entire Slytherin house.
"Leave her out of this," Draco hissed, his arms still around Hermione.
Lucius appeared to not have heard him. "You'll pay for that... Crucio!" Lucius shouted, pointing his wand at Samantha.
The spell hit her directly, and she instantly started screaming in pain. "Stop! I didn't do anything!" she shouted as she bent over on the ground.
"She said stop, so stop!" Ron suddenly shouted, running out from the crowd at Lucius and hitting him to the ground with full force. Samantha collapsed on the ground, and Brianna and Matt instantly bent down to attempt to wake her up.
"Keep him there, Ron, members of the Ministry are here," McGonagall said, walking over to Ron and the struggling Lucius, who no longer had his wand.
Five men in dark cloaks swept through the Great Hall over to where Ron and Lucius were. They pulled Ron off of Lucius, and took Lucius away as he continued struggling.
"Everyone, please report to your common rooms. Draco, Hermione, I believe it is best if you stay with the Gryffindors and Slytherins tonight instead of going back to the Head Boy and Head Girl common room," Dumbledore announced as everyone started talking in scared tones.
Still talking, they all walked out of the Great Hall, everyone following their prefects to the dormitories. The only people who weren't going to the dormitories were Samantha, Matt, Brianna, and Ron. When Ron had pushed Lucius down to the ground, he'd hit his head hard on the ground, and had fainted when he'd tried to get up.
"Hey, you gonna be okay?" Amy Osken, the Slytherin prefect, asked Draco as they entered the Slytherin common room.
He shrugged. "I guess... maybe." Amy sighed and took a seat with her other fifth year friends.
Draco decided he would feel much better if he just sat alone for a little while. He was still having trouble believing his own father actually wanted him dead, instead of just loathing him for loving a Muggle-born. It would take quite awhile to sink in.
About half an hour later, the portrait swung open, and Brianna and Matt walked in. Everyone surrounded them, asking them questions about their fellow housemate.
"Is she going to be okay?" a second year girl asked with wide eyes.
"She should be, but Samantha's gonna be unconcious for about a week or so... maybe even a month, Madam Pomfrey isn't really sure how bad her injuries are yet," Brianna explained.
"And what about... what about, uh, Weasley?" A fourth year boy asked, hesitating.
"He'll be fine, too, he just has a slight concussion and should be awake by tomorrow afternoon," Matt replied.
The two saw Draco sitting alone, and moved through the crowd of curious Slytherins to talk to him. "Hey, Draco... Hermione was there for a bit; she wanted us to tell you that she's sorry," Brianna said as she sat down across from him.
"Sorry for what?" Draco asked. She hadn't done anything wrong.
She shrugged. "I don't know. She didn't really say..."
"I think I'm gonna go get some sleep now. Good night," Draco said quickly, getting up and going to the boys' seventh year dormitory, which had an extra bed in it just for him.
* * *
Draco woke up the next morning feeling angry and still a little bit tired. He'd had a very... rough night. He'd woken up about ten times dripping in a cold sweat from a nightmare about Voldemort and his father. He'd even woken up Brianna at one point, but she hadn't been much of a help, as she was only half-awake when he was trying to talk to her.
He walked down to breakfast alone, trying to avoid eye contact with the people he passed. He just knew they were all wondering the same thing. Wondering how he felt about his father wanting to murder him. Well, it was hard, and he really couldn't believe it, but he wasn't about to admit that to the world.
Brianna was already at the Slytherin table, talking to Matt about Samantha and Ron, who were still unconcious in the hospital wing. "Do you think they'll be alright?" Matt was asking as Draco sat down next to Brianna.
"Hi, Draco... did you, um, get any sleep?" Brianna asked.
Draco shook his head. "Just a little. But not much..."
"Oh. Sorry about that... but you'll be okay, right?" she asked.
"Yeah, I'll be fine, don't worry," Draco replied as he took a drink of the orange juice on the table.
"That's good. Hey, Hermione asked me if you, me, and Matt would want to see Samantha and Ron in the hospital wing today. Think you're up for it?" Brianna asked.
"Sure, that'd be great," Draco replied, feeling slightly happier than he'd been feeling that morning.
Once they'd all finished eating breakfast, Draco, Brianna, and Matt met up with Hermione outside the doors of the Great Hall.
