Disclaimer: I own the plot, nothing more.
WARNING: I did already forewarn that there would be torture, violence and graphic sex in this chapter and now you have been warned again.
Prepare for a dark chapter and such an event can only change the character of Hermione, she will be...well...different from here on in but it all adds up don't worry.
Review and enjoy.
PurelyPoison
Chapter Eleven
Everything slowed down then...as if I was watching the world turn in slow motion. I blinked once, and then I blinked again never taking my eyes from Malfoy's.
What I had taken as cruel, angry and unrelenting at first glance was an understatement. His face was furious, completely livid and his eyes were blazing at me, getting wider and wider as they took me in. I had no idea who he was most angry at; Pansy for doing this or me for getting caught and not being able to defend myself for the second time.
Then time sped up, people were cheering and laughing, whistling and catcalling. I tore my eyes from Malfoy and whatever communication had been going on between our two expressions ceased. I looked down at the piece of clothing I had been forced into and found it to be a pillowcase; a dirty, small pillowcase like the kind house elves were forced to wear. I swallowed down the bile that had risen in my throat, Pansy was determined to show me exactly where I, as a mudblood, stood.
I now understood Malfoy's eyes widening as they surveyed me.
I took advantage of the pause to glance quickly around the cavernous ballroom. I had to admit, it was magnificent. The stone walls had been decorated with garlands of green and silver holly, tapestries of silk hung from the ceiling each one depicting a different member of the Malfoy clan. At the head table where Malfoy, his parents, Pansy and what I could only assume to be Pansy's parents, there was the largest tapestry of all with Voldemort's snakelike face leering down at everyone.
The head table was in the middle while two other long tables flanked it on either side, one running down the left and the other on the right, leaving room in the middle where my cage was now situated.
Each table was laden with various joints of meat, platters of fruit and cheese and so much cake such as I have never even seen at Hogwarts.
The wedding cake was in the centre of the head table, it was black naturally with a snake coiled around the three tiers and a miniature Malfoy and Pansy dancing around the top.
I sighed and already began to feel the tears forming in my eyes, he was married. He was somebody else's and would never be mine. Certainly not now anyway, he could fight for our side all he wanted he would never be with me.
"Congratulations", his drawl pulled me back to reality and I looked up, he was walking out of his seat and around the table to stand next to Pansy in front of my cage.
He lifted her hand and put it to his lips, his eyes never leaving hers and I felt my heart contract ever so slightly.
"You have given me the best present anyone could ever have asked for", he turned to face the now silent crowd, Pansy's hand still encased in his own.
"My darling here has known how much I have struggled with who I am these past few months and it has been a torment. I felt like I was bringing shame on the elite order I am proud to be a part of and all because an idiot mudblood fell in love with me. This, pathetic, whimpering girl turned my world upside down and made me question everything I held dear, she shall be held accountable here tonight", he kissed Pansy's hand again as the crowd erupted into applause.
I scanned the room and my eyes fell on Professor Snape who I noticed was staring hard at me.
"Help me", I mouthed.
Instead, he turned his back and moved towards another part of the room, one where he was out of view.
The tears began to roll down my cheeks and I trembled uncontrollably, I was so frightened I don't think I could even have opened my mouth screamed and begged for mercy.
"I noticed you dressed her in a house elves uniform, how very symbolic", said Malfoy snuggling close to Pansy as she wrapped her arms around his neck.
"Fitting, don't you think? Shall I open the cage and let the games begin?" she giggled.
He pulled back from her, "What did you have in mind?" his eyebrows were raised.
"Oh, I thought we could dangle her from the chandelier and once you have finished we could let some other people vent their frustration?"
I glanced up towards the ceiling and noticed a beautiful, black chandelier hanging low over the crowd and seemed to be glinting menacingly at me.
Malfoy's eyes narrowed, "I don't share my presents my love".
"Oh I know but..."
"I'm not sharing", he growled, grabbing her roughly and leaning in to her neck to leave a mark.
