"Would you like to eat something?"
"No, Mipsy, thank you, I'm not hungry."
"Maybe you'd like to get out of bed and take a bath?"
"No, Mipsy, I'm doing well as I am."
A moment of silence. "Master left together with Mister Zabini, so the Manor is all for you, Missis."
"That's great, Mipsy, but I'm in no mood."
The elf stood by Hermione's bed for a few minutes, thinking of what else to say to Hermione who was laying in her bed for a whole night and a whole day, refusing to get up. All Hermione remembered from the night of the torture after it was over was how someone grabbed her immobilized body, and threw it over their shoulder. She couldn't move, she couldn't scream but she knew that the one carrying her was not the High Reeve – this man's body felt different. Only when he lay her in her bed did she see his face, half of it sheathed in shadows – a face of Blaise Zabini, frowning and serious. He made her drink a vial of sleepless draught that Mipsy had brought, and she saw his lips move but didn't hear a single word he told her.
The last thing Hermione thought before drowning asleep was of Zabini. He used to be Pansy's friend, too, she saw them together more than once, then how could he just stand by side and do nothing while she was being tortured and eventually killed?
She couldn't understand it. But she fell asleep.
When she woke up, Zabini was gone.
Since then, Hermione did nothing, only stared before her at the wall, or to the window, or at the ceiling when she turned around. For the first ten hours, Mipsy didn't leave her side, but Hermione refused everything she offered her, so, after a lot of sighing, the elf finally left her alone.
If Mipsy was telling the truth and the High Reeve was really out, Hermione didn't have a lot of time on her hands, she had to hurry. She quickly jumped out of her bed and put on the first thing she managed to grab. She spent another ten minutes looking for Crookshanks, cooing his name softly even when all she wanted to do was scream in terror. She found the cat, took it into her arms, and went straight out of the Manor without taking anything else with her, without turning back once.
She rushed through the door, stepped down the road, and tried to Apparate for the first time the way the High Reeve had Apparated her here when he brought her here more than a month ago. Hermione was thinking about Hogwarts, and she felt a familiar tug in her lower body, but not a moment later, a horrible blood-wrenching pain soared through her left hand. She cried out, falling to the ground, trying not to hurt Crookshanks on her way down. She looked around, moaning in pain, and dreadfully realized she had gotten only a few steps further. She was still just by the gates of the Malfoy Manor.
Hermione groaned, got up to her feet, and tried Apparating again. This time, the pain eloped not only her hand, but the whole left side of her body, forcing her to shriek in agony. Terrified Crookshanks howled in her arms when she fell to the ground again, hitting her head. Hermione opened her eyes – she didn't get much farther than when she started.
First, she looked down at the left hand where the ring was. Her whole arm was now heavily bruised, reminding her of a blackened apple. She barely had any sensation in it.
Hermione stood up and looked at the gates, ignoring the ache.
"Mipsy," she said.
Pop. "Yes, Missis?"
"Open the gates for me," Hermione demanded calmly.
She saw Mipsy's big eyes widen. "But—I cannot do that, Missis… I'm not allowed to—"
"Yes, you can, and yes, you're allowed to. I'm the Lady of the Manor, and I'm telling you to open the gates, Missy," Hermione's voice was firm and unwavering.
"But Master said…"
"I don't care what your Master says. He's a senseless monster, and I will not spend another moment in his house. Do as I tell you."
Mipsy looked at Hermione with fear in her eyes, then, after realizing Hermione was not going to let this be, she clapped her hands, and the gates opened. Hermione went right through them without giving the elf a single glance.
She Apparated again. The misery that raked through her entire being was incomparable. She screeched as the Apparition seemed to never end, but it ended, and she found herself on the ground once more, this time cold and hard as stone. Hermione moaned in pain, trying to stand up. Crookshanks meowed and she tried to shush him because she heard men talking, shouting, and laughing. From the sound of it, they were far away, but it was too dark to see anything clearly, so she was careful, making no noise.
Hermione didn't know where she was, but she knew for sure this wasn't Hogwarts, not even close. She finally stood up unsteadily on her feet, squinting to see better. It seemed she was in an open field with a forest a few hundred feet farther before her. Hermione didn't know how she got here or how to get to Hogwarts from this place. Besides, her body was too sore to get through another journey like that – she was certain the tremendous pain was caused by that sodding ring the High Reeve put on her.
The men's voices were getting closer, the shadows of their figures appearing ahead. Crookshanks whined. Hermione took a few steps back, trying to search for somewhere to hide. Just then, she felt someone grab her violently from the back, a hand coming up to her mouth to muffle the scream that was about to escape her lips. Crookshanks hissed and was ready to fight the attacker, but they Apparated.
