Lunar Embrace - Seventh Chapter
Hey all! Hope you found the other fic to your liking and this one as well. Atleast I think you like this... not really sure, hopefully you do, otherwise I'm just writing it for nobody in particular. I'm sorry my mind is a dark pit of terror these days... Please enjoy.
The ground stung her feet with each blow as she ran down a passage. A passage she didn't recognize, shadows curling along the stone that kept shifting and changing beneath it; black and white, a dark blue, fancy masonry, red so dark it resembled blood...
A cry uttered from her lips as she ran. She couldn't be too late. She had to stop him.
Voices cut through the air but she couldn't distinguish any of the words and the closer she got to the room the softer they became until it was just whispers weaving deliberately away from her ears. A series of loud snaps threw her off and she came to a screeching halt, eyes wide, mouth open as she sucked in breath after breath after running for so long she was sure her feet were bleeding.
There was a scream that practically split her ears, it sent her back into motion. "No, no, no." She hissed as she moved through the arch way eyes landing on the bleeding body of Remus in the middle of the room. The ground below him had wisps of shadow clinging to it, changing form just like the walls. The whole room was covered with it so that it took her a moment to notice her target standing over the member of the Order of the Phoenix.
His long black coat had at first looked like an extension of the darkness and his face had been shadowed by the hood, but the moment she focused on him his features came into alignment.
"Stop!" she screamed, the word echoing back at her an instant later. There was no way it could have rebounded so fast, there was no way he could have heard it. Her thoughts were only confirmed when a scream tore through the room. "Barty!" Running quickly around the form on the floor to reach his side she grabbed at the arm holding the wand that was launching curse after curse down at the occupied section of floor. "Stop it! Please, stop it!"
No matter how much she tugged at his arm it didn't move, staying centered when she tried to push the wand away. Turning her head she expected to see the werewolf lying there but instead it was Ron on the floor bleeding out. She whipped her head around, tears stinging at her eyes she slowly turned back to see Harry had taken the red head's place.
Her cheeks were growing hot from the trails running down it, moving down to her chin to fall and hit the ground below only to become consumed by the shadows. Twisting her grip repeatedly to try and get him to stop inflicting pain on her friends she screamed,
"No!"
With a start Hermione awoke; flying up from the bed, her breath coming fast, covered in sweat even though her body felt cold beneath it. She stayed there for a minute, her form obscured from view by the curtains pulled around her bed. Slowly her arms moved up from her sides to wrap around her upper body as a tremble went through her. Her heart was still pounding fast in her chest even as the dream started to slip away. Curling her legs up she rested her forehead on her knees until it finally fell away into oblivion, though she remembered what it had been about and it sent a chill down her spine.
It was unforgiveable. Even if it was just one of the people she knew. She had to figure out a way to get out of this marriage, to stop the sick feeling in her stomach. And yet, her mind was drawing a blank.
It was telling her no. The law may apply to her but it's punishments did not. There would be no going to Azkaban, no escaping it. Hands raised and fingers curled into her hair. She already knew that though. She had tried and it hadn't worked. Not yet anyways. Maybe if she thought it over again she would be able to come up with something.
She gave a nod of her head to reassure herself before letting go of the strands of her hair to settle her hands back down onto the blankets and moving her legs down so she was sitting criss-cross on the bed.
Hearing the sounds of rustling around her as the other girls in the dorm room started to get up she waited until she was breathing normally again until she pulled back the curtain to grab her robes and get dressed, then head down to the Great Hall.
This time she ate remarkably less than the other day. One because she wasn't as hungry, two she didn't care to throw it all up later. She remained silent as she rolled a piece of egg around her plate just listening to her friends idle chatter.
"-if the hallways weren't a place to dicuss this what makes a place filled with people eating any better?" Ginny was asking, effectively cutting into Ron and Harry's conversation on the events of yesterday.
