Playing for Time

Chapter 7

"Tonks, wake up. Wake up!"

It was Hermione's voice and presumably also Hermione's hands that lightly shook her shoulders. Tonks groaned and tried to slip back into unconsciousness again. It hurt to wake up, somewhere there was a throbbing pain and then there were the memories of Lucius. That hurt as well. But Hermione didn't stop and eventually Tonks forced her eyes open. Hermione's eyes were red and her face puffy from crying, but the tears were dry now.

"Get up, Tonks. He's gone now."

Tonks was laying on the bench, the chains were once again binding her to the wall. Hermione was kneeling on the floor beside her, watching her with concern.

"Are you all right, Hermione?"

"I'm all right. It's you that isn't. But how bad is it? He did some healing spells before he left."

Tonks took a mental survey of her body. Yes, Lucius must have done something, because she didn't hurt as badly as she ought to. Her mind shied away from exactly what had caused all the pain; she didn't want to think about it. Not now, not never, though she knew that was not possible. Now, she still hurt and it was almost all of it located to her hand.

Her hand. The bastard had broken her wand-hand again and not done anything about it. Cruel, sadistic bastard. Tonks stared at her swollen and mis-coloured appendage. The smallest move made pain shoot from it, up through her arm, making her almost dizzy. As long as it hurt like this, she couldn't think straight. Hermione stared at her hand as well.

"Can't you mend it?" she asked. "I mean, you can change yourself to make it better?"

"No, I can't. I can only make changes on the outside, healing bones are way beyond my capabilities."

Hermione thought it over. "Then why don't you change the outside? Make your skin thick and hard, you can do that, can't you? It won't make it better, but it ought to protect it a bit."

Tonks thought it over, nodded and concentrated. It was hard, much harder than usual. Partly because it was something she had never done before, but mostly because she was so tired. Bone tired. When she was done her hand was enclosed in a nail like shell. It still hurt, but now she could move without new pangs of pain that nearly immobilised her. The transformation left her nearly exhausted though, and she had to lay down completely to rest for a bit.

They were silent. Tonks shivered; it was not very warm and Lucius had not bothered to give them back their clothes. It was not freezing however, and Tonks could finally think. The odd feeling that things didn't add up returned to her. She had been so sure that Lucius had been waiting for more Death Eaters, but instead it was Hermione...

"Hermione," Tonks asked. "Do you think there is something wrong here?"

Hermione gave her a quick glance. "I was wondering," she answered. "I was wondering a little why he hasn't taken me to V-Voldermort. After all, I am Harry's friend, that's not a secret."

"That's it!" Tonks sat up, resolutely ignoring her hand, even if it still hurt some. "That is what's wrong. It's just Lucius, isn't it? Only him, no other Death Eaters, Hermione, I'm sure he's doing this alone. His personal revenge. I don't think You-Know-Who is aware of this. If he was he would have demanded you to be brought to him at once, I'm sure of it."

For a moment she felt triumphant, but the feeling was quickly washed away. Lucius alone was quite enough. But... if no one else knew about this, then Lucius would probably not be around as much as he would want to. He must have obligations to the Dark Lord. Indeed, he wasn't here now. The question was; how long would it take before he returned?

"Tonks? I did look, I couldn't help it. I, I wish I hadn't, but I was so worried about you." Fresh tears rose in Hermione's eyes. "He is just going to get worse, won't he? Do more and more terrible things. Until we are dead."

Tonks watched Hermione's worried face and wished she could come with some comfort, but she know that would be false pretences. Instead she nodded.

"Yes, he will. I'm afraid that our pain will only serve to please him, not awake his compassion. If he has any, which I sincerely doubt."

No one spoke for awhile. They curled up close together, seeking warmth and comfort with each other. Lucius would come back and what would happen then? Sooner or later he would be able to break Hermione's protection and Tonks feared that above else. The very thought of the wizard doing the same things to a young girl that he had done to her, was sickening. Despite Tonks's resolve not to think about it, she couldn't help doing so. It had probably been the wrong move to spit at him, but he would have hurt her anyway. She remembered how his eyes had looked when he wiped the spittle away from his face. Then he had smiled...

Hermione spoke again. "Where are we, really? I know this room can't be real, the sun hasn't moved at all since we came."

Tonks thought about it, relieved that Hermione had interrupted her thoughts. "I think we must be in London. It's always a bit tricky to apparate long distances. Apparating with someone, as he did when he caught me, makes it even harder. Actually, I wouldn't be surprised if we are somewhere at Diagon Alley. It doesn't help us much, though. The illusion is soundproof, no one can know that we are here."

"So no one will come and save us, right?"

It was a depressing thought but Tonks feared it was also a very accurate one. "No one. They must know that we are gone by now, but if Lucius has been impossible to find until now, I can't see how anyone can find us. Anyway, it will take time, and I don't think we have much of that."

Hermione pondered that for a moment. "Then we have to save ourselves. At least, we have to try."

Yes, they must try, Tonks knew that, but how? Their wands were out of reach, but, after all, they had magic within them. They just had to find a way to release it. Tonks carefully considered their meagre options. They had to get out. She glanced at the book that had brought Hermione to the room. Lucius had left it, which meant, in all probability, that it was useless for them. Beside, it was out of reach. To get to it they needed to be free from the chains. If they were free from them, perhaps they could get out by other means.

Suddenly Tonks had an idea and despite the hopelessness of their situation, a slow smile spread on her face.