Well here it is everyone...this is the chapter you've been begging me for so badly...read on and enjoy...let me know what you think...

Disclaimer: If only...however I am not JK Rowling...

Pensieves and Trances

It was a few hours later that Hermione's eyes opened slowly to gaze around the familiar room. Every part of her body ached and breathing was painful. She tried to sit up but for some reason her body decided not to listen.

She felt lightheaded as her eyes rolled in her head. The light that surrounded her was dim and she felt the soft covers that were pulled up to her chin warming her chilled flesh. It was the sound of the door somewhere to her right being opened and then closed softly again that made her wish she could turn her head.

A person, unknown to Hermione for her vision was blurred, approached the bed. All she could make out were colors smashed together in a shape. This person was a mass of black and white and quite tall.

"I'm glad to see you're awake Mrs. Malfoy." Said the voice of Voldemort. She cringed at the sound of his voice saying that name. That wasn't her name.

She opened her mouth to utter something along the lines of how much she detested him but no sound came out. Her throat was dry and her voice refused to work properly. But it seemed as though Voldemort hadn't really come to listen just yet but to explain.

"You are quite resilient." He said as if admiring her. "Any normal witch, whether Mudblood or Pure would have surely fallen dead by this time. You however refuse to do that."

Hermione wondered what he was talking about. For some reason she couldn't remember just what it was that had happened to her. She tried to force her mind to remember but it only made her head pound more.

"Do not try to remember, for there are no memories. I have removed them for analyzing. They are clouded and unintelligent, and to figure out just what happened we need to see what you saw. But do not fret, you will have them when we have fixed them." He said perching himself on the edge of the bed beside her.

She turned her head the tiny amount that she was able to and looked up at the man that had been the cause of all of this. It had to be him in some way whether directly or indirectly. If he hadn't kidnapped her she wouldn't be going through all this.

"You look as if you are in great pain Mrs. Malfoy." Voldemort said finally coming into focus as her eyes adjusted to the light and her basic surroundings. "There are things that can be done to fix that."

Hermione stared at him. Was he offering to lessen her pain? Was Voldemort actually asking something that would help her? It baffled Hermione so much that her head began to pound forcing her to close her eyes against the room.

As she lay there with her eyes closed she felt something touch her forehead. Then she felt the pain in her head slowly begin to subside. He was taking away all the pain in her body. She felt every bit of pain slowly lift from her body seeming to evaporate into the air. When he finished she opened her eyes.

"I want to know what happened." She said softly. "Did I go to the reception?"

"No. I'm afraid you never made it to the reception." Voldemort said still sitting on the edge of the bed beside her.

She felt strange being so close to the man who had done such horrible things to people. She wanted to move away. She wanted to run from him, to run back to her friends who would keep her safe from him.

"You have been here for quite a while. In fact we were afraid that you might not even wake up." Voldemort said a smile upon his face.

'You mean you were hoping I wouldn't wake up.'

Voldemort stood at that point and started across the room. It was then, as she watched him walking to a door, that she noticed she wasn't in her room. She was back in Draco's. She wondered why they would take her there.

"Are things ready yet?" Voldemort asked someone through the door.

Hermione knew he must have been talking to a Death Eater about her memories. It made her feel weird that there was a group of people going through her memories, ones she didn't even know for she didn't have them.

"Yes my Lord. We've just cleaned the last one." Said the voice of Macnair.

She watched as Macnair entered the room carrying a large basin. It was made of a dark black stone and looked to be quite heavy. Voldemort followed Macnair to the other edge of the bed where he sat the stone basin down and Hermione was able to peek at what was inside.

It was filled with swirling white material that she remembered Harry describing to her. This was a pensieve. She sat up as best she could and looked into the swirling mass that were thoughts.

"I'm going to put them into your head now Hermione." He said bringing her attention back to him. She shivered at his saying her name. It sounded so wrong coming from him.

He pushed Hermione back down onto the bed and told her to close her eyes. Of course she listened to him not wanting him to use his wand for other things. As she lay there she would feel his wand tip touch the side of her head something cool brushing her cheek every once in a while. But nothing appeared in her mind like she'd thought would happen.

"Open your eyes." He commanded.

She did as he said and sat up. The first person that she saw however sent fear into her. There standing at the end of the bed was Draco. All the memories came flooding back to her in an instant.

"NO! Keep him away from me." She screamed. Voldemort looked from Hermione to Draco who looked quite astonished.

