Chapter 21: Tread Lightly
She wondered how long the memories would keep her awake. She lay in the bed with the tattered, old lace coverlet and she was ashamed.
She should be stronger. But then the images that had passed were forced before her eyes again.
Without another moment delay his lips were on hers, forcing her neck back, forcing himself more fully into her mouth… Her head hung limply… his mouth never leaving hers... He was incredibly strong... She couldn't fight; she just stood there, paralyzed in fear and confusion as his lips worked against hers. And then, in a frenzied moment he moaned... He let her go completely and her body plunged inertly to the floor.
"Crucio!" He bellowed, pointed his wand to her…"Did I not tell you not too long ago that if I desire it, you will do it?... I will break you, you damn mudblood."
Hermione closed her eyes tightly washing the images away with fresh tears before turning her back and burying her head against the pillow. With a few deep breaths she was calm again. Be strong Hermione, she thought. You need to figure this out. The realization hit her like a ton of bricks. Her only way to escape was to play his game, and if she could she must logically outwit him. She wanted to laugh. Outwit Lucius? Without a wand, without even her dignity left, Hermione had no weapon. Except myself, she thought.
IIII
More firewhiskey. It burned in a way that felt good and numbing all at the same time. He poured another glass, slopping some of it over the edge and heard it tinkle as it hit the table in his bedroom. He didn't care. He wanted nothing more than to drown himself in the bottle. He tasted her mouth. It was a taste he would never escape from. He grimaced at himself; his own disgust at actually wanting the taste of a mudblood on his tongue.
And yet, there it was again; not quite the same desire as before and still he felt it. He compressed the turnover in his belly by shooting down another glass of whiskey. Somewhere in the back of his mind he knew that no amount of alcohol would relieve him of this feeling.
What are you doing? Why did you bring her here? Questions flooded his mind, making him more uncomfortable. He shook his long mane of hair. It is a game, he assured himself, removing his outer robes and hanging them in the large wooden bureau against the far wall. He brought her here to play his old games. It'd been so long since he'd felt freedom enough to do something like this. Not since the Dark Lord… aw, he thought, but that was something else entirely.
He went back to the bottle of firewhiskey and replaced the top. Taking the glass in his hand he emptied the last few drops into his mouth before slamming that down next to the half empty bottle. No need, he thought, suddenly feeling more in control of himself once more.
It occurred to him rather abruptly. His plan began to formulate, each step set into a specific order. It won't be easy, he thought. But did it really matter? Now that he had her here, he might as well have some fun with her. He'd made a slip and he'd be damn certain that mudblood would slip as well.
IIII
She couldn't sleep. She was disgusted with herself, letting her mind roll over the memory of the previous night with ease. It should be harder, she thought. She forced herself to think over the kiss again and again until it turned her stomach. Just as she leaned over the bed to retch up air, because she hadn't eaten since the previous night, the door opened.
"Plunket?" She looked up anxiously. The little elf did not enter.
"Don't bother getting up, Granger." His voice rang icy cold down her spine. He walked into the room, the door closing behind him automatically. Hermione froze in fear before composing herself once more, sitting up straight in the bed.
Lucius walked to the bedside table and placed upon it a silver tray with a plate of food. From what Hermione could see it held some eggs and toast. She turned her head away, attempting to block out the scent of the appetizing food. Lucius left the tray on the table and without giving her another glance he walked to the fireplace and lit it with his wand.
"So you've brought me here to be your hand maiden?" She asked sarcastically, her voice biting and formidable. Hermione smiled to herself, proud of being able to stand strong against him.
"No, no," Lucius said, turning back to her, looking at her sitting on the bed appraisingly. "There is quite a bit more to it than that. But while I have you all locked up like this, I don't see why I shouldn't have a little fun." He observed contentedly as her eyes flickered with anger. "I'm sure you'd agree that one shouldn't waste time or energy."
"Sod off," She said, the words flying from her mouth before she'd had a stronger grasp on her tongue.
