The four siblings and Hermione hugged each other tightly, tears running down their faces as they exchanged words of how much they had missed each other, and how they couldn't believe they were still alive.

Draco and Snape stared at them. Snape had removed the spell so that they could greet each other, but now it had gone for an annoyingly long time for Draco's liking. He rolled his eyes and cleared his throat, but little did he expect for the younger girl to whip around and point the wand she was still clutching at him, snarling.

"Ginny, no!" Hermione said.

Draco growled back at her and clutched at his wand as well, which was hidden under his sleeve, but the girl didn't move.

"He's our ally." Ron said, albeit bitterly.

"Ally?" Fred asked, glaring daggers at both Slytherins.

"He's not a Death Eater." Hermione said softly. "He's been helping us."

"We were told he had enslaved you." Ginny said, her teeth clenched as she still glared at him. "That he had bought you."

"Yes, I did. To save them from real Death Eaters who wanted to torture them or eat them alive." Draco said.

"Why do you trust him?" George asked.

"Are all Weasleys this daft? I clothed them, fed them, gave them shelter and have not hurt them once." Draco said.

"He also... we're... he's helping us." Ron said, his voice shaking. "Harry's alive."

Ginny whipped around, her jaw slack as she stared wide eyed at her brother. The twins did the same, petrified from shock.

"What?" the girl whispered.

"Where is he? How do you know this?" Fred demanded.

"He's with the Dark Lord." Snape said, speaking up for the first time. "He is truly enslaved, by him."

"We've seen him." Ron said, his voice finally cracking as his eyes filled with tears. Hermione released a sob. "The Dark Lord has been torturing him for six months. It's horrible."

Ginny trembled and the twins approached her to hug her again as tears fell from all the Gryffindor's faces.

Draco felt a knot in his throat and bit the inside of his lip to keep from crying as well.

.

A few hours later, they were sitting at the dinning table. Snape had disappeared to his lab. The Weasleys had been fed and clothed and put up to date with what was happening. More tears and rage ensued as Ron and Hermione retold what they had seen, except in less detail, but it was still a gruesome tale of their old friend, and Ginny's old crush, getting tortured half to death. Draco wondered if Ginny felt the same as he did.

When they spoke about the Dark Lord tracking down the remaining people in the Light, it was Draco's turn to talk.

"I am in charge of finding all of you and bringing you to him." Draco said. "Others will be helping me, including Bellatrix and Greyback, which means that you are in a lot of danger."

"Neville and Luna are alive, among others." Hermione added, softly. Ginny and the twins opened their eyes wide, something akin to hope growing within them.

"The Dark Lord is breathing on my neck." Draco said. "I will have to bring him someone soon... or the others will."

Before Ginny could say something amidst her rage, Hermione spoke up.

"The most important thing is to help Harry." she said. "We need to get him out of there but it is very difficult."

"Let's get in there, kill the stupid bastard and get Harry back." Ginny said. Ron looked at her in surprise.

"Yeah, sure, let's do that." Draco answered, crossing his arms. "Why didn't I think of that before? Oh, wait, maybe because he's the greatest fucking wizard in the world after your precious Dubledore died and Harry fell into his claws and won't just fall by a curse cast by a stupid girl like you."

"Watch your shitty mouth, Malfoy. I am not the little girl you met back at Hogwarts." she answered. "I'll kill you and won't even use my wand for it."

"Merlin, Ginny." Ron said. "What the hell?"

Ginny rolled her eyes and huffed.

"She's got a bit of anger issues." Fred commented.

"So what's the plan then?" the red-haired girl asked, impatient.

"We haven't come up with anything yet." Draco said. "The Dark Lord's manor is protected by spells that will trigger alarms if we even dare to move Potter."

That night, nightmares haunted all of them.

But it was Harry who was trapped in a living one.

He was locked inside the chest, again. His throat was sore from screaming, both during his torture and then after, when he had been shoved in there and had begged for mercy for Merlin-knows how long. Now he was quiet, his ragged breath and occasional whimpers the only sounds. His arms wrapped around himself, his legs numb from their forced position, his lower back screaming from the violation he experienced daily and his bent spine. His upper back was also pounding monstrously, the terrible wounds on it rubbing against the unforgiving wood.

Footsteps approached the chest and he closed his eyes shut, tears streaming down his face again as his body trembled harder. As painful and horrible as the chest was, it gave him a small confort. It was a barrier between him and his tormentor.

He sobbed as the chest opened and Voldemort's terrible face greeted him.

"Have you had time to think things through, little pet?"

Harry closed his eyes again, fighting against the memory. He had spat on Voldemort's face when he had told him that he'd rape all of his friends when they were found.

