"I am not going to ask you again, Nephew, WHERE IS SHE?"
"I don't know"
"Crucio"
"Hermione where are you?"
He woke up in a cold sweat, his hair matted to his forehead.
The same dream always.
Every time he shut his eyes.
He didn't know where she was.
He only knew what had been.
They had been standing in the same spot where he had met her, every night for the last 19 months.
She had been the only one he could turn to.
No one else would have understood.
But Bellatrix was determined to find a way into the Castle, at any cost.
And the cost had been dear.
It had cost him her.
"Go!" he pleaded with her, desperation in his voice, his expression frightened and tears pricking his eyelids. She matched his look in every respect as she clung on desperately to him. This far from the Castle, she was outside the wards that prevented apparition which meant both of them were in danger.
She pulled him into a hurried and anguished kiss, pouring all the emotion she could into that last act that left her lips bruised and swollen.
They had both known the risk they were taking, the danger they were in and that safety was uncertain.
"Now GO!" he screamed, pushing her away, when he wanted, more than anything to pull her back, take her somewhere, anywhere, to protect her and keep her safe.
But he knew he had no choice.
This was his only option.
THIS was the only way he could keep her safe.
With one final look, her delicate fingers touched to her sweet lips, she disapparated.