Hermione swallowed. Draco Malfoy being kind – compassionate. She'd always thought she was the only one who'd seen it. She'd heard a bit from Harry last year, about Myrtle in the girls' bathroom just before he'd sliced him open.

Hermione looked across the room again. "Pansy," she said. Cho turned to look at Pansy, and Ginny's eyes followed. Hermione watched the dark haired girl close her eyes and lean back against the wall in her solitary corner, secluded away from everyone else. "He knew Pansy would end up here. Months ago."

Hermione turned to Ginny and Luna. "Whose names are on your arms?"

Luna pulled up her sleeve, and Ginny turned her wrist. Both of them had the same signature.

Antonin Dolohov.

A loud bang from outside the room. All fifty girls jumped, some standing, some shrinking back.

Another bang, this one Hermione recognized as doors opening.

"It could just be food. Or another girl dropped off," Ginny whispered. Hermione stood, leaning heavily against the wall, regretting her empty stomach.

A lock clicked, and a masked Death Eater entered the room. He was without food and without a new girl.

"Medical examinations today."

It was Yaxley. She looked down at her arm, expecting... something. A tingle or burn? Or the letters glittering when he was near. Nothing.

"Five at a time," he said. "Parkinson, Abbott, Clearwater, Forbes, and Harding. Follow me."

No one moved.

"Now," Yaxley said.

Penelope Clearwater was the first to separate herself and move to the front. Pansy stood and followed. The five exited the room. Yaxley looked around, promising pain behind the mask, and closed the door as he left.

An hour later, they were returned. The gash across Hannah's head had been healed. And they smelled better.

He took Ginny this time, and four others. The rest gathered around the five that returned and hounded them for answers.

"Where are we?" Hermione asked Hannah as Penelope answered questions about the showers and the medical exam.

"I think the Ministry."

The black marble floors. Of course.

When Ginny came back, she pulled a group to the corner, taking Hermione and Luna. She explained the hallways, the showers. The number of Death Eaters guarding them.

"Is anyone good with wandless magic?" Ginny looked around. A few of the older girls nodded. "Whoever is in Hermione's group should try to overpower the guards before reaching the showers. This may be our only chance. They take you left around two corners, and then there is a door at the end of the hall before they take you right and into the showers." Ginny drew imaginary lines on the wall for a visual aid, and Hermione was reminded of Ron, and the way he strategized Wizard's Chess. "I think I've been in these halls before with my father. I think those are the main doors."

"They lead to the courtrooms," a black-haired girl said. "My father was on the Wizengamot. I think I know where we are."

Ginny nodded. "Yaxley and another guard led us to the showers. I'm thinking Levicorpus and Expelliarmus." The girls agreed. The others who had not yet gone for exams had gathered too. "Just get Hermione a wand. Don't come back for us."