october

"Harry Potter was dead.

Ron Weasley is no where to be found. And,

Hermione Granger was captured."

The hope within every fighting wizard vanished as the words on the paper popped in bold lettering.

Hermione's eyes re reading the entire piece over and over. She repeats paragraphs by paragraphs in her head, in hopes of keeping herself sane. Math problems continued to be solved in order to remember spells.

Granger never to see the light outside again, months even, since her captivity.

Days and nights would past by where Hermione would just sit in the same spot for hours. Huddled up to a corner close enough to a crack that led into the room. Trying to listen closely for any reason, for anything at all.

Her head scraped against the stoned wall, catching small fragments of the Death Eaters voices and conversations.

"... sell her ... tons of money ... Dark Lord ... the high reeve.."

The news had spread vastly around the Wizarding World, enough to put a price over her head. All sorts of Death Eaters in high power fawning on who would be the first to bid thousands of galleons for 'The Brightest Witch'. Greed consuming them whole.

Granger's body falls to side, balling up in exhaustion, her face thinning in hunger, knots frizzing bigger and bigger in her hair, the wounded soles of her feet covered in dry blood and dirt. Sleep deprivation heaping at her in its finest. She had met the same cruel fate as others.

She'd test every solution through her mind, with millions of different combinations and scenarios, and even though she would be stuck in an old wine cellar

for days at a time, not a single solution came together.

*

A click of a door scurrying her to a corner. Bright lights blinding her sensitive eyes, revealing her fragile frame against the concrete floor.

"Get up mudblood." One of the Death Eaters spat at her in demand, and when the incapable Hermione Granger couldn't give enough force to her weaken bones- "I said get up you filthy girl!" Their kick slammed into her ribs.

Watching her wheezing gasp for air in entertainment, the vile laughs and chuckles clogging Hermione's ears.

Forming tears of agony, pain, and humiliation that bridged at her waterlines. Never feeling this inhumane by others. It was like a mind twisting torture.

The Death Eaters quickly falling bored to her silence, grasping the sides of her arms, they carried Hermione out of the cellar.

Granger's eyes just barely opening enough to capture the blurred outline of her surroundings. Taking in everything she could down in her mind like notepad.

two chairs

a statue on the right hand side of a portrait

walls of a peeling yellow color

red curtains

17 steps

a door at 8

dark windows = night time

Her head spinning in a pounding headache, a hot sensation shuddering through her entire body. Something wasn't quite right. Hermione felt it.

Was it true? Were they really going to sell her away? And if so, then who was going to take her in?

An inch of hope creeped her heart. Ron? Would he pay his entire life to save mine?

No- it can't be. No one was coming to save me. Everyone was dead. She kept telling herself.

Or so she thought.