Disclaimer: Not mine. OH I wish it was. Alas, she's rich, I'm not. 'spose I'll get over it.
A/N: I'm SOOO sorry I haven't updated in a while but I was busy. Well here's another chapter. I'll probably not update again until after Christmas so just in case….. MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!!!!!!!!
Chapter 7: Déjà vu
Hermione walked to the portrait hole and froze as she heard muffled cries of help. She ran up to Dumbledore's office trying to guess the password.
"Ugh! I don't have time for this!"
She went to Snape's office as fast as she could and got there before him. She put on the invisibility cloak glad she had it. Seeing a Death Eater, she put a full body bind on him before he knew what hit him.
Finally, she saw Snape and informed him of what happened.
Hermione was a good fighter and she finally decided to go to the Gryffindor common room. She saw Nick the ghost of Gryffindor down the hall and asked him to see who was in there.
He told her it was Bellatrix.
He asked the Fat Lady if she would open the portrait and she said yes for she knew him. Hermione slipped inside behind him unseen.
She saw three Death eaters tying up Ron, Harry, and Ginny. She used that spell she used before to blast them off their feet. Then she hexed them while they were on the ground. Bella managed to dodge the hexes and cornered Hermione taking off the cloak. Hermione looked at Bella fearfully.
"Aren't Death Eaters supposed to like each other?" Harry asked.
"They don't like me much because I can kick their ass in magic." Hermione smirked.
She used the distraction to call for help
'Help! I'm in my common room and I swear Bella is seconds from killing me!' she screamed in her mind.
'I'll be right there!' she heard Lucius say
"Any last words mudblood?" she asked.
Hermione opened her mouth and felt Déjà Vu. "Are you feeling Déjà Vu?" Hermione asked slyly.
"Why you little…" she stopped suddenly
There was a bang and green smoke filled the room.
"Why Bella, I don't remember this being our plans." Lucius said coldly.
Every Death Eater dropped to the floor including Hermione.
"Hermione get up my loyal follower."
"Get up you pieces of filth!" he barked to the rest of them.
Bella tried to gain back her speech failing miserably.
Hermione waved her wand and Bellatrix flew into the other wall right next to Lucius.
"Well this is a nice greeting huh?" he asked wickedly.
Bellatrix gazed up at him in terror.
He waved his hand and she flinched but all that happened was the ropes vanished off the three students.
"Mention this ever and I might not be so generous." He hissed to them.
Ron and Ginny stepped back slightly but Harry stood his ground and just watched.
Hermione watched with a slight smile on her face knowing Bella was about to get it badly.
He pointed to the study room and the rest of the Death Eaters walked in there.
Lucius looked straight at Hermione.
'Erase their memories when we leave.' He ordered
'But…' she started
He fixed her with a bitter stare.
She swallowed hard.
'As you wish my Lord' she said.
As soon as she heard the pop of them leaving, she turned to her friends.
"You know what I have to do." She said staring at Harry.
He sighed. "Go ahead." He braced himself.
She muttered the incantation and tapped each of their heads.
They looked at her confused.
"Did you call us or something?" Ron asked.
"No you came running down the stairs saying something about spiders and woke us all up!"
"Oh." Ron said looking embarrassed.
They all laughed.
"Come on. Let's go back to bed before everyone else wakes up yelling at us." She said.
******************
The next few weeks passed by surprisingly fast. Most of it seemed because the four friends had become almost as infamous as Fred and George with all their pranks.
Well they were starting to really piss off Snape.
Two months passed after that night with Bella and finally she felt her mark burn.
It was Valentine's Day and it had been the best day ever. She couldn't believe what she had done!
The four with the help of Fred and George had sprayed dirt on the pictures and switched Filch's portrait cleaner with love potion. The pictures kept kissing! Of course, with all the photos kissing, no one could stop the students from showing their feelings!
Hermione groaned at the mark burning.
"Oh no. Not now." she whispered.
She fled the building and saw Snape already there with a stern expression on his face.
