April 5th, 1998
It was dark—so unbelievably dark—as she sat in her cell in Malfoy Manor after being tortured by Bellatrix.The only constant thing running through her mind at that moment was the unbearable pain she was in. After several rounds of the Cruciatus curse and being carved into by Bellatrix, it was all she could do at the moment to focus on the constant tremors and pain shooting through her nerves. When she got the little breaks in between episodes of pain, she turned to agonizing over the terrifying realization that Ron and Harry had just left her there when Dobby had whisked them off to Merlin knows where. After a few minutes of panicking—because she knew that would get her absolutely nowhere—she decided to get up from the ground, even though the constant tremors ran through her body from the Cruciatus curse. Pacing back and forth throughout her cell in the dungeon, she tried to think of a plan to get out of this fresh hell she had found herself in.
Maybe I could try wandless magic , she thought to herself. After trying for what seemed like hours—even though it was just minutes—she caught onto the fact that the dungeons were obviously warded against magic.
She tried to brainstorm more ideas. Sneaking out? Definitely not, because she didn't have a key to get out of the cell in the first place or a wand if she wanted to get out safely. Fight off the next person who came down here? That might work—suddenly, a tremor ran through her body and reminded her that there was absolutely no way she could fight anyone off in her condition. Try to seduce someone into letting her out? Maybe that could work, but this was a house full of purebloods who would never sully themselves with mudblood, as she was so ironically reminded by looking down at her forearm, where Bellatrix had carved into her skin a permanent reminder of just what she was to them.
Her pacing—and scheming—were cut short as she heard the dungeon door open and footsteps coming down the stairs. Pushing herself as far as she could into the corner, she waited with baited breath to see who would be coming, most likely to torture or taunt her for fun.
" PSSST, Granger I know you can hear me."
Malfoy, she thought to herself. Of anyone who could've come down here, it had to be the ferret himself .
"What do you want, ferret?"
"That's not the way to treat someone who came down to check on you," he sneered, reminding her of the boy who used to taunt and bully her at school before he helped murder the headmaster, and she had sacrificed so much to go on the run with the boys.
She just stared at him until, finally, she got tired of him not saying anything. "What?" She snapped.
"I have a proposition for you, Granger," he drawled nonchalantly. "You can get out of this dreadful dungeon, but you have to make a deal with the devil."
"Oh, yeah, Malfoy? And tell me, What would that deal be, and which devil, clearly more than one, frequents this manor?" She bit out with clear disdain.
"How do you feel about a little acting?" He said this as he looked at her with what she thought was disgust, but she didn't know as she saw a small glimmer of hope in his eyes.
Thinking back to her earlier schemes of trying to seduce a pureblood, she decided to turn on the charms and see if Malfoy would break even though she was a filthy mudblood in his eyes.
"Well, I suppose anything is better than staying down here. What kind of acting do you want?" She tried to sound flirty but grimaced, knowing how out of her depth she sounded.
Malfoy stared at her with wide eyes before smirking and saying, "Truly, I'm flattered, Granger, but that's not the acting I had in mind."
Blushing, she looked at him, saying, "Well, then what is it, Malfoy?"
"Turn yourself over to the Dark Lord."
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"You're going to have to repeat yourself," she stuttered, not thinking she heard him correctly.
"Simple granger, turn yourself over to the Dark Lord. You're Potter's best friend; I'm sure you have valuable information, and it will clearly make life better for you to get out of this dungeon and not be tortured anymore…" He paused for a dramatic effect and said, "Well, maybe." He grinned.
"I can't just turn on everyone I know and love, Malfoy." She snarled back to him.
"Granger, how many times in school did Weaslebee and Boy Wonder turn their backs on you for much smaller things?" He said slowly, "Because, from an outsider's perspective, it happened quite often, and the only time they came crawling back was when they had a homework assignment they couldn't complete on their own. I'm willing to bet all the galleons in my vault they didn't once apologize and just swept it under the rug that they didn't treat you like utter shite."
She took a moment to think to herself, they never had apologized to her had they? Not for anything in the last several years… They would just start talking to her like nothing had ever happened between them. Unbeknownst to her, she was furrowing her brow just thinking about it. Looking up she noticed Malfoy had a smug little smirk on his face.
"Oh, was I right?" He laughed smugly, knowing he hit the nail on the head.
"Shut up, Malfoy. They're my friends, and I don't think I can stomach the thought of turning on them." She spoke quietly as she wrung her hands, trying to get the thought of doing the unthinkable out of her head.
"Fine, suit yourself, Granger. Just know that the offer is on the table when you decide you want to change your mind," he said as he turned around to walk away, "Just know that he isn't a very patient wizard."
Just like that she was back to solitude, and her own thoughts.
"I can hold out."
"I can hold out."
"I can hold out."
She kept telling herself this. It would be her mantra; whatever they threw at her she would take it. Nothing mattered more to her, than keeping her friends safe.