A/n: This is a Hermione-now-including-Neville chapter, and Death Eaters might, emphasis on MIGHT, come in, so here is my little warning.
Disclaimer: It's 2am, I have Theater Camp tomorrow, and I'm too tired to make a witty disclaimer. So, I'm not J.K Rowling.
Hermione couldn't sleep. She had no idea how long she had been in her personal prison of hell, but what she did know was that she had barely slept throughout her long stay. She didn't feel comfortable lying down on the cold stone, and she most defiantly didn't feel safe. Hermione felt that if she fell asleep she would be vulnerable for one of the creepy Death Eaters to come in and be all cruel while she slept. Having Neville lying unconscious next to her didn't help. Hermione wanted to know everything that was happening outside her stone chamber, and was seriously thinking about shaking him wake.
Hermione had been watching Neville very closely, waiting for any sign that showed that he was about to wake up, like an eye-twitch or an arm-flinch, but she saw nothing so far. She felt so thankful to see a familiar face, or a face and not a sinister Death Eater mask. If felt good to see someone else's flesh, even if it was her friend who was now being held captive with her.
Hermione was about to shake Neville awake when she finally saw him shiver a little, probably from the cold, stone floor. She looked down at him and quickly crawled over to his side. Hermione was leaning over Neville's face when he opened his eyes, surprising Hermione. She let out a little gasp, while Neville yelped loudly, not expecting to see Hermione. She quickly backed away from him, and Neville shot upwards into a sitting position.
"So, that wasn't a dream?" Neville asked, rubbing the back of his neck with his hand.
"Nope." Hermione said.
Then, Neville seemed to look at Hermione, really look. He saw how bruised her arms and legs were, how dirty her face was, how bloody her clothes were, how she had huge bags under her eyes. Hermione was also so skinny that Neville thought that she was made of skin and bones. He could see her ribs jutting out from under her clothes.
"Crap, Hermione. No offense, but you look horrible," Neville said with a sheepish grin.
"I've been kidnapped, beaten and abused for I don't know how long. Sorry for not worrying about my appearance," Hermione replied while rolling her eyes.
"It's been almost a month," Neville said sadly, trying to stay away from the topic of Hermione's torture.
"Really? It's felt longer…" Hermione trailed off. She thought that it had been years, not a month.
"I would guess that it would," Neville said, "We've all missed you."
Hermione felt a small smile tug at the ends of her mouth. "I've missed everyone more than they could imagine. I've missed you, and it's great to see you, but why are you here? What happened?"
"Erm… well I was on my way to the Burrow. I didn't want to apparate, because it was a really nice day, and I guess there were Death Eaters watching me or something, because one minute I'm walking along the path, and the next there are three masked-Death Eaters pointing wands at me. Soon, I was on the ground and they were all laughing. They took me here, and they must be idiots because they forgot to take my wand, so I started shooting random spells and jinxes everywhere, hoping to hit someone, but one of the spells ended up hitting me and disarming me. I have no idea where my wand went… that kinda sucks… Anyway, they ended up cursing me, with the Crucio, and a different spell that ended up cutting me. Then, I got shoved in here, and you know the rest." Neville replied.
"Quite a story… why were you going to The Burrow?" Hermione asked.
Neville looked around, as if looking for anyone who might eavesdrop, as if someone else was in the room. "I can't say."
"Why?"
"It's a big secret."
"Who the hell am I going to tell? The pile of dirt named Wilson?" Hermione asked sarcastically.
Neville rolled his eyes, but couldn't hide the small smile twitching at the tips of his lips. "I barely even knew what was going on. And as you can tell, there's a really loud echo in this place, you never know who might hear."
"Yeah, I've noticed. Can't you whisper it or something? I've gone a month without a scrap of news!" Hermione exclaimed, reminding herself of Harry in their fifth year.
"I'm sorry, Hermione, but I can't say!"
"Can't you whisper? Or write it?" Hermione asked hopefully.
"Write it with what?"
Hermione looked over at her wand, that she had put in the corner after making the thread, needle, and alcohol disappear, nonchalantly. "Remember when you said those Death Eaters are idiots?"
"Yeah," Neville responded expectantly.
Hermione stole a glance toward the door, then moved closer to Neville so she could whisper in his ear, "I still have my wand."