"Because the people eating and talking around us make it more difficult for others to hear, learned that back in fifth year. Remember Hermione?" she just nodded absently at Ron's words. "Besides, this is important. Why else would the-"
"Ahem." Ginny mimicked Umbridge's little noise from last year.
"Why else would they leave someone behind to make sure no one was listening in or snooping around afterwards? We know he found something or else he wouldn't have been attacked. He said himself he wasn't able to get a better look at the object before he was hit with the curse."
"He'll remember more once he's fully recovered." She could hear Harry's fork clash angrily with the plate as he spoke, spearing whatever food onto the utensil while probably scraping the silverware as well.
"Hey mate, he will recover. The doctor at Saint Mugos said it would just take a few days but that he wasn't in critical condition or in any danger."
"Yes, but he's getting treated at Saint Mugos which is open to the public and the Daily Prophet is saying Barty isn't guilty. He could waltz right in and finish the job."
"I don't think a convicted Death Eater like Barty knows how to waltz." There was a series of short laughter before Hermione felt an elbow prod at her side. "Get it?"
Raising her head she glanced to Ron before sighing and looking back to her food. She didn't care to get involved in the current conversation when she had left early to avoid listening to anything else pertaining to Barty or Remus in the first place. The fact that they were joking about him so easily also unnerved her. If he wasn't her husband, if she hadn't gone to the Ministry just days ago she probably would have laughed with them. As it was she remained silent, scooping up eggs onto her fork before sticking the food in her mouth as a way to avoid talking to them.
"What did I say?"
"Are you still not feeling well?" She gave a nod at Ginny's question, not bothering to answer Ron. "You should go see Madam Pomfrey, she could give you a potion for whatever you've caught." She gave another nod even though she didn't see a reason to when she wasn't actually sick. "Mom is speaking to Fred and George about their wedding and contacting Katie and Angelina's parents to collaborate. What about you Hermione?"
"Huh?" She hadn't really been listening when Ginny had clearly begun speaking to Harry and Ron again.
"Aren't your parents trying to plan your wedding?"
It took her a moment to realize what she was talking about considering her wedding had already happened. Great, another thing she would have to deal with later was telling them she was already married. Right now wasn't the time though. When the ruse between her and Blaise was over she would, but not now. "Uh, no. I haven't had the chance to tell them about what's been happening in the Wizarding World. Sending a letter would have just given them a heart attack."
"Well today is Friday, you could spend all weekend trying to explain it to them."
"Yeah-or no." she said while remembering that she was spending all weekend with Barty. Joy. She cringed inwardly. Which meant she would only have today to try and tell her parents what she could. At Ginny's questioning gaze she quickly explained, "I'm spending it with Blaise. To get to know eachother better. I'm busy most of the week and he agreed that that would work best for him as well."
"Oh, sounds like the two of you are already getting along. Perhaps that conspiracy theory Fred and George were going on about isn't true." Ginny was rolling her eyes at the last bit, a clear sign she didn't buy it. Neither did Hermione and she gave a little smile as her agreement with the other Gryfindor.
"So the Ministry is right in putting you together with a Slytherin?" Ron asked making Hermione grind her teeth together.
"Don't start with that again Ronald." she said and stood up grabbing her bag as she did so. "Come on, we have class."
She kept going over in her head how to phrase the words she would need to say to her parents in every class. She didn't want to full on lie to them but she couldn't just say the complete truth either. Coming up with a way to balance out the two was difficult though and it was steadily distracting her from class. Her quil hand had relentlessly made notes on it's own though as it had become a habit over th years. She hardly needed to think about it anymore and since she wasn't entirely focusing she would just end up with what the Professor said word for word rather than her own little notes sprinkled in with the rest.
After the last class she made her way to McGonagall's room leaving the message of telling the Professor where she went to the others. The door was already open with a note to any student that wanted to use the fireplace. Her eyes skimmed over the words saying that all students needed to be back before classes started on Monday as she stepped over the threshold and made her way to the fireplace to be swallowed by green flames moments later after saying her destination.