"We will talk about the pictures later." he hissed menacingly.
She gulped nervously and they apparated to the Dark Lords side.
When they got there, they kneeled before the Dark Lord.
"You're late." He said.
"We are sorry my Lord but I got in some trouble in school." Hermione said. She decided to be as truthful as possible.
"What kind of trouble?" he asked.
"I did a prank with my friends." She said.
Surprisingly he laughed.
"Get up and go to your places." He said.
When she turned around, she did not like the look Bella was giving her.
"Death Eaters! I have some good news for you. We will be going to Pleasure Gardens to destroy people's love-making!" he said
Everyone cheered.
"Can I stay with you today?" she asked Snape.
He looked in the direction of her gaze and saw Bella giving her an evil look.
"Sure but you're going to have to join in," he warned.
"I don't care as long as it isn't me they are torturing!" she whispered.
"Let's move out!" Lucius said.
They all disappeared with a pop.
Hermione went with Snape and joined the fray of wizards advancing on the muggles.
Everyone started shooting off hexes but Hermione used only the simplest hexes. That was until Bella blasted her off her feet.
They started a full out duel then. Anger coursed through her giving her strength whenever Bella hit her.
They danced around each other and Bella fueled her anger with taunts.
"Come on small fry! Can't you do better than that?" she scorned
Hermione clenched her fists and dodged another hex while sending an answering one.
Finally, Bella screamed the words.
"AVADA KEDAVRA!"
Hermione cheated death by a centimeter. Wow, that made her angry. She shot off so many hexes she thought her wand would break.
Nobody had ever seen Hermione that angry. Everyone around her backed away as she made her way to Bella who was struggling to breathe. Even Lucius was amazed and looking at her uncertainly.
She walked up to Bella. "Don't you ever try doing that again or this will be nothing compared to the pain you would feel then!" she spat menacingly.
If anything, Bella looked more gleeful than before. "Well it looks like my plan has worked perfectly pet. You will be the perfect Death Eater now." She cackled a psychotic laugh.
Hermione was boiling with rage. She had tried to trick her! Well she wouldn't give her that satisfaction of winning.
It didn't really matter because Hermione was still caring deep inside. That was just buried under all the hate for Bellatrix.
She took a deep breath and tried to calm herself.
"You don't know anything about me so until you do you should keep quiet before it gets you in trouble." She hissed rebelliously.
When Snape and Hermione got to Hogwarts that was when she started getting nervous. Snape noticed she kept casting him uneasy glances and realized she was scared of him! That was when he remembered about the little 'talk' they were supposed to have.
"So about the pictures." He said slowly and had to fight a grin when he saw her pale slightly.
He loved being able to intimidate people.
He looked at her and asked, "Did you do it?"
She started to shake her head, her eyes big and innocent but when his eyes flashed dangerously she quickly threw away the act of little miss innocent and nodded her head.
He could probably get her to confess who helped.
"Who were the other people that helped with it?" he asked. She didn't answer so he turned to look at her.
"I asked you a question." he said.
She shook her head disobediently.
"I'm not telling," she said with a stubborn look on her face.
Snape could tell she feared what he might do for being disobedient to a Professor.
Severus smiled coldly and advanced slowly on her.
Hermione backed up until she hit a fence. Snape walked so close that their bodies were almost touching.
She swallowed hard as Severus put his arms on either side of her and trapped her.
He could literally small her fear and he had to suppress a laugh.
"Now what did you say those names were?" he asked.
Hermione felt like screaming in fear. The only thing actually keeping her from blasting him into a tree and running for her life was the fact that he was her potions master.
Hermione couldn't get her friends in trouble though!
"I didn't say," she said looking up at him with her stomach in knots.
Snape raised an eyebrow. "Fine. I guess I can just give you detention for…. How about a month with me?" he asked.
Hermione felt her knees trembling. A month of detention with him!
Snape watched Hermione's reactions with amusement. She was clearly terrified.
