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In all the confusion, she was able to Stun three more, but there were simply too many of them. Within a minute they had surrounded her and it was all she could do to dodge the jets of red light. Finally, one hit and she fell screaming to the ground.
Prisoners and Captives
Part One: Malfoy Manor
Chapter Four: Awakenings
The first thing she knew was that she hurt all over. She couldn't think how or when it happened, but it didn't matter. She just wanted it to stop.
She tried to cry out for help, but for some reason her vocal chords weren't cooperating and all she could manage was a sort of half-gasp, half-moan. She considered trying again but the attempt had sent spasms of pain down her throat.
"Granger? Are you awake?"
She should know that voice. For several seconds she searched her memory, trying to figure out who was with her, but she couldn't. The dots wouldn't be connected and she couldn't even lift the pencil to try.
"Granger? Granger!"
The voice sounded anxious. She should answer. But she couldn't, it hurt too much…what had happened to her?
"Granger! Hermione! Are you in there?"
In there? Was she in a coma? What did coma patients do to communicate? Squeeze hands…but she was pretty sure her hand wasn't being held. She would have noticed, right? She moved her fingers to make sure and jolts of pain shot up her arm. She gasp-moaned again. Make it stop, please….
"Granger, let me know you're in there and I can give you a potion for the pain. But you've got to tell me first."
She tried to speak, but could only make that horrid noise. She just wanted it to stop…she needed to tell him (she was pretty sure it was a him) to make it stop. Okay, coma patient, paralysis…she had read once about a paralyzed man who had written a whole book by blinking a certain number of times to indicate letters of the alphabet.
Merlin, she was stupid. She hadn't even thought to open her eyes.
Her eyelids felt like they weighed a ton, but she managed to pry them open. She made that noise again, and a blurry shape appeared in the light above her head.
"Granger?"
She blinked. Once, twice, three times. The blur was slowly coming into focus, resolving into a pointed face, white-blond hair, grey eyes. The pale face was drawn in worry, which seemed wrong somehow but she couldn't bring herself to think about it. If only the pain would stop….
"Okay, you're awake," the boy said. He sounded anxious. "Er, are you still in pain? Do you want a potion?"
Yes, yes, yes, she tried to scream, but what came out was a raspy sort of moan.
"Does that mean yes?" he said nervously.
Okay, so speaking wouldn't work, and if the boy couldn't understand her attempt at speech, he wasn't bright enough to pick up on any sort of blink-code. This was going to hurt, she knew it, but she needed to tell him…she inclined her head once.
Black spots appeared across her field of vision. Her head was pounding so hard she could barely stand to think. But the boy had understood. He looked a little less worried.
"Okay, I've got the potion right here…but you're going to have to sit up to drink it…er, I don't think you can manage that, can you? You don't need to answer that. And I'm not supposed to use magic on you, so I'm going to lift you up, okay? Er, just so you know."
He leaned towards her and placed his hands under her armpits. Ow, ow, OW! Hermione moaned, and her vision blurred with tears.
"Granger, you need to sit up to be able to swallow."
He lifted her another few inches and set her against the headboard. Tears were streaming down her face and she was lightheaded from the pain.
"Drink this."
A hand holding a glass phial appeared in front of her. The boy placed it against her mouth and tilted it.
She didn't know where it came from, but it was purely reflex. She clamped her lips together and refused to swallow. The pain was making it hard to think but she knew somehow that she could not trust him.
The phial was removed. "This won't hurt you, I promise. I'd swear an Unbreakable Vow if we had a binder. Now, drink."
There was a note of sincerity in the voice that she'd never heard before. When he placed the phial to her lips again she swallowed the disgusting potion without question. Almost immediately, the pain dulled, and before she sank back into unconsciousness, she was finally able to connect the dots and know who was with her.
Draco Malfoy.
When she awoke again, Hermione ached all over. It was still painful, but not excruciating. This time, she remembered that when you were awake, you were supposed to open your eyes. She remembered that she was in Malfoy Manor, and she remembered that she was being watched by Draco Malfoy.
"Awake, Granger?" It was more of his usual sneer this time, though he couldn't keep a note of worry from his voice.
"Yes." Her voice was raspy and barely more than a whisper, but at least it wasn't that awful moaning noise.
"Want your potion?" He held out a phial of murky green liquid that looked vaguely familiar. She didn't take it.
"You drank it before," Draco said accusingly.
"I didn't know who you were, then."
Draco looked floored. "You didn't?"
Hermione shook her head. Ow. Mistake.
"Do you know who I am now?" he asked.
"Malfoy." She almost spat the name.
He smirked. "Back to normal, Granger."
She just looked at him. She wasn't back to normal at all. She felt worse than she ever had before – excluding that horrible awakening and the actual Cruciatus Curse, of course – and her thoughts were blurred and fuzzy enough that she was afraid to think too hard for fear of finding out how badly her brain was damaged.
Alice Longbottom's blank face popped into her head. Hermione shuddered.
"Okay, you're not," Draco said. "You still feel horrible. So take the potion." He thrust it at her.
"I don't know how brain damaged you think I am, but I'm not about to drink anything given to me by a Death Eater."
Draco slammed the potion on the bedside table and leaned over her. "Listen, Granger, you have to take the potion. It's not Veritaserum and it's not Amortentia and it's not whatever the hell you think it is. It's just a painkilling potion."
He uncorked the phial and took a tiny sip. He grimaced at the taste but swallowed. "See? Not poison."
