A Future Uncertain

Chapter 20: Blinded

Hermione woke up on an uneven stone floor. It took a minute to remember what had happened. All she could remember was being abducted from Draco's house, but after that, her memory was fuzzy.

The room was dark, with extinguished floating candles hovering across the ten foot tall ceiling. Hermione crawled across the floor to the nearest wall, held on and stood up. The walls were rough and tilted inwards in a dome shape. She began feeling around the perimeter, keeping one hand on wall, and shuffling her feet so she wouldn't trip- at least, that's what she told herself, but even if she wanted to, she didn't think she had the energy to lift her feet.

Her hands hit cool iron bars. She was in a dungeon. "Draco?" She called out in a raspy voice. Selfishly, she hoped he would respond. She wanted him with her- trapped with her. It was an unfamiliar place, and she was scared. She waited a few moments for a reply and let out a sigh of relief. Even though she wanted him with her, she was glad he wasn't- perhaps that meant he was safe.

She felt around for the handle, but found none, and the lock was charmed shut. She let out a breath of air and began mindlessly picking at a sharp, coarse piece of metal on the bars.

It wasn't like she hadn't expected this to happen in her life. During the war she would often sit up at night wondering how many Muggle-borns had been taken captive, and if she would be next. It was something one came to expect in war. After the war ended, she hadn't thought twice about it, even with the recent events.

So far, the rebels were only attacking individual towns and homes. There had been no news about taking hostages. As far as she knew, she was the only one they had singled out.

She wondered how long she had been unconscious. The air was getting heavy and she was finding it hard to breathe. She needed to get out- she needed her wand. It took all the energy she had left to begin feeling along the floor for a trace of her wand.

She only made it one length of the cell before collapsing on the cell floor.

She had never felt this exhausted before.

As soon as she thought she was going to run out of air, the candles from the entrance were lit and she finally saw the face of her captor.

The air was poisoned, and she couldn't escape.

Draco was lying on a hard, flat surface in a room with a harsh chemical smell. He couldn't see anything, and felt a thin sheet of fabric covering his eyes. He made a move to take the cover off his eyes, but a hand reached out to stop him.

"Draco," his mother said softly. He'd seen his mother cry many times in his life, but for some reason, just hearing the soft hiccups she was trying to conceal made him want to cry himself.

"Mum?" he said, not concerned about the waver in his voice. "Is dad okay?"

There was a pregnant pause. "Is he..?"

"He'll be fine, Draco. I'm sure of it. Just, please, worry about yourself."

She was no longer crying. A good sign, Draco thought.

"A-And Hermione?" He expected Hermione to chime in at that moment. He figured she was there in the room, waiting patiently for him to recover.

"No one's found her."

His mother gave no sympathy in her words. They were dull and flat.

"Did they take her?" He needed to make sure she wasn't just left under the rubble.

"The Aurors would have found her if she were still on the property. She's gone."

He moved to take off the blindfold again, but his mother's cold hands firmly grabbed his."Draco, please, get some rest. It will take at least a week to get back to normal-"