It was the fourth day of her confinement, and she knew she wouldn't last much longer.

Cassi's head snapped unpleasantly as she reeled from a blow. There were bruises everywhere from Malfoy's heavy hand and cuts that wouldn't heal because of special magic, and her whole system was worn down from resisting truth drugs. She was pale from loss of blood and she was rail-thin from starvation, and she figured she looked terrible - but she was past the point of caring. The only thing that mattered was staying silent. No words, no screams, nothing. Not a sound, no satisfaction for her tormentor. No words. Silent as the grave...silent as the grave...silent-

Another blow fell. Cassi's head whipped the other way this time, and she heard her spine pop. A searing pain shot down her arm - her shoulder had been popped out of its socket. But that took second priority, because Malfoy was beginning to turn truly nasty. "You're a disgrace to wizardkind," he snarled, "you're a sorry excuse for a witch. You won't be let back into that school after this, no one will want you - damaged. Clearly it's already begun; where are your rescuers? Who's coming for you? Who's going to risk their lives for you, a no one? You're pathetic, and your only hope of usefulness is to tell me what you know of Snape so that lives can be spared. One of them being yours."

His face leered uncomfortably close to hers, but she ignored him. She had hardly even heard his insults; her mind was elsewhere. Cassi had learned on her second day that the best way to keep quiet was to think of other things. She had also discovered that it was hard to keep her wandering mind off Snape. So, for the past three days, her head had been filled with nothing but thoughts of Snape. Everything he ever said, everything he ever did, every insult he gave, every expression he made - all of it came back. Not a single word or glance escaped her memory. And she learned, from this extensive study of his character, that she had loved him all along.

It wasn't hard to see when Cassi looked back, even though at the time it had all been so confusing. Given a different vantage point, she finally began to truly see the kind of sufferings Snape went through, and how hard it was for him to decide to love her. She admired his strength, and she had promised herself that she would stay just as strong now. She would not cry, no matter how alone she felt or how much it hurt. She was doing it all for him.

She was jolted out of her thoughts by a sudden connection with the wall. Her back slammed into the unforgiving stone, then she dropped to the floor. She looked up in surprise - the magical ropes holding her to her chair had been severed for the first time, and Malfoy was advancing with his wand held menacingly and a manic expression on his face. Cassi wondered if he had cracked and was finally about to kill her. Closing her eyes and resting her head on her hands, she let out a sigh of relief - the first sound she had made in four days. She would be happy to be free from this torture, so so happy...

She felt a hand grasp her hair and yank her head up. She opened her eyes to see Malfoy kneeling on the cold floor beside her, a cruel smile on his lips. "Not yet, Miss Renner," he whispered in her ear. "I couldn't kill you yet. I have to show you something first." He stood swiftly and whirled around, casting a spell behind him that lifted Cassi and threw her across the room. She collided with the opposite wall and slumped down, feeling blood trickle around her ear.

"You have not even begun to see the things of which I am capable!" Malfoy snarled. "I have been ever true to the Dark Lord and his ways - I should be the one constantly by his side. You cannot take that from me." With that, he raised his wand and uttered the incantation she had been expecting to hear since the moment she was captured - "Crucio."

She immediately began writhing on the floor. Her skin was crawling with the pain, there was so much, it was everywhere, intense pain, rising from the center of her body and spreading and clawing its way to the surface of her skin, only to turn around and burrow right back through. It felt like minutes passed before she was left with only the phantom memory of the pain. Malfoy advanced on her.

"I am stronger than you think, Renner, and you are mistaken if you think I would spare you pain by killing you quickly." He raised his wand again. "I will kill you slowly - by pain. You will die of pain, and there will be no one to laugh but me. How tragic. Goodbye, blood-traitor."

And the pain began again.

This curse was stronger than the last, and Cassi finally gave in. She screamed. She didn't care that she had promised not to make a sound, she didn't care that she seemed weak, she didn't even care that Snape was still in danger. She just screamed. She screamed until her voice cracked and no more sound came out. The pain lasted forever.

When the pain stopped, it took her a while to notice. The memory of the pain hurt her as much as the real thing did. But eventually she realized that something wasn't right. She felt herself beginning to lose consciousness. She slowly opened her eyes, wondering if Malfoy had changed his mind about killing her slowly, but immediately shut them again. A bright, silvery light pervaded that cold dungeon, chasing away the darkness and the pain that there was so much of. She could hear someone yell a curse and a thud as a body dropped to the floor, but couldn't see what was happening. Eventually the glow faded, and Cassi could feel the darkness taking her, but her ears caught a few words from the same direction the light had come from. She figured she must be hallucinating, though, because they didn't make any sense.

"Malfoy, I've spent many years fighting alongside you. Let me give you some advice - don't keep underage witches locked up in your dungeons, it looks unprofessional. Why don't I do you a favor and take this one off your hands?"

Her foggy brain thought that was a terribly clever thing to say, and she fell asleep with a smile on her face.