CAGED

If you love this story than you'll love my others too! go check out PANDORA, I promise you'll like her *lol*
- Love Esme
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Hermione's fate, he couldn't help but feel responsible in some way for what was happening to her right now, its true his abominable actions had spared her if only for a brief time and he wasn't certain that she was actually in danger right now. He felt almost comforted by the consuming dark of his cell... because it was karma for what he put her through and he took his penance humbly. Now in his own cage, he had nothing but time to remember just the way she tasted on his lips. He still would reach for her in his sleep... only to reach for nothing, simply a ghost of a memory of what she once felt like...

-over four years ago -

She was a prisoner of war, taken by Lucius during a raid on an order meeting. Lucius had taken her in secret and hid her in a secluded room in the manor. Nobody knew of what happened to her, not even the other death eaters knew of her whereabouts and Lucius intended on keeping it that way. He had kept her safe from the dark lord for a number of reasons, the paramount reason being she was his key to freedom.

He put her in a cage that hung from the ceiling of her cell in the Manor's vast dungeons. His initial intentions were to save her from the dark lords grasp, not for sentimental reasons but his own purely selfish  intent to use her as a pawn.

He would be seen as her savior to the wizarding world, Lucius Malfoy - risking his own skin for a muggle born, and Harry Potter's best friend, what else would trump the suspicion surrounding his allegiance to the dark lord? He planned to turn her over to the light at just the appropriate time, he would be welcomed back into the light as a hero.

He was certain the dark lord would take the fall this time, Voldemort's reign was over and judging from the information he drilled out of Hermione he was taking as many people down with him as possible. During the first two months of her imprisonment at the Manor, Hermione had not spoken a word to Lucius... a fact that he was all too aware of when he deprived her of sleep, food or water, drilling her for information night after night.

The task ahead was necessary but tumultuous, He would have to break her first, gain her trust before completley brainwashing her into believing he had rescued her from certain death or mutilation. He had tried force, intimidation, bribery, anything he could think of to tempt her into talking. One thing was for certain, he had overestimated the strength of this witch, and had actually come to think of her as an equal over time, her sheer grit and steel was enough proof that she was no ordinary daughter of muggles.

Lucius knew that his role as her savior wasn't exactly that far from the truth, the memories he would implant on her brain of his kindess and his change of heart were simply details that could be worked out later. The reality of the situation called for desperate measures, he had to keep her hidden and had to keep her very existance a total secret. He suffered at the hand of the Dark Lord for this secret, the crucio curses Voldemort threw at him after probing his mind knowing he kept a secret, but could not reveal it. Lucius guarded Hermione, his secret, with his life.

It came down to everything depending on her, he was at first barbaric and cruel, groping her through the bars of her hanging cage, ripping at her clothes. He became skilled enough and would frequently dominate her mind and read her thoughts. Lucius would often take out his rage on her, with fits of screaming and shallow threats. Though never laying a hand on her enough to hurt her permanently, hence why he stuck her in the cage in the first place, to protect her from himself. He had the key, but practiced enough self control to never use it.

His temper was extreme and volatile and it was an occupational hazard being a death eater. The killing and horrors were getting to him, and after months of relentless trying, he gave up trying to communicate with her all together, he would sit and watch guard over her on many nights, but gave up on the screaming, threats and sleep depravation.

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back in Lucius's cell, present day

The slit in the door opened and the putrid excuse for food was shoved in, creeping in a gash of harsh white light from the hallway. Lucius averted his eyes and the slit slammed shut again, casting him in even more advanced darkness, seeing spots he tried to adjust to the light. He groped for the food and slumped in the corner, still adjusting to the darkness and silence. His mind travelled back to the night she broke the silence, it was as if she had electrocuted him back to life that night...

He had been on a raid with the Dark Lord and had been away from the manor for the first time since taking Hermione captive. He had left her in the cage, in the consuming blackness for three days. When he came back to the manor he had fresh scars, the mental and emotional ones taking the worst toll on his crumbling psyche.

The first thing he did when he arrived back home was visit Hermione's cell. She was sleeping, curled up in the cage, shivering when suddenly the heavy wooden door creaked open. Her eyes hurt from the bright flames of his candelabra. He said nothing to her and just sat near her cage, staring off into space, retreating back into himself.

He had seen the Dark Lord rape and kill a girl Hermione's age that night, the girl reminded him devastatingly of Hermione. His eyes would wander up to her cage to check on her, see if she was breathing. She was slumped in the cage on her side, with the same blank expression on her face. Lucius retreated back into himself, at a loss of how to grieve or worry or relieve the ache and poison that seeped into his soul.

