Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter. Don't bother suing since the law is
on my site.
Uni: Do not flame unless you have something to say that is worth my time. Otherwise leave an e-mail address!!! Anyway this is a re-post, since Xing ate my account. -.-
And the Rest is Silence.
"Draco Malfoy" Lord Voldemort's cold voice boomed out in the otherwise empty cellar.
"You have been charged with treason, for the worst crime possible to commit by Death Eater " Voldemort Continued "you have allowed yourself to fall in love with a mudblood! How do you plea? Not that it really matters." He drawled, his cold red eyes resting on Malfoy.
"Guilty as charged" Malfoy said ever so cocky, looking up at 'He-who-must- not-be-named' from his position standing on the dungeons stone floor a few feet away from Voldemort. The dark lord was sitting in a throne-like chair placed on a platform about two feet above the ground, looking like he was enjoying himself immensely.
Looking amused Voldemort leaned forward in his chair resting his elbows on his knees "The penalty for this crime is of course death. I hope you are aware of that." he drawled, never taking his eyes of Malfoy.
"I am!" Draco answered quietly but defiance, still evident in his voice.
Voldemort smiled at Malfoy's reply. Folding his hands, he leaned back in his seat smirking "Good" he said. Finally taking his penetrating eyes off of Draco, he turned his attention towards the large wooden door, which was the entrance to the cellar they were currently in. The door was positioned behind Malfoy, so he would not be able to see if anybody who came in.
"Bring her in." Voldemort ordered, watching Malfoy's face go slightly paler than usual.
"What are you doing?" a woman's voice said from behind the door, getting more clear as the door was opened.
Malfoy, who had become white as a sheet, now for the first time looked away from Voldemort, instead placing his gaze on the hard floor. He didn't need to look to know who Voldemort had ordered in to join them.
Three large Death Eaters entered the cellar dragging a, compared to them, small looking young woman with bushy brown hair and fiery brown eyes.
"Malfoy?" the woman whispered when her eyes had adjusted themselves to the darkness, and her gaze had fallen on him. She sounded worried and tired, and also a bit frightened. Draco however didn't even look up; his eyes still firmly fixed on the floor.
"What's going on?" she asked him even though she already knew the answer.
Malfoy seemed to think that she knew too, because he didn't answer her this time either. Instead he turned his gaze back to Voldemort, the cocky look from before, now gone from his face, as if it had never been there in the first place. "Please don't make her watch." He said. All thoughts of maintaining what little pride he had left, forgotten.
The tall man in the chair narrowed his snake like eyes at Draco "Have I ever led an opportunity to torture a mudblood pass me by?" He answered Malfoy's plea with a question, and despite his situation, Malfoy managed to look annoyed.
"I didn't think so." Voldemort continued when Malfoy didn't answer him. Instead Malfoy had returned his eyes to the floor, knowing that begging for a mudblood to be spared pain was useless, and that continuing to do so, would probably only achieve, that the last hours of her life would be anything, but painless.
"Well then." Shall we get on with it," Voldemort asked, though it was not a question, and the next word coming from Voldemort was "crucio."
In the background Hermione was beginning to panic, struggled to get free from the iron grip that the three Death Eaters held her in. By some miracle though she succeeded in getting an arm free, which she immediately stuck inside her robes to pull out her wand.
"Expellarmus!" She yelled pointing at the Death Eater to her left's wand. Awe-struck the last two hooded figures loosened their grip on her slightly, but enough for Hermione to rid herself entirely from their grasps and the Death Eaters wand immediately flew into Hermione's other hand.
"Expellarmus" she yelled again, spinning around and pointing her wand, and the next Death Eater flew backwards slamming into one of the dungeon walls, where he unconsciously slid to the floor. Hermione turned her attention towards the last Death Eater, and raised her wand ready to attack: "Avada Kedavra", a streak of green light flew past Hermione's right ear and hit the last Death Eater square in the chest.
Hermione spun back around on her heal to see Malfoy no longer twitching in pain on the floor, but it wasn't him who had uttered the death curse. Voldemort had risen from his chair, now standing arms crossed, in front of it, looking displeased.
