She hadn't seen that guard later either.

They climbed the stairs she'd just descended, and her pounding head and burning shoulder made her wish an elf had appeared to relocate her. It hurt to breathe.

She heard a crack from down a hallway. The elves were still appearing. There were still Lots behind these doors.

Yaxley stopped in front of a door and turned to her. "If I ever see you again, it will be too soon, Mudblood."

She raised a brow at him and gave him a look that said, The feeling is mutual.

He pushed the door open and shoved her inside.

She expected to find Dolohov. Maybe a cot or a chair where he'd force her down and push up her dress.

She didn't expect to find Pansy Parkinson. She hadn't expected to find her ever again.

Pansy seemed to feel the same as she sat up tall from the counter she'd been leaning on, eyes wide and hungry. They were in a dressing room with mirrors on the walls and large bulbs flickering.

Yaxley shut the door, locking them in.

A sharp burning on her left arm. Hermione's mouth opened in a silent hiss of pain. She looked down to where Antonin Dolohov had been inked into her skin. The letters sizzled. She squeezed her fist and watched as the ink lifted, rearranging until a different signature formed on her skin.

D.M.

She blinked down at the letters, her vision swimming. It couldn't be...

Pansy was at her side, grabbing her arm.

"Ha!"

The sound jarred her. Pansy had been silenced the last time she'd seen her. Hermione was on day four.

Pansy turned away, running her nails through her hair. The mirrors allowed Hermione to see that she'd pressed her eyes closed, squeezing her lips together.

"Wow." She spun around to face her. "How much?"

Hermione shook her head, deciding that Pansy didn't need to know.

"Thirty-three thousand?" Pansy guessed, stalking toward her slowly. "Thirty-five thousand?" she said when Hermione didn't answer. "Come on, now. I'm curious. Forty?"

Hermione turned away but was unable to find a wall in which Pansy's face did not reflect back at her. Her own face was almost unrecognizable. Deep circles under her eyes and dry skin. Her jawline stuck out unpleasantly.

"Tell me, Granger," Pansy hissed over her shoulder. Hermione met her eyes and something stormed inside of them, like the moment before thunder cracks. She watched Pansy's blue eyes flood, and she took a slow breath before asking, "More than forty thousand?"

Hermione looked away, shivering. She caught sight of the ink on Pansy's arm.

A matching D.M.

A crack outside their door. The two of them jumped, and Hermione's fingers twitched for a wand that wasn't there.

A squeaky girl elf said, "Mippy is here for Misses Pansy and Hermione."

The door swung open. Yaxley stood guard while a tiny elf in a pink pillowcase looked up at them with bright green eyes.

"Misses! I take you now!"