Are You The One That I Want? (Dramione Love Story)

Chapter 56: Suspicious

Chapter 56: Suspicious

The cold worsens every passing minute. Her head has been completely silent for a while now and somehow this scares her. Has she lost the will to fight? The hope to ever get out of this room? Or has the lack of food managed to empty her head completely because of the lack of energy. Hermione slightly pushes herself up from the ground to try and get more comfortable, which is an impossible task to do on the cold stone floor. A single thin blanket had been thrown into the room a few days back, but it doesn't really keep the cold from passing through. At least she has something to cover herself with when she sleeps. She closes her eyes again, ready to fall asleep. It's the only thing she has been doing the past couple of days. It's the only thing she can do, apart from eating the little amount of food she gets every day. The first few times she had tried to get the hooded person to stop and help her, but the past few times she had just stayed on the place she had been lying at that moment and kept quiet. It would only be a loss of energy to try and get the person to help her. She didn't care anymore who was holding her captive, she just wanted to get out. But the longer she was a prisoner in that dark and cold room, the more the hope she'd ever get out slipped away from her.

'She's broken.'
The blonde head of hair moves and Lucius gets up from the seat in front of the window. He walks around the chair and up to the couch. Lucius looks up at the hooded person and grins. 'The girl was stronger than I gave her credit for.'
'What do you want to do?'
'We'll continue our plan.' Lucius says, sitting down on the couch. 'She'll be dead by tomorrow.'
The hooded person nods and steps out of the room. The floor creaks as the person makes their way through the corridor to the kitchen, where a tray is already waiting. The hooded person picks the tray up and makes their way down the stairs towards the dungeon. The door makes a loud sound as the person opens it, but instead of stepping into the room, the hooded person stays in the door opening, looking at the figure near the wall. When light from the small hall on the other side of the thick door shines longer into the normally dark room, the figure moves and she turns around. Her hair is greasy and quite a mess, the skin of her face seems to only cover bone and no longer some fat. The clothes she's wearing hang loosely on her body, clearly too big for her now that she has lost so much weight. The hooded person puts the tray down, but instead of leaving the person stays quiet and still. Hermione stares at the hooded person in silence for a while. 'Who are you?' she eventually asks. A smile appears underneath the hood and a chuckle rolls over a pair of lips. Hermione sucks in a deep breath and her eyes widen. 'No, it can't be.' she whispers.

