Countdown !

Like many other wizards before him, he had made the choice to enlist in the service of the Dark Lord. It was not a decision he had made lightly, but only to stay alive. It was now two months since he had joined Lord Voldemort's camp and was a sentry in the dungeons of the headquarters.

He was not a powerful wizard, far from it, and this job was totally within his capabilities. The days were particularly long because nothing out of the ordinary was happening. There were few prisoners and when there were, they were sent to the torture chambers. So the wizard spent his time reading.

At the moment he was leaning against a wall as his eyes ran over the lines of writing in his book. He was so engrossed in it that he paid no attention to his surroundings.

A murmur rose up to him :

— "Impero..."

The spell had no trouble reaching him and possessing him. The movement of his eyes stopped instantly, the pupils became slightly translucent and all emotion left them. The wizard was now under control, like a puppet. He dropped his book, not caring if it fell to the floor, and walked slowly towards the torture chamber near him.

As soon as he opened the door, screams were heard. From the sound of the voice, it could only be a woman. She was the prisoner who had been entrusted to one of the Dark Lord's most bloodthirsty tormentors.

The torturer was delighted with the gift he had been given : a Mudblood. It was not in his nature to be content with humiliating the vermin that this race represented in his eyes. He took great pleasure in making them suffer as slowly as possible.

Leaning over them, he would insert a sharp blade into the flesh of his victim without paying attention to their pleas or screams. He did not limit himself to deep, barbaric cuts, but proceeded to meticulously slice the flesh. Every fibre of skin and muscle was very slowly cut away.

The Death Eater was so engrossed in his barbaric activity that he did not notice that someone had opened the door. He was caught completely off guard when he felt his hair being pulled back roughly. He didn't even have time to react when he felt a sharp pain in his neck and a warm, wet feeling running down his chest.

But it was already over for him, his carotid arteries had just been cut deeply, causing the blood supply to his brain to stop. The Death Eater collapsed forward and his massive body fell with a thud to the floor where his blood continued to spread. The prisoner, for her part, was completely stunned by the horror and incomprehension of what she had just seen.

At the same time, Draco Malfoy also entered the room. His wand was still pointed forward, at the wizard he had placed under Impero.

The executioner was reputed to be a very good wizard. Malfoy had not wanted to risk wasting time in a useless and risky fight. That is why he had opted for the human shield option in the person of the sentry.

But now he had no need of this mediocre and uninteresting sorcerer. So it was without any qualms that he slowly twirled his wand and whispered :

— "Avada Kedavra."

The man received the spell of death in the middle of his back without suspecting for a moment of the fatal fate that awaited him. He fell forward, hit the torture table and collapsed on the body of the executioner already on the ground.

Once rid of the two wizards, Draco approached the prisoner and looked down at her mutilated body. The Muggle-born was moaning and crying. Her whole body was shaking with fear and pain from her many wounds.

Draco finally met her eyes and saw her distress. Her broken mind wished for two completely contradictory things : she didn't want to die and she wanted all her suffering to end.

This visual exchange lasted only a brief moment and only the prisoner could see something Draco never showed : a hint of compassion. The wizard then pointed his wand at her, determined to put her out of her misery.

But it was then that Hermione Granger decided to enter the torture chamber. Alerted by the cries of distress she had heard when the dungeon door had opened, the Gryffindor had rushed in to help the person. But she stopped abruptly when she saw what the blonde was about to do.

— "No !" Hermione shouted as she reached forward with her arm.

But her gesture was in vain.

— "Avada Kedavra," Draco whispered softly as he pointed his wand at the Muggle-born.

The room fell silent again, a heavy, oppressive silence. Hermione's eyes were filled with tears. There was nothing she could do to prevent this unnecessary crime.

The gloomy sight that her former classmate had just given her affected her terribly. Her inner feelings were totally turned upside down : she oscillated between sadness for this lost life and the visceral rage she felt towards the blond's lack of compassion.

The latter did not linger any longer in front of the table and began to turn on his heels to head for the exit. He didn't even glance at the brunette who saw him walk away, stepping over the bodies on the floor.

— "Why ?" Hermione asked weakly as she stepped over the bodies to follow the wizard.