"Expellarmus" he yelled at Hermione who was still in shock and therefore didn't even try to dodge the attack. She flew backwards, slammed into the wooden door, and got the air knocked out of her lounges in the process. She slit down to the floor, holding her chest fighting catch her breath.
"You idiots" Voldemort raged "you didn't take her wand away from her!?!" Moron's, she may be a mudblood, but I can assure you, that she is quite capable of defending herself in battle, and clearly more capable than you! Now restrain her!" He yelled out the last part, annoyed at having been interrupted in his personal fun.
The two remaining death-eaters, scrambled over to the still wheezing Hermione, and picked her up off the floor. They took her wand from her and threw it into a nearby corner. Then they placed her on her hands and knees a few feet away from Malfoy. Who had now got himself into a sitting- position, and was fiercely glaring at the two death-eaters, as they pulled Hermione's hair, forcing her to look at him.
"Well then, shall we try again?" Voldemort asked pointing his wand at Malfoy. "Crushio" he repeated, and the dungeon echoed with Malfoy's scream.
When the screams finally died down, Hermione's eyes were puffy and red. Fighting a lost battle against her tears, her sobs took over the silence.
Voldemort smiled at the two young people kneeling on the cold floor. He hadn't had this much fun since he killed Harry Potter's parents, and back then he hadn't been fully capable of enjoying it when it was over, for obvious reasons. He hadn't taken any killing assignments upon himself since his return, unless it was executions of special prisoners and traitors. But that was just not the same as seeing the faces of two people in love watching each other die. But here was his opportunity, and he was enjoying every minute off it.
"Crushio" he repeated, and Malfoy's screams yet again filled the cellar.
After a while he stopped again, his attention going towards Hermione "Enjoying the show?" he asked her, smiling disturbingly wide.
Hermione looked up at him, her face tear streaked and her eyes big. She just looked at him, an expression of awe visible on her face, at how cold the man could be. She didn't know what she had expected, and even though she knew of all the horrible things he had done, the question somehow still shocked her.
She finally looked down studying the floor in the same manor that Malfoy had done earlier. Not answering the question, but silently begging for the life of the person she had come to love to be spared.
Voldemort smiled thinly at her, before turning his gaze and attention back to Malfoy, who hadn't been able to sit up this time.
"Crucio".
When Voldemort stopped the Cruciatus curse again, Malfoy didn't even move. Hermione began to struggle against the Death Eaters again, in a vain attempt to get to the still-figure lying in front of her on the floor.
After a while of silence only interrupted by Hermione, when she, from time to time tried to get free, but this time the Death Eaters were prepared, and the fear of what would happen to her, if they let her get away from them again, gave them considerable more strength. Voldemort sighed. "Let her go." He said calmly. The two Death Eaters looked up at him questioningly, looking like they were going to protest, but a glare from Voldemort, and the memory of their fellow Death Eater still lying behind them, changed their minds, and they freed her.
As soon as the grip she was held in, loosened, Hermione ripped herself loose the rest of the way, not even looking back at the Death Eaters, or stopping to wonder about Voldemort's decision. She hurried to Malfoy's site, throwing herself down beside him, where she sat looking at him for a second, before she reached out towards him, carefully placing his head in her lab.
After a while, where Hermione had done nothing but sit and run her fingers through her loves hair, Malfoy opened his eyes, and Hermione gave a sigh of relief. "Malfoy.. D-Draco, please.. Can you hear me?" she asked carefully, as if she were afraid of the answer. Malfoy looked at her, and then slowly a smile graced his features nodding weakly.
"Oh god. I was so worried!" Hermione said, hugging him slightly and smiled back. But her smile vanished when she saw the expression on Draco's face. "What's wrong?" she asked, a frown upon her face when Malfoy's smile vanished completely. "I won't be able to hear you that much longer" He croaked, not meeting her eyes.
"What do you mean" she asked, dreading the answer to her question, but knowing that this was something she needed to know, asked it anyway. "I am going to die Hermione!" he whispered, still not willing to look her in the eyes. "But that is ridiculous!" Hermione almost yelled at him "The Cruciatus curse cannot kill!"
