Hermione could not breath.
There was blood everywhere. Her own, inside her cell, staining her clothes, rushing inside her ears, capillaries expanding, pressure building and building-
And he was blood. It spilled from his mangled arm, gushing over the floor, turning his shirt red, it was in his hair, on his face, the cell was his now. Marked in his blood, as was the floor between them, and the oak door and most probably the corridor beyond.
There was more blood than concrete, more blood than air, he was going to bleed out.
But what can she do?
What should she do?
Lying there, useless. She would not be able to save herself if she were dying, let alone him.
And he was dying.
He had minutes left, seconds.
Was this justice?
Was this what revenge was supposed to feel like? Watching the enemy die, when she would most likely suffer the same fate. It felt so wrong. It felt like failure. In that moment she saw Malfoy the Death Eater, the Malfoy that stood by as she was tortured on Malfoy Manor, the Malfoy that plotted Dumbledore's death and yet, in the same breath, she saw a boy.
An injured, dying boy.
A life that had not yet lived. She felt pity. She felt sorrow. And she realized she could not let him die.
"Carly!" Hermione coughed. Her throat raw. She wanted to save him. Not because it was Malfoy. But because of who she was. She saved people. She saved everyone, maybe if she saved him she could save herself, "Carly!" She shouted louder.
She would not be a bystander to the horrors of war. She would not let it take her kindness, "Carly!"
Maybe this was her last good deed. Her last impression on the world. The last thing she would do; save someone's life. But despite all her shouting, Carly did not appear.
The elf couldn't hear her. She could not be summoned in a place like this. No one could hear her, not even Malfoy, not even herself, as blood pounded in her ears and drowned all sound out.
"Carly?" She said quietly, loosing hope, "Carly..."
Hermione remained conscious out of sheer cruelty. Death hanging in the air, circling like a vulture. She stared at Malfoy. Her thoughts draining like brain matter out her ear, a lobotomy, that had taken everything, but him. How could he be there? Hermione studied his face like an open book, straining to see his features in the dim candle light. His porcelain skin smeared with red, his long angular nose, sharp cheekbones. He looked older. Weathered. Worn out. Hermione noticed the deep dark purple under his eyes, nearly black with exhaustion.
Her mind fogged over and the vultures swooped lower.
Liquid poured down her raw throat, like soul to the dying. Hermione faintly became aware of the ground beneath her. The world cold and empty. She wondered if this was hell.
Glass clinked against concrete, a bottle, rolling across the floor. A sound that did not belong there. Hermione cracked her eyes open, vision blurring. Draco was still there, still dying and between them, stood bare feet. Carly unstopped a vial, her bony fingers fumbling, more frantic than someone under the cruciatus curse. She grabbed Draco's face through the bars, prying his mouth and tipping the potion inside. Once empty, Carly dropped the vial, already reaching for another before it hit the ground. She did the same with another and another...
The oak door barged open, fresh light bathing the prison. Purple fluffy slippers came into view.
"How long has he been like this?" A woman asked, just as panicked as Carly. She dropped a brown leather satchel on the floor. It was Pansy.
"He just- He just-"
Pansy threw the bars open, "How long?"
"I don't know-"
"Fuck!" She breathed, taking in the state of his arm, "What happened?"
"They brought him in here," Carly explained, "I don't know, I don't know!"
"He needs..." Pansy assessed him, her eyes darting from him to the bag, "He needs more- I need to use magic!" She stood. Pansy looked the same as the last time Hermione had seen her at Hogwarts. She wore a black cloak, unclasped, revealing a silk purple night gown, coming to just above the knee, her hair down to her waist. She grabbed Draco's feet and began dragging him out of the cell with all her might. She screamed in frustration, pulling and pulling, kicking her bag out of the way.
Hermione fought to sit up, pushing off the floor, using the bars for support. The potion she was given beginning to take effect.
"Damn this fucking place!" Pansy face strained as she pulled harder, smearing his blood over the floor.
She dragged him out the oak door and into the corridor. She dropped his feet, staggering back into the prison and gathering up her medical bag.
Pansy saw Hermione.
Time stopped.
Pansy gapped at her, the air getting stuck in her lungs, "Gra-" She could not believe her eyes, her knees buckled, like she had just been shot, she stared open mouthed, "Granger?"