But she got no answer from him, Malfoy continued on his way as if what had just happened had never happened. But Hermione had no intention of letting him go like that. She grabbed the sleeve of her wizarding robe before repeating her question in a scream that echoed through the cells :

— "Why !?"

— "Let go of me Granger and for the sake of our survival, I suggest you stop screaming," Draco retorted, half turning around.

— "Why did you do that ?! She was innocent, defenseless, we could have helped her, saved her !"

— "I don't care about that pathetic woman, I'm not here for her," Malfoy replied abruptly.

At the words 'pathetic woman', Hermione couldn't keep her composure. She was reminded of the Malfoy of her teenage years, the despicable individual who discriminated against people based on their gender and background. The witch could not stand such behaviour and she let her emotions overwhelm her. Her only desire at that moment was to make him swallow his harsh words.

She raised her hand to slap his face, but was stopped short. Malfoy had grabbed her wrist firmly. He held her arm back and prevented her from making the move against him.

— "Don't play this game with me Granger, I don't care about your moods or your Good Samaritan morals ! I don't need any lessons from you ! Now swallow your misplaced pride and follow me !"

Draco's tone was authoritative, harsh and uncompromising. He didn't have to justify his action and they had better things to do at the moment. He didn't give Granger a chance to say anything as he continued on his way, not without dragging her by the arm after him.

Hermione was stunned by the blonde's last words. He held her and pulled her firmly behind him, which forced the young woman to follow him mechanically.

But after a few seconds, the brunette came to her senses. She struggled, managed to free herself from his grip before stopping and whispering coldly:

— "You're a monster Malfoy ! I hate you !"

No sooner had she said this than Malfoy stopped once more. He was exasperated because he really didn't have time to waste on such childishness. But Hermione Granger could be particularly infuriating when she wanted to make a point. In that, she hadn't changed at all over the years, he could have even bet that she was even more persistent than before.

Draco turned back to his burden, this time waving his wand at the young woman. If he had to threaten her to stop wasting their time, then he would !

— "You don't know what you're talking about Granger ! You don't know anything about me. Next to the Dark Lord, I'm just a helpless little lamb. It is because of your habit of letting your emotions and your moods speak that your Order has been weakened ! It's because of that kind of behaviour that the Dark Lord has taken over !"

Hermione looked at him horrified that he could make such judgements about the way the Order of the Phoenix acted ! That was the difference between them and the followers of He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named. She was about to open her mouth to retort, but Draco continued in the same tone :

— "And only when you understand that what I say is the truth will you stop saying such nonsense !"

— "Nonsense ?!" Hermione almost choked out indignantly.

— "Yes, nonsense ! You, who think you're so clever and observant, would understand my act ! But you don't ! You prefer to behave like a weak woman, letting yourself be overtaken by her stupid emotions ! So now that's enough, move or believe me I'll force you forward if I have to !"

Malfoy felt that they had wasted enough time as it was, and resumed his journey through the dungeons.

Hermione was static. She was taking in what the Slytherin had just thrown at her. She had never heard the blonde speak like that before and it was like a slap in the face that she was so shocked. She could not understand his attitude : he was acting like a heartless murderer.

For the young woman, it was too many emotions at once that she felt herself waver. Her legs gave way under her, forcing her to sit up. She placed her head between her knees... she needed to refocus, to calm her heartbeat and regulate her breathing.

After a good minute, she regained a semblance of inner calm and raised her head. She looked around the huge room and noticed several torture tables set up here and there. The walls were also strewn with various instruments used for the prisoners. Finally, she noticed that all this paraphernalia bore numerous traces of dried blood.

She repressed a shiver of disgust at the mere thought of how many people had met their certain death in these places. She had to get out of this gloomy place before the nausea returned. Then she noticed that the sound of Draco's footsteps continued to fade away. She didn't have to stay here. She had no choice but to follow the former Slytherin if she didn't want to meet the same bloody fate.

Hermione decided to get up and took one last look at the body of the dead prisoner. She didn't need to be a doctor to realise that the Muggle-born could never have survived given the extent of her injuries. They were far too deep and not even magic could have helped.

Hermione then had a disturbing thought : could it be that Draco was acting out of compassion when he executed the prisoner in cold blood ?

Realizing this, Hermione did not stay in the room any longer and walked briskly until she caught up with the former Slytherin.

