Chapter 2

"Miss Mudblood, come with me please."

I looked down at the small warped female house elf with a frown. Behind her, there were none of my usual death eater companions. It was unusual to see anything other than Carrows pointed face. Usually, I would be filled with distaste at the unfair use of a house elf, but this time instead I saw a chance.

Maybe...maybe I could find a way out on my own after all.

"Are you all that they have sent today..." I asked, pausing as I waited for her name. I straightened against the wall in the corner where I sat. I moved up onto my knees, wincing at the hard cement ground as I leaned forward to get a better look at the house elf.

She bowed, her sack dress flopping over one shoulder as he pointed nose aimed itself to the floor. "Name is Kippy, Miss Mudblood. Now, please come with me. Kippy's Master has asked me to have Miss washed up and made presentable."

I snorted. Of course, they would send a house elf to do such work. To be quite frank, after what felt like weeks down in this dungeon, my old clothes were nothing but rags on my rapidly thinning body. I was disgusting and dirty.

Even Carrow wouldn't come near me anymore, complaining to my stench.

I can't say I minded.

"That's quite alright, Kippy. I am fine how I am."

Kippy frowned, looking uncomfortable as she rocked side to side on her bare feet, her large eyes looking troubled. Whichever one of the death eaters was her master, I looked forward to unleashing a particularly deforming hex on once I was free. I hated those that took advantage of the house elve's loyal nature.

"It was a direct order from Kippy's master, you see. I'm afraid if Miss will not follow Kippy willingly, Kippy will have to bathe Miss by force. Kippy does not want to have to do that, I'm sure Miss Mudblood understands."

I straightened, my eyes becoming more alert as I looked at Kippy with new eyes. I knew it had been a direct order she couldn't disobey, but if I had been correct I sensed a hint of threat in her voice.

This was no normal house elf.

"Kippy, who exactly is your master?" I asked. I had assumed she was Carrow's, but now I wasn't so sure.

She stood a bit taller, her pointed ears flattening to her head. "Kippy is a loyal servant of the Dark Lord himself, of course. Master Lord wishes for you to be bathed before Kippy takes you to his garden."

My eyes widened, but I didn't move an inch. "I beg your pardon, why would Voldemort wish to see me?"

Kippy looked annoyed, an odd expression on a house elf. It was clear she held herself in a higher regard than most. She sniffed. "It is not Kippy's place to question the Master's demands, Kippy simply does as is asked of her without complaint. Now Miss Mudblood, Kippy really must ask you to get moving. Master Lord is waiting."

I blinked my eyes. So much for trying to convince her to help me escape in exchange for helping her achieve freedom. If there were a house elf more happy with their place in servitude, I hadn't met it. Even Kreacher, Sirius Black's inherited house elf, had a few more misgivings than Kippy seemed too about her position.

I really didn't understand how they could be so happy living the life of servant with no free will. Only a few weeks as a prisoner, and all I could think of was my freedom. It plagued my thoughts, turning into an obsession as I waited for the long hours to pass in my dark cell.

With a deep exhale, I pushed myself up onto underused legs, stumbling forward as I tried to stand. I placed a hand on the wall, trying to steady myself as the world spun around me.

Weeks of little to no activity, poor hydration, and minimal food had started to take its toll on me. Now I was to be paraded in front of the man that had captured me, freshly bathed as if all his neglect as if it had never happened. I didn't expect him to care, but It made me angry nonetheless.

I pressed my eyelids closed. Had I not spent weeks fantasizing about his death, I might have been more nervous to meet the Dark Lord face to face. But I wasn't.

All I felt was numbness around the fiery spark that was my anger. Maybe I wouldn't be able to do anything today, maybe all I could do right now was obey and let them mistreat me. But, one day, I would make them pay. My anger was my fuel, and so far it was all I had to keep going.

Kippy eyed me as I let go of the cool stone wall, standing on my own two feet, the room slowly starting to come back into focus. She sighed and turned, waving the iron doors open as she walked out into the hall. She paused at the bottom of the dark staircase, turning to look at me impatiently.

"Miss Mudblood can walk, or Kippy can float you up the stairs. It is up to you, Miss."

I licked my lips, for the first time not feeling all too empathetic towards a house elf. Carefully I stepped forwards, following her up the stairs.

Even though the bars around me had disappeared, I was not mistaken that I was still very much imprisoned.

