Author's Note: I guess that was a mean cliffhanger to leave you guys with, so here's the next chapter!

Chapter 31

I can't tell if it's day or night, and it frustrates me. How long have I been here?

I think Blaise is asleep. Rather, I hope he's asleep. He hasn't responded to my voice for a long while. I don't want to find out that he's been moved somewhere else, or worse…

I look at the small, barred window in the solid metal door and wonder how hard it'll be to reach freedom. I still haven't thought of a way to get out of these shackles. I'm sure it'll involve tricking a Death Eater into getting close enough for me to get a hold of his wand, but I don't know how I'll go about doing that.

Fuck, I don't want to die in here.

Then the door opens, and I close my eyes, deciding to feign sleep. Maybe the Death Eaters will talk, and I'll have a hint as to their identity. I hear footsteps as one man enters the room, followed by a quiet, unmistakable hiss.

"Now, let me reintroduce you to Miss Hermione Granger."

I suddenly feel more naked than before—this is someone who once knew me. Damn it.

The cell door slams shut, and I pray that Voldemort stayed outside. But of course I wouldn't hear his footsteps. The vile man glides.

"Granger," he hisses.

I feel compulsion to open my eyes and try to fight it, realizing too late that that's a dead giveaway that I've been awake. I open my eyes and see that the Dark Lord is indeed inside my cell. Why is he here?

Then there's the familiar feeling of cloth against my skin, and I realize that I'm covered by a large set of robes. I glance at Voldemort and see that he's looking at the Death Eater with a strange expression.

The Death Eater has his hood up, and I don't pay much attention to him until I realize that I do recognize his mask. From… from…

Then Voldemort is gliding closer to me, and I shrink back, struggling against my bonds.

"So this—" he levitates the charm with snap of his fingers "—is the cursed necklace that the other Death Eaters cannot seem to defeat. What do you think of it?"

The Death Eater steps forward, and I notice that he hasn't looked at my face since I opened my eyes. I can't see his eyes clearly. Is it a Glamour Charm? But that mask. I've definitely seen it before. Maybe I simply saw him on a battlefield.

His fingers touch the charm, and the whole chain heats up, sending a wave of warmth flooding through me. I look down at the chain and see that its appearance hasn't changed at all. Who…

The Forbidden Forest!

This is the Death Eater I've been asking Blaise to find!

My mouth is suddenly dry. He has direct contact with Voldemort, so he must be one of the more important Death Eaters. Why would he ever release me unless it was under Voldemort's command? I feel like my worst fears have been confirmed.

"It looks… completely ordinary, My Lord."

My eyes widen as I hear his voice, and I look up at his mask again. No… no, it can't be.

Draco Malfoy?

He lets the charm fall back to my chest, and the warmth on the chain fades. It really is him. He was the one who gave me this necklace, and no other hands have had that sort of effect on it.

"Test the claims of the others," Voldemort hisses.

Malfoy nods once, still refusing to meet my eyes, and backs up a step. A Stunning Spell shoots from the tip of his wand, and he steps to the side. When the jet of red light is within one foot of my chest, it rebounds and flies through the place where Malfoy had been standing before.

"Interesting," he says, cocking his head to the side.

He fires several hexes at me, none of which are able to reach me.

Voldemort looks extremely interested and eventually lifts his hand, a signal to stop. Malfoy backs up, and Voldemort steps forward. He reaches out to lift the charm, but as soon as his fingertips graze the metal, the charm turns red-hot, and he draws his hand back, small tendrils of smoke coming from his fingers. It burned him? But I only felt soothing warmth.

"It appears specifically engineered so that I cannot touch it. Interesting, indeed," he muses.

"My Lord, shall I go on?"

Voldemort steps away from me, moving to stand by the door, and Malfoy moves toward him.

"Try it nonverbally," Voldemort says.

Malfoy turns around to face me, and I finally speak up.

"Malfoy."

His eyes rest on my face for a moment, but I still can't see them clearly. Then his wand is pointing at me.

"Draco, where are your manners?" Voldemort sneers.

Malfoy lowers his wand. "Granger."

