~~~ Chapter 4: Highway to Hell ~~~
Hermione grunted as she dropped the pliers and glared at the body lain on its side, moaning softly in pain. She shook her head and left the room, slamming the door behind her and locking it with a key. So far, her…guest…had given up a lot of names, three of them the ones she really wanted but there was more. She knew that there was more but the guest was being stubborn.
An idea lit up inside Hermione's brain and she wondered if she should risk it. The twins were trustworthy because Harry trusted them and they owed him. But this one…maybe it was worth a shot.
~_HxH_~
Hermione yawned as she made her way into the library. It had been a late night for her but she managed to get herself up early so she could seek out the person she wanted to find. It may be a dead end but it didn't hurt to ask. Either way, she would make sure they promised they wouldn't tell anyone about their conversation.
She paused briefly when she spotted the person she was looking for and smiled.
Neville Longbottom was sitting at the table with his books and parchments spread out. He was gazing thoughtfully at his book before he would look at his work and write something. Pausing, he nibbled on the end of his quill, making sure that his work and the book matched up together. She walked over to him.
"Hello Neville," Hermione greeted. Neville looked up to see Hermione was standing before him dressed in her school clothes and a book pressed against her chest. Neville was stunned that Hermione was talking to him since she had practically shut herself up in her room since she came back to Hogwarts, only venturing out for classes and meals.
He remembered when he saw her board the train; he could swear that a majority of the students had fainted on the spot to see Hermione Granger come back to Hogwarts after disappearing for a year. Not that he could blame her. People may think he was stupid but he was far from it. He saw how close she and Harry had been and he knew that Hermione would have left.
Ron had spent most of the time complaining that Hermione had abandoned him while he was grieving for Harry. While they agreed on him with Hermione leaving him, Neville couldn't help but feel Hermione's leaving was for a different reason altogether. He wasn't saying that Hermione wasn't grieving for Harry but it seemed like it fuelled her on.
Looking at the young woman before him, he wondered once more if he was looking at the real Hermione Granger or merely an image she projected.
"Can I sit down?" Hermione asked. Neville came out of his thoughts and nodded, clearing away some of his books. Hermione smiled as she sat down on the chair, placing her book on the table. "I want to say that I'm sorry that I left last year. I know that I wasn't the only one grieving for Harry and it was pretty selfish of me to abandon you all." Neville shook his head.
"I don't blame you, Hermione," he assured her. She frowned. "I know how close you and Harry were. I saw you the next morning." Hermione paled before she glanced about to make sure no one else was in hearing distance. "Don't worry. I didn't say a word to anyone. What you do is none of my business," he assured her and she sighed, relief crossing her face.
"Thank you. Harry and I…" she trailed off as sadness crossed over her face. Neville nodded.
"I understand," Hermione tilted her head curiously and Neville blushed. "I've been dating Susan Bones. We're keeping it under wraps because it doesn't have anything to do with anyone else. It's our business." Hermione nodded. They stared at each other in silence for a moment until Neville broke, his curiosity getting the best of him. "Is there something I can help you with?" Hermione gave him a sheepish smile.
"I want to offer you something…but only if you swear to me that you will never tell a soul anything we have said. Even if you turn me down," she told him. Neville frowned. "What I'm offering you is a one time chance. If you turn me down, you cannot tell anyone, which includes Professor Dumbledore and the teachers."
"Why?" he asked.
"Because what I'm offering…it's not something you should take lightly," she put it delicately. "I don't want people finding out what I'm doing. There is a reason to what I'm doing and I can't afford people stopping me."
"What is it?" he asked, his curiosity now peaked.
"I have someone you want," she told him. "I was wondering if you wanted to extract your revenge." Neville's curiosity turned to one of puzzlement. "You met her before in the Ministry in fifth year. She's the reason why Harry no longer has a godfather." Understanding dawned on Neville as he looked at Hermione with disbelief.
"You have her?" he asked, doubtfully. Hermione nodded.
"She was rather easy to capture despite what others had told me. You see, she's the reason why Harry's dead, but she is being rather stubborn about telling me the rest of the members and I was hoping that you could help me out," she explained. Neville swallowed heavily. He was torn in two, part of him wanted to run to Dumbledore and tell him everything Hermione had told him but the other part of him, the stronger part, wanted nothing more than to rip the woman to shreds. It was because of her his parents were in St. Mungo. It was because of her he no longer had any parents.
