Prologue
Hermione stood on the hill, Harry and Ron in front of her. She needed time away from them, it was all too much, the locket, the Horcurxes, the war. Hermione let out a sigh, she felt shame that a part of her craved the warmth of Hogwarts, the cozy fires and blankets, the books. Nowadays the only books she read were about Horcruxes. After they lost the battle of Hogwarts she, Harry and Ron fled, her main job was to keep him safe and find out a way to kill Voldemort. It had been so long since she felt comfort, almost two years since the Death eaters had come for Harry when the love spell was lifted, Hermione had been Seventeen then, she was Nineteen now.
She could see the two boys setting up their tent and starting a fire. She had told them no magic, they had no idea what Voldemort could be using to try and track them. She slowly began to stumble down the hill towards them—the full day of walking caught up to her. Hermione saw Harry gather up twigs and branches placing them in a log cabin-like structure. Ron raised his wand and Hermione panicked.
“No!” she screamed running towards them. Her footing was unstable, she slipped and fell tumbling down the hill, her eyes wide with horror as Ron cast a spell.
“Incendio!” a burst of blue flame left the wand, the sticks caught one fire easily, the dead leaves and Twiggs shrivelled up, and the scent of smoke filled the air. Hermione stood up on her shaky legs. She knew what she had to do.
“Ron, your wand!” she screamed running towards him. She knew she only had a few seconds. She tackled her friend to the ground whipping his wand out of his hands. Pushing away from him she looked for Harry. “Run! Harry, Ron, Run!” they didn’t move, “Hide!” she screamed again, panic clawing up her throat, she could hardly think, could hardly move all she knew was the fear coursing its way through her system. “Acio invisibility cloak,” the cloak flew through the air, she turned to Harry, “Petrificus Totalus!” she cast the body bind spell she knew well, the one she had used on Nevil in their first year at Hogwarts. She turned to Ron and bound him as well. With some strength granted to her through her desperation, she moved the two wizards together and covered them with the cloak. Then she ran as far away from them as she could. Casting as many inane spells as possible she knew the Death Eater would be tracking her and she hoped to drive them away from Harry. She waited for the telltale snap made by apparating but nothing came. Maybe she was wrong, maybe they weren’t tracking their magic and wands. She let out a deep breath, maybe everything was okay.
Everything was not okay, Hermoine forgot that Death Eaters could silently apparate. Three hooded figures appeared around her. She didn’t have time to utter a scream before they stunned her. Ron’s wand slipped out of her fingers, landing on the ground.
“Should we kill her?” one of the Death Eaters asked.
“No, this is the Mudblood, the golden girl, the Dark lord will want her,” they approached her and she could do nothing but watch. “The other must-have abandoned her when they relieved how useless she was,” he gripped her face in his hands, tilting it up. His hands were clad in cold black leather, “it’s unfortunate, such a pretty face for such filth,”
Another of the Death eaters laughed, someone Hermione couldn’t see, a woman, “You can’t say that,” she clucked, “this Muddblood is the antithesis of the perfection of pureblooded women, her freckled face and rats nest hair are nothing compared to the flawlessness of clear skin and straight hair,” she walked up to Hermione and grabbed her hair pulling it hard, “You cannot tell me that the ‘Brightest Witch’ of her age doesn’t know what a hairbrush is,” she sneered.
“Now, now,” someone else said, laughing, “it looks like she's been living like the filth she is, would you really expect someone like her to take care of her appearance?” they all laughed.
“Enough, we need to take her to the dark lord, she may know where Potter is and what he’s planning,”
Hermione felt as someone tied a blindfold over her eyes, and gripped her arm, preparing for a sidealong apparition. She felt her feet fall out from under her and her body swoop and they traced across the county. Her knees hit the floor with a thud her hands were now tied behind her back, someone was gripping her head pushing it down. She struggled against her bindings.
A snake-like voice slithered around her, “What have you found for me?” the Dark lord asked.
“Hermione Granger My Lord, Harry Potter’s Mudblood,”
“Does she know where Potter is?”
“No My Lord, we’ve tried everything on her, the Cruciatus, she resists the Imperius, and she faints during torture,”
“What about Veritaserum?” the dark lord asked, moving closer to her.
She felt the Death Eater Holding her shake his head, “she refuses to eat or drink, and we don’t have much of it, most of it was destroyed,”
“Excuses for incompetence?” the dark lord said, his cold hand grabbing Hermione's head. He was a Legilimens. Panic and fear flooded Hermione. Lipin had briefly taught all three of them how to Occlud, she doubted it was enough to keep a Legilimens like Voldemort out of her mind. She felt him enter her mind, like a snake he slithered through her defences entering her thoughts. Her psyche swam as she tried to use her feeble Occlemcy to block him. The books in her mind were locked behind chains trapped on bookshelves. Voldemort pushed hard, his bony hand wrapping around the chains pulling. He was feral, he tugged against the wood of the shelves the wood split and splintered as he madly searched through the books of her mind. She forced memories he would hate into his hands, muggle things, her watching TV, her cooking on an electric stove.
She needed him out.
She wanted him out. More than anything. She let out a groan as he destroyed another shelf, the stability of her mind fraying. Any more of this and she thought she might go insane. She was going insane. She let out a blood-curdling scream, she threw her head back and arched her spine as every book in her head snapped shut. The force of it all driving Voldemort out of her mind. He let out a cry as he stumbled backwards.
“Get her out of my sight,” he hissed. Hermione liked to imagine he was clawing at his head in agony.
“Where?” asked the Death Eater holding her.
“Anywhere! The Labyrinth where she’ll rot and die!” he screamed, his voice raw. She felt herself being dragged, and she briefly wondered if she maybe traded a bad fate for a worse one. No, she thought, Harry and Ron were safe, she told herself, our mission is safe. Her comforting thoughts were interrupted as she was thrown to the ground, her breath wooshing out of her.
“Should we untie her?” someone asked.
“No! The Muddblood deserves to suffer,” someone else said, kicking her sharp in the ribs. She coughed up something that tasted like blood.
“Save her for the monsters,” they snickered, “although she’s not much of a meal,” that was true, after two years on the run Hermione had drastically lost weight.
“She’s something fresh,” she heard someone mutter as keys clanged together. The sound of stone on metal filled the room. “Let us get her in,” she felt herself lifted and placed onto her very wobbly legs. They jeered at her as she was led into the chamber they had opened. Still blindfolded and bound there was very little she could do. With one final push, she landed on her rear as they closed the large door, leaving her alone and confused.