The panic in her chest spiked when she burst into the kitchens and found vegetables half-chopped, the pots bubbling over. A stool had knocked to the floor, a cigarette next to it — still smoking.

"Plumb?" Hermione tightened her grip on her wand. "Remmy?"

Silence.

She put out the stove and the cigarette, and moved back to the hallway. Her head felt dizzy as she looked both ways down the sun-dappled corridor.

"Homenum Revelio." The tip of her wand lit — and then extinguished.

A twisting dread crept over her. Narcissa had to be here. That had been Lucius's plan all along—

A faint thunder crackled in the distance.

She stalked down the corridor, trying to breathe through the growing tightness in her lungs. Her eyes roved the carpets and walls for clues, flicking past the paintings and tapestries—

The Manor has many secrets.

Her feet paused. She blinked over her shoulder — staring at the tapestry Lucius had shown her months ago when he'd forced her on a tour of the Manor. Her neck stretched to gaze up at the lush landscape, the fields grassy and the clouds high. A solitary mare grazed in the distance.

Hermione lifted her wand. "Dissendium."

The mare lifted her head and stared at her through dark eyes.

"Aparecium," said Hermione, her heart pumping faster. "Revelio. Appare Vestigium—"

The mare chewed before turning and loping away, deep into the background.

Hermione's arm dropped. She stepped to the wall, peering behind the tapestry and recasting her spells. Nothing. An ache pounded at her forehead. She'd thought— she'd been certain—

"Miss!"

She jerked on the spot, and found Mippy running toward her.

"Miss comes home!"

"Mippy—" Hermione barely choked out the word before the elf flung herself around her legs. Hermione's vision blurred as she bent to hug her back, but then Mippy flinched, and she quickly released her shoulders.

There was a heavy metal chain around her neck. It looked like the one worn by the elves at the Hogwarts Celebration Party, only thicker. Clenching her jaw, Hermione cast a quick Severing Charm. It didn't budge. She tried a Vanishing Charm, then a Finite Incantatem. Neither worked.

She steadied herself, refocusing. "Mippy. Where is Narcissa?"

Mippy released her, dabbing at her eyes. "I can take you to Mistress!"

She wobbled backward, gesturing for Hermione to follow, and together they raced in the direction she'd come. Mippy grew slower by the time they passed the kitchens, panting heavily. Then she turned a corner Hermione had never seen before.

A small door materialized at the end of a narrow corridor. Hermione watched as Mippy bolted down it, slipping through the threshold and vanishing into the darkness. Her heart pumped twice before she followed her, bending lower and lower until she was forced to crawl.

The moment she squeezed through the tiny doorway, the ceiling raised, and a cove of strange lights and lampshades appeared before her eyes.

Ten pairs of bright green and violet orbs locked onto her. Hermione pushed to her feet, gaping at the small bunk beds and hammocks.