Shock is all Draco felt as he held Granger in his arms and took in the deplorable condition she was in. Gone were the long curly locks he had ached to touch in his youth; in their place, light, fine strands stood, barelylong enough to cover her scalp. Three faded, uneven lines ran from her hairline, over her left eye, across the filthy, boniness of her right cheek, and along her jaw. He raked his eyes down her body, taking in the rest of her. She wore a similar shift to Pansy's, but where Pansy's seemed to be in decent condition, mostly clean of filth, Granger's felt stiff, almost crusty, and reeked of filth. If he hadn't been so enamored by the scent of her omega pheromones as he'd entered her cell, he definitely would have caught the stench of her filth. The yellowed fabric had ridden up her legs, revealing how malnourished she was by exposing her scarred, bony knees that led to overtly thin thighs, littered with similar scarring she bore on her face.
Draco dragged his eyes back up her body until his gaze settled on hers. Glossy sienna eyes, once curious, peered dully back at him. If he had to choose one word to describe the woman before him, he would select lost. This version of Granger looked like her consciousness had waded to sea with no hope for a savior, accepting her fate to lose herself to the waves that refused to let her go.
"Granger?" Draco finally spoke.
There was no response, just more of an eerie blank stare.
"What's wrong with her?" Draco directed his question towards Pansy; he was met with a look of pity.
"So much. They took everything from her. Do you see the markings on my body? They are nothing compared to what they've done to Hermione's mind." Pansy explained while she shifted on her feet uneasily. "We need to go Draco. The cleanup crew will be here anytime."
Draco disregarded Pansy's words momentarily as he turned his gaze back to Granger. "Granger, can you hear me? I need you to say something." He was met with silence again, so he decided to try something else. "Omega. Are you with me, omega? Answer your alpha." Draco felt the vibration within his chest as his tone dropped to a low timbre reserved for his Alpha. He wasrewarded with a shifting of Granger's eyes as she searchedaimlessly around her. Her arms wrapped tighter around his neck as she tried to eliminate all space between them.
"Alpha. It hurt so much, Alpha. Why didn't you come? Do you not want me?" Granger whimpered, the dry, cracked skin of her lips scraping against his neck as she nuzzled him.
Draco felt as if his mind was in a mental tug-of-war. His Alpha demanded he take care of his omega, demanding he kill every single person that led to her current state. The other part of his mind was a cold fog, numbing everything in its path, insistingthat logic should win out. He had never planned to take an omega or be responsible for one. He respected the designation,and as an alpha, he'd found the research centers deplorable. Draco had done everything he could to help Theo find his mate,but he'd never really thought he'd find his own. Despite having scented her at abandoned centers in the past, he'd never taken the time to face the reality of what would happen when or if he did find her. The cold fog demanded he take control of his emotions and handle this situation with the calculated efficiency he applied to everything else in his life.
"Omega. I need to speak with Granger. Come back, Granger." Draco said.
"She's not here," Granger responded, eyes shifting around the hall again.
"Where is she?" Draco coaxed as gently as he was able, still using his alpha tone to elicit responses.
"Everywhere. Nowhere. Hiding. Always hiding." Granger said, her voice fading, her eyelids fluttering before closing, and her breathing settling.
"What the fuck was that?" Draco asked as he turned to Pansy again.
"I told you. What was the most valuable thing about Hermione Granger?" Pansy questioned softly.
Draco quickly put the puzzle pieces together and slightly shifted the warm weight in his arms. "Her intelligence. They destroyed her mind." Draco said more to himself than in response to Pansy's question.
"Bloody morons. Should have been halfway to the next location by now." A muffled voice carried from the other end of the hall, near the entrance.
"Fuck. Take Granger back into her cell and stay hidden. I'll handle this." Draco commanded as he settled Granger's weight in Pansy's arms. He waited for her to shuffle into the dark cell before firmly shutting the door behind them.
Draco's fingers gripped the blade sheathed in his hip holster as he quickly took a position at the hall's turn leading to the viewing room. Back braced against the wall, he steadied his breathing and focused his mind, using his alpha senses to detect their visitors.
"Where the bloody hell is Reggie?" The same voice questioned as the handle of the hall door clicked.
"Probably having a bit of fun with that dark-haired omega. She's a nasty one, I hear. Likes to fight back if you know what I mean." Another voice said, followed by a dark chuckle and heavy breathing. Their footsteps slapped harshly against the tile as they neared the corner.
