Even though I said I wasn't going to do this in my Author Note… This is where the darker stuff will really start to be sprinkled throughout the story. And I think some trigger warnings might be appropriate for those who might want to jump ship now…
Descriptions of torture by use of magic, familial abuse and vomiting for this chapter.
I THINK those are the biggest ones…
Take care of yourself if you need to. No hard feelings.
Oh and next Friday's post will be over on "Anytime But Now"! If you'd like to see some extra memories then keep an eye out over there!
As Always…
Much love,
SlytherclawLuv
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A high-pitched scream reached her ears but the accompanying scene did not materialize in front of her. With her other senses deprived of stimuli the agonizing wail echoed inside of her head for an indeterminable stretch of eternity, until she had forgotten everything but the sound of unending pain.
It was animalistic. A primordial plea for mercy that went on for seconds? Hours? Days? Years? Centuries? Eons? She couldn't be sure, but eventually the realization that she could feel her extremities again registered. Relief was quickly replaced by a fresh wave of dread. The unnoticed comfort from her earlier romping was in stark contrast to the sudden frigidity that surrounded her. And even more concerning… The air had turned oddly viscous, impeding her breathing and preventing her from moving.
She had to get out!
Hermione fought against the thick gelatinous ether. Driven by panic-induced hysteria, she pushed forward against the all-too-familiar weight. Every inch of imagined progress taken was made more tortuous by the everpresent scream that continued to reverberate inside of her head.
Finally her version tunneled on the tiniest pinpoint of white light ahead of her. The smallest of life preservers in the abyss of inky gloom, it flared her dwindling will to fight against the waves of soul crushing despair she had somehow found herself in. With everything left in her, she struggled toward the shimmering promise of sweet relief…
Only to find herself wishing for the freezing hellscape as soon as she had fallen into the memory that was attached to the vocalized misery. The warmth that poured from the large marble fireplace, casting the lavish room in an inviting glow, was conflicting with the harrowing sight that froze her own distressed scream in her throat.
She could no longer tell if the withering body on the garishly expensive rug was male or female. Malnourishment and prolonged trauma had stripped any defining features from the living skeleton. Its resemblance to the pictures of famine victims from her muggle school years was jarring. Stringy dark hair hung limply over bloodied lips that were barely parted to allow gurgling shallow breaths to escape.
Her stomach lurched and she fell to her knees, clasping a hand to her mouth to keep the now thawed bile-filled scream from spilling out. She choked on the second round of fiery acid that was triggered by a voice calmly articulating one of the curses she had hoped she would never have to witness again.
"Crucio!"
Pathetic cries echoed tenfold within the wallpapered confines of the room, the sounds of utter despair unbearably sharper than in the void. There had been the cold to distract her and the blessing of blindness. Now, she couldn't look away as bones twisted into nightmarish angles by the strain of invisible muscles that were instinctually fighting to find solace from the vicious assault.
The body fell limp for a couple of seconds before starting to shiver from shock and for a split second Hermione thought they could see her, but the dazed eyes focused sharply on something behind her and whispered, "Hel… Help… Me…"
A vicious laugh interrupted the pitiful begging, "Oh yes, please do help the vermin, Young Malfoy…"
She didn't need to turn to know who had spoken. The inhumanly cold voice was enough. And she didn't need to see the wand raise out of the corner of her eye to know what was about to happen… The surrender that entered the poor person's eyes broke her and she reached forward. Wanting, more than anything, to give some sort of semblance of comfort to them in their last moments. But, of course, her hand was incorporeal and passed right through the frail outstretched fingers.
It didn't take long for the almost jovial tone to the room to shift to a disquieting unease. The implied order going unanswered for any amount of time was obviously such an infrequent slight that the others gathered were apprehensive for the boy behind her, the one that she couldn't bring herself to look at. Too afraid to see the monster he had warned her about there.
"Draco!" His father whispered urgently from somewhere to the side.
