The characters and canon situations in the following story belong solely to JK Rowling, Scholastic and WB. We are not making any money from the publishing or writing of this story. We are merely twisting the characters to our own sadistic whims...
During Hermione's torture at Malfoy Manor, she is sent spiralling back in time by an unsuspecting force. She must find her way back, but it doesn't help that she's aroused the interest of the junior Dark Lord... Collaboration with Sophini
Chapter one - Of Torture and Escape
Bellatrix Lestrange cackled as she stood over Hermione's convulsing body.
"Filth!" she spat, "You WILL tell me what I want. CRUCIO!"
Hermione screamed, she had never felt such searing pain, her insides burned and her skin felt like it was being ripped off. She clawed at the cold, stone floor beneath her, at her arms, her face, but nothing worked. She screamed until she was sure she had mangled her throat, but it wouldn't stop. All she wanted was for it to stop. It wouldn't. Not as long as Bellatrix saw to it. Hermione wanted to...to...
"HOW did you break into My VAULT? Answer me mudblood!" Bellatrix's shriek echoed over Hermione's pleas.
Think of Harry...Harry...Don't give in Hermione
"It...it's a fake...pl..please..." Hermione's cries fell on empty ears.
"We'll see if that's your answer after we've had some fun!"
The gleeful tone to her torturer's voice scared Hermione more than her shrieks and cackles ever did. Hermione dared to peek up and saw Bellatrix stalking towards her, a glint of silver in her hand. She couldn't see through the tears that had gathered in her eyes, but she knew Bellatrix's smile was feral.
"Lets play, Mudblood..."
Bellatrix froze over Hermione's limp body, bloodied knife in hand and wand in the other. She had hoped that slashing the girls wrists would loosen her tongue but no such luck... Now the word Mudblood was carved up her arm in crudely written letters.
"Now, I will only ask one more time... That sword is supposed to be in my vault at Gringotts, how did you get it? WHAT DID YOU AND YOUR FRIENDS TAKE FROM MY VAULT?" Bellatrix shrieked, bringing her wand towards the girls throat.
Hermione sobbed again, biting her lip as she tried unsuccessfully to hold her crying in. She hated crying in front of Bellatrix, it showed weakness. She'd never felt this vulnerable... She had promised herself that she would never cry again after that horrible day with the troll in first year when she had let Ron's insults get to her... And then Ron and Harry had come running to her rescue...
No where to be seen now, are they? She thought bitterly to herself.
"WHAT DID YOU TAKE?" Bellatrix's screech brought her back to the present and she desperately tried to stop her sobbing.
"We... We didn't - We didn't take anything!" Hermione whimpered through her choking sobs.
"I don't believe you," Bellatrix hissed, "...Crucio!"
Hermione's screams grew louder, a scream that would pierce the very soul of anyone who heard it... Anyone apart from the evil Death Eaters around her that was.
Draco faintly heard Hermione's scream from his room at the top of the manor had a strange urge to go and rescue the girl... But then he remembered who it was his Aunt Bellatrix was torturing, Hermione Mudblood Granger. The girl who had punched him, a pureblood and Malfoy heir, in his third year. She deserved everything she bloody got.
"HERMIONE! HERMIONE!"
Bellatrix could faintly hear Weasley's screams from the dungeons. That bloody long-nosed red head was making so much of a racket it was spoiling her fun...
"WORMTAIL!" She snarled, "Keep our guests quite! What have you been told?"
"Yes, Bellatrix..." Wormtail stuttered, "Right away..."
With a sigh, Bellatrix rose from the limp figure that was Hermione and glared at Wormtail's retreating figure.
"That's Mistress Lestrange to you, rat," She growled, "Crucio!"
Her Unforgivable Curse missed him as he darted down the stairs to the cellar but it wasn't supposed to hit him anyway... The Dark Lord would punish her for that... Most severely.
With that thought swirling in her mind, she sank down again and gripped her carving knife with new eagerness, before plunging it into the girls shoulder.
Hermione's screams redoubled as Wormtail put the key in the dungeon lock. It rattled around for a moment before the door clicked and swung open.
"Stay back!" Wormtail hissed, closing and locking the door again, pointing his wand
at Harry, Ron and Luna the whole time, "What have I told you about staying quiet?"
