Author Note – Hi guys! Sorry for the long wait... But here is the new chapter :) Hope you enjoy it, it's our longest yet. And before you start shouting at us for the wait and telling us not to do it again, cheshire's computer was broken and she was working from her phone and couldn't send me the chapters while I got thoroughly addicted to runescape... Anywhoo, enjoy! Oh and Trapped will be up soon along with a new fan fiction!
Love from Sophini x
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Lind slithered off Hermione's bed and onto the floor, sliding over to another girl's bed and snapping at her foot, causing her to scream and run from the room.
Lind was worried...
Hermione had been gone for a long time and Lind could sense that she wasn't the only snake in the castle...
Another one was nearby...
A much bigger and older snake...
But Lind could take it on... She knew she could. The castle was Lind's territory and she wouldn't have a big imposter invading her space and marking it as their own.
She'd look for Hermione later...
First, she had a snake to deal with...
Only if she could find it first though.
Xxxxxx
"Abraxas..." Hermione sighed happily, sending him a grin that seemed to light up her entire face.
"Hermione," he sighed back, allowing himself to send her a smile back, a smile that was saved only for her.
They were both laying in a field. Daisies and other wild flowers were dotted all over the thick, green grass and the sun shone overhead catching in Hermione's hair, making it shine like a halo.
She looked like an angel.
But then again, she always looked like an angel to Abraxas.
A picnic basket lay over by a mighty oak tree, its contents forgotten as the two who were sharing it sat on the green and white checker blanket.
"You're beautiful, you know that?" Abraxas said suddenly-surprising himself. He caught sight of her blush before he studied the clouds, trying to avoid her gaze.
There was silence.
"..Thanks...Wait, that's not the only reason you like me?" Abraxas could hear the question in her voice.
"No," he chuckled, "You're beautiful, smart, witty...not a Gryffindor," he could see her raise her eyebrows at him, "and you make me do things...say things that normally never would. But it's ok, because you don't judge me, you don't see me as Abraxas, heir to the Malfoy line."
He looked over at her again, to see her lying on her stomach, fiddling with a buttercup.
She rolled over beside him.
"Abraxas, I like you too. This may sound strange, but you're the one person I can trust above all others, and you're not as bad as I expected you to be." It was his turn to raise an eyebrow.
She put her hands on his face, and whispered.
"I'll let you in on a secret," he could feel her breath fanning over his face, "I like you too. You're decent, for a Slytherin of course, and you're handsome, but also intelligent and you treat me well-"
He didn't let her finish because he had leaned down to capture her lips with his. He stayed there for a second, just feeling her lips, before he started to move, slowly caressing her mouth with his.
He felt her tongue peek out as he threaded his fingers through her hair, she was so-
Abraxas rolled over in bed and breathed in deeply.
His eyes flickered open and he blinked as his eyes adjusted to the bright morning light streaming through the curtains.
His most perfect dream had been interrupted, but that was ok.
He'd have the real thing instead.
Today would be perfect.
It was a Saturday and despite the fact Slughorn's "attacker" still hadn't been found, the Hogsmeade visits were back on.
It was going to be the first time Hermione would be in Hogsmeade and Abraxas planned to take her to Madam Puddifoot's...
He closed his eyes and sighed happily, only to have the activities of last night flash before his eyes.
Abraxas sat bolt upright in bed.
Fomalhault was fast asleep, snoring, so were a few other boys.
Tom wasn't there.
And Cygnus... Sleeping fitfully, sweating, rolling around and getting tangled in his bed sheets.
He was still wearing his robes.
Abraxas pulled himself out of bed and got dressed for the day before going over to Cygnus, grabbing him by the shoulders of his robes and throwing him to the other side of the room with a roar.
His head hit Fomalhault's bed with a thump and everyone in the dorm woke with a start.
"Abraxas...?" Cygnus said groggily.
"What's going on?" Fomalhault scowled, wiping his eyes in confusion.
"YOU'RE A BASTARD, YOU KNOW THAT?" Abraxas roared.
Without another word, Abraxas grabbed some money from under his bed and left the room.
He went straight to Hermione's dorm and knocked on the door.
There was no answer at first and then Mizar opened the door a crack with Tauri behind her, both of them in fluffy Slytherin green bathrobes, with their hair sticking out at odd angles.
"Abraxas..." Tauri purred, batting her eyelids flirtiously when she saw it was him.
It didn't really work though, considering she still had bits of gunk in the corner's of her eyes.
"Is Hermione there?" Abraxas said without hesitation, making Tauri scowl.
