"Imperio."
Hermione, though it was very much unlike her usual self, stood with her mind completely blank and her thoughts at an utter stand still. It was as if all the little house elves that kept the 'Hermione Train' moving- being paid with more than fair wages- had all decided to take a vacation at the same time, without so much as a note. Everything in the usually very busy head of Hermione Granger was a blank, and there was very little she could do about it.
What Hermione was aware of, however, was a warm sort of pleasurable sensation that had suddenly taken a hold on her. It was as if she had been engulfed in a cloud where everything was safe, and nothing took very much thinking. This was a nice break for Hermione, who was known for thinking quite a bit. It was as if she were asleep and everything she usually worried about, which was quite a lot, was already solved for her.
Looking around, Hermione could see she was in a beautiful ballroom with multiple strange people; some familiar looking, but barely and some not. They all seemed like strangers to her. One boy, a tall red head with crystal blue eyes, caught her attention, thought. And it seemed he was staring at her, a look of horror stuck on his face with no intention of changing anytime soon. She wondered how someone could be so horrified in such a nice place.
Suddenly, a friendly sort of voice entered her head.
Deary, the voice, probably a beautiful woman`s, began in a kind and gentle tone that just begged you to listen I need you to use the Cruciatus Curse on yourself.
This struck Hermione as an odd sort of wish, but it was hard to argue with such a nice voice. And anyway, she was positive nothing could harm her in this place. So, lifting her wand and pointing it towards her own chest, Hermione whispered one word.
"Crucio."
Suddenly, Hermione was vaguely aware of herself being thrown back against the floor. She must have been screaming, she thought, because her throat ached, though she could hear no sound. She felt no pain now, though she was sure it was there somewhere. Then it stopped, and she rose to her feet and commenced, once again, staring forwards at the boy with the blue eyes.
She was wrong about his expression before. Now it looked ten times more horrified, with a hint of pain twisted into his familiar features that sent the farthest jolts of something through her blank feeling body. She watched him as he reached out towards her, his mouth open and moving, though she couldn't hear him. His eyes remained locked with hers. He pushed against his captors in an attempt to reach her, but couldn't quite make it. If she lifted her arm, she could reach him.
She tried to raise her right arm in order to lock hands with his, before the voice returned.
Put your arm down, dear it encouraged and Hermione`s arm fell limp at her side. She wondered why the voice so much as cares whether or not she reached out to the boy.
All was quiet in Hermione`s head again, until the voice returned.
Crucio again, darling it urged and, with little hesitation Hermione raised her wand and preformed the curse again.
"Crucio."
The same thing happened and the boy struggled again, reaching out to her and yelling to her, by the looks of it. She could just make out the words- well word actually- he yelled the same one word over and over again. Her-mio-ne. Was that her name? She quickly sifted through whatever memories she could conjure on such short notice, finding very few. It seemed to be her name. Hermione; he was calling to her.
Then, as soon as it had gone, the voice was back.
Again, again! It demanded excitedly.
This time Hermione hesitated, thinking about the boy calling her name. He seemed to be distressed by the fact that she was doing what the voice said, and he didn't seemed to be wrong at all. But her hand already had her wand at the ready and it would take more work to convince herself not to, so she did it again.
"Crucio."
"No!" Ron shrieked as he lunged towards Hermione again, as she sent herself flying backwards. She let out a horrible scream he could barley bear, and looked to be in terrible pain. Then, like she did the first two times, she calmly got to her feet and stared at him blankly. That`s what hurt the most, the unrecognizing, vacant stare that accompanied the Imperious Curse. Hermione could die, he thought, and she would have no idea who he was. The thought made his stomach knot.
Ron had heard once, from his dad, that the Imperious Curse worked by targeting the logical centers of the brain and turning whatever the caster asked into the most logical thing to do. By doing this it made the curse incredibly hard to fight, as it would be going against all logic not to agree with the casters wishes. This also made those who had strong logical reasoning skills extremely susceptible to the curse`s powers.
Hermione, who Ron, Bellatrix and everyone else on planet earth knew to have the best logical reasoning skills ever in existence, was in big trouble.
The boy screamed her name, reaching towards her.
"Crucio."
It looked as if he had begun to cry, his face wet with tears.
"Crucio."
He stared at her with his big blue eyes almost pleading her to stop. No, wait. He was pleading. She could hear his voice, faint and family, talking to her.
"Please Hermione," he cried out to her and she blinked awkwardly at him as the tears spilled faster from his eyes "stop doing this to yourself." He looked truly pitiful and she longed to reach out to him, but something kept her arms glued to her sides. "It`s killing me to watch you do this, you have to fight the curse. You have to come back to me." He ended practically sobbing as a woman with big black hair and big black boots to match stepped in front of him, grabbing him by the collar of his tattered shirt and forcing him upwards.
"There`s no point, blood traitor!" The woman, who made Hermione instantly uneasy, squealed triumphantly as she hit the boy across the face with her wand, leaving ugly red marks. Hermione could feel herself gasp, but the woman didn't seem to hear her. "She doesn't have nearly enough strength to overpower an Imperious Curse this strong!"
"You`re wrong about Hermione," he said in a clam, yet meaningful tone "she`s the strongest girl I know." Hermione felt herself give the faintest of smiles to the boy who was defending her, even though she hadn't a clue what he was talking about.
