Oh boy... So, my other story was a flop. I'm going to try again. This idea actually came to me during my brother's wedding. I'm not sure how I feel about it. I only have this chapter written out so far. The rest is just outlined. We'll see how the first chapter goes. This is my first story I've ever written that has a pairing of main people. I've only ever had ones with OC's. Please bear with me. I'm going to try to portray them in character. It's a little intimidating.
XoX
Voldemort sat at the head of the long table, silently staring down the followers that were gathered along the table. They waited with baited to breath to hear what their Dark Lord had gathered them for.
"I want the mudblood in our custody by tonight," his voice was even as he made eye contact with each snatcher in front of him. "Do not fail me. She will be mine."
The threat of what would happen to them should they fail did not need to be spoken out loud. They all knew what was at stake.
Voldemort dismissed them and waited until the last one had left before turning to the young man on his right.
"Go with them. There's no doubt they'll find some way to fail. Make sure that they don't."
The young man nodded and stood to apparate away. Grey eyes met with red right before the crack of apparition sounded throughout the room.
Hermione stared into the flames of the fire roaring in front of her. The heat and smoke reached out to her and made the skin on her face feel tight. The fire was bright against the blackness of night around her. She dug her dirtied nails into her palms to keep herself calm.
Ron was supposed to be to the camp by now. They had chosen this as their safe spot if they were to ever get separated. It had been two days since they had been attacked at their last hideout. Two days since Ron had told Hermione that he'd distract the snatchers while she ran in the other direction to get away. She had fought with him about it, of course. But they both knew that they were only after her. The death eaters figured Ron was harmless now that the infamous Harry Potter was dead but Hermione Granger was worth a fair price to the right buyer. Mudbloods were the new collectables these days. He had made it his life mission to protect her after Voldemort killed Harry and now she was alone, hoping that he was even alive after two days.
Hot tears threatened leak onto her cheeks and she brushed them away angrily. 'I should've stayed to help him,' she thought bitterly to herself. 'I should've stayed to fight with him.'
She watched the flames dance towards the sky and inhaled a smoky breath.
'I will kill you if you died fighting for me, Ronald Weasley.'
The sound of someone moving through the forest not far off broke Hermione from her thoughts. Her heart gave an involuntary leap at the prospect of it being Ron. Even so, she cautiously pulled her wand from her pocket and tried to see into the expansive darkness surrounding her. She bit the inside of her cheek to keep from calling out for him. There was no telling who was out there. And she couldn't risk leading them right to her if they hadn't seen her yet.
With a wave of her wand, the fire slowly died down to glowing embers instead of the wild flames that it was. Hermione squinted into the darkness, trying to make sense of shapes and shadows to see if anything was out of the ordinary. She pretended to not hear the person approaching behind her. When she could be sure they were close enough, she spun around and sent a quick stunning spell right to their chest. Her eyes roamed over the stunned snatcher and she knew there was little hope that Ron would find her now. She wouldn't be able to come back here even if she got away. It would be too dangerous to be in the same spot again now that snatchers had found it.
More rustling alerted Hermione of the others approaching but before she could make a run for it, she was surrounded.
Draco watched from his hiding spot among the trees as the brunette dueled each snatcher that came at her. Though she was outnumbered, it was easy to tell that she was winning this battle. He sighed to himself as he pulled out his wand and moved into an easier position to overtake her.
If you wanted anything done around here, you had to do it yourself.
Hermione smirked as the last snatcher hit the ground, thoroughly stunned. Packing her small beaded bag quickly, she tried to think of a safe place to apparate. She turned to leave the safe spot and ran head first into a firm chest.
Draco promptly knocked the wand out of the surprised witch's hand and grabbed both her wrists in one of his hands, smirking as she struggled to get out of his grasps.
"You almost got away, Granger. I commend you for taking out so many men on your own. Who knew a mudblood could be so resourceful."
Chocolate eyes glared up into grey ones as she tried desperately to get away from the young man in front of her.
"Duel me like a real man, Malfoy." She spat, trying to provoke him enough to get her wand and get away.
Draco scoffed and gripped her wrists tighter and she tried to push the pain of it to the back of her mind. "If you think you can outsmart me that easily, I take my earlier compliment away. You must've beaten them by sheer dumb luck."
Hermione opened her mouth to protest but stopped when she felt the tip of Draco's wand press into the side of her neck.
"I'd like to say that I'm sorry but we both know I'd be lying."
Before Hermione could respond, an electric current traveled from the tip of his wand, all the way to her toes. She slumped over in Draco's arms. Hoisting the witch over his shoulder, he quickly apparated them back to his manor.
Hermione groaned as her mind came back into consciousness. She was vaguely aware of the ache in her muscles from her hands being chained above her head and the cool, stone wall that her back was up against. Shaking her head slightly to clear it, she stared around the dungeon. She may have been the only one there but the stench of urine and torture rotted the air significantly.
This was bad.
"You're awake."