"No... Umm, she didn't come back last night..." Mizar said slowly, as if struggling to get the word's out, while unsuccessfully trying to smooth her dark hair down, "And her giant... worm...no, uh...snake thing disappeared too."
Abraxas growled under his breath and turned on his heel, leaving the girls staring after him as he stormed down the stairs to the Slytherin common room.
Where could Hermione be?
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Hermione groaned and rolled over in bed.
For some reason her wrists and thighs really hurt... But her bed did seem more comfortable than usual.
"Lind..." She murmured quietly, reaching her hand out for the reassuring feel off the snake's green and brown scales.
She couldn't seem to find her so Hermione slowly pulled herself upright in bed and opened her eyes.
To be met by a shocking sight...
Tom Riddle, sitting with his legs crossed on the end of her bed, gazing at her with curious eyes.
Memories of the night before flooded back to her and Hermione gasped and scrambled out of bed and across the room.
As she spun around, trying to find the door, she took in a tidy room, containing two large bookcases, a writing desk, a small kitchen area and a bed.
The carpet was plush and Slytherin green in colour, with swirls of silver thread decorating it. The walls had a similar effect, giving the whole room a dark, underwater quality.
The only light came from small candles, positioned randomly around the room.
Hermione finally found a mahogany door with a silver handle and yanked it open, only to find a small bathroom, containing a sink, a bath and a toilet.
There were no other doors in the room so Hermione's gaze once again found Tom's.
"Morning... Westron," Tom smirked, "You're a deep sleeper..."
"Where the hell am I, Riddle?" Hermione demanded, "And how do I get out?"
"Well that's hardly the way to treat your host," Tom laughed, "And besides... It doesn't matter how you get out. You won't and I know you'll be quite comfortable here."
Hermione didn't answer him and walked over to the writing desk, noticing it held numerous sheets of parchment and a quill with ink.
It was then she noticed what she was wearing.
Rather than the robes she'd been wearing the night before, Hermione was now clothed in a green, silk night dress which she thought was rather revealing.
"Oh, Westron," Tom said, noticing her looking at her night wear, "When you passed out... I took the liberty of undressing you."
"You wouldn't dare," Hermione hissed.
"I would and I did," Tom smirked, "... Your breakfast's beside the stove, by the way."
Glaring at Tom as if her eyes could pierce a hole in him, Hermione slowly walked over to the oven to find a steaming plate of bacon, toast and hard boiled eggs as Tom got up and started to walk over to the writing desk that Hermione had just left.
He froze as the plate whizzed past his head and the eggs hit the wall while the bacon and toast hit the carpet in front of him, leaving a greasy stain.
Hermione'd threw it at him...
"Where's my wand, Riddle?" She demanded as soon as he'd turned back in her direction.
"You will not dirty the Chamber of Salazar Slytherin..." Tom hissed menacingly, "You should be grateful I brought you here... No one has ever had the privilege of being here before..."
"I could never be grateful to you, you bloody psycho!" Hermione snapped angrily.
"You will clean this up by the time I return," Tom growled, as if he hadn't heard her, "And you will be changed and be presentable... You'll find everything you need in the bathroom."
"I -" Hermione started to protest.
"IF I WERE YOU, WESTRON, I'D DO AS I SAY!" Tom roared furiously, "YOU WILL NOT DIRTY THE CHAMBER OF SALAZAR SLYTHERIN! YOU WILL CLEAN THIS UP BEFORE I RETURN OR YOU WILL HAVE NO MORE FOOD FOR THE REST OF THE WEEK!"
Hermione gasped at his outburst and took a frightened step back.
"Start cleaning," Tom snarled.
And with that he disappeared.
The candles spluttered and went out in a sudden wind that made Hermione shudder and she ran to the bed, wrapping herself in the soft blankets as if to fight off the darkness that was enclosing her.
She sat there for a while, shivering, until she finally warmed and rose from the bed ever so slightly.
"...Riddle?" Hermione whispered, "Are you there?"
There was no response.
And Hermione was getting scared.
She didn't have a clue where she was and she had no wand to protect herself.
And Tom had scared her... He'd kept talking about Salazar Slytherin and last night... Hermione had said something she shouldn't have... Something about being a 21st century feminist...
And then another memory from last night came back to her...
Tom, hissing in what Hermione now thought must be Parseltounge and the sinks pulling apart before Tom jumped down, with Hermione in his arms.
The Chamber...
Hermione didn't know where but she was somewhere in the Chamber of Secrets, built by Salazar Slytherin, and she had to get out before his heir returned.
It was time for that wandless magic to come in handy...
"Lumos maxima!"
