Warning: Torture in this chapter!

All throughout summer break, Greta fell into a deep pit of despair. Not only had Dumbledore been murdered in front of her eyes, she had also lost Draco; probably for good this time.

She stayed in her room, not bothering to talk to anyone or do anything. She just couldn't take all the heartbreak at once.

Hermione had informed Greta that she, Harry, and Ron would be out looking for Horcruxes instead of going to school, and asked if Greta would be willing to join them. Greta declined the offer and chose to go to Hogwarts instead.

Little did she know that her final year at Hogwarts would be the most dangerous.

Professor Snape took over the school and changed it. The schedules were just about the same, but there was a lot more punishment involved if any student upset Snape. Any student who disobeyed Professor Snape would be tortured severely and it almost took a couple of weeks to recover physically.

Recovering mentally, however, was not an option.

Time Skip

It had been several months since the school year began. Greta remained paranoid and on edge ever since she'd been tortured her very first time.

Professor Snape had asked Greta a question in the middle of class and she hesitated to answer, fearing that she didn't know the answer. That had pissed off Snape and he sent one of his torturing minions to torture her in the castle dungeons immediately.

Greta whimpered fearfully and tried her hardest to escape, but it was no use. She couldn't get out of its grip.

Once inside the dungeons, the minion pushed Greta against the wall. She grunted of pain as the cold, asphalt wall hit her head hard. The minion approached Greta with a long whip at hand. It raised its arm and smacked Greta across the body with the whip as hard as it could.

Greta let out a sharp yelp of pain before allowing tears to trickle down her face. The minion repeated the whipping process multiple times with a shocking device in the whip this time, sending painful electrical shocks all throughout Greta's body.

"P-please... st-stop..." Greta pleaded.

Blood dripped from her mouth, and her arms and legs. The minion took no mercy and whipped her again. The minion didn't seem to care at each agonizing wail that Greta let out of her system.

"STOP! STOP, PLEASE!" Greta screeched. She kept shouting and wailing as the minion continued to shock her with the whip.

Then, after ten more minutes of torture, Greta was released.

The thought of another torture being preformed on Greta chilled her to the bone, and she longed for it to never happen again.

She missed Hermione and Draco. They always knew how to cheer her up. She couldn't even bring Lucky Charm to school, knowing that it would be too dangerous. She had nobody besides close acquaintances, and she never spoke to any of them since the school year began. She was too scared and hurting to talk with anyone. She felt that it was wrong to distance herself from everyone, but she was too sad without Draco.

So, instead, she wandered the hallways, trying her best to stay on guard and not be seen by Snape. There was no way she was getting tortured again!

"Greta!" A voice called.

Neville.

"What's wrong, Neville? Did something happen?" Greta asked.

"Professor Snape is looking for you, Greta," Neville panted. "He's furious!"

"What did I do?"

"The Slytherins have been saying all sorts of things about you. They've told Professor Snape that you've been stealing food from the kitchen."

"Stealing food? I never did that!"

"You know Professor Snape won't believe you. He doesn't trust Gryffindors. We have to hide!"

Greta nodded and followed Neville back to the Gryffindor common room. They hid in their separate dorms.

Greta struggled to quiet down her sudden panic attack. She tried taking deep breaths, but they only quickened after mere seconds.

I can't go back to the dungeons! I can't get tortured again! It hurts so bad! I can't, I can't, I can't, I can't!

Greta ran her fingers along her burned whip scars and even glanced at the words that Professor Umbridge made her write back in fifth year: I must not talk back.

Ever since Draco had told her to not worry about the scar, Greta did get best not to think about it. Every once and a while, she would look back at it and start to feel empty inside all over again. It was almost as if she couldn't ever get rid of it, and she hated it.

"I-I don't want to have this disgusting mark on me anymore."

Draco. He hated his Dark Mark. They both had something that they hated about themselves. Gosh, she missed him! If only she could hug him again and tell him that they could live in that perfect world that he wanted.

"Come out, Miss Clayton. I know you're hiding in here," Professor Snape's cold voice drawled.

Greta froze. She had chosen to hide under her bed. Hopefully, Snape wouldn't look there.

"Come out or Mr Longbottom gets it!" Snape demanded.

Greta could hear a small whimpering noise come from Neville. He was going to get hurt if she didn't do something.

"I... I'm here," Greta muttered, sliding out from under the bed. Snape grabbed Greta by the arm and dragged her and Neville to the dungeons.

I guess it didn't matter if I gave myself up or not. Neville is still going to get tortured. This is all my fault.

"Mr Longbottom, you'll also receive a punishment for assisting Miss Clayton here," Snape growled. "And, Miss Clayton, don't you ever steal food again."

Snape left, leaving the torturing minions in charge. Instead of shock whips, they held nothing.

"What do you think they'll do to us?" Neville whispered.

"I'm not sure." Greta spoke.

The minions used their magic instead of weapons and it hurt even worse than the shock whips.

Each spell that was cast felt like a direct stab in the body. Greta could smell the heavy stench of her and Neville's blood as one of the minions slashed open wounds using its claws. While Neville barely grunted and squirmed, Greta screamed each time a spell hit her. She barely had any pain tolerance, so each wound hurt worse than it should've.

As constant tears poured out of Greta's milky brown eyes, her mind wandered to thoughts of Draco. He would hate to see her like this. She was grateful that he wasn't there with her at that moment. He would be beat up about it for years and he would never recover. Having him not know was better, even if Greta herself couldn't mentally heal from this experience.

Once the torturing was over, Greta and Neville were taken back to the Gryffindor common room (Madam Pomfrey wasn't currently at Hogwarts. She had to leave campus soon after Snape and the Death Eaters took over). They were leaning against the wall, sitting on the cold floor.

"I'm... sorry..." Greta managed to say. She was so weak. It hurt to speak.

"This wasn't your fault," Neville reassured. "I'll be just fine. Don't worry about me."

Greta's pent-up emotions suddenly leaked. She couldn't handle this anymore.

"I miss Draco so much," Greta cried. "I want him back." (Dude, my own writing is making me cry. What is wrong with me??)

"You really love him, don't you?" Neville asked softly.

"Yeah, I do. He... he means everything to me." Greta's shoulders heaved severely and she could barely even speak a single sentence without crying. "I can't live through this with... without him! He'd... he'd know how to make me feel better. Everyone else I-I care about is off looking for-for Horcruxes or hiding out somewhere else. I can't hide how broken I am. It's like my whole world is falling apart and I can't make it stop!"

"I can help if you'd like," Neville offered. "I may not be Draco, but I'd like to be a friend and help you get through this. We can do this together."

Inbetween heavy tears, Greta was laughing slightly. "N-Neville, y-you don't have t-to do this."

"You want a hug?"

Greta didn't reply. Instead, she flung herself at Neville and squeezed him tight as she sobbed loudly. Neville returned the hug and rubbed her back up and down comfortably.

At least Greta had someone to look out for her and it was a great friend.

"Wh-why haven't we been friends before?" Greta wondered.

"Don't worry about it," Neville chuckled. "At least we're friends now."

Word Count: 1455

I hope you guys enjoyed my angsty writing! I've never actually written down anything past Draco and Greta's first date before I got Wattpad. I'm grateful that you guys are motivating me to actually finish one of my fanfics. Ilysm ❤️