"Well, nothing, sir," Luna put in, "You always just stood by the door when your Mistress screamed at you to do something..."
"SHE IS NOT MY MISTRESS!" Wormtail bellowed, "I answer only to the Dark Lord! A most merciful master -"
"So he only killed Harry's parents as an act of kindness then?" Ron snarled.
"YOU KNOW NOTHING! YOU ARE NOTHING BUT A BLOOD TRAITOR, YOU -" Wormtail started to scream. His words were cut off as his silver hand dropped his wand and slowly moved to his throat. The stubby metal fingers slowly rose to the tubby man's neck and closed around it, cutting off his air supply.
"No... The Dark Lord - " Wormtail whimpered with his last breaths.
Slowly, he started to turn slightly blue until with a final gasp, he fell to the floor, the hand still twitching at his throat, as though bent on crushing his wind pipe.
With a sigh, Harry crossed the dungeon to get away from the body and pulled the shard of his Two-Way mirror out of his sock
. It was a surviving part of the Two-Way mirror Sirius had given him during his fifth year. Well, a part that had almost survived his rage. He vaguely heard Luna questioning his decision to carry a sharp object in his sock. One thing he did hear, though, were Hermione's piercing screams. Harry stared intently at the mirror.
Please, someone, please...
Harry caught a flash of blue. He could swear it was Dumbledore's eye.
"Send help. Help us, please."
Harry's hope faded as soon as the eye disappeared. They were fucked. They were all going to die-probably slowly and painfully-and all because of his stupidity.
Suddenly a crack sounded out in the dungeons, causing Harry to swivel in the direction of the noise. His eyes met a familiar face. With big green eyes, long bat-like ears and wearing socks that didn't match Dobby stood among them.
"Dobby is happy to be seeing you Harry Potter. Dobby has come to save Harry Potter and his friends, Sir!"
Harry had never been so glad to see a house elf, but-
"How was it you managed to get through the wards? Can you get us out?"
Ron beat him to it. Dobby gave Ron a look that showed him what he thought of those questions.
"Sir, I'm an elf."
Harry took that as a yes. Suddenly, Hermione's screams raised in volume, though he could still hear her lying through her teeth.
Brave girl, brave but foolish…if she's caught….well they'd kill her anyway….
"Dobby we need to get Hermione, and get out of here, now!"
Ron cut in. "Apparate to Shell Cottage."
At Harry's look, he elaborated.
"Bill and Fleur's house."
Dobby grabbed Harry's hand and Luna's.
"Hold on Harry Potter's friends. Dobby is needing to have everyone together!"
"But Hermione!"
"Dobby will come back for Miss Hermione. Dobby will make sure she is safes!"
With that, Dobby Disapparated.
The Mudblood wasn't playing nicely, she had stopped screaming and instead opted for silently sobbing. This wouldn't do. Bellatrix pouted, before a wicked smirk spread across her lips.
"You've got your DIRTY blood on the floor of the Malfoy's ANCESTRAL HOME!" Bellatrix's mood suddenly changed. "No matter, but I wonder what Cissy or Lucius would have to say….what the Dark Lord would have to say..?"
If Hermione wasn't in agony, Bellatrix's mood swings would have given her whiplash…
"What, the famous Mudblood Granger have no reply?" Bellatrix grabbed a handful of Hermione's hair and jerked her violently upwards. She continued talking. "Your pretty, for Muggle scum…I can see why Dolohov is….interested. I wonder, if instead of killing you, the Dark Lord would be as merciful as to let one of his loyal followers have you…"
Hermione tried not to let her fear show, she was a bloody Gryffindor dammit! But she new she had failed, her eyes were wide and she was trembling. She didn't want to think of what any of the male Death Eaters would do to her if they got their hands on her. Another tear escaped her eyes and Bellatrix's head was thrown back in a fit of manic laughter.
"I think I've broken her!"
Hermione hadn't realised there was anyone else in the room, except for Wormtail, but he had been gone a long time…Were Harry and Ron ok? She couldn't hear them.
They've finally abandoned me…
"You requested my presence, Bellatrix?" Even while there was a bleeding, tortured young girl in his sister-in-law's grasp, Lucius remained the haughty Pureblood he had been raised as. Even if he had lost the Dark Lord's favour.
"I need you to call Him. I'm busy," Bellatrix dropped Hermione and give her a swift kick on the ribs. She landed awkwardly in a tangle of limbs.
