Chapter Text
She heard someone screaming, "No! No!" Though a foggy haze, she observed Mr. Weasley catching Ginny and wondered why. 'She didn't believe him! NO! It COULDN'T be true! Harry WASN'T dead, he couldn't be! Not after everything they'd already survived! Why? Had the last year been a complete waste of time? How could he have fallen after all the fighting they'd already been through?' But there was no denying it. There before them laid the proof, gently held in Hagrid's arms.
The Death Eaters marched triumphantly across the stone bridge. Hagrid was chained in the middle of them, tears streaming down his face as he carried Harry back to Hogwarts. Cradled in Hagrid's arms, the teenager looked like a small child, with an all too familiar shock of messy black hair. After announcing the death of his young nemesis, Voldemort decided on an even better way to let the world know Harry Potter was dead. He decided to put the body on display, allowing everyone to see it. He took Harry's tie, his beloved Gryffindor tie, and stretched it out into a noose. It was placed around Harry's neck and used to hoist him from the top of the flagpole in the courtyard.
As they all observed in horror, Harry suddenly began struggling. 'He hadn't actually been dead!' However, it didn't take long for him to really die this time. They watched him gurgling, kicking his legs out trying to catch the pole for support. It was no use. His body slowly stopped moving and he was gone. Hermione fell back against Ron as Ginny continued screaming in despair. In a distant part of her mind, she reminded herself they still had work to do. The snake was still alive, coiled in a heap at Voldemort's feet. She looked up at Ron and he nodded. 'No matter what happened to them afterwards, the snake had to die! It was the only way to finish Voldemort and they needed to do it! This was for Harry!'
Voldemort meanwhile had whipped around to glare at Narcissa Malfoy. She had assured him the boy was dead! Narcissa's face was white as chalk, but she held her chin up proudly as she glared at the madman who was destroying their world. Lucius realized something was about to happen and stepped forward quickly, as if he was trying to draw attention away from her. "Well, Bellatrix. It seems as if we have a traitor in our midst. Could you please deal with that?"
Bellatrix strolled forward lazily. She cocked her head as she stared at her sister. "Oh, Cissa! Cissa, Cissa, why did you have to be so pathetic? I was certain I'd gotten rid of our family's weakest link and here you go, proving me wrong. Sirius wasn't the only weak link, was he?" Here she brushed shoulders with Narcissa. "Oh, well, what can I expect? After all, look at the family that you married into. You and Lucius are both so very pathetic! You were strong until he came along. He went soft and took you down with him!" With those words, she paused and looked at Lucius. Then she pointed her wand right at Narcissa's eyes. Narcissa didn't blink or show any kind of fear. She merely stared her sister down. "Avada Kedavra!" Bellatrix snapped and cackled madly as her sister dropped dead at her feet.
As everyone watched in either awe or horror, Lucius Malfoy cursed angrily, and Draco blanched in fear. Lucius turned on Voldemort, determined avenge his wife's death. It did no good as Bellatrix took him on next. It was evident that Lucius was slowly losing the fight. Draco, sensing the dangerous position he was suddenly in, stepped forward. He strode toward the battling couple and stopped to observe them. The Order, who had hoped to at least save him and his mother, could see the moment he turned fully towards the Dark Lord. They had hoped he wasn't in too deeply yet. Draco knew as soon as his father went down, he'd be the next one in the line of fire. As the Dark Lord watched him warily, Draco raised his wand, aimed at his father and shot the killing curse. In one fell swoop, Draco had sealed his destiny. He'd killed his father, earning an automatic position in the Inner Circle. He'd also brought out the inner killer Harry had warned them about.
Hermione watched him, as if mesmerized. She had actually defended this boy all of sixth year, telling Harry and Ron there was no way Draco could be a killer, no way at all. It seemed he'd proven her wrong. Apparently, he'd had a coldblooded killer instinct all along. As Neville tried to rally their side once more, the fighting resumed around them. She and Ron raced through the courtyard, ducking curses left and right as they attempted to kill the snake. Just as Neville took a swing and beheaded the snake, she took more notice of the fight around them. Strangely, all the wizards were dying. Not the witches, just the wizards. The witches were being captured by the handful. Disarmed, disabled and put out of commission, they were being hauled off, Merlin only knows where! As for the wizards, it was all out fight to the death battles.
Neville went down with a scream of agony after being hit with Dolohov's custom purple flame curse. Remus and Bill, fighting back-to-back, were brutally ripped to shreds by Greyback and two of his wolves. Arthur, Percy, Fred, George and Charlie were cornered and about to lose. Ron, sweet, impulsive Ron, rushed in blindly and was promptly knocked out cold by a stunner. It must have been a powerful caster because Hermione couldn't even rouse him with a Re-enervate. Professors McGonagall and Sprout also spotted the situation at the same time. "Attention! All witches! Begone! Now! Get out of here! Quickly now, get out of the castle! Now, hurry!" They screamed desperately.
