Disclaimer: I have to be completely honest when I say that I unfortunately do not own any of the characters in this story. JK Rowling owns everything. Although.. it would be nice to own Mr. Sevvy. 3

Warning: This chapter will contain violence, that may or may not be suitable to younger readers or enjoyable to older ones. That's your warning.

Chapter 1

"I swear by the name of Merlin himself that if you do not let me go right this instant you will have a horde of Order Members here more than ready to kick your ass to Kingdom Come and then back again just in time for them to open the bars to your very own cell in Azkaban." The young woman, just barely over the legal age of seventeen, fought against the wrought-iron bars holding tight to her wrists. There was no keyhole, no seam on the metal that would allow anyone to loosen the clamps.

"You seem to believe that there's actually a chance that you might get out of this predicament, Miss Granger, and I think you'll soon find just how mistaken you are." Hermione Granger's captor looked at her with pure disdain in his eyes, though there was the ghost of a smirk as he thought about how well everything was going according to plan.

"You'll never get the satisfaction of keeping me for long, you righteous bastard." She spat at the man in front of her and kicked out at him in her rage. Her left foot made contact with his right ankle and he cursed at her loudly, pulling his wand out and aiming it at her head.

"You are just asking to be punished, Mudblood," he spat at her with growing anger. It was only a second more before she had kicked out again and he didn't waste another second warning her.

A high-pitched scream pierced the small enclosure as his boot-clad foot kicked the thin girl's side and she toppled to the ground. However he was not the type of man that let people off the hook quite that easily, rather the type that took great pleasure in abusing humanity both mentally and physically. "That's right, Mudblood bitch, scream for me."

His foot connected with her side a few more times, making perfectly certain that there would be a bruise there in the morning if there wasn't one already. His wand flicked towards her and her ankles became shackled to the wall in much the same way that her wrists her. There was no hope of getting out unless someone came for her. She just hoped that it would be sooner rather than later that they found her.

She kept her eyes trained to his face as he continued to abuse her body, kicking and punching her until she could hear bones cracking under the pressure and blood pouring out of wounds that she wasn't even aware she had. But she kept her mouth closed. She didn't want to give him the satisfaction of anything, but she really didn't want to allow him the satisfaction of hearing her plea for mercy every time he hurt her.

It wasn't long before she had passed out from the pain she felt that night and her captor walked out of the small room, closing the door behind himself and warding it so that it would be untraceable to any who wanted to find her the small brunette.

By the time she woke up the next day it was well into the afternoon, but the atmosphere in her cell was still below what one would normally call a comfortable temperature, the smell dingy from her soiled garments which hadn't been changed in days. She couldn't be sure of how many days since she wasn't even sure what time it was. Every minute of every day looked the same. All she was able to see were the same dark, moldy walls; the same splintered wooden floor that hurt to sit down on, but not nearly as much as the cuffs around her wrist hurt; and the same pile of straw off in the corner that was supposed to act as her bed whenever she felt the need to sleep.

The only problem with her bed being in the corner of the room was that she had usually misbehaved at ended up being kicked and punched until she passed out among the splinters and was unable to make it over to the pile of straw.

But it was well worth it. She had been captured for secrets, secrets that they could only get by infiltrating the Order – which they obviously couldn't do – and she wasn't about to give away anything. It didn't matter how long she had to stay in that cell, or even if she died there, she was never going to tell them where Headquarters was, nor was she going to tell them how to find Harry.

The longer she was kept alive in that room meant that Harry still hadn't been caught, and for that alone she was willing to stay there for the rest of eternity. Just so long as her best friend wasn't hurt.

The wizarding world needed him more than they needed her after all.

She was awoken again by the now familiar sound of boots slapping against the splinters that covered the room. She kept her eyes closed as she heard them walk further into the room, stopping just next to her before saying a quick spell that had her standing before them against her own accord.

"You have a visitor."

She looked up into the eyes of Draco Malfoy and wanted to spit in his face just as she had so often spit at his father. She couldn't believe the boy was such a coward that he followed in his father's footsteps and joined the Dark Lord in his quest for power. It sickened her really. He was in the only boy in school that could almost match her own intelligence, and he was wasting it for a man who was more snake than he was anything else.

