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When Hermione's eyes fluttered open she could see light, and as her focus returned she realized she was looking up into her husband's face. Joy filled her soul,
and she tried to throw her arms around his neck and shout his name, but instead found she was barely able to move at all.
"What's wrong with me?" she whispered, her voice barely usable.
"Hush, love," Lucius told her, placing a hand on her chest to keep her prone. "I've done a bit of field magic on you, but you're nowhere near ready to
move. Just lie quiet, there's no telling what sort of things are lurking in this cave, according to Egremon."
"Egremon?" Hermione rasped, and wrinkled her nose. "I don't trust him."
"Neither do I, but at least he led me to you," Lucius told her. He smoothed his hand gently over her forehead and backward over the top. "I can only imagine
the pain you're in, my darling, and I'm so sorry to have been the cause."
"What do you mean?"
"If I hadn't brought you here, you'd not be in this fix," he said, his throat tightening with the words. "It seems like every time I try to break free of my
past, it slaps me right in the face again. I don't know what he was hinting at, but Egremon believes you were taken by people who want me to revive the Dark
Lord."
"No!" Hermione shouted, and her eyes filled with indignation. "You'll do no such thing! I'd rather die than allow that creature to live yet again."
"Well then, my Lady, perhaps you'll get your chance," said Egremon as he strode into view above her. "I do believe we're about to have company."
"Lucius, what is it?" Hermione asked worriedly.
"The welcoming committee," he said grimly. "How many, Egremon?"
"At least twenty, my Lord," the man told him. "I fear surrender is our best course of action at this point."
"Don't do it, Lucius, fight them!" Hermione pleaded softly.
"Hush, my dear, it's not time to play the trump card just yet," he told her.
"It's not time to bluff your way through the hand, either," she quipped, but she could feel her strength sapping away as she spoke, and her increased heartbeat's
pounding made her dizzy again. Before she knew what was happening, darkness enveloped her once more.
"It is for the best if she not wake up for a time," Egremon commented. "We have business to attend to, and she'd only get in the way."
"Don't tell me my wife is in the way," Lucius snapped as the cavern filled with red, winged creatures. "Oh, my god!"
"No, Malfoy, quite the opposite," said one of the demons. "We've been waiting for you. Baal, Jeho, take them to the throne room."
"I shall carry my wife myself, if you don't mind," Lucius practically growled at the demon who had taken a step in Hermione's direction.
"Suit yourself," he growled as he turned away again.
"This way," said the first demon, who seemed to be the leader. All the others surrounded them so that no matter which way Lucius turned he was completely
surrounded by the sulfur-smelling bodies. "The Master is most pleased to know you have come at last."
"And why would that be?" he asked. "Who is your Master?"
"You'll see soon enough," the thing hissed at him as he turned away. "We're almost there."
As the rounded a bend, the cavern spread open into a veritable Great Hall with its ceiling towering so far above them it could not be seen in the dimly lit
area. Lucius estimated this place could easily hold twenty Quidditch fields easily.
"Put your woman over there," the demon instructed, indicating a small, makeshift bed near the wall. Warily, Lucius gently set Hermione down and tenderly kissed
her forehead before he let her go. Then he turned back to see what would happen next.
One of the demons now approached a throne on a dias, Seated there was an even larger demonic creature the likes of which he'd never seen in any book. Ten feet
tall and full of teeth and claws, the morose creature looked as though it had been sleeping.
"Master," said Jeho as he bowed before him. "We have brought you Lucius Malfoy, as you have requested.
"Ah, very good," said the monster in the unmistakable timber of a man Lucius had seen crumble away to nothing not three months since. It sounded exactly like
Lord Voldemort himself.
Shocked, Lucius stepped forward to look more closely, but the demon had no characteristics that would distinguish him from the others except his size. Finding
his voice, Lucius whispered, "My Lord?"
"Yes, Lucius, it is I," the demon answered. "I am Voldemort—or at least I was, when I was alive."
"Are you not alive now?" asked Lucius, somewhat confused.
"In a way, yes," he grumbled. "I'm extremely powerful, and I have arms and legs and such, but because of the physical state of the creature I inhabit, I cannot
ever leave this cave. How can I possibly take over the world from inside a cave?"
"It would be—difficult, my Lord, to be sure," Lucius agreed. His heart was beating so fast in his chest he needed to sit down, but he refused to allow this
creature to see his weakness.
"You have neglected your duty to me yet again, Malfoy," he added petulantly. "You were meant to bring me back from death again."
"I did not know where you were, my Lord," he explained nervously. "We all assumed when the wand was lost that you could not come back."
