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CHAPTER FOURTEEN – THE AUTHOR

Severus waited in the ridiculously uncomfortable chair the whole day, lying in wait for Hermione's return, if she came back as bad as he had; he wanted to be here when she was returned, not upstairs asleep. Not that he could sleep right now. Severus kept his vigil through the night until the earliest rays of morning sunlight slipped through the boarded-up windows and finally, at last, he felt the wards around him shift and suddenly Hermione was there, a small ball on the floor by the front door. He was at her side in a moment, gingerly laying a hand on her shoulder to push her back, trying to see her. But her body was seized in on itself and she made a strange sound when he tried to pry an arm away from her face. Sighing, he got off his knees and squatted down to pick her up and carry her to the bedroom and placed her on the bed. Should he wait? Would she relax on her own? He got the feeling she wouldn't and went to the foot of the bed where she kept most of her things and put his arm into the bag. How in the world did she find anything in here? At last his fingertips touched the cool crystal and he pulled a handful of vials to the surface. He pulled the muscle relaxer from the rest but then paused. How was he supposed to get this in her system if he didn't have access to her face?

Severus sighed again and ran a hand over his face. He reached forward and was able to work his fingers around her wrist, "Miss Granger," he said in a soft, low voice, "Let me help you, I need to give you this potion.

More strange sounds started coming from Hermione.

"Come along, Miss Granger." He gave another gently tug and after a moment her arm fell from her face. He sucked in air and the beaten sight of her and quickly tipped the muscle relaxer into her mouth, followed by the pain potion. He climbed atop the bed and sat beside her, one arm resting over her body and thought of the only thing he could to let her know that he would sit here until she moved.

"A long time ago, there was a boy. A strange little boy, like a crow, and sometimes he could do things he didn't mean to. He was excited and scared because that meant he could defend himself against other boys who didn't like the strange crow, but he didn't know what he was. When he told his mum, she had the same mixed reaction and told the crow never to tell his father. So he didn't, but one day his father was mercilessly beating his mum and this strange thing inside him lashed out."

Severus kept going, recounting the tale of his life with his abusive father. He skipped the parts with Lilly, that was a truly private matter, but he told all about his parents. He wasn't sure why he told her, maybe because he thought it likely she wouldn't remember, and partially because he hoped she would, and she would know he too had been abused, that she wasn't alone. He talked until the timbre of his voice shook with exhaustion and he decided to sleep

SHSHSH

Hermione strained against the magic that kept her hanging from the ceiling even though she knew it was useless. Bellatrix was humming something awful out of tune and gleefully spinning her wand about her fingers, deciding on the next curse. She cast a spell that cracked Hermione's bottom ribs and made her shriek. She asked Hermione what she had asked a dozen times and when Hermione refused to answer, Bellatrix released the spell that hung Hermione up and she crumpled several feet below on the grimy floor. With a flick of her wrist, Bella threw Hermione onto the nearby rickety table, casting a sticking charm so she couldn't move. Not that she wanted to, she hurt. Bella crawled up close to her and pointed her wand at her forearm; Hermione's torso flinched in silent sobs.

Hermione gasped awake and immediately cried out in pain. She ached, everything ached and hurt. She didn't think she would ever be able to move again. Suddenly there were warm hands on her and she almost flinched, but she recognized them, knew they weren't Bella's.

"Severus?" She mumbled.

"It is I, I'm here."

She started to cry, her body shaking. "It was awful."

"What can I do?"

"I can't… breathe. She broke my ribs."

Severus felt a flare of anger like no other. He would kill Bella one day, painfully. "I already gave you potions. Do you have anything else in that bag?"

"Maybe skelegrow."

Severus dug around her bag and finally felt the familiar shape of the bottle, he pulled it out and uncapped it, tipping the rim to her lips and watched her take a few swallows before pulling away. He grabbed the vial of pain potion that was on the table next to the bed and gave her more, for which she gazed up at him appreciatively. At last, slowly, she unfolded herself, wincing the whole way. Severus watched her with keen eyes, trying to see what damage had been done. Besides bruises and a few spreading patches of blood, she seemed outwardly fine. Except…

"What did she do to your arm?" He asked sharply.

She immediately retracted her arm and tried to cover it but Severus reached out and gripped her wrist lightly, pulling it back to him. Mudblood. His lips curled in distaste.

"Did she do this with a knife?"

"Her wand."

Severus had a thousand things he wanted to say about that, but he figured now wasn't the time. "I'm going to run a bath with the potion."