Her head snapped to the corner of the dungeon and her eyes widened slightly as Voldemort himself stepped out of the shadows.
"Don't look so alarmed, pet. I'm not going to hurt you if you don't do anything rash." Hermione was seething at the pet name but before she could retort, Voldemort cut her off. "It has become quite a trend to own Mudbloods. I'm sure you've heard about it. Purebloods have been spending quite a few galleons to own their own."
Hermione watched him cautiously as he approached. She willed herself not to even blink as her eyes followed his every movement. Voldemort was now so close to her that she could feel the cold radiating off of his skin. There was more of a grey tint to his complexion down in the dungeon lighting that caused his red eyes to stand out frighteningly.
"I've shopped endlessly for my own. None of the mudbloods seem to meet any of my standards." He let out a humorless laugh and sighed. "Though, being mudbloods, what sort of standards could I have for them, really?"
Hermione narrowed her eyes at the snake-like man and waited for him to continue. On the outside, she was putting on a brave face while glaring at the man. On the inside, Hermione was ready to curl up into a ball. Her teeth were gritted together so that her fear wouldn't physically shake her. This was the man that murdered her best friend. He probably had Ron killed as well. This man would murder anyone in cold blood if it suited him. Hell, she knew that he'd murder someone in cold blood for a simple parlor trick. There was nothing stopping him from doing just that to her now.
"But you, Miss Granger…" His eyes gleamed as he said her name and Hermione's stomach churned as she felt his slender fingers run down the side of her face to her chin. "You would be the prize of all mudbloods, wouldn't you? Harry Potter's best friend. Golden Gryffindor girl. You would be the best." Voldemort roughly gripped her chin in his hand. "And don't I deserve the best?"
Bravery swelled in Hermione's chest and she spit into Voldemort's reptile-like face.
"If you honestly think I'd ever succumb to you and be a servant then you must've won this war out of sheer dumb luck." Hermione yelled, remembering what Draco had said to her right before he had kidnapped her. A flash of deadly anger passed across Voldemort's expression as he wiped the spit off of his face. Slowly, he pulled his wand out of his robe and Hermione felt her chest tighten in instant fear. As if sensing this, Voldemort let a sadistic smirk spread across his face.
"They've invented a new spell, you know?" He said slowly, twirling the wood between his long, grey fingers. "It's passed through the wand and into the receiver almost like muggle drugs. Extremely habit forming. The addiction will tear the witch or wizard apart if they are unable to get more of it. We've been administering it to all of the mudblood slaves to keep them bound to us. Without your wands, there is no way to give yourself the drug." He reached into his robes and pulled out the broken pieces of Hermione's wand and tossed them onto the stone floor. Hermione swallowed thickly as he trailed his wand down her throat and to her collarbone. "We only give you more of the drug if you do what we ask. Everyone wins, really. The slaves receive their drugs and we get things done. Everybody wins."
"And you honestly think that it'll work on me? We both know I'm stronger than that. My magic will fight it." Hermione bluffed but didn't portray anything in her eyes or expression. Fear once again lodged itself in her chest as Voldemort smirked again. His eyes glinted menacingly and he pulled the sleeve of her jumper to her elbow. Slowly running his cold fingers over her tanned skin, he leaned closer to whisper in her ear. Hermione shuddered at both the close proximity and his breath that was ghosting over her ear.
"My dear, sweet mudblood." Voldemort paused a moment to relish in the fear radiating off of her in waves. "Your magic can fight it all it wants."
He quickly pressed the tip of his wand into her forearm and sent the spell through it.
The pain was like an injection needle and Hermione felt the spell working its way through her bloodstream.
"Don't worry. The first injection is always the most painful. It has to poison your magic, after all."
Hermione's eyes widened. It was going to poison her magic? With everything she had, she fought and struggled against the chains that were binding her to the wall. Her wrists were being rubbed raw from the friction but she kept pulling them, each time hoping that they would give. Her blue veins were now becoming disgustingly prominent under her skin from the powerful magic running through them.
She wasn't expecting the first round of pain that seemed to attack her all at once. It was like someone had forced her to stand in the middle of a roaring fire. She almost expected to see her skin to start blistering from the excruciating heat that was flowing through her body. Vaguely, she heard screaming and when her throat started to burn too, she realized that it was her. Darkness seemed to cloud her vision and she squeezed her eyes shut, willing the pain to subside but it only intensified.
After a final scream, Hermione hung limp in the chains. The spell was in her blood now and exhaustion was instantly gnawing at her consciousness. The last thing she remembered was a low, menacing laugh as Voldemort left her alone in the dungeon.
XoX
Soo… the first chapter is always the hardest for me to write. I hope that wasn't so bad.
The song that I listened to during this chapter was:
Uprising by Muse.
I'll always post the song that helped me write the chapter down here. Hope you guys liked it! Review please!
P.S. If you're upset about the lack of Draco in this chapter, trust me. I am too. This IS a Draco/Hermione story. I promise. I just have to ease into it. Let's face it. Them getting together will NEVER be easy.