Silence rang heavy in the air.
Hermione could feel the tension from the small crowd rising as the seconds ticked by and her own selfish terror rose higher, not for the death of the resigned breathing corpse that laid in front of her, but for the one she loved and the wrath that would surely follow his insubordination. The thought caused a lurch of shame in her stomach and she had to once again swallow back vomit.
She watched as the wand next to her head started to tremble and listened closely to the rustling of robes behind her as he transferred his weight from one foot to the other.
"Just a bit of stage fright, I am afraid, My Lord." Lucius offered up as explanation. Before anyone had time to register what he had said the elder Malfoy had raised his own wand and said the words that ended the life of their prey.
The eyes she had been staring into glassed over quickly. Too quickly for the finality of the act. The spark of an entire life lived, gone forever. She attempted to blink away the tears that pooled in her eyes but knew it was a hopeless venture. Refusing to look too closely at the waves of warring emotions that wanted out, Hermione crumpled in on herself so that her head rested against her knees and sobbed…
"Are you suicidal or truly brainless?"
The defamatory question was the first clue that she had been pushed inside of yet another new memory during her breakdown. She quickly glanced up from her place on the floor and found herself confused for a moment, thinking Lucius had done the unthinkable and figured out a way to meet with Draco inside of the Room of Requirement. But the drastic changes to the room didn't take long to catalog and she realized she was inside of Draco's actual bedroom.
Sprawled at the foot of the bed, Hermione watched as Draco glared openly at his father. His disgust was blatant as his lips turned up into a smug smirk, "What would you have me say Father? It might be a bit of both?"
"I fail to find the humor, boy." Lucius returned his son's narrowed gaze, waiting for a defense.
Unflinching, Draco soundlessly stared back, waiting for the inevitable avalanche of malice as silver frost collided with arctic ice. Neither willing to relent to the other.
"So much bravado now that you are safe at home! Where was this fortitude a few short hours ago?" When his goading did not receive the anticipated response, Lucius' eyes narrowed even further before he continued. "It would do you well to remember that I am the only reason you are alive to stand there with such disrespect."
Draco's jaw clenched, the muscles in his neck straining against his instinctive retort. It took a moment for him to snarkily retaliate, "I apologize for my imprudence, Father. Happy now?"
Unable to tolerate the insolence any longer, the elder Malfoy closed the space between them in a few swift steps. With his matured elegance distorted by the mirrored hostility of his son, he hissed through his teeth. "Your idiocy is nauseating..."
"At the risk of you vomiting, I would advise you to leave my presence if it is so debilitating. There is no reason to suffer electively, Father."
The quelling words barely passed Draco's lips before the sound of the slap from his father's hand rang out. It was immediately apparent that the authoritative strike had not hurt but was done to humiliate. Lucius' rage caused spittle to fly with his next blistering words, "While it is your choice to disregard your welfare, I refuse to allow you to toy with your Mother's or mine. Is that understood?"
At the reminder of the stakes Draco paled, drawing attention to the pink handprint that was etched into his cheek. He swallowed hard before giving one shake of his head.
"If the Dark Lord chooses continued patience with you, I expect nothing but obedience. I do not care if he asks you to bottle the damn stars! You do it." There was a manic gleam in the older wizard's eye as he demanded blind submission to a genocidal madman. "Never forget that he has us here, under his thumb…"
For a long moment the pair stood there in silence, continuing to size each other up, until Draco finally relented, "...Yes, sir."
Lucius raked his son with one last glare before turning to stalk away, his pitch black robes swished dramatically behind him as he slammed the opulent door for further effect. With his departure the memory faded leaving the last image of Draco's sullen glower, vandalized by his father's brand, to etch itself into her amygdala.
The reverberating sound of another door slamming shut preceded the surfacing of the visible memory. Once again Hermione found herself in the Malfoys' drawing room, situated in the corner where the Christmas tree had stood the last time she had been there. Bright sunshine warmed the room through the opened windows- hinting that the time of year leaned towards the summer months.
