Prologue

Hermione felt her heart pounding as she was dragged across the dark lawn, her feet scrabbling to find purchase on the damp grass. A large building loomed over them, and the soft glow of light shone through the windows and speckled the ground beneath them. Her eyes darted to the side to see Harry and Ron in similar positions. Both boys were being clasped under the arms, though, where she had the rough hand of a snatcher clenched tightly in her hair. Her roots were screaming in protest at the treatment, and her curly hair was becoming more and more tangled around the man's knuckles.

Shit, shit, shit… her mind shouted at her, thinking of all the ways she could get her wand back, as well as the few meagre wandless spells she knew.

But nothing came to her; her heart was beating frantically.

Damnit Ron! God damnit.

The stupid imbecile had said You-Know-Who's name in a fit of anger. He had been pathetically jealous of her and Harry's friendship, even though she had tried to make it quite clear to him that they were like brother and sister.

First he had insulted and deserted them, then he had returned and spent a month sulking and making everything harder and slower, and now he had revealed them to the death eaters.

They would have been better off without him, after all. Even Harry, who had always been so loyal to his hot-headed friend, would have difficulty forgiving him for this. That was if they made it out alive, which seemed unlikely

As the building above them materialised into focus, she felt a shudder pass through her.

So this was Malfoy Manor.

No wonder Draco Malfoy strutted around the school like her owned the world. Seeing the palace-like structure she was starting to believe that maybe he did. Forcefully pushing the image of the arrogant blond from her mind to deal with more pressing issues, Hermione thrashed in the arms of her captors in a last ditch attempt to escape.

With a groan of effort she managed to kick out a foot and catch her kidnapper in the gut. He grunted in pain and twisted his fist to pull her hair harder, causing her to shriek in pain.

She struggled harder, and even managed to break one arm free and whack him in the nose.

At this point, the guards were yelling at each other to keep her restrained. Hermione felt her gut swoop and thud as she yanked away with all her strength. But just as she thought that maybe she was slipping free, the man caught her wrist and swung her into the wall. Her head hit the stone with a sickening crack and she felt her vision swoop madly around her as she blinked the black spots from her vision.

Desperately trying to cling to consciousness, she sent out a last pulse of magic, wandlessly, and heard the screams of pain from her guards, before she felt her body get heavy.

Slumping forwards, her last thought was one of immense satisfaction that maybe she had hurt some of them before she lost the battle and everything went black.