---Attention!--- Adult themes ahead, strong language, torture and rape! This chapter is not for little kids! Beware!

Chapter 16.

Hermione hurried down the back hallways of Hogwarts, furiously wiping at her eyes. I won't cry! She thought furiously to herself. I won't cry damnit!

Logically, she knew that what she had done was right. Without him, everything would be easier, her head would be cleared from endless thoughts of him, and everything would be easier for her. Times were changing now, with the impending downfall of Voldemort, her attention needed to be on that, not on Draco.

However, even though her brain was saying this, there was an uncomfortable strain in her chest every time she thought of his name. She could not get his face out of his mind, his look of utter betrayal, of loneliness and hatred because of that.

Hermione stopped in her tracks, sighing in disbelief. She was torn. She felt she was being ripped down the middle, half of her wanted to go back to Draco, comfort him, be with him, kiss him, but the other half wanted to go to James, to Sirius and to Remus and carry on with what they were doing. How could she question the fate of muggle-borns? How could she compare death for muggle borns and blood traitors, to a man that she loved? It was immoral, it was wrong…

She loved him.

She had just thought it, and it sounded so perfect, so right. She loved him. It had been different before, she had been scared, ashamed of what she felt, confused about her feelings, but now, everything was clear.

She loved him.

It was her mantra, the thing that saved her, the words that stopped her from falling down into a bottomless pit; it was to stop her from falling. He was there to stop her from falling.

She turned on her heel, her hair whipping the air around her, a bright smile on her face, shining behind her dampened skin.

And then her smile faded as another thought crossed her mind.

It too late.

It was too late. She had already cut him off, already said no, and already betrayed him. Would he ever take her back? Would he want to? She had left him alone in the world; he had no one else, not his alive mother, his dead father, his brainless friends. He had no one. Before, he had her and she him. They were a united front, a refuge for each other after a horrific day. They would comfort each other, make all the bad memories go away…and she had just ruined that.

What have I done?

You should have figured it out before, a snippy voice said at the back of her mind. You lose him, and then decide that you love him? You should have figured this out before.

And then another voice rang out in the corridor, one that did not belong to her.

"All alone, slave?"

The voice echoed in the dark walls, and Hermione squinted, trying to find the face of the speaker.

"Who's there?"

"You speak rather confidently for a slave, Granger."

And then he was in front of her, long floppy black hair in front of his cool blue grey eyes, leering at her. He took her arm roughly, and pulled her to him. She yelped in surprise.

"Where are your manners, Granger?" He said, with the knowing smirk on his face.

"Gone away for the weekend." She spat in return, and Flint backhanded her across the face.

Hermione whimpered, her cheek burning from the hit.

"I think we should teach you what it means to respect your superiors, Granger." Flint said coldly, his grey eyes burning maliciously. He pulled her up to him, his face inches from her, and Hermione could not help but tremble in fear. "I saw you." He whispered into her ear, his voice making her skin crawl.

"Saw me where?" Hermione asked quietly, with a sinking feeling in her stomach.

"With him."

Hermione felt cold, she felt like she was being plunged into a pool of ice cold water. She couldn't breathe; her body was trembling in fear. He couldn't have seen…Hermione thought desperately, pleading silently with whatever higher being there was up there that he wasn't talking about what she thought he was.

He smirked, sensing the anxiousness grow inside of her. He pushed her forward, and Hermione felt the tip of his wand prodding her in her back. "Move. You try something, and I'll kill you." He instructed, and Hermione nodded, walking down the corridor, Flint behind her, his wand still attached to her back.

He guided her through corridors, up stairs and down them, but Hermione knew where they were going. The lump of worry in her throat that had been growing inside of her since she first met Flint a few minutes ago was constricting her breathing, and Hermione felt herself taking short, sharp breaths.

Death Eaters walked past them, some in their standard black robes, some not, but no one paid attention to the twenty-something Death Eater and the teenage slave. No one cared. Things like that were normal to them, they did not care what Flint would do to Hermione. They would not spend one moment thinking about it.

It was pointless to cry out for help. It was pointless to try and escape what Hermione knew was coming, something bad and something hurtful. Something that would change everything.

They arrived at his door, and Flint rapped noisily on the hard frame, removing his wand and instead, gripping her shoulders and upper arms hurtfully. Hermione winced, but would not give Flint the satisfaction of crying out. She wouldn't.

The door opened, revealing Draco, his blond hair mussed on the top of his head. His already pale skin drained at the sight of the pair, and he stepped back from the door, offering them silently to come in. He knew that they couldn't escape this. He had to let them in.

Hermione was pushed forward into the room by Flint, and as she fell to the floor, Draco had to stop himself from catching her. Hermione was sprawled on the floor, her hair and clothes askew, her forehead dripping with anxious sweat.

The door slammed to a close, and Flint pointed his wand at Draco. Draco's hand immediately went to his own wand, but as soon as his fingers were clasped around it, Flint yelled 'Expelliarmus' and Draco were thrown backwards, his wand now in Flint's hand.

"I've been watching you for a long time, Granger." Flint said, twisting her name like it was something he had stepped on. "And you, mister Malfoy, although, you may not have known it."

Hermione twisted around on the floor, her hair covering her face, but she could make out Draco's expression, and she could tell that he hadn't.

"What has this got to do with her?" Draco said, snorting in disbelief, looking at Hermione as if she was nothing. But in his eyes, she could tell that he did not believe in what he was saying. He stood up, and leaned against the wall.

