AN. For the guest that had the question about Hermione using levitation to escape, I had originally imagined that idea too, but then I thought what if she fell and got hurt? The prison is a long way down so if someone fell, they would probably die. That's why the other prisoners use the rope when they make the climb to the ledge. She would also have to leave the cell to do that too, and that poses enough risk to her given what could happen with the other prisoners.
The idea that she has magic is through the same theory that magic manifests itself in very trying times. She still has her magic in the prison, but only at very specific times like when she was running away from the other prisoners or when she was desperate for Bane to wake up when he collapsed.
Hope that clears up any confusion.
Chapter 4.
The door slid shut as Bane exited the doctor's lab.
He patted the new medication in his pocket.
Almost neurotic in his need to reassure himself that they were still there.
He had only been gone for two days, but it felt like a week.
It was too long to be away from Hermione.
He glided up the steps and ignored the retreating forms of the other prisoners who moved out of his path.
"You must have bewitched her, amigo." Sergio called from the lower level. One of Abraham's thugs. "The way she screamed your name, it was like she actually cared about you."
Bane ignored the calls and increased his speed to reach the cell.
"Get that pussy!" Someone hollered.
Bane turned quickly to search for the offending party.
He was not a fan of crude remarks, he was even less a fan when they were directed at him.
Those gathered by the water pump promptly scurried away in fear of being pointed out.
His eyes turned to Tomas who stood back watching. The old man shrugged in response to Bane's stare.
Tomas wasn't foolish enough to rat out another inmate. They all knew what would happen should he point out the offender.
He simply turned and began to fill his bucket now that the queue was gone.
Bane gave the incident no more thought and returned to his purpose.
The doctor was good enough to give him two weeks' worth of rations. It was the least they could do after endangering his life.
The privacy sheets were draped around the cell walls. That meant she was still there.
He had a vague memory of telling her the combination for the lock.
He feared what would happen if he didn't recover from whatever had floored him the other day.
It had been some time since he collapsed from his chronic pain.
The door creaked open.
For a moment he couldn't spot Hermione.
Before panic could set in, he found himself sighing in relief when he saw Hermione asleep on his cot.
Stuffed under an array of blankets.
She looked so young.
Defenceless.
His mind went back to Crane's crude remarks about his relationship with Hermione.
Both the imaginary and the potential.
He had hoped that the need would lessen, but now being in her presence, he wasn't sure he could turn a blind eye any longer.
"Hermione." He rubbed her shoulder gently.
"Bane?" She whispered into his pillow.
After a minute she opened her beautiful brown eyes.
It took her a moment to focus on him.
"Bane, you're back. Are you okay?" There was a caring gleam in her eyes.
"A little complication with my dosage. What occurred the other day should not happen again."
She smiled at him.
"Are you sure everything's okay?"
"I have never felt better."
"I'm glad you're alright."
Her smaller hand gripped his.
He frowned at the gesture.
It only lasted a moment before she took her hand away.
She reclined back with a content smile.
"What's in the bags?"
Her eyes travelled to the sacks on the floor.
"I have food for us." Bane announced.
"Thank Circe. I didn't eat at all yesterday." She groaned.
She sat up and he was treated to a delicate bare shoulder.
Hermione reached past him on the cot to look in the sack. She was practically lying across his lap as she searched through the items.
He dared not move. He was afraid to even take a breath.
There was certainly an advantage to finding her sleeping in his bed.
"Is that tinned pineapple?" She squealed in delight.
"I brokered a deal with the good doctor. Non-perishable canned goods. He was… generous to our plight."
Generous may not have been the right word when he thought back to his last conversation with the doctor.
Crane asked if he could examine Hermione. Purely to make sure that she is healthy.
But Bane knew that the prison lab's protocol meant that Crane couldn't be alone with a prisoner. He looked around at the mercenaries-for-hire. He didn't like the gleaming looks in their eyes.
He threatened to show Crane what the Venom allowed his body to do, and Crane didn't want to lose his perfect smile.
One look at Bane's clenched fist and he was writing a shopping list for a subordinate and telling Bane he was only kidding.
Crane gifted the sacks with a conspirative wink.
"Have fun." Crane singsonged.
He was lucky Bane would rather leave the lab than stay another minute to remove the smug look from the man's face.
"There's eight tins of the stuff. I can already feel my mouth watering. You know what they say about pineapple?" She sat up with a smirk.
He frowned at her.
"What do they say about pineapple?"
She blushed, almost as if she said something she shouldn't have. The jovial look vanished.
"Nothing, just forget I said anything. It's good for you though." She ran her fingers through her hair.
Bane's eyes danced over her face.