"Alright", she said breathlessly, moaning at the contact, "We could dangle the cage from the ceiling if you'd like, let her watch the entire reception from up there?"
"No, some people might decide to throw curses at her and I told you I'm not sharing, we can have some fun now and then send her back to the dungeons until I decide I want to take her out again?"
"You mean you don't plan to kill her?"
"Not tonight babe, I don't want to have to get rid of her body on my wedding night", he flicked her earlobe with his tongue.
She whimpered and her eyes fluttered closed, "Whatever you say".
I sat and watching this whole exchange in shock horror, he could get around her so easily. Fleetingly, I wondered if the same strategy would work on him.
"I have decided what I would like to do", said Malfoy turning once more to address the crowd of hungry onlookers.
Some stared at me with disgust, like a bug that needed to be squashed. Others watched me with some sort of blood lust in their eyes. Malfoy would have to make this good if he wanted to convince them.
"Open the cage and give her back her wand".
A collective, deafening gasp followed by an even more deafening silence followed this outburst but it was me who finally broke it.
"What?" I asked quietly looking up at him.
Malfoy turned to Pansy who was looking at him speechlessly, "Since we are proving to everyone else how much better we are than her, might as well prove it to her in the process".
She smiled as if the joke had made sense to her the entire time.
She snapped her fingers with an air of authority and the two men who had carried me in lurched forward.
They opened the cage and pulled me out roughly, throwing me onto the cold, hard stone floor. My hands were quickly untied and I tried to make out in the dim lighting how badly they were marked from the rope. I flinched as I felt the raw skin.
The cage was removed from the room and my wand was thrown to the floor in front of me.
I lay face down, unable to move or get up. Was he handing me my chance to apparate? No, you couldn't from inside Malfoy Manor. Did he want me to kill him? No, he certainly didn't want me to do that. Then it dawned on me, he didn't want the fight to be one-sided. He knew he had to torture me but he didn't want me completely unable to fight back as he did it.
Unfortunately for him, all the fight had left me and I just wanted to curl up and die.
I was relieved in one sense that this was not an interrogation, nobody suspected where Malfoy's true loyalties lay and nobody thought for one second that I would know anything about him. Thank Merlin for small mercies.
"Stand up mudblood", said Pansy aiming a swift kick into my stomach, I cried out loud and the room erupted into laughter.
I grabbed my wand and got shakily to my feet, still somewhat cramped from having sat in the cage. The blood was pounding in my ears, blocking out all other noises, all I could see was Malfoy preparing for a duel and me powerless to stop him.
He flicked his wand lazily, "CRUCIO".
I crumpled onto the floor, my wand spinning out of my hand and across the room. I tried not to scream but it was too much and the noise broke out of me before I could stop it.
Needles punctured my bare skin, my muscles seized up and I felt like I was on fire.
Then it stopped and I was gasping for breath, choking on the vomit that had come up during the attack and I realised with shame that I had wet myself and sodden the floor and the pillowcase. Everyone laughed harder, clutching their sides and each other as most of them doubled up.
"She pissed herself", screeched Pansy, the tears rolling down her cheeks.
I uttered a sob but stood up again, faster this time.
"Oh, looks like she wants more", said Pansy surprised.
I scanned the room looking for my wand and as I went to pick it up, Blaise Zabini and Marcus Flint threw themselves towards it trying to get to it before I could.
"LEAVE IT", shouted Malfoy furiously and they stepped back again quickly.
I moved back into the centre of the room and this time, I raised my wand and pointed it at his face.
"STUP..." I started but he was too quick and blasted the red curse straight into my chest, knocking any strength I had mustered clean out of me.
I fell back, this time sliding as I went scraping the backs of my legs along the floor until I was left with deep grazes that started bleeding profusely almost immediately.
Still, this time I got up even faster again and moved back to where I had been, although hobbling slightly now from the pain down my calves.
Malfoy was now watching me with surprise and a few of the laughs and shouts of the crowd faltered. I didn't have time to wonder why.