A mass panic started among Hermione and the other young witches as they realized they were unable to Disapparate, despite the fact that the school wards had long since fallen. "Girls! Run! We have to hide! They can't find us!" Hermione screamed and the witches scattered to all corners of the castle. They raced down hallways, through forgotten corridors and ducked into as many empty classrooms as they could. Hermione could tell by the slowing sounds of fighting that the battle was winding down. She could only hope and pray that it had turned in their favor, but the sinking feeling in her stomach wasn't counting on it. Just before she ducked safely out of sight, she was hit with a Stunner. She was quickly losing consciousness, but the last thing she remembered was the vivid image of a tall, blond Viking of a wizard, standing over her, watching coldly as she fell to his spell. As the evening wore on and the sun sank out of sight, Hermione Granger was completely oblivious of her whole world crashing and tumbling down around her. The wizarding world was falling apart and headed straight into dark times. Voldemort had well and truly won.
The next morning
Hermione shivered as she opened her eyes. She soon saw why she was so cold. She was clad only in bra and knickers, chained to the floor of the Great Hall. She heard sobbing all around her and saw that every witch around her was in the exact same position. Witches were lined up in rows across the length of the Hall. They appeared to be sorted by age as most girls of her own age was huddled around her in a circle. Parvati Patil was beside her with a badly wounded Lavender Brown laying in her lap. Romilda Vane was huddled beside them. Alongside them were the Ravenclaw girls, Luna Lovegood and Padma Patil. The girls stayed in a quiet, fearful huddle as they spoke in hushed tones. As Hermione glanced around, she realized she didn't see Ginny.
"Who caught you, Hermione?" Parvati asked her. Hermione was checking Lavender over, debating whether to even try to call for help. She really doubted the Death Eaters would bother to make sure they were all right.
"I don't know for sure, but it looked like Rowle." Hermione told her. After making Lavender as comfortable as she could, she looked the others over. "What about you?"
"Theodore Nott." Parvati looked scared as she said it. Hermione didn't blame her for that. Theo was pretty much a dark horse. He was one of the quietest Slytherins in their year. But he did hang on the outskirts of Malfoy's gang, along with Millicent Bulstrode. Hermione had actually thought the two of them were a couple for the last few years. She'd figured he was probably branded alongside Malfoy and a few other Slytherins.
"Luna, who caught you?" Hermione bit her lip as she asked the question. She knew that Harry had always worried about Luna. She just had such an air of innocence and naivety around her all the time.
Luna looked at her with tearful eyes. "Malfoy, it was Malfoy!" Hermione closed her eyes and sighed as she pulled the girls close. As bad as Malfoy was, she was glad it was him. Luna could have been grabbed by someone much worse than him.
"Don't worry about anything. I don't know when or how, but I'll get us free. You hear me? I will get us out of this mess, one way or another! Until then, let's just try and stay strong. All right?" She vowed. The girls nodded trustingly.
Hermione looked at the front of the hall. On the stage where the teachers table had always been, there was now a throne and circle of chairs. Voldemort was seated with his Inner Circle. The lesser ranked followers stood in the clear area where the students had been sorted in for years. She took note that the werewolves including, to her dismay, Fenrir Greyback, were circling the perimeter of the room. 'So, three killing curses, from her, Harry and Ron, hadn't been strong enough to end him! That was too bad.' She'd hoped they'd killed him for mauling Lavender. While she was distracted by the werewolves, she almost missed the order for the prisoners to stand up. She pushed to ger feet and looked around. She didn't see McGonagall or Sprout or any of her teachers, for that matter. Voldemort stood, walked to the podium and performed a Sonorous on himself to be heard.
"Welcome, my darlings, to the New World Order." He waved a hand at his Death Eaters, lined up around him and leaning on the walls. "Behold, your future. Thanks to now dead enemies, our world was almost destroyed. Our magical families have been almost decimated. This is where you come in. You, my dears, are going to help us rebuild our world. Regretfully, not all of you are needed. To all witches wearing a ring, please move forward to the center of the room. Also consider yourselves lucky. My best and brightest followers chose you personally."
"Hermione!" Parvati and Luna grabbed her arms. She jumped as she looked down. Sure enough, a quick inspection showed a huge ring on her left hand. They all backed up into the center of the room, wondering why it was necessary to do so. They soon found out.
Lavender was left behind as was Romilda, as they hadn't been 'gifted' a ring. They, along with all the fifth year and lower students who hadn't been evacuated in time, were pushed into a large group and offered to the werewolves, in return for their help during the battle. Lavender Brown let out a final scream as Fenrir Greyback resumed his attack and finished her off. The werewolf turned to thank the Dark Lord. Then he and his wolves divided the girls among themselves and vanished. The remaining girls stared at the bloody remains of the dead witch, wondering how soon they would be wishing they'd died that fast, that soon.
