p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; min-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="631bc87cb30615621a8615b1af4bf714"She screamed. She screamed and screamed and screamed until her throat was hoarse and lungs were on writhed underneath the dark witches grasp, but she couldn't shift her. Bellatrix poked her wand against the fresh cut, twisting and turning it, Hermione unable to do anything except whimper. She pulled her wand back a little, and prepared to strike again./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; min-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="5814438348a05df9aa9249d1acc8134f""No... please... no more..." her voice was barely that of a whisper, but it echoed strangely inside the large and dark room. Bellatrix's smug grin turned into a sly, chilling smile that raised the hairs on the back of Hermione's neck./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; min-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="9bce079b878055d1c9781a5987461851""I'll stop when you span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"em style="box-sizing: border-box;"tell/em/spanspan style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;" me what /spanspan style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"em style="box-sizing: border-box;"else/em/spanspan style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;" you took from /spanspan style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"em style="box-sizing: border-box;"my /em/spanspan style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"vault!/span" she spat at Hermione. Then she moved her wand to the left ever so slightly against the fresh cuts, and began carving the word into her skin again. The new cut overlapped the previous one, and that one overlapped the one before that. Even without looking, Hermione knew what is said, and cried silently, knowing that if she screamed anymore, she'd be tortured yet again. The word, "mudblood". She couldn't count how many times the word had been etched into her skin, but she knew it was more that six. The dried, crusty blood was coated with hot new blood, forming a nasty sticky substance, which seeped into the wooden floorboards and spread up and down Hermione's arm. She lay there for what felt like an eternity, the only sounds being that of Bellatrix's erratic laughter, and the muffled whispers of Draco and his parents. Shuffling footsteps came up behind her, and the next thing she knew, she was being held upright, one hand around her waist, and another resting the jagged edge of a piece of glass up against her throat./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; min-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="99dfe0d61dc63fb0b8e21a04b0f7d9a1""span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"Drop your wands! /spanspan style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"em style="box-sizing: border-box;"Now/em/spanspan style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"! Or the Mudblood dies!/span" Bellatrix had a hold of Hermione, and Ron and Harry were forced to drop their wand's to the ground. Lucius Malfoy picked them up, and threw them aside. Harry and Ron raised their hands in surrender, and Hermione let out a small whimper, causing Bellatrix's grasp to tighten around her waist./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; min-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="33e3508f1d46522303307c137902019d""Get on your knees." demanded Lucius Malfoy, with no emotion at all in his voice. Both of the boys did as he said./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; min-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="0836ff1ae85f96c9abb996baa5c24ea2""Now tell me what else you took from my vault in Gringotts, or this little thing dies!" Bellatrix chuckled as she spoke. The fact she was enjoying it was plain to see, from the gleam in her eyes to the way she laughed, everything about her was sick and twisted./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; min-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="81f184d131ee1a37c34a049e9f54187e""We never span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"went /spanto your vault! We span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"never /spantook anything span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"I/span span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"swear/span!" Harry pleaded, tears in his eyes./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; min-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="725ae3ef5ab83a98c2691fca2e52ab68""Too bad that I don't believe you then!" The seriousness in her voice could've drained anyone of their happiness, and was worse then suffering death by a Dementor's kiss. Hermione felt Bellatrix's wrist move from around her neck, and saw her aim the shard of glass in slow motion, she began to bring it down, aiming for Hermione's heart. Ron and Harry screamed, and Hermione closed her eyes, and waited for the impact of tearing skin and splintering veins, but it never came./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; min-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="53196b42efbfab5ee2c88920d6303424"Hermione sat up in bed, the hair stuck to the back of her neck and her sheets drenched in sweat. The pain in her left arm was excruciating, and the material of her long-sleeved cotton pajama top was stained scarlet. She peeled back the material, and saw that the scars had opened up again, and if not treated soon, would become infected or she might suffer consequences due to severe blood loss. She put on her slippers, grabbed a wad of tissue, and applied pressure before heading for Madame Pomfrey in the Infirmary./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; min-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="8fbf10ca3da91b799c4e64b5c6790a06"As Hermione rushed down the moving staircases, the wound let out more blood, causing her to regret leaving her wand in her room. The long walk to the infirmary was often tedious, however, Hermione was feeling incredibly dizzy and light headed, making it hard for her to walk down the steps without stumbling. She'd discarded the tissue somewhere along the walk, and was too faint to think of a quicker route to the infirmary. Once finally off of the staircases, Hermione headed down long, cold corridoors. She walked as fast as she could. She was walking past the boys toilets on the ground floor, when her left ankle turned outwards, causing her to fall and land on the bleeding cut. She screamed in pain, hoping someone would hear her. No one came. She screamed again. Still no one came. Her left ankle was most likely sprained, she thought to herself, and she couldn't move. She cried out once again, and thought that she saw a shadow flicker across the doorway of the boys toilets. Her vision went black around the edges, and her breathing became shallow