Ridin' Solo (OPEN)

[HERMIONE JEAN GRANGER!]

A circle of people had formed around her and Lucius, and Hermione could see with a quick scan that most of the bar patrons had not made a quick exit to escape Malfoy's wrath, but instead clung to the walls like shadows. Their eyes, besides those of the Death Eaters, were welling up with fear, making themselves as small as possible as not to incur the wrath of the men before them. She unconsciously touched the split in her lip, her fingers tipped then in blood. Ahead of her, she could see that Lucius Malfoy had too been bleeding, dampening the dark floors with his blood. Those cuts she made... she would have felt a swelling of pride if not for her thought process being interrupted by the sound of her wand shooting through the air and into the hands of her enemy. Vine, dragon heartstring, ten and three-quarters inches. Good for charms, survivor of many battles and a war, protector of muggleborn... now removed from its master.

This was the moment when Hermione felt a true sense of fear. It formed a pit in her stomach, cold, icy, unforgiving, and raced up her spine. Not letting panic get the best of her, she did not cry for help (simply because she too knew that no one would come to her aid) or beg. This man was in no mood to grant her parlance anyways, and succumbing to fear she froze in her spot. His words, as cleverly-strewn together as they might have been, floated right past her, she could hardly hear him through her own thoughts. Was he to kill her? Laugh as her body convulsed in death throes? Kick her corpse afterwards? There was no escape route now... no way out... no Harry or Ron to appear at just the right moment to rescue her. His comparing her to Potter, calling her a cow, saying she was worthless... it all bounced off her.

Hermione Granger, however, snapped out of her second deep mental process in the past few minutes when she heard a whisper of that curse come from his lips. The Cruciatus Curse... oh, what an old friend it was to Hermione! Both her and Harry had been its victim at the hands of multiple wizards and witches, but that did not mean that it would become any easily to bear with each time. The green light and rush of sound roared towards her, but she made not attempt to brace herself or dodge it. Her body only shuddered as it hit her, the air in her lungs expelling in a singular 'oh' from her mouth.

The pain started seconds after the curse slammed into her, beginning at the point of contact. She could have sworn that her collarbone was being smashed into countless pieces with a hammer, and she could not let out even a whimper because of the constriction and stinging in her chest. It magnified, mercifully (in a way) spreading through her whole body in a matter of seconds. Instead of the previous gurgling, choking noise that spilled from her throat due to a lack of air, after her first deep and labored breath Hermione could not help but let a bloodcurdling scream out; as brave and firm as she was, pain was pain and human reaction takes over. Shrill and high-pitched at first, drawing out a few seconds unbroken before sobbing until her voice was raw, only to repeat. The glue holding her hands and feet had disintegrated, Hermione curling up from her strained and twisted muscles and pressing against the floor. She shook and convulsed, not unlike a seizure, neck and back arcing with her mouth open and screaming. Each second ticked away as a hour, her head swimming with the combination of the stabbing of a migraine and her conscious begging for death, for release...

The pain, after a few minutes, subsided, leaving Hermione Granger a broken, slumping mass of what she was before on the floor. The cool of the wood against her cheek, she lay on her side, belly facing Lucius. Death did not come for Hermione, her dark eyes open from them being shut during the curse. Shaking still, she looked up to him, wanting to say that she was still alive but could find the air for words.

[LUCIUS MALFOY !]

Lucius shuddered with triumph, she wasn't dead yet which was fine. He would play with this scenario for a while. His breath was quieter if not any less labored and glancing around, he knew he was still the undisputed scourge, the one you did not cross. He would not give her another chance. Insults meant nothing to him, she hadn't affected him with her petty jibes, but look at her now. Lucius gave a low evil chuckle and cruised forward, and turned her over with his foot, not gently either but not a kick. He growled low in his throat as he looked down at her battered form, he had done good. He had one more trick up his sleeve though, she refused to allow herself to be left unconscious, the dangers of being an unconscious mudblood with the wizarding world were many and grave.

