Chapter Six
Hermione woke slowly, her head pounding, her senses confused. It was dark but she heard a loud roaring noise, and she felt a cool breeze but also a rank humidity. She couldn't begin to figure out where she was, because she couldn't even recall losing consciousness and getting there.
As she sat up and her eyes began to adjust to the darkness, Hermione started to remember. She had been at the airport, and she had been attacked. She had struggled but had been kidnapped quickly and quietly, her wand taken, her body immobilized. Her captor had Apparated away just meters from her parents and Ron. She vaguely remembered a rough landing, an argument, another struggle, and a bright light. And then she had been brought…here, somehow, somewhere. She suspected she was in a cave.
Glancing around, Hermione tried to push her hair from her face, but found her hands were tied with rope. She tried to stand, but toppled over because her feet were bound as well. She sat down and swore.
"I couldn't agree more," said a voice next to her. She started in surprise and turned toward the sound.
"Who's there?" she demanded. "Let me go."
"I would if I could, sweetheart," drawled the voice, obviously male and edging closer. She could barely make out a human shape next to her, holding out a pair of bound hands. "I'm in the same kit that you are."
"Who are you?" she asked again.
"Who are you?" he threw back at her.
"I'm not saying anything until you tell me who you are," she replied, trying to keep her voice steady. The man sounded familiar, somehow, but she couldn't place it. She just wanted some light to chase away the wretched darkness. For some reason the cave brought back memories of the Horcrux hunt…
"My name is Kyle." He paused before finishing. "Kyle Walker."
Hermione couldn't help but gasp as she recognized his name and placed the voice. "But you're the television star, Kangaroo Kyle! I've seen your show, my parents love it. What are you doing here?"
"Tell me your story, sweetheart," he said, "and I'll finish mine." She could feel him next to her, and having seen his bushwalking show several times, could picture his dark hair, subtle stubble, and warm blue eyes. She knew he was well-built and probably wearing jeans and a white shirt.
"Hermione Granger," she finally replied, a little thrown by finding herself stuck in a dark cave with a local celebrity.
"So what are you doing tied up in this lovely place?" he asked conversationally. She felt his hands on hers and gave a little yelp. "Relax, I'm just trying to work on your ropes."
"You can't loosen them, they're probably…" she trailed off as she realized she was trapped with a local Muggle celebrity who wouldn't know an Unraveling Charm. "They're special."
"And how do you know that?" he asked, leaning in close. "Why are you here, Hermione Granger?"
"I'm not really sure," she said, "although I think it has something to do with my work."
"What do you do then?" he asked, continuing to work at the knots.
"Actually, I just left my job in London to start a new one here in Sydney." She paused. "Wait, are we still in Sydney? Do you know where we are?"
"I don't think we're far. I'm guessing we're in some old smuggler's cave on the coast." He swore under his breath as the knots stayed tight and he pulled away. "If we could get these off, I could get us out easily."
"You might as well give up, they won't come undone without a—" She almost said 'wand' but stopped herself. She sat up straighter and tried to work the kinks out of her shoulders. "Never mind. What happened to you? Why are you here?"
Her eyes were adjusting in the dim light, and Hermione was fairly certain Kyle shook his head bitterly. "I'll tell you if you tell me," he said, glancing at her. She could see a dim reflection in his eyes that seemed sad, and she nodded.
"Well, I was in the park scouting," he said. "Just me and my producer, out at Marley Head, when these two guys appeared out of nowhere—with you over their shoulders." He paused and shook his head. "Literally. One minute the beach was empty, the next minute they were practically on top of us. They were dressed funny but they looked bad, if you know what I mean. One of them shouted something and killed Henry just like that – a flash of light and he was dead on the ground. For some reason the other bloke stopped him from killing me. They knocked me out and brought us here. I've no idea how they did it, it was the most incredible thing I've ever seen." He stopped again, his voice soft. "And horrible."
Hermione could feel the man's sadness and wished she could reach out to comfort him. She certainly knew how painful it was to lose someone so suddenly; she could only imagine his shock at seeing a friend killed by magic.
"So tell me your tale," Kyle said, clearing his throat. "Especially since they seemed to have got you first. We've plenty time, unless you know some way out of this."
"Not yet, no," Hermione murmured. She adjusted herself on the uncomfortable rocks. "What time is it? How long was I out?"
"We've been here about six hours, by my best guess." She could feel him shrug next to her. "Why? Are you going to keep stalling or tell me your side of this strange story?"
Hermione gathered her thoughts, trying to form them into something that made sense when she really wasn't sure what was going on. "Well, I had just got off a plane from London when I was attacked at the airport. I remember struggling, but he knocked me unconscious and apparently brought me here."
"You were kidnapped from the Sydney airport?" Kyle asked, the disbelief evident in his voice. "I'm hoping the police noticed and are on their way?"
