Posted: June-8-2008

Disclaimer: I own not the world of Harry Potter. Shame really.

Mind Games: It Begins

By: Morgansgurl

It was dark, but that surly could have been due to the fact that Hermione had her eyes closed. But no, she had a sneaky feeling that the room she was in was dark despite her closed lids.

She rolled her body over and moaned as she felt the aches and pains course through her like a fish out of water. She had a dull headache and she knew that if she tried to get up now that she would have hell to pay.

As she lay on the cool concrete floor, her breathing labored, she realized two very important things. One, this wasn't her room and two; she couldn't remember what happened as she was on her way home. She knew that both of those realizations put together would equal one very bad situation to be in. She really didn't understand it though, she had been walking home on a bright sunny day, there were people all around, and she was in muggle London. It just didn't add up to a Death Eater capture.

Then again, you should never underestimate Death Eaters or Lord Voldemort.

She took a deep breath and propped herself up on her elbows, daring to open her eyes. It took her a few moments before she could blink away the pain of adjusting to the light of the room, though it wasn't very much light.

She noticed that she must be in a cellar or dungeon of some sorts. There were four walls all made of large concrete blocks painted grey, on the back wall in the upper right hand corner was a very small, thin window with four large wrought iron bars that let in a meager amount of light and a despicable amount of fresh air. Directly in front of her was a large heavy looking steal door.

"Oh, this is so not good." Hermione mumbled to herself, slowly pushing herself into a higher sitting from her position in the center of the room. Looking down at herself she observed that she was only in a white muggle t-shirt, and a pair of ripped jeans. The rips were not intentional or there before so she assumed that they attained the rips through her transportation from London to this cell. That in itself was odd.

Her shirt was stained with moldy water and mud, her hair was surly a tangled mess if what running her hand through it had yeilded any indication. She did happen to have her pair of converse on, thankfully they still looked in decent shape. When she did a quick body check she realized she didn't have her wand, and she didn't have any bodily injuries.

She also did a guesstimation, if she were with Death Eaters they surley would have come in by now. She closed her eyes and took a deep breath; her senses were assaulted with the pungent smell of wet rock and mold. The room was rather cold and dank, a chocking humidity developing around her body heat.

When she finally gathered the strength to stand, she had to bend over and clutch her head in her hands as she waited for the dizziness and throbbing pain to subside. She felt as if she had been dumped into this room on her head. The annoying dropping of water from the ceiling to the puddle in the corner was driving her insane and throwing off her focus. Taking a few unsteady and staggering steps towards the door, she figured that she should at least try the obvious escape routs first.

She had a plan, first she would try and push the door open, possibly pull at some of the bolts. Then she would move to the tiny window that she had no hope of ever squeezing through, but she could probably pull a rod out and have some sort of weapon. Next she would work at chipping away the sopping rocks in the corner, other then that she really didn't have a option except wait for her captures to show.

As she leaned her weight against the steal door and dug her heals into the ground below her feet, she gave a heavy shove and found herself sprawled out on the floor. At first she was confused, when she looked over her shoulder from the ground she realized that the door was wide open and that she was sprawled on the ground in the next room.

She wasn't in the cell anymore.

It really shouldn't have been that easy, and as she passed her gaze in front of her body she realized that it wasn't. This new room looked exactly like the other room she had been in. The only difference being that there appeared to be a adjourning door that led to a bathroom and a small cot in the corner. A small cot that happened to have a prone body laying upon it.

From her position lying on the floor she couldn't tell who it was, and it didn't help that the blanket was covering thier entire being. It could have been anyone, it could very well be her capture sleeping. It could be a complete stranger that just happened to be in the same unpleasant situation. It could be a friend she knew.

At the last thought Hermione scrambled to her feet and rushed over to the cot, dropping to her knees beside the cloth covered body. She desperately hoped that the body in front of her was not dead. Her fears were subsided when she heard a strangled cough come from underneath the garments, but they were also renewed when she understood that she still didn't know who this person was.