"I refuse!"
"Do not be daft, Cissy. You cannot refuse." Bellatrix said, clearly irked by the theatrics. Her hooded dark eyes followed her sister's normally poised frame as it paced back and forth in front of the unlit fireplace.
"I can and I will! I have gone along with this delirium, at the expense of my child's welfare, for far too long." The blonde screeched. She turned to face the other witch, the family resemblance was strong with her face twisted by her raving hysteria. "I want you all out! NOW!"
"How sweet… Pretending to care now that it is too late." Bellatrix said softly, so softly that Hermione had to strain to hear her.
"Don't you dare stand there and talk to me like that! I've done what I have had to... to keep him alive."
"I will talk to you however I damn well please!" The demand seemed to snap whatever hold on her sanity that delusional madwoman had and she raised an already armed wand from the depths of her hanging sleeves and pointed it at her sister. "Seems as if you forget that I am the only reason either of you are alive. I was the one who begged for your lives when your pathetic husband couldn't."
Narcissa immediately froze under the threat but continued to glare menacingly as the oldest Black sister stepped forward to continue her tirade. "I should call the Dark Lord and tell him of your hubris. Let him deal with that traitorous mouth of yours…"
Another step forward and the dark tip of Bellatrix's curved wand was a few inches away from Narcissa's chest, she let the threat hang in the air between them. Leaving no doubt that her true allegiance was not on the side of her family if push ever came to shove.
Out of nowhere Hermione felt the symptomatic light tingle of an unspoken spell brushing against her skin and suddenly Bellatrix was thrown back a step by the invisible force. Both witches looked over to the corner, searching for the orientation of the jinx. Their gazes settled on a figure that had surfaced sometime during their quarrel.
Draco stood at Hermione's side, wand still raised, his own face reflecting the surprise of all three women in the room. His hand shook as he flicked his wand quickly, drawing up a nonverbal shield charm between his mother and aunt.
The attempts to protect the former engorged the flames of instability in the latter. Bellatrix's already dark eyes deepened even further as her pupils dilated with her mania. Without a second thought for what she was about to do, the witch threw out multiple spells at an inhuman speed. Some bursts of blue and green were aimed for her nephew and others at the force field that absorbed the hexes meant to incapacitate his mother.
Draco clumsily deflected the various attacks, sending the jets of colored light to scorch the embossed wallpaper behind him. Large black blemishes now ruined the beautiful pale green damask pattern, an insignificant observation considering the surrounding chaos, but one that seemed symbolic to Hermione. Yet another physical manifestation of the damage caused by the archaic insularism supported by so much of wizardkind. Supporters of Voldermort or not...
"INCARCEROUS! RELASHIO! IMMOBULUS"
A pained yelp brought her back to the one-sided battle. Narcissa now laid in a heap on the floor, ropes holding her arms tightly to her side. The wand she had attempted to draw gleamed near her feet, where it must have been dropped as she fell. While Draco was still fumbling to divert the spells, unable to do anything offensive under the volley being sent his way.
"STUBILITO!"
The weakening hex struck its target in a flash of bright green. Narcissa's outraged, but ultimately futile, screech echoed around the room as her son collapsed to the ground. Somehow he managed to stay slumped upright as his energy was torn from his body. Leaving him drained to the point that he couldn't even hold his wand anymore. It slipped from his fingers and clattered to the floor next to him.
Hermione's hands twitched idly at her side. She understood, too well, the bound witch's agony. Neither was able to help as they watched a victorious gleam enter Bellatrix's unhinged eyes.
"Shut up, Cissy!" The woman hissed as she stalked forward until she was in front of Draco's folded form. Almost instantaneously the ominous veneer fell away and she reached down to roughly pinch his chin, lifting his face so he had to look up at her as she asked sweetly, "What do you think you are doing?"
