Blinded

Trigger Warning: a graphic scene with a dead body and gore!

Blinded Chapter 18:

Looking around her surroundings, Hermione was quite surprised. This wasn't what she was expecting. In fact, she had expected to see a long and very sharp knife, feel extreme pain, and then be killed. The MacAteers were wizards, but they loved their Muggle weapons, especially knives. The French kidnappings and murders had proven over and over again that knives were the number one choice in weapons used by the MacAteer family, followed by axes and whips.

The man holding her dragged her across the dirty room, with her feet bumping into the trash along the way. The smell of cheap wine, greasy food, and excrement almost made her hurl. Whoever had been living here didn't care one whit about cleanliness. The strong arms continued pulling and yanking on her hair. Hermione tried not to gasp as she looked around the room eyeing the many filthy cages full of ripped clothing, blankets, and toys. Her heart sunk as she realized what, or who'd been in the cages. This is where they had been keeping the children, but where were they now?

Coming to a stop in front of a cage, her kidnapper shoved her forward and Hermione fell hard to her hands and knees. In front of her was a gruesome sight; a dead man with his stomach split open and blood everywhere. She could tell what spell had been used, Sectumsempra; especially after seeing the state of the man with his intestines spilled out and cock lying to the side. She shuddered as her hands slipped in the pool of blood surrounding the dead body.

"Meet my cousin Ennis, Granger," the man growled at her, "He was guarding the children when one of your friends came callin' and didn't turn out to be too friendly." His words rolled around in her head as she tried to figure out what had happened. Who would have found out where the children were and come on their own? She tried to kneel up but was shoved back down, spattering blood over her clothes and face as she fell into the mess in front of her.

Her mind raced as she put the facts together and her breath hitched…Draco! He would have been the only one to figure this out. He'd left early, used some kind of location spell, probably dark, and then came for the children. Hopefully, they all were safe now. He also was one of the few people who knew about the spell Sectumsempra, save Harry and Snape. She remembered back to one night after a very exhausting day of no clues being found. Draco had mentioned a family spell using blood magic which could help him locate Scorpius, if he at least knew the general area where he was being held. At the time, they had no leads indicating at all what country the children were even being held in. The pieces came together that night in Paris when they had narrowed it down to two groups of possible kidnappers. Draco being as intelligent as he was, probably had things planned out before they ever left Paris.

"The children, where are they?" she spoke up knowing it would probably just anger the men even more, but she needed to know.

"That's what we were hoping you would tell us? Seeing it was one of you that came in here and did this." The man shouted angrily at her. She couldn't get a good look to see which one of the MacAteers it was running the show at the moment.

Her heart leaped with joy when she realized that they had no idea where the children were either. That meant that they were safe and away from this crappy hellhole.

Once again she was roughly dragged up and thrown against the wall, hearing something crack on impact. Chains magically came out binding her hands and feet.

"You are on trial Hermione Granger for the deaths of Donnchad, Cillian, Domnall, and now Ennis MacAteer." The man poked his finger in her face as he accused her of her supposed crimes.

"You will face our judgment and be put to death if found guilty…which I'm pretty sure that'll be the outcome." The chorus of laughter and crude taunts could be heard around the room, as the MacAteer clan encircled her.

"Connall MacAteer, I should have known it was your clan behind the kidnappings," Hermione said spitefully to the man.

Connall's hand came out to smack Hermione across the face, her head bashing painfully back into the wall. She could feel a trickle of blood sliding out of her mouth and down her face.

"Shut your fucking mouth! You don't get to talk here unless I say so."

Hermione could swear she could see steam rising from his anger. The rest of the clan surrounding she and Connall looked at her with the same deathly stare. She knew she should be grateful for Conall's dramatics right now instead of being killed immediately. It all depended on what kind of torture was in store for her. If they had been Death Eaters, she knew that Crucio would have been used. These Irish wizards would use Muggle methods of inflicting pain, dragging it out for maximum effect. Maybe she would change her mind later wishing they'd killed her sooner.

