Snape's heavy black robes flowed behind him as he rounded the corner to find himself in a large hall. The ceiling was high and vaulted and the entire room was panelled in a dark mahogany, oozing luxury and decadence but also seeming to absorb any light that fell through the large windows, so that the room was cast in a murky darkness. Snape did not pause to take in his surroundings, he had seen them many times before.
A long polished table stood in the centre of the room, surrounded by high back chairs, each with a an intricate carving in their backs. Upon closer inspection one would see that the carvings were of a twisted mass of wooden snakes, writhing over one another, tongues flickering from their mouths. The table was bare of any decorations or place settings and the chairs were all empty, bar one.
Bellatrix Lestrange sat at the far end of the room. She was slouched in her seat slightly, but looked tense, like a cat about to pounce. She eyed Snape with small black eyes as he entered the room, but otherwise remained utterly still. Snape stopped at the head of the table and their gaze found one another. Neither spoke but a small smile crept across Bellatrix's face.
With deliberate slowness, Bellatrix took up her wand and pulled up the sleeves of her robe to reveal her small white forearm. Taking her wand she pressed its tip against her skin, directly onto the ugly tattoo branded onto her skin, her eyes never once leaving Snape.
Snape immediately felt a deep burning in his arm, like an itch that was impossible to get to. There was a soft whistling noise in the air and small 'thwumps' all around the hall, inky black tendrils of smoke forming into dark bodies until twelve more people occupied the room, each with glittering silver masks hiding their faces.
All were silent and no one made any move to sit down. At a sound behind them, all of the death eaters turned to a door that had just been opened in the side of the hall. In walked a tall something, something that could not be described as a man. He was tall and thin, and so pale his skin was almost translucent, blue veins flowing underneath his bald scalp and across his bare arms and legs. His nose was merely two slits in the middle of his face, beneath two small completely black eyes. When he opened his mouth to speak, his teeth were black and twisted, hewn into his mouth like strange rocks on a hillside.
The death-eaters all bowed low to the ground. The man smiled widely, lifting his arms up. "Rise my loyal followers", he spoke in a quiet but hissing voice. "Sit", he gestured to the table and the black-clad figures filled the seats.
Finally he sat down at the head of the table, lounging back easily in the grand chair, whilst the others at the table sat stiff and nervous in their seats. "What news?" he turned to face Bellatrix who leaned forward eagerly. "We have caught the girl, my Lord", Bella sang, her voice nearly squeaking with excitement.
The man at the head of the table smiled again, the motion twisting his face into an even more hideous expression. "And where is she now Bella?", he asked, his eyes glinting dangerously.
"Severus has been having some fun with her", she said, speaking the word 'fun' forcefully. All heads at the table twisted to face Snape, their identities still masked, but Snape knew who each and every one of them was anyway. He said nothing, but inclined his head slightly towards the man at the head of the table, a confirmation.
A surprising noise filled the room, a callous laugh, short and biting. "Is that so, Severus?" he asked.
"Yes, my Lord", said Snape.
"Brilliant, brilliant!", he laughed again.
"So can I gut her now?", Bella leaned forward even further, almost pleading.
There was silence around the table for a moment before the man's gaze fixed firmly on Snape, seemingly ignoring Bella's plea. He appeared to be sizing Snape up and his stare seemed to be looking into Snape, rather than at him. Finally he seemed satisfied and turned back to the table.
"I believe that we can use this to our advantage", he spoke quietly and thoughtfully. "Of course, crushing the boy's moral is always fun, and what better way to do that than to murder his best friend", he laughed and the figures around the table followed suit, albeit sounding slightly false.
"But no", he laced his fingers under his chin, "I think we use her. Spy on the boy. Sapiunt Ligaveris".
Snape's stomach twisted. He had been afraid of this.
"Severus, I understand that the girl has already been fully...prepped by you?"
Snape hesitated for a moment before replying. "Yes, my Lord".
"Well then, go and fetch her and we will begin".
Hermione's eyes fluttered open and a wave of panic swept through her when she could not place her surroundings. An even bigger wave passed through when she did place her surrounding. She was still here, still locked up, awaiting death...or worse.
Where was Snape?
She eased herself up against the pillows, scanning the room. She was alone. Her mind flashed back. Snape. He had asked her to trust him. And then pain. Blinding, white hot pain like she had never felt before. She must have passed out she thought to herself. Drawing up her shirt she peeked at the skin beneath and gasped when she saw nothing but a thin white line where her wound had previously been, although she was still caked in dry blood and mud from the forest where she had lain how long ago now?
She swung her legs to the floor, and silently crept over to the door, checking around her once more. She pulled on the door knob but it didn't move. Twisting it until it rattled side to side Hermione tried desperately for it to move but it remained locked and steady. She chin shook but she told herself not to cry. She would never cry because of them.
Turning her back to the door she began to scan the room, brushing her fingers over every surface, trying to find a hidden door, a secret catch, but her fingers found merely cold stone and hard wood. Hermione sighed and closed her eyes, trying to cling onto a picture of Harry and Ron in her mind, to draw strength from it.
