Thanks to everyone reading and thanks for the reviews, alerts and favourites and things.
Disclaimer: I wish they belonged to me but they don't.
Chapter 4
Hermione was lying in bed, she had been awake, or at least half awake, for about an hour. She simply refused to get out of bed yet. She wasn't sure when she had last slept so well. It seemed like it had been months. She yawned loudly and stretched out as much as was humanly possible.
She suddenly shot up in bed as a loud cracking sound echoed around her room. She relaxed when she saw the little house elf who had brought her food yesterday standing at the foot of her bed.
"Tula did not mean to frighten Miss Granger. Tula came to tell Miss Granger that breakfast is ready." The little elf said in a squeaky voice.
Hermione just smiled at her, "Thank you, Tula. Please call me Hermione, not Miss Granger."
The little Elf smiled, honoured to be allowed to address someone in such a way.
"Will I be eating it in here?" Hermione asked the sweet little elf who had even bigger eyes than Dobby had.
"No, Hermione. Headmaster Snape would like you to eat it out there with him." Tula said as she walked over to the door and opened it.
"Would he, now? Well you can tell Headmaster Snape to shove breakfast up his a…" Hermione stopped herself upon seeing the worried, in fact terrified, look on Tula's face. "Tell him I'll be right out." she decided - something that made Tula smile.
~0~0~0~0~
Snape was seated at the table that now stood in the far end of his living room; it was something that had been added to his quarters only this morning. He was reading the Daily Prophet as he waited for Hermione to join him for breakfast. Tula had told him that Hermione had agreed she would join him and then she had Disapparated. He tried not to look up from his paper when he heard her bedroom door open but his head didn't seem in control of what his body wanted to do.
The moment his eyes caught sight of her they locked onto the fact that she had on a simple spaghetti-strap t-shirt that seemed to hug her body. Even if she was too skinny she still looked good in the shirt. She had on a pair of three quarter leggings that made her legs look even longer than they were. All he could think was she looked stunning.
He watched her walk over to the table and sit down opposite him. He had to close his eyes when she suddenly raked her hand through her hair. He had always wondered what made her hair so bushy but had failed to notice that at some point she had learnt to tame it. For a moment he studied how it now hung in sweet soft curls around her delicate face.
Merlin, stop staring at her! he scolded himself. He returned to his paper, no idea what he was reading about. He was waiting to hear the sounds of her tucking into the breakfast that sat on the table waiting to be eaten, but nothing. He moved his paper down so he could see her and gave her a questioning look.
"What are you waiting for, my permission?" he asked.
The look she gave him told him that this was in fact what she was waiting for and he quickly realised back in the prison she undoubtedly had learnt to wait for permission to do anything. He sighed, rolled his eyes and said, "You do not need to wait for my permission to eat. You may do so whenever you want and you may eat however much you want. Merlin knows you need it, you're practically skin and bone." he said.
Hermione wasted no time in grabbing some toast, she didn't even bother putting anything on it she just took a big greedy bite. Next she grabbed a crumpet, this she smeared some butter onto and then took a greedy bite. She placed both half eaten pieces of food down on the plate in front of her and poured herself some orange juice and took a long swig of it.
Snape watched as she took a long swig of it. He then watched as she grabbed an egg and some bacon and tucked into them too. He was glad the elf had brought such a big selection of food up because clearly Hermione wanted some of it all.
His eyes travelled down to her throat and he watched as she swallowed down her food. Her neck was perfect, even with the scars he could see on it. He moved his eyes to her shoulders and saw more scars, more battle wounds no doubt.
Once more he found himself having to force his eyes off her. What's wrong with you? he spat silently at himself. He had to keep silently telling himself she was once his student. Still this didn't seem to work and he found his eyes wanting to move back to study her.
He had to do something to stop this. "I would much rather you wore more clothes when you are in my presence." he said.
"I am wearing clothes," she said, swallowing the mouthful of food she had first.
"Not enough!" he barked at her.
She just rolled her eyes at him. "I figured you wore enough clothes for the both of us." she shot back at him.
She had to smile when he looked up at her, clearly not impressed by her. Like she cared? "So are you teaching today?" she asked. She was hoping he would say yes and leave her alone so she could find some way to escape.
"Since I became Headmaster I no longer get to teach." he said.
Great, Hermione thought to herself. "So do you just sit in your office all day?" she asked.
"Miss Granger, are you trying to get rid of me?"
"I'd love to get rid of you." she spat coldly at him.
Snape just smirked, "I can assure you wherever I go you will either be coming along with me or will be kept somewhere where I know someone trustworthy is keeping an eye on you."
"You make it sound like I'm a troublemaker."
