The inside of Godric's Hollow was even worse on the inside. It looked as though it had been aging for millions of years; nothing looked exactly right. The floorboards creaked noisily when you stepped on them, furniture that had been left there was covered with dust and falling apart- you could get deathly ill being in the place for a mere ten minutes.
Draco sneezed. "God... this place... is really dirty."
"Bless you. And yeah, it is really dirty," Harry replied as he looked around the room.
"Where do you think we should go?" Draco asked. The house was extremely large; Voldemort could have Hermione held hostage in any of the rooms.
"Uh... upstairs, maybe?" Harry suggested. That seemed reasonable.
"All right, let's go," Draco agreed as the two boys walked over to the staircase and carefully walked up it. The stairs looked as if they'd fall down any second, so they definitely had to be careful.
The upstairs, surprisingly, was in much better condition than the rest of the house, as if someone had been taking care of it for quite some time. There were even proper lights in all of the rooms, so someone was definitely upstairs at the moment.
"There sure are a lot of rooms up here..." Draco mumbled as they walked around.
"Yeah..." Harry said, pulling on a doorknob. It was locked.
"Harry, stop. Alohomora!" Draco shouted, pointing his wand at the door.
The door unlocked and swung forward slowly. The room was darkened inside, from what the two boys could tell. And there just wasn't a good feeling coming from that room...
"Harry. Draco. So nice of you to come," Lord Voldemort was sitting across from the room, the outline of his figure barely visible in the darkness.
"Voldemort," Harry whispered bitterly. As the two boys walked in, the door slammed shut behind them, as if closed by magic. Probably by Voldemort, if it had been.
The lights flicked on, and the two boys could now see a clear image of Voldemort. His face was hidden behind a long, black cloak, but his hand was visible, carrying his wand.
And Hermione was sitting in a chair next to him, tied up and unconscious.
"What did you do to her?" Draco asked angrily.
"Ah, you see, she wouldn't stop screaming. I simply used the Cruciatus curse on her to inflict pain, obviously, and just like that, she was unconscious. I hope you aren't... too angry," Voldemort replied in a deep, husky voice.
Draco glared at him. "I swear, you're gonna pay for this..."
"Oh? How will I be doing that? Terribly sorry, but I'm all out of galleons," Voldemort replied in the same tone of voice he'd used before.
"That's not what he meant," Harry said coolly.
Voldemort paused for a few moments. "Yes, Harry, I know that isn't what he meant. Do you honestly believe I'm that stupid?"
"No. Just give us back Hermione," Harry demanded.
"I'm afraid I cannot do that. She's my property now," Voldemort replied.
"She's not your property," Draco said through gritted teeth, his hands forming into two fists.
"Oh yes she is, Mr. Malfoy," Voldemort replied in a cruel tone.
Harry and Draco both glared at him. Neither of the boys liked hearing their friend or girlfriend being talked about as someone else's "property". That alone would be enough to make them snap completely.
"Let her go. now," Draco said through gritted teeeth.
"Losing your temper already? My, my, my, I'm very disappointed in you," Voldemort replied.
Draco began to raise his wand, but Harry stopped him. Draco stared at him. Why didn't he want to attack Voldemort? Didn't he want to rescue Hermione just as badly as Draco did?
"Not yet," Harry whispered as he lowered Draco's arm.
"Why not?" Draco whispered back.
"Debating whether or not to attack me, are you?" Voldemort said suddenly. Both boys looked up, surprised. How did he know they were talking about him? It was like he had special hearing or something.
"H-how did you know that?" Harry stammered, staring at him.
They could almost see Voldemort's mouth curl into a wicked smile.
"I have my ways. Now, you're not going to attack me yet? Pity. I was just ready to fight." He pulled out his wand, pointing it at the two boys.
"Harry, we have to fight him now," Draco whispered angrily.
"I told you, not yet..." Harry whispered back.
Now Draco was getting even angrier. "Why the hell not?"
"Come now, Harry, can't you see Draco here wants to fight me badly? Let the boy do what he wants to, I say," Voldemort said in the most patient voice either of them had ever heard from him.
"He's trying to get us to do something we'll regret later. Don't fight him yet," Harry muttered.
"Then we'll be careful," Draco reasoned with him.
Harry paused for a moment, probably considering what Draco had just said to him. "Fine. Let's do this."
Draco smirked. "It's about time you've come to your senses."
Harry grinned. "You know, deep down, I've been wanting to fight him this whole time, too," Harry said as he and Draco pulled their wands back out of their robes and pointed them at Voldemort.
Voldemort stood up. "Well. It's about time."
"Yeah. Let's just get this over with," Draco said.
Before Draco or Harry could say another word or take a single step forward, Voldemort raised his wand, still not removing the dark cloak from his face. "Crucio!" he shouted.
Draco and Harry jumped out of the way, just avoiding the spell. "That wasn't fair at all. You didn't give them a chance..." All three looked over to Hermione, who had just awoken, and was looking rather confused and dizzy, for some reason.
"You were supposed to remain silent unless you wanted these two to die," Voldemort said icily.
Harry and Draco stared at him. "Wait... what? You said you used a spell on her." Harry said.
"It was all planned out... I just went along with it so you two wouldn't get killed. I'm sorry..." Hermione said, smiling weakly at both of them.
"You little liar..." Draco muttered angrily, glaring at Voldemort.
"Ah, but you should've known better, Draco. And as for your little friend's outburst..." he walked over to Hermione and put his wand under her chin, "unless you two think of something fast, she'll be dead in less than a minute. Good luck."
Hermione's eyes widened in fear as the tip of Voldemort's wand touched her chin.
"You wouldn't dare..." Harry said, though he looked just as scared as Hermione looked and as Draco felt.
"Oh, but you know I would, Harry," Voldemort replied.
Draco nudged Harry in the ribs. "We really have to do something..."
"I know, but I don't know what we can do... I mean, we don't know that much advanced magic quite yet," Harry replied quickly.
"Well, we have to think of something."
"I know."
"Done debating yet, boys? I'm just about ready to murder your precious Hermione here," Voldemort said in a bored tone.
"Okay, that's it... Petrificus Totalus!" Draco shouted before Harry could stop him as he pointed his wand at Voldemort.
Voldemort yelped slightly as the spell hit him, completely binding his arms and legs together so he wouldn't be able to do any harm to Hermione. Voledmort's wand fell to the ground, as did Voldemort because he could no longer support himself while standing.
"Well, that works," Harry said, wide-eyed, as he stared at Voldemort on the ground.
"Draco, that was excellent!" Hermione said happily from where she was sitting.
Draco smirked. "I know it was."
"Yes, but can one of you please untie me?" Hermione said impatiently.
"I won't allow this to happen! You can't have her!" Voldemort shouted from the ground.
Draco walked over to where Voldemort and Hermione were, pointing his wand at Voldemort the whole time. He quickly untied Hermione from her bindings, and once she was free, she gave him the biggest hug he'd ever received and a kiss on the cheek.
"Thank you so much, Draco! You too, of course, Harry!" Hermione said happily.
"Draco? Are we going to kill Voldemort or what?" Harry said suddenly. He was now glaring at Voldemort angrily.
"You can't!" Hermione said suddenly.
Both boys stared at her. "What?"