"Oh, but it can!" Voldemort cut in, again leaning forward in his chair, narrowing his eyes at the two, as if trying to see something clear. "Our young Malfoy here, was the one who found out about it, weren't you?" he asked Malfoy, a trace of triumph in his voice.
"But that can't be!" Hermione said stubbornly, tears now threatening to spill from her eyes.
"It can!" Voldemort drawled, clearly loving every minute if the conversation he was having with Hermione, and the despair that slowly began to creep in over her features.
"You see," Voldemort continued. "When used for a long enough period of time, the curse will ultimately cause internal bleedings, which will eventually kill the person exposed to it. Of cause it depends on how severe the bleedings are, but you can be certain, that Draco has been exposed long enough for him to die. And don't bother questioning it, I know this with absolute certainty." He smiled cruelly at Hermione.
While Voldemort had been explaining, Hermione had turned her attention to a spot on the stone floor, a blank expression on her face. Then suddenly she got up and started to walk around the cellar as if looking for something. The two Death Eaters made as though they were going to grab Hermione again, but Voldemort held a hand up to stop them and they stayed back.
Draco was still lying on the floor, not able to move, but his eyes followed Hermione, as she walked around the cellar, getting visible more and more frustrated.
"Are you looking for this, hmm?" Voldemort asked in a singsong voice holding Hermione's wand out towards her. Hermione's eyes got wide, "My wand," she whispered, before she all but threw herself at Voldemort, franticly trying to get her wand from him.
"Expellarmus" Voldemort yelled, and Hermione was for the second time that day, flung away slamming in to the opposite wall, the Death Eaters again made as to grab her, but this time Malfoy stopped them. "Hermione." He rasped, causing the Death Eaters to stop and turn their attention towards him "Please.." Malfoy continued "don't do this! I am not worth it!"
"WHAT?!?" Hermione sounded outraged, struggling to get to her feet, she looked at him disbelieving from her, still huddled position on the floor.
"You heard him, Hermione" Malfoy rasped on "I was the one who found out just how much damage the Cruciatus curse can do. Do you think I did that just by torturing beetles? I don't deserve to live in the first place, and I certainly don't deserve you, sacrificing yourself for me." Malfoy took a deep breath before continuing "Please Herm, just sit with me, there is nothing you can do. Even if you got your wand back, they would kill you, and he would win.. Please don't make him win."
Hermione who was now standing, made her way to Malfoy's site "of course you deserve it!" she said, her voice quivering with pent-up sobs. "You made amends for all of that, you are sorry for your actions. Even Ron and Harry forgave you!"
She closed her eyes and sighed to calm herself, before she continued "I lost Harry" she stated a fact that Draco was only too aware of. "Please, I don't want to loose you too."
Malfoy looked up at her finally meeting her eyes. "I am sorry Hermione," he sighed "I am sorry that I fell in love with you, and I am sorry that I couldn't do better to protect you, you deserve better. If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't be here."
Hermione's tears were now flowing freely down her face, dripping into Draco's silvery blond hair. "It isn't your fault!" she whispered, though with a firmness, so Draco would understand that there was no more to discuss. "I love you," he said instead, and Hermione smiled at him cradling him closer.
The minutes passed by at snail speed, when Malfoy's body suddenly went limp in Hermione's arms. Her eyes grew wider, as realisation slowly dawned on her "No.." She whispered, turning her head to look at Malfoy's face. His eyes were glazed and lifeless, and a trickle of blood ran from his mouth and into his hair, clashing badly.
Hermione began to shake her head "No," she repeated "No, no, nononono NOOO!" she screamed out, before she broke down, clutching at Draco's unresponsive body.
In his high chair, Voldemort were looking at the scene unfolding on the floor below him. Looking utterly bored now with the entire thing, he rose from his chair making his way towards the door. As he looked back over his shoulder, he nodded at the two Death Eaters still in the room, then he continued out the door.
Just before the door closed, he heard the words of "Avada Kedavra" uttered low and then the door closed entirely. He stood, his back facing the door for a little while longer, before he exhaled loudly.
"And the rest is silence," he whispered to himself, as he continued on his way out of the dungeons beneath, what had once been Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
The End
~ Uni
Hope you liked ^_^ I really think I should hurry up and send this to my beta though..-.-
Uni: Do not flame unless you have something to say that is worth my time. Otherwise leave an e-mail address!!! Anyway this is a re-post, since Xing ate my account. -.-
And the Rest is Silence.