Deciding that quick action was the best plan, she gripped the dirty cotton sheet with trembling fingers and flung it off as fast as she could before her mind could rationalize what she was doing. She drew in a sharp gasp.

Lying before her was an older looking man, in either his late thirties or early forties. His head was full with shabby sandy-brown hair. He adorned a five o' clock shadow on his features. His shirt was a tight black tee that hugged his muscular arms and torso, and she could see the slightest hint of jeans from underneath the blankets hem.

"Remus!" Hermione prodded urgently but in hushed tones. When his body refused to respond she placed her hand on his shoulder and shook him lightly, again hissing "Remus!" When he didn't respond she considered slapping him across the head, but decided against it, instead opting for standing and shaking him from atop, both her small hands on either shoulder. "Remus!" she yelled this time.

When he bolted up from the bed she was sent sprawling to the ground yet again. His panting was rapid and deep. His eyes appeared wild as they darted around the room in a panicked survey before resting on her. She could tell it took him more then a moment to register who she was.

"Hermione?" he whispered, his voice raw. He looked confused as he stared at his lap then back up to Hermione as she made to stand.

"Yeah," she answered softly "do you know where we are?" She asked with the slightest hope that maybe, just maybe he would be able to explain some of this to her. He shook his head in the negative as he swung his legs over the side of the cot and rested his elbows on them.

"I honestly couldn't tell you," he ran a hand through his already mused hair. "Would you?" he knew the only answer he would receive would be negative as well, but it was worth a shot to cover all the bases.

"No, I-I just found you, I was locked..." She paused her face scrunching into a frown "I thought I was locked in that cell over there, but I guess I was wrong. Anyway, I found you in here, and there appears to be a bathroom over there." She gestured to the ajar door. "And that appears to be a door that might lead out of here, but you never know." She trailed off, explaining as much as she knew.

Remus stood up and slowly made his way over to the door that Hermione had pushed open, inspecting it from every angle. "Open this when I close it." He instructed as he stepped inside her old cell and closed the door shut behind him was a heavy clink of metal.

Hermione confused by his actions, still obeyed his wishes and attempted to open the door in any way possible. She pulled on the handle, scratched at the seams, pushed with all her might. She even stooped as low as to kick the steal door earning her a pain filled toe accompanied by a yelp. Finally she sagged her shoulders and called out to Remus.

"I can't." she responded. Then the door pushed open easily with a single finger as Remus appeared from the other side. A contemplative look on his features.

"It appears that it can only be opened from the side you were on." He stated, before he walked over and grabbed the sheet that had covered him earlier, ripping it down the middle. He placed the two pieces back on the bed and picked up the pillow, or excuse for a pillow and did the same to it. Next he stalked into the bathroom and came out with a metal bar, Hermione assumed it had held a towel.

"What are you doing?" she asked quizzically.

"Making sure this door doesn't close unless one of us is behind it." He stated simply as he mounted the bar in between the door and the wall, making sure it wouldn't move. "Also making sure that we both have a pillow and blanket to keep warm…at least somewhat." His voice was contemplatvie and bitter sounding. Hermione cocked her head to the side in a contemplative manner as she watched him stalk about the cell, going into the bathroom and coming out with something new, or taking something in there.

"I'll sleep in the tub, you can have the cot." Remus stated simply as he motioned to the cot with a lazy hand. He gathered up his part of the ripped pillow and blanket and headed into the bathroom, placing his sleeping gear on the counter. "I suggest we take a shower first though," he looked down on his dirtied and bruised frame. "You get in and I'll just sit on the toilet as you shower, in case anyone comes in I will at least have a chance to protect you." His statement left no room for argument and she moved passed him into the bathroom, her steps still slightly unstable.

The tile was rust colored and the walls were cracked with mold seeping out in the form of dripping lines. It was all rather disgusting, but she stepped into the shower fully clothed, closing the curtain and undressed without the slightest complaint.

