Chapter 2 - Torture

1998

Hermione was feeling that her life could not get any worse . Firstly, she was caught up in a war simply because not everybody from the world that she has come to love thought that she deserved to be a part of it. Many saw her as dirty and unworthy of her powers and disregarded everything she did simply because she happened to have muggle parents. Being the powerful witch that she was, Hermione knew that she was superior to many of them but it pained her to know that her blood mattered so much to so many people. Her only choice was to fight, to prove that she deserved her place in the wizarding world, feeling as though she had to fight not only for her but for all the muggle-borns who were terrorized by Voldemort.

After the Hogwarts' headmaster , Dumbledore, died at the hands of Severus Snape, Hermione and her best friends, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley embarked on a journey to end the reign of Voldemort once and for all and they started hunting horcruxes, a task which was left to them by Dumbledore through his testament. Because of this task, they ended up captured and brought to Malfoy Manor,Voldemort's headquarters , after they encountered a group of snatchers in their journey.
Even though they were captured, Hermione, being the clever witch everybody knew she was did not give in to her despair. She knew which her priority was : keeping Harry alive, as he was the one prophesized to kill the Dark Lord. Hermione was going to do everything for that to happen, even giving her life in the process just to manage to kill the Dark Lord and to make the wizarding world a place where her kind would not live in fear. Prepared for the worst, she entered the manor expecting to be put face to face with the monster who has been hunting them all this time.

To Hermione's surprise, they were not brought face to face with Voldemort, but they were expected by the Malfoy family and Bellatrix Lestrange. The moment Hermione saw the deranged witch she knew that things would get very ugly at least for her. She managed to throw a Stinging Hex at Harry's face when they were caught so he could not be recognized and Ron was already pretty beaten so his face was swollen , meaning that she was the only one of the trio who could be easily recognized. Given Bellatrix's hatred for muggle-borns she was sure that she would be the first one targeted. She didn't even have a chance to finish her thought when she heard the older witch talk.

"Come here, Draco" said Bellatrix who looked eager to put things in motion. Reluctantly, Draco moved at the front , near his aunt, looking at the wall at the back rather than looking at the three people in front of him. " Tell me boy, do you recognize these three? You went at the same school. It is impossible not to know how they look up close" .
Draco started watching them with pleading eyes and Hermione's stomach clenched. She realised that Draco was forced in this whole mess and he did not want to turn them in. He might have been an arrogant rich boy , boasting about his money and his power but this was on a whole another level. Hermione held her breath until she heard him say" I can't be sure. Their faces are distorted so I can't tell for sure".
His aunt became impatient and started screaming" YOU USELESS BOY! You are good for nothing, just like your father! What about the girl? Her face is not swollen."
Draco looked at Hermione and she knew he had no choice. She subtly nodded at him, knowing that he was the only one who could see. She was going to sacrifice herself and she was going to buy the two boys as much time as she could. This was the only solution. She just wanted him to know that she didn't resent him. She knew he had to do it.

"Yes, I think this is her" said Draco with strangled voice, his emotions starting to show. He was surprised that Granger of all people would understand him .This made him feel ashamed of himself, for being the one to sign this girl's death sentence.

"Very well, Draco. You are not as useless as I thought" said Bellatrix and then addressed the two snatchers " Take these two in the dungeons while we wait for their faces to become normal again. Meanwhile, I am going to have some fun with this one" said Bellatrix while looking at Hermione, her smile wide and her teeth showing.

"No, not her, please! Take me instead , please!" Ron's screams could be heard fading as he was taken to the dungeon but they were not heard by Bellatrix who was watching Hermione like a hungry wolf was watching his prey. Narcissa who was standing behind her sister was looking with sadness at the girl in front of her and Lucius was wearing his usual Malfoy mask , seeming uninterested but his fists were clenched.

"Now, now , little mudblood, I am going to have my fun" the mad woman said while smiling. "Let's play" and as the words left her mouth she sent the Cruciatus curse towards Hermione which hit with such an intensity that the girl started screaming right away. After a few minutes which seemed like hours for Hermione who was feeling like her whole body was on fire, Bellatrix stopped but only because one of the snatchers came looking for her . Through her tears, Hermione could see that the snatcher was showing Bellatrix Gryffindor's sword and the girl was already starting to think of some way to take it back when the older witch grabbed her shirt and lifted her at the level of her eyes.

" WHERE DID YOU GET THAT ? " screamed Bellatrix " HOW DID YOU GET IN MY VAULT?" . Confused , in pain, and with her voice almost inexistent from so much screaming, Hermione didn't even have a chance to open her mouth when she was thrown back to the floor and she heard the other witch saying " Don't worry you will tell me everything sooner or later" , and with that she resumed her torture with the Cruciatus , sending Hermione in an agony like she has never felt before.
Half an hour later, seeing that Hermione just would not crack, Bellatrix had had enough of the torture with the Cruciatus and decided that she would get physical. Taking out a shiny dagger that she had hidden in her cloak she approached the young girl while cackling like mad.

"Bella I don't think that..." started Narcissa who looked like she was going to be sick but she was interrupted by her sister " Shut up Cissy , it is the only way to make her talk" . Narcissa looked like she wanted to protest but one look from her husband made her drop her idea.

" Here,here my little mudblood. I am going to show you how different you are. How dirty your blood is. I am going to take every bit of information out of you and then I am going to drain you of every drop of that filthy muggle blood that you have in you" .

Hermione was barely conscious when she felt the blade pierce her skin but it was enough to make her scream again as she felt the older witch carve in her arm with such ease like she had done that before. She was starting to feel really sick but she assumed that it was natural since she was going to die at the hands of Bellatrix . She disregarded the twingling feeling she was starting to feel all over her body and it wasn't untill she heard a scream that she realised something was wrong. She heard someone around her talking but she couldn't make out the words. The only thing that she realised was that the pain in her arm had stopped and that Bellatrix was no longer standing over her. But she didn't have time to question what was happening as everything started to fade around her, the only words she could understand being"...her...it is her" . After that the darkness consumed her

Thank you for reading. This is my first work and I am really excited to share it with other people. I know that I am still lacking as a writer but I hope to learn a lot through this first fanfiction. Please review if you feel like sharing with me your views on this story .

-Irina-