"Okay so that's settled. You'll have detention with me at seven every night for a month. Don't be late." he said before turning around and walking off.
*******************************
The next few weeks at Hogwarts, Hermione helped as many people as she could just to prove Bella was wrong about the way she felt about other people.
She helped people who fell in trick stairs or stuck up for people who were picked on and even lent people her notes.
Instead of people making fun of her, she now had many friends but of course, she still stuck with her old ones.
She played more tricks thoroughly astonishing the teachers and pissing off Snape.
One night they silently crept out of bed going to do another prank.
They went to the corridor where all the Slytherins had to go through to get anywhere and muttered a couple of spells.
They had to do it all together because the spells were advanced.
When the Slytherins walked out in the morning, they would get a pretty big surprise.
They waited impatiently for morning to arrive.
Hermione awoke to Ginny jumping on her bed. "Come on! Wake up! You don't want to be late to see our prank happen!"
Hermione jumped out of bed and the two girls woke up everyone else with their boisterous squealing. They tramped down the stairs and glared at the two girls.
They went down to breakfast and waited for the first Slytherins.
When the first one came, you could tell he was furious.
They all burst into hysterical laughter at the sight of him but one look from Snape silenced Hermione immediately and she gulped. He looked murderous.
The boy had green skin and webbed feet. He also had webs between his fingers. Little antennas were sprouting out of his head and he had an extra eye in the middle of his forehead.
Basically, the spell was supposed to show a person's favorite character in a fairy tale. The other kids were even more hilarious but Hermione stayed quiet knowing she was going to be in some major trouble with Snape.
The thing she dreaded telling him was that the spell wouldn't wear off until three days. Then she would be dead meat.
As her friends finished breakfast, she stood to go with them but Snape shot her a look clearly telling her Office NOW! She felt her heartbeat quicken and she mumbled something to her friends about a book she left and they headed on without her.
She slowly made her way to Snape's office feeling much as if she was walking to her own funeral.
When she got there, she saw Snape standing there with a look in his eyes that petrified her.
She walked past him cautiously fearing that at any time he would choose to strike her.
As soon as she walked through the doorframe, he closed the door with a snap, sealed it, and put a silencing charm on it.
He walked towards her and she backed up until she hit the wall.
Her brain was screaming at her to run but her legs wouldn't obey.
It finally hit her that she was standing in a corner and she was trapped. She knew that her eyes were betraying her fear but she didn't care she just wanted to get it over with.
Finally, he talked. "Tell me. How do you get rid of the spell?" he asked.
Hermione felt herself pale and she shrank against the wall wanting to disappear. Snape didn't fail to notice this and his eyes flashed.
She flinched. "You do know how to take it off right?" he asked in a dangerous voice.
She looked at him her face filled with terror. "It wears off in three days." She squeaked out.
His face showed nothing but anger and she started to tremble with fear. She had never seen him this angry before!
"We just did it for fun," she mumbled but unfortunately, his sensitive ears caught the words.
"You just did it for fun? For FUN!?" he asked. His tone was hard and sharp as a razor.
She recoiled from his sharpness almost wishing he had shouted instead.
He advanced closer to her and she felt the rest of the blood draining out of her face.
"W-what are you going to do?" she asked in a small voice.
"Nothing really. Just give you what you deserve." He said with a psychotic grin on his face.
He muttered a quick spell and although she couldn't feel any ropes, she felt like she was tied up.
He pushed her hard onto the ground and she let out a yelp of surprise.
She tried to move away from him but she couldn't move her hands.
"Maybe this will teach you not to play stupid tricks on Slytherins!" he hissed.
She clenched her mouth shut knowing she would say something stupid digging her grave even deeper.
The words slipped out before she could stop them.
"I will do as many tricks on the Slytherins as I want!" she said defiantly.
Too late to take them back now she thought.
She stared up at him in fear not believing what she had just said. She didn't think she would actually say something that plain stupid!
He glared at her and suddenly she felt a sharp pain in her side and she yelped.
