Apologies for the lateness, I had emergency surgery and was too drugged up to think of the next chapter. Merry belated Christmas and New Year and hope your 2016 is swell.
With nothing but dirty floors and the occasional rock to play with, nothing passed the time better than a good old gossip session. Not just the women, the men joined in, as did the Death Eaters. The prison became a zoo, and the main event: Hermione. She assumed that after a week it would die down, people would stop staring, some of the more opinionated woman would stop avoiding her as she walked by. Yet it didn't.
A soft breeze tickled the back of her neck, unconsciously tipping her head forward as to allow greater access to the wind, she made her way down the dune. The sun warmed the top of her dark head, sending heat travelling through her veins. She gave a small smile, digging her toes into the sand, feeling it flow through her toes. She felt a stab of pain in her side… the waves lapped playfully at the shoreline, white foam bubbled along the edge… another stab… her hair flew… STAB!
"Good morning, Hermione" Madge nudged the girl. "It's almost lunch time."
Hermione kept her eyes closed, she was not in the best mood to be dealing with Madge, or the rest of the prisoners. Pretending to sleep meant she could avoid the stares and whispers. Since her own incident, there had been one more incident with an older girl. She had been ostracized for a day or two and then forgiven, yet Hermione still bore the cold silence. She might as well have the word SLUT branded on her forehead the way they acted.
Not that I am a slut, she simmered. She hadn't even lost her virginity before being here. She wasn't religious nor was she overly traditional, but the idea of saving herself for someone she loved had romanticized the pain and the fear that was to have come.
She turned away from Madge, her ribs protested against the cold hard ground. So what if it was almost lunch, they had nothing to do but sit around and stare at each other as it was. Staying in the confines of her imagination appealed greater to her than the dull drone from Madge.
"Seriously, Hermione I think you want to be awake for this." Madge pestered her again, giving her a slight shake.
"Awake for what?" Hermione mumbled.
"Francine heard from Wesley that they have caught one of the Order members." She replied fervently.
Hermione sat up suddenly, causing her head to spin and her vision to blur. She was starving.
"What? Who?!" She cried.
"I'm not sure, we have to wait and see." Madge said, she got up off the ground and held out her hand for Hermione to take.
Making their way to the fence line, they noticed the peak in attention across the different compounds. The news had spread quickly and for once (to Hermione's relief) the attention wasn't on her.
The men on security seemed tense, they held their wands in a vice like grip. Glaring through the fence at any inferiors who appeared livelier than the rest. The stirrings were only heightened with every new sound heard outside the building. Who was the member captured? It couldn't be Harry, Voldemort would have let the entire country know by now. Maybe it was Ron, his wandwork was not as strong as the other two and he was susceptible to capture. Then again, there were at least seventy members of the Order that she knew of, not including the countless of others she had yet to meet. Either way, it was a loss to the Order and a win for the enemy.
"When do you think they're coming?" Hermione inquired, peering at the doors.
"No idea, the battle may have been far away, took them one or two apparitions to get here or maybe the Death Eater was injured badly…. Hopefully."
"Maybe he… or she… is fighting back" Hermione challenged.
"Maybe" Madge replied "or they're injured badly…"
Lavender shortly joined them, although they had been school mates. Their immature feud over Ron had caused a few rifts between the girls. Lavender had created a small group of younger friends at the prison, whilst Hermione preferred the company of the elders. There was less drama amongst the women, and besides, her life was dramatic enough at the moment.
"I hope it's not Ron" Lavender said quietly next to her. Hermione started slightly, she was thinking the exact same thing. But to share it with Ron's ex seemed a little strange; given the situation they were in, however, Hermione pushed her feelings into a box at the back of her mind and turned to Lavender. She was pale and skinny, her hands holding the fence shook slightly with fear of the unknown.
"Me too" Hermione mumbled back, giving her old classmate a small smile.
In her peripheral she saw him walking across the balcony, his platinum hair stood out in the dim environment. She focused her gaze towards him completely, he was leaning on the rail looking towards the doors. He wasn't agitated like the security below, his brow was furrowed slightly in anticipation of the new arrival.
Suddenly there was a loud crash, the double doors swung inwards so viciously they hit the walls. The building shook on impact. All eyes were on the figure striding down the center aisle. Behind him a limp and unconscious man dragged along whilst long pale fingers curled around tufts of ginger hair.
