A/N: Thank you to those that read the very short teaser "prologue" chapter. I hope this chapter makes up for the length. Once again, this fic is going to be fairly dark. Torture is going to start in this chapter, so read at your own risk.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

"Hermione,"

A soft whisper. A flutter of movement as someone brushed hair away from her face. She felt herself being sat up slightly and a lukewarm liquid was pushed into her mouth and down her throat. She sputtered and instinctively spat out the unknown liquid.

Her strength was returning. Slowly but it was. But there was a constant pain that made her want to sleep.

"Hermione, if you don't pull through here soon they will kill you." Came a shaky whisper. She heard the words but couldn't seem to make sense of them yet. She kept rolling the words around in her mind. For minutes, hours even. It wasn't until the next day that she understood their meaning.

Hermione sat up with a loud groan. She rubbed the grime from her eyes as she tried to take in her surroundings. She was in a dungeon of sorts. Light streaked in from under a door nearby and from around the barred windows that were up too high to see from. It must be early morning.

She looked down at herself and was appalled by what she saw. She was dressed in only a tank top and a pair of underwear. No wonder she had been cold. But what distressed her even more was the amount of blood on the white tank top she wore. It appeared she had been hurt. As she thought back to her dreams she now remembered being hit with some sort of slicing hex. Among others.

Her head throbbed and she groaned as the door to the dungeons was opened and a Death Eater stood in the doorway. He slowly looked around the room. He stopped at her, she noticed now that there were young women all around her, sleeping on the cold stone floor.

He stepped forward slightly and pulled down his mask. The face was familiar but a name didn't come to mind. He seemed to know who she was. Hermione narrowed her eyes at him and he grinned.

"Looks like you'll live to see another day, mudblood." He rasped.

"H-Hermione?" The man looked down at the waking Ginny Weasley and replaced his mask. He stepped back and shut the door. When he did Hermione could hear the clicks and whirls of charms re-enforcing the door.

"Gin?" Hermione looked to her friend and found her curled next to Luna Lovegood. Both girls were dressed in the same tank top and underwear as she was.

"Oh, Hermione!" Ginny sat up and threw her arms around her. The young women embraced for a moment before a tearful Ginny pulled back.

"What's going on, where are we?" Hermione whispered as to not wake the other women in the room.

"We're at Malfoy Manor. More specifically we're in their dungeon." Ginny whispered. Ginny looked to Luna, who was now stirring. She reached forward and rubbed the young woman's back for a few moments. Luna stopped moving a moment later. Ginny clasped her hand and rubbed it with her thumbs in a soothing embrace.

"Was it you who told me that if I didn't wake up I would be killed?" Hermione asked as she continued to stare at Luna. She looked up at Ginny when she heard the slightly younger woman sniffle.

"There are very strict rules here. You've been out since the battle. That was almost two weeks ago. They had given us until today to treat you or they were going kill you. Your wounds were deep. I didn't think you would make it." Ginny said with her eyes on Hermione's damaged side.

"I don't think I'm quite there yet." Hermione winced as she gingerly fingered her side.

"They didn't give us proper equipment to heal you faster. No potions or salves. Just water, cloth and some cold broth." Ginny whispered.

"So what now?" Hermione asked as she noticed more women were starting to wake up.

"So far nothing has happened down here. They give us food every three days, give us access to chamber pots twice a day. We've not bathed since we've been here. No contact with anyone else except for the few Death Eaters that come in with food or chamber pots." Ginny answered.

The young women were quiet as they watched their companion sleep. Hermione longed to lay back down and join Luna but was nervous that the Death Eaters would think her still ill and kill her. So she fought sleep as she listened to Ginny whisper stories from her childhood.

"Get up!" yelled a Death Eater as he barreled into the cell. Hermione snapped from her thoughts as she watched a handful more Death Eaters mill into the cell, all with shackles in hand.

Hermione followed suit as Ginny, Luna and the rest of the women stood.

"Stand in a straight line with arms held out." Barked the Death Eater that had entered first.

Hermione stood even with Ginny and Luna. She stretched her trembling arms in front of her, wincing at the pain in her side. She dearly wanted to put her arms down but didn't dare. Luna had told her how a few days ago one woman had yelled at a guard who had stepped in on a check and how she'd been killed.

Instead she swallowed the fear that seemed to be climbing up her throat as she watched the guards go down the line of women, shackling them as they went. They finally got to her and she knew they could see how scared she was as she looked away from them.

Rough hands grabbed her arms forcefully and she winced as the rusted metal scraped and bit into her skin. They left her once they were done and it was then that she lowered her arms. She wanted to hold her side but didn't dare with the shackles on. She didn't want to accidently rip open her wounds with the heavy metal around her wrists.

"We are going upstairs so you best all keep up. Once we arrive upstairs the Dark Lord himself will inspect all of you. Following inspection, the cleansing will begin. If you survive the cleansing you will then be sold to the highest bidders." The speaking Death Eater looked around the room. Though his mask was firmly in place Hermione could almost feel the smirk on his face as she tried not to imagine what their definition of "cleansing" meant.

"If you so much as make a sound I will kill you where you stand. Now, get a move on! The Dark Lord is not to be kept waiting!" he barked as guards took positions around their line.

The cell door was opened. They were led through the doorway and continued on up the cold stone stairs that followed. Hermione bit back her discomfort as the cold stone bit into her bare feet. Climbing the stairs wasn't as hard as she thought it would be, considering her side. It hurt like hell, but she had managed.

