I don't own HP, any of the characters, I'm not JK Rowling, yada yada.
The thoughts running through Hermione Granger's mind during her torture and rescue. Will continue if I get reviews ;) That's my rule. You want another chapter, you review, simple as that.
From the street, nothing was amiss in the large, white mansion. The streetlamps cast shadows across the front of the house, the grounds were manicured and flawless. No one could have guessed the happenings within the manor.
On the drawing room floor, Hermione Granger inhaled a shaking breath as she slumped on her side.
"I'll ask you one more time… What else did you take?" came a sickening voice from above her. Bellatrix Lestrange took one disgusted look at the girl sobbing at her feet, and felt what was left of her patience snap.
"Crucio!" she cried, putting as much venom and hate into the incantation as possible. As the girl screamed, Bellatrix smiled at the feeling of pure power and control.
"We found it! We just found it please! Ple-" Hermione screamed again, body convulsing as the curse burned like fiendfyre in her viens, licking at each nerve, consuming each fiber of her being, never satisfied.
"HERMIONE!" Ron cried from the cellar, "DON'T HURT HER! DON'T YOU DARE HURT HER!" he screamed. Unable to stand her screams anymore he collapsed to the stone floor, sobbing for the girl he loved.
"It's not the real sword! It's just a copy… just a copy…" Hermione's voice trailed off as she slipped in and out of consciousness, trying to keep a hold on reality.
"Just a copy? Well that's easy enough to test, now isn't it mudblood? Wormtail!" Bellatrix shouted, "Bring me the goblin." She said, looking Hermione directly in the eye. Hermione held eye contact, refusing to let this mad woman break her. Now that she thought about it though, her claim was easy to prove false. She just had to hope the goblin went along with her story. When Bellatrix heard the goblin enter, she gave Hermione a swift kick to the head, causing spots to dance in front of her eyes.
When her vision cleared, Hermione turned her head slowly toward her arm, where she felt the most acute pain. When she saw the blood, she blanched as she saw that there was a word carved into her flesh. Not just any word either. The most vile, hideous of words. The word for what the world saw her as. Mudblood. Filthy, impure, inferior.
Hermione was vaguely aware of some shouting coming from around her. Her head swam at the sudden noise, and she closed her eyes. Before she had time to open them, she was yanked from the floor by her hair, her head pulled back, with a knife to her throat.
"Put down your wands, or she dies!" Bellatrix yelled, and Hermione let out a strangled sob, afraid to let the knife near her throat, "Now!"
Hermione closed her eyes and took deep breaths until she heard the sounds of wands clattering to the marble floor. Suddenly, there was a squeaking sound, and Hermione opened her eyes until she could see the small silhouette of a house elf on the chandelier. Even more suddenly, the chandelier began to fall toward her. As she opened her mouth to gasp, something knocked into her from the side, and she felt herself slide across the floor. A second later, a hand grabbed her by the arm and she felt the familiar swirl of side-along apparition.
Ron grabbed at Hermione's arm the moment she slid toward him on the floor, and grabbed hold of Dobby, closing his eyes as they disapparated. They landed on the beach outside Bill and Fleur's Cottage, and Ron gathered Hermione in his arms.
They're going to kill me… Please, why can't they just kill me? Hermione thought as she felt herself wrapped into someone's arms. She screamed, kicked, and thrashed, trying to focus her eyes. She heard people yelling her name, and the arms around her tightened. Finally she let herself go limp with exhaustion, and all was still. She then felt someone push her hair out of her face, and she began to sob. She resigned herself to death. Quieting down a bit, she tried opening her eyes, squinting against the harsh light. Then she looked at the face of the person holding her.
"R-Ron?" she stuttered, trying to focus on his face, "Ron…" Her voice broke, and she let out sobs of relief as she realized that she was safe. She wasn't going to die, and she was safe.
"Shhh… It's okay," Ron hugged her close and buried his face in her hair, "I'm not letting you go. You're safe, it's over." As Ron continued to hold her and comfort her, his voice kept getting further and further away, until she heard nothing at all.
The next time Hermione woke, she felt nearly weightless. Her body felt light, as if she was floating, and she couldn't feel her surroundings. The only pain she felt was the stinging in her arm. She turned her head and opened her eyes to see a small bedroom, sparsely decorated, with a lamp on the bedside table and a small wooden chair near the window. On that chair, a boy with tousled black hair looked up and smiled at her.
"Harry?" Hermione asked, squinting.
"Yeah, it's me." He said, walking over to her, sitting on the edge of the bed. "How do you feel? You've been out for quite a while." His eyebrows knitted together in concern. "Are you in pain?"
"No, I… I don't know. I feel… strange. I don't really feel anything." She said with a slightly panicked edge to her voice.
"Don't worry, Fleur gave you a pain potion when we first arrived. It should wear off soon now that you're awake." Harry assured her.
"My arm…" Hermione said, looking Harry directly in the eyes. "I can only feel my left arm."
"Ahhh… Uh, Hermione… You're arm-"
"Hermione! You're awake!" Ron ran into the room excitedly. He stopped suddenly at the look on his friends' faces.
"My arm Harry. What's the matter with my arm?" Hermione asked, never taking her eyes off of him. He fidgeted under her stare.
"Well we… we were able to stop the bleeding. But the er… cuts can't be closed. There must have been a curse on the blade." Here Hermione paused and turned her head to see her arm, it was wrapped in bandages, clean of all blood, looking pristine and white. Underneath the bandages, Hermione knew, lay that horrible word. Mudblood.
Hermione looked at Harry, tears in her eyes. She started to sit up, Harry and Ron jumping to keep her lying down so not to aggravate her wounds. She quickly wrapped her arms around both of them, and they hugged her back. The three of them would make it through this, they had to.
"I love you both," she said, "so much."
"We love you too Hermione." The boys spoke in unison, and they all hugged each other tighter. That was all they needed. They each supported each other, taking support from the other two, keeping each other strong.