He came out of his thoughts and looked at Hermione who waited patiently for his answers. "Remember, this is one time offer only and it must stay between us."
"What will happen if I go to Dumbledore?" Neville asked, calling her bluff. Her features darkened.
"Then I will prove to you that I am not someone you should mess about with. I will do far worse to you than I did to Marietta in fifth year," Hermione hissed out, her voice hard and cold. The meaning was perfectly clear and for the first time, Neville could see Hermione clearly behind the mask that she wore since she had come back to Hogwarts.
Neville watched her for a few moments longer, remember what Hermione used to be like before Harry died and he could tell the difference. The woman she used to be was concerned about Harry's safety and happiness. The woman before him was now a blood thirsty hound out for blood and she was going to get it one way or another…and no one was going to stand in her way.
"I'll take you up on your offer," Neville told her. Hermione rocked back, obviously not expecting the answer. "I wanted to know what you would have done if I had gone to Dumbledore and I can see you are perfectly serious. Beside, Harry was one of the few people who didn't make fun of me." Hermione stared at him for a moment before she nodded.
"Meet me in the common room after nine," she told him as she stood up. Neville nodded, watching her as she left the library before returning to his books and papers.
~_HxH_~
Hermione had made her way to the Great Hall for dinner after her classes. They had been pretty uneventful and she sat down in her new place at the table, far away from everyone as she could. She hadn't wanted to sit in the same place where she had sat next to Harry. It felt like she was betraying him if she was to sit there. Strange but that was how she felt.
Ron and Ginny had sat down next to her, trying to encourage her into a conversation with them, trying to get their friend back with everything they had. They didn't like Hermione being alone despite her telling them that she preferred to be alone. It gave her time to study and read.
Dumbledore watched the scene before him with a pensive look. He had been watching Hermione since she had come back. When they were at Grimmauld place, she had kept herself shut in the bedroom, the same bedroom Harry had when he was staying there. She only came out for food. The house-elves, Kreacher and Dobby had taken care of her, telling them that she didn't wish to see anyone.
They had all tried to talk to her but had been refused entry to the bedroom by both house-elves. Dobby they could understand but they couldn't understand Kreacher. Kreacher was known for being a blood purist. He hated muggle-borns and blood traitors so why would he help Hermione out?
It wasn't as if they could just ask Kreacher, since Sirius had died, there was no longer a master for Kreacher to obey…apart from Bellatrix and Narcissa but Dumbledore had refused to allow Kreacher to leave as he knew of their operations.
Now, she was back at Hogwarts. Dumbledore had hoped that she would slowly warm up again to the students but all of the reports he had received had indicated that Hermione was withdrawing from everyone. Even Ronald had complained that Hermione had been avoiding him. Ginny had been strangely silent but had told them that Hermione was busy doing her homework as she seemed to spend most of her time in the library.
They still didn't have any information on where she had been the year she had gone missing. There were a few odd rumours every now and then but they dismissed them because they didn't seem like anything the Hermione they knew would do. Sighing heavily, Dumbledore pressed his fingers together. He didn't like feeling out of the loop when it came to his students. The loss of Harry had dealt them a hard blow, they were suffering as a result because Voldemort had gained more power…until this mysterious `Black Rose' came and has been killing Death Eaters.
They had been putting the dark mark out for the world to see. Usually the Ministry and Order could cover it up but each body had been displayed in public so the Wizarding world could see it. It was harder for the Ministry because they had claimed that they were doing a good job of stopping the Death Eaters and Voldemort but with each death eater showing up, it just proved that they were failing.
Many of them had been the ones who had managed to skip trials by claiming they were under the imperius or they had been forced into working for the Dark Lord. But the most distressing thing was each Death Eater had been tortured one way or another. Each torture was different leaving both the Ministry and the Order wondering what the point of it was.
He came out of his thoughts when he saw Ron was reaching over to Hermione but she pulled away from him, leaving the Great Hall altogether and he sighed sadly. The loss of Harry had a deeper impact on her than any of them had anticipated.
~_HxH_~
Neville paced the common room, looking toward the clock that was above the fireplace mantel before pacing again. He had tried to sit down but had failed due to being nervous and excited. He had barely focused on his classes during the day since Hermione had given him a choice. His heart was pounding and his palms were sweaty. With fear or excitement or even both, he didn't know what to feel.