A small ball of light appeared in the air in front of her and Hermione jumped up and ran towards the far wall, searching with her hands for... For something. A trap door. A release button. Anything.
She searched every wall but found nothing until, frustrated, she kicked one of the bookcases only to have it topple in wards, revealing a dark tunnel, sloping steeply downwards.
Not expecting it, Hermione screamed and toppled forward into the tunnel, leaving the forgotten breakfast smeared on the walls and floor as she slid into the unknown.
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Lind had got herself into the school water supply...
She was still searching for the other snake and could smell its scent most strongly in the pipes...
So that's where Lind had gone.
Currently, she was slithering through pipe filled with water that was large enough for a train to get down.
Lind had been going downwards for the longest time but using her tail to direct her, Lind kept swimming forward until she sensed light above her and moved upwards.
She broke from the water into a large tiled chamber, filled with huge statues of snakes and what looked like a huge bone white head.
There were more pipes here and Lind could smell the snake even more strongly.
She'd just heaved her body out of the water when the mouth of the giant head opened and Hermione flew out, screaming at the top of her lungs.
Lind turned around to face Hermione, who was rubbing her knees which she'd landed on, in acknowledgement before hissing in Parseltounge, "Go back to the dormitory...," and slithering off.
"Lind? Where are you going?" Hermione frowned in confusion, quickly picking herself up and dusting her robes off.
Lind didn't respond and started to slither towards the open pipes at the other end of the Chamber.
"Lind? Lind!"
Without another word, Hermione sprinted after her snake, her feet splashing in the water covered floor as she entered the huge pipes.
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Hermione ignored the grand snake statues and decorations as she ran as fast as she could after her snake. She ran and ran until Lind turned down one of the many tunnels, left, then right, then left again.
They ended up in a room that would have been insignificant except for the fact that there was a huge pool of water directly in the middle of the floor.
It was held in a marble well-like shape that was ornately decorated by the multitude of animals carved into it. Not just snakes, or even any of the other house's animals, but almost every kind.
The water was almost silver and seemed to pulse and shimmer as Hermione neared it.
Etched on the floor around the pool were a series of runes - some Hermione herself was not familiar with. She walked towards it, transfixed by the beauty of the feature.
One hand was stretched, as if to touch.
But she was jerked out of her daze by Lind's loud hiss.
"What? Lind, I can't understand you!"
Lind seemed to roll her eyes and hissed again, flicking out with her tail.
"Lind, I wish I could understand you but I'm not a Parselmouth!"
Lind seemed to draw herself up, rather indignantly, but Hermione's attention had been drawn, once again, to the pool.
Lines danced across the surface, twisting and entwining until suddenly, they stopped.
The water lay still, but there were now words (in a medieval text) dancing over the surface.
They read, "Stay Mistress, something needs to be done before I can show you the way out. Be careful, there's something here. A snake and it's very big."
"Lind, did you tell me I needed to stay..?" Hermione tried to rationalize the situation.
In a world of magic she still couldn't comprehend some things.
Lind let out a long spitting and hissing sound. The lines danced again until they formed the words,
"Yes, amongst other things..."
With that, Lind slithered off leaving Hermione with her thoughts, and a pool that could apparently translate Parseltongue.
Hermione tried to keep faith in her familiar.
She needed a plan.
Sitting down, she wondered how she had ended up here from how she used to be. A little girl of eleven, curious and filled with wonder about a world of magic, one she was now part of, to a girl who almost sleeps with the Darkest wizard since the days of Merlin and Morgana...
Her mind couldn't help but drift to those who had turned their backs on her.
Well, they are Slytherins...
Her "friends".
She wondered what they were doing, did they know where she was?
How long had she been here for, surely someone would have noticed?
And as much she wished that she could hate them, a bigger part of her held out, wanted these friends.
Or at least the ones who hadn't actually tried to kill her...
"I wish I knew what they were doing." Hermione let out a sigh and sat on the floor.
The marble seemed a little too...something...to sit on...
She sat with her head in her hands until a noise pulled her out of her thoughts.
"What about Hermione? Huh? Where is she?"
That sounds suspiciously like Fomalhault.
She stood and walked towards the source of the noise. It was the pool, and it was playing out a scene. It looked like the Slytherin boys' dorm rooms,and Abraxas, Fomalhault and Cygnus stood facing each other-all looking angry and defensive, each with their hands on their wands.
She didn't know what to do. Did she stick her head in, like it was a Pensive, or just stand and watch? Her mind was made up as one of the marble tiles slowly rose from the floor forming a seat, directly in front of the pool. Hermione sat down and allowed herself to be pulled into the scene laid before her.