I could do nothing to resist, and I knew it would only make things worse. Panic was starting to set in again, and I couldn't figure out a way around it. My legs were wobbling and I couldn't stand up straight. My hands, though tied behind my back, were shaking too. It was too dark to see, but my eyes filled with tears anyways.

"Shh…" he said. "Girl, you be quiet now, or you will regret it."

I tried to hold my breath in and not make any noise. He dragged me down the dark and dirty corridor, into another room of the basement. As he shut the door, I heard Hermione scream upstairs. That sound just made everything worse. She was in so much pain. We were both going to die tonight, and our deaths would not even be productive. Harry and Ron would die as well. All of our work had been useless. I squeezed my eyes shut.

Then it dawned on me. If I could hear Hermione, the people upstairs could hear me. Maybe, just maybe, if I screamed loud enough, they would stop this. I would much rather die from being tortured by the Cruciatus Curse than by whatever the werewolf was going to do to me. "HELP!" I managed to scream, before he clamped his hand on my mouth.

"We're going to do this the hard way?" he asked, his voice full of anger.

I found myself pushed against the wall, and then a few of the buttons popped off my shirt. Well, technically it was Harry's shirt, but that didn't matter much now. I wondered if there was any possible way that he could get out of here alive. I didn't think so. Greyback pushed my shirt aside so expose my shoulder. He cupped my breast in his hand, and then leaned in to sink his teeth into my shoulder. I screamed again, with everything I had in me. He ripped a part of my shirt off and stuffed it in my mouth to gag me.

"Shut up you whore!" He was touching me and it felt so wrong and I hated it. I couldn't even try and fight him, because my hands were bound behind my back. Instead, all I could try and do was squirm away. I had to wonder if this was helping my case or hurting it. He was going to get what he wanted either way. "Soft… young… flesh… so delicious."

I felt bile rise to my throat at how disgusting this all was. The door opened and Wormtail stood at the door. "What is going on in here?" he asked.

Greyback's fist collided with my face and I heard the crunch of my nose breaking. "Augh!" I cried, leaning on the wall to stop my head from spinning. I felt blood running out of my nose but couldn't do anything about it because my hands were still tied behind my back.

"She was… resisting."

"Did the Dark Lord grant you your reward yet?" he asked, looking incredibly intimidating. Wormtail's bony little hand wrapped around my shoulder and he pulled me along. "Bellatrix wishes to see you upstairs."

I was dragged toward the room that I knew Ron and Harry were in. Wormtail tapped his wand against the door and then opened it. Inside, a pale light shown. He cocked his head at the lights, and the next thing I knew, Wormtail was being attacked by Ron and Harry. I was still seeing stars, so I just shut my eyes and tried to lean my head back. I knew blood was getting everywhere. After a minute, Wormtail was still.

"What happened, Kat?" Ron asked, kneeling in front of me to get a better look at me. I just looked down. I noticed his hands were no longer bound.

"Can you help me get free?" I asked, wiggling my arms to show him what I meant.

"Yeah, of course. I'll go get the nail. Harry…" we both looked up at Harry, who was looking at me. Ron mumbled something and went to get the nail.

I couldn't meet Harry's eyes, so I just looked at his shoes. "I'm sorry…" I said, though I wasn't sure what I was apologizing for. We didn't need to say anything… the thick air between us was enough. I had thought I would never see him again.

"Found it!" Ron said, returning with a nail. "Harry, help her up!"

He did, and Ron used the nail to cut through the rope around my hands. Once my hands were free, I brought them straight to my face. I had too much adrenaline to feel much pain, but felt a moment of panic when I felt how broken my nose was.

"Let's go… shh… you'll be okay, Kat," Ron said, and I followed him and Harry up the staircase leading to the drawing room. At the top of the passage, the door was ever so slightly ajar

"And now, we call the Dark Lord!" Bellatrix's voice echoed triumphantly. This was it. "And I think we can dispose of the Mudblood. Scabior, take her if you would like her."

"NOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Ron yelled, barging into the drawing room. "Expelliarmus!" he disarmed Bellatrix and chaos erupted in the room. Harry sent Greyback into the hearth. Before I could really grab a hold of my bearings, I felt someone grab me from behind.

"STOP OR THEY DIE!" Lucius Malfoy shouted from right behind me. Then I felt it: a silver knife was being pressed against my throat. Across the room, Bellatrix held Hermione in the same position. Slowly, they dragged us toward each other until we met in the middle of the room. "Drop your wands."

Harry appeared from behind the couch, Ron a few feet over. They remained clutching their wands. "Drop them or we will see exactly how filthy her blood is." Bellatrix sneered, and I could tell she was pressing the blade against Hermione's throat. Lucius held the blade just off my own neck, just close enough that I knew it was there. I knew if he chose to act, I would be dead within minutes. I just hoped this would be a better death than at Greyback's hand… if a 'better' death existed.

"All right!" Ron hollered, and put his wand on the ground by his feet. Harry did the same.

"Draco, pick them up. The Dark Lord is coming, Harry Potter! Your death approaches!"