"Quite a lot, actually." Flint said. "I've known you for a long time, Malfoy. We went to school together."

"I suppose that makes us best friends." Draco said, sarcastically.

Flint smirked. "Rude, as usual."

"Observant, as usual."

"I'm here to help you, Malfoy." Flint admitted, edging closer to Malfoy. "But I can't do that if you don't co-operate."

"Why would you want to help me?" Draco asked icily.

"Because of 'er." Flint said, gesturing to Hermione, who was leaning against the legs of a chair, her knees drawn up to her chest.

"She has nothing to do with me." Draco said quickly.

"Really?" Flint asked, arching a brow. "Let's see." He added quietly. He turned to Hermione, and pointed his wand at her. "Crucio."

Not for the first time, unbearably pain wracked Hermione's body. Her body fell to the floor hard, and she shook with pain, her mouth open wide, and an expression of unbearable torment on her face.

Draco stood behind Flint, torn about what to do. He could not seem to avert his gaze from the convulsing body of the person that meant more to him than anyone else. Flint glanced back at him, his wand still pointed at Hermione, the curse still making its terrifying mark on her.

"Going to do anything?" He asked.

Draco paused, looking back at Hermione, whose lip was bleeding from biting down on it too hard. Her face was white. He looked back at Flint. "No."

Flint smirked, and released his hold on the curse. Hermione lay twitching a few feet away from Draco.

"I can do that again." Flint threatened, his cold eyes on Draco, watching for any sign of hate. "You know I could."

"So?" Draco said casually. "I don't like the bitch. She's a mudblood."

"Good answer." Flint said, looking carefully at Draco. "But I think you're lying."

"I'm not." Draco said stiffly.

"Really?" Flint asked, and once again, pointed his wand at Hermione and uttered "Crucio."

Once again, Hermione's mouth opened in a silent scream, her knees drew up to her body as the curse worked its way through her again.

Draco watched, his fists clenching in anger. Flint looked back at him again, and grinned as he saw Draco's expression. And then, before Draco knew what he was doing, he jumped on Flint, knocking him to the ground. This released Hermione of the curse, and Draco found himself pummeling Flint on the floor, banging Flint's head on the floor, flecks of blood spitting up to Draco's pale face.

But Flint was much bigger than Draco, and he threw him off him, standing up, laughing. His wiped his mouth free of the flowing blood, and touched the cut on his forehead.

"So it's true." Flint said, disgusted. "You are in love with the mudblood."

"Yes." Draco said stonily, glaring at him, ready to attack him once again. "I'll kill you if you touch her again."

Flint smirked. "Oh really?" He quickly whipped out his wand, and yelled "Includus!"

Draco found himself behind a magical barrier, and when he touched it, he received a jolt that wracked through his body. He was helpless to stop Flint, or help Hermione.

"Crucio!" Flint yelled again, and again Hermione was forced through unbearable pain. Tears leaked through her eyes, but soon, Flint stopped, and faced Draco. "I could do this all day, Malfoy." He said evilly. "But frankly, I can't be fucked. You're going to have to learn a lesson. You say you love her? Well look what you have done to her! Just look at her for Merlin's sakes." He said, gesturing at Hermione's trembling body. Draco looked away. Flint smirked. "You think things can't get much worse for her, can it?" Flint asked. "But it can. It can get much worse."

He turned away from Draco and walked up to Hermione, kicking her in the stomach. "You see, she's powerless against me. She's just another mudblood. She can't stop what I'm going to do her. She couldn't stop what happened to her before." Flint looked back at Draco. "And both of you are going to wish that you could stop me now."

Flint knelt down; taking Hermione's shaking hand and pulled her hands high above her head. Hermione let out a gasp of fright and pain. And then, to her and Draco's horror, Flint pushed her legs apart.

"Flint…no." Draco said, his voice lost somewhere in his throat. Flint didn't listen, but opened his robe. "Flint, don't do this!" Draco yelled, as Hermione squirmed away from Flint's touch, kicking and punching at him as much as she could. But she wasn't strong enough.

Her ears blocked out Draco's desperate yelling, she could only feel her hot tears, warming her ice cold skin before everything started, before a pain like she had never experienced enveloped her.

Her body became rigid, fresh tears flowing from her eyes as the pain took over her body. Her vision blurred to blackness, the sound of Draco's yelling and Flint's grunting muffled in her ears.

I won't cry out... I won't cry out.

It was a mantra she had adopted so many times before, but Hermione had never been so set on anything in her life. This was a different type of pain, physically and emotionally scarring, she knew that, Flint knew that, so she would not give him the satisfaction of hearing her scream in pain.

I won't scream…I won't scream…

And finally when he released her, after what seemed like hours of unbearable torture, she felt his body weight lift off her, and she lay on the floor, drawing her knees up to her chest, bile rising in her stomach. She forced it down, pain still wracking through her body. She was immune to the sounds around her; she didn't care what happened to Flint, as long as that never happened to her again.

She slowly drifted in and out of consciousness as Flint tortured her yet again, her body convulsing from the curse and from the abuse he had given her.

And as her trembling increased, the shield around Draco was lifted, and he tackled Flint to the ground forcefully.

And as her pulse slowed, somewhere in the room around her, Draco had reached his wand and had uttered a curse.

"Avada Kedavra."

And as Hermione finally found herself enveloped into blackness, Flint's dead body hit the floor.

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Yes, that is the only R rated thing in the entire story. So yeah, no more of that. I hope this chapter is ok, because I spent ages writing it as it is very important chapter. So yeah, I hope you like it.

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