Torture Devices

Hermione felt the sweat bead roll down the bridge of her nose. She grimaced, biting her lip, as the thumbscrew pierced her skin. She felt the blood drip slowly onto the floor. `Drip'...'drip'...'drip'...

"I'll ask once more," the husky voice behind her hissed. "Where... is... Harry Potter?"

"I don't know!" Hermione screamed as the screw hit bone. Her breath was quickening, her lip trembling. The man behind her turned Hermione around, making her broken leg fire up in pain.

"You don't want me to put you under a truth spell do you, m'dear? I know the Cruciatus spell didn't make you `fess up... This, although painful and more traditional, doesn't seem to be working either. Just give me a simple location. Godric's Hollow... Hogwarts... The Ministry..."

Hermione just spat in his pointed face. "I don't know anything."

Lucius Malfoy turned to his lumbering bodyguards. "Crabbe, Goyle, put her on the bed."

One of the humongous men lifted Hermione over their shoulder, much to her leg's protests. They brought her down a different hallway that sloped downwards she had never before seen in the dungeon, and then into a different room. It was much colder, dirtier, and smelled the coppery smell of blood. At least that was a constant. All around the room were torture devices of the old age, some occupied with the living, others with the dead.

A quick gasp escaped Hermione's chapped lips. In the middle of the morbid scene was none other than the despicable Draco Malfoy. His cold eyes gleamed in a naughty joy when Hermione entered the room and at the same time, he had a fang buried in someone's side.

Blood kept flooding from the poor soul that was at Malfoy's mercy, dark, red, dense blood.

Hermione detached her gaze from the crumple figure in front of her. A piercing scream penetrated her determination of keeping her eyes close. She looked with sorrow from the corner of her eyes and so no other than poor Neville spitting blood from his mouth.

Hermione felt dazed, not only by her whole body aching and her lost of blood, but as well from the nauseous sensation she was feeling at the smell of a rotten corpse. She hadn't notice it before, but next to the torture device where Neville was bind, on a thing that seemed like a bed with hot blade spines was... 'her' body covered with maroon blood and thick brown fat worms eating the greenish skin.

Was...Lavender's Brown decayed body.

It was almost unrecognizable. Hermione had managed to recognize it by Lavender's curly, dark blonde, tousled hair. She had been her roommate for many years after all.

A bunch of brown fat worms got off Lavender's body began swirling on the stone floor. Hermione, unable of controlling herself, began retching helplessly.

"Oh! Poor Mudblood can't contain the happiness of seeing her friends." Draco Malfoy said with sarcasm. "You would have loved to see that bitch screaming and begging for compassion. It's such a shame you had just arrive today... Don't worry, I'll leave Neville `undone' and you'll immediately be the next m'dear, or perhaps you want to wait a little `til I'm finish with him?"

"You're a bastard!" Hermione screamed as she was feeling totally filled with rage. Hermione had her jaw tightly shut, drops of sweat running through her face and to the floor.

"Oh, your words hurt me sooooo much... I'm goin' to be nice with you, but only if you behave well and tell where Potter is. I won't let Crabbe or Goyle do whatever they want with you. Like they did with that slut."

Draco Malfoy clutched Neville's hair and raised it to let him faced Hermione.

"H..Her..mione..." Neville managed to said before passing out. Draco Malfoy motioned with his head to Crabbe and Goyle to clean the bed full of spines were Lavender's corpse was lying.

Hermione looked at him with utter hatred. A screech was listened and a chilly breeze entered the room through the open door. A tingle of fear went through Hermione's body as she saw Lucius Malfoy entering the room with a black hooded figure.

"Voldemort." She muttered in an inaudible whisper. `Drip'...'drip'...'drip'... blood began to drip slowly from her again.

"Are you ready to have fun my son? We are going to torture this creature to death."

Draco smirked with a strange look in the usual slate gray but practical eyes. He looked like his father more than ever now that he was quite grown up. The two looked down at Hermione with a homicidal look.

Hermione, trying to block her nose from the room full of the odor of death, inhaled sharply. She knew that the last minute of her life was coming closer and closer as the seconds past by. The look in Draco and his father's eyes were not sane---they were full of raving lunacy. Now that she knew she would be one of the decaying corpses rolling on the floor in a few minutes, she could bear the horrible smell of the rotting dead bodies---no, she couldn't even smell them, now that her instincts were all tensed. She dug her fingernails in to her small white palm, trying to keep awake. As the crimson blood dripped slowly from her body, she was getting dizzier. Her head throbbed from trying to stay conscious.

