Prompt: Barty Crouch Jr and Hermione Granger

Quotes: "I dreamt about you last night."

Barty carefully treaded through the dark, dank hallways beneath Malfoy Manor, being quiet as the mice that accompanied him. It was a habit of late, going down to the cellar. But Barty didn't mind. Nor did he mind being quiet. There was a prize at the end and he would pay whatever it took to get to it.

The other prisoners were long since gone, having been transferred into the ownership of other Death Eaters or killed for disobedience. It had been very fast, the destruction of the Order. Resistance had always been futile of course, but nevertheless, Barty had expected more out of them. Foolish.

But not her. No, not her. She still resisted.

The Dark Lord had kept the Mudblood as a pet for himself. She amused him, he said. Made him remember that there was still work to be done, dirt to get rid of. But Barty knew better. He knew his Lord saw what he saw.

Fire.

She had so much of it. It had been clear to him ever since she'd bitten Dolohov's ear off. The blood had seeped down her mouth and she'd glared at them all with so much ferocity he was surprised they'd been left standing. Then, just as the others raised their wands and prepared to send her to her death, their Lord had laughed.

'Let her be,' he'd said, 'we'll crush her spirit instead. It'll be worse than killing her.'

But it had been a year now and her spirit was very much intact. No matter how many Crucios they threw her way.

Barty finally reached her cell and took out his wand.

"Lumos."

The girl immediately startled out of her sleep, her shackles rattling as she shied away from the light. She pressed up against the wall, tucking her body close.

"It's just me," Barty said, stepping inside. The closer he got, the more she backed away, even though there was no more room to escape to. She was cornered. Foolish girl.

Barty kneeled down, taking in as much of her as he could. He observed the marks on her arms and the bruises on her face, as well as the dirty hair he remembered used to be so curly and full of life. But it was none of that that he was here to see. Gently, he moved a few locks of hair and placed them behind her ear, before he steered her chin up to face him.

"Look at me," he said. Hermione Granger lifted her eyes and met his gaze, her brown eyes ablaze with hatred and disgust.

"I dreamt about you last night," Barty continued, his tongue flicking out to brush the corner of his mouth. "Again. You haunt me."

She said nothing.

He bared his teeth. "That it, is it? You still have nothing to say? After all I'm doing for you! No one else speaks with you, no one else dares defy our Lord's orders to see you . . ." He inched closer, so close that his breath intermingled with hers. If he wanted, he could take her for himself, right here, right now. He'd thought about it. Several times. But . . .

Barty swallowed. "Why won't you look at me the way you look at him?"

Hermione's hateful look subsided. She scoffed. "You're absolutely insane."

The slap echoed and Barty scolded himself when he came to again and saw her sprawled on the floor from the impact. He stood up and tugged at his hair.

'Don't break your toys if you want to keep playing with them,' his mother's voice said.

"Shut up!" he snarled.

Hermione rose into sitting position again. She spat out some blood and wiped the rest off with the back of her hand. "That was pathetic," she laughed. "You have nothing on him. Your Lord is far more imaginative with his punishments." She looked at him again, but this time her gaze was filled with that thing his inner demons had yearned and pleaded for him to get, no matter the cost. But it wasn't his. It still wasn't his. "He took everything away from me. He ruined my life. Trust me when I say that there's nothing you could do to make me feel that way about you too."

"Lies," Barty growled.

"Not lies," said Hermione, matter-of-factly. "Truth. And it will be true until the day one of you kills me."

"Then I won't let them kill you."

Hermione blinked and Barty could tell she was as surprised as he was by the declaration. "You don't have that power."

Barty recovered, pleased that something he said had got to her. "Then I'll get it." He left her staring at his back, thinking about the new plan forming in his head.

He'd give Hermione Granger the world again. And then . . .then he'd take it away.

And then—finally— she would look at him the way he wanted her to . . .