Hermione lay crumpled on the floor, Cassius standing over her, sweat dripping from his brow and landing on her face as he tried incessantly, again and again, to break into her mind.
Hermione's head felt like it would implode. The force with which he was trying to use Legitimence was staggering. She was familiar with his anger and his wrath, but determination, from a man like Cassius Parkinson was an entirely different problem.
Hermione did her best to keep him out, her skull felt like it was caving in on itself from the effort but as time went on and he continued to try harder, she couldn't prevent him as he bashed right through the barrier and harnessed her first memory.
It was the middle of the night. Hermione woke with a sinking feeling in her chest. Sleep fogged her mind, she turned her head, finding Ron asleep on the other side of the tent. His mouth hanging open and his loud snores filling the space. The only visible light from a slight part in the folds at the entrance to the tent. The wind blowing it gently.
Hermione had no reason to rise from her slumber, but something felt wrong. Sitting up in bed, she pushed the blanket off and slipped into her boots, taking her wand and clutching it close.
Harry was supposed to be on watch. She tip toed to the tent's entrance, lifted the material and halted.
Harry was under a nearby tree, but instead if sitting against it like how she often found him, he was on his knees. His chest heaving, his back contorted like he was being possessed.
Hermione ran toward him, snow crunching under her boots, her breath creating white mist. She slipped on a patch of ice and fell. Landing hard on the ground.
His eyes were blood shot, his face sickly pale, blue veins sticking out, he looked strangled. Fighting an invisible force that she could not see. Hermione struggled onto her hands and knees.
Snow had fallen in his black hair, and then, his mouth pulled into a sickening smile that was not his own.
Harry shook his head, ridding the expression from his face, his jaw clenching, clothes covered in snow, "Stop it." Harry pleaded and then, in a voice that was not his, he said, "You will loose."
Harry cried out in frustration, fighting the force and falling onto his back, the voice said again, "I will kill you Harry Potter."
Hermione gaped in horror.
"I will kill everyone you love." The voice said. Harry broke through and managed to shout, "No!" Before his body twisted unnaturally. An evil laugh escaping him.
And just like that it was over. Harry's muscles relaxed, his head falling back in the snow. He panted heavily, staring up at the moon...
Cassius removed himself from Hermione's mind. Hermione came back to the present, the concrete floor digging into her bones, the hanging lamps visible behind Cassius's big head.
A lump formed in the back of her throat as she held onto Harry's face and the peace that had befallen him after Voldemort left his mind. Merlin, she missed him. She missed him more than anything.
"Finally." Cassius exhaled to himself, wiping the sweat from his face and bracing his hands on his knees, "I knew I'd break through." He chuckled.
She had failed. Hermione stared up at the hanging light and wondered if this was how Harry had felt looking up at the sky; exposed, vulnerable and exhausted.
Cassius was completely out of breath as he dragged Hermione back into the prison and inside her cell. He shut the bars, triumphant and didn't spare Draco a parting look as he sauntered out of the prison with a grin on his face.
Hermione stared at the ceiling, wishing she was back in their tent with her warm blanket and the night sky for company. She would give anything to see the stars again, to be able to just step outside and look up for as long as she wanted.
When it was her turn to keep watch while Harry and Ron slept, she would sit against the tree Harry had been under and without any light pollution in the Forest of Dean, she could see the stars clearly. Spotting the big dipper constellation and tracing the dots with her finger.
She stared at the ceiling of her cell for so long she almost convinced herself she could see the the Big Dipper Constellation outlined in the groves of the concrete, like the ceiling was her pallet and her mind the paint. But then, as she looked closer, she realized that what she really saw was not her imagination but rather the Big Dipper Constellation maped in blood.
It was old and forgotten. In the center of the ceiling, likely missed when Carly had cleaned.
Did it belong to the person before her? Or the person before that? How many people had Cassius kept under lock and key? She stared at the blood, realising she was not alone and wondered if whoever left it there was still alive.
She wondered how long she would survive. Now that Cassius had broken through her Occlumency walls and accessed her memories, it was only a matter of time before he knew everything she did. Then what would be the point in keeping her alive?
Maybe they would use her as leverage against Harry? Maybe they would set an example for the other Muggleborns out there? Maybe she would rot away and die before they could kill her?.
Hermione rolled onto her front, face against the cold concrete. Harry would die because of her. They're safe houses would be exposed, their strategies and battle plans, all of it. Ron should have killed her. He should have killed her, at least then they would be safe.