Hermione's heart pounded in her ears. No…no…no… Her breath caught in her throat. Please no… Her eyes widened. It can't be…
She followed the two figures on the other side of the fence, not noticing the people she pushed out the way.
"No!" Her voice cracked. She pushed against the wire fence, it creaked under pressure.
The figure kept walking.
"NO! NO YOU CAN'T DO THIS!" Her voice echoed through the building. Two piercing silver eyes bore into her, she didn't notice.
The figured ignored her and kept walking towards the stairs.
The world slowed to a stop.
"NO! NO! NO"
She screamed over and over again, yet if fell on deaf ears. The figure did not levitate the body up the stairs. His head made a dull thudding noise as it hit the iron steps. The security guards roared with laughter, the inferiors howled with disapproval and Hermione continued to scream.
.
.
Two days ago…
"I'VE GOT IT!" Kingsley boomed, his tall frame looming over the rest of the Order. His robes were disheveled and a wild look danced in his eyes.
"Got what?" Barked Moody.
"I can't believe they were so stupid!"
"Who was?" Arthur enquired.
"Yaxley!" Kingsley replied incredulously, "Get Harry and Ron and anyone else you can find!"
Remus bolted up the narrow stairs in search of the younger boys, meanwhile hollering for all to go down to the kitchen. Harry and Ron met him on the second level, their eyes were ringed with dark circles and their jaws were shadowed from the countless nights of following false leads. Remus pitied the boys, they had been working so hard with the search for Hermione. Every day they returned empty handed broke them little by little.
"Who is it?"
"What's with all the yelling?"
"Kingsley has a lead!" Remus replied.
The boys' expressions brightened with curiosity and excitement. The three ran back down stairs and joined the rest. Kingsley stood in front of the fire place, every one's eyes were on him.
"Alright, alright settle down" His deep voice boomed across the room, "we were ordered to keep a better eye and ear out at the ministry. And it worked! About an hour ago, Yaxley let slip he was heading home to Oxford tomorrow for a day off."
The room began to buzz with excitement. Harry and Ron perked up immediately.
"Wait what if-"
"-It's a trap!" The twins yelled over the noise.
"They have a point, Kingsley" Harry piped up. "We don't need anyone else captured…" He murmured to Ron. Ron mumbled in agreement.
"I've thought about that already! What I want-"
"So are we going?" Sirius piped up.
"What I want-" Kingsley started again.
"We'll go!" The twins joined in.
"WHAT I WANT!" Kingsley roared glaring at the crowd in annoyance. The twins looked sheepish at the sudden outburst and kept their eyes on the table.
"Is to have a group scout the area, Oxford is large and we have no idea where he is actually going…" He continued.
"Doesn't he live there? We can just apparate to his address." One member interrupted. A few around him nodded in agreement.
"Well that's how I caught it out really, Yaxley has a large property on the outskirts of Dover where his wife currently lives. Unless he has some secret mistress we don't know about –"
"Wouldn't be surprised" George snorted.
"- Well we will find out either way." Kingsley gave a slight smirk.
"Right!" Moody boomed, disrupting the room's slight upheaval. "Diggle, Kingsley and Black you're on scout."
Ron and Harry stood up at the same time looking incensed at the choice.
"We are coming too and you can't stop us!" Ron snarled at the older man. Molly hissed at him to show some manners but the second youngest Weasley paid no attention. Moody's eye stared at Ron, his scarred face morphed into a frown. He opened his mouth to retaliate.
"You heard him" Harry sniped, "You can't keep us cooped up in here when this is the first lead we have had in ages! She is our best friend and we will be right there on the front lines!"
"You're both too young! You shouldn't have been out in the first place!" Molly cried out, her face had turned red and blotchy and she was holding onto Arthur with a desperate intensity. Her husband looked at Ron pleadingly.
"No Mum, Dad." Ron said firmly. "This is war, we will keep going out and fighting, no matter how often you try to stop us, or argue."
"We have survived so far Molly, all of us. And I know Hermione is not dead," Harry continued, Lupin opened his mouth to contest but continued. "She's not. She's a fighter and we will fight to get her back. OK?"
The rest of the room had quietened down at the sudden outburst at the end of the table. It wasn't uncommon to see arguments between the Weasley parents and children.
