When Hermione came to, she had a dizzyingly painful headache. She went to reach up to feel the side of her head, only to realize her hands were restrained. A moment of panic struck her as the startling events at the castle flowed across her mind, causing her eyes to fly open, which she instantly regretted. She was seated, or tied rather, to a chair along quite a long table, so long in fact that she wondered if it had been engorged by magic. As she quickly took in her surroundings, her stomach lurched and she fought not to vomit upon herself.
Voldemort sat at the head of the table, a foul smile upon his misshapen face. This is the first time she had seen him, but he was unmistakable. Harry, though he didn't speak too much of it, had given her enough details to know it was him. His nose was flat, on his long skinny face, and his eyes told evils she could never fully comprehend. She wanted to praise Harry for successfully going against him, because just looking at him she could tell he was one of the most powerful wizards of their time.
Next to him was Lucius Malfoy, and on his other side, was Peter Pettigrew. Then next to Lucius was Bellatrix, who was sat next to Hermione. As she looked around the table there were some people she recognized from the papers, others she had never seen before. But they all looked like seedy people, nobody she would ever associate with, or want to be near. They practically reeked of evil and she could only guess that they had all done horrendous things.
But that wasn't what gave her the urge to puke, no, it was the lifeless body of Colin Creevey, who lay in the center of the table. His dead eyes looking towards Hermione, making a painful memory she could never forget. In a short time she had witnessed the death of two innocents, but this one hit a little harder, for she knew him. She wanted to cry, he hadn't deserved this, he was a good kid, immeasurably innocent. She wanted to scream, to vomit, to do anything other than be restrained against this chair, forced to look upon her dead classmate.
She ducked her head in an attempt to look away from the poor boy, but her jaw was forcefully grabbed and shoved back in the direction she didn't want to look. So she looked around the table again instead. She noticed with a start that she wasn't the only student tied up there. She looked at Lavender Brown, who looked like she had already vomited down the front of her. The poor girl shook as her eyes raked over Colin's body. Then she saw the Pavarti twins, looking paler than it seemed possible, Padma's eyes were squeezed closed so tight, it looked like it hurt. Two girls she remembered from her Potions class, sat across from her, one had dried blood on the side of her head, while the other had a terrible black eye.
Lee Jordan sat restrained as well, but he looked defiant and angry, which Hermione noticed was the same way she was feeling. There was also the boy who had helped her when she dropped her books last week, and he looked just as angry as Jordon, his fists balled. There were three other students she didn't recognize, and they looked terrified, but mostly uninjured. To Hermione's relief, Harry and Ron were not present.
"Ah, so it looks like you have all finally woken, though it is a shame Miss Granger, that you have missed my little demonstration." Voldemort mused from across the table. Her eyes flicked to him in anger, to which he gave a soft chuckle.
"You see, we were discussing how both of our groups had somehow managed not to grab ahold of Potter, which of course was my main goal. When this child here," his hand gestured towards Colin, "decided to state that Harry was better than that, and that we would never catch him. See he just kept arguing and he just wouldn't relent, and we couldn't let that happen, so we showed the others a lesson, didn't we?" Voldemort asked, looking toward all his hostages.
"Colin." Hermione called out, anger filling her every bone. He was not some child; he had a name, a family, and a life that was ripped from him.
"Excuse me?" Voldemort retort, his eyes snapping to Hermione.
"His name was Colin." She responded defiantly. A hand connected hard on the side of her face, her head reeling in the opposite direction and pain shot through her jaw bone.
"How dare you speak out of order to the Dark Lord!" Bellatrix howled in a way that made Hermione think she was even crazier than she thought she was.
"Calm down Bellatrix," Voldemort reprimanded softly, "She will come to learn, it will simply take some training." He added with a sickening smile, that Hermione wished to slap away. She was not a dog to be trained!
"Now, back to business, shall we? The other group tells me that they have about 10 other students, none of them being Harry unfortunately. But he will come with time, after all, we do have something he wants," He said, gesturing towards the flustered Hermione, who tried fighting uselessly against her magical restraints. "I think we could have done better myself, but I can say that this was a victory. Dumbledore is dead." There were shouts of excitement around the room at this, and Hermione again felt like she needed to empty her stomach.
It couldn't be, the great Dumbledore couldn't be dead, there was no way. He was the greatest wizard there was, they relied on him. How could they defeat the Dark Lord without him? Her feeling of defeat was breathtaking, but it still could not compare to her all-encompassing rage.
"Ah yes, I too, could not be happier about this, it was a great victory indeed. That will be greatly rewarded. Now, what shall we do with our prisoners?" He watched as each of the students looked to him with fear, knowing their fate lay in his hands. This seemed to almost thrill Voldemort, as the corners of his mouth twitched, eventually turning into an ugly, spine chilling smile.
"I believe we should just kill em'" Came from the man that Hermione and Harry narrowly escaped from in the castle, his hair even more chaotic now. Worry shot through her Hermione, and she hoped Madam Hooch was alright.