Still as beautiful as he remembered.
Bane had no doubt that on the surface she had men fighting for her attention.
A thought crossed his mind. Something he had asked before, but never received a concrete answer.
"Hermione?"
"Yes?" She broke open one of the tins and began to eat the pineapple.
A drop of juice rested on her upper lip. It looked so tempting. His gaze studied her mouth. Her tongue licked it away.
He fisted the fabric at his thigh.
"Bane?"
"You spoke of your life outside of this prison."
"Yes?" She frowned at him.
"Is…is there someone waiting for you to come back?" He almost didn't want to know the answer.
"I should hope so. I'm honestly a little miffed that they haven't found me yet." She sighed and ate more of the fruit.
"And these people… are they your…family?" He tested each word to see if she would finish the sentence.
"In a way. Your friends become your family. Mum and Dad moved to Australia years ago, so I just have my friends back in Britain.
"And is there a… lover waiting for you?" The word felt foreign on his tongue. Love was never spoken about in the pit. It was an unfamiliar sentiment.
Her head tilted to the side for a moment, simply studying him.
A small smile appeared.
A secret smile.
"No. Not for a long time." She ate another ring of pineapple. He watched her swallow it. His eyes followed the path from her lips to her neck.
A sucking sound brought his eyes back up.
Hermione began to suck the juice off her fingers. One by one.
"Why so curious?" She edged closer.
The fabric on her shoulder shifted, revealing more skin.
His throat tightened. His airways ceased to function when she looked at him like that.
"Bane?" Her fingers crept up his arm. Like a caress.
"I-I…" He couldn't speak.
The words were right there in his mind, but he couldn't speak.
"I missed you, Bane. I was out of my mind with worry. I couldn't wait for you to get back." She revealed shyly.
He had missed her too.
It was on the tip of his tongue to disclose his own longing to see her again.
The heart hammering in his chest spurred him to tell her.
But something stopped him.
The fear.
Images of these 'friends' coming to rescue her.
Watching another important person climbing to their freedom. Out of his life forever.
Leaving him there to rot.
Hermione was right.
He was afraid she was going to leave him.
Like his mother and Talia.
Everyone he had ever cared about had abandoned him.
Whether by death or by desertion.
He wanted Hermione.
But he didn't know if he could survive Hermione's rejection.
Or if he could survive her escape if she truly did have friends waiting for her.
He had been hurt too many times before.
"I…" The words drifted off.
"Yes?"
He pushed his wants to the back of his mind.
He sighed.
"I... am tired. I need to rest." Bane avoided her gaze.
"Yes, of course. You must be exhausted."
Hermione made to move, but his hand shot out to stop her.
"Bane?"
"As soon as I am rested, we will continue our training. You need to be ready."
She frowned in confusion.
"Ready for what?"
His eyes strayed over to the other cell. Talia's cell.
"One day, you will have to rely on yourself, I will not always be able to watch you. Especially if my mask fails again."
"But Bane-" She stood and he could see that she was about to begin furiously pacing.
"I will speak with you on this matter later. Please, let me rest." Bane laid down in the warmth she had left behind.
"You know, I can usually empathise with someone that would rather be alone, but I think you would be making a decision that neither of us wants."
He turned to look at her.
"How would you know what I want?"
"Because no one wants to be alone."
Bane heaved a great sigh.
"I will speak with you in a few hours." He turned onto his back and resolved to clear his mind.
"Sleep well." Her quiet voice lulled him to oblivion.
Xxx
Hermione watched the steady rise and fall of his chest.
She could finally let the tension go in her shoulders now that he was back.
Hopefully the drive-by glances she had been dealing with since Bane's disappearance would cease. Abraham and his gang would frequently hang around outside her cell.
She could only remind them so many times that Bane would be back soon.
One night, she woke up to see him rattling her bars. She had instinctively reached for the wand that wasn't there.
"Afraid, chica?" He smirked.
"Not of you."
"Are you afraid of him?"
She almost hesitated in answering.
"He keeps me safe."
"One day. He's going to walk through those doors and he won't come back. Then who will protect you?" Abraham spoke menacingly as she tried to steady her beating heart.
It took some serious occluding, but he eventually left her alone.
And then the next morning, Bane returned.
The sense of relief she felt was overwhelming.
She could have kissed him when he brought food. That pineapple was amazing.
She looked through the rest of the sack as he slept soundly.
Hermione organised all the tinned food and dried meats. She placed the opened pineapple on the cabinet, maybe Bane would want some when he woke up. She cringed when she thought back to her little quip about pineapples.
His confusion was almost adorable. But then she grew sad when she realised the he spend his adolescent life in prison and has probably never heard the myth that apparently pineapples make sperm taste better.