I shot a few curses his way, which he deflected before I was hit with another cruciatus curse and this was sent out the most blood-curdling screams I had ever yelled and after it was over, Malfoy's face had paled considerably.
Several minutes passed during which I was unable to move and instead was hit a second and then a third time by the cruciatus curse. I honestly didn't think I could take much more but then surprising myself and everyone in the room, I got up and shot a well aimed Stupefy curse his way.
It would have hit too, it would have hit him square in the face but somebody else did the deflecting for him.
"Drakie, Drakie, Drakie. I'm disappointed. If the mudblood can still get up, then you haven't been doing it properly", came a female voice and my heart filled with dread.
How could I have forgotten that Bellatrix Lestrange would be at this wedding, how could I have been so stupid?
She ripped my wand from my hand, "If you have no intention of killing her, then at least torture her properly and I don't know what curse you used, but I've never seen someone's hair change like that".
Now I knew why people's laughter had faltered, something was wrong with my hair. What an odd thing to be concerned about?
"Dearest Aunt, I don't want to drive her insane. I want her to be perfectly aware of what I am doing to her", he said firmly staring Bellatrix down.
"Very well but perhaps something a little more permanent than a couple of Crucio's", she grinned wickedly and flicked her wand at me.
Searing pain broke out from the top of my right shoulder all the way down my arm to my wrist.
She spelled out the words perfectly and they carved into my skin like a blood filled tattoo.
M
U
D
B
L
O
O
D.
When it was over, Malfoy looked like he might just be sick; hell everyone did including Pansy.
"Take her back to the dungeon, I've had enough of her whimpering, cowering form", said Malfoy disgustedly, turning his back on me.
What I didn't see was his face crumple and contort in pain as he turned away.
With that, I was picked up and heaved out of the room, my captors trying to avoid the stream of bile that I was leaving all over myself.
The cold, dank air of the dungeon was a welcome to my aching limbs. After I was thrown back in, I lay with my back pressed against the damp floor and my eyes fixed on the ceiling trying my best to bring my scattered brain back to normal.
It didn't work so instead I passed into unconsciousness.
He haunted my dreams, the colour of platinum blonde and stormy grey eyes filled my head.
Hermione
He was shouting it at me but I couldn't turn my head to look at him, I was chained down.
Hermione
This time it was more urgent but I still couldn't move.
"HERMIONE"!
My eyes snapped open, that one was too real.
And suddenly, there he was sitting next to me with my head in his lap and he was crying...I think.
No, those tears were mine. He was just angry.
"Oh, hello", I croaked up at him through cracked lips.
He groaned at me, "I'm so sorry".
"You did what you had to", I said closing my eyes again.
He shook me gently, "Don't close your eyes; I don't want you to give up yet".
"I've had enough", I whispered back willing him to go away so I could be with him in my dreams instead of in this cold, cruel reality.
"I'm so sorry I had to do that to you", he choked, his voice breaking.
"Why are you here?"
"Pansy is fast asleep and I had to check on you. I've healed all of your cuts and bruises and I've brought water and food, I can't get...I couldn't..." he struggled with the last part but I knew what he was trying to say.
"I can't get the markings off", he finished.
"I know", I mumbled.
"And I can't change what's happened to your appearance", he continued quietly.
"Bruises will go away in their own time", I answered.
"It isn't just bruises, your hair has changed colour is almost bleached blonde looking, your skin is much whiter like porcelain and your eyes are a bright grey instead of a soft hazel, if I didn't know better in this half light I'd say you looked like a Malfoy".
I mumbled incoherently, not registering anything he had said.
"Drink this", he opened my mouth and poured a thick, warm liquid down my throat that tingled to the tips of my fingers, "It will heal any internal bleeding and keep you warm".
It also revived me slightly because this time I sat up, "You shouldn't be down here".
"I'm going to get you out", he said not listening, "Snape went not long after you came in, Dumbledore will be here in the morning demanding your return".
"He won't forgive you for this", I said finally looking properly into his face.