"Draco Malfoy" Lord Voldemort's cold voice boomed out in the otherwise empty cellar.
"You have been charged with treason, for the worst crime possible to commit by Death Eater " Voldemort Continued "you have allowed yourself to fall in love with a mudblood! How do you plea? Not that it really matters." He drawled, his cold red eyes resting on Malfoy.
"Guilty as charged" Malfoy said ever so cocky, looking up at 'He-who-must- not-be-named' from his position standing on the dungeons stone floor a few feet away from Voldemort. The dark lord was sitting in a throne-like chair placed on a platform about two feet above the ground, looking like he was enjoying himself immensely.
Looking amused Voldemort leaned forward in his chair resting his elbows on his knees "The penalty for this crime is of course death. I hope you are aware of that." he drawled, never taking his eyes of Malfoy.
"I am!" Draco answered quietly but defiance, still evident in his voice.
Voldemort smiled at Malfoy's reply. Folding his hands, he leaned back in his seat smirking "Good" he said. Finally taking his penetrating eyes off of Draco, he turned his attention towards the large wooden door, which was the entrance to the cellar they were currently in. The door was positioned behind Malfoy, so he would not be able to see if anybody who came in.
"Bring her in." Voldemort ordered, watching Malfoy's face go slightly paler than usual.
"What are you doing?" a woman's voice said from behind the door, getting more clear as the door was opened.
Malfoy, who had become white as a sheet, now for the first time looked away from Voldemort, instead placing his gaze on the hard floor. He didn't need to look to know who Voldemort had ordered in to join them.
Three large Death Eaters entered the cellar dragging a, compared to them, small looking young woman with bushy brown hair and fiery brown eyes.
"Malfoy?" the woman whispered when her eyes had adjusted themselves to the darkness, and her gaze had fallen on him. She sounded worried and tired, and also a bit frightened. Draco however didn't even look up; his eyes still firmly fixed on the floor.
"What's going on?" she asked him even though she already knew the answer.
Malfoy seemed to think that she knew too, because he didn't answer her this time either. Instead he turned his gaze back to Voldemort, the cocky look from before, now gone from his face, as if it had never been there in the first place. "Please don't make her watch." He said. All thoughts of maintaining what little pride he had left, forgotten.
The tall man in the chair narrowed his snake like eyes at Draco "Have I ever led an opportunity to torture a mudblood pass me by?" He answered Malfoy's plea with a question, and despite his situation, Malfoy managed to look annoyed.
"I didn't think so." Voldemort continued when Malfoy didn't answer him. Instead Malfoy had returned his eyes to the floor, knowing that begging for a mudblood to be spared pain was useless, and that continuing to do so, would probably only achieve, that the last hours of her life would be anything, but painless.
"Well then." Shall we get on with it," Voldemort asked, though it was not a question, and the next word coming from Voldemort was "crucio."
In the background Hermione was beginning to panic, struggled to get free from the iron grip that the three Death Eaters held her in. By some miracle though she succeeded in getting an arm free, which she immediately stuck inside her robes to pull out her wand.
"Expellarmus!" She yelled pointing at the Death Eater to her left's wand. Awe-struck the last two hooded figures loosened their grip on her slightly, but enough for Hermione to rid herself entirely from their grasps and the Death Eaters wand immediately flew into Hermione's other hand.
"Expellarmus" she yelled again, spinning around and pointing her wand, and the next Death Eater flew backwards slamming into one of the dungeon walls, where he unconsciously slid to the floor. Hermione turned her attention towards the last Death Eater, and raised her wand ready to attack: "Avada Kedavra", a streak of green light flew past Hermione's right ear and hit the last Death Eater square in the chest.
Hermione spun back around on her heal to see Malfoy no longer twitching in pain on the floor, but it wasn't him who had uttered the death curse. Voldemort had risen from his chair, now standing arms crossed, in front of it, looking displeased.
"Expellarmus" he yelled at Hermione who was still in shock and therefore didn't even try to dodge the attack. She flew backwards, slammed into the wooden door, and got the air knocked out of her lounges in the process. She slit down to the floor, holding her chest fighting catch her breath.
