Chapter 1

Hermione Granger whimpered in pain as the notorious Death Eater, Bellatrix Lestrange, twisted her fingers through her hair and jerked her up from the wooden floors of Malfoy Manor's drawing room. She resisted crying out in pain. She didn't have many tears left as it was.

Her forearm throbbed in agony. She could feel each of the letters that had been crudely carved into her flesh burn as they wept her blood.

Mudblood

Hermione's face burned in shame at the wound that scarred her arm. Her entire body ached, and her head still reeled from the torture she had experienced just moments ago. Hermione fought to stay conscious. She was lightheaded and nauseous, her heart fluttered pathetically in her chest, reflecting her weak and terrified state. Her breath caught in her throat as she felt a sharp blade dig into the pale skin of her exposed neck.

Dazed and disorientated, Hermione desperately clung to the arm of the Death Eater who held her, if only to keep the knife at her neck from digging in any further. She could feel the crazed woman pressing up against her back, facing her out towards the drawing room. Panic raced through her, and she squirmed against the older witch, trying to get a proper footing to help support herself. Hermione heard a shout from across the room, and finally focused on what was going on before her.

Ron and Harry stood opposite her and Bellatrix in the drawing room. They had somehow managed to escape wherever it was they were taken to whilst she remained and endured the torture handed out by Bellatrix. They had managed to secure wands, and were expertly dueling the Malfoy family into submission. Hermione felt hope bubble up inside her chest at the sight of the boys matching Narcissa and Draco spell for spell. Or more accurately, Narcissa was dueling them single handedly, while Draco was making lots of fancy flourishes that had little effect. He seemed to not want to stop them at all, and was merely here out of pure coincidence.

Ron shouted again. He stood with the sword of Gryffindor raised, as if he was prepared to sword fight the lot of them to free Hermione. Whatever he said, however, was lost on Hermione, for Bellatrix began speaking.

Bellatrix's words bit out violently against Hermione's ear, "STOP OR SHE DIES! Drop your wands. Drop them, or we'll see exactly how filthy her blood is! I said, drop them!"

The two boys froze, and upon seeing Hermione and the knife held to her throat, they dropped the wands they held with a clatter.

"The sword as well!" Bellatrix said, her voice slightly calmer. Hermione held back a shiver. She could tell Bellatrix was still unsure whether to believe her story or not.

This isn't supposed to happen. Hermione thought desperately. She began to struggle, but it was futile, Bellatrix's grasp was iron, and Hermione was weak from her introduction to the Cruciatus Curse.

Draco scrambled over and collected the discarded wands. Ron looked absolutely furious. If the situation wasn't what it was, Hermione was sure Ron would have taken a swing at Draco's head with his boot. Bellatrix smirked and pulled Hermione tighter against her body, her rough leather corset dug uncomfortably into Hermione's back.

"Call him Lucius," Bellatrix purred past Hermione's ear.

Lucius Malfoy stepped forward, his face haggard with deep purple bags beneath his eyes, his face unshaven and his hair in tangles. He looked nothing like the snide and pompous ass Hermione recalled him being years ago. He pulled back his left sleeve, and fearfully held his arm up and away from his body, as if the snake on his Dark Mark were about to come alive and strike at him. His hand hovered over the black tattoo, and he hesitated.

Suddenly, the chandelier that hung overhead began to fall. Bellatrix, her grasp firm despite the surprise of the falling chandelier, hung on tightly to Hermione, roughly jerking them both out of harm's way. However, in the process, the knife that had been pressed to the young witch's throat slipped, and Hermione felt an immense pain blossom in her right shoulder, causing her to cry out in pain, her own blood began to pool around her as the chandelier smashed violently to the ground.

Bellatrix gave an angry shriek, and jerked the knife that had become lodged into the brunette's shoulder loose. Hermione gave a pained scream, her blood flowing thicker and stronger with the knife no longer sealing off the entry wound. Bellatrix buried her fingers into the young witches' curly locks, and grasped a thick handful of Hermione's hair into her pale fingers, and pulled the girl to her knees.

Dobby?

The house-elf stood proudly between her two friends. He must have brought the chandelier down; he is trying to save us!

In the confusion, Harry had wrestled a pair of wands out of Draco's grasp, but Draco still clutched a few wands himself. He tossed a wand in his mother's direction, still holding Bellatrix's wickedly curved wand himself. Narcissa caught what turned out to be her own wand and brandished it at Harry and Ron. Ron had managed to reclaim the sword in the scuffle.

Hermione was finding it very difficult to focus. She pressed her palm against the seeping wound. There was a standoff between the two groups, until finally, Dobby made a move.

With a snap of his fingers, he had disarmed Narcissa. Upon seeing this, Bellatrix shouted furiously at the elf, berating him for taking the wand of a witch. Harry's eyes locked with Hermione's. Hermione felt a single tear roll down her blood smeared cheek, and gave a nearly imperceptible nod. Harry grabbed at Ron's wrist, and their bodies began to rapidly warp and twist away.

What happened next was so fast Hermione wasn't sure it had even happened.

Bellatrix, in her fury, hurled the knife in the direction of the disapparating boys. At the same time, Ron reached towards Hermione, horrified by what was happening.

Hermione was being left behind.

With a pop, the boys, along with Bellatrix's silver knife, were gone.

"Draco, my wand," Bellatrix hissed venomously, still clutching Hermione's hair in a closed fist. Draco scurried forth and deposited the wicked instrument into Bellatrix's outstretched palm. Draco was left with two wands in his hand; the wand of Peter Pettigrew, which he had taken from Harry during their surrender, and Hermione's own vine wand.

Like lightning, Bellatrix turned on Hermione.

"Where have they gone Mudblood?" She shrieked, jerking Hermione towards her, their faces now only inches apart. Bellatrix's breath was hot, as if she were breathing fire into Hermione's face.

"I-I don't know," Hermione stuttered out, trying not to flinch away, to show some of the renowned Gryffindor courage, despite her physically weakened and wounded state. With every passing second, more blood seeped from her shoulder, down her arm, and dripped from her fingertips into a pool on the floor, filling the cracks between the floorboards with her blood. She took in a lungful of air, set her shoulders and, despite her light headedness, put on a defiant mask.

There was a brutal crack to the side of her face, and she knew that a red hot handprint was blossoming where Bellatrix had struck her.

"Insolence will get you nowhere, brat, I suggest you start spilling information, before I start spilling your insides," Bellatrix sneered. She pressed her wand into Hermione's temple, daring her to put up a fight. Hermione's reply died in her throat as Narcissa's shocking words interrupted them both.

"Bella, the Dark Lord approaches," Narcissa stammered out to her sister. Her eyes spoke only terror.

This is it… I am going to die.

So, how did I do for the first chapter of my first fanfic? Okay, so it's a pretty short bit of an intro, but it sets up where I really am hoping to take this story. Concerns? Comments? Questions? Constructive criticism is encouraged! Thanks for reading!