Instead of appearing in a fireplace that would have been to small she was on the doorstep to her house-or rather her parents. With her marriage to Barty technically his house was hers.
She reached into her pocket to grab the key, fingers brushing over the black silk box she hadn't bothered to move from her robes. It was the only thing Barty had given her that didn't hurt or was used to bring her to him every weekend. Besides, she liked the feel of it on her fingers, it was soft and she could probably find something to put inside the box eventually.
Turning the key into the lock she pushed open the door calling out as she walked inside, "Mum? Dad?"
"Hermione?" A surprised voice sounded from the kitchen area as she shut the door behind her. Her mother appeared in the living room a second later, spatula in hand with a red sauce slowly moving its way down threatening to spill onto the carpet. "Hi honey! Why are you not at school?"
"Well I-umm, Mum?" Hermione pointed to the kitchen utensil were a thick glob had gathered and was barely a second away from falling.
At her prompting her mother turned and quickly moved a hand beneath to catch it before looking over at her. "Why don't you come into the kitchen and we can talk while I cook."
With a nod of her head she followed her mother in to the kitchen, watching the woman go to the stove and start stirring some homemade sauce. "Is Dad home?" she asked while pulling out a chair and sitting in it.
"Your father is at a meeting about some new upgraded equipment and the company that makes it across town. He won't be back 'till Sunday." For a moment she was unsure how to take the news that her father was away. Both her parents were bound to flip out when she told them, maybe this would be easier with only one. "So what did you come here for? Not that I'm not happy to see you, but you've never showed up like this before during school." The words were said in the quick universal mother ramble causing Hermione to grin slightly.
"Just to talk." she paused for a moment to figure out the wording that was starting to slip away now that she was actually here. "There's been some changes going on in the Wizarding World the last few days. One change, actually. It's a law and it effects me because I'm seventeen and therefore meet the age requirement of the law that everyone from seventeen to fourty have to take part in it. Well, most of them."
The mention of law clearly caught her mother's attention as she turned around to look at Hermione instead of the stove where her hand was still idly stirring some spaghetti around in another pot. "A law? What are they making you do?"
She had to catch herself from saying who though she still corrected it in her head. "The Ministry..." she sighed. "It has come to the Ministry's attention that the Pure-Blood families are having more squibs-people born of wizards and witches without the ability to use magic-and because of this they have made a," she hesistated for a moment, before deciding not to say it outright and try to have a chance to explain before her mother worked it out from the explanation. "-a law. They call it the, Higher Conception Matrimony Law. They use a ritual to pair people together and they have to marry within four months and then procreate within three years."
"WHAT?" She winced when her mother screamed like a banshee. Apparently she had put it together faster than Hermione initally thought she would. She had been hoping it would take an extra second to sink in, but nothing got past her mother. "There making you marry even though your so young?" The food was left forgotten on the stove now as her mom stared intently at her.
"Well in medieval ages woman were married even-" She tried to defend the Ministry-not entirely sure why she was doing so as the words just seemed to slip from her mouth.
"This is not the medieval ages! I know the Wizarding World is a bit in the past when it comes to things but this is just ridiculous! They want you to have a baby because some Pure-Blood families aren't having magical children?"
"The wizarding population in Britain has steadily been going down for years as well. They're trying to boost the overall population."
"That's no excuse for making a child have a child! I'm sure there are plenty of adults capable of having a child! And what's this about them using a ritual to 'pair people together?'"
"I only know what the Daily Prophet said about the ritual because the information about it was leaked. The ritual matches those with compatible personalities, physical attraction, among other things that were not listed." In most cases anyway.
"And this system works?" Her mother sounded skeptical.
"Well, Fred and George's matches were the women they were going out with." Hermione supplied wanting to get past the law part of the conversation as it wasn't entirely what she had wanted to say, or rather not the most important aspect of it. "So yes, it works."
Her mother still didn't look convinced but she had calmed down somewhat. "What about you?"
