First things first I want to warn all my lovely readers that this chapter jumps forward a couple of weeks, all is explained in the story.

Secondly I would like to thank my reviewers, yes I said reviewers. Virdianaln9 I am glad you enjoyed the previous chapter and I hope this one will meet the same standards.

Whatweareafreaidof thank you for pointing out that people might be confused by Ron's situation, Harry does not know if Ron knew about Mrs Weasley using money from his vault without his acknowledgement. Harry's resentment to Ron is biased on what he has done to Hermione, I know I would want to kill someone I considered a brother if I knew they were drugging our friend. If you are not happy with alternative opinions to JK's then I suggest you, and anyone else who is not happy with this story, do not carry on reading this fanfiction.

Now before I get into a rant I shall let you lovely people read my latest chapter, yay excited :-).

Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor do I make money from it.

She was screaming and there was nothing Harry could do about it "I am so sorry Hermione." He mumbled under his breath. An ear piercing scream rattled through his body and he slid down the cold black concrete wall burying his head in his arms as the tears began to flow. "If I hadn't said his name you wouldn't be up there and Bellatrix would not be torturing you. I'm sorry."

Flash back

They had just landed in a small field outside of Edinburgh after apperating from The Forest of Dean, Hermione had swayed on her feet after the impact of landing which had made Harry worry.

"Hermione maybe you will be able to sleep better if you spoke to me about the locket."

"Harry I am fine, it doesn't matter what happened does it. The thing that matters is that we have destroyed it."

"Hermione it is obvious something happened, do not treat me like an idiot. Please 'Mione, I am worried about you."

"It is nothing Harry." For some reason he would/could not let it drop he could not see Hermione waist away because of Voldermort.

"You think I do not know what he does to people Hermione? I know more than most about the pain and mental torture he can cause his victims. I watched Riddle in the Chamber of Secrets, I saw what he did to Ginny." Hermione flinched at the mention of the red head "I have had him inside of my mind Hermione the worst being in the Ministry of Magic after Sirius died. I know what Vol-"

"HARRY NO."

"-dermort does to people." She had grabbed his arm and was about to apperate when they heard it the distinct sound of people apperating around them. Using their invisibility to her advantage she cast a stinging hex on Harry.

"We know you are here. Oh who is it who is stupid enough to say the Dark lord's name. Show yourself before we start using unforgivable curses." She squeezed his hand and then let go while whispering in his ear.

"Run Harry." She was gone before the words registered in his brain and before he knew it she had reappeared at the opposite side of the field in full view of the snatchers.

"Get her!" They all sprinted after her and Harry after them stunning as many as he could while fighting to save her.

"Harry is that you? They can't have caught you!" He was brought back from his memories by a paled haired witch and a dark haired wizard both he was glad and horrified to see.

"Luna, Dean what are you two doing here?" he jumped up and hugged the pair of them, he now had some hope of getting out of this hell hole.

"Luna was captured in Hogwarts because of her father's paper and they caught me on the run with Griphook." He nodded towards a goblin in the far corner. Harry looked at the pair of them and realised that they had both lost a lot of weight, Luna was covered in dirt and dry blood. While Dean had a split lip, ripped clothing and was also covered in soot like dirt. He looked around the dungeon and realised the floor was made out of slates which had been darkened over the years from the build up of dust and soot.

"You will tell me, you filthy little mudblood, where you found this sword or I will drag your friends up here and you can watch them die. HAVE YOU BEEN IN MY VAULT AT GRINGOTTS!" Bellatrix's voice was as sharp as a knife. Harry shuddered at the thought of what was happening above them. Hermione's scream of pain shot through the dungeon and Harry balled his fists and went to hit the wall, Luna quickly grabbed his hand and shook her head at him her eyes were pleading at him not to injure himself 'I suppose Bellatrix will do enough of that for me. I will kill her for this and for everything she has ever done. I am so sorry Hermione I should of shrunk the sword instead of using it to kill that werewolf.'

"Right as I cannot loosen your tongue, Mudblood, I will have to see if Potter can provide me with any information. Wormtail take her to the dungeon and bring me Potter, Lucius floo Severus he can perform some mind reading for me." Harry's eyes burnt with a renewed fight and he turned quickly to the pair beside him.

