furniture. And there, against the far wall, sat Harry.
He looked exactly as he had in her vision: arms chained behind him, covered in blood, torn and scratched. But he was alive, and staring at them in astonishment. She flew across the room and flung herself at him, throwing her arms around him. His shirt was torn, stiff with blood, and scratched her fingers. She felt the muscles in his back contract as he struggled to move his hands forward, to get his arms around her, and his chest hitched under hers. His face was pressed against her hair. 'Hermione,' he said, his voice cracking with disbelief and astonishment. 'Hermione…'
'Its me,' she said, holding him more tightly. She could see, over his shoulder, the bindings that held him: two clear cuffs around his wrist attached to a thick chain which was itself attached to what looked like a large adamantine staple driven into the floor. The sight panicked her. She wanted, more than anything else in the world, to be able to free him, and couldn?t imagine how it could possibly be done. Trying not to think about it, she drew back and kissed his face fiercely, striped with blood and grime though it was, and stroked his hair. 'Its me…you must have known I would find you.'
'I hoped you would,' he said, his voice dry and strained, muffled in her hair. 'I missed you so much. I thought I heard your voice this morning, saying my name, and I thought it meant I must be dying, and hearing what I most wanted to hear before I — '
'Shh.' She kissed his mouth shut. 'Harry, I love you.'
'I know. I love you too.'
They sat locked together like that for a long moment, Hermiones arms tight around him. Finally, she let go and sat back.
'About time you let the poor guy get some air,' said Rons voice from behind her.
Hermione looked up; so did Harry. A huge smile spread across his face as he saw Ron and Ginny. He looked as if he didn?t know whether to laugh or cry. 'I cannot believe you guys are here,' he said.
'Come on, you knew we?d come after you,' said Ron amicably, grinning at Harry. 'We?re your friends. We wouldn?t let anything happen to you. Well,' he added, taking in Harrys undeniably gory state, 'aside from the imprisonment and the horrible injuries, of course.'
Harry shook his head. 'Its not my blood.'
'Well, I?d hate to see the state of the other guy,' said Ron, looking impressed. 'What?d you do — peel him?' He grinned. 'Was it Malfoy?'
Harrys smile vanished as if it had been wiped off his face.
Ron looked worried. 'You didn?t kill Malfoy, did you? Thats gonna be hard to explain when we get back home. You'll get detention for sure.'
'Where is Draco?' asked Ginny, kneeling down on the other side of Harry and touching his shoulder lightly.
'Hes probably just in another cell, right?' said Hermione, feeling uneasiness prickle under her ribs. 'Right, Harry?'
Harry sighed, and leaned his head back. 'I didn?t kill Malfoy,' he said, a touch bitterly.
Then he launched into the story of what had happened over the past two days, from waking up in the adamantine cell to Fleur coming to rescue them, at which point he was interrupted by both Ginny and Hermione making spluttering hissing noises. 'Fleur?
But..shes..shes such a…' Hermione began.
'A what?' demanded Ron, looking highly entertained.
'A tramp!' announced Ginny, pink around the ears. 'Well, she is,' she added defensively, catching Rons amused look. 'Draco told me that she practically kidnapped him and begged him for sex and…'
she trailed off, realizing how this sounded.
'Thats his story,' snorted Ron. 'Begged him for sex…yeah, right!'
'She's evil,' said Harry.
They all turned and looked at him. 'What?' said Ron.
'Shes evil,' said Harry, and went on to explain to them about the trip through the maze, the shapechanging guards, and what lay beyond the adamantine door. When he got to the fight with the manticore, Hermione went ashen and felt as if she was going to be sick, remembering the picture from the Magical Bestiary of the animal with its two rows of razored teeth, its deadly sting. 'She was in league with Slytherin. It was all a trick to get us to kill the manticore for him. Once it was dead, the two of them showed up together and Slytherin told the guards to drag me off.'
Hermiones hand flew to her mouth. If the manticore was dead, then Slytherin had the Orb. And if he had the Orb…
'I can?t believe Fleur would do that!' Ginny exclaimed. 'I mean, I would have thought even she must have some scruples. Although, apparently not.'
Ron looked equally shocked. 'Oh, man. I wish I could get my hands on her. Not in that way, either,' he protested hastily, at Hermiones look.
'What about Draco?' Ginny demanded. 'Is he in another cell? Did Slytherin hurt him?'
Harry lowered his gaze. 'Not exactly.'
There was a short silence. Somethings wrong, Hermione thought.
Shed leaned forward and put her hand on Harrys cheek, gently turning his head to face her. 'Harry, love, what is it?'
'Its about Malfoy,' said Harry. 'He-'
Creak.
A suddenly rattling sound split the air in the cell. Hermione glanced quickly towards the sound, and saw a