and irregular. She'd lost too much blood. Her eyes slowly fluttered shut, despite her resistance. As her consciousness faded away, she felt strong arms lift her, and take her into their embrace.../p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; min-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="5814438348a05df9aa9249d1acc8134f""No... please... no more..." her voice was barely that of a whisper, but it echoed strangely inside the large and dark room. Bellatrix's smug grin turned into a sly, chilling smile that raised the hairs on the back of Hermione's neck./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; min-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="9bce079b878055d1c9781a5987461851""I'll stop when you span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"em style="box-sizing: border-box;"tell/em/spanspan style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;" me what /spanspan style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"em style="box-sizing: border-box;"else/em/spanspan style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;" you took from /spanspan style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"em style="box-sizing: border-box;"my /em/spanspan style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"vault!/span" she spat at Hermione. Then she moved her wand to the left ever so slightly against the fresh cuts, and began carving the word into her skin again. The new cut overlapped the previous one, and that one overlapped the one before that. Even without looking, Hermione knew what is said, and cried silently, knowing that if she screamed anymore, she'd be tortured yet again. The word, "mudblood". She couldn't count how many times the word had been etched into her skin, but she knew it was more that six. The dried, crusty blood was coated with hot new blood, forming a nasty sticky substance, which seeped into the wooden floorboards and spread up and down Hermione's arm. She lay there for what felt like an eternity, the only sounds being that of Bellatrix's erratic laughter, and the muffled whispers of Draco and his parents. Shuffling footsteps came up behind her, and the next thing she knew, she was being held upright, one hand around her waist, and another resting the jagged edge of a piece of glass up against her throat./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; min-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="99dfe0d61dc63fb0b8e21a04b0f7d9a1""span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"Drop your wands! /spanspan style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"em style="box-sizing: border-box;"Now/em/spanspan style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"! Or the Mudblood dies!/span" Bellatrix had a hold of Hermione, and Ron and Harry were forced to drop their wand's to the ground. Lucius Malfoy picked them up, and threw them aside. Harry and Ron raised their hands in surrender, and Hermione let out a small whimper, causing Bellatrix's grasp to tighten around her waist./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; min-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="33e3508f1d46522303307c137902019d""Get on your knees." demanded Lucius Malfoy, with no emotion at all in his voice. Both of the boys did as he said./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; min-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="0836ff1ae85f96c9abb996baa5c24ea2""Now tell me what else you took from my vault in Gringotts, or this little thing dies!" Bellatrix chuckled as she spoke. The fact she was enjoying it was plain to see, from the gleam in her eyes to the way she laughed, everything about her was sick and twisted./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; min-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="81f184d131ee1a37c34a049e9f54187e""We never span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"went /spanto your vault! We span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"never /spantook anything span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"I/span span style="box-sizing: border-box; font-weight: bold;"swear/span!" Harry pleaded, tears in his eyes./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; min-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="725ae3ef5ab83a98c2691fca2e52ab68""Too bad that I don't believe you then!" The seriousness in her voice could've drained anyone of their happiness, and was worse then suffering death by a Dementor's kiss. Hermione felt Bellatrix's wrist move from around her neck, and saw her aim the shard of glass in slow motion, she began to bring it down, aiming for Hermione's heart. Ron and Harry screamed, and Hermione closed her eyes, and waited for the impact of tearing skin and splintering veins, but it never came./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; min-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="53196b42efbfab5ee2c88920d6303424"Hermione sat up in bed, the hair stuck to the back of her neck and her sheets drenched in sweat. The pain in her left arm was excruciating, and the material of her long-sleeved cotton pajama top was stained scarlet. She peeled back the material, and saw that the scars had opened up again, and if not treated soon, would become infected or she might suffer consequences due to severe blood loss. She put on her slippers, grabbed a wad of tissue, and applied pressure before heading for Madame Pomfrey in the Infirmary./p
p style="box-sizing: border-box; margin: 0px 0px 24px; font-size: 18px; font-family: 'Source Sans Pro', 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px; min-height: 24px; padding: 0px; color: #555555;" data-p-id="8fbf10ca3da91b799c4e64b5c6790a06"As Hermione rushed down the moving staircases, the wound let out more blood, causing her to regret leaving her wand in her room. The long walk to the infirmary was often tedious, however, Hermione was feeling incredibly dizzy and light headed, making it hard for her to walk down the steps without stumbling. She'd discarded the tissue somewhere along the walk, and was too faint to think of a quicker route to the infirmary. Once finally off of the staircases, Hermione headed down long, cold corridoors. She walked as fast as she could. She was walking past the boys toilets on the ground floor, when her left ankle turned outwards, causing her to fall and land on the bleeding cut. She screamed in pain, hoping someone would hear her. No one came. She screamed again. Still no one came. Her left ankle was most likely sprained, she thought to herself, and she couldn't move. She cried out once again, and thought that she saw a shadow flicker across the doorway of the boys toilets. Her vision went black around the edges, and her breathing became shallow and irregular. She'd lost too much blood. Her eyes slowly fluttered shut, despite her resistance. As her consciousness faded away, she felt strong arms lift her, and take her into their embrace.../p