Lucius and Draco seemed to be in a lively discussion of deciding on whom to kill first. Draco wanted to kill Neville first and Lucius seemed to want to kill Hermione first. The discussion seemed to be going on for no end. Voldemort was tapping his foot on the stone floor impatiently. He hissed in his hoarse voice, which was like nails on a blackboard to Hermione's ears.

"Be quick---we have no time to waste."

At this short comment, father and son stopped talking and started to ponder. Lucius wanted Draco to yield but he didn't seem to agree.

"Those whores are not worth living more than a useless git."

"No, father. I'd like to see the Mudblood's face turn into chaos. It'd be interesting to see her scream when we slit the throat of the jester."

"Draco---"

"Father, don't you see the ecstasy awaiting? I want to see her full with fright and sadness and every emotion that we don't and cannot feel. Plus, I want to see the top student of Hogwarts pleading at my feet."

"Well, if that's what you want...."

Draco pulled up his wand from his clean robe and aimed it at Neville. Swishing his wand, he woke him up. Neville's eyes were full with fright--like the look in a mouse's eyes when confronting a hungry cat. Draco could feel the tingling joy flowing into his body. He loved the power. He had passion for being the one in order. In a voice full with joy he flicked his wand and tried to chant the magic word...

CRASH!

The oak door blocking them from the spiral staircase broke to little pieces. Obviously annoyed at the sudden happening, Lucius snarled in an irritated tone.

"What is this?!"

Harry Potter stood in the doorway, his jet-black hair swaying in the dust that had arisen. His bright green eyes surveyed the scene in one quick stroke. With his wand out and his buffed up torso, he looked every bit of the hero that he was played out to be.

"You wanted him Malfoy? You got him. And now I think he's pissed." Hermione spat at her captor's feet, and passed out.

~

When Hermione came to, she was no longer in the dark dungeon, but on a Medi-Wizard's stretcher. Her thumb and palm were bandaged, the only sign that she had endured pain. The pain...now the only pain was the memory. The sight of Lavender, Neville... she was happy that Harry came in when he did.

Sitting up, Hermione took in the rest of her surroundings. All she seemed to see at first was white, so she assumed she was in the hospital. Then, her eyes focusing slowly, she saw two people standing off to the side; the two most important people in her life, Harry Potter and Ron Weasley.

"Hermione!" Ron cried, his tear streaked face curving from a frown into a smile. He ran over to her, burrowing his face into her chest in a hug. "I missed you so." She could hear him sobbing into her shoulder.

"Ron, its ok. Its ok, I'm fine." She kissed him lightly on the forehead, tilting his face up toward hers. "I'm ok."

"Hermione..." Ron sighed, lifting his head up. More tears welled up into his eyes as he tried to smile. "You could have died, and you're just saying `I'm ok'?"

"Ron," Harry broke in, still standing off to the side. "Why don't you go get something for her to eat? I'm sure she's hungry." Quickly Ron got up, winked at Hermione, and left the small room.

"Harry," Hermione sighed and smiled at her friend. "How are you?"

"Funny question," Harry snorted, looking away from her exhausted face, and looking over the overcast landscape through the room's window. "How do you expect me to be Hermione, after the several distressing hours I passed fearing for your life and the anguish of not knowing if you were alive or...dead." Harry's voice cracked more than once while he said this to Hermione in a hurried, hushed voice.

Hermione noticed that, indeed, Harry was still very affected by her capture; but now she was free, thanks to him of course.

"Harry...please don't be that way. After all I didn't ask them to capture and torture me, did I?"

Harry looked at her with a mix of sadness, rage and happiness-all in one glance.

He was sad as a result of Hermione's past suffering; raged: he had expressly told Hermione that she mustn't leave the shelter- that was their hiding place- for nothing in the whole world; happy because now he knew that Hermione was safe and that nothing serious happened to her, since he thought the worst, he was quite content that she only had her hand hurt.

"Hermione, I thought that I and Ron--"

"Ron and I," corrected Hermione, as always.