"Hey, Hermione, ready to go?" Brianna asked as soon as they got there.
She nodded. "Yeah, and just to let you know, Harry and everyone else might be coming later, too," Hermione replied.
"Alright, that's fine," Draco said as they began to walk to the hospital wing.
They got to the hospital wing, where Ron was sitting up in his bed, drinking tea or something along the lines of that. Samantha was still unconcious, and she looked extremely pale.
"Oh, hey, what are you guys doing here?" Ron asked, grinning. He had a bandage wrapped around his head, which looked very funny with his now messy hair.
"Just thought we'd pay you a surprise visit," Hermione replied as they all sat around him and Samantha.
"Just out of curiosity... where are Harry and everyone else?" Ron asked.
"They're coming later. Harry's on a date with Sapphire, so, you know..." Hermione replied with a grin.
"And by the way, Ron, do you know when Samantha will wake up?" Matt asked as he held Samantha's hand.
Ron shook his head. "Sorry. Madam Pomfrey still doesn't know, but she said she'd probably find out later today."
"Awesome, I'll be back later then," Matt responded.
"So... um, when do you think you'll be out of here?" Draco asked.
Ron shrugged. "I guess, soon. That's what Dumbledore said, anyway."
"Well... yeah, we better get going, right, Draco?" Brianna asked, obviously feeling a bit uncomfortable.
"Yeah, we gotta go... well, see you guys later," Draco replied as he, Brianna, and Matt exited the hospital wing as Harry, Sapphire, and Chairee entered.
The three walked back to the Slytherin common room, where many of the other Slytherins were sitting around doing homework or playing games, such as chess. Draco, Brianna, and Matt all sat down in a quiet corner of the room, not saying much nor doing anything.
"So... Draco, um... oh, screw it, I forgot anyway," Brianna said.
"I know you didn't forget, you just don't want to say what you were going to say," Draco said.
Brianna opened her mouth to speak, but then decided against it as she closed her mouth.
"Well, I guess we could-" Matt started, but was cut off by a first year girl bursting into the common room rather loudly, causing everyone sitting around to jump.
"Everyone, come quick! Hermione Granger's gone!" the first year said with a scared look in her eyes.
Draco froze completely. Hermione Granger was kidnapped? This had to be some kind of sick joke from someone in the other houses, although it seemed much to real to be a joke as everyone quickly got out of the common room and followed the girl down to the Great Hall.
* * *
They all ran down to the Great Hall, where, once again, the whole school was gathered around Dumbledore. The Gryffindors all looked very scared, probably thinking any one of them could be next if one of their own had already been kidnapped.
"Ah, I see the Slytherins have arrived... well, as you may have guessed, we have a brand new crisis on our hands. Our Head Girl, Hermione Granger, has indeed been kidnapped by Lord Voldemort himself. And because of this, I must say, it is now strictly forbiddden for Slytherins and Gryffindors to speak to each other," Dumbledore said as the students began talking rapidly.
"But, sir, why?" Rachel asked from the front of the crowd.
Dumbledore looked down at her. "Well... if you must know... Voldemort left a... note. A very threatening note, at that. And I'm pretty sure you all can guess what it was about, so there is no need for any further questioning." The crowd was silent for only a few seconds.
"But how are the Slytherins and Gryffindors going to attend their classes together?" Chairee asked from next to Rachel.
"That will still be manageable. But please, don't take this issue lightly; this is a very serious matter, and we will get down to the bottom of it. You are all now excused to go back to your common rooms," Dumbledore finished, signaling for them to leave.
Draco, Brianna, and Matt walked slowly back to the Slytherin common room, trailing far behind the rest of their house. They- actually, everyone- had thought that they'd finally accomplished putting the Slytherin and Gryffindor rivalry to rest, but now things were just getting worse. Perhaps it just wasn't meant to be, well, the Slytherin and Gryffindor rivalry, anyway. Everyone now knew Draco and Hermione were destined to be together, and now, thanks to Lord Stinking Voldemort, they couldn't even speak to each other. And, to make matters worse, Hermione was no longer even in Hogwarts anymore.
"You okay, Draco?" Brianna asked suddenly.
"Yeah. I guess. Whatever..." Draco mumbled, shoving his hands into his pockets.