Once she reached him, Draco turned his face slightly in her direction and what he saw left him stunned. Hermione wasn't the best at hiding her emotions. Her facial expression showed the intense thoughts she was having.

— "Tch...," Draco said at the brunette's attitude.

The latter didn't need a translation at all. Draco had put so much haughty and contemptuous emotion into that onomatopoeia that Hermione opted to glare at him in response. Sometimes silence was worth all the words !

They continued through the dungeons to a door which Draco hurriedly opened to enter a new corridor, then another and another. As much as Hermione would have liked to mentally remember the layout of the place, she would have been unable to do so as it was a real maze of crossings and junctions.

— "A maze ?" She asked, more to herself than to Draco.

— "Not exactly...," he answered in a concentrated voice.

— "What do you mean ?" Said the witch whose curiosity was aroused.

— "Let's just say that if you take the wrong corridor, the path stops," Draco said. "And by stops, I mean death."

This revelation made the brunette's eyes widen for a moment. But after all, it could only be plausible because they were in the headquarters of the greatest dark mage of their time.

After a long walk, they arrived at a staircase which, for once, did not lead to the depths but to the surface. It was quite wide and winding.

Yet Draco did not go down it immediately. Instead, he stopped abruptly in front of the building, looking for something that was not visible to the naked eye. But Hermione didn't notice that the blonde had stopped. She was still far too upset from everything she had just been through. She was abruptly stopped in her tracks by Malfoy's arm against her chest as his voice snapped her out of her thoughts.

— "If you want to die Granger, please keep going," the wizard said with a hint of cynicism.

— "Is something wrong ?" Said the brunette, who couldn't see anything suspicious on the stairs.

— "I'm not sure... stay here," Draco ordered before placing his foot on the first step, then the second and the third before stopping.

He had a horrible feeling. And if the Dark Lord had taught him anything useful, it was to always trust his intuition. Always listen to his sixth sense : it was one of the reasons Draco was still alive.

He backed up and came back to stand beside the brunette.

— "Put your foot on the first step," Draco ordered, his gaze still directed at the stairs.

Instinctively, Hermione tensed as she heard the blonde's command. She didn't really want to obey this murderer although he might seem to want to free her from this dreary place.

— "If for once in your life you could act like a Gryffindor, that would be fine with me, Granger," Malfoy added coldly when she saw that she was taking too long to act.

The brunette glared at her interlocutor before moving. She moved her foot forward to take support on the first step and began to tilt her body forward while starting to lift her other foot.

But no sooner had she started this movement than she felt two arms grab her by the shoulders and pull her back. She found herself trapped, her back against Malfoy who was holding her against him.

The blonde had reacted with a start the moment she had set foot, for the steps suddenly lit up with ancient runes. The runes had been activated and had conjured up several sharp spears that would have skewered anyone on the steps.

— "Damn it Granger ! What don't you understand about putting your foot down ? I didn't tell you to go up the stairs," Malfoy said with a hint of fear in his voice.

Hermione had briefly flinched against the blonde when she saw the weapon appear, although a few seconds before she would have been in its place. She didn't notice the different intonation in the blonde's voice. As far as she was concerned, he had just been sarcastic with her once again.

— "But...," she began but then realised the position she was in. She quickly pushed Malfoy off of her back, having been in his arms was making her sick.

— "Do you really think I'd get you out of prison and then have you die here ?" Draco replied scornfully.

— "That would be just like you !" Hermione replied in a snappy tone before adding, "why did the stairs go off when I went up and not you ?"

She was looking at the still glowing runes when the answer came to her.

— "They... they reacted because of me... didn't they ?"

— "Yes," Malfoy answered as the spears disappeared inside the runes. "Either it's reacting to the fact that you're a prisoner, or because you're a Mudblood, or...

The blond man had paused as if listing the possible explanations for the runes' activation allowed him to better reflect on what had just happened.

— "Or what ?" Hermione asked, not reacting to the insult. Strangely, for the first time in her life, she didn't feel that the horrible word had been said to hurt her.

But Draco didn't respond, his gaze shifting from the stairs to his right arm. He came up with a plausible hypothesis that had to be verified right away. He didn't take the time to explain his point of view to the brunette as he had already turned to her. He slid one hand down her back and the other into the hollow of her knees before lifting her into his arms, like a bride.