Then she felt as if someone had pressed her against a wall and shoved something hard against her stomach like a rock.
Without warning, she went flying against the wall and felt as if she were being pressed between two walls.
She looked at Snape pleading with him but he was staring at her in shock and she become conscious that he wasn't doing it.
Then who was doing this to her? Then she heard the voice.
'Still think you want to play pranks on Slytherins?' Lucius sneered.
Her eyes widened in terror.
'Master I swear I tried to stop myself from saying those words but-'she broke off as pain hit her again.
She clutched her stomach with her arms, which could move again. She felt like a rock was repeatedly being thrown on top off her hard.
'Master please. Mercy. I'm sorry. I swear I will never play another prank again just please stop.' She begged tears streaming down her face.
She felt this time like something was on top of her crushing her and she shrieked in pain but the next second it was gone.
'And may you not forget that promise' Lucius hissed.
She scrambled to her feet and looked at Snape who was standing there with his mouth open. "Can I go now?" she asked her voice trembling.
He nodded as he removed the silencing and sealing charm.
Hermione ran as fast as she could to the common room wiping away the tears on her face.
As she burst through the portrait hole and her friends ran toward her, she shook her head and pulled Ginny toward the study room with her.
She locked the door and faced Ginny.
Ginny could tell she had been crying. "What's wrong?" she asked.
"He hurt me. The Dark Lord. I didn't even mean to say it! It's as if someone keeps possessing me to say rude things so I will get in trouble! I'm scared Ginny!" she wailed.
"I only know of one person who would do that and it's Bella but I can't imagine how she would be doing it." She said.
"How about some Polyjuice Potion?" Ginny's voice suddenly turned cold and her body started shaking.
Hermione started to back away shaking her head. "No, no, no, no, NO!" she screamed. Then she suddenly stopped as a sudden thought came to her head. "Where's Ginny?" she asked.
Bella laughed a cruel laugh. "You mean your friend? She's been better. She fought like a dragon I have to admit." She said.
"You won't get away with this." Hermione said pointing her wand at the door behind her. Harry and her had set up an emergency communication way. She would zap him if she was in trouble and that's what she did now.
She edged away from the door and it flew open Harry standing there ready to fight.
His eyes widened when he saw Bella and then he smiled. "Hasn't Hermione kicked your arse more than enough times already, or haven't you flown into a wall enough times?" he asked with a sly look on his face.
She shot a hex at him and he dodged it laughing. "Can't you do better than that?" He asked. He shot three stinging hexes at her and she dodged them all but one. She cried out in pain and then narrowed her eyes.
Hermione yelled "Flamacto!" And Bella's robe caught on fire.
"Stupefy!" Harry yelled and put out the fire when she fell.
"Well that was boring!" Harry said turning to Hermione.
"Yes it was. However, it's going to get a lot better. We have work to do!" she said
"Wait! Where's Ginny?" he asked.
"Exactly. They took her. Let's get Ron and I'll tell Lucius not to do all the work. We want to fight too!" she said.
They ran to get Ron.
He was furious someone had taken his sister.
'Master?' she asked anxiously.
'Yes?' came the reply.
'Um Bella took my friend's little sis and I was hoping you would let us fight to get Ginny back. Do you know where she could be?' she asked.
'As a matter of fact I do. And yes you may fight but I will be there too.' He said.
He told her the location and she and her two friends set off for an apparating spot. She held on to them and apparated.
Chapter Eight: The rescue…or is it?
When they landed, it was pitch black but Hermione still recognized the place. It was the place she met Lucius.
She started towards a door when about ten Death Eaters surrounded them.
Hermione closed her eyes and flicked her wand sending them flying.
She opened them and started attacking everyone within reach.
Soon they were all clutching some wound and the three were off again.
They found Ginny soon enough and found themselves to be surrounded by at least forty Death Eaters.
They all felt anger surge through them and that anger drove them on. Every time they were hit, they were back on their feet in seconds. Friends fighting side by side. They were tiring out fast when it happened. All three of them were hit with a hex at the same time and were thrown backwards.
