A/n: Well normally, I don't like putting this up till the last chapt, but I'll make an exception for this one. Thank you guys sooo much! It is my first Harry Potter fic. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!
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Draco stepped into his house. A cold dread washed over him. He had never really felt comfortable in it. Sighing, he walked up the grand stairs, heading for his room. Only to be stopped by Pansy. Pansy batted her eyelashes ridiculously. Using her cutesy tone, which made Draco sick to his stomach, she told him of the valuable information that made her day, and possibly his too.
"Drakie-kins! Guess what? Crabbe got another prisoner. And it's the mudblood who follows famous Potter and his sidekick Weasley! Isn't it great?!" Pansy exclaimed. Draco held back his retort about her nickname for him, did he just hear right? "Hold on. Repeat what you just said."
Pansy gave a small pout, thinking it was cute. She started. "I said, Crabbe caught that mudblood, who is now in the dungeons and being tortured for information." Adding extra information. Draco looked at her stupidly. "Granger?" He stammered. "Yes Granger! What's wrong with you? You are not as happy as I thought you would be!" Pansy huffed. Ignoring her, he asked again. "She's in the dungeons? When did they bring her in? Who's torturing her?"
Pansy smiled knowingly. "I know, you want to have a go with that mudblood too right? Don't worry, I'm sure you will. She's in the deserted part of the dungeons. Crabbe brought her in about..an hour ago. And if I'm not wrong, she's being tortured by your father himself." Pansy said, recalling whatever she could. "My father?! But he doesn't do any torturing unless he wants to kill them..." Draco said, expecting a response from Pansy.
"Yeah well, this time it's different. He personally requested from the Lord for permission in getting information out of her. Not sure why he went through all that trouble though. And I don't think they will kill her so fast. They want information first. Knowing her, that will probably take a few weeks, since our Veritaserum potion has been used up, and the next batch will take another month." Draco realizing that he was acting weird, changed back to his smirking and smug self. "Well, I'm going off to see how well she's been taken off by father!" Draco said, walking off into the dungeons, leaving Pansy behind.
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Harry, Ron, Arelle and Padma trudged slowly to Dumbledore's office. All were not willing to go in, repeat the entire problem/loss, and remember the distraught feeling all over again. However, they needed help. And who else, but Dumbledore, could help? "Sugar Quills" Harry muttered when they reached the gargoyle. The gargoyle sprang to life and the staircase appeared. Climbing up the steps, and into the office, they were surprised to see that Hagrid, Professor McGonagall and Professor Snape were also there. Dumbledore looked up, his expression grim, but eyes still twinkling a bit.
He nodded his head, as in acknowledging them to come in. four chairs magically appeared for them. Once seated and comfortable, Dumbledore cleared his throat. The four students shuffled uncomfortably. Arelle finally took the liberty of starting. "Well Professor, we lost Hermione in battle." Dumbledore nodded his head, asking her to continue. "And we need a plan to get her back." Ron took over for her. "So we wanted you to help us."
Dumbledore smiled a little at their request. "Actually my dear children, the Professors and I have come up with a plan. To safe not only Hermione, but the other prisoners too. We will send two students to go for the mission. We've devised a plan such that, the two can sneak into Malfoy Manor, where the prisoners are kept. There will be a diversion, and you can immediately use the portkey to get everyone out of there."
Harry interrupted him. "But Professor Dumbledore sir, how do you know that Malfoy Manor is the correct place? And who and how are we going to create the diversion and place the portkey?" He was honestly confused, like the rest. Snape spoke up. "Ah, you see Mr. Potter, we have an inside spy, who helps us a lot, by providing us important information." Snape looked very proud.
"Yes, yes Severus. Now, we need two volunteers." Dumbledore continued. He looked at the four seventh-years in front of him. "An' Harry, you're not allowed to go." Hagrid said sternly, before Harry could volunteer himself. "Yes, you cannot go, due to your injury Mr. Potter. It has still not healed completely." McGonagall explained. Harry, disappointed, looked at his comrades, to see who would volunteer. Immediately Ron's, Arelle's and Padma's hands shot up.
The professors were pleased to see this. "Miss Patil, we need you to take over as Captain and a head planner, and still teach the sixth-years. Therefore I'm afraid you can't go." Dumbledore said. "So that leaves you two, Mr. Weasley, Miss Dythe. Before you leave for your task, you have to go to the muggle world. I've got a little job for you two." Ron and Arelle nodded their heads, accepting their task.
