Hi there!

Hm... I really don't know what I am supposed to write here... and for some reason I doubt many will read it anyway... I have no warnings... No real reason to write something at all... Hm.. I like your reviewing...

Oh, whatever, just read the damn chapter...

Chapter 3 - A new perspective

Severus couldn't take his eyes of his new wife. He had clearly underestimated her. She was not a child. Far from. Why had he never noticed her breasts and bum before? They were stunning. He wanted to touch them. He wanted to massage those squeezable boobs and taste the nipples, he couldn't see, and then just take her there, on the floor. He would make her scream in ecstasy and he would ride her, until…

"My face is up here," she snapped her fingers before his face.

She opened her mouth and the fantasies ended. "I was staring at your breasts."

"I noticed, why?" she sounded cold, but he could see that she was starting to blush.

"I have never seen them before," he smirked.

Yes, he had made her blush. One score for the old bat in the dungeon.

"That is a very lovely dress Miss… Hermione." It would be weird to call her that.

"Thank you," Hermione answered, looking a bit confused. "So… what should we do now?"

Severus could think of a thing or two, but the way Hermione twisted her hair between her fingers made him think she would be too nervous to do anything fun.

"Have a seat." He pointed at the armchair next to the fire. "Can I offer you anything to drink?"

"No…"

Hermione sat down and Severus took the other armchair next to hers. They were inside his living room. He liked it as it was and he hoped she wouldn't try to change anything. It was filled with bookshelves, and in one corner, he had his liquor store. A sofa was standing at the other end of the room, and in front of it, was a table. The sofa was green just like the armchairs. He could see her staring at the bookshelves.

"You may read them if you want to," he said amused.

"Really?" She rose from the armchair.

"Yes." He took a hold of her wrist. "Just not now, we have some things to discuss."

"Oh…" She sat down again and he stared at her.

The light from the fire made her hair look like gold. He wanted to touch it. "When we are here, you will call me Severus," he said. "But I expect you to still call me professor in class."

"Of course… but will it not be strange to call me 'Mrs Snape'?"

"I can deal with it." He studied her, while she shifted in the chair and bit her lip.

"I don't want you to throw a party down here, but you may have some friends over… Just don't let them be in my way."

She nodded.

"You will still be required to eat the meals with the others in your house. But at the weekends, I usually eat in here. You may join me or do as you please."

She nodded again.

"I will show you around, but I believe you have questions?" The girl always had some question.

"Well… Dumbledore said that one of the reasons why Voldemort…"

"Don't speak his name!" Severus hissed.

Hermione jumped. "Sorry… But he said that the reason why… You-Know-Who… made this law was to get to me."

"That is correct. You had the doubtful honour to be the main subject at our latest meeting. The Dark Lord wants you to tell me everything you know about Potter... And I think he also wants Potter alone, without his friends. It wouldn't surprise me, if he had some plan for the Weasley-boy too."

"But why doesn't he just torture the information out of us and then kill us?"

Severus sighed. "The first thing you must learn, Miss… Hermione, is that this war isn't about black and white. The Dark Lord isn't all evil, like Dumbledore isn't all good. I could tell you some stories about what your dear headmaster has done… But anyway, the Dark Lord isn't all about torturing and killing people. He doesn't believe that you can solve every problem by just killing someone. Well, he thinks that a lot of problems can be solved by killing someone, but not all… And he likes more things than torture. I happen to know that he enjoys a good book, just like the rest of us, and that he always had a weak spot for classical muggle-music.

"So…?"

"So in your case, he wants to use other methods than torture."

"Why?"

Severus sighed. "Why don't you ask the Dark Lord when you meet him?"

"M-meet him?" Hermione stared at him.

"Yes, you are the wife of a Death Eater now. You will have to attend some parties, and the Dark Lord will probably attend some of them too." Severus smirked. "He is quite curious about you."

"B-but I'm a Muggle-born!"

"From now on, you are my wife, and no one will call you a Mudblood again. If they do, they will have to answer to me."

"I don't need you to protect me!"

"Believe me, Hermione, you will."

Hermione bit her lip and cast an angry glare at him. "Won't you teach me how to protect myself?"

"I may."

Hermione rose. "Can you show me where my room is?"

"Just one more thing, Hermione," he purred.

Hermione sank back into the chair.

Severus leaned forward. "I know this isn't going to be a marriage based on love, but I'm a very jealous wizard and I will not tolerate you having someone else. That being said, there is a custom among Death Eaters to share each other's wives, and if the Dark Lord approves, I will have nothing to say about it. But I highly doubt the Dark Lord will allow anyone but me to touch you… He knows I will be very angry, if I find out any of my brothers has laid a finger on you."

Hermione's eyes were wide in shock.

Severus rose. "Let me show you the bathroom and your room."

He showed her where she would sleep. Her things were already there, but it still didn't look like anyone lived there. It was quite a neutral room with walls made of stone and furniture made of oak. It missed a personal touch. Severus left her in her room and went back to the sitting room. He had a drink and decided to read for the rest of the evening. When he went to bed, he could hear that she was still crying.

SSSSSSSS

As soon as Severus left her, reality hit her. She undressed, went to bed and started to cry. She cried, because she had to live together with a man she didn't like. She cried, because she was expected to socialise with Death Eaters. She cried, because she would never have the ability to choose freely over her life. But most of all she cried, because she wasn't allowed to ever love. She didn't think, she would be able to fall in love with a man like Severus, and he wouldn't let her fall in love with anyone else. She was cursed to live a loveless life. She didn't know when she was able to fall asleep, but she didn't feel refreshed when she woke up again.

