Suspending Consciousness - 7

The room was quiet, more so than usual. Normally there was something making noise, like the chest in the corner that hadn't moved so much as an inch since the day had started.

Barty turned towards it, still seated on his chair. Either the curse was too strong for Moody today or he wasn't trying to fight out of it. That last possibility couldn't be it though, the auror had tried to break through his curse every day. He could feel it when Alastor gave a particular hard shove against his spell. Not a single shove had been made since yesterday.

He opened the chest with a wave of his hand, waiting a good minute for a single word to be shouted. When none came he drummed his fingers on his desk, impatient. "Have you died on me Alastor? Should I go bury you in the forest?"

It was quiet for another solid minute. "Is that where you plan to put my body? In the forest to be chewed up by some animal before anyone realizes who you are? So they can't recognize who I am?"

"No." Barty picked up his wand, turning it in his hands as he spoke, "I've changed my mind."

"Have you?" Alastor might have asked the question but he didn't sound like he cared for the answer.

"Who else is going to tell Dumbledore and the Order that Harry was in danger from the moment he came back to school? That it was their fault for being so incompetent and blind to the truth that Voldemort came back? Who's going to tell Harry and his friends what happened to Hermione when the Golemn falls apart?" he smirked, "With out you, the messenger, they won't even know if she's alive or dead. They won't know what's happened to her or that she's not even the person they remember by the time I'm done with her."

"What happens when you're finished with her? Are you going to kill her?"

There was that concern again. "That's none of your concern." he waited up until the moment a word started to form from the chest before continuing, "Though, she's a lot more entertaining than you. You did see that last night, didn't you?" Barty let out a longing sigh, "Actually begging for me to flay her own skin from her body. Moving towards the blade instead of away. Did you count how many times she screamed?"

An enraged scream came from the chest and Barty laughed as it formed words, "Let her go you bloody sadist! It's Harry you want for your ritual! Hermione has nothing to do with it! Just obliviate the memories from her and let her go!" Obliviate... there's something that could be interesting, provide a fresh spin on things. "I'll find her if you don't! The Order will find her! And then you won't have a 'toy' to play with! Do you hear me?"

He grinned, "Oh, I hear you. Thank you for the wonderful suggestion by the way. I think I will obliviate her." A series of incomprehensible screams filled the air and he took a moment to cast a few more muffling charms around the room before simply listening to the rage of the auror.

The screams finally subsided and he questioned his prisoner, "Do you expect her to piece together why parts of her memory are missing if I did let her go? So she'll remember that every time she came here her memory is just a blank slate? Do you expect her to tell Dumbledore and for him to find you before the tournament ends? Before I deliver Harry to Voldemort?" he finally set his wand down, looking at the grooves in the wood of his desk, "I'm not going to let them find you until the deed is done and then... well, you already know what comes next."

"Give her fake memories then, just let her go." He studied the grains of wood from his desk as the auror continued, "I'll chase you all over Britain if you don't."

"I wouldn't expect anything less." He swiped some dust from the edge of the desk while closing the chest once again. This time there was no shouts as it shut with a clang, even still he knew the auror was furious with him.

Barty picked up his wand and walked out of the room over to the wall that hid the hallway that took him to his room. With the door shut behind him he casted some more muffling charms before moving across the room to the closet door. He fetched the eye from his pocket before turning the knob and pushing the door open with his boot.

Hermione was curled up in the center of the room, hands still bound above her ankles, knees drawn up to her chest, chin resting on her left knee, staring sightlessly at the ground due to the blindfold around her eyes. Her head only moved slightly in the direction of the door when it opened and Barty smirked. It seemed she had finally gotten the message of, 'not moving an inch.'

He dropped the eye, letting it roll around the floor as he summoned a dish from the pantry and walked into the room. Barty knelt down to put the plastic on the floor, leaning forward to loosen the cloth around her wrists before taking it off then pulling the fabric down from her eyes so it hung loosely around her neck. Sitting back he watched as her hands reached out and snatched food from the plate to scarf it down shortly after.