The pair had sat in stone silence till Hermione stirred in her cage, she had decided that enough was enough and that she would end her silence... it hadn't helped her anyways. She saw the look on his face, he was like a ghost... she admitted to herself that he was much more frightening when he was sullen and quiet than when he was his usual raging and violent self. She was actually concerned for his health, it seemed he was losing his grip on reality lately. Her voice a little husky and deeper from lack of use "Penny for your thoughts?" she said derisively. He was torn out of his worries from the voice he heard come from the cage. It had shocked him to his very core, the fact that she had broken her annoying vowel of silence to throw a rather slytherin attitude his way.

His eyes narrowed as he took her in with his eyes. Lucius let the pretense fall, he was running on empty, had been running on empty for the past several months. He saw her suffering  and was a little stunned to realize he had recognized anothers suffering, let alone care that they were suffering, he would always say that everyone had their crosses to bear and everyone suffered in this life... but this was different, a deeper and more acute suffering he could barely stand to observe.

"well at the present moment, I am thinking about you." This got her interest peaked and she lowered her gaurd a little more. "and I assume what mode of torture to use on me? or more solitary confinment?" she spat out. He suddenly realized just what had transgressed between them.In their sad and dark little world, she had just told him she had missed him. He actually felt a stirring inside him.

"actually.. it was quite the opposite... I was thinking if it would benefit you to let you go"
Hermione couldn't hold back the rage inside her, the heart break that is sometimes hope. She could visualize the small spark of hope being extinguished by the flood of reality. "don't fuck with me" she graveled out.

Lucius thought his hears were ringing, the pristine Gryffendor princess cursed... he almost smiled at the warmth of the fire in her. "I have to confess... I am glad you decided to break your vow of silence for me" Hermione slumped against the bars, in exhaustion he had left her there in the dark cell for 3 days. He had charmed the cage to provide for her needs, she would be fed and cleaned up after for as long as he wasnt there to remove the charm.

He knew he would not be there to watch over her and sometimes would be gone for weeks from the manor. He also wanted her at least to have a fighting chance if something should happen to him and their secret would die with him.

Hermione let her eyes rake him in, the sneer gone from his face, replaced by a sullen hollow look. "How long have I been in here for?" Lucius gave her a peircing glance she thought would bore right though her. She read something on his features.. was it guilt? "three days" he said to the floor.

"Not since YOU"VE been gone... I mean since you kidnapped me" she spat out with venom. Lucius stared numbly at her "about 2 months". "what do you want with me?" Lucius lowered his eyes and let out a heavy sigh. "I want my freedom, and I intend on using you to get that freedom" Hermione let out a derisive laugh. It didn't hold any of the music it once did, it was as hollow as her dark cell.

"What do you mean your freedom? I"m the one trapped in this fucking cage!" she screamed at him. Her anger lifted him slightly from his fog. "I see your quite upset at the turn of events as much as I am"

Tears of anger and frustration were streaking down her face. "of fucking coarse I"m upset you bastard! you leave me in this dank hole for 3 fucking days... you rip me from my friends, family and my entire future and happiness... don't talk to me about freedom you sick son of a bitch!"
Her knuckles had gone white as she gripped at the bars of her cage, it rocked and creaked slightly as she rocked the cage.

"The Dark Lord will fall and plans on taking as many people down with him as possible... he is a disease! and I will free myself from his cancer... so you see... the two of us are ensnared in the trap and it's up to me to set us free... and it wouldn't hurt to show a little more appreciation on your behalf" he let his eyes travel to her breasts to drive home his point.

"I would rather die than have your hands on me... let alone help you!" she gasped out at him.
Lucius let her words wash over him.. he almost enjoyed them, he felt alive at the pain and rage spreading through his body. If he could not feel anything he basked in the ability to feel at all.
For the first time in years he had felt alive, simply because she chose to open her mouth, everything about her was real and alive... her tears, her traces of menstrual blood on the floor, her screams, she had lit up his dismal existence.

She had done that to him, he wanted to rip her limb from limb just to piece her back
together like a china doll. He wanted to hold her in his arms and be alive like her... He got up from his chair by her cage, the veil had lifted... he would no longer live this half life anymore! He had the old Malfoy saunter back, he walked up to her cage and snaked his hand between the bars and gripped her knees in a vice grip.

"as much as you may not like my company, I just happen to have your life in my hands... and I plan on seeing us out of this war, and your my ticket out of the mire and into the light"

She had not felt another's touch for what seemed eons she thought, her eyes bored into his. Lucius pressed his face closer to the cage "and I'm not going to fuck with you anymore... I just want to rip your angel wings off and make a real woman of you... and you WILL let me in eventually Hermione... mark my words!" and with that he released his death grip and walked to the door.

She curled up on the bottom of her cage, he had left her with the candelabra and she transfixed her eyes on the shadows dancing on the rough stone walls. His touch still burned into her memory, his fingerprints leaving behind a faint hint of bruising.