Disclaimer: I don't own these characters!
Update: As you may have noticed I'm revamping this story a bit. It's because the Death Eater Chronicles sequel is getting close :-) So I have merged some chapters here b/c they fit well.
Chapter 2: Warrior Witch
All-in-all the day had been going well. The students had shown interest in the town and understood the history of how it was related to Hogwarts. Hermione would have one last stop until she could dismiss them for the afternoon. She was secretly relieved that this part of her tasks as Head girl was coming to an end, of course she loved the new students and the opportunity to impart her how personal twist on Hogwarts and Hogsmead to them, but they were exhausting. It was hard enough to get all their attention at once, but then to make sure they were following you and not getting distracted by something else - she was ready for a long warm bath for sure.
"This way everybody, now here is Madam Portia's book store, one of my favorite places to get additional books for school in a pinch." Hermione emphasized this hoping a bookworm or two would show themselves, instead she just go blank stares. The children piled in after her and she counted as she always did. As the 12th student entered the store she closed the door and introduced them to Madam Portia. After that they were free to roam the bookstore for the next half hour.
As an avid reader and returning customer, Hermione took a bit of time to indulge herself in talking with Madam Portia about the newest books she was getting and life in general. It had been so long since they had caught up that neither one of them noticed the bell on the door ring signaling the opening and closing of the front door.
After about 20 minutes Hermione was about to round her group up when it happened. There was an explosion and then screaming, from the shop windows chaos could be seen in the streets. Hermione turned quickly and counted her scared first years. ". . .. 9, 10, 11. . . . . " she couldn't find the 12th.
Merlin's balls!
"Somebody is missing, who?" She said in earnest, trying to keep her voice as calm as possible. Hoping her shaking hand didn't betray her real concern.
There was a moment of confusion before one girl slowly raised her hand, "Sarah went to get some candy from the shop down the street." She wasn't making eye contact with Hermione, "She said she would be right back." The little one who had spoken up looked towards the floor moving her leg in a nervous twisting motion.
The poor girl was clearly upset about what was going on and the fact that her friend was missing didn't help.
Shit, Hermione thought. Stay calm and find Sarah.
"Alright, everybody calm down." She said, as more people began to run in the streets, she could see Death Eaters, "Everybody duck down and get behind the counter now. Portia a cellar?" The older witch nodded. "Everybody go down there, I have to get Sarah. Whatever you do . . . don't open the cellar unless it's me."
They were all scared, all petrified really, and all Hermione could think of was that she had to get the little girl out of the hands of the Death Eaters who were attacking Hogsmead. How fear had not cemented her in place she didn't know. Hermione watched the last of the kids move into the cellar and made sure the cellar door in the floor was shut firmly.
Then she drew her wand and went into the street. Hermione had never been in such a battle before. Over the years she, Ron and Harry had fought some rather dangerous creatures, and come out successful on the other side. Now she was alone, trying her best not to be swept up the absolute surreal chaos of it all. The nice sweet summer day had turned dark, as clouds formed over the village. A heavy wind swept through the streets and she had to duck and move to avoid the hexes that were flying everywhere. Some from Death Eaters, some from normal wizarding folk, it seemed the Aurors had not shown up yet.
So strange, she thought. There was an odd calm in the whole experience. The wind whipping through the city, papers and dirt flying around the air, screaming and yelling, the occasional explosion. Yet Hermione was taken with the extreme calm that washed over her as she set through the streets to look for her missing student.
She looked up the road and saw some Death Eaters coming down the street, she would take the back alley around them. It was there, in a somewhat secluded place that she found Sarah on the ground, in a back alley corridor that opened up into a side street. It was dirty there, dark and full of trash. Sarah was crying, her newly bought candy all over the dirt around her, a Death Eater approaching her. Hermione could see him reaching into his robes to undo his pants.
"Not today", she said between gritted teeth.
Hermione gripped her wand and moved in, unaware that a second Death Eater was watching the whole thing unfold from behind a large bin in the alleyway.
Her first hex hit the Death Eater attacking Sarah in the back, Thank Merlin for the element of surprise she thought. Her second blew him back a good 30 feet. Hermione ran to Sarah, the little girl was full of fear and trembling.
"Are you okay?" she asked. The little girl just stared ahead.
"Did he. . . . did he hurt you?" Hermione gripped the girl and shook her, the girl shook her head no.
"Good, now do you remember where the bookstore is?" The little girl nodded.
"Take this street and run there, do it now." With tears down her face the girl complied. Hermione stood up, back turned to her foe, to watch Sarah make her way down the alley.
Severus Snape watched this scene in the alleyway with great amusement. He had been about to step in when Crabbe had fixated on the little girl. Crabbe was a disgusting man who enjoyed his prey young, primary school aged if possible. He enjoyed killing them slowly while he was raping them. Snape was no angel, but he did have his boundaries, it would have given him great pleasure to blast his balls off. Coming to the conclusion that he could act in a more vigilante type role in this instance, Severus had been waiting for just the right moment to knock him unconscious. It was then when the young woman in a red dress had blown the rather large man off his feet. He grinned at this new development; the little witch had quite some fire, and no fear to take on a much larger wizard and Death Eater as she had.
Brave, probably Gryffindor, he smirked to himself.
Strange, he didn't seem to recognize her though. He hadn't seen her face yet from his little hiding spot, but she was certainly shapely, rounded and strong. Needless to say she had his full attention.