I started to see spots… hazy dark blobs moved across my vision. I just shut my eyes to try and make them stop. "Cissy," Bellatrix said softly. "I think we ought to tie these little heroes back up, while the girls are taken care of—"

There was a grinding noise above us. I opened my eyes just in time to see the giant crystal chandelier above us dangling. The little pieces of glass made a high pitched clanking as they trembled. Although we all knew what was about to happen, no one moved. Suddenly, it was falling towards us and hit, breaking into a thousand million pieces. I was brought to the ground by the fall, but managed to get away from Lucius. Ron grabbed a hold of my arm and dragged me out of the rubble.

I felt like I was on fire. Every part of me felt like it had been hit with shards of glass, and they burned. It was too much for me to handle and I thought I was going to collapse.

"Dobby!" Draco's mother shouted. "You! You dropped the chandelier-?"

I turned around, and through my hazy vision saw a small house elf. "You must not hurt Harry Potter!" he yelled. "Dobby has come to save Harry Potter and his friends!"

"C'mon, Kat, get to him and we can try and Disaparate." Ron said in my ear, giving me a gentle shove forward. He carried Hermione with the rest of his force. I moved towards the elf.

"Ron-" Harry yelled. "Catch, and GO!"

Ron caught his wand, then we all grabbed onto Dobby. I shut my eyes again and just hoped I wouldn't splinch. I had no clue where we were going, but it seemed like anywhere would be better than where we were.

We landed on the ground, and I was pretty sure I had maintained the correct amount of limbs. It was hard to tell, because I was in so much pain. My nose still bled and the sky above me was spinning. I had no clue where we were. A face came into view, but before I could figure out who it was, everything went black.

~.~

I blinked a few times before everything came into focus. I had no clue where I was. I also had a feeling I was pretty medicated by the way the room sort of danced around me.

"Oh, you are awake," a small feminine voice said. The woman who belonged to that voice came into view and was impossibly pretty. I had to look away. "How are you feeling?"

"Where am I?" I asked.

"Shell Cottage." She said. "I am Fleur Weasley, Ron's sister in law. You are safe."

It took a few minutes for that to register with me. You are safe. I wondered who else was safe.

As I woke up, I started to gain more awareness of my surrounding. I looked to be in a small attic room. My head was pounding, so I reached up to touch my face. My nose was still broken and was crooked, but blood was not pouring out of it anymore. All over my body were small sharp pains, as though I had been hit by razors. From my left shoulder, a deep ache spread through my body. I was a mess.

"Where is everyone?" I asked.

"They all survived. They are about to have a small ceremony for the house elf."

I vaguely could recall the small house elf that had saved all of our lives. "Do I have to go?"

"No," she said. "Of course not. I could run you a bath."

I nodded. "Please?"

"Of course."

"Thank you, Fleur." She said. She disappeared, and I was left to ponder things once more. I was still in complete disbelief that we had all managed to get out of there alive. I thought that I was going to die in that terrible house. Instead I had just been maimed. I wondered how Hermione was doing. There was a second bed in the room I was in and I could tell it had been laid in recently. She must have been in the room with me.

"Your bath is running," Fleur said, coming back into the room. "It's just down this flight of stairs, I will show you. In the mean time, I am going out to join them. I will be back soon."

"Thank you," I said again. I looked to the table next to my bed and saw a pile of potion bottles. Blood Replenishing potion and a few potions for pain. They would help me feel better soon.

I hoisted myself off the mattress and moved down the stairs despite the ache. I found the bathroom exactly where she had said it was, and there was a beautiful tub in the center of the room. There was also a window. I stood on my tiptoes so I could see outside, and saw everyone else. We were near the ocean, I could tell, and they were standing on the edge of some cliffs nearby. I did not want to join them though. I didn't really want to see anyone right now.

Also in the bathroom was a full length mirror. I did not want to see how I looked, but it was impossible not to see my reflection. I started to cry when I saw how terrible I looked. My hair was matted and uneven. My nose twisted to the left, and a black eye was still forming over my right eye. I twisted around to see the bite in my shoulder. It was all sorts of dark purple colors, and I cringed. How would I explain that to anyone? I was way thinner than I thought could be healthy, and my skin tone seemed to be off somehow. I looked disgusting. I was not even the same person physically as I was when I had begun this psychotic scavenger hunt.

I slid into the tub, first cringing at the hot water hitting my skin. After a moment, I started to enjoy it as it relaxed my very tense muscles. Hot water had become such a luxury, and I was enjoying every drop that filled the tub.

After a little while, I heard noises below me as they began to come inside after the funeral. I was a little sad that Dobby had died. We would not have been here if he had not saved us. I would have been dead by Lucius Malfoy's blade or worse long ago. But part of me, deep inside was happy that it was not Ron or Hermione that had perished so we could escape.

I stayed in the bath as long as I could. I did not want to face anyone, but eventually the water got too cold to stay in. I found clothing that Fleur had lain out for me and got dressed in that, before going out and facing people.

Author's Note: I'll be updating more often, I promise! College kept me crazy busy. Thanks potter-reading-coastie for betaing. Happy Holidays, everyone!