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Beneath the Masks:

Chapter six

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There's a danger in loving someone too much… and it's sad when you know it's his or her heart you can't trust….

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Previously:

"Draco…" She reached for his hand, pulling him back. "Thank you," she whispered, laying a feathery kiss on his cheek. She quickly pulled away, running back in the direction of her room.

Draco watched her go, before lowering his eyes to stare at the flagstone. Rocks melded together and smashed under feet trampling it over the ages. He was so caught up in his thoughts of Hermione and how he convinced himself that he did the right thing that he didn't hear the door shut behind him.

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"Hello, Mr. Malfoy," came Voldemort's slithery whisper.

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Hermione quickly told Fudge all that she knew over the floo network. He scribbled the information down and swore to have the entire ministry notified and prepared. She then sent a second calling out over the network, this time to Harry Potter himself.

"Hermione?" he asked, looking confused.

"Harry, Voldemort is going to attack you in two day's time, around noon, at the ministry. I just told Fudge. He said he'll organize a plan-"

Harry nodded, a frown on his face. "Alright… I'll be ready. Good luck with the rest of the mission, Hermione."

Hermione forced a smile, not wanting to tell him everything was falling to hell around them. "Right. I'll see you." She ended the connection with a wave of her wand, letting out a deep sigh. Now she had to find Ron and get them out of there.

But the door opened before she even had time to prepare to leave. Draco stood there, but there was something odd. His arrogant posture was slouched, his hair in disarray, and his robes were ruffled. His grey eyes stared at her glassily, before they rolled back into his head. He was flung out of the way with little care, an object being disposed of.

A tall woman with black hair and aging beauty was standing in the doorframe. "Hermione Granger, nice to meet you. Expelliarmus." Hermione's wand shot out of her hand, flying across the room and skidding across the floor. Bellatrix mumbled a few words and roped shot out of her wand, twisting around Hermione and constricting her movements.

"Draco!" Hermione yelled, eyes darting from Bellatrix to the boy whom she had loved and hated so much. Had he turned her in, after all?

"Oh, shut up, he can't hear you." Bellatrix mumbled an incantation and Hermione began follow behind the retreating witch. Draco was lying crumpled on the floor. With another wave of her wand, Draco was floating through the air in front of them.

"What's going on?" she demanded, an edge of panic in her voice. She had seen what Bellatrix could do to people. Her attack on the Longbottoms was proof that Bellatrix was not a woman to tango with.

"Oh, Voldemort has deposited the three of you into my care." She smiled over her shoulder as she led them towards the dungeons.

"Three?" she repeated, feeling sick to her stomach. Oh god, Ron, Ron, Ron, Ron, please be safe, please…

"Yes, your friend, who happens to already be down in the dungeon. No fetching involved. Isn't that wonderful?" She opened a door, ushering them inside. Ron, like she said, was hanging from the wall by chain bound at his wrists.

When they came in, he looked up and seeing Hermione, he smiled weakly.

"Ron!" she exclaimed, her eyes instantly worried. "Are you alright? Oh Ron, I am so sorry!"

He started to answer, before Bellatrix stepped between them. "I wouldn't be worrying about his condition at the moment. I would be worrying about how you are going to feel come tonight." She flicked her wrist and Hermione slammed into the wall, ropes disappearing but chains tightening her to the wall.

Hermione glared at the woman. She would not cry. If she was going to die, by God, she would do it with style. "Fuck you," she uttered the words, amazed at her cold tone that nearly matched Bellatrix's.

Bellatrix smiled. Turning towards Draco who had been dropped in a heap on the cold stone, he was beginning to whimper softly. His eyes were crunched together tightly as if to keep out the creatures that haunted nightmares. "Voldemort got to this one first," Bellatrix said over her shoulder. "It's a damn pity. He would have been so fun to break."

"Pity!" Ron exclaimed. "He deserved it."

"Draco!" Hermione yelled, her face crumpling. Her eyes showed their fear; not for herself, but for the damned Death Eater. "Let him go, for Christ's sake!" she exclaimed. "He did nothing wrong!"

