Heyo!

Okay, so here's the next chapter! I'm going to be going back to school in a few days so I won't be able to update very often, so I wanted to write this to keep interest in this fic. I'm hoping to update a least once a week, given that I don't have any more breakdowns due to stress! xD

Enjoy the chapter!

Warnings: This fic is dark. It contains torture, murder, kidnapping, implied/referenced domestic violence, and other mature themes. This fic will also contain character bashing, namely Dumbledore-bashing and Weasley-bashing. Warnings will be updated as I go along. If I missed something that should be in the warnings, please let me know and I'll add it immediately.

Disclaimer: I do not pretend to own Harry Potter.

"Speech"

"Spells"

Chapter Two: Meeting The Dark Lord

He didn't look how she had expected him to.

Harry had described him as snake-like with pale skin and inhuman eyes.

But the man sitting there was just that.

A man.

He wasn't a reptilian ghost of the human he once was, no, before her sat a handsome man. He had inky black hair, scarily similar to Harry's, except for the fact it was tame and well groomed. A strong roman nose sat proudly on his face and piercing red eyes stared at her with cold intensity that sent shivers down her spine.

His thin lips twisted into an ugly, cruel smirk as a Death Eater forced her to her knees when they came to a stop in front of the throne.

"Well, well, well…who do we have here?" Voldemort hissed, the cruel mocking in his voice taking away from any attractiveness his physical appearance may have granted him.

Hermione tilted her head up, holding his gaze without flinching. Her silence bothered him, however, and he growled, losing his smirk.

"Answer me!" He commanded, straightening on his throne as Hermione continued to just stare at him.

The Death Eaters around them shifted uneasily, confused as to why the girl wasn't giving in and playing their master's game.

The Death Eater who had kidnapped her cleared his throat and began to speak, "This is Hermione Granger, my lord."

"Ah, the mudblood Lucious' boy is always complaining about," Voldemort mused, stroking his chin. "Why did you bring her to me? I didn't ask you to. Explain to me why you thought it was a good idea to take on the risk of kidnapping the mudblood of the Golden Trio."

The man swallowed roughly, looking down at the displeased purr that came from his master. Even if Voldemort was happy, well, as close to happy as he could get, that the Granger girl was in his captive, the man knew he was going to suffer for not asking for permission before kidnapping her.

"Well, my lord, you see…" He started, looking at the others for help and feeling dread creep up his spine as they all looked down or away, providing him no support. "The Order has been getting stronger and getting in the way of your plans, my lord. I thought the Granger girl would know where their headquarters were, or could at least provide some information on the members because of her close ties to Potter."

All of the other Death Eaters held their breath as they waited for their master's reaction.

"Well done, Rockwood," Voldemort hissed, leaning back in his throne.

The man, Rockwood, sighed in relief and relaxed his posture, regaining his earlier bravado.

"Crucio!"

Hermione flinched harshly as Rockwood fell to the floor in agony, a blood-curling scream ripped from his throat. She looked at Voldemort and felt sick at the twisted pleasure in his face at watching one of his own followers suffer.

Voldemort let up with the spell and watched emotionless as Rockwood panted for breath and spat out blood, having bitten through his tongue trying to hold in his screams.

"That was for assuming you knew what I wanted better than I," He stated coldly, "If I want something done, I will tell you. Make another decision like this and you'll be getting a different Unforgivable curse or I'll feed you to the dementors."

Rockwood nodded, shakily standing up and trying to hide the painful tremors still coursing through his body from his fellow Death Eaters.

"Bellatrix!" Voldemort called, snapping his fingers.

"Yes, master?" Bella simpered, coming to stand excitedly in front of Voldemort.

"Take the girl to the dungeons and…make her feel at home."

Hermione choked back a sob at the sick smile and manic glee that lit up Bellatrix's face at Voldemort's words.

"Let's go, little mudblood! We're going to have so much fun together," Bella cooed, forcing Hermione to stand up and dragging her back the way she had entered.

Voldemort watched them go with an impassive look on his face, however, his mind was racing. He had a bad feeling about this. There was something…off..about that Granger girl. A part of him told him not to mess with her and that keeping her here was only going end in bloodshed.

Yet, he ignored it.

After all, what could a 5th year little witch do against him, the Dark Lord?

This is shorter than I wanted it to be but I felt like this was a natural stopping point.

Thank you to everyone who has viewed, favourited, and followed this fic!

I also wanted to give a special shoutout to SeaweedBrain143143 for giving me my first review on this story!