“You there. Come here.” Umbridge pointed at a girl in the crowd. Hermione thought the girl might have been in Hermione's year. Mafalda, she thought, from Slytherin.
The girl obeyed slowly, cringing in apprehension.
“Lift something up,” Umbridge ordered her.
Mafalda reached forward slowly, but when her hand got within a few centimetres of a knife, she abruptly snatched it back with a cry.
Umbridge smiled in triumph.
“Everyone now, come reach. See what happens.”
The women all shuffled forward reluctantly. Hermione approached in growing dread, her mind speculating. There must have been a barrier charm added to the manacles; something that prevented them from getting close to certain objects.
She extended her hand from a considerable distance and approached slowly. When her fingers were within ten centimeters of a dagger on the table, a burning sensation began enveloping them. She pulled her hand away bitterly. Her options if she needed to resort to suicide were suddenly dramatically limited. She surveyed the various objects: crossbow bolts, knives, swords, axes, kitchen knives, letter openers, even large steel nails. The spellwork to create the punishing barrier appeared to have been comprehensive. She catalogued each item carefully.
That couldn't be all the new manacles did. Inlaying a barrier charm was simple enough magic. There was something more complex about the new set.
Hermione looked down and fidgeted them again.
“These new bracelets will keep you safe and ensure the households you are sent to can take good care of you. The head of each household will carry a charm that allows them to always find you and know if you are ever in any danger. Given“—Umbridge smiled sweetly, — “the dangerous, volatile nature common among Muggles, they will keep you from committing any acts of violence on anyone, including yourselves. They will help you to unwaveringly obey the Dark Lord in this generous opportunity he has given you.”
Several women were audibly sobbing.
“These are such important wizards that you will be serving, after all. We don't want any mistakes or accidents inconveniencing them.”
A barrier charm, possibly some kind of compulsion spell, and paired with a monitor enchantment — that was what Hermione felt under the manacles — a monitor piece, tracking her physical well-being.
Monitor enchantments were commonly used in the psych wards of hospitals to alert healers when patients were likely to injure themselves or act out. It tracked heart rate and hormones, picking up spikes and surges. Complex ones even tapped slightly into the consciousness. It wasn't mind reading exactly, but it gave an impression on the wearer's state and inclinations.
Trying to commit suicide or escape without any type of weapon, trapped under a sort of compulsion spell, without any mental indication or spike in heart rate — it would be nearly impossible.
Hermione stood frozen in the Great Hall as she absorbed it.
The days merged together into a haze of dread.
They were trained.
Umbridge would hold what looked like a small lantern and issue an instruction. When she finished speaking, the lantern would glow slightly and the manacles would grow warm as magic sank in.
Ingraining compulsions into their minds.
It was done gradually. It seemed that each instruction needed time to take root in their psyches. To mould their behavior.
As the days passed, Hermione could see the effect of the instructions on the other women.
They grew quieter and quieter. During the first few days, there were hushed whispers at night. By the third day, the rooms were mostly quiet aside from the muffled sobbing.
Hermione was kept slightly apart from all the others. There was always a guard flanking her.
Umbridge stayed far away from Hermione, although her eyes would flash toward Hermione in triumph each time a new compulsion was laid.
Whatever the Dark magic being used to enable the compulsion spell was, it was delicate. With each new instruction, the healers would sweep in and run diagnostics over the girls.
One day, one of the girls abruptly snapped and stood up screaming. She seized her chair and whipped it up into the air before smashing it down onto the woman beside her. By the time the guards had stunned the screaming girl and dragged her away, the woman's shoulder was shattered.