Antonin crept through the dungeons beneath Malfoy Manor where the highest ranking prisoners were being kept, out of the hands of the lowly snatchers who might have found them. He walked by numerous people — Lovegood, Ollivander, Creevy — but paid all of them no mind. None except for one.
The prisoner he sought was all the way at one end, furthest away from the narrow staircase that led underground. It showed how precious she was.
Hermione Granger had been caught by Fenrir Greyback and brought to Malfoy Manor with Potter and the Weasley boy. Her friends escaped, but she had been left behind, caught in Bellatrix’s grasp. She remained in Malfoy Manor since then, unaware of the War coming to its ultimate conclusion, unaware of the Dark Lord’s victory.
He found her huddled on a bed, staring listlessly at the wall. “The War is over,” he said, announcing his presence.
Her fiery brown eyes flickered to him. “And since you are here that must mean that Voldemort was victorious,” she spat out.
Antonin flinched at the word. “Yes,” he said simply, doing nothing to soften or sharpen the blow. “We are being granted boons. Each Death Eater can ask for one thing, whatever we’d like.”
Hermione sat up, a curious look on her face. She pulled her hair over one shoulder. Even though she could use a bath, she was still striking. Antonin could see the wheels turning in her mind. “You want something to do with me, is it?” she asked, slowly. “Pay back for the Department of Mysteries perhaps? Or maybe the coffee shop? You want to torture me or k-kill me?”
She jutted her chin up in the air, the illusion of fearlessness, though he could tell that she was scared inside.
“I had something else in mind, something a bit better. Something that might be equally beneficial for both of us,” he said, giddy at the prospect of her being his. He was so close to her now, he could almost reach out at touch her. “I will ask not to torture you or to kill you, but to make you my own.”
Hermione stood up and walked to the gate that held her in, her fingers around the bars. “Don’t be delusional, Dolohov,” she chided. “I’m a mudblood remember. You are supposed to be riding the Wizarding world of my kind, not intermingling. He would never allow it. And even if he did I am sure your brothers at arms would have something to say about it.”
“He will not deny me this if I ask,” he promised her. “And the Dark Lord knows that there can be… special cases. Like Severus. Like me. Like himself.”
“And the rest of your friends?” she countered, her interest in getting out of her prison winning out.
“No one would dare say anything to you if you were on my arm,” he said, his voice low and seductive. “You could do whatever you want — keep learning, take your NEWTs, become a cursebreaker for all I care. But come back to me — and my bed — every night.”
Hermione suddenly began shaking the door to her prison and gave a little shriek. “You barely even know me,” she spat at him. “Why would you want me anyway.”
He smirked at her. “We’ve dueled enough times for me to know that we would be compatible,” he said, remembering the way that she’d captured his attention, the way her magic felt interacting with his. Surely, she must have felt it, too, or she wouldn’t have entertained him for so long.
She was silent, her eyes searching his for any hint of treachery.
“Say you’ll do it,” he commanded imperiously. “Be my wife.”