It feels unnerving, hearing his voice from behind a Death Eater mask.

"How did you know it was me?" he asks.

I can't hear any emotion in his voice, any clues about how he's feeling. "Your voice," I reply.

He doesn't speak, and Voldemort nods. I frown. If Voldemort is standing behind Malfoy, how is Malfoy supposed to know that he's nodding?

But clearly, Malfoy does know—he lifts his wand to point it at me again.

Before I can speak, pain fills my stomach, and I grit my teeth, trying not to cry out. The pain lessens slightly and then redoubles, and a shriek tears from my throat. I thrash against the shackles, trying to free myself by sheer will.

"You're so generous today, Draco," Voldemort comments.

"I'm just getting started."

I can hear from his voice that his face would have held a smirk. How can he—

Pain assaults a point just behind my heart, and every beat seems to make it worse. More screams come from me. I didn't know I was capable of making such loud sirens.

The pain shifts again when he moves his wand to point at the base of my neck, and suddenly I feel like I can't breathe. Every breath of air that passes through my throat seems to rub the insides raw. I swallow, and I can't bear the pain that shoots through me. My screams exacerbate the pain, yet I still can't stop.

One more shift. Then my skull is splitting, my brain is melting, my eyeballs are falling out of my head.

Can't think.

Can't think.

Kill me, please!

Pain.

Kill me!

I see his eyes.

Pain.

Silver eyes, reflecting the hurt in my body.

Pain.

I'm begging you, Malfoy! KILL ME!

The pain leaves me, and for one long, blissful moment, I think I'm dead.

But the biting cold engulfs me again, and I know that I'm still alive.

Suddenly the shackles around my wrists don't seem so painful anymore.

"It seems the Cruciatus Curse still works on her," Voldemort says. "If this charm has a weakness, then its creator was not infallible. We can dismantle it."

I stare at Malfoy, eyes wide. The charm that has been protecting me was given by him. Isn't he worried that Voldemort will know? That he'll discover everything?

"Granger," Voldemort says.

I glance at his face to see that he's looking directly at me. I quickly drop my gaze to the floor, avoiding eye contact.

"Will you tell me who has betrayed me? I will consider letting you go free, if you do."

"If I tell you, then I'll have outlived my worth, and you'll kill me," I say evenly.

"I will not deny that that is highly likely," he says. "But with or without your help, I will find the traitor. If you assist me, you might survive. If not, you face certain death."

"I'll take death, then," I say.

He smiles, and the expression is more horrifying than I had imagined. "Maybe we can change your mind. Draco, if you please."

Malfoy's wand points at me again, and I pray for a miracle.

"Crucio!" he says forcefully.

Stabbing pain assaults me from all sides, and I cry out, wishing for relief. I thrash wildly, trying to free my wrists and ankles from the shackles. The pain slowly recedes, and then suddenly concentrates in my chest. Tears leak from my eyes as I scream incessantly.

Is it too late to start believing in God and praying for deliverance?

I feel blood beginning to run down my arms—the shackles must have scraped through my skin. But I don't even feel the pain in my wrists. Only that single region in my torso feels intense pain. I scream as though the sound will bring me peace. If the only thing I can do to my captors is deafen them with my screams, then deafen them I will.

Nothing can be worse than this.

The pain travels up my chest toward my left shoulder, then jumps across to my right shoulder.

A mixture of tears, sweat, and blood trickles down my face in a convoluted mixture, and I watch as the drops slowly collect on the floor below me.

The screams continue.

I don't even recognize my own voice anymore.

It's begging for mercy, begging for death. Begging for anything to end this torment.

My eyes lock on the silver ones behind the mask, and I see icy cold steel.

Malfoy, what's happened to you? Save me! Why won't you save me?

I can't take this pain anymore.

Kill me! Malfoy, please! Kill me!

There's a flash of anger in those steel grey eyes, and then everything's black.

Blissfully painless, endless black.

Author's Note: I'll put up the next chapter by tomorrow—I decided not to remove Draco's perspective of the torture scene, so that's what's coming tomorrow (or later today, depending on how much time I have).

Thanks for reading!