"Not so hot now are you pet?" Bella's voice came out of the darkness.
"Any last words mudblood?" she asked
"When are you going to learn that those words foil your plans every time Bellatrix?" Hermione sighed.
The door flew open with a Bang and Lucius was standing there looking about ready to hex the hell out of every Death Eater that disobeyed him.
Hermione looked up sweetly at Bella. "I told you so." She said.
Bella turned furiously to Lucius. "Why did you let her in anyway? She is just a mudblood." She said
"Because Bella she is a better fighter than you will ever be. And she is only Seventeen!" he said.
"Ouch" Ron said then he laughed. "You just got told."
Bella turned to glare at him but he was oblivious to it. He just kept on laughing.
Hermione looked between Bella and Ron nervously. "Ron I think you should stop laughing." She said.
Ron didn't pay attention to her. Hermione barely saw the spell coming. She jumped to her feet and pushed Ron out of the way taking the hit herself.
Hermione doubled over in pain her chest burning. With each breath she took, it felt worse. The pain kept intensifying until she wanted to hold her breath and pass out.
She looked up at Bella who had a crazy grin on her face. Hermione's eyes pleaded with her. "Please… take… it …off." She begged starting to cry.
Bella looked thoughtful for a moment and she started to shake her head no. "Not for the world. This might end up killing you but according to the other ways I could kill you I would be showing you mercy." She said gleefully.
Hermione's eyes widened. She slid to the floor her breathing becoming more ragged and she begged Bella again.
"Please. I'll do anything it just can't have to do with hurting people. Please!" she said. Hermione clutched at her chest finding she couldn't breathe.
Finally, Bella took off the curse, Hermione gasped trying to catch her breath, and after a few minutes, Hermione slowly stood up to see Bella with a sickening gleam in her eyes. Hermione looked at her warily feeling like a deer entering a lion's domain.
Lucius looked at her as if she had done the craziest thing in the world telling Bella she would do anything for her. Hermione knew she would regret what she had said soon.
Harry was looking at Bella as if he wouldn't mind shredding her on the spot. Bella turned matching his gaze. "Still hate me for ridding the place of disgraceful people Potter?" she asked tauntingly.
Harry snapped as he lunged for her throat. He caught her unaware and she tipped backwards losing her balance. Harry drove his knee into her stomach and punched her in the face. When she raised her wand to cast a spell, he snatched it from her hands. He snapped the wand in half.
"Won't be needing this anymore" he said and burned the pieces.
Lucius was ready to step in but stopped at Bella's stare.
Bella waved her arm, and Harry suddenly found himself spinning at a dizzying speed in midair, high above the floor.
"Lesson one," Bella continued her taunting. "Not all magic begins and ends with a wand. Now," Bella lowered Harry and slowed the speed of his spinning, "shall we move on to lesson two?"
Harry wasted no time at whipping out his wand and shooting numbers of well-aimed hexes and curses at her.
"How about you never try doing that again?" he hissed menacingly.
She laughed as she took out another wand and shot off a few hexes. He dodged them easily and they dueled. Then she made a big mistake. She took her eyes off his wand to look at his face.
Harry shot hexes at her until she resembled a little more than Jell-O.
Lucius was quite amazed at this boy's ability and realized why Hermione chose him to teach her friends and classmates.
When Harry looked like he would like to kill her because she was defenseless Lucius decided to step in.
"Get out of my way. She deserves to die!" Harry snarled.
"You'll have to get through me first!" Lucius hissed menacingly.
"Fine!" he shot a few hexes towards the Dark Lord and he dodged them countering with some of his own.
Harry deflected them. They both set off a spell at the same time and when the lights hit it turned gold.
A bubble formed around them and Harry stared at Lucius in shock.
Then his eyes narrowed. "You took Voldemort's wand," he hissed.
"Only our wands had a connection." He said.
People started coming out of Lucius's wand tip and whispered encouraging thoughts to Harry while saying evil things to Lucius.
