Prologue

Pain. A stinging pain and nothing else. Hermione's eyes filled with tears as Bellatrix knelt over her. "You are nothing." Bellatrix trilled in that singsong voice that would haunt Hermione's dreams for the next several years. "Nothing but a disgusting little mudblood." At that, Hermione felt the distinct feeling of her wrist snapping. Biting the inside of her lip until she tasted blood, she refused to let out the scream of pain building in her chest. She refused to give that horrible woman anything to further encourage her.

Her eyes moved away from the vulture above her and met Malfoy's.

Malfoy. The insufferable prat. He was just staring at her, face completely void of emotion. What a heartless, slimey -

Her thought was cut off by her arm being sliced into. It was more the surprise of the sudden pain that made her shriek out, rather than the pain itself. But that wouldn't matter much longer. Bellatrix was toying with her, you would have to be an idiot to not see it. And Hermione was no idiot. "Please..." Hermione began to whisper, looking at the deep "M" that had been inscribed into her arm.

The following minutes were nothing but pain to Hermione. She had often heard it said that in moments of extreme torture, a victim can escape into their own mind and feel no pain. This, she realized, was a complete lie. Every milimeter traced into her arm burned her. She could feel the tendons in her forearms grazing and ripping. The skin being peeled away. U... D... B... She couldn't remember what letter was coming next. Oh, right. An L. How many more letters in that word that set her apart from the others?

And suddenly, the incessant pain stopped and she heard a loud thud, as if a body had been dropped.

"Granger... Granger, open your eyes."

A male's voice echoed in the room. It sounded hesitant. Panicked.

"Granger, please."

Her eyes remained steadily shut. Was this some sort of sick game Bellatrix was playing?

"My god, Granger. I know you are awake."

This time, he sounded almost annoyed. She recognized the voice was... who? She couldn't remember.

A single finger touched her arm and her eyes opened in panic. Bellatrix was back to play. But no... A golden haired angel was holding her arm, tracing the letters carefully, as not to hurt her.

Then, it clicked who it was, and Hermione recoiled away. "Malfoy." She hissed maliciously.

He turned, kneeling and looking directly into her eyes. She was stunned by the gray storms captured into his deep eyes. "Granger." He replied, but there was no malice in his voice. He slipped an arm under her back and lifted her into a sitting position. At her feet lay a Stunned Bellatrix. Her eyes flashed around the room and quickly realized his parents and the two other men were Stunned lying about the room.

He grasped her arm and she looked back into his face. She couldn't quite read the expression hiding behind the blank expression he gave her. "I'm sorry." He whispered into her ear and lifted the knife Bellatrix had been clutching. Before she could react or pull away from him, he sliced his own palm. A flicker of pain twinged across his face as he clenched his wounded hand into a fist. Blood was pooling out quickly. He then rubbed his blood over her wounded arm, forcing his blood to mix with hers. "Get the others. Then leave." She stared at him, confused. "Malfoy blood can Apparate from the manor. No one will get here if you go quickly." He kept rubbing their blood together.

As quickly as it had happened, he stood, pulling her to her feet. "Stun me." He muttered to her. "Stun me, Obliverate this moment, and leave." He pressed his own wand into her hand and kissed her forehead, smoothing her sweaty hair from her face.

He backed away to the wall where his parents were lying and looked at her, almost pleadingly. "Hermione. Please."

It must have been her name that triggered her reaction, because later, she would have no memory of lifting his own wand and Stunning him. The next thing she knew, his body was lying there and she was fleeing to the dungeons. With a simple "Alohamora", she pushed her way in. "Grab me!" She screamed to the others remaining in the dungeon. Was that Luna? Before she had a chance to lock her eyes onto the girl's face, she pushed away from the ground, apparating to a field she had once been to as a child, and promptly collapsed to the ground, entering into a black void.