He had paid dearly for it.

"Well?"

"Yes." he whispered.

Voldemort grabbed his arm and pulled him up, making him cry out.

"Good, because I have a small gift for you." the Dark Lord said, pulling him along.

The boy had absolutely no energy in him, and he fell to the floor as soon as he was forced to step out of the chest. Voldemort pointed his wand at him, and Harry had half a mind to beg as his heart pounded fiercely inside of him... but what was the point? Voldemort would torture him anyway if he pleased and there was not a damn thing Harry could do. Begging, fighting back, yielding... it all gave the same result.

He closed his burning eyes then, and felt acceptance flow through him.

He could feel his mind slipping.

And for the first time since he had been enslaved by his worst enemy, he thought that wouldn't be such a bad thing.

Maybe he should just give up and be done with it.

However, as soon as the thought entered his decaying mind, he heard the distinctive sounds of someone struggling, screaming through a gag... and cruel laughter.

His eyes shot open, and his stomach dropped from under him.

Fenrir Greyback and another werewolf he didn't recognize walked into the room, smiling nastily. Between them, tied and gagged, was Remus Lupin.

Harry was overwhelmed with the emotions inside of him. For one, he was glad Remus was alive. He could've sworn he was dead. But he looked worse for wear, with a bloodied face and a black eye. And well, him being there with the Dark Lord and the werewolves meant nothing good.

And then shame invaded him, at having Remus see him like that, naked and beaten up and so damn close to death.

Harry stared, his mind reeling, as his former teacher stared at him and called his name from behind the gag, his eyes watering as he struggled even more. But Greyback towered over him and his massive hand kept a tight grip on his victim.

"I told you I'd reunite you with your friends." Voldemort said. "I know Remus Lupin was like a father to you since you were, what? Thirteen?"

"Please..." Harry croaked. "Leave him alone."

"You were very disrespectful to me this morning." the Dark Lord continued, as if he hadn't hear Harry. "I told you what I'd to to each of your friends. And I told you I was going to make you watch."

"No..." Harry moaned. "I-I'll do anything. Please, leave him alone."

"Well, I did promise that I'd make them watch you get yours, too. So what will it be? I know Fenrir here is aching to sink his teeth into someone."

Greyback and his company laughed, and Remus fought harder against his restraints, to no avail.

Harry shuddered as he remembered how Greyback had bitten into his leg, and the unsurmountable pain of having it broken in half. But he couldn't let them hurt Remus. He couldn't.

"Hurt me." he whispered, his voice breaking.

"Well," Voldemort laughed "that's a bit of an understatement. Whether we torture you or your friend, it'll hurt you nonetheless."

Harry closed his eyes, and he felt himself falling asleep for a second before forcing them open again. It happened a lot lately, that he'd fall asleep out of nowhere, given the fact that he rarely ate anything and never had any chance to sleep except when he passed out and Voldemort left him alone, but most of the times the pain was too much and he only slept for an hour before his body woke him up... or his nightmares.

"T-torture me." he whispered.

Remus began crying then. When Fenrir had caught him he had been terrified of what the wolf would do to him. He remembered how cruel he had been when he had first been bitten, so many years back... but now, being in that room and watching Harry was a far worse torture than he could've imagined Fenrir preparing for him. He thought he'd be tortured and killed by Voldemort...

He never expected Harry to be alive.

Much less like this.

He was so broken... and the blood between his legs made Remus's heart rip into pieces.

But throughout all the pain he was surely in, he was still willing to sacrifice himself for Remus's sake.

"Oh, you made your friend upset." Greyback laughed, shaking Remus.

"Well, Fenrir, you can take them both to your pack. Make sure Harry's friend watches everything that is done to him... and make sure my pet screams." Voldemort said. Fenrir smiled widely, showing his yellow fangs. "But, keep both of them alive. That is my only rule now."

He disapparated with a crack, then.

Harry closed his eyes as Greyback approached him.

Draco was dozing off on an armchair by the fire, tea in his hands.

It was late, but he couldn't go to bed. He'd have haunting nightmares.

He flinched when someone walked into the room, her red hair seeming to glow in the light of the fire as her freckled face stared at him.

"I'm sorry." she whispered. "I didn't know you were awake."

"Is there something you need?" he asked, suspicious of her wandering around his mansion.

"I was going to find Dobby... see if he could give me some water."

"There's a bathroom attached to your room. The water is clean to drink." Draco answered, his eyes narrowing as he clutched his wand under his sleeve.

Ginny sighed and lifted her hands, catching the movement under the blonde's robes.

"I'm not here to curse you or anything. I just couldn't sleep." she said.

