YOUNG BLOOD. ❪ Hermione Granger ❫ ✓

sixteen

Ron and Harry were escorted into the cellar of Malfoy Manor. They were shoved into the cellar, leaving them alone. Ron, Deluminator in hand, clicked it, sending a ball of light across the darkness, causing a gaslight to flicker on. Luna poked out of a pillar.

"You look strange, Harry," Luna commented. "Mr. Ollivander, look who's here. It's Harry Potter."

Griphook was standing in the shadows. Next to him, sitting slumped against the wall, was Ollivander, looking frail.

"Hello, sir," Harry greeted.

Suddenly, Hermione screamed in pain.

"Was that Hermione?"

Sally crept toward the group, eyeing Harry and Ron for answers.

"Sally, you're - you're alive," Harry said. "Have you been here this whole time?"

She nodded. "Ever since the wedding. Is that Hermione? Upstairs?"

Ron nodded. "She's with Black."

"Bellatrix?" Sally whispered. "She's a lunatic! Who knows what she's doing to Hermione? We have to do something. You must have a plan, Harry."

"There's no way out," Ollivander replied. "You know that, Miss McKnight. We've tried everything."

"You're bleeding, Harry," said Luna as she pointed downward.

Harry removed his glasses from his pocket, slipped them on and peered at his sock, where blood had soaked through. Harry reached down, pulling the sock away from his ankle, revealing a small thing and the thing that caused it: the mirror shard.

"That's a curious thing to hide in your sock," Luna retorted.

Taking the shard, Harry turned the silvery side toward himself. For a split second, the eye seemed to flicker there again. Harry wiped away the film of blood, but the eye was gone.

"You were hiding it, weren't you?" Luna asked.

Before Harry could respond, Hermione screamed again. Harry peered into the mirror.

"Help us," he whispered.

Footsteps were coming near. Ron clicked the Deluminator and the light was off. The cellar door opened and Peter Pettigrew's silhouette appeared in a shaft of light. Sally rushed forward, but Pettigrew stopped her with a gesture of his wand.

"You're pathetic," she spat out. "Absolutely pathetic. You're a coward."

"Shut it! You. Goblin. Come with me," Pettigrew demanded.

Once they left, Ron clicked the Deluminator again and the light returned. Dobby materialized before them.

"Dobby, what're you doing here?" Harry asked.

"Dobby has come to rescue Harry Potter, of course," he replied.

Everyone stared, stunned. Harry stared in similar amazement at the mirror glittering in his palm.

"Do you mean to say you can Apparate in and out of here? And take us with you?" Harry asked.

"Of course, I'm an elf."

Ron shrugged. "Works for me."

Harry nodded. "Right. Dobby, I want you to take Luna, Sally, and Mr. Ollivander to - "

"Shell Cottage on the outskirts of Tinworth," Ron interrupted."

Harry looked at him in confusion.

"Trust me," Ron reassured.

"I'm not going," Sally said, causing everyone to look at her. "Do you think I'm going to leave Hermione up there?"

"We'll bring her back safely," Harry reassured.

Sally shook her head. "That's not enough, Harry. We are in the middle of a war. Do you think promises and reassurances mean anything? I want to help, Harry."

Harry nodded, then turned to Luna. "You'll see to Mr. Ollivander?"

"Of course." She looked down at Dobby. "Whenever you're ready, sir."

Dobby blinked and grinned. "Like her very much. Meet me at the top of the stairs in ten seconds."

Luna and Ollivander each took Dobby's hand and vanished in a swirl of colors. Harry, Ron, and Sally peered at each other, then rushed up the stairs toward the sliver of light under the door above. The knob turned and light splashed into the cellar as Pettigrew stood in the doorway. The teenagers froze, then watched Pettigrew fall forward, tumbling in a heavy heap on the cement floor below. They turned back as Dobby appeared with Pettigrew's wand in his tiny fist.

"Who gets his wand?" Dobby asked.