Neville let out a loud gasp. "WHAT? What are you still doing here, then? Why haven't you escaped? Why haven't you beaten those idiot-Death-Eater's asses?"
"Language, Neville," Hermione warned with a small smile, "I've tried, God knows I've tried. I can't get out of this room, it's impossible. I've tried to run away, and that didn't work well either. I don't want to get into the details, but lets just say these people don't like it when you try to escape."
Hermione didn't fail to notice that Neville's smile faltered for a fraction-of-a-second. "Well? Go get it!"
Hermione got up and walked over to her wand, then walked back to Neville and sat down beside him. Then, she waved her wand and a piece of parchment and quill appeared on the stone floor in between the duo.
"Write!" Hermione whispered, not wanting her voice to echo through the cell.
Neville quickly picked up the quill and started writing. Hermione tried to look over his shoulder to see what he was writing, but couldn't get a good look. He finally finished writing, and handed the parchment to Hermione.
There was a huge fight in Diagon Alley. Death Eaters were fighting the Order, innocent civilians were killed and tortured. It was also around Hogwarts-shopping time, so lots of children died. It was horrible. Ginny captured a Death Eater and took him into questioning. Mr. Weasley found out that the Death Eaters were going to have a meeting. The Weasleys got a group of people together, surviving Order members, D.A, Aurors that we trust, and the group would go and ambush the Death Eaters. I was on my way to The Burrow to join the group and go and ambush, when I was captured. Now I'm here.
Hermione's eyes got wider with each word she read.
"Burn it." Neville commanded, not wanting anyone else to read it. Hermione quickly rose her wand and burned the parchment, then made the quill disappear. Finally, she placed her wand in one of the corners again.
"That explains mostly everything, well everything that's important," Neville said, purposely not telling Hermione about how Ron had run away.
"Merlin… a lot has happened," Hermione said in awe.
"That was only in the past two days. Everything else was… depressing. People were out looking for you everyday, Harr- uh… Mr. P was out looking everyday all day. It was kind of boring but that's what we did." Neville said, trying not to say Harry's name in case anyone was listening.
Hermione seemed to have caught on, because she nodded slightly. "I'm sorry I put everyone through that. How's Ron?" Hermione said, whispering her last question. She didn't want anyone to go after Ron next, so not letting Death Eaters hear her mention him might help.
"Not to good."
"That's all you're going to say?"
"Yep."
"Something happened, right?"
"Yep."
"Are you going to tell me what happened?"
"Nope."
"Why?"
"Because I'm not."
"You're so annoying!"
"Deal with it. You're gonna have to live with my annoying-ness for a while." Neville said as he crossed his arms and scowled at Hermione.
"Fine." Hermione replied, mimicking Neville's arm-crossing-and-scowl.
They both glared and scowled at each other, but a few seconds later they both broke out into huge smiles, then laughs. They both ended up giving each other huge, gigantic bear hugs.
"It's so amazing to see you," Hermione said with her arms still around Neville, "Even if it is a horrible circumstance."
"Tell me about it," Neville replied while rolling his eyes and backing away from Hermione, then sitting down against the wall. Hermione fallowed suit, and sat down next to him.
Before Hermione could reply, the duo heard the metal door creak slowly open. Hermione felt Neville flinch beside her and move slightly toward the corner that held her wand. Hermione quickly grabbed Neville's forearm to stop him from giving the Death Eater any hint of the wand. Neville seemed to stop inching toward the wand, so Hermione loosened her grip on his arm slightly, but still holding Neville in his place.
The door finally opened up wide and a Death Eater walked inside, mask and all.
"Well, mudblood's got a friend." the Death Eater said. Hermione recognized the voice as the voice of the evil female Death Eater who had tossed her against a wall and knocked her out.
Hermione felt Neville start to shake with anger. She knew that Neville hated the word 'mudblood' with as much hatred as Ron hated it. Hermione tightened her grip again, and held onto Neville tighter.
"Ooooh, not friend. Mudblood's gotta boyfriend," the Death Eater teased when she saw Hermione holding onto Neville's forearm.
Hermione rolled her eyes, but didn't let go of Neville. "Sure, that's it." Hermione replied sarcastically.
"Don't you dare talk back to me." the Death Eater replied, strangely reminding Hermione of her mother.