Suddenly there was a noise from behind her. She whirled around to see Snape standing in the door way, casting a striking silhouette against the light that flooded in from behind him. He moved towards her, in a way Hermione had never seen him move. He was always so graceful and seemingly languid, moving at his own pace, but now he seemed urgent, and as he moved closer she could see something in his eyes she had never seen before either. Fear.
With a flick of his wrist the door closed behind him. "Do you remember what I told you, what I asked you?", he spoke quickly, the words tumbling out of his mouth.
"Professor, I-" Hermione began but was cut off.
"Do you remember?" he pressed.
"To trust you", Hermione whispered.
"The time has come where already that trust must put to the test", Snape faltered. "I-, I-", he tried to speak but the words halted.
"I cannot explain, not now, but you must trust". His eyes were burning with desperation as lunged towards Hermione, pinning her to the wall. Hermione screamed and tried to struggle from underneath him but it was hopeless.
She suddenly went into overdrive though as Snape's hand moved towards the fastening of her jeans and began to loosen them from around her waist. Hermione's legs and arms thrashed, but Snape only shifted his grip so that her legs were pinned under his. He held both of her wrists in one hand, his thumbs digging into her flesh.
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry," he kept repeating but continued to pull down Hermione's jeans until they fell to a heap on the floor. He fiddled with the belt on his trousers until they too felt away.
Hermione had stopped screaming, it was as if her whole body had been paralyzed by fear. She could hear Snape mumbling something, 'sorry, sorry' over and over again, but she blocked out the sound. Her mind was in a state of shock and she shut her eyes. Why was this happening? This was her professor, he was supposed to protect her. He had asked for her trust, and she had given it freely. And now, now...
His fingers were tugging at the top of her knickers, easing down her underwear. Hermione groaned, her stomach churning. She squeezed her eyes tight, trying desperately to hold onto the picture of her best friends in her mind, but no matter how hard she tried the picture splintered and fell away.
Hermione suddenly felt weightless as her feet left the floor. Immediately her eyes snapped open to find herself looking into the cold lifeless ones of Severus Snape. She had not noticed him reach an arm around her back which was now lifting her, pinning her against the wall and him.
"You must trust" he whispered to her as he pushed apart her legs. Hermione shuddered along the length of her whole body; even Snape could feel it, a ripple as if the life was leaving her body. But Snape couldn't stop now, for both of their sakes.
With a push he entered her, still lifting and pinning her limb body against the wall. At first, Snape thought that she might have passed out, but when he looked at her again he saw that her eyes were open, wide and glassy. Snape tried to force out the memories of others who looked like that. Frank and Alice Longbottom came to the forefront of his mind, their minds forever stolen from them. Snape turned away from her glazed expressionless face, trying to block everything from his mind. With a grunt he finished inside of her, almost immediately pulling away.
"Can you stand?" he spoke quietly, fearing silence from the girl. Instead she nodded and Snape withdrew his arm from her and hurriedly pulled up his trousers and buckled his belt. "We must go, now", he said, urgency filling his voice as he eyed the door behind him. At first, Hermione seemed not to comprehend, her eyes fixed on a point on the floor, but then she reached down a shaky hand and pulled up her jeans.
Snape stepped close again, feeling sick to his stomach as his presence caused Hermione to shrink away from him, refusing to look at him, fear and hatred radiating off her body. "Whatever I say, or do now, you must not listen. I implore you to listen to what I say. I will explain, I promise that to you, but right now time is against us. We must go. Now".
Snape opened up the door of the room with a flick of his wrist so that it let out a large bang as it hit the wall behind. Snape had only been five minutes tops, but the Dark Lord was a suspicious creature.
Hermione still had not moved from where she cowered against the very same wall that Snape had not minutes ago pinned her up against and -, and -, Snape thought he might be sick. But there was no time for that. "I am sorry" he murmured once more, before taking hold of Hermione's arm and pulling her through the door and along the hallway with him.
Without pausing, Snape tightened his grip on the girl, and pushed his face back into a hard scowl. Rounding the corner into the hall once more he turned to face the man at the head of the table, giving a quick shallow bow. The venom bit in his voice as he brought the girl forward and pushed her roughly onto the floor, wiping his hands on the front of his robes.
"I am sorry for the delay, my Lord. The little mudblood does not obey her superior's orders", Snape spat.
Silently, the man arose from his chair, gliding to stand over Hermione where she lay crumpled on the cold floor. He stretched his fingers, rolling back his wrists, as if he would love nothing more than to place his cold white fingers around her neck and squeeze the life from her. He bent down, rocking over his knees and placed a long finger under her chin to push it up to look at him.
His touch seemed to awaken something inside Hermione, and she finally saw who stood before her. The man they had been hunting horcruxes for, the man that killed Harry's parents, the man that was destroying the wizarding world. Voldemort. Every fibre of her body ached to be away from the pure evil she felt emanating from the man and she flinched away from his touch as if it were poisonous. When he spoke, Hermione felt like she might simply crumble to ash, right there on the floor.
"I hear that your potions master has given you a good seeing to", he smiled. "You must thank your Professor".
Hermione groaned, trying to roll her body away. Voldemort straightened up. "I said, thank. Your. Professor" he spoke, danger infusing every sound that fell from his mouth.