"You idiots" Voldemort raged "you didn't take her wand away from her!?!" Moron's, she may be a mudblood, but I can assure you, that she is quite capable of defending herself in battle, and clearly more capable than you! Now restrain her!" He yelled out the last part, annoyed at having been interrupted in his personal fun.
The two remaining death-eaters, scrambled over to the still wheezing Hermione, and picked her up off the floor. They took her wand from her and threw it into a nearby corner. Then they placed her on her hands and knees a few feet away from Malfoy. Who had now got himself into a sitting- position, and was fiercely glaring at the two death-eaters, as they pulled Hermione's hair, forcing her to look at him.
"Well then, shall we try again?" Voldemort asked pointing his wand at Malfoy. "Crushio" he repeated, and the dungeon echoed with Malfoy's scream.
When the screams finally died down, Hermione's eyes were puffy and red. Fighting a lost battle against her tears, her sobs took over the silence.
Voldemort smiled at the two young people kneeling on the cold floor. He hadn't had this much fun since he killed Harry Potter's parents, and back then he hadn't been fully capable of enjoying it when it was over, for obvious reasons. He hadn't taken any killing assignments upon himself since his return, unless it was executions of special prisoners and traitors. But that was just not the same as seeing the faces of two people in love watching each other die. But here was his opportunity, and he was enjoying every minute off it.
"Crushio" he repeated, and Malfoy's screams yet again filled the cellar.
After a while he stopped again, his attention going towards Hermione "Enjoying the show?" he asked her, smiling disturbingly wide.
Hermione looked up at him, her face tear streaked and her eyes big. She just looked at him, an expression of awe visible on her face, at how cold the man could be. She didn't know what she had expected, and even though she knew of all the horrible things he had done, the question somehow still shocked her.
She finally looked down studying the floor in the same manor that Malfoy had done earlier. Not answering the question, but silently begging for the life of the person she had come to love to be spared.
Voldemort smiled thinly at her, before turning his gaze and attention back to Malfoy, who hadn't been able to sit up this time.
"Crucio".
When Voldemort stopped the Cruciatus curse again, Malfoy didn't even move. Hermione began to struggle against the Death Eaters again, in a vain attempt to get to the still-figure lying in front of her on the floor.
After a while of silence only interrupted by Hermione, when she, from time to time tried to get free, but this time the Death Eaters were prepared, and the fear of what would happen to her, if they let her get away from them again, gave them considerable more strength. Voldemort sighed. "Let her go." He said calmly. The two Death Eaters looked up at him questioningly, looking like they were going to protest, but a glare from Voldemort, and the memory of their fellow Death Eater still lying behind them, changed their minds, and they freed her.
As soon as the grip she was held in, loosened, Hermione ripped herself loose the rest of the way, not even looking back at the Death Eaters, or stopping to wonder about Voldemort's decision. She hurried to Malfoy's site, throwing herself down beside him, where she sat looking at him for a second, before she reached out towards him, carefully placing his head in her lab.
After a while, where Hermione had done nothing but sit and run her fingers through her loves hair, Malfoy opened his eyes, and Hermione gave a sigh of relief. "Malfoy.. D-Draco, please.. Can you hear me?" she asked carefully, as if she were afraid of the answer. Malfoy looked at her, and then slowly a smile graced his features nodding weakly.
"Oh god. I was so worried!" Hermione said, hugging him slightly and smiled back. But her smile vanished when she saw the expression on Draco's face. "What's wrong?" she asked, a frown upon her face when Malfoy's smile vanished completely. "I won't be able to hear you that much longer" He croaked, not meeting her eyes.
"What do you mean" she asked, dreading the answer to her question, but knowing that this was something she needed to know, asked it anyway. "I am going to die Hermione!" he whispered, still not willing to look her in the eyes. "But that is ridiculous!" Hermione almost yelled at him "The Cruciatus curse cannot kill!"
"Oh, but it can!" Voldemort cut in, again leaning forward in his chair, narrowing his eyes at the two, as if trying to see something clear. "Our young Malfoy here, was the one who found out about it, weren't you?" he asked Malfoy, a trace of triumph in his voice.