Hermione pressed her forehead into the floor, "Fuck!" She exhaled, bashing her head into the concrete, "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!'"
"What the fuck are you doing?" Draco asked and Hermione went still, panting. She closed her eyes, trying to compose herself.
"Leave me alone!"
"Have you gone mad?"
"Can you fuck off!" She got to her feet. He leaned casually against the bars.
"Ohhh," He teased, his face gaunt, "Gryffindor's Golden Girl curses now does she? McGonagall would have a fit."
"I said" She gritted out, "Leave me alone!"
"I didn't peg you for a rule breaker." He mused.
She approached the bars. She was so distraught, she stood there, staring at him, trying to find the words, needing to say... something, anything!
Malfoy held her gaze, and sensing her extreme hesitation he began to look uncomfortable.
"I bash my skull in the floor and you comment on my swearing?"
He cocked an eyebrow, "Obviously."
She wanted to kill him, "I'm-" Her voice cracked and she had to turn away. Bringing a shaking hand to her mouth.
Her bottom lip trembled, her composure shattering like glass, "Everyone I love will die because of me." She told him, "Everyone!'
Malfoy blanched.
"I'm not strong enough to..." She held back her tears, "To block his Legitimency," She gestured helplessly, struggling to find the strength to look at him, "I'm already dead. I'm already dead. And instead of burying me in peace- That bastard," She pointed to the oak door, "Wants to torture me and take everything I have left!"
Malfoy quickly masked his expression back to a smirk, "I'd be more than happy to kill you, I'd you'd like?"
Hermione threw herself at the bars, swiping her hand out, trying to claw his face.
Malfoy started and sprung backwards, "What the hell?"
"You're the reason I'm in here!" She screamed, "You're the reason we're at war!"
"You're crazy!" He righted himself.
She pointed her finger at him, "Dumbledore died because of you!"
"Snape killed him," He reminded her, "Not me."
"You enabled it! You let the Death Eaters into Hogwarts! You started the war!"
"Don't you dare put that on me!" He shouted back, "The Dark Lord would have killed me if I disobeyed him. He would have killed my parents too!"
"We could have helped you! Dumbledore could have saved you!"
"That old fool was useless!" He spat, "He didn't care about me! He didn't want to help me!"
"You didn't even try!"
"You have no idea what I've been through!" He rushed out, "You can't being to imagine what I've had to endure!"
She dismissed him, "Like what?"
"None of your business!"
Hermione screamed with irritation, exploding, "Being stuck down here with you is hell! I can't stand it! You're a nightmare! You're unbareable!"
Malfoy crowded the bars, "I'd rather gouge my own eyes out than have to look at you!"
"I'd rather suffocate" She shouted louder, "Than breathe the same air!"
"Go ahead then, bash your skull into the floor for all I care!"
"If I go down, I'm taking you with me!"
"I dare you!" Malfoy turned away and went go the back of his cell, unable to stand the sight of her.
Hermione did the same, needing as much distance between them as possible.
The oak door scraped open.
"Get off me you fucking scum!" A broad Scottish accent came from the corridor, "Fight me like a man you fucking wanker, I could beat the shit out of you! You're a wee boy, a wee ugly faced twat!"
Cassius hit him.
"How's that wife of yours doing?"
Cassius hit him again.
"Oh," The man teased, "Have I hit a nerve? I bet she has never came a day in her life, getting fucked by an ugly sod like you."
Cassius picked him up by the scruff of his collar, "Shut your mouth!"
"Get off me you fucking scum!" A broad Scottish accent came from the corridor, "Fight me like a man you fucking wanker, I could beat the shit out of you! You're a wee boy, a wee ugly faced twat!"
"What you looking at?" The Scotsman asked.
Cassius had had enough, he lifted his bleeding palm and opened Draco's cell, "You're not putting me in with that gezzer!" The man outraged, "Malfoy fucking trash!"
Cassius hesitated, and the man turned his head to the other cell, and began laughing, "Is that Potter's Mudblood? Ohhhh, you've got quite a party down here," He praised Cassius, "I've never had Mudblood pussy before."
"And you never will." Cassius muttered and tried to steer him into Draco's cell.
The Scotsman began to protest, "What do you think you're doing? What do you think you're doing? He pushed himself against Cassius's chest, challenging him.