"This is awkward you know," she stated nervously, passing her clothes to him from a slit she made in the curtain. He didn't reply and she turned on the hot water, revealing in the rippling sensation the water made as it came into contact with her soar skin. She picked up a old looking bar of soap and washed herself, intentionally avoiding private places, who knew what was on that soap.

She ran her hands through her hair in an attempt to clean it, thankful that she had had a shower the morning she was captured. But there was no telling how long she had been passed out. When she finished a hand snaked out from behind the curtain holding a scrungy old towel. She accepted it with a cringe. She really didn't want to wash herself with that filth, but she didn't have much of a choice, and she couldn't excatly stay in the tub and air dry considering the humidity of the room. And she wouldn't dare step out of the tub and air dry her body.

Then a rather large black shirt and her undies were passed to her. Thankful that she had had black boyshort-ish underwear on that day instead of her usual thong.

"Ummm, Remus?" she questioned, she was pretty sure this was his shirt and not hers.

"I washed your clothes in the sink while you were in the shower," he replied "Just wear my shirt and your underwear until your cloths dry, I can go without a shirt and I'm sure it's large enough to cover you properly." He mentioned his tone more caring this time.

When he didn't hear her moving to put on the garments he sighed. "I promise not to look at you Hermione, or have anything happen to you. It shouldn't take long to have your clothes dry, there handing on the door leading to the other room," Remus noticed that he avoided saying 'her cell' "besides I have to shower and heal myself."

Hermione sighed herself and made to put on the clothes offered to her, he was right the shirt was really rather large on her, but barily long enough to cover her bottom. She felt rather exposed as she stepped out of the shower. She figured that was shy Remus had handed her her black boy short undies.

Keeping to his word and not looking at her, he stepped into the shower, throwing his pants and boxers over the shower curtain. Hermione picked them up and folded them. She decided that for her safety she should stay in the bathroom until he was done, he had stayed with her anyway she could at least return the favor, though she doubted that she would be much protection if anyone dared to challenge her. She didn't want to get caught in any of the other rooms dressed as she was without adequate protection either. Remus may be very wet and very naked at the moment, but he was better protection then nothing, or the pillow.

When he finally finished his shower, she passed him the same towl she had used. Though it was a bit damp it was the only towl in the bathroom. Upon survey Hermione had noticed that there was a old half-used bottle of toothpast without a cap, but no toothbrush. She also saw a scrungy broken hair brush lying in one of the drawers, a sliver of mirror seeing as the medicin cabinet ubove the sink was missing it's mirror. She succedded in finding a empty carton of floss, and a sticky tube of glitter lip gloss that looked decades old. At least there were three rolls of toilet paper sitting ontop of the cracked toilet tank, but one of them was browning with dust buildup.

As he stepped out of the shower Hermione averted her eyes from his naked torso. Remus bent over and towl dryied his hair quickly making it stand up spiked in a shabby mess. Hermione let out a small smile at the image, she also noticed that his torso was covered in black and blue bruises, but she decided it best not to ask to many questions.

"Hermione," Remus asked in a very serious tone as he turned to look at her, "How old are you?" Remus eyed her curiously, Hermione noticed that this question seemed to hold a deeper meaning for him then just a conversational question.

"Seventeen, why, is it important?" She asked, feeling somewhat frightened.

"You can't use magic outside of Hogwarts then, If you managed any magic the ministry would be able to track it and possibly find us." He explained. His eyes contemplative and he thought of ways out of thier situation or obtaining help.

"I don't have a wand though." Hermione replied in a quiet tone, her hopes dejected. Remus nodded and headed out into the main room, Hermione following closely behind. "And I don't know any wandless magic, I mean I am the smartest witch of my age but I have limitations, the closest thing I have is an animagus, which the ministry doesn't track, but you would already know that." She shrugged as she took a seat on the small cot.