Draco gripped his wand in his left hand and his blade with his right. No witnesses could be allowed to survive today; anyinformation they found could be deadly in the hands of the Dark Lord. The first man stepped around the corner, and Draco's knife hand darted out with precision, embedding itself in the fatty flesh of the man's neck. Draco let a killing curse fly from his wand at the second man without loosening his grip on his first victim. The spell missed him by mere centimeters, and the burly figure launched himself at Draco.
Blood sprayed as Draco's body fell backward, and his knife dislodged from the first victim's neck. The second man was much larger, and he wreaked of alpha pheromones, the thrill of the fight increasing the potency of his scent. A meaty fist cracked against Draco's jaw, but he remained standing, having braced himself against the wall behind him.
"Come on, big boy. Is that all you got?" Draco taunted as he gripped the man's shoulders and, with as much force as he could muster, dug his knee into his opponent's stomach. A sharp gasp leaves the man's body as the wind is knocked out of him. The brute refuses to give up, though. Despite his lack of oxygen, he rained heavy blows against Draco's rib cage, causing him to lose his grip on the other alpha.
"What the fuck are you doing here, Malfoy? Shouldn't you be sucking the Dark Lord's cock about now?" The man said asblood dripped from the corner of his mouth and down his stubbled chin.
"Ahh, that's scheduled for Tuesdays, I'm afraid." Draco taunted as the two men circled each other. "Now, do you want to stand here talking about Voldemort's cock, or can I get back to killing you?"
"Fucking wanker." The man growled, and in his fury, he missed the silent, leg-locking jinx Draco sent his way. His hefty body topples to the tiles floor with a loud thud. "Is the Dark Lord's pet dog finally breaking loose of his lease? Come to sample one of the omega's? Done that a time or two myself; the blonde especially gives when you know how to make her sing."
Draco saw red. There was no tamping down his rage as it licked through his veins, clouding every rational part of his mind until he was practically frothing at the mouth. Omegas should be respected, not used for twisted experiments forced upon them.
After having tossed his wand aside, Draco stalked his prey, watching the poor excuse for an alpha struggling to back away with his legs invisibly bound together. He loosened the mental cage on his alpha, finally letting the beast out to play. A malicious grin spread over Draco's face as he brought a booted foot down heavily on the man's fingers, the sound of bones crunching like music to his ears. He stopped over the man's torso and lowered his weight so his knees pinned the growling alpha's arms to the floor. "A quick death was too kind to offer,so Draco made it slow. His fingers gripped the russet curls of the thrashing alpha's head as he yanked the strands back, earning him another yelp of pain.
"You're a pathetic excuse for an alpha, which will make this so much more enjoyable. I'm going to feed your gelatinous, rotting corpse to my dogs so not even your family will have the chance to mourn you. Maybe once they've shit out your bones, I'll send them as a way to pay my condolences." Draco said, his voice laced with every ounce of hate he felt burning through his veins.
Draco placed his thumbs over the man's eye sockets and slowly began pressing inward. The alpha thrashed beneath Draco with renewed effort but was still unable to dislodge him. His screams echoed through the empty halls as the jelly of his eyes gave to the pressure of Draco's fingers. The white orbs separated as sharp nails sliced through their center, leaving a pool of blood and mangled pupils. Draco pulled another blade from a sheath at his waist and placed it over the center of the man's chest.
"Any last words, pig?" Draco asked.
"Fuck you." The man whimpered as tears of blood streamedover his temples.
The force of Draco's blade sinking between bones caused a loud 'crack' to snap through the hall, followed by an ear-splitting scream and a soft squelching noise as the blade ripped fromsternum to pelvis.
Blood dripped like crimson rain from Draco's fingertips as he stood. His pants were nearly soaked through with the liquid, leaving a trail behind him as he walked to grab his wand from itsspot on the floor.
"James?" A new voice croaked but could not say anything further as Draco cast a quick killing curse, snuffing the life from his eyes in a blink. He stepped over the newcomer's body and returned to Granger's cell.
Draco took a deep breath in as he opened the door, inhaling the smell of filth, Granger's scent, and a note of Pansy's pheromones.
"It's done. Let's get out of here." Draco said as he stooped to take Granger into his arms again. The blood from his hands leftstreaks over her already filthy shift.
"Made a mess, did we?" Pansy asked as she followed him down the hall and towards the exit.
"It was necessary," Draco responded as he paused to shift Granger, so he held her in one arm and used the other to bend and grab the dead alpha's curls. A crimson trail formed behind him as he dragged the corpse towards the exit.
"I'm sure it was." Pansy agreed airily as she skipped behind him; her feet left small red footprints from the pool of blood she'd walked through. "Where are we going?" She asked.
"Home," Draco responded as they stepped through the double doors and out into the light of day. He takes Pansy's arm and Apparates them away.