Hermione was in the lobby of the Malfoy Manor, back to where she came from. She felt the High Reeve turn her body around, and she faced him. He looked furious, but she was livid.
"Let go of me," Hermione hissed as he held her close by her forearm.
"Release the cat," he said, his voice deadly calm.
She narrowed her eyes. "Or what? You're going to torture me, then kill me the same way you killed Pansy?" Her voice broke on kill.
Hermione saw the High Reeve's jaw visibly tense. "Careful with your words, Granger."
She stared at him, defiant. "Get that sodding ring off me!"
"Release the cat," he repeated.
After a moment of staring battle between them, she let Crookshanks to the ground. The High Reeve's gaze slid to her left hand, marred with bruises. He touched it tenderly with his fingers. "It was incredibly stupid of you to try to run away," he said quietly.
Hermione gritted her teeth, taking her hand out of his grasp. "Don't you dare touch me!" She heaved indignantly. "You have no right to touch me… And I refuse to spend another minute alone with you!"
He stared into her eyes, expressionless, his voice void of all and any emotion. "Should've thought about that before agreeing to marry me."
Then, she could swear she saw his pupils blow out as he took a step forward, eating up the distance she had just created, and grabbed her roughly by the throat, dragging her back flush close to his body. Hermione trembled, a mix of fear, surprise and allure washing over her.
Why was she feeling this way? The prideful boy she fancied in school was long gone, all she had now were memories of the past. She was stupid to ever believe the man before her was worth fighting for – there was nothing left in him.
Suddenly, a sob that she held inside for so long escaped from her lips. Tears of pain and pent-up frustration blurred her vision. Hermione craned her neck to look up at him.
"How could you do that?" she whispered, her voice shaking with misery. "How could you kill Pansy like that? She did nothing to you, ever, she was your friend…"
"There are no friends in this war. There are only those to kill for the goal," he said.
Hermione cried even more, grieving both Pansy and the person she believed the High Reeve still was hidden inside of him. What stood before her now resembled nothing she wished to associate herself with.
She stared at him. "Then are you going to kill me as well?"
His face was close to hers as he leaned in, his voice quiet and low, sinister and vicious. "I could finish you off with my bare hands, I could break you in half with nothing but my finger. With a single swish of my wand."
Her lower lip quivered. He wanted to kill her.
Will I become his victim too?
"Do it then," she whispered back, mustering her courage. "Kill me. Nobody's stopping you."
The clutch he had on her neck tightened. He leaned his head to say into her ear, "But what would I have left if I did that. Even if I could cut you open, I still wouldn't know you inside out…"
She swallowed. He had her head pushed so close that her forehead almost touched his chest. She didn't understand his words.
But she saw the steel of knives on his belt shine to her.
Hermione moved quickly – she grabbed one of the knives with her healthy hand and pushed him away from her with all her force with the left one. Any other man would've stumbled into a wall, but her push only made the High Reeve take an unexpected step back. So Hermione had to move away as far as he could herself. She lifted her bruised hand in the air with the knife in the other, positioning the blade on her ring finger.
"Take the ring off me or I'll cut it off together with the finger," she threatened.
The High Reeve watched her with a deadpan expression, but she could see the silent rage bubbling beneath his mask.
"You won't take it off and you won't destroy it, no matter what you try. Cutting the finger off won't help," he said, looking her over indifferently, but still, he kept his distance, not wanting to provoke her.
Hermione stared at him, full of bile. She moved the blade, breaking the thin skin there, watching as his expression darkened when blood poured through the incision.
"Stop it," he hissed in a low voice.
"Let me Apparate to Hogwarts," she countered.
The High Reeve shook his head, "You won't be able to Apparate without me."
Hermione narrowed her eyes, sliding the blade further through the tender flesh of her finger. She ignored the blinding pain that coursed through her when she reached the bone. Blood started pouring profusely out of the wound, running down her hand, the crimson droplets dripping on the floor.
The High Reeve's nostrils flared. "Stop—fine, fine! I'll let you get to Hogwarts."
"How?" she demanded.
"I'll give you a portkey," the High Reeve said reluctantly, snarling. "It will take you there. Just, for Merlin's sake, stop mutilating yourself."
Hermione drew the knife off her hand, groaning. The High Reeve breathed out as if relieved. She threw the knife to the ground with a loud clank.
The High Reeve looked over her bitterly. "Wait here," he bit out, leaving to get the portkey. When he was gone, Hermione cast a healing spell to treat her finger.