imprisonment

Chapter 1; H

The stone-cold floor was hard as she was thrown down. The metal door slammed shut echoing through the room. Covered in dirt and bruises she hoisted herself up to take in her surroundings. Her muscles ached and her throat was raw from screaming. She had just seen people she grew up being picked off one by one. It seemed like hours she sat staring at the wall before trying to dissociate from all the pain she felt. The events from the past few hours replayed in her head over and over again. She analyzed every single detail until it became ingrained forever in her mind. Harry Potter was dead and there was nothing she could do about it.

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Neville walked out with the sorting hat grasped in his hand. Across from him a crowd of death eaters walked into the rubble. His feet trudged against the rocks and he limped on his hurt leg. Ginny and Arthur Weasley followed not far behind. She was covered in dirt and rushed to catch up to Neville.

Voldemort walked slowly to the middle of the courtyard with Nagini slithering next to his feet. Not far behind was Hagrid holding a lifeless body in his arms. The body was small and frail in comparison. Hagrid was a shell of a man bound up and pulled alongside the death eaters.

"Who is that Hagrid's carrying," Ginny's voice broke as the words left her mouth. "Neville, who is it," her heart panged in her chest wanting her eyes to deceive her. Mr. Weasley wrapped his arm around his daughter knowing he had to prepare her for the worst. The rest of the students and professors filed out into the yard filled with the remains of their school.

"Harry Potter is dead," his voice echoed through the courtyard. "He is dead."

"NO!" Ginny screamed her heartbreaking in half. She lunged towards him having to be pulled back by her father. The man she loved was held lifeless just meters away from her. It seemed like everything happened in slow motion as her world seemed to crumple from around her.

"Silence!" Voldemort roared, casting a spell to push her back.

Ron's jaw dropped. He knew Harry was going into the Forbidden Forest to give up his life but suddenly it all felt too real. Hermione was next to him at a loss of words. Just an hour or so before she had embraced him for the last time. She could still feel his warmth and the texture of his sweater against her cheek.

"Stupid girl, Harry Potter is dead," he said once more in a low tone walking closer to Ginny. "From this day forth you put your faith in me." He spoke to the remaining professors and students. McGonagall stood disheveled staring at her students wishing she could take them in and tell them everything would be alright. Molly Weasley stood next to Ron and Hermionie all of which were breathing heavy and felt as if their world imploded. No one could imagine a world Harry Potter did not belong to.

Voldemort let an evil grin creep across his face and turned towards the death eaters to say one final time, "Harry Potter is dead," causing laughter to erupt amongst them. Bile threatened to leave Hermione's throat at the sight of this. Bellatrix's laugh could be heard over the rest, the same laugh Hermionie heard as the word "Mudblood" was carved into her arm. "And now is the time to declare yourself. Come forward and join us," he paused, "or die."

The air was so thick it could be spliced by a knife. Crows gathered in the air and smoke covered the rubble that was Hogwarts. Hermione was glued to her spot in the crowd. It was as if her body was cemented down and she was unable to move. The words rang through her head: Harry Potter was dead.

He who shall not be named stood in the middle of two crowds. His voice echoed through the courtyard asking those to show allegiance in exchange for life. It felt like the world was moving around her and voices started to drown out. Her body was frozen and didn't move until she was being dragged by a death eater. She had chosen death, or at least her flight or fright response had. Students scattered and ran for their lives like she should have done. Chaos erupted around her and she fell to the ground.

Hermione's eyes started to feel heavy and her head pounded. It felt like a blanket of darkness surrounded her. She let it in. Right before her eyes closed she saw a blonde headed boy running for his life, just to be petrified and yanked into the arms of a larger man.

                                          ***

Several days passed. She spent them pacing back and forth wondering where Ginny, Ron, and the remaining members of the Order were. She picked at the meals given to her and was not yet given a shower if they even had those here. Her bruises and cuts were healing slowly due to her lack of a wand. She was decent at wandless magic but her energy was so drained she began to wonder if her food was poisoned.

Her thoughts were interrupted by screams surrounding her, they all faded together into one filled with pain. In a way they were comforting, comforting to know she wasn't alone. She dragged herself from the spot in the floor she had occupied to the metal slab for a bed. There were no blankets to wrap up in, no books to fill her thoughts, and the concept of night and day faded.

On the seventh day, she was counting the bricks in the wall when she came across a vent in the corner of the room she hadn't noticed. She walked over to it, the heavy damp air surrounding her. She lowered herself down and stared at the vent. It was grey and rusted, nothing worth looking at really. Little did she know this vent would be her salvation.

Minutes passed as the girl stared into the darkness that the vent held. She had not spoken a word since she arrived and since it seemed all anyone ever did here was scream she thought: fuck it. She cleared her throat and screamed at the top of her lungs until she lost her voice completely. She screamed for Harry and all the other lives lost. She screamed in pain and longing for her freedom. She screamed to prove she was still alive because this past week she felt like she was in a nightmare. When she finally stopped it felt like a weight had been lifted off of her.

"Would you shut it, it's hell enough without hearing you screaming next to my ear," a snarky voice called through the vent. It startled her causing her to jump. It had been a week without hearing anything from the room next to hers. She stayed quiet for a while wondering if it was just a figment of her imagination, it had to be. She had read books about how the mind can play tricks on you.

She chose to test her theory by saying "Are you real? Or am I just imagining it?" It seemed like a dumb thing to say but she didn't have any pride left. She waited for a few moments before hearing the boy laughing through the vents. She would have been offended and jumped to defend herself if she hadn't been so excited to hear a voice other than her thoughts.

"I never thought I'd live to see the day that Granger is in Azkaban. This is gold." A familiar voice chuckled from the other side of the wall. It took a second to register in her head before realizing just who it was. It was the voice of someone who had bullied her for years. The voice of the most snobby egotistical person she knew. The voice of a death eater. The voice of Draco Malfoy.

Her breath caught in her throat. This very well could be her own personal hell and she was dead too. There was no way she could survive next to the boy who called her a mudblood and whose parents wanted people like her dead. Her stomach twisted and turned. She knew she couldn't let him have the satisfaction of silencing her. She took all the energy she had left in her and said "Malfoy, you must have really failed to be on the winning side and end up in a place like this. I would think about that before talking about me," through the vent.

He silenced for a second and then scoffed. "You know nothing," he seared.

It felt good to bicker. It kept her mind off of everything and life felt normal for a few moments like they were back in third year. She didn't dare say another word though. Even though she had been without human contact for a week now, she couldn't let him know she enjoyed their conversation. That would ruin all the fun.

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A/N

I will be updating this chapter by chapter at least once a week.

-Alex