They arrived at the top of the stairs, letting out from the dungeons. Another door was in their path with another set of guards stationed at it. They opened the door with a combined flurry of spells that Hermione had never seen before. They were then led through the door and into a large room. They then were led to the far wall of the room and forced to kneel as their arms were shackled behind them to the wall, still in the kneeling position.

Hermione tried to push all thoughts out of her head as she attempted to ignore the screaming pain in her body. The position she was forced into was causing maximum pain. She could feel her skin ripping where it had barely just healed closed. She wanted to cry out but managed to keep herself quiet.

She looked over at Ginny and Luna and found them both with their faces turned to the floor. Hermione followed suit and waited for this inspection to be over.

She focused on the sounds of hushed whispers that filled the room before they stopped suddenly. Then at once she heard a collective "My Lord" before silence won out once again.

"What general ages are these ones?" came a clear, confidant voice.

Voldemort.

"Seventeen through twenty." Someone answered.

"Ah, a good age range. And what do they make up of, majority wise?" Voldemort asked.

"Mostly blood traitors with a handful of mudbloods." The same wizard answered.

"My Lord, she did survive!" Hermione felt her heart stop as the unforgettable voice of Bellatrix Lestrange cackled with mirth. Hermione felt her shackles slacken as she was pulled up from her position on the floor.

"My, my – the last of the trio. The other two died so fast, I think this one shall be more drawn out." Voldemort responded as he looked Hermione over.

Finding the bravery she was famous for she looked up at the foulest creature that had ever been borne. His eyes were blood red and full of what appeared glee. He was dressed impeccably. Taking over the wizarding world apparently agreed with him. Instead of the tattered old robes he had always seemed to don when she encountered him, he was dressed in the best. She ignored his words of her friends, her suspicions confirmed and stared bravely into his demonic eyes.

He laughed.

He grabbed her face with a gloved hand and looked her deep in the eye. It was then she felt him probing her mind. Before she could do anything he had slipped in and was forcing the images of their deaths into her mind. Forced her to feel his glee at their demises as her own. When he pulled away Hermione vomited.

Bellatrix cackled once more as she took her turn with Hermione. She pulled the shackle around her and grabbed her arm. Almost lovingly she fingered the scarred over carvings of "MUDBLOOD" in Hermione's skin. Hermione heaved as she remembered the pain of Bellatrix carving her skin with the crude knife that ended up killing Dobby.

"Enough, Bella. It's time for the cleansings to start." Voldemort stated. Bellatrix threw down Hermione's arm and took her place next to her master. Voldemort ignored her as he then ordered for them to start the cleansings.

Hermione felt numb. She followed the line of women back down to the dungeons and down the stairs. It took a moment for her to notice then that they were not headed to the cell they had occupied.

Rubbing the tears from her face she looked around the large chamber they had entered. It looked like a giant shower room.

"Strip down. Your showers will start soon." Their shackles were released as they undressed. After lying their clothes down on one side of the room they were directed to the other three walls where they were all spread out and shackled under a shower against the wall.

The Death Eater who had ordered them to undress then waved his wand wordlessly and the showers started. Ice cold water gushed from every shower, soaking and freezing the woman beneath it.

A few moments after the water started she watched as the wizard wordlessly waved his hand again and some scrub brushes, which had been lying motionless on the floor, now came to life as they flew to the women. Each woman then had a rough brush scrubbing down her body as she was still pelted with the cold water.

Hermione screamed as the brush went over the wounds, tearing them open. She bit her lip as she wished for the shower to be over.

After what seemed to have taken hours the showers finally stopped. They were unshackled but then re-shackled to each other, the women wet, raw and still naked. They were then led from the room and down the dungeon to another large room. There they were shackled like when they were presented to Voldemort but this time they were facing the wall.

Hermione tried not to shiver as she kneeled on the floor. Looking down at herself she saw her skin was pink and slightly scrapped from the brushes. She fought back the urge to heave as she caught sight of her wound.

Her skin was open and bleeding steadily. Blood was running down her side from the jagged wounds, down her thighs and onto the stone floor. The pain from her side masked the rest of her pain. She knew the floor was breaking the skin on her knees but didn't seem to notice from the hot fire that seemed to be tearing her side in two.

Ducking her head under her arms to get a look behind her she found the room to be filled with Death Eaters. One per woman. Hermione felt an awful sinking in her stomach as she tried not to imagine the horror that was about to come.

Looking around her found Ginny one over from where she was and Luna only a few down further from her. Ginny had tears streaming down her face as she looked at Hermione with a panic in her eyes. Luna's face was pale and blank. She didn't appear to be here with the rest of them. Hermione wished she could disconnect. Before she could dwell on the thought further she heard a series of cracks before a hot pain descended on her back.

Looking once more behind her she saw that all the Death Eaters now held a conjured whip made of fire.

She and the others around her screamed out in agony as the fire blistered their skin. Hermione yelled in pain as she felt herself coming undone. She never knew that pain like this could exist or that she would be the recipient of it. She cried out in horror as the woman next to her, who had seemed to pass out from the pain, was slaughtered. The Death Eater who had been whipping her grabbed her by the hair and slit her throat, her blood spraying the wall.

Hermione screamed until her throat was raw.

After what seemed like hours they stopped. Somehow she found the strength to stand as they were led back to their cell. Hermione collapsed on the floor. She didn't even care that she was still naked. A few minutes went by before Ginny and Luna joined her. The three women joined hands and tried to sleep as tears quietly seeped from their eyes.

A/N: Chapter two to come soon. Let me know what you thought. Lots more to come, but for a while it will continue to be pretty dark. Until the next chapter, Artemis.