Finally, Harry saw his parents. That almost made him shatter the connection but he managed to hold on.
They floated towards him and smiled. "Harry you're such a brave boy" his mother whispered. "You are truly like a prankster. Keep going at it." His father joked.
Harry nodded numbly.
"Time to break the connection" his parents said sadly after Cedric came over and said something.
Harry gave them a small smile. "Thanks" he said softly.
Harry broke the connection and deciding he didn't want Bella's voice coming out of his wand so he leapt for her throat with his hands instead.
Bella choked and gasped as she felt she couldn't breathe. Harry tightened his grip on her throat. He could hear Hermione yelling at him but it seemed distant as he felt all his anger at Bella rise to his hands tightening them until his fingers were almost clasped.
As he felt Bella's last wisp of breath escaping, he felt a push of magic and he was pushed against a wall feeling as if he was being squeezed between two walls.
He struggled against the force but he couldn't move at all. He finally relaxed and felt the grip loosen a bit. That was all he needed. He flew at Bella knocking the wind out of her and finally her chest stopped rising.
He smiled in satisfaction but he felt someone grab him around the arm painfully and fling him hard against the wall. His anger rising again he growled and faced his attacker. It was Lucius and he had his wand pointed to his chest.
Hermione was screaming at him to stop but he silenced her with a look.
Hermione was going frantic seeing her master about to kill Harry. She wanted to leap between them but she couldn't disobey orders! She decided her friends were more important than a few broken bones he would probably give her.
She took out the basilisk fang she had brought and pulled off the locket.
She ran between Harry and Lucius careful not to stab Harry with the fang behind her back.
"Get out of the way. You are already in some deep trouble young miss. Don't want to make it worse now do you?" he asked cruelly.
Hermione shivered with fear. "Why don't you step away from my friend or you'll be in some trouble as well." She hissed.
She held up the Basilisk fang and the locket. He gasped.
"So I was right? Basilisk venom does destroy a Horcrux?" she asked with a sly grin on her face.
His eyes narrowed. "You wouldn't dare disobey me." He said with a stare sending shivers down her spine.
"Wouldn't I?" she asked putting on a brave voice.
She lowered the fang to an inch above the locket. "Put the wand down or I will be very sorry to have to break your heart." She said with a smirk worthy of Malfoy.
He lowered his wand but Hermione did not move from in front of Harry. "Catch" she said throwing the fang at Lucius. He caught the fang like she knew he would but his eyes still flashed and she gulped.
She muttered a protective spell on Harry making every curse rebound off him including Avada Kedavra. Then she stepped away from him.
Hermione looked at her feet knowing she was minutes away from being a heap at the Dark Lords feet crying and unable to move from pain.
She trembled as she felt Lucius's Icy Blue eyes turn to stare at her.
He waved his wand and a hidden door opened. She looked up and put protective spells on Ron and Ginny too. Then she looked them in the eyes thinking this might be the last time she would see them.
"In!" Lucius said in a deadly voice. Hermione flinched but she obeyed. He smiled cruelly as he closed the door and sealed it.
"I will enjoy this little girl." He hissed. He summoned her wand with the mere flick of a finger.
She paled as she realized he wouldn't even let her try to protect herself. He was just going to hit her with spell after spell after spell until she was begging for death.
She braced herself as she waited for the first wave of pain and she didn't have to wait very long. She gasped as she felt something hit her in the stomach hard. Lucius gave her a twisted smile as he revealed a little doll.
When she looked at it closely, she realized it was a voodoo doll!
That was how he had been giving her pain from far away.
He let a toe step lightly on the doll but to her it felt like she was being crushed under a boulder. He lifted his toe and she felt the pain stop.
She gasped for breath but another force lifted her from the ground. She looked at Lucius seeing he was about to drop the doll and she shook her head. "No! Please don't! I'm sorry. Please don't do it!" she wailed.
Lucius didn't give in. He dropped the doll and Hermione screamed as she hit the cement floor feeling her legs break.