"I wasn't going out with anyone. From the rumors I have heard around school not everyone was matched with someone they were dating. Also heard one of those girls say that she hadn't believed it would have worked out with the person she had been dating anyways."
"No, no, not that." The words were said quickly. "Who's your match suppose to be?"
It seemed she had finally reached that part in the conversation. She hadn't told a lie to her mom yet and she didn't want to. Hermione took in a breath rationalizing in her mind that she couldn't just outright say his name since it was likely her parents would speak with the Weasely's eventually. That they would be invited by Mrs. Weasely to the twins weddings. She wouldn't be able to say his name because of that. "He's a Pure-Blood-"
"From one of those families you mentioned before?"
"Yes."
"Which House is he in at your school? Is he nice? What's this boy like?"
"He-I-Slytherin," she settled on it because it was what Blaise was in and she didn't know which House Barty had been in anyways. It would just cause problems if Houses got brought up and her mother said the wrong one. "but he's never bullied me or anyone else I know." Which was true for the one year he was at the school, in the technical sense of the word bully. Her mother referring to Barty as a boy was odd to hear but she just had to go with it. "I haven't really had the chance to get to know him yet. The law is only a few days old." From the expression on her mother's face she wasn't going to take that as an excuse and Hermione hurried to say something about him, the man she actually married. "He's intelligent, talented in many forms of magic, go-has high marks in every class," she had been about to talk about his stay at Hogwarts in the past tense but was quick to cover it. Her mother hadn't seemed to notice the slip or just thought it was nerves. "very loyal to his friends, good at planning, cunning, charming when he wants to be." She finally took the time to breath after listing everything she could think of.
"For someone that just said you don't really know him that was quite a lot. He sounds nice." Hermione blinked, having not expected that response as she so far hadn't found him to be very nice. "I still don't care for you marrying him at such a young age, but it sounds like you like him so far. I also don't want you having children at your age-"
"Mum, it's the law to have a child within the first three years of marriage."
"I don't care about the damn law! It's okay if you like him and marry him but I don't see a single reason why you have to have a child so early on. You have your whole life ahead of you, it shouldn't be cut short just because some law says-"
"Mum!" She had to shout to catch her mother's attention and was glared at a moment later for having interupted her.
"I taught you better manners than that-"
"Mum, it's the law. Anyone that goes against it gets thrown into Azkaban."
"Azkaban?"
"Wizard's prison, patrolled by creatures known as Dementors that suck all the happiness from people."
"They would throw you into Azkaban if you didn't have children for some stupid law?" Outrage was pouring into her mother's voice once again. "The Wizarding Society really is backwards with the times!"
"Mu-" Hermione stopped herself realizing it was futile and just pushed the words of her mother from her mind as she stood up from the chair and walked out of the kitchen.
Footsteps followed her quickly after into the living room. As she made her way to the door to leave her mother yelled loudly so that it cut through the fog she had been developing in her mind to drown it all out. "I'm not going to let you go back to that place if this is what they do to their citizens!"
She stopped in her tracks for a moment before whirling around and shouting right on back, "I'm already married!" the words were out of her mouth before she could stop them. Seeing her mom just standing there staring at her daughter in clear shock Hermione turned quickly, throwing open the door when she stormed out and hurried down the sidewalk to get away from the house.
Soon enough she was out of the neighborhood and her pace slowed as she walked ignoring the stares she got for her weird clothes. She couldn't believe she had just done that after going through the pains of making sure not to say anything about her marriage and rather avoid the topic all together. It had just been so frustrating though. Her mother simply hadn't been allowing her to explain and she just hadn't been able to hold it back.
She couldn't go to Azkaban, that option didn't apply to her. While she wouldn't have been able to tell her mother that incase it got around somehow she had wanted to explain the three major ways one would get sent to Azkaban according to the law. To make her understand that it was just something everyone was going to be put through and that there wasn't a way around it. Also because she knew she had to let her parents know about it. She just wished it had gone better.