Harry looked at Moody and with a firm finality declared. "We are going."
.
.
"Do you think that's it?" Ron whispered to Harry. They had been searching the suburb of Oxford all night without success, the early hours of the morning had crept up on the group. They snuck around corners, under disillusionment charms, their bodies shaking from hours of cold exposure.
"I hope so," Harry mumbled back. "Can't you feel it?"
"Feel what?"
"There's magic around here. I think he's been here…"
"I can't feeling anything, actually take that back. I feel fucking cold."
"Ditto, let's go find the others. They might be able to notice any magical traces better than us."
"Right you are."
The two boys crept back down the street whispering ever so softly for Kingsley and the others.
"Harry!" A whisper came out of the dark.
"Kingsley? Sirius?" Harry whispered back.
There was a soft "oof!" and the sound of bodies hitting the pavement.
"Ouch!" Ron hissed, "who just ran into me?"
"That was me you twat" Sirius groaned.
"Shut up, it wasn't my fault!"
"Nobody move! We don't need any more accidents" Dedalus Diggle squeaked quietly from off to the right.
"Or to alert anyone of our presence," Harry sighed, looking back down the street, his eyes squinted through the dark looking for any sign of movement on the street.
"Anyone found anything?" Kingsley asked.
"Yeah, we did" Ron replied.
"Do tell, Weasley" Sirius whispered enthusiastically.
"Well we were down Wilkin Way when Harry said he felt something off with one of the houses."
"I sensed magic" Harry butted in, feeling slightly awkward with Ron's wording. "But I'm not sure, I wanted one of you to go and check it out."
"I'll go" Kingsley answered, "wait here everyone, and don't move."
Sirius sighed at the order, Harry heard a small thud. His godfather assumedly sat down to wait it out.
"God I hope it is the house" Sirius whispered to no one in particular, "It's been a while since I've been able to stun someone."
"Me too" Ron added fervently.
It was indeed the house, for Kingsley returned a few minutes later slightly puffed but sounding jubilant. "Let's get back to the Order! It's the house" He whispered enthusiastically.
The five of them moved a few streets away from the house and apparated back to headquarters. The kitchen was again alive with planning and delegating, people were writing notes and sending them across the room. Lupin and Moody stood at the end of the table deep in discussion.
"We've found it!" Kingsley cried out across the room. The room filled with roars of delight and clapping. The energy level was high and contagious, making Harry and Ron smile. Maybe there was hope after all. .
.
The now lifeless body fell to the ground with a crash, the man's eyes glossed over unstaring, the last gasp of life ghosted his face.
"Let that be a lesson to you all" Voldemort began quietly, walking around small mound of bodies in the middle of the room. His dark cloak fluttered around his bare feet, they were splatted with the blood of his most recent victims. Nagini hissed in delight at the pooling blood.
"When I ask for a job to be done. I expect it to be done." His red eyes scanned the room. Men and Women avoided his eyes in fear.
He suddenly gave a short, high laugh. It rung out across the room. There were a few gasps and cringes at the sudden displeasing noise.
"Roldolphus!" He turned on the man.
"Yes, my lord?" He replied smoothly, looking his master straight in the eye.
"It is funny, isn't it…" Voldemort mused.
"Funny? My Lord?" He questioned, looking over at his wife in confusion, she looked ahead at The Dark Lord with crazed yet confused eyes.
"I have taken control of the entire country," He walked back towards the pile of bodies. "I have hundreds of supporters all working for the right cause and yet…" He raised his wand, with it the limp bodies floated in the air, blood splattered onto the grimy floor. With one flick of his wand, all six bodies flew towards the wall, in a sickening crunch they hit simultaneously and dropped to the floor with a thud. "…we still continue to fail."
There was a sharp knock on the door, Voldemort snapped out of his reverie and flung the door open with his wand. In its frame stood Yaxley, his fist raised mid-knock.
"Ah, Yaxley" Voldemort greeted.
"My Lord" He bowed and entered the room.
"Yaxley here, unlike the pestilence behind me… is to be congratulated on his efforts in rounding up inferiors."
"Thank you, My Lord!" He gushed suddenly, and knelt on the dirty floor.