She trembled as he bent down and poked at her legs making her scream in pain. Then he picked up the doll and smiling evilly at her threw it as hard as he could toward the wall. Lucky for her the walls were soft and squishy but hard enough to hurt.
When she hit the ground she thought about getting to the doll and holding it tightly so he couldn't do anything else to her but then he would just use the Unforgivable curse.
She stayed away from the doll as he went to pick it up. She could do wandless magic but that would get her in more trouble than anything.
She stayed quiet while she secretly started to heal her legs a bit. The pain started to go away but as soon as that was gone, she felt a new one in her stomach. That feeling like she was being trapped between two walls.
She noticed he had the doll lying flat and he was pressing something flat against the dolls body.
Hermione clutched her stomach trying to draw in breaths of air. She tried pushing off the invisible force but she knew it was stupid to try.
She resolved to just try and not fight it and give Lucius the pleasure that he had defeated her. The pain finally lifted and she gasped for air.
She waited for her breathing to return to normal as she watched what Lucius was going to do next.
He waved his wand and she found a cage around the doll. She looked around her and saw she was in a cage too. He got out a toy panther and she felt her heart thud painfully in her chest. Then she relaxed.
She remembered Lucius didn't know she could talk to cats and other animals for that matter including snakes.
As she watched him, she tried not to smile. He put a lock on the toy cage and suddenly she found a huge panther in front of her growling.
She walked right up to it to the utter disbelief of Lucius and the panther. Then she wacked it on the nose and growled deeply in her throat.
She smirked at the look on Lucius's face and asked the panther if he could bend the bars. He nodded his head saying he was so honored to meet a speaker of the animals and helped her.
Soon she was free with a Black Panther at her side.
She gasped as a wave of pain hit her. She felt invisible hands closing around her neck.
"Call him off!" she heard Lucius say.
She looked up to see the Panther standing on his chest. She felt like saying he was getting what he deserved when she felt the hands tighten and she struggled for air.
She pointed to her throat and he loosened by a millimeter.
She gave a few short meows to the panther and he stepped off Lucius. The Dark Lord pointed his wand at the panther but he just swatted it away with a huge paw.
Lucius shrugged as he pushed his hand forward towards the panther and he was blown off his feet. Hermione gave a few short cries asking if it was okay and he nodded.
She would have laughed at the human gesture but Lucius was really choking her now. The hands kept tightening and she dropped to her knees clawing at her throat.
The panther leapt at Lucius and took up the doll with a swipe of his paw. 'So he had been listening when I told him about the doll' Hermione thought as she felt the hands release her.
She felt a sharp pinch in her shoulder and she whimpered.
She knew the Panther hadn't meant to hurt her but it didn't make it feel any better.
The panther looked at her his eyes full of concern as if he was saying sorry.
She smiled at it showing signs of forgiveness and the twinkle returned to his eyes.
Hermione saw the panther vanish before her eyes and she let out a moan of sadness knowing Lucius had just vanished her only means of protection.
She didn't have time to mourn for her friend though when excruciating pain enveloped her.
She screamed as she felt invisible bugs bite her. Then it stopped.
She no longer had the strength to lift her head.
She closed her eyes and saw a dark shadow through her eyelids. She opened them to see Lucius standing over her.
She looked at him in terror and tried to cover herself as she saw him pull back his fist. He punched her in the face hard and she moaned thinking how many bruises she would have. And to think this all started out with trying to save Ginny and ending with getting hurt herself.
Well one good thing came out of this all. She now knew how Harry felt when being beaten by his uncle.
Lucius retrieved his wand with a wave of his hand and Hermione found herself about ten feet from the floor. She screamed but suddenly stopped as she heard a sizzling sound.
She looked towards the door to see it dissolving. In the doorway stood Harry, Ron, and Ginny.
'At least they still have the protection spells on' thought Hermione with gratefulness.
Lucius dropped Hermione in shock and Hermione dropped the ten feet to the concrete positive she had broken both legs and a few ribs.
