Dancing in rain – You are so sweet to say that you missed my story over the weekend. I'm having a great time with the story and I'm so glad that someone is enjoying it! Hope you like this one.
Sirius whined and lifted his head off the ground. His mind was so foggy and all he could concentrate on was trying to sit up. He was still in his animagus form so it took him a moment to remember to work with four legs instead of two. Finally when he was sitting up he tried to clear his brain to recollect what happened.
They were in Hermione's house. Strangers were there, Ginny on the floor, pain in his thigh. He must have been drugged because he didn't remember much else from there. Looking around he realized he was in a kennel. Whoever kept him obviously didn't know he was really an animagus, and for now he planned to keep it that way.
Hermione. Was he now where she had been taken? If so then perhaps this wouldn't be such a bad thing after all. He had a step up on their captures surely, but for now he would play the role of dog. His moment would come, but not until he knew where Hermione was first.
"Blimey, is that Frank?" Sirius twitched his ears at the voice.
"Yup, poor bastard I say. Not going to like his new job very much now." Another voice spoke.
The kennels were being opened and the sound of meat landing on the ground could be heard. He could smell the tang of blood and knew they must be feeding the other dogs.
"Cor, Wha' e do?" The first asked.
"'Parently 'e pissed off one o' the 'ead blokes."
A long whistle was heard and then the man spoke again. "No I can't say I envy him in the least." The man approached Sirius's cage.
"Eh, our new guy has awoken. Hey there fella, ya hungry?" The man opened a small gate within the door and threw something in his kennel. "Got a bit o'prime beef for ya there." The man said with another laugh before moving on to the next kennel.
Sirius looked down at what they threw into his kennel and he fought off the revulsion he immediately felt. A severed arm lay there. The bastards hadn't even taken off the man's silver bracelet. What kind of sick place was this? Sirius decided then that it was very important that he didn't fuck this up and that he definitely would wait for the appropriate time to act. He tucked himself as far away from the arm as possible and whined softly.
They walked down a long corridor before finally coming to a door that Malcolm turned to face. Along their trip to their training room Hermione had thought about her talk with Marcus. The deatheater planned to let the muggles do his dirty work and catch as many of the order as possible for him, crippling them all with collars and then leaving Dumbledore vulnerable to his final attack.
What Hermione was concentrating on the most was the fact that he had no fear of the collars. This must mean there is a failsafe she thought to herself. There has to be one for him not to be worried about being crippled magically. 'Keep your eyes open Hermione' she thought to herself.
She couldn't help the shutter that ran through her body as she thought of the man's hands and body all over her. It took everything in her not to vomit as his hands raked along her skin. Each touch burned and violated her and if she had not been collared she would have shown him who the stronger was of the two of them. Suddenly Malcolm's voice jerked her out of her thoughts.
"Here we are." Malcolm said as he opened the door and held out his arm indicating that he wanted her to enter first. She watched him for a moment and then complied. As she did she watched as he called over one of the guards and whispered something to him. The guard nodded and ran off without a second glance.
Hermione tilted her head in curiosity and Malcolm chuckled softly. "All in good time my dear. Please have a seat." He said as he pulled out a chair and sat it in the middle of the room. He took a second one and sat down in it himself.
She glanced around herself to take in her surroundings. The room was entirely white except for the mirror that spanned one entire wall. Cameras were rolling behind there most likely, and perhaps the odd person or two would be watching as well.
"I think it would be wise if you and I were to get to know each other a little better for our newfound relationship to work. First though I think that I will explain a little about your collar and the benefits and drawbacks. I'm sure you are interested in hearing this yes?" Malcolm said.
"Of course." She said simply.
Malcolm nodded. "Well by now you obviously know that if you try to use magic in any way you receive a most unpleasant feeling."
That was an understatement Hermione thought to herself.
"Well, this only happens when I have your collar on a certain setting. You see Crane Industries sees great advantage in wizardry, but being human's without that particular talent we need to farm out the jobs. We tried to acquire some employees, but it seems that wizards have a real aversion to the regular folk and only one man openly joined us. Of course you already know this to be Marcus Flint, and from the looks of it you two had met before am I right?" Malcolm inquired.
Hermione simply nodded and let the man continue.
"Yes, well Marcus approached us with a way that we could acquire our own wizard power and hence the collars were made. You see they act as a control device to keep us normal humans in power over you magic folk. Only I will allow you to use your magic, and of course it will only be used for mine and Crane Industries' purposes." He continued.
Hermione's brain started to tick at the thought, that meant he would have to shut off the collar at some point.
"I see that brain of yours working Hermione, and I warn you to rethink your thoughts. You see the collars have a certain binding with their owners. Your collar belongs to me, therefore you belong to me. Should you ever try to cast a spell on me when the collar is in filter mode then your spell will be doubled back onto yourself. So if you were to kill me, then your death would happen soon after. If you were to curse me, then your curse would double back on you and you would feel it twofold. So you see my dear, your use of magic on me will only damage you." Malcolm said with a smirk that Hermione wanted to slap off.
"If you choose to disobey me in any order, you will feel my wrath and the wrath of the collar. So do you understand the collar and its ramifications?" He asked her.
She nodded mutely.
"Good. Now Hermione, I would love if you would tell me a little about yourself." Malcolm asked in a sickly sweet tone.
Hermione sat silent, refusing to speak about herself to him.
Malcolm's face turned into a sneer and he reached forward, grabbing her leash and pressing the button. Hermione screamed out in pain and fell off her chair as she curled up into a ball.
When the pain stopped he spoke up again. "Tell me a little about yourself."
Again she said nothing and again she felt the pain coarse through her body. The screams were ripped from her lungs as she lost total control and when the pain stopped this time she couldn't help the twitches of her muscles.
"Tell me a little about yourself." He said again.
"My parents were not magical." Her voice croaked out sounding alien to herself.
"Good, now that was not so hard was it?" His voice was sweet and smooth again and he lowered himself down to the ground to pick her up and put her back in her chair.
"Now Hermione, I believe in rewarding good behavior. What you told me is a start and I think that is a big step. For this I think I will give you a small treat." He said with a glowing smile.
Malcolm nodded at the mirror and within a minute Hermione could hear the door starting to open. Her eyes drifted over to the doorway to see what her reward would be and her heart nearly stopped while tears filled her eyes.
"Snuffles." She sobbed and it was like a damn burst and all the pain and sadness since the whole ordeal hit her at once.
Heh I know mean place to end, but I thought it was a good cliffy.