"An Animagus at your age?" Remus asked slightly suprised.

"Don't act all suprised, Sirius and James had a animagus at the age of fifteen, give me my due." Hermione scoffed at the inadvertant insult.

"I didn't-I'm sorry." Remus appologized. "What is it?" he asked curious.

"I'm a brownish Squirrel, with what Ron calls an extra bushy tail. It really isn't that useful in retrospect, but it's what I am." Hermione supplied, a twinkle in her eye. Remus just nodded his head in yet more contemplation.

Hermione was sitting on the cot, her legs crossed and the lotty old blanket covering her entire lower half. She had twisted her hair into a very sloppy bun with a hair tie she had found in the bathroom that had old hair rapped around it. She tried not to think on that fact, it was rather disturbing.

Remus was pacing the floor, shirtless and barefoot. He was constantly running a hand through his half-dry hair and occasionally would stop and look at her before returning to his pacing.

"You're taking this all rather smoothly," Hermione said finally. She was tired of sitting in this room in silence. He had been pacing for the last half hour without the smallest of words.

"Hardly." He scoffed as he continued pacing.

"Well you appeared rather level headed earlier." Hermione stated simply, adjusting her sitting position.

"This is not normal Hermione," He stopped and looked at her this time, straight in the eyes. "They should have come in to check on us by now, it's nearly nightfall." He emphasized his point by pointing angrily at the small window in the other room. He was correct, it had been daylight for awhile now, so she could assume that she awoke in the morning, but they didn't have a clock to go by so she couldn't be sure.

"I'd rather hope they don't come." Hermione said mostly to herself.

"If they don't come we don't eat." Was his response, and her eyes went wide at the realization. "We can live approximately four to eight weeks without food seeing as we have water." He let the sentence hang.

Then another thought hit her as she saw dusk approaching through the window faster and faster. "Remus," she asked tentatively, not sure if it was proper to use his first name "what about your…your lycanthropy?" Hermione was afraid of the answer she would receive.

"I turned last night, I'm sure of it, so at least we have a date to work with. We need to keep a close tab on the cycle of the sun though to stay correct. " Was his simple response. "I assume that was why you were placed in the other room where the door only opens on one side. That tells me that they at least want you alive. And I was healed and in a cot this morning which means they also want me alive and well." Hermione let out a sigh of relief at the news. That meant she had thirty days approximately before they had to worry about his furry-little problem again.

Remus did a sharp turn to his right and sighed in anger yet again. "We can't apparate out." He sounded almost defeated.

"Well it was worth a try." Hermione agreed "You should have been in my mind when I formed my escape plan. Door, window, carving out the walls with my fingers…"she trailed off with a small grin. "I didn't even consider apparating." Remus looked at her for a few moments before a small grin broke out on his face. Then his face fell with exhaustion. Last nights turning accompanied by today's events had been rather taxing on him, and he was sure it had been taxing on Hermione as well. He knew he had to be strong though, he had to be strong enough for the both of them. He couldn't let Hermione know of the panic in his veins, of the fear in his heart, of the utter saddness and nerviousness fogging his mind. No, that wouldn't due. He had to be strong to survive this, so that they could make it out of this.

"I think it's time for bed." He let out a heavy breath he hadn't realized he had been holding. "Nothing we can do at the moment, already tried knocking the door down twice today." His hand reached up and rubbed the shoulder that he had used in his attempt to bust the door out. When he made to go into the bathroom Hermione stopped him.

"Sleep here," She begged urgently, scooting over to make room on the twin sized cot for him. "It's safer and much warmer." She argued. "Besides you've already nearly been in the shower with me, what's a nap in the cot next to me going to add to it?"

Remus raised an eyebrow in her direction before relinquishing and gathering his things and bringing them next to her. "I hardly see it as appropriate." He admonished, before placing his half of the pillow down next to hers, and spreading his half of the blanket out.

