"Ok Malfoy, how exactly do you propose we get in then?"
Ginny awoke with a start. She tried to sit up but immediately felt a restrictive band of magic around her neck holding her firmly in place. In a panic she clawed desperately at the cold circle trying to rip it away from her throat but the more she struggled, the tighter it became until eventually the pressure choked her and she passed out...
Hermione's eyes flickered open gently. She felt nauseous and remembered something heavy hitting the back of her head. She tried to raise her hand to feel the lump she was sure would have formed, but instead felt a sharp pain all down her arm and hand. Forcing her highly developed brain to overcome the foggy feeling that was enveloping it she managed to focus on her surroundings.
Peering around cautiously, she could just make out that her new abode consisted of a very small stone cell with no windows. Rather than coming from a direct source, the light - a sickly red glow - just seemed to permeate from the walls. There was an outline of a door on the far wall but the brunette couldn't see any sort of handle or opening from where she lay.
Instead of sitting up she angled her head slightly and looked down at her arm to see why it had hurt her. She gave a small cry of fear when she saw the cause of her pain; surrounding both of her arms and legs were medieval torture devices that had been altered with magic. Big iron bands ran in circles down her appendages, Hermione knew that traditionally they would have had crude metal spikes attached to them which could be cruelly screwed into the victims flesh. Instead she could see shining blue pulses of magic which must have been the cause of the pain she had felt earlier.
Tentatively she wiggled her fingers; nothing happened so she tried flexing her wrist. When she did so a slight prickling sensation ran across her skin causing her flesh to goose bump and the blue waves of magic rearranged themselves into needle like lines. Hermione stopped before the feeling turned from being uncomfortable to painful.
Laying her head back on the hard stone of the slab she had been restricted to, Hermione concentrated to try and remember anything from before she was struck. She could remember making her way to the library vigilantly and was sure that no one had been following her. Wracking her brains Hermione suddenly remembered what had happened…
She was just around the corner from the library and maybe being so close to her destination had presented a false sense of security; Hermione could still picture the tiny house elf that had run past her and into a small side street while squealing like it was in pain.
Hermione cringed with shame as she remembered how she had gullibly followed the poor creature to make sure it was ok; she had heard a noise from behind her which had immediately told her senses that she had done the wrong thing, but before she could turn around or run she had felt a heavy blow to her skull.
Trying very hard to keep her fear in check, the bushy haired witch went over every minute detail of that trip and tried to figure out exactly who would have attacked her and why.
Pansy had been conscious for several minutes now but she had learned many years ago that in situations where you awake in an unknown place, it wasn't necessarily a good idea to announce your consciousness to those around you.
She forced herself to breathe as if she were still asleep and listened to find out if she could hear anything which might be useful. After several moments she was rewarded…
"Surely she should be awakening soon my Lord? Can't I just speed up the process slightly?"
Pansy recognised the voice immediately; it was Rodolphus Lestrange who had always seemed to have an unnatural preoccupation with Pansy. She felt a clammy hand on her ankle and it took all her will power not to kick out when his fingers started to trail slowly up her calf.
"Rodolphus." Came a low hissing voice. Pansy knew that he was stubbornly stupid sometimes but even Rodolphus couldn't miss the warning tone with which he had been addressed.
"Yes my Lord?" he replied in a wheedling tone removing his hand quickly from her leg.
"Do you not have other matters that you should be attending to?"
"Of course my Lord. I merely thought that since I was able to lure the girl out you may have wanted me to assist in-" His sentence ended in a strangled noise which sounded to Pansy as if he had been choked somehow.
"Do not presume to know what I want you to do at any given time unless you have strict instructions from me. And do not try to take credit for Bella's ingeniousness. Once I am done with these specimens then Bella may do what she wishes with them; you should consider yourself lucky if she shares her victims Rodolphus."
There was another noise which Pansy could only assume was Voldemort releasing Lestrange from his chokehold as he hissed angrily. "You may go."