"Are you sure you don't want to take that back mudblood?" He stood; his feet equally shoulder width apart, his right hand holding his wand steadily, his left holding his robes out of the way. "I can give you another repeat of last night if you'd like." She eyed his wand threatened before she gathered the courage to speak.
"Which part, Malfoy? Would you do over the torture or the kiss?"
"Crucio!" His yell echoed off the empty walls as he watched, pleased to see her body shudder in tremors of pain. When he finally lifted his wand she used the brief break to catch her breath her forehead already slick with sweat.
"Keeping your distance I see this time. No more moans?" Her voice was shaky but able to get her point across. She glared at him, her brown eyes taunting him from her crooked position in the bed.
"Crucio!" He screamed once more, his wand hand shaking as he pointed it directly at her heart. Get control of yourself, he thought, struck by how unlike himself he appeared. Again, more painfully she was able to suck in a deep breath when he finally released her. "No more witty comments?" She shook her head regretfully, her mind working feverishly to think of something more to set him off.
It's working, she thought. This was the way to make him loose control and drop the cold, manipulative exterior.
"Then mudblood, I'd like you to apologize."
She pulled herself up on the bed, kneeling before him her hands on her knees as she shook her hair around her. She laughed maniacally at him. "Apologize for what?" She gasped, smiling up at him with a knowing look in her eye.
"I said apologize." His wand was no longer pointing at her but poking her straight in the belly as he grunted the words in anger.
Hermione's mind worked quickly. She couldn't be weak, she lectured herself, stay strong and make him back down. She formed her mouth into a perfect grimace, looked fiercely at him, her cheeks pink with her own anguish and fury. "Make. Me." She said, making each word its own sentence. She watched as his left hand clenched into a fist.
"Imperio," he stated calmly as he watched her eyes go blank of expression.
Apologize, Hermione heard in the back of her mind. She wanted to fight it, her own mental voice was yelling at her to stop him from using her this way, but she couldn't fight it for long.
"I'm sorry."
Her eyes went back to normal, her anger flowing in again hard and concentrated. She blinked her eyes once, twice, watching as his face being pleased with her giving in.
"You know, Lucius," His name alone tasted filthy on her tongue. "Using the unforgivable curses will never make me do what you want me to do of my own free will. I still have that and you can't take it away." His face went a shade paler than before. "You know, I don't think you want me do what you want. You enjoy it too much, torturing me this way. You're sick," she said her tongue wrapping around each word carefully, making sure he didn't lose the strength of them. "Besides, then you couldn't take advantage of me the way you seem to enjoy and then wipe my memory. You can't wipe your own memory, Lucius. You'll still be the sick fuck who is taking advantage of a woman you think is below you. You can't protect you from yourself."
"Stupefy!" Hermione flew flat on the bed, unmoving. Lucius walked from the room after straightening his robes, closing the door in a slam behind him.
IIII
Awakening, her body ached but she didn't care. She felt wetness across her forehead. She shot up in bed straight, her eyes scrambling to focus.
"It is just Plunket, miss. Do not be afraid." Hermione looked to her right. Beside the bed stood the tiny house elf with a wadded up wet cloth in her hand. "I is just wetting your face with a warm cloth. It is supposed to help with an ache in the head." Hermione nodded absentmindedly. She did have an awful headache. Lying back down, she took the cloth from the elf's outstretched hand, folding it neatly and placed it on her forehead.
"Not to be imposing miss, but I told you not to make my master angry. He isn't kind when he is angry." Hermione let out a gurgling laugh as she watched the elf shuffle around the room straightening this and that. "If you are hungry, there is toast for you to eat." Plunket reached down from beside the bed and produced a plate of fresh buttered toast with a glass of water.
Sitting up, Hermione reached for the water thirstily, gulping it down until it was empty. "Thank you."
"Yes, miss. I also have this for you. It is from my master." Plunket handed over a package wrapped in brown paper bag and tied with white string. Death Eater or not, he seemed well prepared to provide for her as a hostage, she thought.