As we walked, I was surprised by how dark and uninhabited the old castle was. Part of me had expected groups of death eaters to be lingering about, gathering in the shadows, plotting, laughing, and torturing innocent victims. Instead, all I saw were empty halls and closed, locked doors that were no less welcoming.

"Where is everyone?"

Kippy glanced back at me as she walked primly down the hall ahead of me. "Master likes to be alone, it is usually just Kippy and the Master here."

I furrowed my brows. "Carrow likes to visit me on a near daily basis."

Or, so it felt like. I had little to no clue what time was like down in the dungeon. Though I hadn't seen Malfoy or many of the others since Malfoy and I had talked alone.

"Master Lord has meetings often, and he will allow them to go down to the dungeon for a short time allowing they do not harm Miss Mudblood. The rest of the time Kippy's Master does not like to be bothered."

I looked around with newfound wariness. It was one thing to think there were several death eaters around, but it was quite another to realize the only other wizard in the vicinity was Voldemort himself.

I turned back to Kippy, stumbling slightly over my unsteady feet, the hard uneven hallways digging into them as we walked the desolate halls.

"How did you come to serve your master?" I asked as we entered a dim lavatory. Most of the castle was still as old as the day it was built, however, in the toilet room, some renovations had been done to install a working stand up shower stall, some sinks, and a toilet. Its modernity only helped aid the cold emptiness of the castle, a chill lingering permanently on my skin.

Kippy tutted, eyeing my ripped and ruined clothing. "Kippy will need to grab Miss Mudblood some new clothes, completely unpresentable. No, can't have this, Kippy's master will be very unhappy." I heard her mutter to herself.

After several moments she pursed her thin crooked lips and set her large eyes on mine. "Kippy's family has served the Gaunt name for several centuries. When Kippy's master died, Kippy was lost without her master."

I blinked, it was hard to imagine the previous dark lord with a house elf in his employ, though I realized it made sense since Tom Riddle was from an old pureblood family.

"When young Master came and asked for Kippy to return to his employ, Kippy was very happy to do so," she continued, grabbing at my clothes and pulling at them in an effort to get them off me. I frowned but figured I might as well help her, stepping out of the dirty rags so that I was in only my undergarments.

I nodded slowly, not all to surprised. "So, you were free for a short time?"

"Yes, it was dreadful."

Kippy wrinkled her long nose, eyeing my bruise patterned body, but she made no comment. She waved her hand and the shower started to pour warm jets of water. I eyed it, realizing that even under the unwelcome circumstances, a shower would be quite satisfying.

"Kippy assumes Miss Mudblood can bathe herself?"

I lifted a brow and tried not to let hope enter my mind. If I was mistaken, it sounded like she was going to leave me alone.

"Yes."

She nodded, satisfied. "Well, Kippy will go prepare Miss Mudblood some appropriate clothes, since you have ruined these ones."

I frowned, that was hardly my fault.

"So, you are going to leave me alone in the in the lavatory?"

Kippy turned, her bumpy head facing me as she made her way to the tall wooden door.

"Yes, Kippy will be leaving Miss Mudblood alone to bathe in private, however, Kippy is not unprepared."

I watched with growing energy as she opened and closed the door behind her.

I was alone.

I wasn't in the dungeon.

I stepped forward, feeling the ice-like tile under my bare feet as I walked up to the door. I grabbed the handle but it was locked.

Not yet ready to give up the spark of hope flaring in my chest, I stretched out my fingers. I had tried wandless magic down on the cell at first, but it had been charmed to repel spells.

Maybe, Kippy had forgotten.

But as I whispered Alohomora, I quickly realized that wasn't the case. The door hadn't budged. As a matter of fact, I hadn't felt the spark of magic in my veins at all. They had covered all their bases.

If I was going to free myself, it wouldn't be through means of magic.

For, they had made sure to take that away from me too.

I turned, trying not to panic, as I felt the emptiness within me. I wasn't sure how long it had been. Maybe it was part of what Kippy had done when she said she wasn't unprepared. I could have been five minutes without the ability to perform magic, or it could have been weeks.

I opened the stall door, the warm water already steaming up the glass walls of the shower. I walked in, still in my pulled and torn undergarments, and collapsed to the ground, letting the hot water fall over me.

I closed my eyes and allowed myself a moment to feel everything. I let myself wallow in my own self-pity, and ruminated in my hopelessness.

Then, after a few moments had passed, I opened my eyes, a new determination in my body.

I was Hermione Granger, and I would find a way out of this. I would free myself from the Dark Lord. I would find a way out. I had too.

But first, I had to meet with him alone in his rose garden.