Stopping to regain his thoughts, he spotted Hermione standing near the common room door. She gestured him over and he hurried over to her. She gave him a soothing smile which helped to calm his nerves a bit before he followed her down the hallway.
Once they were safely hidden in the shadows, Hermione turned to face him.
"Are you sure? Once I take you there, there is no turning back," she warned him. Neville just gave her a determined nod, not trusting his voice. She seemed satisfied with the answer. "Dobby, Winky," Hermione called. Both house-elves appeared and bowed when they saw Hermione.
"What can we do for mistress?" Winky asked.
"Can you take us to the hide-out?" Hermione asked.
"Whatever mistress wishes," Dobby held out his hand to Neville, who looked at Hermione unsure. Hermione showed him by placing her hand into Winky's outstretched hand. Neville followed suit with Dobby's hand and all four of them disappeared with a small crack, leaving Hogwarts behind.
It felt like a mixture of using the floo and a portkey, neither of them had been a plenty experience for him when he felt himself landing on solid ground. With a stumble, he blindly reached out and grasped the wall to keep him upright. Hands grasped his arms and he opened his eyes to meet Hermione's brown ones.
"Are you okay?" she asked. "I was the same when I first used House-Elf transport."
"I never want to do that again," he mumbled. Hermione chuckled softly as she slowly let Neville go, his colour turned back to normal from its ghostly white shade. Once she was sure that he was now steady, she turned to face the house-elves and smiled at them.
"Thank you for bringing us here. I will call for you later," she told them. Both of them bowed before they disappeared with a crack, assumingly heading back to Hogwarts.
Neville looked around the house they were in. It was quite large as he could see into the living room. It was quite clean with a fire roaring in the fire place. Looking down the hallway, he could see into the kitchen.
"Where are we?" he asked, mostly to himself.
"I can't tell you," Hermione told him as she walked over to the coat rack. "I need this place to be safe as possible for me."
"Are you sure no-one will notice us missing?" Neville asked as he followed her. Hermione nodded.
"The house-elves are working with Dobby and Winky. They'll make sure we're not missed." She removed her cloak and hung it up with Neville following suit.
"Have you been sneaking out of Hogwarts a lot?" he asked.
"No," she told him as she turned to face him. "I usually get Dobby or Winky to do the errands. The only time I leave is when I am needed." She led the way toward the stairs and walked up them. Neville followed her close behind, taking in the surroundings. He wasn't sure to where they were. There was numerous of photo-frames on the wall but the hallway was dark.
They finally reached the hallway and Hermione walked down the barely lit pathway until they reached a door. Hermione pulled a silvery key from her pocket and unlocked the door. With a twist of the handle, Hermione opened the door and Neville looked to see it was dark. With a snap of her fingers, a light came on in the middle of the room to reveal Bellatrix Lestrange in the middle of the room lying on a mattress. Her hands were bound behind her back, her ankles were also bound and she had a gag in her mouth.
"You weren't lying," Neville murmured as he entered the room, wide-eyed to see the one person he had wanted so much to kill. Bellatrix seemed to recognise him as her eyes widen and she started struggling.
"I don't lie," Hermione informed him as she entered the room and Neville snorted as he looked at Hermione with a wry glance.
"First year with the Troll? Umbridge?" he reminded and she flushed before she shot him a half hearted glare.
"Only two times," she corrected before she looked at Bellatrix. "But this is something I would never lie about." Bellatrix glared at her but Hermione just smiled sweetly. "How have you been, Bella? Enjoying your time here?" she walked over to the struggling woman. "I brought you a visitor. After all, I know how much you like visitors."
Bellatrix's reply was muffled due to the gag but by the murderous look on her face, Neville could guess that it wasn't nice. Hermione just chuckled like it was a normal occurrence. "Don't be so rude, Bella. He is a busy man after all; he did take the time to come out all this way just to see you. Shouldn't you at least show some appreciation?"
Bellatrix snarled as she tried to shift away from Hermione but Hermione grabbed Bellatrix by her top and yanked her back, her brown eyes promising pain if Bellatrix dared to disobey her again.
Looking closely, Neville could see different colours of bruises upon Bellatrix's barely clothed body. Obviously when Hermione had captured her, she hadn't bothered to give Bellatrix any other clothing as they were torn and ripped. There even seem to be blood upon the dark material.
