It's been a while, so forgive this probable terribleness.

As per usual I own nothing. Enjoy!


The bindings caged her in. Not only in the chair, facing more death eaters than Hermione had ever seen, ever even fathomed, but also bound her into the overwhelming fear. The fear that she would not escape this torture, try as she might to break the ropes that kept her there. She would not finish school, see Harry defeat Voldemort, see her family ever again. She would not even see the next day.

Tears, at this point, had dried. She had no idea how long she had been there, but the act of crying had become impossible for her. The ropes tore at flesh she could no longer feel anymore. Still, when the doors finally swung open and revealed who was coming to greet her, the fight in her surged again, as intense as the fear that could not escape her.

Bellatrix Lestrange strolled in as casual as Hermione would walk into class, smiling as if she had recently received millions of galleons. It was a look that, upon the insane Belletrix, could only mean trouble for Hermione. Her fear was confirmed when the door shut behind the death eater. She was not alone. Carrying a vial of liquid Hermione vaguely recognized was Snape, eyes cold and severe as usual.

Her struggle was futile as the Veritaserum slid coldly down her throat from Snape's vial. Belletrix with glee once the bitter liquid was done. Even Snape had a small, grim grin one his face. Hermione could once again feel the urge to cry out, but was drowned in the forced truths suddenly rushing to the surface like bile. A cackle from Belletrix prompted the other faceless death eaters to stand in attention, giving Hermione's pain an audience.

"This will be fun!" Belletrix exclaimed, "Severus, darling, would you like to start?"

"We should make sure it's actually working properly, Belletrix" Snape drawled. Lestrange sighed, but put her finger to her lips, pondering slowly what they could ask.

"I suppose you're right. What shall we ask hmmmm?" She asked, taking pleasure in the delay.

"I think something simple will suffice..."

"No, no, no Severus. Something she wouldn't want us to know about. A deep dark secret!"

"Isn't that the point anyway?"

"tut, tut, Sevy," Belletrix admonished before turning her attention directly to Hermione. She tilted her head slightly, never faltering on eye contact. Her head tilted back and forth, swaying playfully, almost gracefully until her eyes lit up in a way that, if it had been on any other person, Hermione might have found amusing.

"I think I know!" She giggled. "Little miss Mudblood must be dying to taint our lines, eh? Tell me, miss Mudblood, who is it that makes you all warm inside? Who do you want to have babies with and live happily ever after with?"

"Who do you love?"

The question bore into her like the binds around her, the answer flowing through her with unstoppable force. There was not stopping it. She could try, twisting and turning away from Belletrix, refusing to look at her or biting her tongue, her cheek, her lip. Anything that would stop her from saying it. That thing she had barely been able to say to herself, let alone a room full of her enemies. She could not stop it.

"Weasley," She breathed, barely above a whisper. There was a pause in the air before the last part came tumbling out as well.

"Ron,"

The confession drew all sound from the room. The quiet mumble of the death eaters ceased. Even the sound of Belletrix's breathing not two inches from her face was no longer present. It was surreal. Nothing about what she had said made her expect this sort reaction. The silence was more unnerving than anything they had done.

Finally, after a feeling that lasted longer than an eternity, a sound escaped Snape of all people. It was something between a chuckle and a scoff, a sound Hermione was not expecting. It seemed, however, that everyone else was. As soon as the chuckle escaped Snape's mouth, a cascade of other laughter soon followed. Before long, an entire room was laughing voraciously at Hermione.

As her cheeks reddened she could tell it was not malicious laughter she had occasionally heard from them during her experience, but rather a bemused laughter she did not expect to come from these sorts of people. It was the kind of laughter that made her inexplicably defensive. A position she probably should not take, given her position.

"Excuse me..." She murmured.

"I'm sorry," Snape said, choking back laughter, "I'm sorry, but it's so..."

"Ridiculous!" Belletrix chimed in before rolling back into her own fit of laughter.

"Yes, exactly!" He exclaimed.

"What?" Hermione asked defensively.

"You and Weasley-" He could not contain himself, Snape started laughing too much to complete his sentence.

"Whats?" Hermione once again asked, getting angry.

"Well, no offense," Belletrix started, "But you're just so...different. It would never work out," She explained.

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"Hermione, let's face it," Snape intervened, trying to keep a straight face, "I can barely comprehend why the two of you are friends, much less anything more. I mean, can you imagine it?" The room once again roared with a fresh set of laughs.

Hermione could not believe what she was hearing. After all her months, possibly even years of doubt she was hearing it from literally the last people who could possibly know anything about her and Ron. Even death eater's thought this was a bad idea! She was past fear and defense and purely angry as the laughs did not subside.

"I think that's quite enough," She tried, wanting the raucous laughs at her expense to stop. It fell on deaf ears.

"Aren't you people supposed to be torturing me?" She shouted.

"I think you're doing a fine job of it yourself, darling," Belletrix said with some sympathy before the room became deafeningly loud and Hermione awoke with a start from her dream.

Sweat soaked her sheets as Hermione looked around the darkened dorm of Hogwarts. She could hear the other girls sleeping soundly and silently cursed their easy slumber. Reluctantly she looked at her arms and saw nary a scratch. She was safe and sound, away from the death eaters and the ridicule.

Still, she was sure of one thing above all else. She would never, ever, under any circumstances at all tell anyone at all about what she was or was not feeling about one Ron Weasley.


That first part is probably as serious as this thing's gonna get. This one's been in my head for a while, hopefully you all will enjoy this.

Questions? Comments? Review!