The Silver Envelope

The Factory in the Forest

Chapter Notes

TW: violence, slavery.

Hermione woke surrounded by wood. Wooden walls, hard wooden floors that appeared to have bruised her shoulder while she was unconscious, and a heavy-looking wooden door, only visible in the bluish darkness thanks to a square of dim light coming from a small window. Hermione peered out the window of the bare room, only to find- what else? woods. She appeared to be in a sort of cabin somewhere. A chill crept down her spine at the sight of the shadowy trees outside. She had a suspicion regarding where she was, but she dearly hoped she was wrong.
Her fingers automatically reached for her wand, finding only an empty pocket. That they had taken
it was no surorise. but for some reason. her wandlessness made the situation feel abruptiv real.
Muffled voices were carrying through the gap under the door, along with a strip of warm, bright light. Silently and stiffly, Hermione edged closer to the door to listen.
..can't believe it actually worked," said the rough voice of a man. "How did you know she would
believe it?"
"Oh, I never needed her to believe it," said another. Hermione was startled to recognize Johanna Wolcroft's haughty voice. "I only needed her to doubt him a little, just enough to get her running off to Weasley's place. People like Granger are so predictable. I knew she wouldn't be able to stand not knowing something for once in her life."
A strange ringing echoed in Hermione's ears. Johanna continued.
The real hard part was getting Malfoy away from her. For a while I was worried that he would take her with him to the hospital. The way Weasley tells it, he's completely obsessed with her, won't leave her alone for a second. It's disgusting. But in the end, I suppose her curiosity about my show won out. She's too conceited to miss an episode."
Hermione couldn't breathe.
Ron had sold her out? She knew he was angry with her, but this?
"How did you know about the drugs and the blackmail?"
Hermione thought that might have been Selwyn. It was all starting to make sense_he and Johanna had been working together the entire time
"Weasley told me about the blackmail," Johanna said. Her voice was elated, gloating. Besting
Hermione was quite the feather in her cap. "That bit was real. although I'm not entirelv sure what those photos depicted- he wouldn't say. And Ignoma told me the part about Malfoy's drug use and frequent trips to the apothecary. Tight-lipped, that one, but I got it out of her in the end. Millie had a lot of fun with that elf Polyjuice stuff you made, by the way. Didn't you, Mill?"
Hermione could barely make out the response from the elf Johanna was speaking to. The world
was spinning around her head
They'd tricked her. The attack on Draco's father, Johanna's show-it had all been contrived for the purpose of getting her away from Draco. They had lured her to Ron's place just for the chance to kidnap her.
How could she be so stupid? Of course it had been a ruse! She had let her emotions about Ignoma and Draco get the best of her, and now she was in some random cabin in the middle of a forest and no one knew where she was.
Draco was going to come home to her note and think she had run away from him_-or worse. find out she had gone to Ron's and think she disappeared with him. The thought of what that would do
to him stole her breath
..be arriving soon. I thought I'd take Granger over to the factory, get everything set up," the
rough voice said.
Murmurs of assent followed this, and footsteps made their way closer to her. With a pounding heart, Hermione dropped herself back to the floor and closed her eyes, pretending she was still stunned. It was the best chance she had of getting whoever this was to drop their guard.
The lock on the door clicked open and the air shifted as someone walked in. Hermione worked to kcep herself looking limp and relaxed despite the adrenaline pumping through her.
"Mobilicorpus, " rasped the voice of the man.
It took everything in Hermione not to scream and flail about as she felt her body rise off the floor.
She kept her eyes shut resolutely, pretending that the weightlessness surrounding her was only a swimming pool. She blindly allowed her body to float through the air, only slightly wincing when her foot bumped into a wall along the way.
"Make sure her shackles are tight, Boone," Hermione heard Johanna say as she floated by. "She's slippery, that one."
Whatever Draco had wanted to do to Ron on Valentine's Day, that was what Hermione was going