"You've been busy," Neville said as he looked at Bellatrix's face. He could see faint outlines of bruises that were obviously old. Hermione chuckled.
"I've been using potions on her. It wouldn't do if I couldn't torture because she was in so much pain," she explained. Understanding dawned on Neville as he looked closely at the insane killer. It explained why her clothes were torn and why she showed no sign of being pain. Hermione had been healing her after each torture to prolong the agony.
"Wow…I don't think even Death Eaters do that," Neville said, impressed with Hermione's smartness. Now he understood when Harry had said that Hermione wasn't just smart, she was scarily smart. Hermione giggled; a strange sound to be within the room of madness.
"Death Eaters don't really think like muggles," she reminded before she shrugged. "And it wouldn't do if they were to die while I was torturing them."
"And you want me to torture her so you can gain more information on whom…what?" Neville asked.
"She is one of the people who killed Harry," Hermione explained as she straightened up. Neville glared at the woman still lying on the floor. "She has given me three names of the people who helped her but there was someone else there. I know there was someone else there and I want their names and I want their blood spilled. She's being…stubborn so I thought you could help me out."
"Gladly," Neville muttered darkly as he fingered his wand. Harry had tried to be a good friend to Neville during the years they had been at Hogwarts. Obviously with the dangers Harry had been in each year, he had limited himself to a small selection of friends so they wouldn't be in danger because of him. When he had received the news Harry had died, he had been devastated and angry. He had lost a good friend thanks to Death Eaters and now Hermione was giving him a chance…the same chance with his parents' torturer.
Hermione smiled to herself when she saw the look of determination on Neville's face. The only time she saw that was during the OWLs exams and knew that she had picked correctly. Mentally thanking Harry for pushing her on the right path, she turned to leave the room.
"Do whatever you want to do with her," Hermione told him as she stood in the doorway. "Just don't kill her."
"Why not?" he asked and Hermione gave him a cold smile.
"Because I have bigger plans for her," she assured him before closing the door.
Neville turned to face Bellatrix as he gripped his wand. Now…now was his chance to get his revenge.
~_HxH_~
After two hours, Hermione decided to see how Neville was getting on. She had already communicated with the Twins to let them know of their next mission, giving them the details she needed.
"Well?" Hermione stepped into the room to see Bellatrix breathing heavily, her gag had been bitten in half due to her digging her teeth in the material as she tried to contain her screams. Neville was also breathing heavily with his wand pointed at the insane woman.
"You're right, she's stubborn," Neville agreed as he turned to face Hermione.
"Oh, wee baby Neville can't torture me," Bella sang mockingly only to grunt when Hermione delivered a hard kick to her stomach, causing her to curl up.
"Shut your mouth," Hermione bit out as she kicked Bella once more in warning. Neville watched in fascination as Hermione grabbed Bella's hair and tugged on it painfully causing the older woman to cry out, her hands grasping Hermione's. "What's the matter Bella? I thought you like pain." Hermione asked sweetly as she bunched up her free hand and punched Bella in the face, breaking her nose. "After all, I have heard that you like to torture people into insanity. Don't you like it when you get it in return? Or are you one of those people who get off on hurting others?" She delivered another punch, catching Bellatrix on the jaw.
Bellatrix moaned before Hermione slammed her head into the ground causing a sickening crack. Hermione lifted Bella's head and Neville could see blood trickling down the side of her head. Blood also trickled from her nose and the side of her lips. "Oh, sorry, I messed up your nose." Hermione grabbed her wand and muttered a spell under her breath, with a squelching sound, Bellatrix's nose slotted back into place causing her to scream out in agony.
"What did you do?" Neville asked. A normal healing spell didn't make the patient cry out in pain. Hermione gave him an evil grin.
"I modified the healing spell so that each time I use it; they get a painful electric shock to go with it. Of course, I have to be careful as too much electric shocks can short out their hearts." She laughed as she looked at Bellatrix. "Of course, I forgot. You don't have hearts, do you?" she dropped Bellatrix's head once more. Unprepared, Bellatrix's head hit the ground with a hard thud and she moaned painfully. Hermione stood up and moved over next to Neville, picking up a cloth that was on the table.