Please…please let it stop…
"My…pleasure…" Lucius rolled up his sleeve. This was it, he would be back at the Dark Lord's right hand. He brought his finger down-
A loud crack sounded causing him to pause, and Bellatrix to whip her head around.
"You will not harm Miss Hermione!" Dobby's squeak sounded determined as he stood facing his previous Masters.
A giggle escaped Bellatrix's lips. "And I suppose you'll stop me?"
She raised her wand, a spell on her lips as Dobby advanced towards Hermione.
"Avada Kedavr-" Bellatrix started but with a click of Dobby's fingers, her wand flew out of her hand and into his.
"YOU DARE TO TAKE A WITCHES WAND? YOU DARE TO DEFY YOUR MASTERS?" Bellatrix screeched, almost wriggling with rage as the elf held her 12 and 3/4 of an inch walnut and dragon heartstring wand in his freakishly long fingers.
Dobby seemed to grow in size at this remark, his pride being too great to contain,
"Dobby has no masters! Dobby is a free elf!"
"Give me the wand, Dobby," Lucius hissed from behind, his hand outstretched.
"THE WAND!" Bellatrix roared, pulling Hermione up by the hair again and pointing the carving knife at her throat.
Bellatrix looked around wildly for the elf but he seemed to have vanished.
"Lucius!" Bellatrix snarled, "Mind the Mudblood! I'll be back soon with my wand..."
Hermione was shoved into Lucius' hesitant arms and Bellatrix strode out of the room, searching for that damned elf.
"Oh, Dobby! Come out, come out where ever you are!" She cackled, " I promise I won't hurt you...much…."
She climbed the stairs, still cackling softly but the elf refused to show himself. She paused in confusion.
Where could the idiotic elf be?
A creaking from above... Dobby sat on the chandelier, loosening the joints.
"...Dobby..?"
The chandelier fell. It fell onto Bellatrix, forcing her to the ground as gravity claimed it. The glass lights shattered and Bellatrix wriggled under it, trying to get free... Of course she couldn't. Not without her wand.
Dobby, who would have fallen to the floor and broken his neck with the chandelier had managed to save himself, and with a crack, Apparated down to the floor.
"You idiotic elf!" Bellatrix growled, "The Dark Lord has been summoned and will be on his way now... When he finds out what you have done, you will be cursed into oblivion, you -"
Dobby didn't hear the rest... He was already half way down the stairs, Bellatrix's wand in hand, having already thrown the carving knife away.
He burst back into the room that Lucius was holding Hermione in.
"You will let Miss Hermione go!" Dobby demanded.
"As if I would listen to an elf..." Lucius sneered, his silvery blue eyes flashing dangerously, "I am the wizard here, therefore I am your superior... I am your master."
"DOBBY HAS NO MASTER!" Dobby bellowed, "DOBBY IS A FREE ELF!
With another click of Dobby's fingers, Lucius went flying backwards as if he had been Stupefied.
"Come, Miss Hermione!" Dobby squeaked, running to Hermione and grabbing her cold hand, "You must get out of here! Dobby must make sure you are safe!"
"Dobby?" Hermione whimpered softly. She was feeling dazed and confused after what felt like hours of torture but Dobby seemed to know what he was doing.
"Dobby is sorry Miss Hermione, but this is supposed to happen."
Hermione put up no resistance. She was cold, so cold, but every part of her body felt like it was on fire. Dobby knew what he had to do. He focused and both were pulled downwards. The spiralling seemed as if it would never end but eventually the elf and the girl landed. Dobby looked down at Hermione's still body.
"You will be safe, Miss Hermione. Dobby must go."
Suddenly, despite Hermione's efforts, she sank into unconsciousness.
"You may not know what is happening, Miss Hermione, but you will find out soon," Dobby whispered, placing a wand and a few slips of parchment by her pale, bloodstained hand.
"...I must go, Miss Hermione..." Dobby whispered softly, "I must get back to my own time... Do not worry, you will be safe. Dobby knows so."
With a crack, Dobby disappeared, Apparating back to his own time using his elf magic like a wizard or witch would use a time turner.
And that, was how Hermione Granger was found in Malfoy Manor sitting room at 4am, 16th January ,1943 on Abraxas Malfoy's birthday.