When the plate was clean he vanished it back to the cabinet, summoning a plastic cup with water that was quickly drained before vanishing that as well. She was looking at him now, blood still staining her cheeks from last night. "Bartemius Crouch Junior, that's your name isn't it?"

His eyebrow raised slightly but then he smirked, "Yes, find that out all on your own in here?"

"You killed your father," he cocked his head to the side, wondering why that was significant. "The ministry official you mentioned, his name was Bartemius Crouch and he had a son." she paused, and he watched as her tongue slipped out to dart over her lips, wetting the dry surface, "You were suppose to be dead."

"I'm not."

"Obviously," her eyes narrowed, "You crawled right back out of hell."

He couldn't hold in his laugh, reaching forward his fingers slipped around the blindfold and gave a tug to slip the cloth apart, pulling it from her neck. He pressed his fingers to the hollow of her throat, feeling her heart beat rapidly beneath the skin. When she started to pull away he looked up, halting her movement as she stared back. "I don't think I've told you before what I did while you were knocked out in the classroom. Want to hear about it? Or should I just show you?" From the way her heart was beating faster now she didn't.

With her not saying a word though he leaned forward, moving her hair over her shoulder so he could press his lips to her neck. His hand moved down to settle over her heart so he could feel it pump blood faster through his veins as he continued his actions. He ran his tongue along the flesh, pressing his teeth to her skin momentarily.

A hand was suddenly at his shoulder, pushing him away, trying to anyways. He just pressed forward, nipping at her skin. Another hand joined the first and he bit down to hear her cry out, fingers sliding over his shoulders now. He traced the wound with his tongue, giving another soft shallow bite when she started pushing again to feel her pulling him forward. In a few seconds she would be pushing at him again though, to get him off her. "Stop." At her request he chuckled running his tongue over the bite marks to collect some of the blood there before allowing himself to be pushed away.

He moved toward her a second later, grinning when she moved back from him, "Stop moving." he applied preassure on her chest to pin her down, leaning over her. All the while looking at her lips, though when he bent down toward them her head turned from side-to-side to keep away. "I don't see what your problem is Hermione," he reached up to grasp her chin, to keep her still. "You've tasted it before."

"What?" her eyes were wide now, almost hysterical.

"Your blood." he hissed before pressing his lips to hers, forcing her lips apart so the blood he had kept in his mouth could seep through her teeth and into her own. Once he didn't taste a trace of it left he pulled away, not to surprised when she started hitting at him with her fists.

"No, no, no!" With a silent accio his wand was in his hand and the beating on his chest stopped. Her glare still held though. "You... sick bastard. I've never -"

"'That wasn't the worst thing I've tasted.' Remember?" her mouth opened and closed but no sound came out, "I should probably also mention that no one is looking for you as you might have thought. You see, that potion you drank created a golem, a perfect copy of you. That golem is walking around the halls of Hogwarts, acting and responding to everything just like how you would. So in the school's eyes, you aren't even missing. The only other person that knows the truth is Moody, but like I said before, he's stuck in a box."

He lowered his wand to touch at her thigh aware of her shaking her head back and forth, mouth still moving but not quite working.

"You know, you're not being very cooperative today." Barty said, pressing the tip of his wand into the day old cut, watching her flinch and whine at the same time. That made him smile for a moment, but she was still trying to move away from him, completely denying anything he said. "Crucio." she released a soft moan as the curse was focused on the cut of her thigh, leg twitching. It was the only movement that suggested she was trying to get away.

He listened to her moans, waiting for them to linger on the air, before pulling the wand away and stopping the spell. A whine came from her though when he looked over tears streaked down her face. Barty waited for the whimpers to subside before repeating the process, targeting a different cut, limb each time.

By the end he wanted to have her begging again, all so he could leave her in the closet, still on the edge of pleasure.