There had to be at least fifty death eaters gathered on and in front of the platform. Some of them were known, even notorious, but there were many unknown members mixed into the group. Obviously, they had made their choices before she woke up because they weren't the least bit upset at how many girls were gifted to the werewolf pack. It wasn't hard now to figure out, that had been the whole point of the rings. Three wizards had detached themselves from the group and approached the girls. Hermione was deep in thought of how soon she could attempt to get herself, Parvati and Luna out of the Death Eaters' hands. Before the two could speak up and warn her, one wizard struck.
Hermione let out a choked scream as her hair was grabbed and used to yank her head back. A deep, raspy voice growled in her ear. "Good morning, princess. Any memory problems for you? Good, you remember me! I wish I could say the same, but I know you from school. I'm sure the rest will come back to me. Good old Hogwarts and the bratty, little Gryffindor. That was you, right?" He chuckled darkly as he wrapped a possessive arm around her. "I'm going to make you pay for every, single, blasted time you ratted me out! By the time I get done with you," he glanced towards Lavender, "You might very well be wishing that had been you! Why were you such a little, goody two shoes in school, hmm? I'm so going to enjoy this!" He purred into her hair. Hermione turned around to face none other than Thorfinn Rowle. His ice blue eyes glared at her fiercely.
'Oh, Merlin! Why? Why him? Of all the Death Eaters in his entourage, why, why had she been paired with the one guy she'd crushed on all through her early years?' Not that she'd tell him that! She'd sooner bite off her own tongue before admitting it. She'd seen him on the train and fallen head over heads for him. He'd been going into his fourth year, so he didn't pay any attention to the little first year who followed him warily. She'd crossed her fingers that she'd end up in the same house as him. Alas, that was before she was sorted into Gryffindor and found out he was in their rival house, Slytherin. She wondered just how much choice he'd had in putting a ring in her finger. If the furious expression on his face was right, he had as little control over the situation as she did. It made her wonder if he was being punished: 'Piss off the Dark Lord and get saddled with a Mudblood!' He waved his wand and unchained her from the floor. Malfoy and Nott collected Parvati and Luna. They followed Rowle as he dragged Hermione out of the Great Hall.
Just before he disappeared with her, Malfoy yelled at Rowle. "Rowle! The Dark Lord wants them kept in groups of three, remember? We agreed to stay at the Manor. The wards are down, so you'll have no problem getting in." He mentioned it in a hurry, not wanting to draw any more of Rowle's attention than necessary.
Rowle cursed as he remembered that. The Dark Lord had set them to groups of three. He'd been lumped in with the Malfoy and Nott brats. If the little brat hadn't reminded him, he would have apparated himself and Hermione straight into his bed at Rowle Tower! 'Fucking little bugger was right! WHY had he agreed to that? Damn, bloody fuck!' He nodded to let him know he'd heard him before he Disapparated out of the school. They popped into the drawing room where Hermione promptly had a panic attack and began struggling to escape. He pulled her closer and glowered down at her. Malfoy could have told him why she was panicking, if not for the fact that he knew Rowle himself had reason to dislike this room. It was up to them to trust each other enough to share their collective hatred of this room.
"What's the matter, Granger? You remember this room, too? Are you still on the floor? Trying to get away from the pain? Feeling like your whole body is being torn apart, like your lungs are about to explode? How long was it for you? Ten, twenty minutes? How about four hours? Have you ever tried to break a memory charm? There's more than one way to do it, but the quickest way is the crucio curse. Did you know that?" He growled at her as his arms tightened around her. Hermione stared up at him in horror, knowing exactly how he knew that. Because of her memory charm, he had suffered four hours of torture.
He pulled her out of the room, toward the stairs. He was clearly on a mission to find the nearest bedroom. Malfoy and Nott exchanged glances and hurried after him, Luna and Parvati almost running to keep up. Ahead, they could already hear the two arguing.
"I can't believe your MASTER wants you to dirty up your bloodline with me!" Hermione spat angrily, trying to twist away from his tight grip.
"My grandfather already dirtied it up years ago, mudblood, think of another argument!" He snarled back at her.
Nott passed him by, pulling Parvati along. "Easy, Finn! He does want them to breed for us!" It was the first time he'd spoken since they collected their girls. Parvati paled as she realized she was also being steered into a bedroom.
"No worries, Theo! She doesn't have to be pretty to pop out a brat, nor do I have to look at her as I screw her!" Rowle growled, smiling evilly as Hermione cringed away from him in fear.