"What do you see Hermione." Voldemort asked making sure that she was focused on him. "Close your eyes and describe everything as it happens."

Hermione glanced at Draco fear filling her eyes. She was afraid to shut them, afraid of what might happen. But she closed her eyes as Voldemort had instructed and let the memories come back.

"I was standing at the mirror. I was trying to get the zipper of my dress to open because it was stuck. There was a knock and I thought it was Draco so I said come in. It was him, but he looked angry. He stood in the doorway for a moment before he took out a dagger."

"He lunged at me but I got out of the way as fast as I could. He broke the mirror and basically chased me around the bathroom. It's kind of mixed up but I remember at one point he stabbed me in the side. That was when I fell and he dragged me across the room. Then he picked me up and carried me away down the stairs and out of the house." She couldn't look over at Draco. She couldn't see the person who had done it all to her, even if it was her husband.

"He took me out to the forest and I tried to get away but he held me to tightly. Then we got to that lake and he told me that he hoped I'd die and he'd never have to see me again. He used his wand to cast a spell and that's all I know." She said her whole body beginning to shiver at the memories.

Such horrible things were happening to her. Nothing like this had ever happened when she was with Harry and she was fighting against these people. But now that she was with them things had grown worse. She wanted to get away from them. She needed to or she wasn't sure that she'd live to see September.

"We must find this person. I will not allow this to happen any longer." Voldemort said calmly.

"But he's right there. It was Draco!" Hermione cried looking around at everyone in the room except Draco.

"It was not. I would never do that. Why would I hurt you when I would die for it?" Draco said angrily.

Hermione's eyes finally shifted to him. He stood there tall and strong. He had hated her for years so he had every reason to want to do it. But would he be so stupid as to attempt to kill her on the day of their wedding?

"It was not your husband. It was someone who has been trying to kill you since you arrived here and their methods have been getting more and more clever." Voldemort said standing. He snapped his fingers and immediately Macnair rose and took the pensieve from the room.

"Who would try to kill me? Who would do such a thing when I'm sleeping right down the hall from you?" Hermione said aloud.

"Someone who obviously doesn't realize just why you're here. But they should understand now I think." He said before leaving the room.

Hermione lay in her bed Draco watching her. She couldn't understand why someone would really try to kill her when she was where she was, when she was so close to Voldemort, when she was married to who she was. She couldn't fight it anymore; she was apart of them even though she didn't wish to be. She was the wife of the future first minister to Voldemort; she was very much apart of the Death Eaters though she would fight against them in the coming war.

"I was the one who found you." Came Draco's voice from the end of the bed.

"What?"

"I was the one that went to get you because you were taking so long. When I saw your room in that state and I saw the blood I followed the trail. I went out to the lake after I heard you scream. There was a splash and you were gone when I got there. The Dark Lord was the one who got you out, but you barely lived. The Inferi were already fighting over you. Another minute and you would have been one of them." Draco said softly. He hated thinking about death, and that whole lake was filled with it, and she had been at the bottom.

"Inferi? No one told me there were Inferi." She said in a panicked tone.

"It's ok. They didn't infect you. The Dark Lord got you out before any of them could bite you." He said walking around to stand by her side.

"I want to go home. I want to get far away from here forever. I don't want to go through this anymore. I don't think I'll last much longer."

"What a pity, because we have to perform your punishment this evening. In an hour to be precise." Came the voice of Voldemort from the doorway. "Watch her for the hour. Then we will come for her. You know what will happen after that Draco."

Then he vanished again, leaving just as noiselessly as he had entered. Draco's head turned back to Hermione whose eyes were wide with fear. She had hoped with this horrible experience she wouldn't have to go through with the punishment but she knew that hoping for a kind-hearted thing was like hoping for snow in hell.

"I'm going to die tonight." She said lying her head back on the pillow and closing her eyes. "There's no way I'll survive this."

"There's one way that you can get off a little lighter." Draco said softly into her ear. Hearing those words made her eyes open and she turned to listen to his proposition.

"Bring forward the girl." Voldemort called an hour and fifteen minutes later.

He was standing in the center of a large empty room. The walls and floor were grey concrete and were so very hard and unforgiving. Water trickled from spouts fixed into the walls, making small puddles on the floor. Hermione walked her arms tied behind her back between two very large men.

They pushed her forward to stand between to thick metal poles that rose from the floor. There were chains that would soon be attached to her wrists and ankles dangling from the poles. She kept her head bent and refrained from looking around at the Death Eaters who came to was another Mudblood get beaten.