Finally coming out from her thoughts she looked around her to see where she had walked to and realized she was deep within the city. With a sigh she walked up to a map for a bus stop system to figure out where exactly she was then made the long trek to The Leaky Cauldron.
She only stayed on the ground floor long enough to pay for a room and get the key to it before withdrawing up the stairs to find the appropriate numbered door then slip inside. Closing it behind her she slipped to the ground with her back lying against it as she stared around the room.
Her eyes landed on the clock that said it was just a few minutes past midnight. She let out a breath at seeing the time. That meant she barely had five hours left before the portkey-or rather keys-activated and took her to Barty.
It took her a moment but she pushed herself up from the ground and went over to the bed to lay ontop of the covers and get some sleep as exhaustion from the day hit her.
The sensation of spinning around is what brought her out from her sleep. Her stomach turned when she opened her eyes to see a blur of grey passing before her eyes right before the world snapped back into place. She found herself lying on the bottom of the fireplace, the dark dust-covered grate open, seeming to frame the living room and kitchen area that was highlighted by a single strip of gray morning light.
There was something wriggling in her robe, trapped by her hand that had landed on the fold of cloth. She raised it to see her wand slip out from her robes and away, moving to the window where the bench closed the moment the wand was within. She blinked when an object on it seemed to glow, circular shaped, keeping the bench closed. A lock.
A rush of anger went through her, pushing herself up she walked quickly for the hallway that was right across from where the fireplace was. Turning the corner sharply she continued to the end of the hall where his door was, currently closed. Her hand curled into a fist at her side and she raised it quickly to slam against the dark wood.
Before she could even call his name the door was yanked open to reveal Barty standing there looking down at her. "It's a bit early in the morning-"
"How dare you!" She screamed before he could finish the sentance and hit him in the chest though he hardly looked as if he had felt it. "You take the most important choice in my life away from me! You lock my wand up! You rape me! And then you dare to hurt my friends? You may be able to hurt me as much as you want but don't touch my friends! What the hell did Remus do to deserve what you did to him?"
His face had been still as stone up until she mentioned Remus, his eyes narrowing ever so slightly. "You saw Remus?"
"Not only him! What you did to him! The scars..." a sob broke though her words, "the blood. Wh-Hey!" She let out a shout when his hand clamped down on her wrist and he started walking past her into the hall, dragging her along. "Let go of me!" Hermione snapped while tugging on her arm to no avail. Her feet were slipping on the wood floor, forcing her to walk with him so she didn't fall over.
"What did he say?" She was yanked to a stop and his other hand had moved to grab her chin to make her look at him.
"What? Why does it matter what he said? You hurt him!"
"I'm a Death Eater, he's part of the Order and was snooping around where he shouldn't have been. Now, what did he tell you?"
She narrowed her own eyes back at him. "He told me that you were the one that attacked him! And I don't see how anything else is more important than that!"
The grip on her chin had tightened to the point that she couldn't move her mouth to continue yelling at him. "I do, and you will tell me what I want to know." With the grip released now as he reached for the door knob of one she hadn't been able to open before she shifted her jaw slightly. It had started to hurt from the way he had gripped her and applied force to it. She was tugged forward when the door started to open and opened her mouth to snap at him again only to gape at the room behind him that was now viewable to her.
Her breath started to come fast as her eyes scanned over the shapes she could see as there was no light inside. "What are you doing?" From the grin that she recieved she knew it couldn't be good. "Barty?" she started tugging at her arm again when he began moving deeper into the dark room, eyes snapping around the rather threatening looking shapes within.
He tugged right on back, forcing her to follow him inside. "You sure you don't want to tell me right now?"
"I don't have anything else to say to you! Now let me go!"
She could just see the outline of his shoulder shrug at her words. "Not yet." His hand was waved back at her-no the door she realized as she heard it close behind her thrusting the room into a state of pitch black. "Come on." his voice had suddenly dropped to a more angry tone and she stumbled after him when her arm was tugged on.