"How long have you had her for?" Neville asked. There hadn't been anything in the newspapers to indicate Bellatrix had gone missing which led him to believe that no-one outside Voldemort's circle knew.
"Oh, nearly four months now," Hermione wiped the blood off her knuckles before she smirked as she looked at Bella. "But it's been fun months hasn't it? Bet you don't ever want to leave."
"Mud-Bitch!" spat out Bella the best she could only to scream when the sickening sound of bone cracking filled the air from where Neville stomped down on her ankle. Hermione stared at Neville, shocked, before she smiled.
"Well, well, well, looks like Neville can handle torture just fine," she said, pleased. Neville gave her a hard smile.
"Looks like I just needed to find one that suited me," he told her and Hermione chuckled.
"Everyone has a particular torture technique they like to use. Bella likes to use the Cruciatus curse on her victims. She likes it even more when Voldie uses it on her," Hermione pointed out. "But for some reason, she doesn't like my brand of torture." She mocked pouted.
"Do you just beat her up?" Neville asked. Bella started whimpering as Hermione chuckled, moving over to the side of the room where a large covered trolley was. She pushed it over to them and whipped off the cover to show a large array of tools that she liked to use.
"These…are my toys," she said proudly, lifting up a scalpel. "This is one of my favourites, it cuts just enough for the person to scream but not enough for them to lose too much blood."
Neville moved closer to the table and admired the different tools. He recognised some of them but the others were clearly muggle based. He recognised the needles filled with clear liquid, even the Healers at St. Mungos used them. There were different sizes of knifes, ropes, gags. There was a strange object that reminded him of scissors but the points were thicker and flatter. Hermione seemed to understanding his confusion as she picked up the weapon.
"This is a plier. Very useful when you want to rip someone's nail out or even their tooth," she squeezed the handle to show it how it worked. Another weapon caught Neville's eyes and they widen. His hand slowly reached out, almost caressing the instrument.
"You have a whip," Neville whispered and Hermione chuckled as she picked up the cat o nine tails.
"This is one of my favourite," she told him before she cracked it; the sharp sound made Bellatrix flinch and squirm away. She knew very well just how painful that instrument was and she feared it being the hand of the son of the parents she had tortured.
"Can…can I use them?" he asked, his voice hushed as if he feared that Hermione would take the gifts away. Hermione nodded as she handed him the whip. Neville took it, testing its weight before he cracked it, enjoying the way it felt and sounded.
A question came to his mind and it tumbled out of his mouth before he could stop it. "How did you learn all of this?" he asked. They weren't being taught this at school and none of the books in the library had any information on the stuff Hermione was using. He should know as he had taken advantage of the pass that `Professor Moody' had given him in his fourth year.
"While I was on my travels, I found people who were willing to help me out. They trained me in different things to help me with my goals," Hermione explained. "I have no desire to be a Dark Lady." Neville nodded. "They understood what I wanted and they taught me in different things. I also had someone who was well versed in the first war to help me understand each Death Eaters." Neville seemed to find the situation funny.
"So you're telling me you found more allies than Voldemort," after fifth year, he refused to be scared of a name, "and the Ministry put together, who were willing to help a muggle-born witch out in taking down the most feared Dark Lord?" Hermione nodded with a smile.
"It gives them a chance to stick it to where it hurts the most. Voldemort doesn't like muggle-borns so might as well help a muggle-born take him down." Neville laughed.
"Sounds like a good joke…if it was funny," he turned serious and looked toward Bellatrix who had been watching them with wide eyes. Genuine fear was clear and Neville took pride in that. Bellatrix Lestrange was scared of a Pureblood, who had been considered as a squib by his family, and a muggle-born witch. It was about time they returned the fear.
Hermione looked between the two of them and smiled.
"I will leave the two of you," she told them before she looked at Neville. "Have fun." Neville walked over to Bella and raised the whip which came down with a hard crack, leather meeting flesh and leaving behind thin bleeding lines.
The screams of Bella filled the air as Hermione closed the door, chuckling to herself as she made her way down the stairs. She had a feeling Bella's tongue was going to loosen up more after this session.
TBC
Fic Request: Looking for any fics where Harry and/or Hermione are vampires and get together/are together. Again, if anyone can recommend fics, just leave it in a review or a private message. Thanks.
Oh - and don't flame about the torture. I have left a hint regarding it in this chapter but it will be later explained.
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