Captured

Chapter Twenty-One: Worse

The snow stayed, continuing on and off for the next couple days, and Hermione was grateful for it as she continued her research in the library, unfortunately further solidifying the fact that there seemed to be no way for her to get out of here without help from someone within.

Essentially, she would not be able to get out of here without the assistance of Malfoy.

Bollocks.

She had made progress with him, but they were still far from being to the point where he would willingly let her go. Not when it could negatively affect his mother. If she were to approach him about him letting her go, she would need to have a foolproof plan that would ensure his mother's safety.

That was what she thought about nearly all day now. Whether she was in the bath, in the library, wandering the manor; it was the last thing running through her mind at night and the first thing her waking mind wandered to. How to continue to change Malfoy's viewpoint, and planning a way to get out of here.

It was the first time since being brought to the manor that she thought she may actually have a chance of being able to make a difference from within. She had been honest when she had told Malfoy that he would be an asset. He was intelligent, being close to her in marks at Hogwarts in nearly every subject, even momentarily surpassing her on a subject or two throughout the years, and she had seen his spellwork; he was incredibly disciplined and talented. Just the year before he had completely fixed the Vanishing Cabinet with no prior knowledge of that type of magical object, and entirely by himself.

If she could turn him for the Order, convince him to help them and possibly fight for them, then he truly would be an asset.

And then, maybe her months spent here wouldn't have been wasted and spent entirely useless.

The familiar spark she usually felt when she was presented with a challenge had been fanned into a full flame by now, and she was determined to make progress with Malfoy. They had continued their odd routine, not talking really at all during the day with the exception of him catching her outside during that first snow, but regardless he had continued to come to her room each night. The only difference was that now, he sat in the replica of her favorite chair while she leaned against the wall on her bed opposite him, instead of sitting on both sides of the door. He would come to her room, knock, wait for her to say come in, and then would settle himself into the chair without a word.

She hadn't spoken much either in the past couple nights, unsure of the best way to continue her progress with him, but feeling as though they were at a precarious point and she needed to be careful with how she proceeded. If she came on too strong, too quickly, she could push him back into the comfort of what he was used to. She felt as though she were circling a caged dragon, trying to determine the best way to approach it, how to get close without triggering its defensive nature and ending up burned.

This is what was running through her mind as she slowly pulled on clothes for the day, and why she didn't see the item sitting on the floor when she opened her door.

She tripped over it and went tumbling into the wall opposite her room, letting out a hiss of pain as she slammed her elbow into the hard surface. She cradled her arm as she whipped her head back around to find the offending item.

It was nondescript, just a simple, brown, rectangular package that had been placed on the floor in front of her door. She frowned, eyebrows knitting together as she picked it up. There was no writing on the front, but the weight and shape of the item within felt very familiar. She wandered back into her room, her curiosity winning out over her sense of routine as she decided to open whatever this was before heading to the library like usual. She sat down on the bed and ripped open the paper, pulling out a leatherbound book from within.