"What-" she had begun to repeat her question from before when she felt herself pulled infront of him, heard a familiar clang echo in her ears, felt metal clasp around her wrists when each arm was raised. They weren't together though and she was still standing, not sure yet if those little facts were a good or bad thing. Hearing his footsteps moving away she craned her neck to try and follow the sound, but she couldn't see him anyways so stopped trying to. "Barty? What are you doing?"
"You'll know in a moment sweetheart." She bit at her lip, not liking the tone of voice he had used or that he was calling her sweetheart all of the sudden. Light suddenly seemed to flicker into the room. A more natural light then one from a bulb. The crackle of flames let her know he had lit a fire. The one thing that troubled her was that all she could see from where she was was a large empty room. Well, not entirely empty from what she could see, there was a large metal looking box in one corner, but that was it. All the other shapes of things she had seen in the dark had to be behind her.
A clang of metal on stone reached her ears and her breath hitched for a moment, when it didn't come again she relaxed as her mind tried to rationalize what he was doing back there. Minutes passed by and he still hadn't said anything, and she... she simply didn't bother. She doubted that he would give her a straight answer, if he bothered to answer at all.
A light scraping of metal across stone caught her attention and she could hear his footsteps coming back toward her. There was a whisper of words she didn't quite catch and her clothes had disapeared by the end of it. She could actually see her school robes along with socks, shoes, and other clothes neatly stacked near the doorway. It was cold in the early morning and she shivered without anything to fight off the cold.
"Now I want you to keep still or else this won't come out right." His breath moving over her shoulder let her know where he was, but she still couldn't see him which sent a surge of panic through her.
She opened her mouth initially to ask what wouldn't come out right if she moved to cut herself off when a scream tore it's way up her throat. Something hot had just been applied to her left side and it was searing into her flesh. She turned to try and twist away but whatever it was just seemed to follow her, staying on her skin the whole time. It was burning, she could smell it, her own skin peeling away. She gasped in air only to have the taste in her mouth before unleashing another scream. The chains rattled above her to join in with her screams.
When it-whatever it was-was finally pulled away she was left gasping, her throat sore from screaming for what felt like an eternity. Fingers were soon pressing around the skin that had been affected and she whimpered at his touch. "Edges aren't as clear cut as I would have liked, but it came out better than I thought it would with all your struggling." There was a short chuckle. "I thought I told you to stay still, Hermione."
Taking in a breath it took her a few seconds before she could speak. "You never told me you were going to do that." her voice shook with each word.
"Would it have made a difference if I had?" There was a long silence in which she didn't respond. No, she doubted it would have made a difference. His breath was running along her ear when he spoke, "Are you willing to speak now?"
Her heart pounded at the words and if he was within sight she would have glared. So that's what this was about. He wanted to know what Remus had told the Order about what had been seen where the Death Eaters had been, what they were up to. He wanted to know how much the Order knew. It must have been an important meeting. Her lips twisted up into a smile. "I don't know anything."
For a moment all she could feel was the repeated press of his breath on her ear. The next thing she knew his fingers were wrapped around her throat raising her so she was forced to stand on her tiptoes. "You're lying to me." He rasped.
She whimpered around the fingers clasped around her throat the sound even more pathetic in her ears because it didn't seem to come out properly with her airway being pressed upon.
"Hermione, dear," she tried to let out a sob but she found it impossible to do so. "for a marriage to work you have to be honest, and you're not doing that. So how do you expect it to work when you're not doing everything you can to make it work? I asked you a question, all you have to do is answer it truthfully."
His hand left her throat and she gasped for air, knees giving out so they were half curled beneath her, leaving her hanging by the chains wrapped around her wrists that were now cutting into the skin again. Once she was sure her voice wouldn't falter she spoke, "I don't think a marriage constitutes the right for you to torture your own wife."
