Ours to Catch Chapter 3

Hermione swallowed the lump in her throat, trying to gather all her strength and Gryffindor courage to make up a plan for her to escape and then for her to get back to Hogwarts and to get help for her friends that were probably still at the Ministry. She just needed to get her facts straight as the two women seemed to be having their own private conversation.

First of all, she didn’t doubt this was Black Manor. Truthfully, she likely wouldn’t be able to tell Malfoy Manor from Black Manor; she just knew they were both much larger than any house she had ever put foot in and likely showed off all the wealth the owners had gathered. But the fact it was Black Manor meant there had to be a lot of dark arts and black magic artifacts all around the house. She would have to be careful if she chose to ran, there were probably hundreds of things in the house that could easily and quickly, or more likely slowly and painfully, kill her if she didn’t watch where she went. The Black family was notorious for their family practicing the black arts and all involved in it. Hermione could practically feel her mind begging to go exploring and to see what secrets and forgotten spells she could discover within these walls.

Second, she was painfully aware that she was insanely outmatched in terms of skill and power. Of course it had nothing to do with them being ‘purebloods’ and her a ‘mudblood’ but more to do with their age and time they’ve had to learn spells and then to practice those spells. Quite frankly, Hermione simply hadn’t been alive long enough for her to be able to know as much as the two sisters did when it came to spell casting and dueling; regardless of how much she read and studied. So if she were to try and escape, the sisters would be able to quickly counter anything she would toss at them. The only way Hermione would likely be able to win a duel between them would be if she were to only duel one of them, which they definitely wouldn’t allow, and if she used spells that they hadn’t heard of before.

And lastly, she wasn’t sure what they wanted with her. She knew all of Voldemort’s followers were trying to get their hands on her best friend, on Harry. But she hadn’t ever been used as bait before; there was never really any reason for them to use her. They were only in their fifth year, it wasn’t like they would be able to travel that far without an apparition license and not that much money. She was the most well off between the three of them and while her parents owned their dentistry practice, it didn’t exactly mean she was one of the wealthy; it just meant that she was able to live comfortably. But she wasn’t someone important enough in wizard society to take hostage to try and get Harry Potter to do something. She had no idea what their plan could be or what they may intend to do with her and she still needed to decide if she was going to focus on getting out or getting more information.

“What do you want with me?” Hermione asked, thankful that she was able to hold her wand steadily as she pointed it at Bellatrix Lestrange, the one most likely to attack her first. She just hoped that if they did attack her it wouldn’t be with a spell that she couldn’t defend against.

The sisters shared a brief look and then while Bellatrix gave Hermione a look that made the bushy haired teenager feel like a mouse in front of lions, it was Narcissa that answered, “That’s a very loaded question with a lot of different answers that I’m not convinced you would understand even if I were to tell you all about it.” Narcissa said, causing Hermione to grit her teeth. If there was one way for someone to insult Hermione and to get under her skin, it was to insult her intelligence. And saying that Hermione wouldn’t understand something was as insulting as someone could get towards Hermione without flat out calling her an idiot.

“Then you can let me go.” Hermione countered right away. She didn’t want to play their mind games, the games that Narcissa was very much known for since she went to Hogwarts herself. Hermione would have to be careful to not fall into any of her traps.

“But what fun would that be?” Bellatrix said with a pout and with such a faux sad tone that Hermione had to mentally remind herself that snorting at the woman that could easily best her in a dual wouldn’t be the smartest thing for her to do. She figured if she could buy herself enough time, someone would come for her, they just had to realize she wasn’t with that at the Ministry anymore and her friends would demand she be rescued. “We can’t have you running away so quickly.” She said with a Cheshire grin that had chills going up Hermione’s back that she hoped the women wouldn’t be able to see.

“Behave Bella.” Narcissa chastised, knowing they were walking a thin line and having the girl run away and do what they want her to would only hurt their plans. She knew in the end, the results would be the same no matter which way they went about it. But, preferably, she wanted them to get to the end result as quickly and easily as possible; otherwise, what was the point of their planning and scheming all these years? “There is really only one thing we want from you, just one reason why Bella brought you here.”

“Why?” Hermione demanded, barely stopping herself from rolling her eyes. They were dragging out this conversation for some reason and she couldn’t think of why besides to wait for Voldemort to get there and to give her up to him.

Narcissa pointed her wand towards the door that Hermione wasn’t near but still caused the brunette to ready herself for an attack, “We want you to read a book that no one outside of the Black family has ever read since it was written.”