"Have either of you got wands?" They both shook their heads "Right when I come back I will devise a way to escape. Take care of Hermione please, I think she still has her bag hidden try and treat her as best as possible." Footsteps approached closer to the door and Harry sat back down waiting to be summoned. The door opened with a click and Wormtail threw Hermione to the ground, Harry sent her a small smile of hope and then he was dragged out of the room and up the stairs to meet his captors. They ascended only one flight of grey stone stairs before he was pushed across a large dark green dining room towards Bellatrix and the Malfoy's, he noticed that Draco did not appear to have enjoyed the show his aunt had performed with Hermione going on the shade of green his face had taken. Wormtail marched him within five foot of Bellatrix and attempted to get him to kneel, this action was not one that Harry was willing to comply with. "Ah Potter such a pleasure it is to have you with us." She cackled "Now tell me where you found this sword?"

"I found it in a lake in The Forest of Dean. It was difficult to acquire because the lake was frozen and I had to dive to the bottom to get it." He stared her straight in the eye while he was telling her.

"You know what I think you are lying Potter I think you broke into my Vault and stole it. What else have you stolen you filthy Halfblood." He stared into her wild eyes and realisation hit him Voldermort was hiding something in her vault something that could be a Horcrux. "I think we need to loosen your tongue, do not worry I won't be branding you like your mudblood friend...yet." He shot her a dark look and glanced at her arm "Oh do not worry we wouldn't brand scum like that with the Dark Mark no no that would be no good. I have given her her own branding." He didn't realise doing it but he had started to move towards the witch he wanted to rip to shreds, it was that moment a Crucio was cast on him. The pain was continuous as he was hit with spell after spell, each one different than the previous, and when he felt like the world was about to disappear the torture stopped. "I will ask you one last time before I kill your mudblood, where did you find that sword." She was so close to him now that she spat every word into his face. Harry stared her in the eye, his face and body covered in blood, due to the twenty minutes of torture, and laughed.

"If you are so stupid to not believe the truth then kill me Lastrange, just hurry up and get it over with because you are boring me." He spat a mouthful of blood onto the floor and smirked at his captour. This caused him to have the worst pain he had felt since the graveyard from a crucio curse. He couldn't help it he could no longer prevent the scream from leaving his body; his limbs were on fire and being ripped by white hot knives. Bellatrix looked elated at his scream and smirked towards The Malfoy's under the impression she was slowly breaking him.

"Bella I think The Dark Lord wants Potter sane when he kills him." A voice drawled, Snape stood out of the fire and walked over to the Malfoy's while glaring at the lump on the floor. Harry was strewn on the floor gasping for breath and dreading what was to be inflicted on him now, he closed his eyes and tried to numb the pain in his limbs. He spat another mouthful of blood onto the floor and slowly attempted to stand up, this proved to be difficult due to the burning sensation in his legs and arms.

"Ah Severus I was wondering when you would arrive." Bellatrix said in a drawl as she moved away from Harry. "I want you to perform occulmancy on the brat to see where he found this." She handed the sword of Gryffindor to him; Snape looked over the artefact with mild interest and then turned to the Malfoys.

"How long has he been here Lucius?"

"Two days along with his Mudblood friend, Bella has had much fun playing with her." If Harry hadn't seen it he would have thought that he was being lied too Snape defiantly had a look of concern as he glance at him briefly. Looking back to Bellatrix with a look of boredom he walked over to Harry and pulled him to his feet, the latter swayed as he stood upright and used Snape to steady himself. He hadn't expected to have been elevated so quickly.

"As you wish Bella I will waste my time trawling through his memories." He then turned away from the others to face Harry and shot him a look which clearly said 'clear your mind'. Barely able to concentrate he had counted to three before Snape attacked his mind. It took five attempts before Snape finally gained access to his memories. "Someone has been practicing legitimacy haven't they Potter." He sneered as a flood of memories hit the pair and it appeared that Snape was looking for certain information that Bella had not asked for. Each memory flickered before his eyes before Snape would move on, his eleventh birthday, potions he had brewed in and outside of Hogwarts, Sirius's death, Ron walking out, the snake in Godrics Hollow, Hermione laying petrified, Quidditch matches, practising for the tri wizard tournament, his parents death's, life at the Dursleys this carried on until he reached them destroying The Locket at this Harry was sure he heard Snape mutter "excellent". As suddenly as it started the assault on his mind stopped and once again Harry collapsed to the floor gasping for breath, Snape turned and faced the four people waiting expectantly for an answer. "Take him back to the dungeon Wormtail and do not let him leave until I have returned with some veritersum. There are a number of questions which need answering before you summon The Dark Lord." Harry was dragged from the floor and roughly thrown towards the stairs to the dungeons when he looked back he saw Snape leaving via floo powder. Wormtail pushed him hard causing Harry to miss a step and suddenly became airborne as he fell down the stairs, only coming to a stop when he hit the Dungeon door. Grabbing hold of his jacket Wormtail pulled him away from the door.