There was a sharp laugh above her and she winced at the sound. "Oh Hermione, you should have answered the question." His footsteps going back away made her turn and twist her head to see the outline of a fire in a stone hearth. That would explain the sound of stone and metal she had heard before. She still couldn't see what he was doing but she heard it again and bit at her lip before turning her head quickly wondering if he had caught her trying to look.
It took the same amount of time before he was walking back to her, though she heard him place an object along the stone again before she heard the steps on the floor.
"Lets try this again."
The moment the hot metal was pressed to a spot just below the first one she screamed. The chains echoing her cries above her. She couldn't move as much this time with her knees bended beneath her and each time she tried to rise to her feet the preassure on her side pressed even harder sending out a wave of pain from the spot.
Hermione was left gasping when he took it away and fully expecting for him to continue to ask her to answer his question. When he didn't and she just heard his steps echoing around the room, a splash then hiss as the metal previously on her skin was dropped into a bucket of water. It sent her heart hammering in her chest. Another clang on stone, the steps coming back to her. Her mind quickly put it all together. Knowing what was coming she bit at her lip but the screams still came when the metal was pressed lower along her skin.
She felt the burning pain along her flesh three more times before it stopped. When there wasn't another clang on stone she knew when it was the last one. She had pressed her head along one of her extended arms breathing slowly in and out, trying to catch her breath as he hadn't given her much of a break inbetween them after the first one.
Finally though he walked infront of her, and her gaze flickered up to meet his, the exact moment their eyes met he started to talk. "You seem to be under the impression that you're a Granger. So I'm going to clear it up for you. The moment you were married to me you were made a Crouch. A family that is a part of the Death Eaters, not your Order of the Phoenix. A family that is suppose to be loyal to its own. Except you're not being very loyal right now are you?" She just breathed out in response watching as his expression turned into a twisted grin. With a wave of his hand a mirror was formed in thin air. "Maybe you need to see what you are to believe it."
At first she didn't understand what he was saying. As the mirror turned slowly to her left her eyes followed it and she cried out when she could finally see what he had done to her side, the image reflected back at her. It was burned right into her skin, branded. The name Crouch written vertically, the skin at the edges cracked, little traces of red from blood along the side of the letters. "Stop it! Make it go away!" She cried, not wanting to see it. Hermione already tried to avoid remembering she was married to him and now the truth was burned right into her skin. Turning her head away from the mirror she looked at him, tears stinging at her eyes threatening to spill over.
"I can, once you tell me everything you know." She started to shake her head to have her jaw gripped hard, stopping the movement. He was sitting infront of her now, level with her hanging body. "How did Remus know we were holding a meeting in that location?" his voice was suddenly soft and she let out a whimper. "Hermione." she could feel his hand move up from her jaw, cupping her cheek, thumb wiping across the skin just below her eye every other second, removing the tears that had begun to fall.
"He-he didn't." A sob broke between her words.
"Go on." The words were so soft she thought she had imagined them.
Fingers were pressing along the other side of her face now, moving gently across her skin and she found herself leaning into the touch, yearning for something that wouldn't bring pain. "It was a coincidence, he was just passing by after-" She cut herself off quickly and pulled her face away from his hands realizing he was playing games with her mind. "No." she said the single world firmly.
"After?" She shook her head at the question, she wasn't going to tell him anymore then she already had. She wouldn't be the one responsible for the death of a half-blood family. He seemed to wait a few more minutes but she never once opened her mouth. Issuing a sigh he stood back up. "Very well." After making the mirror disappear he looked back at her. "Stand up Hermione." She didn't move knowing he wasn't just going to give up on getting the information after what he put her though. "I said," moving forward his hands wrapped around her upper arms. "Stand the bloody hell up!"
Hermione cringed when he dragged her up to her feet. His sudden yell sent fear pouring to every centimeter of her body. Barty had never yelled at her like that before, granted she hadn't been married to him for very long. Still, she could tell that she had pissed him off. Watching as he walked past her and hearing him coming back barely a second later.