"Since when do you call him Draco?" Ron looked over at her. The fear of torture hadn't seemed to cloud his eyes yet.

Bellatrix leaned down, picking Malfoy up by the throat and chaining him to the wall just like the others. "Wake up, my little Death Eater," she called soothingly to him. She lifted his sleeve, quietly examining the mark that scarred his arm. "All the better," she mumbled, moving out of the way to show the other two occupants in the room. "This, my friends, is a real death eater mark. The best thing with this is that it allows the Dark Lord to torture his victims and cause… more pain with simple spells that probably wouldn't make you flinch."

Hermione scowled at her but refused to say anything.

Bellatrix raised her wand, spinning towards Ron. "Crucio!" she exclaimed.

Spasms shot through Ron's body, causing his eyes to widen before they clasped together in utter pain. If he wasn't being held to the wall, he would have crumpled to the floor, as it was his body simply arched up, back rising off the wall. Ron's screams echoed in the tiny room.

"Isn't it beautiful? A face twisted in pain," Bellatrix shuddered, a sigh escaping her lips.

"You monster!" Hermione screeched, tugging at the chains binding her wrists. "You goddamned monster!" She continued to scream, tears coming to her eyes as she watched her best friend for eleven years tortured.

Bellatrix turned around, examining the face of her young Nephew. Ron was still writhing in pain behind her. "I love the sound of screams in the afternoon," she said pleasantly, as if discussing tea.

After a minute or so, she turned around, raising her wand once again and releasing Ron from the spell. Ron's head hung forward onto his chest. His breathing was labored and rushed out in almost a wheeze.

Hermione was shaking in rage. "Get on with it you bitch. You won't see me begging for mercy." She spat in the woman's aged face, eyes full of anger.

Bellatrix pointed her wand at Hermione just as she heard Draco begin to wake behind her. "Oh, all the better," she smiled as she whispered, "Crucio."

Hermione's breath was ripped from her throat, a startled cry escaping from it. She felt like tiny needles were stabbing her entire body. And then came what felt like a knife gutting her. She screamed; the sound was loud and deafening in the echoing chamber. Her back arched, her legs flailed, and her head thrashed. She felt as if someone was plucking every bone from her body using a toothpick.

And then, there was blessed blackness. Her head lulled to the front of her chest, hair falling around it.

Draco's eyes snapped open at the sound of the screams. He had an unobstructed view of the love of his life being tortured to death. He would have screamed but he couldn't find his voice or a reason. It would feed Bellatrix. She would torture her longer. Instead, he laid his head down on his chest and listen to the screams of both Ron and Hermione mixing in the air.

Until finally, they both stopped.

"Oh, damn, she's unconscious." Bellatrix turned around, raising an eyebrow at Draco. "What a pity."

The door flung open, smashing against the wall. The shocked look barely had time to cross Bellatrix face before, "Avada Kadavera!" echoed through the tiny chamber. Green light exploded, knocking Bellatrix to the ground.

"Sorry, Draco, hope you didn't mind." Blaise smiled brightly as he released them from their chains.

Draco reached Hermione first. Ron stumbled over, slapping Draco's hands away. "Don't put your hands on her."

Draco raised an eyebrow, "You're too weak to carry her out of here. You'd collapse and then where would we be?"

Ron snarled, "I don't care. I'm the best friend. I should carry her."

"Well," Blaise drawled out proudly, "I've already slept with her. I think I should carry her."

Draco turned to look at him, "What did you say?"

"I… um... said, you know, maybe we should decide this quicker." He pointed towards the door. "I think I heard footsteps."

"I get to carry her," Draco began. "I love her. End of discussion!" He turned his head and looked at Ron with narrowed eyes. "What the hell is wrong with your face, Weasley? Are- Are you winking at me?" he commented on Ron's twitching eye.

"I'm not winking at you," Ron said as if the idea was preposterous.

Draco ignored him, lifting Hermione into his arms. Shaking his head at Ron's bickering, Draco said, "Check outside, Blaise. Anyone coming?"

"Nope, come on. We have to get out of this place before we have all of the Death Eaters after us."