The small glimmer of hope at the back of her mind kept saying that Draco and Harry would be here soon. Draco knew where this building was and could bring the Aurors to rescue her. Another blow to the head came where she saw stars. Merlin, she hoped that Draco and Harry were on the way, because that last glimmer of hope was on it's way to being extinguished.

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Draco was filled with dread as he once again stared at the large building in the empty field. Had it only been hours ago that he had gone in and found his son and the other children? The happiness at finally finding his son, had turned into panic once they realized that Hermione's life was now in danger.

He wanted to go storming in and end this quickly, but Harry was in charge and knew better how to deal with men like this. Hermione had claimed the same thing, but look where she was right now.

Harry was off to the side whispering to the captain of the Hit Wizards when he looked up to him and pointed towards Draco. Both men came walking over within seconds.

"Malfoy, you need to give us a crude drawing of the inside of the building. We need to know what to expect once we get inside." Harry's hand came out to steady Draco watching how all of this was affecting him.

"We're going to save her, but you need to keep a clear head right now. We can't go in there without this information or we'll all be dead."

Now Draco knew why he hadn't wanted to become an Auror after the war. Hell, this is why he'd made a truly awful Death Eater too. He'd much rather just stay out of sticky business like this; but seeing as how he'd been pulled into all of this months ago, he had no choice.

Once Draco had sketched out the layout, the team of Hit Wizards was called together and given assignments. Harry came back over to Draco along with Ron and Chason.

"You three are going to stay with me. The Hit Wizards will be taking out the clan members. Our job is to rescue Hermione."

Harry finally looked like the man Draco had seen that'd defeated Voldemort in the war. There was no doubt why Potter had been the youngest person ever to be placed in charge of the Auror Department. He was a leader, and people listened to him and trusted him.

Draco looked over to Ron who was glaring back at him. His face scrunched up in a grimace that clearly showed how he felt about Draco. It was nothing new, considering he felt the same way about Weasley. Hopefully, Ron would put aside his petty feelings about him and Hermione and concentrate on saving the woman.

"Have you ever heard of the saying, 'Shoot to kill'?" Harry looked at the three baffled wizards, "It's a Muggle saying…oh damn." He rolled his eyes and looked upwards, while running his hands down the sides of his face.

"So, in other words, Avada their arses if they get in our way," Draco said not needing any other instructions.

"Yeah Malfoy, that should be an easy one for you" Ron said as he coughed into his hand, "Death Eater".

"Fuck off Weasley," Draco yelled back as he went towards Ron, reaching out to punch him.

Chason got in the middle of the two men pushing them back from each other. "Enough with you two Testosterone-charged bulls. You can fight over the girl once we save her, or they may be nothing left to fight over."

Chason's red face and harsh words seemed to work in calming both men down. "You saw back there how the MacAteers work? By the time you're done with all of this bullshit, there will be nothing of Hermione left to rescue."

A frustrated Harry pushed on Ron, heading towards the building, "You are my partner, so don't leave my side." The two Aurors walked off together, with Ron still complaining as he whispered to Harry.

Chason shook his head as he watched Hermione's old friends walk away. "That means you are with me Draco."

Chason started to walk away, but turned around when he realized Draco was still standing there. He sighed and walked back to the tall, somber man.

Draco stared out into the dark night as he spoke quietly.

"I think I love her. Why does it always take for something like this to happen before you realize that?"

Chason gave a quiet laugh, "Well, its about damn time that you realized it; her too. We all picked up on it the first night we watched you together."

Chason touched Draco's shoulder, steering him towards the building. "Let's go save the woman that you love."

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Really, the rescue happens in the next chapter, I promise…because I've already started writing it! Please review! Thanks to all of you that reviewed the last chapter. Do you want to see more conflict between Ron and Draco? There will be good things ahead! Thanks for reading.