Disclaimer: Sadly, I am not the writing goddess that is J.K. Rowling. Damn.

Chapter 1: The Beginning

Footsteps echoed loudly around the small, damp room. She waited anxiously, lying motionlessly against the frigid stone wall. Her broken ankle throbbed mercilessly, and the deep gashes on her arm bled sluggishly. Her left arm was secured to the wall with a long, rusty chain.

The door to the cell groaned as it was thrust open. A limp, naked body was thrown onto the wet stone at her feet. She scrambled forward, chain rattling, and placed thin, trembling fingers to his bruised wrist. His pulse fluttered lightly against her fingertips.

"Tomorrow," the hooded figure snarled with a smirk, "is the big day." He cackled. "I wonder, mudblood, do you think they've forgotten you yet? Do you think they'll risk coming to save you?"

She flinched. "Please," she cried. "He needs help. The pain is too much for him. He'll die!"
The smirk faded from the man's stern face, but he said nothing.
"He's your son!" she shrieked shrilly. "Please!"

The man paused, unease rippling across his pale face. Training his wand on her, he fumbled in one of his robes' many pockets until his fingers brushed against a smooth bottle. He tossed it to the girl.

"Do not expect a repeat of this. I owe you nothing. Tomorrow both of you will be dead, and the world will be in chaos." A cold breeze blew through the cell as he stormed out and slammed the door shut. There was a harsh grating sound as he turned the lock, securing the two teens in their dark, hellish prison.

She impatiently waited for the footsteps to fade before gathering the boy in her arms. "Come on, wake up, wake up, wake up. Wake up, please! Don't let that filthy bastard win."

He let out a low moan, eyes rolling underneath closed eyelids. She let out a sigh of relief. "Thank Merlin. It'll be okay. You'll be okay." She tore a ragged piece of cloth from her dirty robes and tied it haphazardly around his waist. His hip bones protruded grotesquely from his body. He recoiled at the contact.
"Shh, it's okay. It's just me. Can you open your eyes?"

Purple eyelids cracked open to reveal glassy gray eyes filled with pain. "S-se…" he gasped, a mixture of drool and blood dripping from his chapped lips.

She smoothed greasy, dirt-covered hair from his bloodied forehead. "Shh, it's okay. C'mon, help me out here." She attempted to pull him up into a half-sitting position. "I have something for the pain."

He collapsed backwards, the cold stone supporting his limp body. His mouth opened and shut tremulously, desperately trying to conjure words. "Ss-"

She pulled uselessly at her chain. "I need your help. I know it hurts, this will help, but you have to help me out here." She gently took his clenched fist in her unshackled hand. "Relax."

He groaned in pain as she carefully tried to pry his fingers apart. "I'm sorry," she mumbled guiltily. His broken fingers slowly loosened, and she picked the potion up from the floor and placed it loosely in the palm of his hand. "Don't move."

She slowly rose up, tottering unsteadily on her good leg. She spotted the small cup filled with water in the corner of the cell, just out of the range allowed by her chain.

"Fuck."

She strained hopelessly against the metal. "Fuck!"

He stirred behind her. "'S'kay," he mumbled. "Don' need."

She slowly crawled back to his half-collapsed figure. A single tear made its way down her dirt-caked face. You're a failure. A purple finger gently wiped it away. She glanced up, ashamed, to find his eyes half-mast and his lips curled into a tired smile. "'S'kay," he repeated firmly. "Str'ng."

She took a shaky breath. "You're right. I'm sorry, you're right." She shook her head, as if shaking off her turbulent emotions, then lifted her chin defiantly. "Open wide."
He gave her another half-smile before parting his swollen, bloodied lips. She gently took the vial from his broken hand and carefully dripped a small bit of potion into his mouth. He swallowed, gagging.

Silence.

She stared at him.

He stared back.

Slowly, his face relaxed, and he slumped more easily against the wall. He let out a happy moan as pain lessened its hold on him. She relaxed as well. "Oh thank Merlin. Looks like that psychotic father of yours isn't a complete apathetic maniac."

His eyes flashed up. "F'ther?"

She blinked, confused. "Yes. He brought you in and threw this at me after I yelled a bit."

His eyebrows furrowed. Then his eyes lit up as he remembered his previous thoughts. "Sev!" He coughed wetly, bright red staining his lips. "Sev."
She stared at his mouth in horror. "You're bleeding."

"Sev!"

"What about him?" she snapped, still watching the blood dripping down his lips.

Severus was a captive as well, kept prisoner in a different part of the huge house. She had a feeling it was due to his total betrayal of Voldemort. She knew his punishments were far worse than what she had had to endure as of yet.

"Gone."

Her eyes widened. Did that mean…? "Go-"

Screaming. Someone was screaming. A hot, fiery pain coursed through her body. It felt as if her blood was boiling. Was she dying? Was she finally dying, after everything they had been through?
Vaguely, she was aware of his body thrashing alongside hers. His shrieks mixed with hers, drowning out the sound of pounding footsteps above them.

The pain stopped abruptly.

She sluggishly blinked her eyes open. He was lying next to her, eerily still. Slowly, she dragged herself off the ground, and Hermione Granger draped herself over Draco Malfoy's unconscious body. I wonder if they're coming to kill us now, she thought absently as her mind began to shut down.

She didn't hear the shouts and thuds coming from above them, nor did she hear the door to the cellar bursting open. She didn't see spells being hurled at their captors, nor did she see the body of Lucius Malfoy collide with the bars on their cell door. She didn't hear the desperate whisper, "Alohomora," nor did she hear the cell door grate harshly as it was opened. She didn't feel a rough hand gently feel around her neck, searching for a pulse, nor did she hear the gasps as they saw Draco's still, broken body underneath her.

No, she wasn't aware of any of it. Hermione was already gone, her mind floating blissfully in a realm above pain, death, and blood.

TJBOTJBOTJBO

A/N: Hi. : )