The bag slipped from her fingers, falling on the concrete, vials rolling in all directions, Pansy scrambled to pick them back up, "How?" Pansy staggered to her feet, tripping over her slippers, one of them falling off. Her head jerked, "Carly? Carly!" She turned back to Hermione, dumbfounded, gesturing helplessly, "Since when was Granger imprisoned?"
Carly frantically shook her head, unable to answer; now was not the time. Carly kneeled down beside Draco, pulling his sleeve further up to expose the rest of his wound. Pansy looked at his wound and trudged quickly back towards them, tripping over Draco's feet, falling over him and dropping the satchel over the floor.
Hermione dragged herself to the left wall, pressing her bruised back against the concrete so she could see.
Pansy kneeled in his blood, her bare skin staining red. She took a cloth from the bag and pressed it into his forearm. She cast a diagnostic spell, the golden enchantment illuminating the cramped space. Hermione stared, mesmerized by the magic. Pansy gave the spell a once over, ended it and removed the cloth. She cast intricate healing charms over his arm, of the likes Hermione has never seen before. She reached for another blood replenishing potion, fighting with the lid before giving it to Carly.
The elf took the potion, opened it and tipped it into Draco's mouth, "Another!" Pansy told her, throwing her the bag. Carly caught it, fishing out more potions. Pansy cupped his arm with her free hand, trying to hold the skin together and layering spell after spell over the gash. Her hands soaking with his blood, her movements practiced, second nature.
Carly poured another potion into Draco's mouth, discarding the empty bottle, "Keep going!" Pansy ordered the elf, "He needs all he can get."
"There's-" Carly panics.
"What?"
"There's- There's none- There's none left-"
"Fuck!" Pansy let go of Draco's arm, grabbing the bag and turning it upside down. Vials spilled out, Pansy swiped her arm through the equipment, spreading it out, "Fuck!" She cursed, returning her hand to his arm, "My supply!" She remembered suddenly, "Under my bed."
Carly disapparated immediately.
Pansy turned back to his arm, casting more spells, furiously weaving her wand, "Don't die!" She gritted out, "Please, don't die!" She looked up at Hermione then, remembering she was still there. Their eyes connected through the bars, Pansy opened her mouth to speak-
Carly apparated back into the corridor, a small metal trunk in hand, too big for her to carry. It crashed to the floor. Carly flipped it open and Pansy nearly cried out at the sight of all the blood replenishing potions. Carly administered them. Hermione watching carefully and counting a total of five potions used and discarded. Pansy cast another diagnostic spell, the yellow hue brightening the space around them like a halo. She studied the enchantment then ended the spell. Taking a deep breath, she leaned back from Draco's body and covered her face with blood soaked hands.
Pansy rubbed her eyes, accidentally wiping blood on her face, Hermione had never seen someone look so exhausted. Pansy's eyes landed on Draco's belt, and something occurred to her. She reached over, unbuckling the belt and pulled it through the loops. She wrapped it around his upper arm, pulling it tight, then tighter, and tying it in place, "He'll be ok." She told Carly in a small voice, "He'll be ok." She sounded doubtful. She turned back to his arm, hands shaking and cast more healing charms.
What did he do?
Hermione brought her arm to her chest, looking at the letters carved into her flesh before holding her ribs for support. He must have betrayed the Dark Lord. He must have messed up in some way. But why not just kill him? Why leave him somewhat alive? Hermione looked away. The enormity of the situation catching up to her, she was hit with anxiety, her emotions overwhelming her. It was all too much.
Draco Malfoy, Pureblooded Death Eater, prejudiced, ignorant bastard was unconscious, sprawled on the floor, blood gushing from a wound where is Dark Mark should be.
Hermione blinked, her stomach flipping.
Where his Dark Mark should be...
Like the crack of a whip, Carly violently flinched, "He's back!"
"What?" Pansy panicked.
"Master has returned."
There was a moment of gravity, where Carly's words settled in Pansy's stomach and then all hell broke loose.
"No!" Pansy looked at Draco, at the blood, the vials, the open oak door and cell, "Oh my God!" Pansy got to her feet, slipping on the bloodied floor and landing on her backside, "He can't know!" She told Carly, "He can't know!" She clobbered to her feet again, covered head to toe in his blood.
Pansy grabbed his ankles. She dragged him through the oak door and back to his cell, "He can't know I'm here!" Pansy shouted to Carly, "He'll kill me!"