Ginny screamed in horror and ran over to Hermione. When Lucius shot a curse at Ginny, it rebounded off her and she remained unharmed.
Lucius's eyes narrowed as he looked at Hermione. "You put that spell on her. I suggest you tell me how to take it off unless you want to suffer more pain. In fact I wouldn't mind torturing you in front of your little friends here at all." He said
He pointed his wand at the doorway and a concrete door appeared instead of a plastic one like the one before.
A padlock appeared on it and he turned back to Hermione.
She flinched under his gaze and her heart pounded harder in her chest. He waited. "No? Not going to tell me?" he asked.
She curled into a ball on the ground in silent refusal.
He raised his wand menacingly and she braced herself for more pain but it never came. She opened her eyes to see what had happened and found her three friends standing protectively in front of her. "You will not touch her anymore." Harry said strongly.
Lucius raised an eyebrow and he sneered at him. "Won't I?" he asked. With a flick of his wand, Hermione felt herself flying into his hands. She prayed the force would knock him unconscious but she soared softly into his arms.
She struggled against his hold weakly but his iron grip just tightened making her wince.
He laughed at her struggle and she felt hot tears roll down her cheeks. She blinked them back determined not to show weakness.
As she pulled with all her might, she felt his fingers give a little but it was not enough. He squeezed her wrist until it felt like it was going to break and she yelped in pain.
He dragged her over to a corner and pushed her down.
She looked up at him slowly making sure there were unshed tears in her eyes. She opened them wide and filled them with as much hurt as she could.
For the first time he hesitated and you could almost see him fighting the instinct to pull her into a hug like a father would do for a hurt child.
But then his expression hardened and his eyes filled with anger and the hurt in her eyes was replaced with fear.
She let both legs fall in frustration and surprisingly one of her feet caught his legs and he fell down backward.
His left hand shot past her head. He grabbed a fistful of her hair, twisting it around his palm. Using his grip on her hair for leverage, he pulled her down, pinning her to his chest. He yanked her head back, wrenching her neck to expose her throat.
She screamed out in pain and fear. She suddenly remembered she could still communicate with her thoughts.
Harry ran forward but Lucius held his wand up to her throat. "Back away or she gets it." He said warningly.
Harry quickly backed away as Hermione whimpered with pain.
'I didn't mean to push you down Master.' She said quickly.
'You really think I'm going to take one of your lame excuses?' he asked harshly.
'Are you going to kill me?' she whispered with fright.
'No. What fun would that be when I can make you suffer pain?' he asked cruelly.
'Why are you doing this?' she asked.
'You shouldn't have disobeyed me. You stepped in front of that boy over there when he killed Bella.' He said flatly.
'The stupid bitch deserved it!' she yelled before she remembered he could hear her thoughts.
He twisted her arm behind her back and pulled it upwards sharply.
She felt tears prick her eyes and she gasped out in pain.
'Stop it please Master! Wouldn't you protect Severus if he were in danger?' she asked.
'Yes I would but I wouldn't disobey the Dark Lord to do it!' he snarled.
'I get it! You have given me way too many chances right? I have just thrown it in your face without a second thought. We both know I deserve it so do it already!' she said her voice breaking.
She let the tears fall sure that he was going to kill her this time. 'Well it would save me all this pain' she thought glumly.
As he looked at her, he noticed for the first time how truly beautiful she really was. He couldn't kill her! He let her hair go slowly but she stayed where she was and he saw her shaking with fright.
'I scared the girl half to death! How could I have done that to her?' he yelled at himself.
He stood up slowly and faced the wall. "Get out of here." He said through clenched teeth.
Hermione blinked in surprise. "W-what?" she asked in disbelief.
"I said GET OUT! MOVE BEFORE I CHANGE MY MIND!" he yelled.
They scrambled out after he removed the padlock from the door.
There were four pops and then Lucius was left alone.
A/N: PLEASE READ AND REVIEW!