An old, leatherbound journal zoomed into Narcissa’s hands and just from looking at it, Hermione knew that the journal was hand written and likely belonged to someone from several centuries ago. The nerd in Hermione really wanted to get her hands on the journal to read it and see what someone’s thoughts and behaviors were like from so long ago. She wanted to get a chance to walk in someone’s shoes that no longer lived. On the other hand, she remembered what happened to Ginny in their second year with Tom Riddle’s journal and Hermione wanted nothing to do with that. She didn’t want to inadvertently get herself possessed or cursed or anything else just from reading a book just for the sake of curiosity.

“I think I’ll pass, thank you.” Hermione said.

“It wasn’t really an option muddy.” Bellatrix said as she started to twirl her wand in her hair, acting like she was bored and not paying much attention to what was going on around her. Hermione knew better. Bellatrix was definitely paying attention and would likely still be able to defend against anything Hermione may hit her with if she were to attack. “Are you really going to pass up on reading something passed down many generations of the Most Noble and Most Ancient House of Black? There are many people that would kill to have that honor.” Bellatrix said with a growl as if Hermione should feel honored that she was being offered to read someone’s diary. Hermione wouldn’t admit it, but she really did want to read the diary but she wasn’t willing to risk being cursed to do so.

“If you don’t want answers, then you don’t have to.” Narcissa said as she laid the book in her lap, clasping her hands over it. “But then you wouldn’t understand why Dumbledore is relying on three children to fight his war. You wouldn’t understand why a man has fought death itself to win his war.” Narcissa said with a pointed look, making Hermione mentally drool at the type of knowledge that was being offered and the accusations that were being tossed around. “And finally, you would understand why it is I am currently living in Black Manor instead of Malfoy Manor and why it is that such a powerful dark wizard that has been practicing magic for decades can somehow be bested by a bunch of children that barely has comparable talent.”

That was a lot for Hermione to think about and while she didn’t really want to question the way her life had been going since starting Hogwarts, there really were some questionable actions that she had opted to overlook and ignore in favor of having friends for the first time. But now that Narcissa was pointing out what she had purposefully always ignored, she began to wonder why it was no other adults questioned the trouble the three of them always found themselves in. Hermione knew her parents didn’t question anything because she didn’t say anything. She knew Harry’s aunt and uncle wouldn’t question anything because unfortunately they likely just didn’t care. But the Weasley’s should have known everything they had gotten into and should have questioned the security and safety of the students after all three of them helped stop Voldemort their first year by outsmarting their own professor’s security measures. In fact, how was it that three first years were able to defeat the traps the professor’s put up that were meant to protect something so precious?

Hermione really wanted to know why.

“That is something for Dumbledore to worry about not me.” Hermione answered, regretting the words coming out of her mouth. If Dumbledore was so concerned about his students safety, he wouldn’t have let Harry fight a basilisk in his own castle; in fact, how did he not know there was a giant basilisk roaming his school for several decades? Shouldn’t the giant snake have left some sort of sign of just existing before their second year when Ginny got a hold of the cursed diary?

“That old bat wouldn’t care about anything outside of his own gain.” Bellatrix said with a sneer. “He would rather let a bunch of kids fight his war that he had a lot of influence in starting than admitting he may be wrong. Sounds like a really great guy to run to for help.” Bellatrix said as she collapsed on an armchair next to where her sister sat in the most unladylike way possible with her legs thrown over an arm rest and one arm stretched across the back.

“We will let you walk free, no strings and no threats, all we ask is for you to read the journal.” Narcissa said in a soft tone, knowing that sounding as unthreatening as possible and to offer remarkably unknown knowledge to the girl was the best way to get the bushy haired girl to agree.

Hermione was seriously considering taking up the offer. If anything, she could accept the journal and then run every diagnostic she could to make sure it was safe. She could even wait to read until she got home, after running all the diagnostic spells at Hogwarts so she would break any laws of course, to make sure that no one could snoop over her shoulder and question what she was reading in case the journal had some sensitive information.

Hermione had even started to lower her wand and was mentally preparing herself to make some conditions on accepting the journal, but she was cut off when the door slammed open making everyone in the room turn their attention, and Hermione’s wand, towards the intruder.

Once Hermione realized who it was, she couldn’t decide if it was a good think or bad, especially considering she had thought the woman who just barreled her way into the room was meant to be on the other side of the war. Hermione hadn’t thought things could get more confusing, but with Tonks standing in the doorway and the two sisters seeming nonplussed about her sudden appearance, Hermione knew there was a lot more going on than she had previously thought there was.