Hermione, frustrated with the situation, unsure of why she was here other than as a game to Malfoy. She opened the brown paper parcel and was quite relieved to see what actually fell out was only a pair of jeans (the right size which Hermione found disturbing on many levels) and a small black cotton sweater. All in all, she was pleased to realize that these were ordinary clothes and nothing special like the dress and jewels had been. To her there was nothing more disturbing than finding that he had provided her with silk and priceless jewels.
"Umm, Plunket, do you know… is it possible to go to the bathroom?" Hermione asked, looking at the tiny house elf, now peering up at her with a look of confusion, her eyes as round as Frisbees.
"Oh no miss, Plunket is so sorry, but miss cannot leave the room." The house elf began a slow back up towards the door to leave when the door itself slammed open against the wall. Plunket fell to her knees in fear. "Master!" She cried, pressing her large, button shaped nose to the floor in front of her, her back still turned from the door.
Hermione looked at the door expecting to see Lucius standing, furious in front of her. Surprise glazed over her face as she recognized who it was.
"My my… what have we here?" Bellatrix Lestrange walked into the bedroom, her dark purple robes dragging across the floor. The door closed instantly behind her. "Get up," she said, gesturing to the house elf. Her wand was waving haphazardly in the air, red sparks flying from the wand. Hermione bounced off the bed, squaring herself evenly against Bellatrix, eyeing her wand warily. "A mudblood in Malfoy Manor?" Bella laughed crazily, her curly dark hair bouncing around. "Well this is just deliciously juicy! My sister, poor dear, dead in the grave, would set the house on fire if she only knew!" She squealed, her wand now pointing at Hermione, her own hands held at her sides as she found herself wandless.
"What do you want, Bellatrix?"
"It appears that since I am the one with the wand, I am the one that can ask the questions!" Plunket now whimpered on the floor as Hermione stumbled a step backwards, her mind working furiously to think of a way out of the situation. "Why are you here, mudblood? Answer wisely if you don't want to die."
"Murder me and you'll be only that much closer to Azkaban again. You and I both know the Death Eaters are watched like rats."
"Answer me!" Bellatrix screamed, her facing growing splotchy with rage. Hermione's strength faltered. She knew Bellatrix to be quite unhinged and rather vengeful.
"I don't know why I'm here! I was brought here… I'm being kept here!" Hermione said, holding her hands out in front of her as if to hold Bellatrix at bay with her own two hands.
"Against your will?"
Hermione nodded, eying the wand again. She figured if she made a large enough distraction to break Bella's eyes off of herself she might be able to wrestle the wand away from her. Hermione edged herself around the bed toward the night table where the bowl of water that Plunket had been wiping her forehead with rested. Bella's back was turned to her, looking into the fireplace almost dreamy-like her wand hand held tight as she thought over this news.
With out a second thought, knowing this would be her only chance she grasped the bowl of water and threw it at Bellatrix, hitting her square in the back of the head.
"Argh!!!!" She screamed, her hands flying wildly as she made to turn and strike back at Hermione. Already too quick for her, her plan progressing in front of her, Hermione had lunged on top of the bed, and jumped from the springy mattress for Bellatrix, tackling her as she turned. They both fell to the ground, wild curly masses of hair swinging as they both struggled one against the other. Hermione rolled on top of Bellatrix using her right hand to grope around for Bellatrix's wand which had flown out of her hand as she had tumbled to the ground. Hermione's left hand had punched Bellatrix square in the jaw and now held her throat as she finally grasped the wand in her right, bringing it straight to her neck.
"Stupefy!" Hermione screamed before she could think, her mind rushing step by step, wanting endlessly to think of a way out of her prison. Bellatrix' body went slack, her head slumping to the side where she lay. Hermione not wasting a moment to praise herself for overtaking the Death Eater, jumped quickly to her feet. She rushed for the door, her hand grasping the knob only to find it locked. "Alohomora!" The lock clicked out of place.
Sparing one more backward glance at the room, Bellatrix lying knocked out on the floor and Plunket still whimpering and crying in the back corner, and then she was gone. Hermione raced down the hallway her right hand, sweaty, wrapped around the wand.