"Restrain her." Voldemort said his voice echoing back into Hermione's ears a thousand times louder.

The ropes that held her arms behind her back were loosened and her hand were clamped with the shackles. They had told her to put on these long black robes with only her underwear underneath, and she obeyed wishing she didn't even have to go through this.

As the shackles were placed around her ankles Hermione looked up. She saw that she was standing just before Voldemort who seemed pleased with everything that he was seeing. Nearby stood Lucius who had his eyes narrowed slightly and beside him Draco. Draco however looked at her with a point. His stare had a meaning that he hoped she understood, and she did.

"On your knees." Voldemort commanded.

Hermione knelt down, wishing the floor were softer. She was kneeling before him as he pulled out a role of parchment and unrolled it slowly. As he started to read Hermione remained still as she knew that he wanted. She bowed her head and said nothing as he read her fate.

"Hermione Malfoy is sentenced to fifty lashings by whip for attempted escape. Let it be known that I Lord Voldemort am to administer all fifty lashings. And now if I shall have the whip we will begin."

Voldemort put away the parchment and Hermione made sure to keep her head down. She was preparing herself for the pain. As she concentrated she heard the shuffling of feet before her and behind her. Two sets of hands had grabbed the back of her robes and pulled them up. Her entire back was exposed and she could feel the vulnerability creeping up but she wouldn't let it effect her.

She shut her eyes tight and concentrated. She thought about Harry and what he would be doing right then if this were he. He would show no weakness and she would do just the same. She focused on Harry and Ron, wishing she were anywhere but there, with people that cared about her.

The first smack echoed through the room. Hermione barely moved yet she felt the pain. She felt the sting but fought. She fought against her body telling it that there was no pain. The second came, to no effect at all. Draco watched, as every few seconds the Dark Lord delivered another blow. He watched Hermione's back slowly redden and start to swell; yet she hardly flinched.

'What is she doing! I told her to faint. That's the only way she'll get through it.' Draco thought angrily in his mind. She wasn't going to listen to his advice but try and be strong and defiant.

Hermione was doing quite well, something that surprised both Draco and the Dark Lord. The twenty-five lashings with the first tool were almost complete and Hermione had hardly flinched at all. Draco wondered how it was possible at all. He had seen some of the strongest men cry out in pain after twenty-five.

As the last blow was delivered the Dark Lord crouched took her by the chin. He lifted her face and Draco saw that her eyes were closed. They weren't clenched tight but closed as if she had dozed off.

"She is meditating. She is putting the pain in the back of her mind. What amazing resilience this girl has. Smart powerful and strong." Voldemort seemed to appreciate what talents she had as he took the second tool in his hand. Hermione's head fell back down as he let it go. He rose and watched her for a moment. Draco wondered if he was contemplating whether or not to do it.

Her back was a deep red color. There were welts that looked painful even to Draco beginning to swell. But she made no noise of pain. She made no move to fight back or resist or beg. She just remained there on her hands and knees before her enemy.

Voldemort raised the whip and took his first shot. There was a sickening crack that echoed through the room. The blow had created a gash right across the middle of her back and blood began to slowly trickle down the sides.

It wasn't the initial contact that caused the damage but the quick pull back. It was a whip and used in the same way as a whip only it was much shorter, therefore when it was cracked across her back it's return pulled a layer of skin with it.

Smack after smack created a pattern of ruby red gashes. Blood spilled from the wounds in an even flow that dripped onto the floor in a puddle. It grew larger with every hit to an already damaged spot. After fifteen more hits Hermione was kneeling in a pool of her own blood. Her hands were drenched in it, the same liquid that seemed to always be spilling from her body.

Draco watched Hermione's face, which was hidden by hair at every hit. He noticed that she still didn't seem to move even though her back was literally being ripped to shreds. She was in such a deep meditation it would take a spell to wake her.

It was finished five minutes later. Voldemort handed the bloody whip to another man and walked over to crouch before Hermione again. He lifted her head and saw that even though she was bloodied and broken, she looked peaceful.

"Take her to the house and have a house elf treat her wounds. Then take her to Draco's room." Voldemort said standing.

"My Lord, are we to take them to their home this evening?" Lucius asked stepping up to walk beside Voldemort.

"Not tonight. The girl will need the night to heal. When she comes to you room Draco wake her. Let her feel the bit of pain that will be left over." And with that he left.