Severus had almost cried out when Crabbe had gotten to his feet and threw a curse at the witch, knocking her over and leaving a rather large gash on her shoulder.
She was stupid to turn her back to him, he remarked to himself.
She ripped off her cardigan to reveal the spaghetti strapped top to the red dress she was wearing and turned to face her attacker. The battle that ensued between them was not for the faint hearted; she was fierce and had put time into training her attacks and defenses, certainly uncommon for a young witch. She was advancing on him, throwing curses in quick succession. Severus smirked at the fact that she had the older wizard on the back foot. He couldn't place it but was something in her voice something familiar to him, he leaned in closer as if that would help him to hear her more clearly over the background blasts, shrieks and screams.
It was only after she had ducked and turned to avoid a rather nasty curse being thrown her way did he actually get a good look at her face.
No, it can't be.
This amazing young woman was none other than Hermione Granger. Had he not heard her voice he would not have been able to come to that conclusion so quickly, she had changed so much in the last year.
Well well, he smirked to himself, she had turned into quite a young woman in his absence. Tall, curvy, and rather beautiful. Her hair flew wildly around her, her eyes were large, her muscles flexed as she blocked and countered. She was the very vision of a warrior witch. He subconsciously licked his lips at the sight of her sweating, dirty and very much in control of this battle. It was not difficult to admit it set him ablaze.
It was then that she made a mistake. Knocked to the ground, Hermione couldn't dodge Crabbe as he lunged for her and grabbed her by both shoulders. This was his moment, she was so much smaller than her attacker, if he didn't intervene now then Crabbe would do his worst.
Snape stepped out from his cover only to witness something even more alluring and unexpected. It had happened so fast Crabbe had her arms pinned his disgusting face long free of his silver Death Eater masked looked ready to bite her, then a head butt – the sickening sound of breaking, blood, an elbow to the face, a healthy kick to the groin and a punch. The larger wizard had fallen sideways to the ground – his wand kicked several feet out of reach. Hermione stood up, it was then that he saw her exact a little justice on the crying, bleeding man on the ground in front of her. She kicked him hard in the balls and ribs, berating him. He couldn't quite hear it but it had something to do with raping little girls. She was in control now, the older wizard was like a turtle turned on his shell.
To add insult to injury she kicked him in the face, hard. There was another crack as something gave way. As he rolled over to get away from the onslaught, most wizards were not used to fighting hand to hand, in this instance Snape was an exception. She grabbed his free arm, knelt down with her knee on his elbow and with the palm of his hand facing up she pulled, breaking his arm.
He let out a scream that would have woken the dead. Severus did not cringe at the sight, though he froze there, memorizing what he had just seen. The look of pure enjoyment that had crossed her face as she broke the man in front of her, the unrelenting strength she had in that moment set Severus' curiosity into overtime.
Convinced that she had immobilized the man enough Hermione turned to go back towards the bookstore when she saw another Death Eater staring at her. Unlike the one she had just fought, this one was different, taller, slim. She knew he meant her harm and yet, she felt her breath hitch at the sight of him. A sort of dark beauty, she mused. She grit her teeth and held her wand up, ready to attack. Beautiful or not, she would fight him if necessary.
When she raised her wand to him Severus could not help but smirk, and feel his blood surge. He took in the scene before him, one of the most erotic he had ever witnessed. She was breathing heavily, clearly exhausted from her fight with Crabbe, the heave of her chest accentuated her breasts – that were rounded and beautifully displayed in her summer dress. One strap had fallen over her shoulder, her other arm was a mix of blood and dirt. Her hair was wild, her eyes no nonsense and determined. He felt his groin tighten.
He knew she had been inducted into the Order, knew that she would know he was working as a double agent, and with that chose to quickly reveal himself to her. Though the thought of going a round peaked his interest, his mind went to smelling her, licking the sweat off her neck.
Pull yourself together, he chided himself, the girl might hex you into next week if you don't act now.
He held up his hand and slowly removed his hood from his head revealing his greasy black hair, knowing she would be smart enough to put two and two together.
When the Death Eater removed his hood, it took Hermione only seconds to understand it was Professor Snape. She took pause, remembering he was on their side. It was a strange moment in time. Battles were raging in the main streets, the increase in sounds and screams pointed to the presence of Aurors and yet, time seemed to stand still as she stared at him from across the street. All the sudden it struck her how different he was when he was taken out of the context of the classroom. Inside the walls of Hogwarts Severus Snape was a bitter, picky and tired old man. He latched on to petty rivalries, enjoyed taking house points and did what he could to make her life and the lives of her friends miserable. However here, no longer confined by the classroom or by rules of any sort, he took on a more exotic and dangerous nature. He was somehow taller than she could remember, his shoulders broader and his presence was utterly threatening - even terrifying. She was drawn to this man, though she didn't know or understand why. Her instincts were telling her to run, but her curiosity for him rooted her in place. It had been a while since she'd seen him, but it was the first time she had actually noticed her dower Potions Master. Something had changed in him and it should have made her uneasy, instead she stood there trying to figure out what it might be. . . those obsidian eyes penetrating her, was it them?
He put the hood back on and motioned her towards the alleyway. She nodded and started to run back to the bookstore. As she turned back over her shoulder to look at him again their eyes met and she could have sworn there was something more in there, a longing… a desire even. She could feel herself blushing as she pushed in through the bookstore doors, only breaking eye contact at the last minute.