Draco motioned for a seat in front of him and she took it, staring into the fire.

"It must've been a rough six months to turn sweet Ginny Weasley into a ruthless harpy." he commented as he saw hatred still lingering in Ginny's eyes, the fire making them seem even more savage. He knew she was imagining the horrible fate of her dear friend.

Her eyes turned to him.

"There was a time when I thought Harry was the love of my life." she said, softly. "I was head over heels for him, and then..."

"The war happened." Draco said, staring intently at her.

"No." she answered, her eyes narrowing. "You happened. There were rumors about you and Harry... I didn't believe them at first, but then the first time I kissed Harry he..." she looked away and remained quiet for a moment. Draco's heart beat inside his chest intensely. Had Harry told her something about them? About how he felt for him? "Why am I even telling you this?"

Draco sighed.

"We kissed, once. I liked him. I think he liked me back but I know he had a crush on you too at some point in history. He was very confused." Draco said, looking back at the fire. "None of that matters now. What matters is rescuing him."

"And killing that fucking bastard once and for all." she said, bitterly.

"That's easier said than done." Draco answered.

Then, they remained silent.

Lupin was desperate. He wailed and screamed through his gag as he was forced to watch what Greyback's pack was doing to Harry.

Tears ran down his face every time the boy screamed in pain.

There were five werewolves in total, who had dragged both of them down to one of Voldemort's dungeon and had trussed up Harry against a wall, his wrists chained above his head.

They were taking turns biting him all over his body. They laughed as they sank their canines into his flesh, sometimes pulling it off of his bones and swallowing it. Harry was bleeding profusely, screaming his throat raw as they tore his body apart. The wounds weren't too big, so as not to kill him, but they were deep and sometimes the sheer force of their jaws on his weakened body broke the bones clean in half.

At one point, Harry's eyes met Remus's and the former professor could see such desperate pain, a palpable cry of help in his green orbs.

They stopped after a while, stepping back as they stared at their toy, shaking and sobbing as his thin, skeletal body hung in misery. Blood ran down every wound, dripping onto the floor.

Greyback laughed harder and turned when he heard Lupin's pitiful sobs.

He cleaned his bloodstained jaw with his forearm.

"You didn't cry nearly this much when I turned you."

Lupin cursed at him from behind his gag, glaring and struggling against the ropes that kept him bound, kneeling on the floor with his arms tied tightly behind his back.

"You know, Fenrir..." one of the werewolves, the one who had helped him drag Remus to the Dark Lord, said. "The Dark Lord didn't say anything about not mounting him this time."

Harry's head shot up, his bloodshot eyes widening in absolute fear at that.

"N-no... no." he muttered.

Greyback turned back to him, laughing, and lifted his wand.

It was not a Cruciatus curse, but it was terrible nonetheless and Harry felt as if red-hot iron rods were being driven into his sides. He screamed and squealed in pain, writhing desperately as tears ran down his face. It went for a terribly long time, until he mercifully passed out.

But the wolves would allow none of that.

"Ennervate."

Fenrir walked closer to him, making Harry flinch and close his eyes shut. He untied his wrists and the boy fell to the floor unceremoniously, shaking but unable to move. The wolf then grabbed his hair and lifted him up. The boy's face filled with pain but he had no energy to scream or complain anymore.

"Y'know, Lupin, when we found you in the woods, I was thrilled to think that the lord would let me and my pack torture you. We did enjoy killing your friend, though... Tonks, was it?" Harry's eyes widened, a knot formed in his throat. Oh, no... not Tonks. Lupin wrinkled his nose and screamed in rage an pain, writhing harder. "But watching your reaction as we torture Potter... even more delicious."

He released the boy and Harry crumpled to the floor, gasping in pain as he tried to talk. As he tried to tell Remus that he was so, so sorry...

Another spell was cast by one of Fenrir's friend. Harry's body writhed on the ground as invisible flames wrapped around him. His skin burnt and blistered as seemingly nothing touched him, but the pain was real. And the smell of burnt flesh. He screamed and cried, feeling as if he were melting, as if all the skin was being burnt off of his body.

Lupin heaved at the smell, and then it stopped.

"We've dragged this long enough." Fenrir said. He used one foot to turn Harry over onto his stomach. "Oh, I've wanted for this for so long."

Harry was already swimming in and out of consciousness, so he wasn't truly aware enough to plead or feel any shame. Only fear remained, but even that was ebbing away as black spots danced in his vision.

Lupin, however, screamed through a raw throat as Fenrir unbuttoned his pants and knelt next to Harry.

The boy's scream as he was penetrated without any preamble only made him cry harder.