She had never personally tested the theory, but according to conversations between Parvati and Lavender, it was true.
He's missed out on so much.
Hermione was almost positive that Bane had feelings for her.
She knew she was being cheeky when she leaned over his lap to 'look' into the canvas sack.
And when she licked the juice off her lips and fingers, she could have sworn that he was as interested as she was.
Or maybe she was going mad?
There was a possibility that this was Stockholm Syndrome and that she was projecting her feelings onto Bane.
She looked back over the exhausted man and hoped that she was wrong.
Bane looked like he had been through a lot while he had been away.
Hermione didn't want to think about what would happen if he didn't come back. He had given her the combination for the cell.
Not that she considered leaving for a second.
It was safer inside the cell than outside it.
The chanting began again.
A quick glance at the lower level through the privacy sheets was a well-built man wrapping the rope around his abdomen and preparing to make the climb.
She watched the same man climb and fall last week.
Maybe today he would make it.
Hermione, and the crowd gathered at the bottom, all held their breath as he prepared to jump to the ledge.
A gasp caught in her throat as the man missed the ledge by what looked like a few centimetres.
The defeated man was lowered back down.
Would anyone ever escape?
She looked back at Bane.
He knew the child that made the leap. Maybe he knew how they did it.
She went to lie down with a sigh. She would ask him another time. Right now he needed to rest and recover from whatever happened behind those doors.
"Ugh." She groaned as she tried to get comfortable on her pseudo-mattress. Bane's bed was much more comfortable.
Maybe next month when she has her period they could spoon on his cot.
A shiver went up her spine at the thought.
She liked being held in his arms. The only problem was when he felt her scar.
That horrible reminder that Dolohov left on her skin so she would never forget that terrifying man.
At least she didn't have to look at it. Nor did she have to look at the other scar.
The thin bracelet hid the worst memory of her life.
She banished the thoughts of Malfoy Manor to the back of her mind.
She still needed to figure out how to cast her patronus.
The happiest memory she had was the day she became friends with Ron and Harry. Her first real friends.
"Expecto Patronum." She spoke clearly.
Nothing happened.
She closed her eyes and tried to focus harder on the memory.
Her closest friends in the whole world.
"Expecto…" Why haven't they found you?
Hermione closed her eyes and tried to block out her intrusive thoughts.
"Expecto…" You've been here for weeks. Harry's an Auror and you work with Kingsley. They could find you if they wanted.
Hermione felt like she was in some nightmare.
You are stuck here while your friends move on with their lives. You are trapped with rapists and murderers that want nothing more than to rip you apart.
Hermione felt sweat dripping down her back.
They must be glad to be free of your presence.
They're my friends.
They have abandoned you. You filthy mudblood!
No! You're wrong!
Images of her friends laughing and celebrating, while she was trapped, haunted her.
Even Bane wants you gone!
"Hermione?" Someone was shaking her awake.
"No!" Hermione yelped as she was pulled up.
Out of instinct she began to push the person away.
"Hermione!"
She snapped out of her nightmare to see Bane kneeling before her.
"Bane, I'm sorry. Bad dream." Her heart was pounding in her chest.
"I know the feeling well, my dear." Bane's fingers moved up to take her pulse. "Your heart is racing."
"It was a really bad dream." She took a deep breath and tried to get her pulse to stop jumping. His hand settled on her shoulder.
"You have been through much in the past few weeks. Bad dreams are almost unavoidable in the pit." He spoke sadly.
"I'm sorry." She sat up. "Another man tried to climb while you were asleep… he fell down like all the others."
"You should not watch them climb. Part of your soul dies with each failure."
"But if we have nothing to hope for, what is the point in living?"
"You find purpose where it is needed."
Hermione nodded thoughtfully and looked over the stoic man.
"What is your purpose?"
"Keeping you safe." He spoke softly.
"And what is mine?"
"Keeping yourself alive."
Before she had time to react, he moved to pin her down.
Xxx
Panic set in her eyes.
"What are you doing?" She struggled in his hold.
"You said that you had been practising while I was away. Show me your progress."
"I said that two days ago! I just meant that I did some punching and push ups. I didn't exactly have another Bane to practise hand-to-hand combat." She attempted to push back against him with no luck.
"This is not the first time I have surprised you. You should expect the unexpected."
"Bane-" She grumbled and tried to buck him off.
"Use your opponents' limitations to your advantage. You are quick, I am large. Try to escape."
Hermione, with a burst of adrenaline, elbowed his ribcage and managed to slide out slightly and push him off her.
He may have let her do that. He told her that he would never use his full strength against her.