"I'll give you one piece of advice. Stay standing, or there will be consequences."
She expected him to stay where she couldn't see him, so when he walked around her to stand infront of her she was surprised. Even more so when she saw what was in his hands. It just looked like a handle, until he moved his other hand so she could see the individual strips of leather fall from inbetween his fingers. Hermione counted them silently. Nine. She took in a shaky breath, her eyes darted back up to him. "Don't. Please, Barty."
"After what?" She averted her eyes and bit into her lip. If she told him then a family would die, she didn't want that to happen. "Fine."
As she wasn't looking at him she only heard the whistle as the whip went through the air just before it striked her skin. It landed across her stomach, the strikes horizontal. She screamed, feeling each individual 'tail' dig into her flesh before it was retracted with a flick of his wrist. Blood was running freely down her torso in small rivlets as she held back a whimper in her throat.
"All you have to do to stop it is finish what you were going to say." She released the whimper from her throat but otherwise kept her mouth closed. The next strike came barely a second after, the same area, this time vertical so it cut over the previous wounds. She screamed again, feeling her knees start to buckle beneath her she pushed against the ground to stay standing remembering what he had said about there being consequences if she were to fall.
Biting at her lips she tried to keep her mouth shut only to scream with each strike that followed. After the sixth one her legs were trembling beneath her, more than threatening to collapse. She extended her fingers to wrap around the chains above her to help keep herself up.
When she wasn't striked within the usual second she glanced towards Barty even though she had been trying not to. He was tapping the handle slightly, eyes flickering over her body. She took in a breath, hoping he was going to stop now. When his eyes met hers though he smiled before lashing out with the whip again.
Her eyes went wide when it made contact with unmarked skin, the new cuts stinging when he pulled the whip back. Her grip on the chains had loosened and she was gasping for air between the small whimpers she kept letting out unable to control herself from making the sounds anymore. The whip fell across her chest again unleashing another scream from her as her hands let go of the chains and her legs fell beneath her so she was dangling from her wrists once more.
She could clearly see the disapproving look in Barty's eyes and started to struggle to get back up. Hermione barely got herself up a few inches before she fell back towards the ground, the manacles around her wrists digging into the skin again and again from her actions. Her breath was becoming frantic and she worked her fingers up to the chains, curling them around as she pushed herself up. She managed to get herself up a few extra inches before she fell back again to let out a whimper. Raising her head she looked back to him trying to ignore the warm feeling of blood running over her skin. She watched as he took a single step forward her breath hitching when he raised the whip again. Turning her head and closing her eyes she only listened to it's path through the air before feeling it.
Her scream ripped through the air but she hardly moved, the chains making minimal noise above her now that they were stretched to hold her up. Each strike felt like fire racing across her flesh before it was dragged away again only to criss-cross over those same scars seconds later. He kept switching the areas that were striked randomly. Not that it would matter even if she could predict where he was going to hit next.
Her throat was raw from screaming so much that she had fallen back to just whimpering for now because it hurt to much to scream. Well, she thought it had. The whip landed on her shoulder and she screamed a single word, "Recruiting!"
The whip that had been moving back to strike again stopped immediately. "What?" He sounded outraged and she let out another whimper. There was a dull thump as the whip hit the ground from when he dropped it. She could hear him moving the last few steps toward her and felt his hands on her face again, fingers brushing across her tear-stained skin. "Who did he recruit? Tell me, Hermione and I'll make all the pain go away."
If she could have slapped her hand to her mouth she would have, as it was she just stared at the cold hard stone floor beneath her. Slowly she raised her head at the prospect of the stinging along her skin and the fresh blood that came from her shoulder wound running down her arm stopping. "Promise?" she murmured, feeling fresh tears running down her face.
His fingers were quick to wipe them from her skin. "Yes. Who?'
She bit at her lip but the sob still escaped her. "The Walgonn's, a half-blood family." Blinking more tears ran down her face. "Please, Barty, please make it stop." she murmured just before her vision went black.