Cassius shoved him backward and he stumbled into Draco's cell. He promptly turned and aimed his fist at Draco's head.
Cassius lunged forward and slammed his hands down on his shoulders, pulling him away. The Scotsman turned and punched Cassius in the gut and just as swiftly turned and sucker punched Draco in the face. Draco's head reeled to the side.
Hermione took a cautious step back as the fight broke out. The Scotsman was well matched for the both of them.
The Scotsman turned back to Cassius, quick as an insect and punched Cassius in the face. Cassius fell back into the wall.
He went for Draco again, the two of them wrestled, arms locked and for a moment Hermione did not know which way it would go. They were equally matched, the pair of them throwing punch after punch.
Cassius righted himself, stormed into the cell and tackled the Scotsman to the ground. Draco quickly moved away from the commotion, exiting his own cell just as Cassius pried himself off ghe Scotsman and darted out of the cell, slamming the bars shut just in time.
The Scotsman got to his feet and threw himself at the bars.
Cassius puffed and and panted and realizing Draco was standing beside him, Cassius grabbed his arm, opened Hermione's bars and chucked him inside.
"You call that a fight?" The Scotsman asked, his face alive with adrenaline.
Hermione stepped back further.
He was in her cell.
Draco Malfoy was in her cell.
Fuck!
Draco caught his breath, leaning against the wall.
Cassius left without a word, shutting the oak door behind him.
Draco looked at Hermione, gave her cell a once over then brought his glare right back to her, "Fuck sake."
"Well if it isn't the disgraced Death Eater and Potter's bitch." The Scotsman regarded them, "You're both fucking scum!"
He removed his attention from them and looked around his new cell. He noticed the bucket in the corner and paused before sauntering over to it. He picked it up, brought it to his face and inhaled, "Smells like piss to me." He smiled at them and hurried towards the bars.
"Don't you dare!" Hermione shrieked, scurrying to the back of her cell, Draco following suit. Her back hit the wall and Draco covered his face as he flung the bucket of Draco's piss at them.
The urine splashed against his own bars and darkened the concrete floor between cells, "That was a tad ineffective." He commented. Then to Hermione's horror, he dropped the bucket with a clang, lowered his hands to his trousers and undid the zip.
"Merlin!" Hermione squealed, moving towards Draco.
"I am not your human shield!" He shouted as Hermione tried to get behind him. His back was firmly against the wall, "Granger!" He complained, panicked as she squirmed her way behind him.
"Fuck!" Draco yelled as the man urinated all over the floor, aiming his dick so the spray would land inside their cell.
Hermione was sandwiched between Draco's back and the wall as it rained inside the cell. But Draco was having none of it, he grabbed her, trying to move her in front of him.
"Don't!" She shoved him, but he was too strong. They struggled against each other, urine splattering all over the cell floor, "What the hell is wrong with you!" Hermione screamed at the Scotsman.
He only laughed.
Draco shoved her again and Hermione stumbled to the side, quickly shuffling to the opposite corner to try and avoid the spray.
Eventually he stopped urinating and Draco removed himself from the wall, catching his ankle on Hermione's own bucket. An idea occurred to him and he picked the bucket up, went the bars, stuck it through the gap and threw the urine all over the Scotsman.
"Fuck!" The man raged, Hermione's urine hit his face and clothes, "Fuck!" He screamed going red in the face, "You're dead! You're fucking dead!"
Draco returned to the back of the cell and placed the bucket down.
The Scotsman pulled his coat off and wiped his face, "You cunts!"
Hermione flicked her gaze to Draco, her heart pounding in her chest. He turned to her, chest heaving, blood still leaking from his nose, "Do you remember my promise Mudblood?"
She did.
She was not dying today.
Before she could think, she grabbed the empty bucket, went to the bars, thankful she still had her shoes, stuck it through, aimed it at the candle and threw.
The bucket hit the candle and knocked the stick out the holster and the flame extinguished as it all clattered to the floor.
"What did you do that for?" The Scotsman cursed under his breath in the dark, "Psychotic bitch!"
Hermione stepped back, finding the wall with her hands. At least now the Scotsman couldn't see her, and most importantly, Draco couldn't either.
"That was stupid." His voice was so close.
"Stay away from me."
"That's rather difficult when we're stuck in the same cell!"
"I swear to God Malfoy!" Hermione darted away, trying to keep a distance.
