Breaking Free
chapter one

"Where is she?!" Harry yelled, his panic showing obviously through the panic in his voice as everyone stared at everyone else with scared looks on their faces. Ron replied in a similar tone, "I thought she was with you!" The room was buzzing with commotion as Ginny tried to calm everyone, but her attempts were proving unsuccesful as she herself was not that calm either.

A sudden loud 'bang' from down the hallway attracted everyone's attention, and the commotion was suspended for a moment or two before everyone ran towards the noise, which had dissolved into the figures of Remus and Sirius. "Hermione!" Harry cried, looking desperately from his godfather to his friend as Ron added to the plea, "Is she with you?"

"Who?" Remus said, eyes downward. Everyone could tell he was stalling, and no one was having any of it.

"Hermione!" Practically the whole group cried out, looking angry and at the same time scared. They all knew that if one of their own was taken, it would not be a good thing- in fact, it would be horrible.

At Hermione's name, Sirius paled and Remus simply continued looking sullenly at the floor, and everyone noticed. Mrs. Weasley, her motherly instincts and also her fear taking over, said angrily, her voice and the glint in her eyes leaving no room for movement. "Where. Is. She?!"

After a moment, Sirius' quiet answer was what caused the most pandemonium. "She was taken," he said simply. "I'm sorry."

In that moment, the room exploded in a flurry of chaos, activity, and chatter that never seemed to stop. Everyone was talking about rescue attempts, especially Sirius, Ron, and Harry; Ginny had begun crying, along with Mrs. Weasley; Fred, George, and Remus were stony-faced and shocked; and everything had fallen into turmoil until a man with a long white beard appeared in the room and with his words quieted everyone.

"Everyone, I think it is obvious that we have a problem."

The Weasley family, along with Harry, Sirius, and Remus, were all looking at Dumbledore like he was crazy for pointing out the inevitable obvious. However, Dumbledore continued speaking.

"There will be no rescue attempts. I have my own sources already working on the issue, and for the time being we may rest assured that Miss Graner is a brave and strong young woman who knows more magic that almost anyone in this room. I have complete confidence in her strength, courage, and bravery that she will not give in."

At that, Harry looked about to explode; however, to almost everyone's surprise, Sirius was the one who voiced his opinions, mostly because he felt guilty for leaving her behind, even if he hadn't had a choice. "Have you gone CRAZY?!"

Harry finally got his word in, crying, "She is probably being tortured or worse as we speak!"

"I am not crazy," Dumbledore said calmly. "I must think of everyone else though, and rushing off to save her in an attempt that would almost definitely not work is not wise. There will be no more attempts at rescue- I assure you that someone I trust is working on the issue as we speak. Now please, calm down, and I must bid you all a good day." With that the old man departed, leaving behind a group of completely shocked and furious wizards and witches who could not believe the attitude the old man had taken towards the tragedy.

--

Hermione groaned as she woke up and found herself in a damp, dark room that seemed to have the lingering scent of dried blood, and, although it didn't even seem possible, the feelings of fear and pain. As the door creaked open and a figure was revealed standing in the doorway, Hermione was hit by the fact that it would have been more prudent to everyone if she had died back at Headquarters. But her Gryffindor pride revolted against that statement, and she mentally berated herself for even allowing herself to feel weak.

The figure took a step forward, and Hermione held her breath as she recognized the second figure that followed into the room. A pale white face and redder-than-blood eyes- Voldemort, the one person Hermione had never hoped to see when she was alone and defenseless, if ever. Hermione had to remind herself to breathe as her heart seemed to be caught in her throat.

"Ahh my little Mudblood, how are you today?" Lucius Malfoy, the first figure, his blond hair showing even in the dark of the room, said coldly, mockingly.

"Better than you, you inbred ferret!" Was her quick reply, her anger and resentment for the two men showing in her words, even though she knew in her heart that defying them was unwise and could only bring more pain than what was already coming. Nevertheless, Hermione was a proud character and would never lower herself to being pushed around by anyone, if she had any say in it.

Malfoy stepped forward and slapped her hard across the face, fury showing evidently in his grey/black eyes. "You shouldn't speak to your betters like that, girl," he said coldy, his nager rising.

"Well," Hermione said defiantly, her cheek stinging, "I'm afraid I can't really see anyone better than me at the moment." This reply earned her another hard slap from Lucius, which Hermione recieved wih strength- but what stung was the fact that Voldemort stood back laughing, a quiet foreshadowing of what was to come.

"Bring her to me, Lucius," came the cold, high voice of Voldemort from across the room. Lucius grabbed Hermione by her busy hair, pulling her across the room to the man who had already killed so many and wouldn't think twice about ending the life of an innocent little girl.

"You have two choices, my dear," Voldemort said calmly, coldy, his red eyes glinting with excitement. "You can either tell us what we need to know or join us, or choose not to tell us and we will get it out of you and then kill you. The choice is yours."

Hermione didn't even think about it. "I choose option one," she said, just as calmly. "You will never get anything out of me, you bloody murderous prat!" Her sarcastic attitude earning her yet another slap. But her Gryffindor courage had began to return, and her defiance was the only way she felt she had a say in her fate.

"Incellent little Mudblood!" Voldemort sneered. "Lucius, you may have your fun, but make sure you get information out of it- and keep her alive. I want to have my fun too, of course..." With those words he left the room angrily, leaving a very scared Hermione with a very evil Lucius, wand at the ready.

--

Hermione whipped around as she heard more people enter the room. Another group of Death Eaters, what looked to be perhaps ten, maybe less, came running into the room when Malfoy had yelled the affirmative that it was now time for their fun.

"Crucio!" The curse was yelled, and with it came the most horrendous and nearly unbearable pain that wracked through her body, causing her to curl up in a ball on the floor in an unconscious attempt to protect herself. Willing herself not to scream, drawing on her bravery, she heard through the void one of the Death Eaters say, "Aww, she didn't scream!"

"No matter," Lucius replied with a smile. "We are going to play a game, my little Mudblood! Are you ready? The game is to see who can get you to scream the loudest...."

With the laughs that resounded around the room, Hermione prepared herself for the most painful night she would probably ever face.

--

Please review. As always, this is a re-written chapter from jasmine-leigh.