"Stand back." he said while opening the door and then threw Harry into the dungeon where he landed on the floor "you wait until Snape comes back you are in for a lot more pain Potter." He sneered at him and closed the door. Harry lay there with his eyes closed trying to regain some ease to his body as well as some control over the spinning room when he heard the footsteps running over to him.

"Harry are you ok?" he opened his eyes and glanced up to see bushy hair in his blurred vision.

"What did they do to you Hermione, she said she had branded you." He attempted to get up but his vision span and he crumpled to his knee's "God I forgot how unforgiving Snape can be."

"Snape! Snape was here Harry, what happened?" Dean had arrived with them now but all Harry could do was reach out and take Hermione's arm, lifting the sleeve back he saw the words Mudblood engraved into her forearm blood was trickling from the wound and down her arm.

"Hermione I am so sorry." His vision blurred and he blacked out.

"Dean can you help me clean up some of these wounds, Luna can you fetch me some water. What an idiot he shouldn't of goaded Lastrange." Her face was full of worry and concern as she looked at her best friend and attempted to locate any injuries.

"Hermione we all know he did it for you, I just hope the wakspurts do not fluff all of his brain up before he recovers." Luna had appeared at her shoulder with some water for the pair of them. "Now sit down and pass me that dittany, you both are worn from her torturing." Hermione almost dropped dead with shock but did as the raven requested and let her tend to her arm and wounds while she watched Dean tend to Harry.

"Luna in my bag is Harry's potion collection; there is a few vials of blood replenishing potion and nutrient potions. Feel free to use as much as you need and for you and Dean to have a nutrient potion." She sighed. "God knows you probably need a lot more than that but it will have to do."

It took another day before Snape returned to the Manor in which time they had received a piece of bread each and Harry had to explain about what happened in the dining room. It had taken Harry six hours to wake after his questioning with Bellatrix, when he did finally awake he was almost suffocated by a hysterical brunette. Hermione had not been called up again to face Bellatrix, which was the only positive side that they could see in the situation. Coming to the conclusion Snape must have told the group upstairs to leave her alone until his return the group in the dungeon worried about her safety. Harry was slowly devising an escape plan when the large red wooden door to the dungeon was swung open; he quickly stuffed the piece of mirror he had been looking in back into his neck pouch in time to see Wormtail entering the room. Instantly he knew the scumbag was going to take him up to the dining room before he even mentioned to the others to stay put. "Potter you are to come with me, you lot are to stay here. Any movement before we leave and I will kill her." He pointed to Luna then grabbed him by the scruff and dragged him out of the cellar.

"I can walk by myself thank you Peter. Just do not forget you owe me your life." He pulled his top out of the traitors hand and walked up the stairs without a backwards glance to his prison guard. If he had turned around he would have seen Wormtail struggling against his silver hand which was trying to strangle him, he would have also have noticed the dungeon had not been locked the door had only been pulled too. Harry walked into the room with his head held high and stared straight at his ex potions professor ignoring the sneers and jeers coming from the Malfoy family and Bellatrix, he only had business with Snape this time and he was not going to miss any message portrayed to him by a look. "What do I owe this pleasure Snape?" He knew this was going to wind his capturers up but he could not help feeling ever so smug they were about to find out Snape was a traitor if he was going to give him real veritusirum.

"Look at this Draco baby Potter has found some guts. How dare you ignore your superiors... Go on Draco show him what we will do if he does not behave like the filthy half blood he is." Bellatrix forced the younger petrified looking Malfoy towards Harry who just casted a look of disgust at the blonde haired teenager before looking back at his original target. In his quick glance he could see the fear in Draco's eyes and he wondered if Draco was now regretting becoming a Death Eater.