"I don't see our situation as appropriate, much less reasonable." She argued, "Besides, desperate times call for desperate measure and my pants aren't even dry yet, meaning I'm going to be very cold without you next to me. Body heat is the best heat after-all, and what if someone comes in while I'm asleep in here and your in there…" Her babbling was cut off as Remus plopped down next to her and threw a arm over his eyes.

"You win, I'll stay." He agreed before turning on his side and saying his goodnights.

"Maybe tomorrow will be a brighter day…" Hermione ventured tiredly as she rolled over onto her side as well. A trouble sleep fell over them both. Remus grunted in responce and fell asleep in a matter of moments.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed the first chapter of Mind Games. This is not going to be a snuff film fic if anyone is wondering. That would be annoying; this is simply going to be someone wanting to have fun with some of our favorite characters.

It is rated M for future chapters, you have been warned.

Also I had a question to pose to the readers…Would you like this to be an interactive choose your destiny fic? Were I post something like…

"If you want Hermione to open the door go to chapter 3" Or "If Hermione does not open the door go to chapter 5"

If you think that would be fun just let me know in a review, or if you would rather me just keep this a normal simply fic let me know that to. And don't forget to review this first chapter along with your opinion. Also, this was mentioned in a review to me earlier, If I turned this fic interactive I would post two chapters at a time so that everyone has a chance to read ahead. There would only be two options per chapter not like three or four, so technically there would be only two directions this story could go in per chapter. I think it would be fun but I want to know what you think.

Note: I know Remus and Hermione seemed very casual about the entire situation, but he is trying to stay strong and not panic for Hermione…you will understand later what his true reaction might have been if Hermione had not been there later. And they are very scared, but I'm trying to avoid making this fic angsty and mary-su…Realistically both Hermione and Remus are level headed and intelligent individuals. They wouldn't pull a Ron Weasley and go all panic attack tears. They are going through a war after all. It wouldn't be becoming for them to break down simply because they were captured. Nothing truly bad has happened yet, they just found themselves in a unpleasent situation.

Also, If you happen to be curious my Hermione and Remus are Emma Watson and Ewan McGregor. I am not fond of David as the actor, I think he looks to…scrawny, old, and not enough hair with a silly mustache but remember this is just my opinion, you don't have to agree with it.

And, I made a banner for this fic. You can find it by visiting my proflie if you are interested. I really should get a LJ for this stuff huh lol.

Hmmmm, I am also in need of a dedicated beta. I do have requirements though, I would like someone 18 or over that has the time to be a fast and trustworthy beta. If your scedule looks like it might get super busy to where you can't beta long term or you already are betaing for someone please don't ask to beta for me. Also, I would like someone able to work through Microsoft Office Word 2003-2007, I do not like any other document program and I hate having my work sent back to me through and email if it is not in an attachment. It ruins all the spacing. I would also perfer a person where American English is their first language becuase it's mine. I would also enjoy if there were a person willing to inform me when they would be away from a computer for prolonged periods of time so I can find a temporary replacement, and also someone who will reply to my emails saying they recieved the chapter and by when they would be able to get it done, AND STICK to the given date. I would also like a beta with the ability to do the following:

Plot, Grammar, Spelling, Vocabulary, Sentence Structure, Characterization, Punctuation.

They also have to have no problem editing the following: Rape, OOC, AU, Strong Sexual Content, Bad Language, PWP, NC-17, M, R, MA, BDSM, Torture, underage sex, hatefic...etc. If you don't know what some of the above was, then don't apply.

Yes I am picky with my Beta's, to many bad experiences. So if you can't meet the above then please don't waste my time or yours.

PLEASE: If you take the time to put this story on your story alert list, PLEASE take the time to review it. A simply 'Good Job' or 'Update Soon' would be fine, really. It's just dissapointing to see like 30 story alters and only 3 reviews in your email box. Take the three seconds to leave a review. You know if you leave a review you can select the other options below it so it saves time. Can you tell I love reviews.