"You know," the woman went on, as if the boy hadn't spoken at all "it is horrible of you to let her suffer this much, knowing that I would stop if you told me what I wanted to know." The boy seemed terribly shaken at this, so the woman added "just a thought." Then the woman, after dropping the boy swiftly, turned back towards Hermione and flicked her wand, disintegrating anything she could hear or make the slightest sense of.
She watched the boy`s mouth move, his eyes flickering between the woman and Hermione. She had no idea what he was saying to her, but she finished the woman flicked her wand twice.
With this, the voice returned.
Crucio! It commanded and Hermione, clutching tightly to her wand, pointed it at her chest and whispered the spell once again.
"Crucio."
For a moment, the warm feeling evaporated and she knew she was standing in Malfoy Manner, across from Ron. It was a moment of absolute clarity, until the pain started.
This time, instead of the numbness she had grown used to over the last few times, Hermione felt a burning hot sensation that took hold on her entire body, causing her to spasm and scream. She could hear her screams as they echoed off the walls of the large room. She tried her hardest to form words, and one word was the best she could manage.
"Ron!" She shrieked his name as the pain seared through her "Ron!" He shrugged off his constrictors, in a state of utter panic and wrenched Hermione`s wand out of her hand, laying it next to her on the ground. The pain ceased immediately, leaving Hermione panting on the ground with Ron hunched over her.
"It`s ok," he whispered, holding her in his arms as he tucked a stray strand of her hair behind her ear "I`ve got you now, it`s gunna be ok."
"How cute," a voice Hermione knew very well and dreaded even more said from where she towered above the two "Friends reunited." It was Bellatrix Lestrange. "Now tell me, boy, where did you get the sword?" She asked the question calmly, but Hermione knew she wasn't fooling around. Tightening his grip on Hermione, Ron glared at Bellatrix.
"The sword presented itself to us in a time of need." He said levelly. For a moment, Bellatrix was quiet.
"Liar!" She yelled, kicking Ron aside and grabbing for Hermione, who cried out in pain.
"Hermione!" Ron called, rolling around to face the two of them. Bellatrix quickly took out her dagger and now held it with the blade pressed against Hermione`s cheek. Ron felt his breath catch in his throat.
"Tell me the truth," she started again, sounding relatively calm though it was not at all the case "where did you get the sword!"
"Ron, don't tell her anything!" Hermione screamed, trying to ignore the cold metal pressed against her cheek. Ron, sneaking a pained look at Hermione, stood up and faced Bellatrix. Hermione noticed a odd shaped lumped in his back pocket.
Suddenly, the door to the cellar flew open and Harry stood there looking heroic, in front of Luna, Olivander and Griphook. Smiling at his friend, Ron pulled out Hermione`s wand he had stuck in his back pocket and reached forward to grab her arm. Pulling Hermione close to his chest and wrapping an arm around her, he apperated out of the manor.
Seconds later, Hermione and Ron collapsed on a sandy beach, clutching onto each other for dear life. Hermione tried to sit up, but let out a small groan of pain and fell back down into Ron`s arms.
"Shh," Ron soothed, stroking her hair in a reassuring way as Hermione let the tears fall, finally "It`s ok." She sobbed into his shoulder, letting out the occasional murmur of pain but never acting on it.
"It was so horrible," Hermione choked out between sobs as she shuddered "the curse and- and-"
"Shh," Ron whispered, tightening his hold on Hermione and moving to rubbing her back gently instead of stroking her hair "I know. The Cruciatus Curse is brutal and unbearable." Hermione shook her head, without even moving it from where it was buried in Ron`s chest.
"Not the Cruciat-tus Curse." She stuttered out as she clung to Ron for support. "The Imperious Curse. It`s just so hard to fight, and I couldn't do it, can`t do it." Having nothing to say, Ron just sat and listened to the strongest woman he knew, had ever known, sob into his shoulder as she went on. "It targets my logic Ron," she paused, pulling herself out of his shoulder to look him in the eyes. His; crystal blue and hers; big, brown and puffy from crying. "I`m nothing without my logic."
The two sat in a thick silence until the sudden crack of apperation filled the air and Harry stumbled by holding what looked to be Dobby. Ron, searching for one last thing to say to Hermione while the two of them were truly alone, grabbed at her shoulder and forced her to look at him once more.
"You are my everything, Hermione Granger, and I would be nothing without you." Ron said to her seriously, as he searched her deep brown eyes for any hint of doubt. He found none. "When you couldn't hear me screaming for you," Ron told her quickly, looking around for anyone else around who might hear him "I was heartbroken. Bellatrix kept telling me that you would never come out alive, that I`d never hold you again. I couldn't bear the thought of it. It was pure torture watching you do that to yourself; again and again."
Ron paused, whipping what seemed to be tears from his face. Hermione couldn't take anymore of Ron`s words. She reached out and pulled the boy into a hug, passing all of her fear, guilt and sorrow through the intensity of the kiss. When they finally pulled away, Hermione smiled bitterly.
"For the first time in my life, I was certain I was going to die." Hermione whispered, pressing her face into Ron`s chest.
"Me too." Ron admitted, wrapping his arms around the young woman as he cradled Hermione from all harm. He would protect her from now on, Ron concluded, he would be strong for the both of them.
After all, you do anything to protect the ones you love.