The Crash

Part 14

I was dragged up a set of stone stairs and thrown onto the floor. I looked around me and registered the fact that I was in a very large house, in a room that looked like a parlor.

I looked around me for Hermione and saw that she was across the room, laying on a table. She rolled over to face me, crying out in pain.

"Harry? What's going-" "Shut it!" A voice behind me shouted. I staggered to my feet and turned around to face the voice.

It was a woman with long dark hair and pale skin. I would know her mad cackle anywhere. Bellatrix Lestrange.

"What-How did you find us?" She laughed as she walked over, twirling her hair around her wand.

"Easy Potty. We just followed your little Ravenclaw friend when she led the others back. Amazing what people will believe in crisis, isn't that right Yaxley?"

"Indeed Bella. Am-" "Did I saw you could talk?" She screeched. You're mad. You are absolutely mad and I don't have a wand. Shit shit shit shit shit!

"I don't care what you do with me, but leave Hermione out of this. She's innocent. And she's hurt! She needs a doctor, not a Death Eater." I had to keep Hermione safe. She deserved no part in this.

"Then let's put her out of her misery, shall we?" Bellatrix asked as she advanced towards Hermione.

I ran forward, but was stopped as Bellatrix whipped around and pointed her wand at me. Ropes sprung out of it, binding me from head to foot.

"Leave her alone! Leave her al-" The ropes covered my mouth, leaving me unable to speak. I shouted at Bellatrix, but I may as well have spoken German for all the good it did.

"See what being friends with Harry Potter does to you girl? It gets you killed." Bellatrix aimed her wand at Hermione, but then a wicked grin spread across her face and I knew whatever she was going to do was going to be much worse than death.

"Let's have some fun first, shall we?" I strained against the ropes, but they didn't yield.

"Imperio!" The terror on Hermione's face vanished and it was left blank. Her eyes were empty of any emotion and her body was momentarily slack.

Then she slid off the the table and hovered over to me.

"Yaxley! Did you get her wand?" Bellatrix demanded. So they found our suitcases. That's why we couldn't. Wait...but I thought Hermione's had been smashed? How did they get it back?

Someone tossed Hermione her wand and she caught it easily. "Crucio!" She shouted, pointing it at my head.

I started screaming as my body felt like it was on fire. The ropes fell away and I was left writhing on the the floor, screaming my head off.

Suddenly, the pain lifted. "Good girl. Now go sit in the fire and be quiet while the adults talk." I looked over at the fireplace. There was a huge roaring fire in it. They planned to burn her alive!

I jumped to my feet and tackled Hermione to the ground. "Hermione! It's not you! It's not you!"

She squirmed underneath me, hitting me several times, resulting in a bleeding nose, but then she went still. She closed her eyes and when they opened again, they were alert like they had always been.

"Harry? What's-" "Silence!" I got a Snape flashback, but it didn't last long as I felt myself dragged off of Hermione and thrown back onto the floor.

"Now, won't the Dark Lord be oh so happy? I'm sure he won't mind us interrupting his journey for this." Bellatrix rolled up her sleeve and, before I could stop her, pressed her index finger to the Dark Mark.