"Good." He praised her as they both stood. "Now show me your punching." He held up his palms and she began to throw a series of punches. She even managed to duck when he swung at her.
"Yes!" She celebrated. The last time he swung at her she was left with a bruise.
He gave her an unimpressed look.
"What?"
"Next time follow through. It is all well and good to dodge an attack, but never miss an opening to strike an opponent that means you harm. There will be no time for celebration in a real fight."
Hermione took his words to heart. He was right, she needed to see her spars with Bane as if they were real.
"Let's go again." She raised her fists into position.
They started with more jabs and ducks. She knew Bane was annoyed when she didn't follow through on the first duck, but she was waiting for the perfect time to strike.
The next time he swung at her, she ducked and quickly moved to his side and sent a punch to his shoulder.
For a moment, he paused and turned to look at the equally surprised Hermione.
"Very good. You used your small size and speed to move around me as I was still punching the air."
"Thank you, Bane." She felt so proud of herself at that moment. But like before, her celebration was cut short when he pulled her forward into his arms and wrapped his arm around her neck.
"Bane!" She wheezed as she attempted to kick and thrash.
"What did I just tell you?"
With a frustrated sigh Hermione stamped his arch. "Don't celebrate."
"Exactly." He loosened his arms a fraction. "How are you going to esca-"
She threw her head back, hitting his mask.
Bane was disorientated for a moment which gave Hermione the chance to break free and jump on his back. Now she had her arms wrapped around his neck.
He was pleasantly surprised that she had overcome her aversion to hitting his mask. This was a great improvement. It was something she may need in the future.
"Did I win?" She pulled her arm across his throat, trying to cut off his air.
"Yes, my dear. You did very well."
She didn't let up.
"You're going to attack me if I let go now, aren't you?" He could imagine her eyes narrowing suspiciously.
Good, she was learning to anticipate.
"I was, but I think that is enough for today."
Cautiously, she released his neck and he gulped in a deep lungful of air.
"Was I cutting off your air?"
He looked over at her, seeing that caring gleam in her eyes.
"I am perfectly fine, Hermione. You did well." He didn't berate her for the pleased smile that graced her face. She needed to become confident enough to survive, but not cocky enough to become a greater target. "Is your head okay?" He knew she was worried about hitting his mask.
"It's a bit sore." She felt the back of her head. "I don't feel any blood. I feel like I could go for another round." She bounded over to her bed to take a sip of water.
He licked his lips and felt thirsty.
He hasn't had a drink since this morning.
"Hermione?"
"Yes?"
"I would like to drink."
"Oh, of course." Hermione joyfully held out her bottle to him.
She must have been confused with his statement.
"I need you to turn around so I may remove my mask."
"Oh… right. Sorry." She did as asked and turned to face the wall.
"This will not take long." He gathered his sachets of vitamins and protein powders that he would supplement to his water.
"Bane, can I ask why you won't let me see you?" She asked quietly. Her head was slightly tilted to the side.
"I am not ready to be seen."
"You know I would never judge-"
"I am the only one that will see my face. Even the doctor does not have that privilege." He took a deep breath before unclipping the clasp. "Do not ask me again."
He felt the fire begin to crawl as he took off the mask.
He didn't want to waste his pain tablets until he needed to eat.
He quickly drank the unflavoured water to quench his thirst before mixing a protein drink and the vitamin boost.
That too was downed quicker than advisable, but Bane was used to consuming sustenance quickly.
Hermione stayed perfectly still as he drank. Maybe he should try some of that pineapple while he has the chance.
"Is there any more of that tinned pineapple you were eating earlier?"
Her breath hitched at his voice.
"Um.. yes. It's by the cabinet." She pointed it out.
"Would you mind if I finished it?"
"Go ahead."
He felt the fire getting hotter.
The tangy fruit was eaten quickly. It tasted quite nice.
He didn't have time to enjoy the newfound food. He needed his mask.
Another mouthful of water and he was rushing to replace his mask.
He greedily sucked in the gas as the burning melted away.
He let out a sigh of relief.
Hermione was still facing away.
"You may turn around."
She turned cautiously.
"Are you okay?"
"Yes, I am fine." He wheezed slightly.
She nodded in thought.
"Did you eat all the pineapple?" She walked over to the empty tin.
"I ate it quickly. It was very tasty."
The juices were still on his fingers.
He moved to wipe them on his towel when Hermione stopped him.
"What..." His voice trailed off when Hermione took his fingers in her mouth. He stopped breathing as she cleaned the juice off.
She released them with a nonchalant look.
He raised a brow at her actions.
"I love pineapple too."
She gave him a small smile as he stood dumbfounded.
He had no idea how to respond.