The sound of a door opening and closing was followed by a quiet, "I know you are awake Pansy. You may as well stop pretending."
Pansy knew better than to irritate the Dark Lord so she opened her eyes, sat up and turned so she was facing him. As she did so she registered numbly that one of her ankles had been shackled to the wall by a long chain. Voldemort was sitting with his back to Pansy in an oversized throne like chair.
The room that she was in was richly decorated with tapestries and expensive but old looking furniture. Pansy guessed that she had been taken to a very prestigious manor house, possibly even a small castle.
"Where have you been Pansy? My reports suggested to me that you were dead but that obviously isn't so."
"No my lord." Pansy replied meekly.
Voldemort turned to look at her and despite her best efforts Pansy had to cast her eyes down to the floor. He looked even viler that she had remembered, his eyes were the only alive thing in a face that looked like it had died many years prior. His nostrils were mere slits in his face and where his lips should have been was a lumpy mess of flesh. But those eyes; Pansy would never forget his eyes for the rest of her life, the pupils were slits like a cat's, but burning with some kind of fervour; bright piercing red.
The sheer waves of power radiating from Voldemort was almost nauseating for Pansy. Each person's power felt different to her and Voldemort's was foul; it brought to mind death and decay even though she knew these were the things the dark wizard feared most.
"I need you to tell me where you have been; I need to know how it is that you were able to fake your death so convincingly that my best informants were fooled."
Pansy looked at him in fear. "It wasn't my fault my Lord... They took me."
Voldemort showed no emotion, "Indeed," he responded in a quiet tone. "Who might they be?"
"I don't know who they were but they said that they were working for the Order. They kept me locked up." Pansy improvised wildly.
"If only I could believe you my child." Voldemort came close and took her face in his hand. If Pansy wasn't used to this sort of treatment she might almost think he was showing her kindness. But she knew better.
Bending down Voldemort whispered into her ear, "I don't believe you are telling me the truth at all my dear. So I have taken the liberty of asking my faithful servant to prepare some veritaserum... Snape." He called out the name loudly as he straightened up.
Pansy's heart was in her mouth as the door opened and a gaunt, angular figure stepped through the door. Dressed as ever in a flowing cape like robe, Severus Snape was as sallow and greasy looking as ever.
"You have the serum?" Voldemort asked without even turning to look at the doorway.
Snape stepped inside the room and closed the door slowly behind him. He looked at Pansy carefully while reaching into one of his deep pockets and pulled out a small vial. "Yes, my Lord." He said slowly still keeping his eyes on Pansy.
Anything was better to look at than Voldemort, so Pansy stared back at Snape and directed her anger at him. The wizard that so many of the students were sure was a vampire was surrounded with an extreme amount of power himself. Pansy had known throughout her entire school life that her head of house was an immensely skilled wizard and his power had been one of the first she had been able to sense. As ever his power seemed thick and syrupy to her as if he was surrounding himself with a protective field that people couldn't penetrate.
"I trust you will not need forcing to drink Parkinson." He drawled in a tone which reminded her painfully of Draco – Draco... she knew that she could not take the serum or else she would betray Draco's whereabouts. His death had been even more carefully planned that her own she knew. She had found notes in the Order's flat stating that the body of a Death Eater who had died in combat had been irreversibly changed by many spells to resemble the mangled corpse of Draco and left at the scene where Ginny had first found him.
Panicked, Pansy looked wildly around the room only to find her eyes drawn back to Snape's emotionless face.
His mouth opened and said, "You cannot resist us Parkinson, I would hate to see such a promising student become disloyal to our lord. Make this easy and just take the serum." Yet deep within her mind Pansy heard a very quiet yet urgent voice say. "Trust." It sounded just like the potions master.
Her eyes whipped up again to survey Snape's heavily hooded eyes but they were giving away nothing.
Voldemort had obviously waited long enough for an answer from her. He waved his hand dismissively at Snape, still without turning his back. "I will deal with her Severus – leave the vial on the side."