Caught off guard and annoyed at finding herself in such close contact with the blonde again, Hermione flinched and waved in all directions in the hope that he would put her down.

— "Hey, what the hell ! What the hell are you doing Malfoy ! Put me down immediately !"

— "I told you to stop screaming ! And stop moving or I'll freeze you !" Ordered the former Slytherin with a cold look in his eyes.

Hermione stood still knowing that he was capable of carrying out his threat. Without waiting any longer, the blonde stepped onto the first step and a thin smile appeared on his lips. His theory was correct, the traps were not reacting because the runes recognized his mark of darkness on his forearm.

Satisfied with this, Malfoy did not waste another second thinking. He began the climb up the stairs in an almost religious silence, the brunette cradled against him. The latter was a bit nervous and had a half-lidded look in her eyes. She felt vulnerable and was truly on edge. Her brain and her emotions were in complete turmoil, so much so that she felt like crying again. And it wasn't just sadness that she felt, but also rage and anger. At the moment she was dependent on someone she hated most of all.

The minutes passed and Malfoy continued without slowing down. Although Hermione was light to carry, the blonde's breathing had quickened, this exercise required a great deal of physical effort.

Hermione, for her part, really didn't understand the blonde's behaviour, so much so that she couldn't help but address him.

— "Why ?" She whispered. she whispered.

— "Shut up Granger," he replied in a whisper.

The brunette was not pleased with this command and continued.

— "Why Malfoy ! You hate me ! And I hate you ! Then why !?" Hermione demanded as she looked into the blonde's eyes. "You've always done everything to harm us, whether it's Harry, Ron or myself. So why, all of a sudden, are you trying to free me ?" She continued as he remained silent.

She had no intention of letting go, she wanted answers. After all, it was more than likely that she would die before she could get out of this place. She might as well have some explanations and above all understand why he was doing this ! But she got nothing from him but his silence.

— "You could answer me when I speak to you !" She insisted in a lively tone.

— "You are without context the most annoying person I know. And Merlin knows that I've met some social cases !" Was the only answer she could get.

— "I have a right to know," Hermione added stubbornly without taking offence to what he had just said.

The witch's insistence caused Draco to let out a long, theatrical sigh that House Malfoy was famous for. He had no intention of telling her his reasons, it was out of the question. He settled for this answer, although it would surely not satisfy her :

— "It's none of your business."

Hermione's eyes widened at his stubborn refusal to answer. He really thought that she would accept this explanation, he was sadly mistaken !

— "Are you kidding me right now ? I'm the main one involved in all this shit, and you dare to say it's none of my business ?"

— "Exactly, now that you've understood, shut up !" Malfoy replied to end the conversation. He had to stay focused on his goal : getting out of Voldemort's headquarters alive.

— "But...," the brunette began, not wanting to leave it at that.

— "Don't make me carry out my threat Granger... my patience has its limits !" Draco instantly warned, reminding her that he would petrify her if she didn't keep her mouth shut.

She pursed her lips and gave him an evil look, so upset was she. But she preferred to remain silent rather than be subjected to a spell she couldn't escape.

After a few minutes, they finally reached the top of the stairs. Draco would never admit it out loud, but Hermione was beginning to weigh on him. His face, as well as the rest of his body language, remained impassive as he placed his parcel on the ground.

They had reached the level of a huge circular room with a ceiling supported by dozens of pillars. These pillars were placed close to the walls, leaving the centre of the room completely free. All along the walls, torches were lit but the colour of the flame was a slight shade of green. Hermione knew instantly that these were enchanted torches. She continued to look around quickly and noted that the materials used, mainly stone, looked much older. This room must have existed long before the dungeons were built. The witch deduced that they had left the underground cave to reach a new level of the headquarters.

However, against all odds, they were no longer alone. A third person had suddenly appeared in the centre of the room : a Death Eater, wand extended in their direction.

If Hermione was surprised, Draco was too, for he had stiffened when he saw the figure before them. How had he not noticed her presence ? Was this person hiding behind a pillar ? Had he been careless when he had dropped Granger to the ground ? It was impossible to know what he was missing at the moment, but one other thing surprised him : the Death Eater did not attack them. Instead, he began to lower his wand and spoke in a delicate voice :

— "Draco... no... not you."