"He's going to kill you, you know. It doesn't matter how happy he is with you right now, he'll tire of you and he'll kill you."

Draco glared at her as she finished speaking and then brought his fist to her face, cracking her jaw, the taste of blood instantly filling her mouth. "You know it's true just as well as I do."

She flinched away from his fist before he even moved to hit her again, which only put a gleam in his eye. She was afraid of him, and she had foolishly shown him that. Now she just had to wait for him to use it against her. "You said I had a visitor?" She tried speaking as sweetly as she could, though they both knew it wasn't a true sound. It was too forced to be natural.

He sneered at her and then allowed the visitor to enter the room. "I'll be right outside of the room if you need me, Professor." The youngest Malfoy walked out of the room and Hermione could only guess which Professor he meant and she inwardly groaned. Out of all the members of the Order they had to send the one person that even she herself had a hard time trusting.

Of course they did, stupid girl, he's the only one that can get inside Malfoy Manor without being killed on the spot.

She closed her eyes and slammed her head against the wall behind her as she waited for the Potions Master to walk closer to her. No doubt he would take his time over there and then laugh at her for being so stupid as to get herself caught.

She counted to ten in her head and then opened her eyes to find herself face to face with her old Potions professor; the man that she didn't completely trust but who she stuck up for at every opportunity; the man who infuriated her more than she could say, but who made her blush just from a simple look her way. In other words, she was sitting face to face with her worst nightmare.

She heard his whisper a silencing spell on the room, all the while keeping eye contact with her. How was she supposed to know it was even him? Someone could have taken Polyjuice Potion and be pretending to be him.

His black eyes pierced into her brown ones and she bit her lip hoping that it really was Severus Snape sitting before her and that he was here to tell her that she didn't have very long at all to wait before the Order members could come and get her. But as she watched him, something crossed his eyes that was gone before she could even figure out what it was. Something that caused him to break eye contact for a moment to hang his head. His shoulder-length jet black hair fell in front of his face, covering even the large nose that adorned his face before he looked back up at her.

"Miss Granger, I need you to listen to me for a moment."

"I will do no such thing. I don't even know if you are who they say you are. How do I know you aren't actually Lucius using Polyjuice or some sort of glamour?

"Just trust me."

"I'm afraid I can't do that."

"For once in your life, Hermione, just listen to me. This is important."

She was about to protest again but he help up a hand over her mouth so she couldn't speak. Instead she chose to glare at him as he sighed and mentally counted to ten.

"The Order can't come get you. Not yet. And I can't take you away either. Lucius will get suspicious if I say something about taking you away. As much sway as I have with the Death Eaters I don't have that kind of sway. Do you think it is at all possible for you to stay alive if I leave you here for just a bit longer?"

He pulled his hand off of her mouth so that she would be able to answer, but it still took her a minute. He could see the tears streaming down her face in response to his question and he felt something nagging at him, but he squashed it down before he could figure out what the feeling was. Her eyes, normally so bright and full of life, seemed dim in the light of the room, but large with tears. How was he supposed to be able to handle this? He couldn't keep control of a crying child.

He sighed slightly and continued to look at her, "Miss Granger?"

"I don't want to stay here, Professor. You don't know what it's like."

"Have they touched you? Sexually?"

"Well no, but,"

"Then you're safe. For the time being at least."

For the first time since she had been locked up in that infernal place, Hermione was glad that her wrists were chained to the wall. He cared so little that she was there that he wanted her to stay in that torture for even longer. And not a definitely time either, just longer. She wanted to reach out and slap him – let him know just how much she hated him in that moment.

"We will be back for you, Miss Granger."

When she opened her eyes again he was gone and she was left in her room all alone until Malfoy Junior walked back in, sneer still in place.

"I hope he beat you senseless and then woke you back up so that you could feel all the pain."

"Trust me Malfoy, he hurt me far worse than anything you could ever do to me."

This seemed to make him happy at least and he walked back out of the room, leaving Hermione to her thoughts. She didn't know how long she was going to have to stay in this retched place and as much as she had been willing to stay there forever if it meant that Harry was safe, she had lost all of her Gryffindor courage. She couldn't stay here forever. She needed to find a way out before anything worse happened to her.

She needed out before she lost her mind.