Again Pansy heard the voice whispering to her subconscious. "Trust. Drink."
"As you wish my Lord." Snape said obediently, turning to leave.
"Wait!" Pansy said. "I'll drink." Snape and Voldemort both turned to face the scrawny girl as she held her hand out for the vial. Snape looked to Voldemort who nodded his head, so the hook-nosed professor passed the vial to his former student.
Pansy nervously unstopped the little bottle and with a prayer to any of the gods that would listen to her upended the bottle and swallowed the potion. Immediately she felt the effects of the veritaserum take effect and she cursed herself for thinking Snape had been trying to help her.
"May I ask her the first question to prove the credibility of the potion?" Snape asked politely of Voldemort.
"As always Severus. I appreciate your desire to check your work."
Snape's question shocked Pansy. "Have you been with Harry Potter?" Unable to stop herself Pansy said clearly, "Yes." Her eyes widened in fear.
Voldemort nodded to Snape. "Perfect as ever Severus. Both the potion and your information gleaned from your connections to that buffoon Dumbledore." He turned to face Pansy.
"You see, Snape has always been my best informant. Although I was told of your death I believed it to be a lie. I cast a tracking spell upon you when you were in my service that admittedly did seem to be severed, however when the connection ended it felt wrong somehow. I was determined to have you back – I need you, your talent to be precise. I sent Bellatrix, Rodolphus and Snape to find you and they were more than worthy."
Voldemort pulled a small bound book from his robes and handed it to Snape. "Here, you have proven yourself loyal yet again. I am entrusting you with this. It is the procedure for summoning the weapon. I will be in the centre of the coven and need two trusted allies to perform certain parts of the ritual. Bella is of course my other choice. Now how long do I have until the serum runs out?"
Snape bowed low upon receiving the tome and replied. "Fifteen minutes my Lord. It may last longer as there is so little of her but I cannot guarantee it."
Voldemort nodded and turned to Pansy. "Did you run away from me willingly?" he asked menacingly.
Terrified Pansy opened her mouth expecting the answer to force its way out. Instead she felt her head clearing and the urge to explain fading. Her mouth opened and closed a few times and Voldemort sneered at her. "There is no point trying to fight it. You do not have the means to counteract the veritaserum."
Pansy realised that he thought she was trying to battle against the potion and took the advantage to think of a way to avoid the death she was certain was coming. After only a second's struggle she managed to say, "No. I was forced to leave your service."
The Dark Lord's face was so far from being human any more that Pansy couldn't be sure that the look upon it was shock but it was the closest emotion she could read from him.
"I see. How were you forced then?"
"Member's of the Order caught me trying to capture a witch that I had sensed. They choked me to make it seem like I was dead and then when I awoke I was locked in a room."
Voldemort seemed to believe her; he had no reason not to. Pansy's head now felt completely clear and she had no difficulty in lying to his next question.
"What information did you give them about me? And why was Harry Potter with you?"
"I hate to admit my Lord that they forced some information from me. I told them that I was searching for powerful witches and wizards to try and glean information from them. Other than that I do not know anything important to tell them. It is impossible for me to give away any information of your whereabouts. I told them that I was too unimportant for you to bother with. Potter was there in case I said anything useful that he would understand but there was nothing to tell."
Voldemort seemed amused by her last comment. "Fair enough. You are correct that you are not important enough to be given information. However you are going to prove very important to me in other ways. Who would have thought that I had sent you searching for power when you held it all along? All I need now is the fourth and I will have everything." He seemed to realise that he was speaking out loud.
"None of that matters to you though. Are you still loyal to me?"
Pansy nodded and lied, "Of course my Lord."
"Very well then. You may be of use with the other two."
I originally was going to write this so that it seemed Pansy actually was going to go back to Voldemort's side but it just wasn't working out. So sorry it's not got the tense atmosphere I was hoping for but hopefully that will come in a few chapters anyway!