"No, no we will need them, I'm sure Harry and the Order will want to come for them." Voldemort looked thoughtfully at them all, as if they held secrets he could decipher, "And perhaps maybe we could learn something from them. I want to also see if it is possible to convert them, giving me more soldiers. Of course, they will be extremely low ranking, as they are mostly mudbloods and half-bloods, but they can help with dirty work I suppose, until they have outlived their use. I want them taken to our holding grounds, where they are to be questioned about what they know-"
"Your Lord, I was going to ask a small favor." Lucius interrupted, effectively gaining the attention from the group. "As you may know, I lost a house elf due to Potter, and I was wondering if I may have Miss Granger as my new house servant. I can work towards transitioning her to our side as well, and she will be closely watched." Lucius spoke quickly, and never made eye contact with Voldemort, but instead stared menacingly at Hermione.
The Dark Lord sat there in thought, looking between Hermione and Lucius, before slowly nodding his head.
"That seems like a worthy deal Malfoy, I cannot see why not. It won't be long before this too, is my residence, so I can also keep a close eye on her. Take the girl, and do with her as you please, but do know that there will be a day that I need her." Voldemort offered thoughtfully.
"Thank you my Lord." Lucius murmured quietly, but triumph showed on his face, which made Hermione nauseous.
"That's not fair! I want a pet!" Bellatrix shrieked, shocking Hermione, causing her to jump. This just caused Bellatrix to look sideways at her with imploring eyes, like she was discovering a new species she wanted to experiment on.
"Your rewards will come in due time Lestrange, along will everyone else," He remarked, looking at each of the Death Eaters.
"I'm not a pet." Hermione insisted, her eyes shooting angrily towards Lucius.
"You are now, and I advise you listen well to Lucius. I'm sure the repercussion will be unpleasant to say the least." Voldemort calmly insisted, his eyes never leaving hers. Anger flowed like fire through her veins, leaving her feeling hot and seething, but she couldn't deny her fear. It was just as strong as the anger, like fire and ice battling for control, but neither gained control this time.
"Listen-" She tried speaking out, reason in her voice, but she was instantly hushed by another slap in the face from Bellatrix. She looked over at the crazed woman, who was obviously finding joy in harming her.
"That is enough speaking on your part Miss Granger, I believe I have been rather reasonable already. You're quite lucky I will need you in the future, or you would probably already be dead, alongside this boy." Voldemort informed nonchalantly, as if her murder would be as simple as reading the Daily Prophet. A shudder ran down her spine, and while her anger begged her to continue her protest, her fear finally won.
Hermione solemnly dropped her head, making them believe she had accepted her fate. But Hermione knew she would fight to the death if need be, she would never accept the fate that Voldemort laid out before her. She just had to bid her time, and wait for the right moment.
"I will call another meeting in the next few days, but for now I have other business to attend to." And with a snap the Dark Lord disappeared from the room, apparating to an unknown location. Loud cracks occurred throughout the room as the Death Eaters left, also taking the students with them. She briefly worried for those students, as they had never apparated before.
That was quickly forgotten as she remembered her own predicament. She looked around her, at the now empty table, except for Lucius, who looked upon Colin Creevey with disgust. He snapped his finger and an elf appeared next to him, looking to his master for orders.
"Take care of this mess; I want this filthy mudblood off my table." Lucius ordered sternly, causing the elf to quickly take the body, before disappearing with it. Hermione realized with a start, that she was already in Lucius's home, and she would now be stuck here, at Lucius's and Voldemort's whim.
"I thought you didn't have an elf! What do you need me for?!" Hermione hollered, as tears streamed down her face without her permission. He simply laughed, before standing, slowly making his way towards her.
"You see, I'm used to having more than one, and your worthless friend lost me my best elf. No matter, I can train you rather quickly. But you will not have your wand, nor any magic, so it'll have to be done by hand." He responded as he flicked his wand, releasing her from the chair. That's when Hermione noticed with a start that her wand was not on her, and the fear quickly doused the fire that was the remainder of her anger. How could she get away without her wand?
Lucius grabbed her arm and forced her to her feet, she stood wobbly for a moment before being yanked behind Lucius as he tugged her along. They came into another room, which held a large staircase and what seemed to be a sitting room, with plush couches that looked like they had never been sat on. All the furniture in the room was dark black, while the side tables were dark wood. The walls were devoid of color, except for a few portraits, that glared at her as she stumbled along.
To the left of the sitting room, was a long hallway, and to the right was an enormous kitchen. The appliances were all glamorous and large, matching well to the sleek black marble surfaces that were the counters in the Malfoy kitchen. Upon seeing it her stomach grumbled at the prospect of food. She couldn't remember when she ate last. As if Lucius read her mind, his grip formed tighter on her arm.
"You will not eat unless I say so, you will not even move unless I say so." His voice rumbled beside her with force as he pulled her to the side of the stair case, opening a small closet.
"You will live here, you will not come out unless asked to, and you will not speak unless spoken to. You're under my rule now, and it is in your best interest to do as I tell you. You will also be catering to my wife, Narcissa, and my son, Draco, whom you are already acquainted with. Now, I don't wish to have your filth in my presence any longer. Remember this, it will do you no good to anger me." With a sneer on his face he threw Hermione into the tiny closet, and slammed the door behind her, drenching the room in darkness so thick, she thought she might drown in it. The only light she could see was from the tiny crack at the bottom of the door.
Hermione finally let all those emotions crash upon on her, and she sobbed and cried until the world ebbed away, and sleep took her into a blissfully dreamless sleep.