"What?" His voice came closer, "I'm just exploring my new cell."
"Stay back." She warned him.
"I promised I would kill you." Draco's hands found her in the darkness.
Hermione scrambled out of his grasp, running her hand against the wall. Draco tried to follow her, their shoes echoing against the concrete.
"Imagine how to Dark Lord would reward me if I killed Potter's Mudblood." His hands found her again, wrapping around her wrist.
"He would think you're a damn fool!" She shoved him, "For killing a prisoner he wants alive!"
"The world would be a better place," Draco took both her wrists and pushed her back, "With one less Mudblood in it. Don't you think?"
Hermione's back hit the wall. His breath ghosted over her face, his body heat radiating off him in waves. How did he still smell of cologne and peppermint?
"I think," Hermione inhaled his scent and nearly forgot what she was talking about, "That fucking up a second time, no, make that a third, the Malfoy name would be even more disgraced than it already—" She knees him in the balls, "Is!"
Draco doubled over and she managed to wriggle free. She ran away from him, finding the other wall just as he found her again.
"At least," Draco grabbed her by the throat, "You'll be dead."
Hermione hit his chest but he didn't move, "If I die, you die!"
Draco pressed his body into hers, trying to intimidate her. Hermione stood her ground.
"Fine," He whispered in her ear, "But that doesn't mean I can't still hurt you."
"You're both bloody pathetic!" The Scotsman interjected, "I've been wondering," He says, "Have either of you had shit wheeled at you?"
Draco immediately let go of Hermione and both of them darted to the back of the cell.
"You're disgusting!" Draco shouted at him.
"Whoa," The Scotsman chuckled, "Got you there! I had you two scared shitless. Pun intended."
"You're vile." Draco retorted.
"And you're a traitor." He countered.
"You know what he did?" Hermione piped up.
"Don't you?" The Scotsman asked and when he was met with silence he whistled, "Ohhh do I have news for you."
"Shut it!" Draco yelled.
"This," The Scotsman begins, practically singing, "Traitorous piece of shit—"
"Enough!"
"Let Harry Potter and the Weasley walk right past him."
"I said enough!"
"Didn't even throw a curse. Nothing."
"Stop it!"
"He let them go."
It can't be true.
"When did this happen?"
"You," The Scotsman addressed Malfoy, "Should be rotting in the ground for what you did! The point of a raid is to catch the scum!"
Hermione's mind ran so fast she couldn't keep up, "You let Harry and Ron escape on a raid?" She was breathless.
"I was disarmed." Draco explainded, "It was two against one!"
"Bullshit!" The Scotsman added, "That's twice you've let them get away."
Hermione felt her way along the wall, moving closer to him, "You saw them?"
"Fuck off Granger!"
"How did they look?" Hermione asked, becoming frantic, "Were they well? Where was this?"
"I'm not telling you a fucking thing!"
It was Hermione's turn to get angry.
"Tell me!" She found his arm and shoved him as hard as she could.
"No!"
Hermione jumped him, shoving him to the ground, "Tell me!' She whacked him, fighting his hands, "Tell me!"
"Get off me!"
Hermione slapped him in the face, the sound ringing through the prison. The Scotsman barked a laugh.
Draco rolled them over, pushing Hermione off him.
"Why do you care so much about them? They left you to die! They don't care about you!"
"Tell me what happened!"
"You really want to know? Potter was a mess and your precious boyfriend was so black and blue it looked like they had tried to kill each other!"
"You're lying!"
"You asked! The war is over. Potter and your Weasley know it."
Hermione's chest rose and fell with such velocity, "Why did you let them go?"
"They fucking disarmed me! There was nothing I could do!"
"That's bullshit and you know it," The Scotsman chimed in, "You let them escape because you're a fucking traitor!"
"You're wrong! I did what I could!"
"Liar!"
"Fuck you!"
Hermione's mind spiraled. She crawled to her corner and sat down. Her mind running in circles.
They're alive?
They're alive, because Draco let them go.
She listened to Draco as he argued with the Scotsman. The walls of her mind closing in.
Who are you? She wanted to ask him.
What have you become?
Hermione dipped her head and pressed her palms into her eye sockets.
She had known Malfoy for years, until now.
Friend or foe? Friend or foe?
Hermione wretched her hands from her face, gritting her teeth. Answers were no longer clear to her deprived mind. Her thoughts were jumbled. And the man before her was an enigma.