"Bella that is enough, we need to deduce if Potter is telling the truth about this Sword or not. Telling Draco to hex him will make the process more tedious than it has already become and I am sure the Dark Lord will not appreciate you hiding his main target from him for any period of time. Shall we begin?" He looked at the witch who looked like she had been slapped and then passed Harry a glass which he poured some clear liquid into. "Drink this Potter or I will force feed it to you, it is your decision." Without giving it a second thought he downed the substance in one mouthful, if it was poison then he was going to die sooner or later he just hoped Hermione would get out ok. Snape smirked at him and then looked over to the other members in the room. "Now Potter we will see if you are telling the truth or not. A simple question first will be justifiable to make sure it is working, where were you the night Dumbledore died?" Feeling no different than usual Harry answered the question honestly wondering if he really had been fed the truth serum or not.

"I was with Dumbledore on the Astronomy Tower when you killed him. We had left the castle to practice some advanced magic." No he had not been fed the serum because if he had he would have just blurted out about the Horcrux's they were hunting, what was Snape playing at?

"Very good Potter I verified this answer with Dumbledore's portrait earlier today. Next do you know why the Dark Lord tried to kill you as an infant?"

"Due to a prophecy you told him that was predicted before my birth. It stated that someone he would mark as an equal i.e a Halfblood would be born as the seventh month dies. This person would know a power the Dark Lord does not and would have the power to defeat him. He chose to come after me as we have the same blood status instead of trying to kill a Pureblood child." He smirked at the faces of the Death Eaters in the room, all but Narcissa looked stunned, however the female Malfoy looked deep in thought as if she had just heard the last piece in a puzzle which was unsolvable.

"Enough of this!" Bellatrix shrieked "TELL ME WHERE YOU FOUND THIS SWORD." Her knife was pinned against his chest. Harry did not know how she had managed it but she had crossed the room without him seeing her. Smiling politely he answered her question.

"As myself and, as you like to call Hermione, my Mudblood friend have been telling you we found the Sword of Gryffindor in a lake located in the Forest of Dean while we were on the run. We have not been to Gringotts since the September before last when we started our 6th year at Hogwarts." That was when the firry swords started to pierce his skin; obviously she had not enjoyed his answer.

Hermione POV

I watched Harry leave through the door while shielding Luna from Pettigrews stare; as soon as the door closed I slumped to the floor listening as hard as I could for what was happening in the room above. Ten minutes had passed before I heard her yelling about the Sword, Luna grabbed my hand and gave it a squeeze. "Why does he have to taunt them so much Luna? He will get himself killed." Dean walked over and sat next to the brunette and sighed.

"He is trying to get them to take as much frustration out on him as possible to make sure we remain safe. Harry admitted it to me last night Hermione but I think he also enjoys knowing he has got one up on them." He glanced at the roof the three of us all in wonder of what was happening.

"I need to check on Olivander, he should be feeling better after that potion you gave him Hermione. It is a shame that Griphook is no longer with us." Luna stood up and turned towards the wand maker when they all heard the shriek from above. I launched myself at the door to try and get to him, to stop the pain they were causing due to them being so idiotic. As I placed myself against the door I felt it sway with my weight and a spark of hope lit up inside of me, I pulled the door open to see Wormtail lying on the floor dead.

End of POV

As she was about to step over the body a loud pop made Hermione spin around to see what had happened, there in the middle of the dungeon was Dobby and Kreacher. "Dobby, Kreacher how are you here." She ran and hugged the elves.

"We are here to save masters and misses. Where is Master Harry?" Kreacher was looking around the dungeon.

"He is up in the dining room with Bellatrix, Dobby can you both transport people out of here to a safe location?" The elf nodded enthusiastically. "Right we need somewhere safe to transport Dean, Luna and Mr Olivander. I am going to try and distract them so we can save Harry."

"Ginny had mentioned briefly about her brother Bill's house, I think she said it was called Shell Cottage, apparently it is one of the best protected Order of Phoenix houses. They used it as a safe house earlier this year from some people on the run from You-Know-Who." For the second time in 24 hours Hermione stood gob smacked by Luna's maturity it wasn't until Harry screamed again that she regained composure.

"Right Kreacher you will take everyone to Shell Cottage. Dobby how quickly can you meet me at the top of the stairs?" As she was talking a distinctive crack was heard from the others apperating to safety.

"Can miss get up them in ten seconds?" She nodded at the elf.

"Ten seconds it is then Dobby, let's do this."

I hope you enjoyed the chapter, I know I enjoyed writing it. Don't forget to review with your opinions on where there is there is a way.