"But that can't be!" Hermione said stubbornly, tears now threatening to spill from her eyes.
"It can!" Voldemort drawled, clearly loving every minute if the conversation he was having with Hermione, and the despair that slowly began to creep in over her features.
"You see," Voldemort continued. "When used for a long enough period of time, the curse will ultimately cause internal bleedings, which will eventually kill the person exposed to it. Of cause it depends on how severe the bleedings are, but you can be certain, that Draco has been exposed long enough for him to die. And don't bother questioning it, I know this with absolute certainty." He smiled cruelly at Hermione.
While Voldemort had been explaining, Hermione had turned her attention to a spot on the stone floor, a blank expression on her face. Then suddenly she got up and started to walk around the cellar as if looking for something. The two Death Eaters made as though they were going to grab Hermione again, but Voldemort held a hand up to stop them and they stayed back.
Draco was still lying on the floor, not able to move, but his eyes followed Hermione, as she walked around the cellar, getting visible more and more frustrated.
"Are you looking for this, hmm?" Voldemort asked in a singsong voice holding Hermione's wand out towards her. Hermione's eyes got wide, "My wand," she whispered, before she all but threw herself at Voldemort, franticly trying to get her wand from him.
"Expellarmus" Voldemort yelled, and Hermione was for the second time that day, flung away slamming in to the opposite wall, the Death Eaters again made as to grab her, but this time Malfoy stopped them. "Hermione." He rasped, causing the Death Eaters to stop and turn their attention towards him "Please.." Malfoy continued "don't do this! I am not worth it!"
"WHAT?!?" Hermione sounded outraged, struggling to get to her feet, she looked at him disbelieving from her, still huddled position on the floor.
"You heard him, Hermione" Malfoy rasped on "I was the one who found out just how much damage the Cruciatus curse can do. Do you think I did that just by torturing beetles? I don't deserve to live in the first place, and I certainly don't deserve you, sacrificing yourself for me." Malfoy took a deep breath before continuing "Please Herm, just sit with me, there is nothing you can do. Even if you got your wand back, they would kill you, and he would win.. Please don't make him win."
Hermione who was now standing, made her way to Malfoy's site "of course you deserve it!" she said, her voice quivering with pent-up sobs. "You made amends for all of that, you are sorry for your actions. Even Ron and Harry forgave you!"
She closed her eyes and sighed to calm herself, before she continued "I lost Harry" she stated a fact that Draco was only too aware of. "Please, I don't want to loose you too."
Malfoy looked up at her finally meeting her eyes. "I am sorry Hermione," he sighed "I am sorry that I fell in love with you, and I am sorry that I couldn't do better to protect you, you deserve better. If it wasn't for me, you wouldn't be here."
Hermione's tears were now flowing freely down her face, dripping into Draco's silvery blond hair. "It isn't your fault!" she whispered, though with a firmness, so Draco would understand that there was no more to discuss. "I love you," he said instead, and Hermione smiled at him cradling him closer.
The minutes passed by at snail speed, when Malfoy's body suddenly went limp in Hermione's arms. Her eyes grew wider, as realisation slowly dawned on her "No.." She whispered, turning her head to look at Malfoy's face. His eyes were glazed and lifeless, and a trickle of blood ran from his mouth and into his hair, clashing badly.
Hermione began to shake her head "No," she repeated "No, no, nononono NOOO!" she screamed out, before she broke down, clutching at Draco's unresponsive body.
In his high chair, Voldemort were looking at the scene unfolding on the floor below him. Looking utterly bored now with the entire thing, he rose from his chair making his way towards the door. As he looked back over his shoulder, he nodded at the two Death Eaters still in the room, then he continued out the door.
Just before the door closed, he heard the words of "Avada Kedavra" uttered low and then the door closed entirely. He stood, his back facing the door for a little while longer, before he exhaled loudly.
"And the rest is silence," he whispered to himself, as he continued on his way out of the dungeons beneath, what had once been Hogwarts school of Witchcraft and Wizardry.
The End
~ Uni
Hope you liked ^_^ I really think I should hurry up and send this to my beta though..-.-