She nodded back at him and watched him slink away, his shoulders tense. She listened to the bath water run and wondered if she would ever leave this place. If they would get free, or if they would die here, forgotten along with all the other casualties of war. Eventually, he came back, his face was schooled into the neutral, emotionless expression he wore at Hogwarts and she wondered what he was hiding right now.

"Let's try to stand Miss Granger." He approached her with his hands out and she took them, wobbling her way onto her feet. She nodded at him and they headed slowly towards the bathroom where he sat her down on the edge of the tub. He slowly retreated, cracking the door behind him as he left. He sat on the bed. They needed to escape. At one point he would have left alone if necessary, but now, he wasn't so sure. His mind wandered and he realized she had asked about him by his first name. How unusual. He wondered if that was how she addressed him in her head.

"I need help." The weak call came from the bathroom.

He was there in a moment but stopped dead in his tracks and looked up at the ceiling, she was sitting there, pant-less, looking sad and lovely. "What do you need, Miss Granger?"

"I can't take my shirt off." She blushed furiously. "It hurts too much, my ribs."

Severus sighed heavily through his nose and stepped forward, reaching for the hem of her shirt, trying as hard as possible not to touch her. He peeled the fabric from her skin but when it got to the part where she needed to put her arms above her head, she couldn't do it. Instead, she cried out and dropped her hands to her lap.

"I can't do it," she gasped.

Severus stood there, pondering for a moment. He stepped closer to her and grabbed the neck of the shirt. "I hope you don't like this shirt." He jerked his arms apart and started a tear down the front of the shirt, which he continued until it was open. He helped her shirk off the ruined article of clothing and tossed it aside. He tried to keep his eyes locked with hers but he found himself quite tempted to look lower. He chastised himself.

"One more thing." Her face was growing even redder.

She turned her back to him and he understood immediately, Merlin help him. It was impossible not to touch her as he undid the clasps of her bra and as soon as they were undone, he fled the room because if she turned around clutching that little piece of fabric to herself, he would look. He was a bloody fool, he knew that, and there was no reason to be so tempted by the bushy haired know-it-all but dammit he was. There had to be something seriously wrong with him.

SHSHSH

When the water grew cold, Hermione was able to heave herself to the side of the tub and snatch up the towel left hanging there. She was suddenly quite glad she had nicked that from Hogwarts. Severus brought her the bag, and she dressed alone, forgoing a bra and putting on a flannel shirt that still hurt to put on but at least she could do it alone. She did call for him to help her to bed. She was so tired, she wanted to sleep, but the daylight streaming through the windows was still too bright.

When they were settled side by side Severus started his questions. "What did she want from you?"

"She wanted to know why I was in Diagon Alley that day we were caught."

"And?"

"I didn't tell her."

"But why were you?" His eyes were staring hard at her, calculating.

"I—" She cleared her throat. "I was getting these letters…"

"Do you have them?"

"The bag."

Severus snatched up the bag from the foot of the bed and felt around, finding a thin pouch. He pulled it out and emptied the small notes into his palm. As soon as the parchment touched his skin he felt a push of magic, something familiar and foreign to him. Curious. As he unfolded the first parchment and his face went even paler. He looked through them all, getting increasingly confused.

"Where did you get these?" His voice was harsh and she flinched away from him.

"They just showed up where I would find them."

"Just appeared?"

She nodded, still clearly uneasy with his tone. Severus stared down at the notes for a long time and slowly, the pieces put themselves together. He leapt off of the bed and felt around the pockets of his waistcoat until he found what he was looking for and sat back on the bed again. Tempore remittam, to send back in time. How had he not gotten that before?

"You need to teach me the spell you used to grade papers during detention."

"What?" She clearly was not on the same page as him. "We don't even have magic right now."

"That doesn't matter at the moment, teach me the spell."

"It's mutare vox. And it's just sort of a sliding motion with your wand." She pulled her hand towards her as if she were pulling her wand toward her over a piece of paper.

He repeated the incantation several times before she interrupted him. "Why do you need it?"

"Because I wrote these letters."

"What? How do you know?!" Her tone hitched up and she turned towards him.

"This is my mother's handwriting, and she has been dead a long time. And before he died, Dumbledore gave me this spell. I only just realized it's to send an object back in time."

"Like one of these notes."

"Exactly."

"We need to get out of here."

"When did you receive the first one?"

Hermione closed her eyes to think. "July 27th."

Severus counted in his head. "We have time, but not a lot."

"How do we escape?"

"I'll figure it out."

She smiled at him, a rather lovely smile. "I know you will."