Senses

Chapter 58

"Mr. Olivander?"

"Oh, Mr. Potter..."

"Is Luna here?"

"She was...yes..." The frail man gave the two young men a look of worry, "They've taken her upstairs...about 30 minutes ago..."

Their conversation was muted by a shrill scream coming from above, both of them shivered despite themselves but they listened closely to the wild witches words. When her voice lowered once more Harry looked to Griphook who had been taken along with them, "You must tell her it's a fake. You can't let her know that it's real."

The goblin gave him a long look but didn't reply. The sound of steps silenced them all and the boys shuffled into the darkness beside Olivander. The cell door swung open to reveal a very rough looking Greyback, the beast snarled at all of them before reaching nearly halfway over to take Griphook by the arm nearly carrying him by the appendage out of the cell.

Harry swallowed thickly before turning back towards Mr. Olivander, "Where do you think they've taken Luna?"

"I can't say...this is the first time they've removed her from the cell...I did hear talk late last night about giving her away? I don't understand it but I can't imagine she's been taken out of the manor..."

"Right..." Harry puffed up his chest as the loud voice of Bellatrix rang out overhead once more. Reaching down into his sock, he pulled out the broken mirror willing an image to appear. When a bright blue eye peered back at him through the glass he couldn't stop himself from begging, "Please help us. We're in Malfoy Manor."

With a blink, the image was gone and with it Harry's heart. His head turned up towards the stone wondering just what was going to happen to them all.

oOo

Hermione's world had gone completely black, a tight cloth around her eyes blocking out the world and a similar and somewhat painful strip of cloth through her mouth. The last thing she remembered was stepping out of Gringotts with the cup in her cloak. It had been an amazingly easy task fooling the bank guard and gaining access to the catacombs. She'd used the previously discovered entrance at the back of the building to make her escape, betting rather recklessly that the ward that protected the passageway would allow her exit. She hadn't even made it a step before a powerful blow from behind had sent her unconscious.

A small groan filled her chest and it was then she realized that it was bare. Not only that, it wasn't her own. It was Severus'. The polyjuice potion was still running through her system which meant whatever had happened had happened recently. Her sense of hearing had kicked in well over what was normal, telling her that she wasn't alone.

She could hear two distinct breathing patterns. One somewhat stuttered and very shallow. The other deeper, calmer, slower. A small and subtle shift of her arms told her that her wrists had been tied tight behind her, the wooden back of a chair keeping her awkwardly bent forward. A flex of her legs told her that her shins were similarly bound.

"Imagine my surprise when I believed myself a better duelist than the infamous Severus Snape?"

A cold shiver ran all the way down her spine, curling into her stomach where it formed a heavy stone. When the cloth held between her lips was pulled free she didn't hesitate, "What do you want?"

"What I've wanted from the beginning."

"You gave me six months."

"What can I say? I'm an opportunist." Marxan grinned darkly, running his hand through the hair of his latest purchase. A girl in her early twenties who happened to have the misfortune of being related to a blacklisted pureblood family who was ashamed of having a squib. He'd bought her at a deceptive price, promising to take her away from the war and out of the public eye. The family believed he would protect her, they were grievously misled. Though it didn't much matter now, as they were dead.