Grey-Eyed Serpent √

Chapter One

Hermione Granger

The dungeon is cold, dark, and damp. You would think that, given the size and state of the rest of the manor, the Malfoys would at least keep their dungeon fairly clean. Apparently not. At least we're not chained to the wall or floor, and the room is wide and the ceiling high enough to stand up perfectly straight.

I begin to pace back and forth. I'm not about to give up yet, no way. You won't get rid of Hermione Granger that easily. Ron sits in the corner, his knees pulled up against his chest. It seems he's given up already, which is a shame, since when he puts his mind to something, he's actually brilliant. A small smile appears on my face at the thought as I pass by Harry for the millionth time.

"Hermione, what are you doing?" Harry asks. "Pacing won't help, we need to do something." I turn to face him, hold up an arm, about to yell, but then let it fall to my side again.

I sigh deeply. "Harry, I honestly don't know what to do. They took our wands, and these bars are sealed with magic, so we can't break out. We'll just have to wait, and fight when we get the chance. For now, we'll...well, do what Ron's doing." I gesture at Ron in the corner. Ron gives a small smile and goes back to drumming his fingers on the ground.

Harry makes a sound, and I turn to him. "Well, what do you expect us to do? You know we can't do anything. Harry, I understand you want to get right to it, but we just can't." Before he can argue back, I sit on the floor and mimic Ron's position. Soon enough, Harry slides down beside me.

I hear shoes on the ground and look in the direction of the nearby stairs. Draco Malfoy, his hands in his pockets, stands there, staring at us. I look away, rolling my eyes. It's partially his fault we're here, anyway.

He unlocks the door, and I feel Harry tense beside me. He wants to make a break for it, I can tell, but I place a hand on his knee and shake my head slow enough that only he can see it.

Draco closes the door and takes out his wand. When none of us moves to attack him or anything, he leans against the wall and drums his wand on his leg. I see Ron staring at it, and before I can stop him, he lunges for it.

Draco kicks him in the face, and Ron pulls back holding his nose. I'm about to throw myself at Draco, but this time it's Harry who restrains me. I keep my eyes on Draco as I sit back down. Soon enough, he takes a seat only a few feet away from me.

After a few moments of silence, Draco clears his throat. "How are you?"

"What kind of a question is that?" Ron snaps, lifting his head. I hiss his name in his direction, but he either doesn't hear it or ignores me. "Do you expect us to say fine? Great? Wonderful? I bet you hope we say terrible, don't you?" Ron shrinks away, pressing against the back wall, as far away from Draco as he can get.

Draco sighs. "No," he says simply. No to what? Which one of Ron's many questions? Draco stands again, sighs again. "Look, I didn't ask for you to be put down here." None of us say anything, but I raise my head and meet his eyes. Pools of grey, swimming with silver sparks. "Swear you won't say anything?"

"About what?" I ask. What is he going to do to us now? I've had enough of this place.

He walks over to the bars. "About me accidentally leaving the door open."

"But you didn't accidentally-" I stop when he opens the door, steps out, and closes it- but is sure to leave a crack open.

"Weasley, I need my wand." Draco removes a hand from his pocket and holds it out in Ron's direction. When he doesn't move, I make my way over to Ron, and, being sure to hold the door open, I hand him his wand. Draco winks before racing up the stairs again.

"Can you believe him?" I say. But not in anger, in awe. I guess not killing Dumbledore was the first step for Draco becoming a whole new person.

And I rather like it.

Ron and Harry get up, and we move very quietly up the stairs. Draco slows a bit after turning his head slightly to see us. We weave around marble columns shrouded in shadows, and I glance at the long table lined with Death Eaters. But there's nobody at the head; Voldemort's not here yet.

We follow Draco swiftly up a set of stairs, then past clean white doors, down painting-lined halls, to the door on the very end. He opens it, ushers us in, and closes and locks it, sliding to the floor.

We collapse on the carpet, and though it seems rude, I have a look around.

It surprisingly doesn't look exactly the way I would have expected a Death Eater's bedroom to look. His old Nimbus 2001 sits in the corner, and I'm flooded with memories. Once the one of him calling me a Mudblood enters my mind, I clench my fists and look away. Look at him. His eyes are trained on the floor, and I can't make out all the hidden expressions in his face. He's very hard to read, completely impassive.

Ron sprawls out on the ground. "What do we do now?"

"I actually haven't figured that part out, yet," Draco says softly, still not really looking at anything. "But you can't just walk out through the front door."

"Or maybe we can..." Ron gets a wicked glint in his eye.

"Oh no, not Polyjuice Potion," Draco groans.

Ron's expression drops. "I was going to say Harry's Invisibility Cloak, but that's back...somewhere else. Polyjuice is probably a better idea."

The corners of Draco's mouth turn up slightly. "That's a terrible idea."

Ron sits up. "It's not a terrible idea if you go get the hairs for us. Hermione has some Polyjuice with her."

Draco directs his attention at me, an eyebrow raised. I shrug. "What? I figured we might need it at some point."

"And now we do. Are you in?" Ron asks.