Chris walks down the corridor to the Great Hall. He had gone to the library to return some books he had borrowed and had thought to find the group there, especially since they apparently had been spending a lot of time there, but they weren't there for a change. Chris runs his hand through his hair and passes the corner, only to see two of the people he had been looking for in the library. 'Hey guys! Haven't seen you around much lately.' Chris calls.
Draco and Harry turn around and share a glance before offering him a smile. 'Yeah, been really busy. You know how that goes.' Draco shrugs.
Chris raises his eyebrows, not sure what to make of this, but the smile on his face doesn't falter. 'I guess? So where were you heading off to?'
'Oh just-' Draco starts, his eyes flickering to Harry.
'To get some fresh air. We've been studying our arses off in the library all afternoon. Figured some fresh air would clear our heads.' Harry shrugs.
Chris slowly nods. 'Well, have you talked to Hermione lately? She seems a bit down if you ask me.'
Harry shakes his head and Draco shrugs. 'Not really, I'm afraid. We've been too caught up with schoolwork and studying.' Draco says, furrowing his brows. 'I'll make sure to talk to her tonight.'
'Is something wrong?' Chris asks.
Draco shakes his head. 'No?'
'Is there trouble in paradise?'
'We're just busy. You know how Hermione is, constantly studying, every moment of every day. Luckily we're both eager students, so I'm sure she understands, just like I understand when it comes down to her long hours of studying.'
Chris looks at Draco before turning his eyes on Harry and back again. 'Right.'
'Well, it was nice chatting with you, but we should really get some fresh air before the night is over. There's still a lot of studying left to do.' Draco states. 'We'll see you at breakfast.'
'Okay, well good luck?'
'Thanks Chris.' Harry smiles before turning around and walking alongside Draco further down the corridor. Chris stares at them for a moment longer before slowly shaking his head and continuing his way to the Great Hall for dinner. It was a quick escape, but why? Are they planning something? And if yes, what? When he enters the Great Hall, a lot of students are already crowding the tables. He finds Ginny and Ron and sits down next to Ginny. 'Hey.' he grins.
'Oh hey Chris.' she smiles faintly, her eyes scanning the room around them before finally landing on him. 'How are you?'
'Good, you?'
'Same.' she nods.
'Have you seen Hermione? I thought she'd be here.' Chris says.
'No, maybe she's freshening up for dinner?' Ginny suggests.
'Maybe Malfoy's keeping her, haven't seen him around either.' Ron shrugs.
Chris looks up at him and raises his eyebrows. 'Since when are you so relaxed with the thought of them-'
'I've made peace with it, sort of.' Ron quickly interrupts before Chris can finish that sentence.
'But no, I just saw Draco and Harry walk in the corridor and they were talking about getting some fresh air.'
'Oh right.' Ginny nods. 'We left them in the library twenty minutes ago or so.'
'Our eyes started to burn from all the reading.' Ron adds.
'Are you guys keeping something from me?'
Ginny and Ron share a glance before they both turn back to Chris. 'No, what would we be keeping from you?'
'I don't know? Is a big test coming up that I didn't know anything about?'
'No, apart from the exams that you are aware of, at least I hope you are.' Ginny says.
'Those are two months away. Are you guys really studying this hard for exams that you'll have to make in two months?'
'Yes, I like to be prepared.' Ginny nods. 'If Hermione taught us something, it's how to be fully prepared for an exam.'
'Well, it was nice catching up, but we have to go.' Ron says, pushing himself up.
'You're going to let me eat dinner by myself?' Chris half jokes.
'I'm sorry Chris, we'll eat dinner together tomorrow.' Ginny tells him. 'We just really want to finish preparing for DADA today.'
'Sure, yeah, go ahead. I'll catch up with you later.'
Ginny squeezes his arm and smiles. 'Good night.'
Chris nods. 'You too.'
Ginny and Ron step away from the table and walk out of the Great Hall. Chris sighs and puts some mashed potatoes on his plate. First Draco and Harry, now Ginny and Ron, what's going on? Are they up to something? And if so, why aren't they including him? He thought they were his friends, they trusted him. "Hermione" walks into the Great Hall and sits down opposite Chris. 'Hey.'
'Hey.'
'Where are the others?'
'They said they were off studying.'
'Again?' "Hermione" asks, raising her eyebrows.
Chris nods. 'I'm not sure if there's anything left to study for with all the time they spend studying.'
'Maybe they aren't studying?' she suggests.
'What else would they be doing. You're back, so they can't be looking for you, now can they?'
"Hermione" furrows her eyebrows and slowly shake her head. Chris raises his eyebrows as he looks at her and when she notices she just shakes her head. 'You're right.'
'I'll see if I can find them later tonight in the Gryffindor Tower.' he says.
'Sounds like a plan.' she nods.

Chris looks up at the clock and sighs. It's eleven in the evening and still no sign of Harry, Ron and Ginny. He has looked in the boy's dormitory, the common room, asked around if someone had seen them, but apparently no one had since dinner. He gets up from the couch and makes his way out of the common room. He'll look one more time in the library and then he'll go to McGonagall, because if they're not in the library, they must've gone away from Hogwarts. They're his friends, but he can't let them do that. It's against the rules and dangerous. He had hoped to find them in the library, but unfortunately when he got there, the library was literally deserted. He sighs and turns around, making his way over to the Headmistress's office. When he arrives there he knocks on the door and it takes a few seconds before he hears McGonagall call him in. She's seated behind her desk, writing something on a piece of parchment. She looks up over her spectacles. 'Ah Mr. Stanfield, what are you doing here at this hour?' she asks, her eyes drifting back to the parchment.
'Professor.' Chris says.
'Yes?' McGonagall answers, her quill still moving over the parchment.
'I think they're gone.'
'Mr. Stanfield, you'll have to be more specific.' she says, looking up at him over the rim of her spectacles again.
'Draco, Harry, Ginny and Ron.'
'And why would you think that?'
'Because they were in quite a hurry to leave.' Chris states. 'And I haven't seen them since they hurried off.'
McGonagall stares up at him in silence for a moment before she lets out a sigh. If it had been anyone else she would've been surprised, but with these two in particular, it wouldn't have been the first time. 'Oh Merlin, where could they have gone to?'

A/N

I'm SOOOO sorry it took so long again! School is crazy busy :/ I wish I had the time or the energy to write, because I hate to let all of you amazing people wait every single time for such a long time for a new chapter

Both What is this "love" you're talking about and this book are almost finished, which hopefully leaves enough time for me to write more often on my new Dramione story that will be posted right after this one is finished. 

I hope to quickly find a routine again for writing and posting new chapters. 

Thank you for being so patient!

Lots of love

xx