"There was once a very smart and powerful witch. She met an extremely intelligent and good-looking wizard. Both were fine examples of witches and wizards from Gryffindor. However, after a dangerous experience that nearly killed their child, they moved to the muggle world under the pretense of being muggle. The two of you will have to convince them to join the fight. And under the current conditions, I'm sure it will not be so hard." Dumbledore stopped. He looked seriously into the eyes of Ron and Arelle. "Mr. Weasley, Miss Dythe, I need you to find Lisabeth and Thomas Granger."
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Hermione had only rested for a few seconds before the second round of beatings started. Her back stung badly, she could feel her blood running down her body, and she knew it was serious. Her whipping had gotten harsher as Lucius got angrier. He was angered by the fact that she gave him no joy by screaming out in pain or crying. Instead, she remained the same smug self.
He had stopped, to change whips. Obviously, this whip didn't give her that much pain. He took out a longer whip. It looked like leather, but it wasn't. Inside, there was a core made out of pure, hard metal. Glass shards made out the cover. Covered by tiny, sharp, and poisoned spikes, it was one of the most lethal weapons ever made. Maybe the worst. He only used it for special purposes. And she would be the first to be used on in a long, long time.
Testing the whip, he hit it against a nearby bench. The impact nearly broke the piece of wood. Satisfied, he turned towards Hermione. Grinning madly, he raised it to her back.
Hermione gave out a pained gasp as it hit her skin. She felt like her heart was jammed in her throat. She could feel the tears gathering at her eyes. She blinked them away. It had hurt very much, like thousands of swords being pricked onto you. And this whip wasn't normal. She could tell. The second hit came, and she gave out a small yelp. She waited for the third whip to come. But it was broken off by a very familiar drawl. "Already using that, Father?
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Draco could hear the sounds of torture when he had walked into the dungeon. No cries of pain came after. As he walked pass a cell, a hand shot out and grabbed his leg. He jumped away in shock. He saw the sunken face of Lavender Brown gazing at him. "Save her. Save her Malfoy." she had mumbled.
Draco walked quickly towards the torture room. He came in, just in time to see his father using the worst whip on her. He saw her back, covered with scars that were sure going to be hard to take away. She was losing quite a lot of blood. But of course, his murderous father didn't care. He turned away as the whip collided with her back. Before they collided again, he opened his mouth to interrupt.
"Already using that Father?"
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Lucius turned around to see his snobby son sneering at him. He smirked back. "Yes. Much more effective. Apparently, an hour of normal beatings isn't good enough. Do you want a go, Draco?" he asked, prepared to give his son the whip. "No, no thanks. I came here to inform you that the Dark Lord would like to see you." Draco informed. Actually, it was only half-truth. He had heard that Voldemort had wanted to see Malfoy. He knew very well that it was for him, but you couldn't really blame for his mistake, could you?
Lucius immediately kept the whip. He took out his wand and aimed it at Hermione. Muttering the counter-curse for the binding spell. The moment she was released Hermione sank down to the floor. Finally, she could rest. But her peace didn't last long. "Crucio" and before she knew it she was lying on the floor. Pain was inflicting her. Every part of her body felt like it splitting. It lasted for a few seconds, and then the pain was gone. She was pleased that she had not screamed out. She would not give the Malfoys any pleasure of seeing her in pain.
"Always fun in torturing a mudblood." Lucius said to his son, before walking out of the room. Draco looked at the bleeding girl on the floor. More than an hour of pounding and she still hadn't much screamed in pain. He was impressed. He walked towards her, intending to help her, but she backed away from him. He realized that she was afraid of him. He pointed his wand at her, and the ropes around her hands came off. She eagerly rubbed her wrists, which had marks around them. The colour coming back. She walked towards the bench, to where her robes were, but with each step she felt dizzier.
A step away from her robes, she collapsed onto the floor. Draco watched her. He quickly ran to her side to find that she was unconscious. He lifted her up, covered her with her robes and carried her out. He wanted to bring her to his room to help her heal the pain. But he knew he couldn't. His father would find out, and he'll certainly be punished. Reaching her cell, he lied her down on her robes gently, and did a simple healing spell to get rid of some of the wounds. He locked the bars and left after that.