"What's your deepest secret?" Hermione challenged.
"Not telling. It's not Veritaserum. Will you drink it now?"
"I will if you tell me why you're so anxious that I drink it."
He glared at her. "Fine. Because I didn't put the proper protective spells on my broom, you almost got away and now I'm being punished for it. It's my job is to get you back to normal so you can be interrogated properly. If you die or lose your mind, it's on my head. Now drink." He shoved the phial at her. She took it and, after a moment, drank. Ugh. It was disgusting.
But she felt the aches ebb slightly. The fuzziness in her mind cleared almost imperceptibly, but enough that she finally remembered to ask, "What happened?"
"What's the last thing you remember?" Draco asked.
Hermione thought back, though it made her head ache.
"I turned your peacock into a flock of canaries."
"Right. McGonagall would be proud," Draco said dryly, but he looked grudgingly impressed. "Well, you managed to Stun Yaxley, Jugson, and Lestrange, but then Bellatrix hit you with a Cruciatus. Mother made her take you inside while she Ennervated everyone you'd Stunned. Bellatrix and the others had their fun with you until Snape woke up and made them stop. He did what he could to stabilize you, then left you with me. You're to have a week of bed-rest and potions, and magic is not to be used on you at all."
Draco's explanation gave way to a bevy of thoughts. She must be pretty far gone if Snape had given the order for no magic. Just how brain-damaged was she? She'd taken down more than a third of them. If McGonagall knew what she'd done she'd give one hundred points to Gryffindor. Wasn't Snape Head of Hogwarts – why was he here? Merlin, she really hated Bellatrix Lestrange.
She finally settled on a question. "Where were you during all of this?"
Draco's eyes darkened. "Looking for my father. Found him, too. Don't think you'll get away with this, Mudblood."
Hermione forced a grin. "No curse you can cast will change the fact that I beat your father, wandless and Cruciated and Muggle-born. How is that inferior magic?"
"Watch your filthy mouth, Mudblood," Draco snarled.
"Or what? You can't use magic on me. I bet you don't even have a wand. What are you going to do? Punch me?"
Draco's cheeks tinged pink and Hermione smirked. She knew he was remembering that time third year when she'd blacked his eye.
"Derry!" he called loudly. There was a pop and a wizened, shrunken house-elf wearing a pillowcase appeared at his side. "Get my father. Tell him the Mudblood is awake."
The house-elf bowed and Disapparated.
"Can't fight your own battles?" Hermione taunted, but weakly. After that Imperius she really did not want to see Lucius Malfoy again.
"Slytherin's about winning, not about playing fair," Draco returned, but he sounded almost regretful.
Hermione leaned back against the headboard to look at the ceiling. She breathed deeply, trying to gather the strength to withstand whatever was coming. She realized suddenly that she was shivering. She hated to admit it, but she was frightened of Lucius Malfoy.
Draco leaned toward her, a crease between his eyebrows. "Look, Granger - " he started, but was interrupted by the sound of the door opening.
Lucius Malfoy stepped in "So the Mudblood's awake," he sneered. "Draco. Out."
Draco hesitated for a moment, but left the room. He closed the door softly behind him.
Lucius Malfoy drew nearer to the bed. He looked down at Hermione, who was staring determinedly at the ceiling.
"Feeling proud of yourself, Mudblood?" he asked quietly. Hermione said nothing, but Lucius continued, unfazed. "You will pay for that. Unfortunately, you're not to be cursed until the Dark Lord's done with you. But there are other ways to punish."
Hermione had been anticipating this; she tried to roll away, but Lucius was too fast for her. He grabbed her shoulders and slammed her against the headboard so hard that her ears rang and dark spots clouded her field of vision. She gasped involuntarily and while she tried to recover, he forced her wrists together and held them over her head with one hand. She was pinned against the headboard, utterly helpless.
"Where is Potter?" Lucius demanded harshly. His face was splotchy with rage.
Hermione stayed silent, not trusting her voice not to quake with fear.
Lucius slammed her against the headboard again. "You could save yourself a lot of unnecessary pain by telling me what you know now," he said coolly. "You'll be interrogated soon enough. Well, Mudblood?"
Hermione shook her head, too frightened to speak. Lucius said nothing, but his gaze drifted from her face to study her body, pinned against the headboard like a rare moth. As he studied her, Hermione realized that she was no longer wearing the Muggle woman's clothes. Someone had changed her into a white flannel nightgown. And she was no longer wearing a bra.
"Are you sure?" he asked slowly, not looking up. "There's rather a lot I could do to you, Mudblood."
Fighting back tears, Hermione shook her head. With one last sneer, Lucius let go of her wrists and turned on his heel to leave the room.
Hermione stared at the far wall, trying to keep her face blank, but when she heard the door close she burst into tears. She was frightened, violated, humiliated –
"What's wrong, Granger?"
Dear Merlin, not him again.
"Go away," she choked, swiping her sleeve across her face.
"I can't," he said. "I'm stuck here, remember?"
So although it was completely stupid and childish, Hermione turned away from Draco, pulled the covers over her head, and sobbed.
A/N: Just to let you know, it might take me a little while longer to post the next chapter. I'm taking my computer in for repairs tomorrow and they told me I will get it back in 6 – 10 days. Hopefully it will be 6 days and not 10, but you never know. Don't worry though, I'm almost done tweaking the next chapter and it will be up as soon as I get my computer back.
Oh, and please review!