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She was just another Muggle. Severus had no clue where they had found her, or that her presence at the meeting that night would somehow manage to always stick with him.
She was brought in by a member of the outer circle. Thrown into the center of the circle and told to kneel. She glared around her and stood.
"Hmm… You think you're actually worth something." Voldemort's voice carried low on the air, as if sliding around his followers and the girl.
"I'm worth more than any of you." Her blue eyes glared at him, "I care nothing for what some psycho and his pathetic bunch of losers think of me." She tossed her hair out of her face with anger. Severus saw that whoever had brought her had not been gentle. Already an eye was blackening and her lip was puffy. She may have been standing straight, but it was also with care. This is going to be a longer meeting than I anticipated.
"You have no clue who you're insulting child-" You mean you aren't Darth Vader? How disappointing.
"And I don't give a damn who you are. You are going to let me go." Severus was almost impressed. It reminded him of Gandalf facing the Balrog, however he knew this particular Gandalf had nothing to stop her Balrog. She was totally talk and no action.
Voldemort's high, thin laugh pierced the air around them, "And why would I do that?" Definitely going to have a migraine if he keeps laughing about this shite.
She smiled back at him, "Because I just told you that you are." Who does she think she is? Obviously deranged.
"I'll make a deal with you. If you don't blink at all through tonight, I'll let you live."
She leaned over to him and very deliberately blinked at him.
He Crucio'ed her. Her back arched from the pain but she did not scream. When he stopped the curse after a few minutes, she was gasping for air. "On your knees."
"No." He cursed her again.
"Ready to kneel to me yet?"
"Never."
Again, he cursed her. Each time he would ask, and she would reply in the negative. He continued to curse her 'til the others could he see he was starting to grow bored. She still had not screamed or fallen to the ground on her knees.
He finally decided to change tactics and Imperio'd her. Severus saw her knees start to bend before straightening again.
"I will never kneel to you or any other man. I don't care what you do to me. It won't happen."
Holy shite, she fought it off?
"You realize that you will not be leaving this clearing alive tonight. Why not make things easier on yourself?"
At that, Severus saw her smirk a little through the pain. Gesturing out with her arms, her voice demanded from Voldemort, "Who wants anything the easy way?" I thought everyone did.
"Even if it's the smart decision to make?" Who made a smart decision in this circle?
"Well I don't think I ever claimed to be the brightest bulb in the pack. Besides, aren't the stupid decisions the fun ones?" Not like this. Although that one night stand a few years ago wasn't the smartest, but damn was she good with her mouth.
"This one certainly will be for me. Severus."
Oh bloody buggering hell. "Yes my lord?"
"I think we should leave a present for Dumbledore. This insane suffering creature shall expire in front of him."
"My lord?" How is he planning on having me do that?
"We'll allow your brothers to play with our new toy while we have a chat."
Severus followed the Dark Lord as he ranted about the inferiority of stupid Mudbloods and Muggles, and how he would cleanse the world of them. Severus nodded and grunted positively and negatively in the appropriate spaces whilst wondering if the girl would survive his 'brothers' attentions. It didn't really matter; she was nothing to the war effort on either side.
The Dark Lord eventually returned them to the circle of his followers where the girl still stood in the middle. Blood had matted her hair and they had obviously been physical with her, not content to rely on their magic to torture her. But no matter what they did, they could not get her on her knees.
"I will die standing or flat on my back. I will not die afraid as one your playthings." Malfoy Sr. backhanded her for speaking at all.
One of the men magicked up a whip which she saw and grinned. She rasped out, "Are you trying to excite me?"
And even though he couldn't help himself, Severus felt a little sick as he thought sticks and stones may break my bones, but whips and chains excite me.
The man started to whip her, and she shook with each blow. She did not fall though. Finally her eyes started to twitch and he saw her collapse. Finally! Maybe I'll get some sleep tonight.
Greyback and Bella approached her. Bella's smile made most men desire to turn away, but none did. They knew better than to do so in front of their master and each other.
Bella had her knife in hand and carved a fairly close representation of the Dark Mark on the girl's left arm. On the other arm she wrote 'MUGGLE'.
"Severus, make sure Dumbledore finds our present in the morning. You may leave; we'll drop her off in front of the school in the morning." He nodded and made his bow to the Dark Lord before Apparating out to the gates of Hogwarts.
As he walked up to the school, Dumbledore met him inside of the doors. He noticed the splashes of blood.
"Who tonight?"
Snape looked at him, "Just another Muggle. I don't even know why they picked her."
Dumbledore nodded and allowed Snape to make the rest of his report, never realizing that he had lost face in Snape's eyes.
That Muggle girl has more courage than you. She stood up to her captors and goaded them on instead of breaking to their demands despite what it cost her. And if she had been magic, you would have fawned on her for I've no doubt she'd have been one of your precious Gryffindors. But for tonight, I'll honor her in my mind even though I can do nothing else. 'Just another Muggle', and you don't even have the decency to argue with me, to think of them as people.
Snape and Dumbledore parted ways. In the morning Dumbledore found the Muggle girl as she drew her last breath through cracked lips and bloody, broken teeth. He found that whenever Snape used words like "just another –", he had to fight to not remember the girl's abused wrecked body.