"Whatever, Ron and I," Harry smiled at the memories from their childhood that flood into his head. "Had made extremely clear our point: you wouldn't leave the hiding place until one of us came for you, but you left..." He looked into her eyes before continuing, "Did you have to take a look around? Haven't you noticed that dark has overcome? Voldemort is powerful, plus, the whole world is immersed in titanic financial crisis. If you go outside and just walk through the streets you can be easily assaulted and murdered by wizards or Muggles."

"I know that Harry, I'm sorry," Hermione said with watered eyes. Harry's face turned from a serious one to a soft one.

He leaned towards Hermione and hugged her tightly. He then gave a sound kiss on her temple and she smiled at him. "Harry, I heard that you were captured by Voldemort. I wanted to look for Ron to make a plan to save you or something; that's why I went out of the shelter." Hermione told him, still in the embrace.

Hermione made a little jump when she remembered something, "Harry, and Neville?"

Harry didn't say anything. There was an uncomfortable silence for a moment before Harry answered her, "He didn't make it, Hermione."

A tear rolled from Hermione's hazel eyes and Harry hugged her tighter than before, trying to comfort her.

At the very moment, the door swung open and Ron entered the room with a bunch of `Reese's Buttercups' in his hands.

Hermione and Harry, both with their faces streaked with tears, turned to see him.

"Harry, what did you do?" Ron questioned with concerned, "I leave you guys to let you talk and when I come back I find you crying!?"

Hermione gave a small laugh, "He didn't do anything Ron. It's just that--" Her voice cracked.

"Neville is in a better place now." Harry continued, noticing Hermione's pain.

"Oh..." Was all that Ron was able to reply. In his face could had been see the effort he was trying to made to accept the terrible news.

"Ron do you think that `Reese's Buttercups' will restore Hermione's strength?" Harry said with a laugh, trying to lighten the mood.

"Hey! It's the best and the most nutritious Muggle product," Ron said out loud, "Well the best I could find..." He added silently in a low voice. The three of them began to laugh until the room's lights began to turn off and turn on continuously.

"What the hell is that!?" Ron shrieked. Hermione turned to look at Harry, who had a resolve look on his face.

Meanwhile footsteps could been heard...

~

"Don't they know this is a hospital?" Dr. Jean Kakabte whipped around to see four husky men climbing the ramp to the service desk.

"Granger, Hermione?" One of them, a tall redhead asked. His bristly face and mischievous blue eyes gave the look of a real jokester. The one right next to him, identical but clean-shaven, added in, "What room is she in Doc, we don't have all day."

"Come on now George, that is quite rude. I'm sure the kind doctor has plenty full hands."

"Um, I think the expression is `hands are full', Seamus."

"Whatever." The sandy-haired man, the one called Seamus, standing off to the left rolled his eyes, rubbing his bristly cheek. "What's the room number Dr.," He looked at her nametag. "Dr Kabob?"

"Can't you read Seamus? It's Dr. Cocoa!" One of the twins narrowed his eyes. "You are so rude!"

"Ahem..." Jean cleared her throat. "The room number is 22, I believe."

"Ah! Same age as me!" Seamus clapped his hands and sprinted down the hall. The remaining three men looked after him with raised eyebrows and started towards the room. The lights flickered again, and the announcement system reported,

"We are having some technical difficulties due to the thunderstorm, please remain calm and in your rooms, Doctors please continue with your work."

~

Hermione shuddered. "For a moment I thought we were under attack!"

"Me too," Harry murmured, so that neither Ron nor Hermione heard him. Then came a knock at the door. "Come in!"

Fred, George, Seamus and Sirius walked in. Fred and George grinned as Harry ran to his Godfather, sighing with relief.

"How did the trial go?"

"Couldn't have gone better. Percy got me off."

"Surprise, surprise!" George laughed. "I never would have thought Percy would do a favor for us!"

"Not us, you nitwit! It was for Harry." Fred growled, as if hurt their own brother wouldn't help them.

"Percy?" Ron gasped. "Percy took your case?"

"Well, isn't it obvious?" Seamus narrowed his eyes. "But that's not the reason we're here. We're here to see you guys!"

Ron still couldn't believe that Percy took Sirius' case; he still had an astonished funny face that made everyone in the room to look at him.

"Yes, Ron," Sirius said in a cheerful voice, "Percy took my case and he actually won!" Harry hugged his godfather and Hermione screeched with happiness.