Placing one foot on her stomach and chest, he let some of his weight down on her, no doubt he would kill her if he trod on her fully he leaned down, face without emotions, eyes are hard as stone and drew her wand from his belt and placed it just out of her grasp before straightening up again. Once again he aimed his wand at her, straight at her face and what echoed from his mouth was the word that no-one expected. But the word that would leave her in mortal danger.

Stupefy...!

The jet of red like shot forth and Lucius dipped his wand just slightly in a moment of mercy to aim for under her jaw. He hadn't done enough damage in his eyes but the chest wound was starting to tingle and sting and irk him just a little but he still felt victorious. He huffed and stepped off the limp and prone body, treading on the wand as he went past not caring whether or not he broke it, his own wand gripped in his right hand. He looked up at the balcony and again, wandlessly called his coat to him.

He caught it easily and then he half looked over his shoulder and sneered at the wreckage before with a sound like lightning cracking, he was gone, apperated from the place of his victory, back to his manor. That wouldn't be the last anyone saw of him though. He now had a new plaything. Hermione bloody Granger.

[HERMIONE JEAN GRANGER!]

Hermione had not the strength or mental energy to resist much of Lucius would have done to her now; him casting the cruciatus curse on her... this was different from when Bellatrix did so months ago and previously when she was seventeen. When she was hit by the Lestrange woman twice, the pain was sharp, stabbing, and prolonged. She could recall, in fact, being under the influence and torture of that spell for a good fifteen minutes or more, without it ever subsiding for even a second. It had caused her to pass out, left vulnerable. Lucius was there too, come to think of it, watching with his son while that damned woman interrogated her. The second time was the same except for them being in a dank alleyway instead of the Malfoy Manor. Bellatrix wished to see her victims suffer, the pain caused by her curse physical and convulsing.

Lucius', however... it went by faster. There was more power behind it from the flick of his wand to the burning hatred she assumed he had felt towards her, always popping up like a mudblood would when he did not want her to. The pain caused was more aggressive, pain for pain's sake, for her to feel worse than he did from the slashes on his chest. He also probably got a kick out of seeing her seize and hear her screams... but not in the way Bellatrix did.

The soreness in her sides from being thrown across the room intensified as he turned her over with his foot, her wincing visibly as she continued to gain more consciousness and movement. The curse causes no internal injury but instead just stimulates pain synapses, a mere simulation. It was the lingering memory of that stabbing pain combined with the real injuries to her face and sides that kept her from getting to her feet and wrestling her wand off of the elder Malfoy. The weight and pressure of his foot on her chest, she now on her back and prone to whatever threat came to her, caused her to cough as air rapidly expelled from her lungs. Her hand and fingers stretched to their full capacity as soon as he set her vine wand down, but in vain. If only she had another inch, if only she had fallen better, her life could have potentially been saved.

Crack!

She had no time to react to the stupefy hex and it smacked under her jaw like an uppercut. The force caused her head, with no cushion from her hair despite how bushy and massive it was to most, to snap back and hit the floor again with a substantial amount of force. Her eyes saw nothing but black, emptiness, unconsciousness, for as quick as the curse took to hit her, and she shut her eyes to escape the burning pain now caused by the light in the room. This most certainly was a concussion, for when she opened her brown eyes it took a few seconds before her vision corrected itself from fuzziness. Her wand was where it was before, with a crack in the vine wood along its length. Fuck, she thought; she would have to go to Diagon Alley to have it fixed. Nevertheless, she was thankful that she was at least alive and that other Death Eaters did not take this chance to assault her once Lucius left. She was only able to get a glimpse of him departing, a black twist of cloth and other apparating material and the sound of lightening in the bar. The other patrons remained where they were, plastered with fear that he could return.

Hermione stayed on the ground for a minute before sitting up, using all of her strength left to push herself up with her arms. Sitting on the ground, feeling that her lip was still bleeding and that the blood from Lucius had not yet left the ground near her, all she could do was think. What now? She could not fight off another person like she had just done in her physical state... it was time to get out of sight and regroup. On shaky legs she stood, and with a similar crack in the air she apparated from the bar to the Forest of Dean, leaving behind only scorch marks and splinters of wood.

This was not over. For ext time she came to see Mr. Malfoy, she would not be alone. She could promise him that.