Dark Desires

Chapter 5

Warning: violence.

The cold tip of a wand suddenly pressed against Hermione's neck. Instantly, her hand grabbed for her own wand but found nothing but air.

"No wand, Mud? Perhaps you shouldn't have been such a pushover." Bellatrix cackled loudly as Hermione turned her head and discovered her wand in Bellatrix's other hand. She inhaled sharply, a fear suddenly settling in her stomach. Of course this would happen, what did I expect? She's a death eater. Bellatrix smirked as if she'd read Hermione's thoughts. She pushed the wand forcefully against the brunette's throat and Hermione could feel the dark magic pulsating dangerously at the tip, just waiting to be released. "Now, care to tell me why I'm here?" Hermione breathed deeply, trying to steady her voice and clear her thoughts. One wrong move and she would be dead. She needed to figure out a good enough reason for saving Bellatrix, and that quickly. "Come on, I don't have all day."

"I-", Hermione stuttered.

"You what?" Bellatrix impatiently pushed her wand harder against the brunette's skin.

"I don't know."
There was no genius plan. No smart answer to her question. Only the truth, and the truth was that she didn't know. The wand was removed slowly from her neck. Bellatrix was completely silent, she didn't even breathe. Hermione studied the floorboards intensely, awaiting what was to come. Suddenly the room was filled with intense, horrifying laughter. A shiver ran down Hermione's spine at the sound. Bellatrix was buckled over laughing.

"You don't know?", she mocked between bursts of insane laughter. The sound penetrated Hermione's ears and made her head hurt. Suddenly she felt sick to the stomach. Yet Bellatrix kept laughing and mocking, calling her ugly names as she circled her, still laughing. Always laughing. The brunette couldn't take it anymore. She had to say something.

"I saved you because I felt sorry for you!" Hermione yelled. That wasn't exactly what I planned to say... it isn't even true. However, she could only keep going from here. "I felt sorry for you because no one loves you, or even likes you! And that fucking delusion you live in, isn't true! Voldemort does not love you, however much you love him." Bellatrix's laughter had died out, and left was only total silence. Her face showed shock. Hermione already regretted what she'd said, but as Bellatrix's face morphed from shock to utter rage, she wished she could disappear into the ground and never return. The dark, nearly black eyes of her opponent cut through her like daggers.

"What did you say?" Bellatrix's words came slowly from gritted teeth. Her voice was barely there, nothing but a low whisper. Hermione saw the gleam of madness inside her eyes, she saw the other witch's sanity hanging dangerously in one frayed thread. This Bellatrix scared her much more than the high-pitched, crazy maniac she usually was. Hermione's muscles tensed, preparing for what inevitably would come. "Crucio." The word was barely a whisper, yet it hit Hermione square in the chest. The pain was so brutal and sudden that the brunette didn't have time to react before her body hit the floor.

It felt like Hermione's veins were being pulled out from tiny holes in her fingers. She closed her eyes in agony and saw a hundred sharp knives stabbing her repeatedly. The illusion of her lungs ripping open hit her and suddenly Hermione couldn't breathe. It felt like world war III went on inside her brain, it was excruciating. Her voice became hoarse from all the screaming. She looked up into the ceiling and discovered that her vision slowly turned blurry.

Then, out of nowhere, the pain stopped. Hermione lay panting on the floor, sweat dripping from her forehead. There was a faint ringing in her ears and the brunette felt herself slipping in and out of consciousness. She suddenly came to think of why the pain had stopped. Had she died? Was this afterlife? If it was, then it wasn't much exciting about it, it looked exactly like the same dull place she came from. A scream wrenched through the air, pulling Hermione back to consciousness immediately. She sat up too quickly and felt her vision blurring again. What she saw, however, confused her. And her confusion slowly turned to horror. And then to fear.

Bellatrix Lestrange was kneeling on the floor, holding her left arm against her chest, and screaming.