Still in the corridor, Carly took the medical bag and started shoving everything back inside, "I must go!"
"Go! Go!" Pansy shouted dragging Draco into the cell.
Carly apparated away.
Pansy positioned Draco's body as she first found him, exiting the cell.
"What's going on?" Hermione asked her.
"I need to go!" Pansy darted out of the cell, slamming the bars shut, "I'm sorry," She confessed, snatching up the empty vials Carly had used earlier, "I'm sorry!" Before slamming the oak door shut.
Deafening silence split through the prison. Hermione stared at the door, unable to think, not knowing what to feel. She listened to the beating of her heart, willing Pansy to come back. To say more, to see her and understand. Look at me! Look at what your Father is doing to me.
As if her mind conjured it, the oak door flung open. Hermione's mind rolled, from the sudden commotion and nearly jumped out of her skin.
Pansy came crashing back into the prison, wild with panic and threw herself at Draco's bars, ripping them open and colliding with the floor. With trembling fingers she untied the belt from around his arm and tried to loop it back through his trousers. She was in near hysterics. She fumbled and fumbled with the belt loops, rolling Draco onto his side to slide the belt round the loops at the back.
Shooting to her feet, she slammed the bars behind her and raced out the prison like her life depended on it. The oak door should have broke with the force she shut it with.
Cassius was coming back. To interrogate her? Draco? Both?
Hermione supposed it would be convenient. Torture one prisoner, might as well torture the other. A two for one special. Who can refuse a bargain?
But- But-
She turned her head, the weight of the world on her shoulders.
Draco Malfoy was in the cell opposite her. She could not digest that fact.
Draco fucking Malfoy was in the cell opposite her!
Malfoy.
Malfoy!
She forced herself to look at him. At his pale angular features, his closed eyes, unaware of her attention. His mutilated forearm, the skin gone, like an arm plunged in a blender.
How- How had this happened? Hermione raked her fingers through her hair.
Her enemy. Her own personal rival, shoved in the cell opposite, forced to look at him, forced to suffer in front of him.
He would see everything, she realized.
Everything.
He would have full access. He would watch as she slept, as she used the bucket, as she ate her scraps and had her nightmares and slowly bled to death-
She looked at the pool of her own blood, where her head lay when she first awoke. Her nostrils were clogged with it. Cassius had most likely broke her nose. She touched her fingers to the bridge, feeling the tender skin. At least the skele-grow, Carly had given her would will fix it.
But how would Carly clean it all, if the only magic she possessed inside this prison was apparation? Surely she wouldn't just leave it there, for the entirety of her sentence? Hermione couldn't exactly imagine Cassius getting on his hands and knees and scrubbing the floor. The image was almost comical.
She looked at Draco's blood smeared over the concrete floor in between their cells. Was it here to stay?
She thought of Pansy's bleeding palm, it must be Parkinson blood that opens the cells and oak door. A fact Hermione did not tread on lightly. She looked up at the bars on Draco's cell where Pansy had planted her hand. There was nothing there. No blood, nothing. Hermione scanned the bars on her cell, looking for a vague handprint. There was nothing. It must be dark magic.
Something purple appeared in the corner of her eye, Hermione turned her head, pressing her face into the bar. Pansy's slipper lay outside the cell, to the right of the bars, under the candle. Hermione carefully maneuvered onto all fours, cringing at the pain in her chest, and reaching her hand through the bars, the letters carved into her flesh nipping with the movement, she took the slipper.
The fluffy material was soaked in blood. Hermione exhaled, moving to sit against the wall and tipping her head back, staring at the ceiling. Stress overwhelmed her, the entire situation was too much. Maddening. She would loose her mind if she wasn't careful. If Cassius found the slipper he would punish Pansy, potentially stop her access to the prison. And if either her or Draco wanted to make it out alive, that could not happen. Hermione scraped as much blood as she could off the slipper and stuffed it under her pink jumper.
If Harry and Ron could see her now...
She could not fathom how they would react. They'd be shocked. That was for sure. If she did not laugh at the hilarity of the situation she would cry. A laugh escaped her, ricocheting off the walls. How could this be happening to her? Bones broken. Draco bleeding out beside her. Cassius itching to murder them both. Pansy's slipper under her jumper. Hermione laughed until she cried.