"I know you are! Don't think I don't know about you breaking into my personal store cupboard during your school years."
"I don't know what you're talking about." she lied as she took another bite of her toast.
Snape just scoffed. "Today I wish to start your training." he said suddenly, causing Hermione to almost choke on her toast.
She just looked at him and shook her head, "You've got to be joking."
"Miss Granger, I don't joke."
"I hadn't noticed." she spat back at him sarcastically, "The answer is no by the way. I'm not training!" she told him and threw her toast down and pushed herself up from the table.
"Sit back down and finish your breakfast!" he told her.
"No!" she yelled at him. "I'm not some pig you can fatten up before you send me to slaughter!"
"No, but you need to start eating properly again so your body has what it needs to get you through training. You need to train properly and exercise regular so you keep fit. Honestly, it's a wonder you've survived this long, you're so out of shape."
"There's nothing wrong with the shape I'm in!" she protested.
"Miss Granger, I could snap you in two by blowing on you."
As if to prove a point Hermione flung her fist at him, it was just inches away from his face when he caught hold of her wrist and pushed it down to her side. "If you were properly trained you probably would have hit me then before I stopped you."
Hermione ripped her wrist free from his grasp. She suddenly realised that some training might help her, if only to use it against Snape in an attempt to escape. "Fine, when do we start?" she asked.
"As soon as you've finished breakfast." he told her.
"I'm not hungry anymore." she lied.
"If you don't finish eating then your training will not begin."
She rolled her eyes at him and walked over to the table. She grabbed her half eaten piece of toast and finished it off. "Now I'm done." she told him.
Snape knew she would eat more and he was actually stubborn enough to make her sit down and eat everything he demanded but he knew she was just as stubborn and would probably eat everything as slow as she possibly could and he just didn't have that sort of time to waste. If he wanted to see her survive another battle he had to train her properly. The best place for this he decided was the empty Quidditch pitch.
~0~0~0~0~
The pitch was somewhere Hermione remembered well. She had lots of good memories from here. She had sat in the stands and watched many games played on this pitch, some much more eventful than others. As she remembered Harry's first game she remembered what she had done to Snape upon thinking it was him who was trying to shake Harry from him broom.
Suddenly lost in the memory she missed the warning of Snape's oncoming jinx and it hit her hard, sending her crashing to the wet floor. The sloppy mud offered a softer landing than she had expected but it still hurt.
She looked up a moment later only to find Snape standing over her, looking down at her with a rather annoyed look on his face. "If you paid more attention this would go better." he sneered.
"I was distracted." she told him as she pushed herself back up onto her feet.
"By what?" Snape asked, in a tone that suggested no matter what it was the answer would bore him.
"Thinking about the time when I set you on fire during a Quidditch match." she smirked.
Snape glared at her and took a step forward but Hermione was quick and with a flick of the wand he had lent her cast Expelliarmus, causing the wand in his hand to fly out of his grip. She tried to catch it in the air but he was quicker and grabbed hold of it before she had chance. He grabbed hold of her shirt and pulled her towards him, so their faces were just inches apart. She couldn't tell if he was pissed off that she had disarmed him or because she had admitted to being the one who had set fire to his robes all those years ago.
"I could always change my mind about training you, Granger." he growled at her.
"I can't say such a thing would shock me, after-all it's your fault I'm even stuck in that place." she growled back at him.
Her words shocked Snape but he managed to hide such a thing from his expression. He had been the one to catch her during the battle at Hogwarts but he hadn't been the one to take her to the prison for Muggle's. The Death Eaters had been the ones to take her and the other captives there.
They continued to glare at one another until someone clearing their throat behind Snape brought them back to reality. Snape let go of her but not before shoving her slightly, causing her to fall flat on her arse.
She decided she probably deserved it, she did set the guy on fire, but it still annoyed her. She pushed herself back up to her feet and watched as someone she knew as one of the Carrow twins walked over. Snape walked over to him and listened to what he had to say to him. Hermione could only wonder what they were talking about. She couldn't hear them from where she was but from the way Snape turned to look at her she guessed he didn't like what he was being told.
~0~0~0~0~
Less than five minutes later Hermione found herself being dragged behind Snape as he raced through the corridors of the castle. He had a tight grip on her wrist as he led her towards the Hospital wing. His grip was beginning to hurt her, not that she would let him know that. She knew she would have a bruise later.
Finally they walked into the hospital wing. Hermione saw the other Carrow twin standing at the foot of one of the hospital beds. She could also hear the familiar voice of Madame Pomfrey and she watched as the healing witch walked out from behind the curtain surrounding the bed and rushed off into her office.