A wand appeared in his hand from nowhere, pointed straight at Hermione.
"Crucio"
Hermione wanted to scream, to run, to tear the flesh and muscles from her skeleton if only to stop the agonising pain coursing through every single cell of her. Her teeth clenched together and her eyes rolled back into her skull. She could not think, or breathe. The pain consumed her. And then suddenly it was gone.
"Say, 'thank you Professor Snape", Voldemort hissed, flexing his wrist and pointing his wand at her again.
"Thank you. Professor Snape", Hermione managed to finally to say, although it was barely above a whisper. Snape stood motionless, eyeing her with cold eyes while the rest of the death eaters laughed, some slamming their hands against the table.
With a flick of his hand Voldemort silenced them. "Wormtail" he called.
From the dark corner at one side of the room crept a hunched man, his hair sparse and greasy, hanging in lanky tendrils around him. His face was large and bloated and his eyes bulbous. He shuffled forward to where Hermione lay quivering on the floor. Taking out a crooked wand he pointed it at her, so that she rose from the floor like a limp rag doll, hovering only inches from the ground but seemingly unable to move. Wormtail grinned.
"Severus, if you please", Voldemort gestured to the space in front of Hermione which Snape quickly filled. It looked like some kind of perverse marriage ceremony with Hermione and Snape facing one another and Voldemort standing smiling between the two.
"First, the blood exchange", Voldemort called. Wormtail again stepped forward, this time brandishing a thin silver knife. Snape lazily held out his hand, not flinching when the blade was drawn across his skin, blood forming and pooling from the cut. Next he moved to Hermione, taking her hand in his dirt encrusted one, long yellow nails digging into her flesh. Once again he drew the knife over her limp hand. Snape moved forward and took her hand in his own cut one. Voldemort smiled widely. "Brilliant, brilliant", he spoke gleefully. "The seed and the blood are bound!" he called loudly across the hall, stepping forward and Wormtail sunk back.
"Sapiunt Ligaveris", he hissed, his wand making a strange movement back and forth between the couple. "Sapiunt Ligaveris".
Although no physical change appeared, Voldemort finally stepped back, eyeing the pair in front of him as if surveying his work. He smiled and clasped both hands together at his chest. "Oh this will be fun, fun indeed", he said gleefully.
"Take the girl back to the school Severus", he spoke, "no one must know of this. She must deceive her friends. Potter cannot know". His eyes flashed dangerously.
"Yes, my Lord", Snape said, bowing again.
Voldemort grinned and then disappeared into an inky cloud of black smoke. The other death-eaters followed until only Snape and another masked man remained in the hall. Wormtail's spell was broken without his continuing presence and Hermione had fallen back to the floor, curling herself into a foetal position. Neither man looked at her.
The remaining man drew back his hood to reveal his long blonde, unkempt hair. "Lucius", Snape acknowledged, his voice expressionless. With a flick of Lucius's wand the mask disappeared from his face and he walked over to Snape.
"I fear-, I fear that Draco is suffering", Lucius said, his voice low even though no one else was in the hall. "You will look over him still?". His expression was full of concern, almost devastated as he eyed Snape who nodded. "Yes Lucius, I stand by the pledge that I made to Narcissa'.
"Good, good", Lucius looked distracted, his words trailing off. Suddenly his full attention was back on Snape, the look of concern all but gone from his face, replaced with its characteristic look of derision.
"What are your intentions with the girl?"
"I will follow the Dark Lord's wishes as best as I can", Snape replied, his voice devoid of all emotion.
"Yes but Severus, you can easily bend her to your will now. Have a little fun", he smiled wickedly. Snape frowned.
"Thanks to Fenrir and Bella's little slumber party with her, and my, attentions, shall we say, I fear that she is near breaking point. The girl is resilient, but there is only so much a mind may take. It must not be irreversibly damaged if the Dark Lord's work is to be carried out'", Snape said lazily, almost nonchalantly.
Lucius finally turned his beady gaze to the floor and Snape's eyes followed.
"For a mudblood she's not half bad", Lucius spoke, eying Hermione's shivering form. "What would you say if I borrowed her for a quick fuck? Narcissa's pleading is becoming very predictable now, she's no fun to overpower any more", he moaned.
Snape shook his head. "She is too fragile right now, my old friend and besides, I have yet to...fully explore her yet".
Lucius laughed. "Ah I see, won't let the other kids play until you've had first go is it Severus?"
"Something like that" Snape said, walking around to Hermione. Her eyes had glassed over again and her mouth moved quickly, as if she were muttering to herself but no sound left her mouth. "Come", he ordered her, grabbing her arm and pulling her off the floor. Her legs sagged slightly but she remained standing. Her head was bowed low, eyes fixated on the floor.
"Lucius", Snape inclined his head, making his way over to the fireplace.
"Severus" acknowledged Lucius in reply, watching as he half-dragged Hermione into the large space beneath the chimney breast.
Snape's free hand reached into a small terra-cotta pot fixed to the side of the wall, his hand coming away clenching a fist-full of fine grey floo power.
"Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizadry".