He didn't answer and from Hermione's vantage point she could only imagine the look on his face.
"I will ask you one more time… What do you think you are doing, Draco?" An edge entered her voice but Bellatrix let the approximation of a reassuring smile to cross her lips.
His voice was gravely as he snapped, "Protecting my mother."
"Protecting a defector you mean?"
"... Y..Yes." The admission was simple, but the disdain was plain in his voice.
"And what do we do to deserters of the cause, dear nephew?"
Once again his answer was delayed, as if his lips refused to form the words she required, "We punish them."
Bellatrix caressed along Draco's jawline with her thumb in a placating gesture, "Good, good."
The mollifying moment stretched to an uncomfortable degree until, out of nowhere, the standing woman let go of her grip on the wizard letting his head roll forward so it rested on his chest. Just as suddenly she lashed out and brought her palm down against the side of his head. A vengeful strike that sent him toppling over into a broken heap and caused a blood curdling scream to be wrung from his immobilized mother.
Distracted by the shriek, the dark haired witch stomped over to Narcissa and aimed her wand at the blonde's chest. A fiendish smile pulled at the corners of her lips as she spoke softly, "I thought that I told you to… SHUT UP!"
Even though the other woman stayed quiet, Bellatrix raised her wand slightly, adjusting the end so it was pointed at her mouth and whispered, "Oscausi." In an instant her target completely disappeared from Narcissa's attractive face. The shock of abruptly losing her mouth caused her arctic blue eyes to bulge, which only added to her sudden cartoonish appearance.
Hermione shifted uncomfortably where she stood, unable to do anything to help as Bellatrix smiled widely. She admired her handiwork for a moment before nodding, "Much better."
Apparently growing bored of her first toy, now that her sister was silenced, Bellatrix strolled back over to the crumbled mass on the floor and kicked his wand away. She took a centering deep breath that raised her shoulders, the sick smile that had been plastered to her face morphed into something resembling an imitation of sweetness, "Now that I have your attention… Crucio!"
There was a long suspended second where nothing happened and then Hermione's world collapsed… She watched as Draco contorted on the floor in front of his aunt. His jaw was clenched and sweat broke out across his brow as he struggled against the screams of pain that threatened to escape from his tightly pursed lips. Unable to look away from the boy she loved as his back arched, his muscles twisting in an attempt to break free from the torture.
It felt like a ceaseless assault, but eventually Bellatrix allowed her wand arm to drop to her side. The move gave Draco a reprieve to be able to drag harsh gasping breaths into his lungs. Instinctually, he rolled into the fetal position. A useless attempt to protect himself from another round of pain.
Narcissa's muffled screams grabbed both of the standing witches' attention. She fought against her binds like a wounded animal, her tears streaming from rabid eyes. An incapacitated mother dragon fighting like hell to reach her battered youngling…
The maniac stalked over and for a long stretch of time stood over her sister, breathing hard, as both women glared at the other. The stark contrast between the two was undeniable. One light. The other, dark. One, somewhat, sane. The other, a sadist. One adored. The other, tolerated, at best. One weak. The other, powerful. Far too powerful.
An undeniable fact that they both knew hung heavy between them...
Bellatrix wouldn't hesitate to kill her own family if it meant pleasing her Master.
"WHAT THE FUCK, GRANGER?!" Draco's shout finally broke the curse that she had been as much of a prisoner to.
Her return to reality was anything but gentle and she was still grateful. Somehow, she had lost control and unintentionally broken through a wall she had not even known was there. Her head started to pound frantically. She wasn't sure if it was an after effect of the horrendous things she had seen or the strength she had unconsciously given to keep the connection up.
Either way, it only took seconds for the bile from the monstrous migraine to fill her mouth with acidity. This time she didn't have the energy to keep the vomit from pouring between her lips. She quickly turned and heaved all over the floor, gagging on the mucus that quickly followed what little had been in her stomach.
Oh Gods… What had she done?!