Around The Ring; Chapter 3; Tonight

Hermione awoke to a burning body. She was laying on her belly, and her arms were still tied and twisted in a strange way. Her insides felt like they were on fire. She felt like they had poured acid inside of her uterus. She groaned heavily, ignoring the tears that filled her eyes.

"Missus?"

Hermione turned her head a bit, to look at the elf beside her.

"Gretty is sorry, but Mister Malfoy's forgot to use contraceptive charms. Master Pettigrew is making Gretty make sure there will be no Malfoy heir." The elf did look very sad. Very upset from the fact that-

"Fuck!" Hermione shouted, her body contorting. She could feel a fresh bout of blood running down her thighs. It was then, she noticed, that she was still on her knees. It couldn't have been too long since Lucius had left.

She hadn't known of any after-sex contraceptives, other than the muggle kind. This must have been some sort of dark magic, something that needed more blood than actually had to happen. It was the only explanation.

The burning stopped, and a cooling charm was in place. She felt a bit more relieved, but she was still sore.

Gretty vanished her binds, and helped her lay on her back.

"Gretty has drawn Missus a bath. Missus will eat, and then attend to Master before she sleeps." Gretty told her.

Hermione nodded.

Make them trust you. It's only a matter of time.

ATR ATR ATR ATR

They had been searching for hours. They had been all around Grimmauld Place, the Burrow, hell, Sirius even apparated to Hermione's childhood home. Alas, they couldn't find the girls used items anywhere.

"What are we to do?" Ron asked, slumping into a chair at Sirius' dining table.

"We don't give up." Bill growled.

"Of course we don't!" Fred exclaimed, pacing the room.

"We need..something. Maybe..no." Remus shook his head.

"What is it then, Remus? We need an idea." Sirius huffed, slamming his fist on the table.

"Underwear." Remus blushed.

"What?" Harry asked.

"If they are...you know… Her underwear would have a stronger smell as well. It isn't blood but-"

"Dirty perv!" George started.

"Ye just want a hold of Hermione's knickers!" Fred finished, albit more teasingly than his brother.

"It makes sense. A girls knickers smells more like her than anything else." Bill confirmed.

"Hermione is going to be pretty cross when she finds out you've been sniffing her knickers." Harry mentioned, his eyebrows shooting to his forehead.

"Yes, but these should be much easier to find." Remus stood.

"If the witch hasn't already done all of her laundry." Sirius groaned, moving away from the table to apparate back to the Granger's.

ATR ATR ATR ATR

Hermione felt heavenly in the bathwater. It was hot, and had a series of potions poured into it to make her feel calm, relaxed, and...heavenly. She really appreciated Gretty, even if the elf had to hurt her from time to time. She knew it wasn't her fault...when she got out of here, she was going to have to bring the Elf with her. Even if Pettigrew wasn't dead, she would figure out how to get the elf under her ownership, or even free, if that's what she wanted.

Hermione had come to understand that not all Elves wanted to be free. Some of them enjoyed the work. She didn't like it, but she knew that now.

Gretty brought her some nice soup, and some toasted bread. Hermione ate it while she soaked in the tub. Her time was up before she wanted it to be, though, and she was helped out with a quick drying spell.

"Master is in the bedroom." Gretty told her.

Hermione nodded, took a deep breath, and did her best to not grimace with every step she took.

"Alright, girl?" Peter asked her, as he lounged on the bed, clad only in underwear.

"Yes, sir." Hermione said, keeping her eyes away from his. She was hoping to make it look like a submissive thing, more than her avoiding his possible legilimens, if he was even skilled enough for it.

"What's this? New attitude? Come over here, then."

ATR ATR ATR ATR

"Nothing recent at the Grangers." Sirius hollered, as he landed back inside of his house.

"Nothing here!" Harry called from up the stairs.

"We may have to call for Ginny. Ginny can get into the girls dorm at Hogwarts."

"Ronnikens! You're a genius!"

ATR ATR ATR ATR

"There's no laundry up there. God you guys are weird. The House Elves pick them all up on Wednesday, remember? It's Thursday now. I don't even want to know why you want a pair of Hermione's knickers." Ginny winced over the floo call.

"Thanks anyways, Gin."

"Whatever."

Fred ended the floo call, rubbing his face. Since when did the laundry get washed on Wednesdays? Maybe he just took it for granted...they all did.

Once again stumped, the seven of them plopped into seats at Grimmauld Place.

"I am thoroughly out of ideas." Remus sighed,

"That makes two of us." Bill quipped.

"So we're giving up? We're just going to wait for them to throw 'Mione on our doorstep all bloody?" Ron asked, banging his fist on the table.

"Of course not, Ronald. We just can't think of anything-"

"Bloody idiots! Kreacher!" Sirius hopped up.

POP

"Yes?"

"Kreacher, can you apparate to Hermione?" Sirius asked him.

"Kreacher will not help a Mud-"

"Kreacher! You will listen to me! Apparate to Hermione, bring her back here!"

"I despise you-"

POP

"Good thinking, Sirius. I can't believe-"

POP

"Kreacher cannot reach the mudblood. There are magical wards."

POP

"Bloody-"

"Hell!" Fred and George roared, both standing and flipping the long table over, efficiently smashing a few toes.

"How the hell is Pettigrew so bloody smart?" Harry asked, turning away from the room.

An Owl flew into the room.

ATR ATR ATR ATR

Hours after Hermione had appeased to Pettigrew's wants, she received another knock on the door.

Lucius came strutting in, pulling his gloves off as he came, his cane resting against the door.

"Good afternoon, Miss Granger."

