Disclaimer: I own nothing. Everything Harry Potter belongs to the lovely JK Rowling.

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She had never been more terrified in her life. She'd been through a lot in her eighteen years of life, and she had seen many things that most eighteen year old girls could never dream of seeing, but out of everything, being tortured by Bellatrix Lestrange was more terrifying for her than anything else. Not knowing whether she would live or not was a scary thought for Hermione Granger, but she knew she couldn't tell anyone about anything she and her best friends had been doing, so with Harry in mind, Hermione stayed as strong as she could and continuously endured the cruciatus curse until Bellatrix finally gave up on that and went for a more physical approach- carving a word into the girl's arm. Hermione screamed and she eventually even let a few tears slide down her face, but she still kept her mouth shut.

Feeling helpless, she laid there and listened to Bellatrix and Lucius Malfoy debate about what they would do. At some point, Hermione started to fight consciousness. She was exhausted, and she wished someone would come save her or for Bellatrix to just kill her and be done with. As she thought this, her eyes slowly drooped down and she could barely make out the word mudblood written on her arm. A drop of blood slowly fell from one of the d'sand made its way down her arm, and she felt a tear make its way out of her eye socket. She wanted to cry, to let out a huge sob, but she couldn't. A lump formed in her throat, and Hermione tried to make it go away, but she couldn't. She tried to think of happy times, of her parents, of Harry, of Ginny and Luna and Neville, of Fred and George and their dumb tricks, of Ron… The thought of Ron made her insides squeeze together and the feeling of nervousness came back to her. She wanted him. She needed him badly. Seconds after she thought this, Hermione heard something that made her feel hope again. It was a voice. His voice. Ron's voice.

Hermione heard spells being casted, and the sound of a duel soon echoed throughout the large room. She wanted to get up, to help her best friends, but she felt as if her legs had been chopped off. She couldn't find it in her to move them. She couldn't even feel them.

Hermione came to the conclusion that her torturers were too occupied to notice her, and she slowly tried to move her arm to her jacket pocket where her wand was, but before she could reach into it, rough hands yanked her up, and she found herself being held roughly in the arms of Bellatrix. Hermione let out a desperate gasp that she knew neither Harry nor Ron could hear as she dangled numbly in the crazed death eater's arms. She felt herself slowly being dragged backwards as Bellatrix walked away from the duel, and when a sharp, cold, thin blade met her damp skin, she let out another gasp. All of her surroundings faded away, and the only thing she could make out was the blade being held against her throat.

Hermione's insides flopped around nervously, and she felt like wild elephants were stampeding wildly in the pit of her stomach. She could feel her pulse accelerating, and she held in her breath, afraid that if she let out even one breath, the blade of the knife would dig into her throat. And as if Bellatrix had read her mind, the edge of the knife drew slightly into her skin. Hermione shut her eyes tightly and silent tears fell from her eyes as she felt blood start flow from the small cut made on her neck.

Soon everything was quiet, and the muffled noises of everything that had been going on in the last minutes stopped. Thoughts flooded Hermione's brain. Had she died? Well, she could not be dead since she was still thinking. Had Voldemort been called? Hermione opened one eye, afraid to see what was happening, but before her eyesight could focus, the knife disappeared from her neck and the arms that had been roughly holding her up let go. Hermione found herself stumbling forward blindly and a scream escaped her lips. She was terrified of what was happening and she wanted out of the horrid manor.

Hermione closed her eyes as she tripped over her foot and slowly found herself falling towards the floor, but before her knees could fully touch the hard floor, a pair of strong arms grabbed her and pulled her up into their owner's firm grasp. Hermione felt herself being dragged backwards and panic filled her mind, but as she drew in a shaky breath, a familiar scent that she knew too well filled her nose and she relaxed a little bit.

Hiding her face in Ron's shoulder, Hermione let her tears escape and tried to make out what was going on. She could hear Bellatrix yelling at someone then the high-pitched voice of Dobby the house elf flew through the room as he made a speech about being a free elf. Hermione slowly moved her head to see what was happening. She saw Lucius Malfoy angrily making his way towards them. Harry pointed the wand he was holding at him and yelled, "Stupefy!" Hermione squeezed her eyes shut. Ron's arm tightened around her as they suddenly disappeared into darkness, and the familiar squeeze of apparation squeezed her body.

Seconds later, Hermione found herself on a beach sitting in wet sand. A sob freely escaped from her mouth as she took in her surroundings, and she soon found herself in Ron's arms again. His embrace was strong, and despite everything Hermione had just been through, she felt safe, not exactly relaxed, but not as tense as she had been minutes ago.

The sound of Harry grunting a few feet away made Hermione look up from Ron's shoulder and she watched as her friend clumsily stood up and walked over to them through tear-filled eyes. "Hermione," Harry said in a broken voice as he continued to stumble towards his friends. "You're okay. We're safe. We're all safe." Harry fell on the ground and wrapped his arms around her, and for a few seconds, Hermione felt like nothing could hurt her while she was wrapped in the arms of both of her best friends.

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So I wrote this a few months ago, and I decided to post it on FanFiction. I don't know if this was even that great, so reviews are greatly appreciated as well as any constructive criticism you have for me. :)