Draco walked beside the body of Hermione as it floated on a stretcher above the ground. Macnair who was like the couples body guard now walked beside her as well leading her through the woods. They were silent the only sounds heard were the crunching of the leaves beneath their feet.

When they arrived at the house there was an elf waiting by the door to receive Hermione. It took control of the magical stretcher leading it into a small room and lying her on a cot. The elf moved quickly, placing its hands an inch or two over the broken skin. Draco watched as the wounds began to heal slightly. The skin seemed to be closing over the gashes leaving no trace at all that there was even a wound.

"I've never seen anything like that before in my life." Macnair uttered finally.

"What?"

"In all the years that I've been a servant to the Dark Lord, I've never seen someone go through a beating like that and not utter at least a moan. She never made a sound. She looks as if she's asleep. It's amazing. Is this girl really a Mudblood?"

"Yes. Her parents are both muggles." Draco said turning away from Macnair to watch the elf again.

He heard the large man beside him whisper amazing before the elf finished. Her back looked normal making Draco wonder what pain she would be in, but Draco knew there would be pain. When the Dark Lord said something you could take it as a promise.

She was taken to his room and Macnair left a moment later after making sure that the windows were all secured and there was no way for her to escape. He was concerned that if she could go through that beating she would risk trying to escape and going through more.

When Draco was alone with her he wanted nothing more than to just change and go to sleep but he was told to wake her and that's what he would do. He took out his wand and cast the only thing that he could think of to wake her.

A moment or two passed and he thought that the spell had failed, but then he saw her eyes begin to flutter open, eyelids pulling back to reveal the chocolate brown lids. But as her eyes opened he saw the pain in them.

She let out a short soft moan closing her eyes again. Draco walked around the side of the bed and looked down on her. When she opened her eyes the pain in them seemed to go away.

"What happened?" she asked. "The last thing I remember is getting on my knees."

"You got your punishment of course. But you were in a trance or something. You couldn't feel anything, but you're feeling pain now aren't you?"

"I guess. It doesn't feel like I'm being lashed though. It's worse. Like sharp pain coursing through my body."

"Well if you had just listened to me this wouldn't have happened. Why the hell didn't you let yourself faint? Why couldn't you just listen to something I say once?" Draco said throwing his arms in the air as he paced the length of the bed.

"If you had said something that you knew I would do I might have listened. You had to expect I wouldn't listen to your sorry excuse for advice. I will never roll over and play dead for that man, Draco, and you should have known that before you said anything."

"Well since you decided to be defiant again I'm stuck taking care of you." Draco said angrily turning on her.

"I never asked you to. Don't touch me if you feel that way about it." She said attempting to sit up. A horrific pain wracked her entire body but she just gritted her teeth and lay back again. She was determined to remain calm and stony faced, not wishing him to see the pain. If he was going to act like a pureblooded bastard she was going to be defiant with him as well.

"Don't act like that to me. I'm your husband now and you have to treat me with respect." He said knowing in his head that he was dead wrong.

"And where does it say that? My parents never treated each other with respect." Hermione said softly.

Draco looked at her and noticed the sadness that crept into her eyes. She looked away from him toward the door. He wondered if she was thinking of disregarding the pain and getting up to leave the room. He wouldn't put it past her and if she did he would have to stop her and bring her back. But she didn't make a move; she just lay there. That's when he noticed the tiny trickle running down her cheek and disappearing.

Without a word Draco used his wand to change her into a comfy pair of pants and tank top. She still didn't turn though he was sure that she knew what he did. He used it again to change himself into his usual sweatpants.

He crawled into the bed pulling the covers up around himself. Hermione was lying there very still, facing the door as she had been before. He wondered if she had finished crying or if she was even awake any longer.

He waved his wand and the lights around the room extinguished themselves. He curled up with his back to his new wife and closed his eyes. He hoped that sleep would come soon for him and for once his wish seemed to be granted.

Hermione however, lay awake for hours in that bed, clenching and unclenching her fists. She ground her teeth together as her jaw tightened. Her eyes were shut tight as every wave of pain passed through her. She held in her vomit and covered her mouth with a hand when the pain grew so intense that she thought she would scream. All the while she hoped she would hurt so much she'd pass out, but relief didn't come until the early hours of the next morning.

Well that was it...now on to the mystic unknown...what will happen to Hermione now that she is married to the handsome Draco? What will happen to Voldemort now that Hermione has shone her true strength? What's going to happen if I don't get another chapter out soon...i know the answer to that one...

Starry