"Good afternoon." She said softly, her eyes downcast.

Lucius tutted at her.

"Now, now, little girl. Is that any way to receive your guest? On your knees." Lucius stopped moving.

Hermione swallowed hard, moving off of the bed and onto her knees in front of the man.

"Any time I come see you, you will welcome me on your knees. Understood?" He asked her, tilting her chin up with a single finger.

"Yes, sir."

"You're shaping up nicely. And to think, Peter and I expected you to break a long time from now. You must be weaker than we all thought." Lucius laughed, as he began undoing his belt.

Hermione felt her temper flare. She had worked for years to not be thought of as weak because of her blood. She felt like she was undoing that by simply being here.

"Ah-ah. I will say whatever I please without you reacting. Stand up."

Hermione stood, and allowed herself to be dragged over to the chair in the corner. Lucius sat, and bent her over his knees. He clutched his gloves in one hand.

"I will not get angry. Say it." He growled to her.

"I will not get angry." Hermione mumbled.

Lucius smacked her with his gloves.

"What was that?"

"I will not get angry." She said, a bit louder, her bum stinging from the slap.

Lucius brought the gloves down harder, eliciting a groan from Hermione.

"Again."

ATR ATR ATR ATR

"More bloody pictures…" Bill huffed, his eyes training on the areas around.

"More evidence to get her away from him...if the man doesn't get bloody strangled." Remus mused, almost calmly now. He didn't see reason in panicking anymore. She would survive until they got there.

He didn't want her to go through such things, but it would make her stronger in the end.

"Voldemort is in the Ministry right now. Nothing is going to get her away other than his death!" Harry shouted, just about to his wits end.

"Harry, shouting isn't going to hel-"

"Us standing here doing nothing isn't bloody helping either!" Harry huffed, throwing his arms up dramatically.

"We need to be level headed! Get angry after Hermione is safe!" Bill hollered, smashing his fist into the recently righted table.

"Look who's talking!"

"Cut it out!" Sirius roared, as he stood straight. His chair flew across the room with his actions. "Honestly! Getting angry or into a bloody yelling match will not help anything! Calm the fu-!"

"I have an idea."

ATR ATR ATR ATR

With a sore arse and limbs, Hermione crawled into bed. Her throat was beginning to hurt from all of the yelling and crying. It was becoming very irritating.

Hermione didn't know how long she had laid on the bed, but the door opened before she could fall asleep. She kept her groan in. She was exhausted. She didn't think she could take much more of this today.

However, instead of someone demanding she pleased them, she felt a cooling cream being rubbed on her bare arse. She moved her head, only to see Lucius standing over her. His hands were being so soft and delicate on her skin, she couldn't even imagine what he had been doing to her previously.

"I told you before. I will be much nicer to you than he." Was all he said, before he stepped back. He gave her a tight nod, before leaving the room.

She didn't understand what the hell was going on anymore. She just wanted to get the hell out of here, and now.

ATR ATR ATR ATR

Hermione awoke the next morning with a headache more than anything else. She was also delighted that she hadn't been woken up to appease Peter. She didn't want anything to do with him. She slowly got out of the bed and stretched her limbs out. Her body felt tight. Just as she was bending over to touch her toes, the door opened. She froze.

"Honestly, do stand down, Miss Granger. I want nothing to do with all of that." The nasally voice drawled.

Hermione stood quickly and grabbed for the bedsheets, covering her body. She didn't know if she was delighted or frightened to hear Snape's voice.

"What are you doing here, Professor?" She asked, her voice thick.

"Here to bring you school work." He told her, his eyes everywhere but her. True to his words, a stack of books appeared out of his pocket, and he sat them on the table.

"If I were you, I would pay close attention to page 394 of Advanced Potions, Miss Granger. It will be on a test, soon."

Hermione nodded, her eyes bulging a bit as her professor bowed his head and left the room. She could hear him speaking with Pettigrew in the other room as if they were old mates… she wondered if he was doing that on purpose.

Hermione tucked the sheet around her, and moved over to the books. She dug through the stack before finding the Advanced Potions textbook. She quickly flipped through the pages, before she found a circled paragraph.

'There have been instances of potions being used for secret messages. These potions act like invisible ink. The area the potion is on has been sufficiently soaked in the liquid of the original user's choosing for the message to show up. The liquid could be a variety of things, including, but not limited to, water, ginger root extract, bats urine, goblin drool, etc. Generally, the potion works best on paper products, or woods.'

Hermione read over the passage over and over, her head cocked to the side. Obviously, Snape had sent her a secret message, and she needed ginger root extract to get the message, but what would be put the message on?

Hermione bit down on her tongue as she looked through everything else he brought her. Nothing stuck out like that had, and she had even skimmed through every book. With an irritable huff, Hermione stared at the passage for longer before it finally clicked.

"Gretty," She whispered.

POP

"Yes, Missus?"

"Can you grab me some ginger root extract?...And some food?"

"Of course, Missus."

POP

Hermione was slightly surprised Gretty hadn't asked her why she needed the extract, but Hermione was happy she didn't have to lie to the elf.

With shaking hands, Hermione ripped the paper out of the book, and shut it. She moved over and sat on the bed to wait for Gretty to return.

POP

"Thank you Gretty."

"Gretty's pleasure."

POP

Hermione took the bottle of the ginger root extract and made her way into the bathroom. She plugged the sink, and placed the paper into it. Slowly, she poured the bottle onto the paper, and prayed to Godric that she had the right idea.

The circled paragraph began changing before her eyes, and Hermione had to hold in her whoop of happiness.

She leaned over the sink to read the single word.

'Tonight.'