"How 'bout you make me?" Hermione said coldly. Before she knew what happened, Hermione was screaming and sprawling on the floor, and Neville was screaming at the Death Eater.
"Neville! Stop!" Hermione screamed once the pain of the curse wore off.
Neville turned his head from the Death Eater's direction to Hermione's, who was still on the floor. Then, a flash of bright red light illuminated the small cell, and Neville was hit with a Crucio.
Shit, Hermione thought. She didn't want Neville to get hurt. Hermione felt so naive to think that Neville wouldn't be hurt and only Hermione would be. It killed her inside to think of Neville, sweet, innocent Neville, getting cursed.
"What do you want to know this time?" Hermione asked as she started to stand up, using the wall to support her.
"Where is Potter?" the Death Eater asked harshly. She turned all her attention toward Hermione and away from Neville, totally forgetting that he was there.
"I have no idea." Hermione answered with more strength and confidence then she actually had.
"That's a lie. We know you've been in contact with those blood traitors."
"If I was in contact with them, they would have already been here to rescue me." Hermione bluffed.
The Death Eater seemed to be contemplating Hermione's answer, as if she was actually believed that Hermione had never sent the two Patronuses. (A/N: Is the plural of Patronus Patronuses? Not exactly sure…)
"Maybe they just don't want to rescue you. Maybe, they actually hate you, and want you gone, so they aren't making an effort. Maybe, you're just not that important."
Hermione's eyes widened, feeling like she had read her mind. Hermione had thought that no one wanted to rescue her. It was one of her fears when she had been thrown into the cell. She felt her breathing stop short.
"Oh, so you did think that? Well, if you ask me, no one wants you back. No one wants you to come home. No one wants you at all." the Death Eater pressed on when she saw that she was getting to Hermione.
"They all hate you. Everybody hates you. You're just a frizzy-haired know-it-all who everyone hates and no one wants." The Death Eater started walking towards Hermione, and grabbed her from around the throat, pinning her to the wall.
Hermione felt tears starting to form in her eyes. All of the childhood bulling is coming back to her. The verbal teasing and taunting that made her want to hide under her bedcovers and never leave her room.
"And you know it's true. You know that you're just a stupid, ugly girl that everyone hates. I bet this stupid boy hates you, and is just faking about being so happy to see you. I bet that he hates you, like everyone else in your goddamn life."
Neville looked up when she mentioned him, finally noticing what the Death Eater was saying.
"Don't listen to her, Hermione! I don't hate you! You're my best friend, I love you!" Neville yelled.
Hermione looked down at Neville, and felt a small smile spread across her lips. Her smile quickly disappeared with the Death Eater shot a spell towards Neville, making him scream out in pain. Then, the Death Eater pushed Hermione harder against the wall, and got so close that Hermione could smell her vanilla perfume.
"You're a worthless piece of trash. Look at you! You're pathetic!" she exclaimed. Hermione could smell the Death Eaters horrible breath through her mask, and tried to turn away, but couldn't because of the hand that was still on her throat, pinning her to the wall.
After what felt like years of the Death Eater yelling insults at her and pinning her to the wall, Hermione felt the hand leaver her throat. She sank to the floor, feeling tears falling down her cheeks. Hermione looked over at Neville and saw that he was unconscious. The Death Eater had cursed him more than a few times while verbally abusing Hermione. Before leaving the cell, the Death Eater turned to Hermione and sent a Cruciatus Curse her way before telling her that she was hated by all. She slammed the door loudly, leaving Hermione sitting down against the wall, throbbing in pain and crying over all the horrible verbal insults she had gotten.
Hermione was back to the horrible silence that she couldn't handle. The only noise was her own and Neville's breathing. The silence was killing her, because it left her to her own thoughts, and all she could think about was that the Death Eater was right; everyone did hate her, and that's why they weren't looking for her. Hermione felt the tears come faster down her face as she cried harder. All she wanted was to leave, but she could see how she couldn't do that. Hermione laid down on the stone floor, shivering and freezing, and tried to fall asleep. After what felt like hours, Hermione's tears finally stopped falling and she fell asleep to the silence of her cell.
A/N: Did anyone get my Cast Away reference?
Does anyone have any idea where Neville and Hermione are being held captive?
Any guess for the female Death Eater?
Any guesses for anything in general?
Review and all that jazz, please!