The Serpent and the Lioness

Chapter 50

"I have a secret Ms. Granger, would care to hear it?" His voice in her ear made her stomach curl and she instinctively pulled against the hold he had on her arm.

"You were supposed to stay in a coma forever but no, the bloody Healer I had in my pocket got sacked and replaced with a competent healer. Oh, yes, I know all about your little rendezvous with him, your 'secret' healing following the aftermath of your triumphant return."

"What did you do to him?!"

"Oh, you'll never see him again and once you're out of the way, I'm going to go after your 'savior'"

"You'll never find him!" Hermione's voice rose and died out against the dark stone hallway.

She had tried to remember what turns they had made but it was all indistinguishable from the next. Her heart ached for Healer Darling. Everything that he had done, out of the goodness of his heart held against him. She could only hope this man wasn't crazy enough to have killed him, he didn't deserve to die for all he'd done to help her.

Two turns, a long hallway and a small flight of stairs leading to another narrow and seemingly endless hall of doors. Her eyes took immediate notice of the blood red stone at the very end, a dark black door standing out from the stone that surrounded it.

"I don't have to, the way I saw it from that healer's weak mind, he'll come after me, and I'll be ready." Frollos grip tightened and he gave her a sharp pull when she started to drag her feet, his wand pressing tighter into her side so much that he could feel her breath hitch down his palm, "They were meant to be my ticket to eternal glory. I was going to be the one to end the second great wizarding war. I was going to live in the lap of fame and fortune!"

Frollo pulled harder on the chains that bound Hermione making her whimper and miss a step. He adjusted the hold on her arm with bruising force and yanked her back to her feet,"Then it all went wrong, the creatures, they didn't kill him, they didn't even see him. Voldemort was completely invisible to their power!" He turned her suddenly, pressing her center to one of the black doors. He pulled his wand from her ribs and tapped the door sliding open the small window.

Hermione tried to follow along with the man's ramblings but even she found him to be pretty far off the rails. When the window opened her stomach lurched with bile at the sight inside. The white rounded room was covered in blood from ceiling to base. A metal pole that had been mounted in the center was bent at an odd angle with a chain still attached to its base. She closed her eyes and turned her head away from the mangled remains of the body at the other end. Frolo's breath was hot against her ear, making the bile rise even higher burning the back of her throat.

"They ravaged the dead before we could capture them all, their bloodlust insatiable. Then the one, the leader, it came forth with such power and who but the little sidekick of Harry bloody Potter would be attacked?!" Frollo pulled her sharply away from the door half dragging her behind his more rushed steps towards the red framed door.

"Do you know what happens to the Jinshinkin without their leader?"

Hermione tried her best to put her feet down or even pull free from his hold, but a sharp jolt from the shackles made one of her knees collapse down to the hard stone and her arms twist at an odd angle. Frollo gave her no reprieve, nearly taking her arm out of socket as he pushed her ahead of him again, releasing her arm for the back of her hair. Hermione let out a strangled noise and tried to pull against her chains but found the odd angle that he held her head at only made walking a barely manageable feat.