"Not exactly," Hermione hedged. "At least, I doubt anyone saw what happened, but I'm hoping someone will figure it out."
"How is it possible to be kidnapped from the middle of a major international airport without anyone seeing anything?"
Hermione thought about her answer. "It's a bit like three people appearing out of nowhere, I suppose."
"Touché," he muttered. "Well, if no one knows, how is anyone going to figure it out?" he asked.
"I left a clue."
"And will it just magically lead them right to us?" he asked with a bitter laugh.
"In a way," Hermione said, thinking about the spell she'd just barely managed to cast on her cappuccino cup. It was a long shot, that someone would even find it, let alone begin to piece together enough information to track her down, but she couldn't give up hope, especially knowing that Ron had come. She shook her head of doubts. "Look, I know it sounds crazy, but trust me—I think he'll figure it out."
"Who?" Kyle demanded.
"My boyfriend," Hermione replied. The image of Ron standing at the airport with her parents was foremost in her mind. She didn't know how or why he had come, but he was in Sydney, and she had every confidence in him that he would somehow, eventually figure out what had happened to her and get help.
"And is he a wizard or something?" asked Kyle. "Because I can't think of any other way he's going to find us out here if he doesn't even know you're gone."
"Actually," Hermione started, and she couldn't help but give a nervous laugh. "Never mind. He was an Auror, though."
"Which is a what? Someone who finds their kidnapped girlfriends in the bush?"
"Not exactly." And now she was laughing full voice, her nerves pouring out in the only way they could, given both the seriousness and the ridiculousness of her situation.
Kyle was silent, and Hermione sensed he was not happy with her reaction. Remembering he had just lost a friend, she took a deep breath and decided that since he was mixed up in this already, he deserved to know some truth.
"I'm sorry," she murmured. "You must think I'm horrible. I don't mean to make light of what's happened."
She could see him shake his head. "You're not telling me everything, Hermione Granger. Since we're stuck here together, it would be nice if you would share a bit more."
Hermione sighed. "You're right, I'm sorry," she said again. "Look, I don't know how you got mixed up in this, other than being in the wrong place at the wrong time. If these men are who I think they are, you're lucky they didn't kill you. But since you're here you should know what's going on—at least, as much as I can figure out."
"Go on, then," he said. He sounded so much like Ron in his skeptical impatience that Hermione paused, suddenly homesick for Ron and desperately missing his irritated exasperation.
"How about some light first?" she murmured. She closed her eyes and concentrated. She was fairly certain she'd manage the spell, as long as her wand was nearby. Murmuring under her breath, she opened her eyes and was pleased to see a small set of blue flames dancing on the ground in front of her. It lit the cave just enough for her to catch the look on Kyle's face. It was dirty and scratched, and his eyes were wide.
"How did you do that?" he demanded.
"It's just something I learned when I was eleven." She shrugged, remembering some of the first blue bell flames she had conjured at Hogwarts.
"I learned how to wrestle a wallaby when I was eleven, not make fire out of thin air," he said. "And it's blue. So will it burn these ropes off our wrists?"
"It might," she replied, surprised at his quick thinking. "Why didn't I think of that?"
He held his wrists over the blue flames, but pulled back quickly. "Too hot that close. I'd like my hands whole, not well-done. What else you got?
"Not much without my wand," she murmured, her brief hope quickly dashed as she held her hands near the flame. She could never stand it long enough to burn the through the tough fibers of the ropes binding her wrists, if it even worked against the magic she was fairly sure kept the ropes from unraveling.
"Hm, something else for you to explain," Kyle said. "Start talking—beginning with that blue fire."
Hermione sighed and began. "All right. I can't really tell you everything, so let's just say I can do things other people can't."
"So can I," he murmured, shaking his head. "But not like that. Is that why you were kidnapped?"
"No," she replied, thinking out loud. "I was working on something back home that I don't think someone wanted me to work on. I was threatened that if I didn't stop, my parents would be hurt, so I came to Sydney to protect them." She stopped, trying to put the pieces together. "Only there must be more to it. I think maybe whomever was threatening them was really after me, or else the case I was working on was much more important that I thought it was."
There was a harsh clapping from the mouth of the cave. "Right on both counts. Brilliant, as always, Granger."
Yet another voice she recognized and couldn't place. She saw her attacker step forward, grey eyes flashing: Saxton Scabior, the Snatcher who had captured her once before. Next to him stood Gregory Goyle, his face hideously scarred by the Fiendfyre Vincent Crabbe had conjured and failed to control in the Room of Requirement.
And behind them stood one of the last people she would have expected to see in Australia.
* * *
The Journey Back by Gmariam
Chapter Endnotes: Thank you so much to Julia/theopaleye for looking this over and helping me with the details. It's a bit short and I apologize for the cliffhanger…no, I don't. I love them. :D