"Can you, will you,
at least attempt to stay now,
just turn around, I'll make you break through"
- "What Gets You Through The Night" by The Audition
XXX
"Bill, I can't make her stop!" Fleur exclaimed. At present, the woman was holding Hermione Granger by the shoulders, pressing down with all her wait, as she attempted to hold Hermione still through another seizure like attack. Bill, who had Hermione by the legs, merely grunted.
Fleur had been trying, for nearly two hours, to think of anything that might ease the effects of the Cruciatus Curse.
"I've seen it last this long before, Fleur, all we can do is wait." He hissed. Hermione stopped moving suddenly, sinking back into a what seemed to be a bizarre, restless coma. Fleur held Hermione's shoulders for a few moments longer than was necessary, her lip trembling almost imperceptibly. She looked down on the other girl's absurdly paled face, her lips were a shade of blue, and the dark circles under her eyes stood out vividly.
"Will she die?" Fleur asked, tearing her eyes away from the disturbing sight of a helpless, silent Hermione.
"If she's been tortured to the point of insanity, which is often the case with these curses, I sincerely hope she does." Bill said flatly. He expected Fleur to be offended by his cold statement, but she merely nodded, understanding. Their moment of silence was broken when Hermione whimpered, her voice breaking over the noise, her eyes clenching shut with even more ferocity.
Bill resumed his grip on her legs. Almost instantly, the quaking returned, accompanied this time by a scream Bill and Fleur found horrifying to listen to.
XXX
Ron jerked his head towards the stairs. Hermione was screaming, again. Again, he tried to move to the steps to go to her, but Luna tightened her grip on his arm. She had spent the better part of the last few hours picking shards of glass out of Ron's arm. They both realized she could have done so magically, but the action gave them both something to do.
"I think that's the last of it, Ronald," Luna proclaimed, her airy voice sounding unusually weary and resigned. She observed the fierce grimace on his face and sighed. "They're doing this for you, Ron. It isn't pretty, the Cruciatus Curse." The distant look on her childish face quelled Ron's instant flare of anger, which had appeared while she attempted to comfort him.
"What do you mean, Luna? How do you-"
"I was at the Malfoy Manor for months, Ronald. It was just something I happened to run into." She murmured, beginning to wrap a bandage around his knuckles and wrist. Ron felt guilty, for a moment ago he was ready to berate Luna for her comforting him. He felt guilty because even though the locket was gone, he could still feel a lasting effect on him. Never in his life had he been this volatile.
"I'm sorry, Luna." He muttered gruffly, standing.
"It's quite alright," She said before standing. She and Ron had been sitting at the table in the kitchen. "I think perhaps I'll go look in on Mr. Ollivander, he had a harder time than I did."
XXX
Through the haze of her addled mind Hermione could hear Fleur speaking to Bill. She sounded worried, Hermione wondered why. Bill was talking about someone, saying death was better than insanity. Hermione wondered who was insane.
In the back of her mind she could hear a sinister hissing. She tried to avoid it, but whenever she let her guard down her mind would be disrupted. Hermione felt as if she were trapped in the most sinister of nightmares, this particular nightmare grew worse whenever the voice was allowed free, even for a moment. It brought waves of unbearable pain that sometimes caused her to shriek audibly.
She replayed Bellatrix's interrogation over and over. If it could be called an interrogation, for patience seemed to be a virtue Bellatrix lacked.
Bellows of "CRUCIO!" echoed through Hermione's head, causing her to shift uncomfortably.
She felt sick to her stomach, her entire body ached. She was completely exhausted and felt as if she had just run a marathon. Maybe two. She didn't have the energy to open her eyes.
Her arm burned, too, and after a brief contemplation she remembered why.
Bella's last method of torture, after Hermione had absolutely refused to speak, had been to harshly engrave the word MUDBLOOD into her forearm.
This had only added insult to injury.
It was also the last thing she remembered before losing consciousness altogether, the sight of the foul slur scratched into her, along with Ron screaming her name as she fell from Bellatrix's threatening grasp.