He shoved open the first door they came to, closing and locking it behind them. Hermione darted away from him as soon as he released her. "Aw, now where ARE you going, Granger?" He taunted her as he leaned on the door. He held his hands up and looked around. "There's nowhere to run, nowhere to hide, nowhere you can get away from me! It's just you and me, darling!" He walked over to the bed, kicking his boots off as he eased down. As she pressed against the wall, watching him warily, he slowly stripped off his clothes and laid back against the pillows. He didn't bother to cover up. Hermione struggled to keep her eyes from wandering down his body.
"Now, why don't you come on over here? We can get to know each other. I know about you from listening to the others, but that's not the same. I want to know the real you. Otherwise, I'll have to tie you down and have my wicked way with you." He waited. Hermione stared at him stubbornly. He sighed. "Listen to me, Granger. I don't want to be here anymore than you do. I do have a life, outside of the Death Eaters. I should be on the quidditch pitch!"
Hermione snorted derisively. "Quidditch? Is that all you think about, Rowle? Honestly! People are dead today and more will keep dying, all because of your master and all you're thinking about is quidditch?!" She eased away from the wall to an armchair about a foot away from the bed. Rowle had shot up and narrowed his eyes at her.
"Quidditch is my whole career, Granger! Of course, it's all I'm going to think about! Get over here now! I didn't start this war and I'm sure it won't end today. That's not my problem. That happens all over the world. Right now, all I'm worried about is you and me! Now, move your little arse over here!" He ordered. She shook her head defiantly. "Despite what you've heard of the Death Eaters, we're not all rapists. Some of us have a very strong aversion to forcing a woman into our bed. I was hoping to get to know you, so I could do this the easy way, but you don't seem to want to cooperate. Seriously, Granger? You actually want me to force you?" Hermione crossed her arms and legs as she glared at him silently.
"Damnit, Granger! Why are you making this so hard? Do you think I want to be tied down to one witch? You want someone else? Fine, I'll take you back and let him put you with someone else." He snapped, confirming Hermione's belief that he'd had nothing to do with choosing her. She'd been assigned to him. "You want the Lestrange brothers or Dolohov getting their hands on you? You were the biggest prize at Hogwarts, you know that, right? Everyone was hunting the castle over for YOU!" He watched as she paled. "I didn't think so!"
"Is this because of that little crack out in the hall? If so, you're very pretty and I'll very much enjoy bedding you. Is that what you want to hear?" He cocked his head at her curiously. "Since you don't seem tired, tell me something. Is it true, what I heard about your age? You started Hogwarts a year late? Is that why I never scared you in school? Every other first year scattered when I'd come through, not you, though. It's why your bag was the only one that ever went flying. And why in the hell was I the only one you ever ratted out? I know you caught more students than me breaking the rules, but I'm the only one you ever turned in, why was that? It never failed, no matter where I was, if I broke a rule, here came the swotty, insufferable, little Gryffindor princess to report me! I also know you broke quite a few rules yourself!"
"I reported you because you were putting other students in danger. I wasn't. Every time I broke a rule, there was a very good reason for it!" He cocked a brow and grinned at her sarcastically. "I'm serious, Rowle. I didn't like breaking the rules!" She stopped. "Well, there's only one year that I actually enjoyed breaking the rules!" He laughed as he remembered the year Umbridge taught. He'd graduated the previous year, but he'd kept touch with some of his teachers, specifically Hooch and Snape. They had both attended a few of his more memorable matches.
"I don't want to be just a baby machine for HIM! I don't want my children exposed to that maniac!" She huffed at him. He shrugged his shoulders at her.
"You won't be HIS baby machine. You'll be mine. I'll be the father of your children. I'll try to keep them away from that side of my life, but he will want to see them." He told her. "Now, come on over here." He looked at her through heavily lidded eyes. Hermione realized that he had dark circles under them, as if it'd been a while since he'd last slept.
He looked at her seriously. "Be grateful I knocked you out, princess. He wanted to make an example of you. They found your ginger, Weasley?" He puffed out a small breath of air. "Trust me, you didn't want to be awake to see what they did to him. Suffice it to say, they made him regret ever being friends with Harry Potter. He wanted to do much worse to you, though. I'll probably have nightmares the rest of my life after seeing that. I'll not tell you what they did. Maybe you can catch Draco or Theo in a good mood and they'll tell you." He laid back down and threw his arm across his eyes. "Now, I'm tired. I haven't slept in three days. I haven't a fucking clue how I even made it through the battle and I'm really not up for any more fights. So please, no more arguments, just bring your little arse over here and lay down. Rest with me. I'm seriously too exhausted to do anything." Keeping a wary eye on him, Hermione finally stood up and climbed up onto the tall bed. As she laid down, keeping a wide distance between them, he reached over and hugged her close to him. At her indignant squeak of anger, he opened his eyes, smirked at her and said, "I like to snuggle with my women, Granger. So, sue me! By the way, my name is Thorfinn. Use it."