"In the past week has rounded up in excess of one hundred and fifty inferiors." There were a few murmurs of praise from the people around him. He beamed like a child receiving candy.
However it was short lived. The house gave an almighty shake, dust fell from the rafters and rained down on the crowd. Voldemort walked towards the window and looked out on the grounds.
"It appears, Yaxley… that you have brought some unwanted guests with you." Voldemort sneered. "Everyone go down and greet our guests! Capture as many as you can, and if you fail I will kill you myself!" He ordered the group.
The group began evacuating the room and the sound of war drifted up through the floor boards. Bella had left in the craze, intent on spilling blood. Roldolphus, Snape, and Avery remained in the room with Voldemort, watching the doors and windows.
"My Lord," Snap began, "should you not leave? The boy might not even be here, leave it to us."
"No I think I will wait, the Mudblood sidekick of his was taken wasn't she?"
"Yes she was."
"Then he will be here." He turned and raised his wand towards the pile of bodies again. Giving a small swish of his wand, the pile rose. The bodies began twisting and turning in the air, arms bending out of shape, legs snapping in on themselves.
Snape cringed at the gruesome act and averted his eyes back to the door. The sound of snapping bones and squishing of flesh eventually stopped. He turned back and bore witness to a horrendous sight, the bodies had entwined themselves into a chair, their bodies frozen in place. Voldemort had seated himself, stroking Nagini's head as she curled up in his lap.
The sound of the fight was getting louder and louder, moving its way up through the house. The view from the window showed at least ten dead on the ground below, not including in the house. In the early morning light it was hard to discern who was a Death Eater and who was from the Order.
"GET OUT OF MY WAY!" The voice bellowed outside the door. A mixture of coloured lights flashed through the gap under the door. It groaned with the sudden pounding of spells. Snape and the other men held their wands high in anticipation. There was a loud thud and the door burst open.
The three men didn't hesitate, flaying their wands they sent curses flying through the door. The people in the hall had taken coverage on either side, occasionally their hands could be seen sending curses flying into the room. All the while Voldemort sat quietly watching the scene unfold.
Sirius and Remus came flying up the stairs and bolted straight at the door, the two of them sending curse after curse in succession. A nasty purple jinx hit Avery in the abdomen, he fell to the floor. His body seized and dark blood poured from his mouth.
"Cover us!" Sirius roared at the people behind the door.
Voldemort finally stood. Nagini took up residence on the human chair and hissed at the intruders. He stepped over the now dead Avery and began to attack.
His dueling far outweighed that of Lupin and Sirius, the two of them turned towards him, struggling to keep up with the onslaught of Dark curses.
The Weasley twins had been behind the door, seeing the two men in trouble they moved into the room and took on Roldolphus and Snape. The men panted and grunted as they bore the brute force of spell upon spell.
"Argh! We need back up! SOMEONE COME UP HERE, WE'VE GOT VOLDEMORT!" Fred screamed back towards the stairs.
Snape took that small momentary lapse in concentration as his advantage and sent a nasty cutting hex at Fred. He yelped and jumped out of the way; yet it skimmed his arm, leaving a deep gash, the blood sending a dark stain down his arm.
"You slimy git!" Fred roared in anger. His left arm was now useless, he sent multiple jinxes back at his ex-professor. Snape sneered at him and deflected the curses easily.
The fight was joined by Moody and Charlie Weasley. Noticing the younger boys struggling under Snape and Roldolphus's fire, Moody snarled and sent the unsuspecting Roldolphus flying into the wall behind him where he was knocked unconscious. Charlie had joined Remus and Sirius, both were now sporting nasty injuries.
"Where is Hermione!?" George yelled at Snape, now joining Fred and Moody. Snape had a scowl on his face, now having to fight three people at once. He didn't answer, but proceeded to fire even darker curses.
To his left, Snape saw Remus fall. Sirius howled in rage and sent the killing curse straight at Voldemort. Voldemort deflected it easily and laughed at the man's pain. Moody turned to Voldemort, he snarled and began firing, leaving the twins with Snape.
"You are a pureblood, Sirius. I don't want to spill magical blood." Voldemort snapped at the man in between firing.
"You bastard, you hypocrite!" Sirius roared.
"You know what I want. Where is the boy? I will save you and you friends, just give me the boy!" Voldemort snarled, his eyes flashed in anger.