After a short visit to the bathroom, she entered the sitting room and found Severus already awake and dressed. They stared at each other for a moment, before Hermione looked down at the red housecoat she had tied over her white nightgown. She didn't feel like getting dressed today. She would just be sitting in her room and sulk. And perhaps do some homework.

"Do you want anything? Tea? Coffee? Milk?"

"Just tea, please."

He was sitting on the sofa with his legs crossed, the newspaper in one hand and a cup of coffee in the other. When she sat down at the other end of the sofa, he folded the paper and put the mug at the table.

"Did you sleep well?" he asked and poured some tea for her.

"No."

He nodded and gave her the cup. She took a sip and tried to ignore him.

"Aren't you going to eat something?"

"I'm not hungry." She had never liked to eat a lot for breakfast. She'd rather just have some tea and wait for a couple of hours to eat something. She had never understood those who could eat tons of food right after getting out of bed.

"I got something for you," he said and gave her a small package. "I guess it's called a wedding present."

She opened it and found a sparkling necklace with small diamonds shaped as stars. A big teardrop was hanging in the middle of the smaller diamonds.

"Thank you, it's beautiful," she said and tried not to cry again. She was too tired to cry. Besides, she got the feeling, Severus wouldn't try to comfort her anyway and that would only make her sadder.

"Do you want to do anything today?"

Why was he so nice? Did he regret what he said last night? Had he noticed she was sad? Did he want to make it up to her? Did it work?

"Could you teach me Occlumency?"

Well, she was married to a teacher; the least she could do was use his abilities.

"I guess I could…"

"I will need it if I meet Vol… You-Know-Who… What if he finds out that you are a spy?"

Strangely enough Severus smirked. "No, we wouldn't want that…"

"So you'll teach me?"

"Fine… Do you want to put some clothes on before?"

She looked down at her housecoat again. "What's wrong with this?"

"It's a bit… red."

"I happen to like red."

"I don't."

"So?"

"Fine, wear the damn coat. But prepare yourself, clear your mind."

Hermione got only a second to stop thinking about how much she wanted to slap him, before he raised his wand and went into her mind.

She was seven and her parents took her out for ice-cream to celebrate that she had won a spelling contest.

She was ten, and an older boy had stolen her books and had thrown them in a toilet. She didn't want to tell her parents about it, because she had got them for her birthday and they had been so expensive…

No, she didn't want to think of that. The thought always made her so sad. She had to…

"Focus, Hermione!"

She really did like his voice…

"STOP!" she yelled and their connection broke. She had slid down the sofa. Her coat was open and she was showing him her legs. She blushed and straightened up when she noticed he was staring at her legs. She crossed her legs and put the coat over them.

"So…" He smirked. "You like my voice?"

Her blushing got worse. "Yes, but I don't like what you are saying."

"Is that so…" He smirked.

"Yes."

"Shall we try again?"

She just took a deep breath and tried not to think of anything.

"Legilimency."

McGonagall was standing inside their living room and told them that she was a witch. Hermione nodded. Yes, that made sense. Hermione had always been able to do weird things. Other children had never liked her…

It was Halloween during her first year at Hogwarts. No one liked her. She was crying inside the bathroom and no one cared. What had she done wrong? She just wanted to show that she wasn't behind, just because she was a Muggle-born. She just wanted to be accepted. Why didn't anyone like her?

Not even her husband liked her…

This time around the spell ended by itself. Hermione was lying on the floor, breathing heavily. Some tears had escaped her eyes, but she dried them and sat up again. Severus looked at her with an unreadable look in his eyes.

"Let's try again." She didn't like that her voice sounded so weak.

Severus nodded, and for the third time, he entered her mind. This time she did manage to control her thoughts somewhat, but he still saw some childhood memories. The first time she rode a bike; helping her mother in the kitchen, and other harmless things like that.

"Better, Hermione," Severus said when he broke the spell. "But you didn't manage to get out of your brain or even shut down your thoughts."

She sighed. "I guess I will need more practise."

"Yes, you will."

"Won't you let me know some of your thoughts?"

"No."

"Why not? Something from your childhood?"

His face grew cold. "You may think you had a difficult childhood with no friends, Mi… Hermione, but at least you had a loving family."

Hermione frowned. "I'm sorry… It's just… I don't know anything about you."

Severus snored. "You don't need to know anything about my childhood… I can tell you some things about me."

Hermione smiled. "I'd love to hear them!"

Severus put a hand under his chin. "I'm allergic to dogs. I like chocolate more than any other sweets. I learnt how to do wandless magic when I was seven. My favourite novel is Oliver Twist and I always appreciate good blowjobs."

Hermione froze. Had he really said what she thought he had said?

When he smirked, she knew she had heard right.

"I thought you saw me as a child, Severus," she said bitter.

"Let's just say, I had a little eye-opener," he eyed her body again.

She rose angry. "Fine, if you don't want to make the best of this unholy union, I won't bother either."

"Who said I wasn't trying to make the best of it?" Severus rose too. "Do you have such low self-esteem that you can't think someone may find you attractive?"

"No! I just have a problem with a man twice my age, who wants me to suck him!"

"YOU ARE MY BLOODY WIFE, DAMN IT. AND I WILL HAVE TO MAKE YOU PREGNANT WITHIN A YEAR OR ELSE…"

"OR ELSE WHAT? YOU WILL GET RID OF THE WIFE YOU NEVER WANTED?"

"DON'T YOU DARE RAISE YOUR VOICE TO ME!"

"YOU STARTED IT!" Hermione took a deep breath. "And I hope you had enough blowjobs in your days to last you a lifetime, because I will never touch that thing with any of my body parts."

She turned around, left the room and slammed the door in his face.

"AND YOU WONDER WHY I DON'T LIKE YOU!" Severus yelled at the door.

Hermione sank down to the floor and thought of the best way to kill him without anyone noticing.