"Hello, darling," Bellatrix hummed.

Her heart stuttered in her chest, freezing her veins and tightening her muscles. Her legs thrashed, kicking to get away, but Bellatrix cackled and slithered over her. She sat on her hips, pinning her elbows to the bed, grinning down at her.

Hermione's throat caught around the word, "help," choking in her chest.

"Ah, ah, ah!" Bellatrix clucked. "That won't do. It's just us girls." Her nails cut into Hermione's arms until she whimpered. "Such a pretty little prize you make, Mudblood. And expensive, too."

One hand grabbed her jaw, bony fingers turning her face to look her over. Hermione thrashed, her free arm fighting to push and roll out from under her. Bellatrix's hand dipped down and tightened, pressing heavy on her throat. Hermione scratched at her, pushing up on the weight against her neck as spots clouded her vision. She concentrated on her breath, coming in slow, measured rattles.

"So expensive, makes me wonder if your cunt is golden, too." Her hot breath hit Hermione's face, the putrid stench suffocating her as much as the grip on her throat. "Not that anyone's found out yet, isn't that right?"

The mocking lilt to her voice shot straight down Hermione's spine.

"Do you want to know why the Dark Lord values me, Mudblood? Why I am permitted at his right side after all these years?" She smiled down at her, her eyes glittering black. "Because I don't let my cock get in the way of what's truly important."

She cackled, and Hermione shuddered. Bellatrix swiped one of Hermione's curls away as her face twisted, dark and petulant. "Like father like son." She scowled down at her, and Hermione watched her eyes burn. Bellatrix sat tall suddenly, her hand lifting from Hermione's throat.

"That's the problem with men," she hissed. "No fucking loyalty. No sense of duty!" Bella twirled her wand in her fingers as she looked over Hermione's head at some far distant memory. "Can't see the larger picture. They just want to dip their wicks."

Hermione felt like maybe she was missing some kind of opening here. Some way to sympathize with her, gain her trust, and then run. Before Hermione could think of a possibility, Bellatrix pounced. She clawed at her scalp, pulling her hair back into the pillow, yanking her chin to the ceiling.

"But you… still untouched. What an embarrassment." Something wet and warm on her – Bella licking her face from jaw to temple. "You don't taste expensive." She cackled. "Do you think you're safe, Mudblood?"

Hermione's eyes could only see the headboard, her lungs dragging in air through a crooked windpipe.

"I don't want you getting a big head about this. You know your place, don't you?"

And then Bella wrenched her left arm away from her body, pushing her wrist into the mattress so she could read her scar properly.

"Don't you?!" she screeched.

"Yes," Hermione wheezed, fingers scrabbling at her throat.

"Do you need to be reminded?"

"N-no!"