"Shut up! JUST SHUT UP" Sirius roared.
His outburst echoed around the room causing Snape to look over in surprise, he saw Sirius leap at Voldemort, sending curses flying in every direction. Then he felt nothing but fire. His head had been split open, blood gushed down his face and covered one eye. He roared in anger and fired stunning curses one after the other at Fred.
He saw Fred's eyes widen, George tried to get in the way, but it was futile. He was knocked sideways, his head smacking the ground. The curse hit him straight in the chest and Fred crumpled to the ground. Grabbing the young man by his hair, he apparated away.
He wasn't going to kill him, he was going to make his life a living hell.
.
.
Snape made his way up the stairs, dragging Fred behind him. The warehouse was alive with the sound of anger and hatred towards him. He ignored it all, those that hurt him would pay. He had gone past the point of caring about the regime. He was out to save his own skin. He had no idea how the battle ended, or if it was still going.
"Draco," He barked. The young blonde looked up at him from the railing, his face was impassive. "Finish this one." He dropped Fred at Draco's feet and turned to leave. Draco levitated the man and walked towards the room.
"Oh and Draco," Snape called.
"Yes?"
"Finish the Mudblood once you're done with this one." He marched down the stairs with finality and through the building.
Fred remained unconscious throughout the ordeal, his magic was retrieved and bottled and Draco sent him through the back door to be taken to the camp. He moved slowly afterwards procrastinating going down to get the girl.
He didn't know why he was procrastinating. She was an inferior and her blood was the lowest of low, he'd rather befriend a muggle over her any day.
Or maybe it's not the fact she's a Mudblood.
He cringed internally, what the hell kind of thought was that? Of course it's because she's a Mudblood. He glared at the pepper up potion sitting in front of him. Not because she practically beat you in every single class… except flying? Or the fact your father completely degraded you the moment he found out? He slammed the empty potion bottle onto the table.
"Fuck it." He mumbled to himself.
He walked down the stairs and straight to her compound. She was still at the fence line, in her craze she was almost unrecognizable, her eyes were bloodshot and wide open, a constant stream of tears. Some of the women were holding her back, making sure she didn't try climb the fence to an imminent death by electrocution. She had fistfuls of her own hair, pulling at it, trying to somehow divert her emotional pain to something physical.
He felt pity, and it was strange. Pity for someone so beneath him, pity for what she was about to become. And he pitied himself, for being put on this job.
She saw him through the tears, her face morphed from distress to pure hatred and she began to scream, elbowing women in the face in a bid of liberation.
"LET ME GO!" Spit flew in his face as she continued to scream.
He cringed in disgust and ordered her to be levitated to the second level. He wouldn't do it himself, he was in charge, he was in control of her… yet he felt nothing but absolute self-hatred. Her passion and fire burnt him at the stake, he felt he was in the wrong. She's in the wrong! He mentally yelled.
Following the floating girl upstairs, her limbs were splayed out, kicking the air, she screamed every profanity she knew at him. With each step his self-hatred grew, hatred at the lives he had destroyed, but more so at his current thought pattern. It was wrong, it was against everything he believed in. Everything you were lead to believe… not chose to believe.
She had been chained the low table, she was straining against the shackles, her wrists and ankles quickly rubbing raw and bleeding. She saw Draco and stopped struggling, instead she glared at him. He stared right back.
"Just hurry up and kill me" She said, her voice was hollow, defeated.
"I'm not going to kill you." He replied shortly. He went to the cupboard and got out a flask and labelled it under Hermione's name.
"What are you doing?" She asked, panic laced her voice, her face tried to hide it.
"None of your business."
"What did you do to Fred?! To the others… oh god, oh god." Tears slid down her cheeks. He sighed again, the self-hatred was completed intoxicating.
"I'm not going to die…" She mumbled to herself.
"It would be easier than this" he replied absentmindedly.
"Yes, it would" She replied.
He turned towards her, her wild hair was splayed around her face. She looked up at him through dark wet lashes.
Before he could help himself he blurted "I'm sorry… Granger." And before she could reply he had uttered the spell.
I suck at trying to make this a happy story... it will be a full happy dramione soon I promise! And the battle was confusing I know.. where was ron and harry? Don't worry you find out next chapter! Reviews are all the nicer.