Snape walked closer to the bed, pulling Hermione closer to it with him. She couldn't help but gasp at the sight of the small first year who lay on the bed, her small body convulsing wildly every few seconds. Hermione knew what was wrong with her. She was suffering from having been under the Cruciatus curse too long. Her body was in shock and she knew the girl was in a world of pain.
Snape let go of her wrist and pulled out his wand. She had no idea what spell he cast but the small student stopped convulsing and became still, she almost looked peaceful until her face contorted in pain. Hermione knew the after effects of the Cruciatus would last for hours.
She glanced up as Madame Pomfrey came out of her office carrying a small potions bottle. She stepped around the female Carrow twin and moved to stand by the student's bedside. Hermione watched as Snape gently lifted the students head slightly so that Madame Pomfrey could pour some of the potion into their mouth.
"Drink up, my dear." Madame Pomfrey said sweetly.
Hermione had always liked her. She had such a healing way about her beyond being able to cure anything but death itself. Her voice alone could heal, she was such a kind hearted woman.
She sounded anything but when she snapped, "You didn't need to come here, Headmaster." at Snape.
"I beg to differ." he replied.
"This is the fifth student this week and it's only Wednesday." she spat angrily.
Hermione couldn't miss the emotion in her voice, the sadness…or was it sympathy.
"It's keeping you in a job isn't it?!" the Carrow twin spat at her.
"You are no longer needed here," Snape replied, "Go, I will deal with you later!" he warned the twin.
Hermione looked up to watch her leave. The look the woman gave her was meant to intimidate her, but Hermione was too furious by what she had seen and heard to be intimidated. She turned back to look at the student and her anger suddenly felt ready to boil over. She couldn't believe a student had been treated so badly at Hogwarts. What made her all the more angry was that Snape was letting it happen.
~0~0~0~0~
Snape let Hermione walk into his private quarters first. He stepped in behind her and closed the door behind him. He watched as Hermione stormed across the room from him. He knew she was angry by what she had seen, he didn't know that anger was all aimed at him.
"I don't think there has ever been a time in your life when you have been this silent for so long." he shot at her.
His words made her anger spiral out of control. She grabbed the nearest thing to her which just so happened to be a book and turned to throw it at him. Snape pulled his wand out and turned the book into black feathers that floated to the floor in front of him.
"You should wish yourself lucky that my reflexes are so quick!" he warned her.
As her anger bubbled further she grabbed the snake lamp and moved to throw it at him, but to her shock he Disapparated in front of her. She screamed and let go of the lamp as he Apparated right in front of her. He reached out and grabbed her before she could step back from him.
"What is your problem?!" he yelled at her.
"YOU!" she yelled and attempted to swat his hands off her but it was no good.
"I beg your pardon?!"
"Harry and Ron always said you were a foul git and they were right!"
"How am I so foul when I'm the only one trying to help you?! Where are Potter and Weasley now?!"
"You were the one who turned me over to Voldemort, you are the one who left me to rot in some prison fighting for my life and being manhandled and fondled by guards. Then I come back to the one place I felt safe and you're running it just like the prison. How can you possibly justify the Carrow twins using first year student's as Cruciatus practice dummies?!"
"I might be Headmaster but don't be mistaken in thinking that that means I am the one who controls how this school is run!"
"Oh please! You've always hated students. I bet you couldn't wait to kill Dumbledore so you could run this place how you wanted."
"You have no idea how much I hate how things have turned out! I made a promise to Dumbledore that I would protect the students of this school and that is what I am trying to do."
"Tell me how is letting the Carrow twins torture the students your idea of protecting them?" she asked.
"The Cruciatus is bad, there's no denying that, but they will never be killed whilst they are here. Out of this school I can't protect them. I have no say in what happens to them."
"If you care so much then why did you hand me over to him?" she asked.
Snape wanted to answer her, but he knew he had to be cautious how much he said within the school grounds. The saying "walls have ears" came to mind. "Go to bed. You have more training early in the morning." he said in the end.
Hermione just glared at him and he could see the tears building in her eyes.
"You're despicable!" she spat at him before she ripped herself free from his grip and headed into her room, slamming the door shut behind her.
Snape stood there looking at her door. He could only agree with her. He was trying to keep the students safe and he had meant it when he said at least they wouldn't be killed here. The only students now at Hogwarts were pure bloods, or worthy half-bloods, these were usually treated pretty badly compared to the pure bloods.
Any muggle students were either in hiding or had been sent to the prison to fight in the muggle wars. Deep down he knew he should be doing more to protect the students who no longer attended Hogwarts. He knew they deserved his help. Most hadn't been as lucky as Hermione, but he knew her luck was due to run out….but not if he could help it.
TBC
Thanks so much for reading, please review and let me know what you think.