He was gaunt and pale, withdrawn and confused. His blonde hair hung messily into his eyes and he looked so hurt that I felt I should be the one comforting him.
"I don't care about him, will you forgive me for what I did?" he looked up, pleading with me.
"I already have", I whispered and in that moment regardless of how sore I was and how frightened we were, I leaned in and kissed him.
He answered my kiss urgently, pulling me towards him and yanking the pillowcase over my head until I was left naked in front of him.
His hands moved to capture my breasts, kneading them softly between his fingers. I groaned and moved my hand down underneath the waistband of his pyjama pants and I held him until he grew under my touch.
He leaned away to remove his jumper and bottoms altogether before leaning down over me and covering my sore, naked body with his own.
My skin tingled as I felt the contact; he used his elbows to keep himself upright as his eyes took in my features.
"You look different but the same all at once", he whispered leaning down and capturing my lips with his.
His tongue grazed my bottom lip and just as he slipped it into my mouth, I felt his erection press against my wet folds.
I gasped and lowered my hand to help guide him into me.
He moved in slowly, never breaking the kiss and I could feel his manhood filling the space that was reserved just for him.
I cupped his face in my hands, pulling his lips gently from mine, "Now we are one person, joined forever and no marriage can ever stop the feeling I have being here with you now".
"Don't ever stop loving me, no matter what. I couldn't bear it if I knew you weren't mine, even if we can never be open about it".
"I'll always be yours", I whispered and that was the last clear thought in my head as he started thrusting in and out of me. Pulling all the way out and then slamming all the way back in.
The sweat dripped from our writhing bodies as we revelled in each other's touch. My hands gripped and scratched his back as he bit down hard on my neck, drawing blood but leaving his mark.
"Come with me", he half-shouted.
I was about to scream but he forced his tongue into my mouth as we climaxed together.
When it was over, he lay over me, staring into my eyes for a long time. His penis still buried deep within me.
"Don't hate yourself when you finally look in a mirror", he whispered before climbing off of me and pulling his clothes back on.
I yanked the pillowcase back over my head; I'd rather have something covering me than nothing at all.
He pulled me to my feet and embraced me.
We never said those three words, I felt like there was no need. They are just words, they could never convey everything I wanted to say in that moment.
"You mean so much to me", was all I could manage.
He gripped me tighter, "Dumbledore will get you out tomorrow, if he doesn't I will get you out of here. Tell him, the war is coming and it is only a matter of weeks. Tell him, to expect it to be Hogwarts".
He placed a kiss on the top of my head, whispered "Merry Christmas" and then he left.
I shivered sliding to the floor and wanting to cry but feeling like there weren't enough tears left in my body to do the pain I felt justice.
The next day, true to Malfoy's word Dumbledore came and fetched me.
Pansy and Malfoy were absent during the exchange but as I understand it, without Voldemort there to protect him, Lucius had no choice but to let me go. He was too much of a coward to stand up to a wizard like Dumbledore.
Dumbledore let out a soft murmur when he saw my crumpled form in the dungeons, still in the same spot Malfoy had lain with me hours before, trying to cling to the memory.
He touched my cheek, looking for a sign that I was still aware and for his troubles he got a sharp glare back which was on my face before I even noticed.
He moved back a bit and watched me warily.
"What has happened to her features?"
"I don't know, she was like that this morning. Probably did it to herself, trying to be one of us", Lucius sneered.
I wasn't listening and I had no idea what they were talking about, Malfoy's words from last night clean forgotten.
"I'll have her wand then", he held his hand out and Lucius placed my mahogany wand into his palm.
The charms surrounding Malfoy manor were lifted and safely in the confines of Dumbledore's arms, we apparated away from my prison cell, away from my captors and away from Malfoy towards an even more uncertain future.
What did you think?
I changed her appearance and not only that there will be changes to her personality, all will be explained though in the next chapter. Nobody could go through all of this and not be different at the other side. Trauma and all that!
Review please!
PurelyPoison