"Yes, I believed that, as well," he agreed. "But the most amazing thing happened after I decomposed, Lucius. Some of my particles floated over to Scotland and
landed on a Leprechaun, of all creatures. I lived in him for a week while we journeyed to Garamond, where I managed to convince them to help. A large group of
wizards here are sympathetic to my cause. They brought me here and placed me in this beast for safekeeping, and I ordered them to kill the Earl so you would
have to come here."
"You killed the Earl?" Lucius gasped. "This has been some sort of a set-up all along."
"Yes, Lucius, it has," said Voldemort in a smirking tone. "You alone, among all my Death Eaters, have the knowledge needed to bring my body back again. It
is your duty, Lucius. Time for you to prove your loyalty to me."
"Prove—" Lucius repeated. The word sliced into him like a knife. All his life he'd had to prove something. First he'd had to prove his loyalty to his family
by following in his father's footsteps and becoming a Death Eater. Then he'd had to prove himself worthy to work at the Ministry, and later he'd lost his
family trying to prove his loyalty to this man again. He had married Hermione Granger to prove that he no longer had any loyalty to Voldemort, but at the
time he hadn't expected to be called upon to renounce the powerful wizard in person.
"Yes, Lucius, prove your loyalty," Voldemort insisted. "Prove yourself worthy to remain my faithful servant, prove that you still believe in everything I
have strived to achieve. It is most fortunate that you have brought my sworn enemy here. She will prove most useful for the ritual—and perhaps afterwards
as well. I could use a woman servant to see to my needs."
"My Lord, Hermione is my wife!" Lucius protested hotly.
"Hermione Granger is a Muggle-born, nothing more and nothing less than that," the Dark Lord said in a hissing voice. "Would you choose the girl over me, Lucius?"
"Yes, my Lord, I would," Lucius shouted as he pulled out his wand and aimed it at the foul beast.
Voldemort's demonic body surged forward angrily, taking a swipe at his upraised hand. "Do not raise your wand to me, Lucius Malfoy! I am not a mere human any
longer, I am a creature from the deepest bowels of the Earth. You would do well to remember that."
"A hell beast you may be, Voldemort, but one which is bound to this place," he said, gaining more and more courage with each word. "I would rather die than help
you live again!"
"So be it, Lucius Malfoy," Voldemort hissed again as he began to circle the man as he, too, drew his wand. Suddenly, he wordlessly lobbed a green spell right
at Lucius's heart. He blocked it with ease.
"Expelliarmus!" Lucius shouted as he used the spell's own force to lob it back. The great demon flew backwards and landed on his tail, feet flying up into
the air.
"You'll pay, Malfoy!" shouted Voldemort angrily as he struggled to get up. His large wings, which he was not used to, prevented him from regaining his footing.
"Egremon!" Lucius shouted, long and loud. "Get us out of here! Please!"
He was already lifting Hermione into his arms. Her eyes were open as she looked over his shoulder at the huge demon he was evading.
"What's going on?" she asked groggily.
"The demon is Lord Voldemort," he told her as he began to run. "He wanted me to give you to him to prove my loyalty, and I refused. I think he's a bit upset."
"You chose me over Voldemort?" Hermione asked as her arms closed around his neck in a big hug. "I'm not even going to ask you how Voldemort is a demon right now,
but I'm going to need some heavy explanations later."
Egremon, who had been hesitant to join them for a few seconds, suddenly ran to Lucius's side, his wand busily holding back the lesser demons as he came. "Run!"
he told him.
Lucius didn't have to be told twice. He ran as fast as his legs could carry him, back the way they'd come down the long corridor. A demon lashed out and scratched
Hermione's face, and Lucius turned angrily and shouted, "Avada Kedavra!"
The demon fell to its knees and shook it's head to clear it. But then it got back up and continued to chase them.
"Damn!" Lucius growled as he sped up even more. Egremon turned and fired another volley of hexes at the demons, and apparently he had a better arsenal because
he picked off four of them at once. Lucius didn't know if they were dead, but at least they weren't moving.
"This way!" he shouted back to him, and Lucius followed the man down a much smaller tunnel. At the other end, they could see the moon shining in through an
opening to the outside. "Slow down, there's a cliff just outside," Egremon warned him. Lucius came close to plummeting himself and Hermione right over the edge.
"I need a wand, dammit!" Hermione grumbled. "My injuries won't let me do any wandless magic."
"Egremon, can we Apparate from here?" Lucius demanded.
"I'm way ahead of you, my Lord," the man said as he grabbed his hand. In the blink of an eye they were gone, leaving the raging demons behind them.
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