A/N: I cannot say thank you enough to my beta, anogete, for all of her hard work with my stories. Thanks again also to my readers; you have made posting this a joy for me!
Obligatory: None of these things belong to me; they all belong to JKR. I just like to have a bit of fun with them, and no profit is desired.
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The last words that Hermione spoke to her comrades before Severus escorted her back to his rooms were, "Be careful. As soon as they come to harm you, get yourselves out." She shook with fear as she looked on them for what she assumed would be the last time.
It was late afternoon before she found herself seated in the lab, listening to Severus explain the Animus Discindium potion to her, pointing out all of the ingredients as though lecturing in class.
"The Animus Discindium and the Animus Redimio are very nearly the same potion. The main difference is that the former uses male virgin blood, while the latter uses female. The blood is added to the same base, which uses, amongst other things, fresh pomegranate juice and valerian root, traditionally Muggle substances that wizards do not often utilize. The rest of the ingredients are all the same, though they are added in the complete reverse order with reverse stirring. Both potions are potent and extremely unstable whilst brewing, so you must always wear gloves when working on either. Understood?" He quirked an eyebrow at Hermione as she listened attentively.
"Yes, sir." Despite Hermione's fear about creating such a terrible potion, she found herself excited at the possibility of making a little-known brew such as this. Was she losing her mind?
"I have already begun preparing the ingredients, and I warn you to listen to me very carefully, as one small error will require us to begin again. Be silent, and do not get in my way." He looked over the ingredients on the table before him.
Hermione noticed that he was more ghostly pale than usual, and that he was clearly in pain. Despite the thrill she knew he must be feeling at being able to make this potion, something was making him uneasy. Whether or not it was because he didn't particularly want to be making this with her, she couldn't say. All that she could do with the new information he was giving her about the Animus Redimio was to pay careful attention to what he was doing and hope that, if she couldn't convince him to escape with her, she could Portkey herself out and create the Redimio on her own.
Severus eyed her reverie with amusement. "Do you have any questions, Miss Granger? I know that you must, so you may as well ask them now."
"No questions, sir. I was just thinking about the Animus Redimio. I've never heard of two potions that are so closely related having such completely different uses."
"These are dark potions, Miss Granger. They can be mysterious in that way."
"But why the difference in the blood?" She tried not to let on the building excitement she was feeling at uncovering the mysteries of the potion that had occupied her thoughts for so long.
"Dark potions often draw on the raw power around us, hence the use of so many Muggle ingredients. Traditionally, male power is seen as destructive whilst female power is seen as creative. Thus, the powers of the different bloods have completely opposite effects on a potion. The Discindium will destroy life and the Redimio will save it." He took a deep breath. "Potions are not just a handful of ingredients haphazardly thrown together. Unfortunately, that has become the thinking amongst many modern masters. This misunderstanding has led to the ridiculous classification of potions as either dark or light. Dark potions are those that are not afraid to draw on life forces or raw natural energy. This has been seen as evil, rather than the other side of the same coin used by so-called 'good' masters to justify making potions that still kill, but do not use raw human power to do it."
Hermione felt her whole body tremble with excitement as Severus lectured to her. She craved his knowledge, and, even in these most strange of circumstances, getting that knowledge was precious to her.
She felt emboldened by his rare openness with her. "Is that why Draco and the others are in The Cell? Because you think the boys have virgin blood?"
Severus scoffed at her impertinence. "I do not know why they are there, but it has nothing to do with me or this potion."
"So Wormtail just went out and bought male virgin blood at the apothecary?" Hermione raised her eyebrows in amusement.
"I do not trust such things to whatever apothecary Wormtail visits. Virgin blood is not something that can be inspected for its quality like other ingredients." He eyed her with suspicion. "Are you too ashamed to ask what you really want to ask, Miss Granger?"
Hermione blushed deeply. "I don't know what you mean, sir."
"Rest assured that we have all the male virgin blood we require right here." He chuckled at her as her head snapped up in understanding. "Do not look so shocked, girl. I have more important things to do than waste my time chasing after physical gratification."
Hermione shifted in her seat uncomfortably. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to…"
"Never mind that. It would have become clear enough to you as we began our work, as we are about to do. Watch carefully." With one swift motion, he pierced the palm of his left hand with a blade and let a drop fall into the large copper cauldron on the workbench. He held the bloodied hand out to her. "Heal that, if you please."
"I haven't got my wand, sir," she responded quietly.
As Severus began adding the pomegranate juice and finely chopped valerian root with his gloved right hand, he chuckled. "Do you think me an idiot? I am well aware by now that you do not require your wand. That little stunt with the stirring rod was an admirable cover, though."
Hermione's cheeks turned crimson as she reached out her wand hand to cast the appropriate healing spell on Severus' wound, carefully putting his other glove on for him. "What stunt, sir?"
"I know you have not got the Portkey on you right now as I cannot sense it, so I can only assume that you gave it to Draco and the other unfortunates." He continued stirring without looking at her.
She looked down, ashamed. "Are you going to punish me?" she asked meekly.
"That will depend entirely on you, Miss Granger. If any of the blame for your foolishness is laid at my feet, I will have no choice but to eliminate you." He lowered the heat on the cauldron to allow the potion's base to simmer.
"I am sorry, sir. You must know that I am not pleased at being a prisoner here, and my insufferable Gryffindor bravery necessitated an attempt to save the lives of the others."
Severus chuckled again. "At least you are intelligent enough to realize that it is insufferable."
"Then you are not angry, sir?" She tried to meet his eyes, but he was determined not to look at her.
"I am angry that you would be foolish enough to attempt such a thing right under my own nose. Now, I have no desire to continue discussing this matter. The Dark Lord wants you to assist me in this, so you will do as you are told from here on out, do you understand?" His relaxed face suddenly turned more stern, and, as usually happened when their conversations became too intimate, he returned to his imposing and frightening Professor mode.
"Yes, sir." Her response was one of submission, but his reaction had emboldened her and given her hope.
For several grueling hours, they continued brewing, Hermione quietly and obediently following Severus' instructions. Finally, the last ingredient, unicorn hair, was added, and potion was left to simmer to completion.
Just as Hermione and Severus collapsed in exhaustion in the chairs before the fire, a house-elf obediently appeared at the door with a fine dinner, including two glasses of red wine. He handed a glass to each of them before bowing deeply and exiting.
Severus picked up a note that had been sitting on the dinner tray and chuckled as he read it. "Lucius requests that we drink to the triumph of the Dark Lord on this most important of evenings." He raised his glass to Hermione in mock salute. "I will drink to that," he announced as he drained the glass, causing it to refill.
Hermione shifted uncomfortably in her seat as she eyed her wine. She wasn't really in the mood for celebrating, and she had yet to develop a taste for wine. The smell of grass and paper emanated from the glass, making her somewhat apprehensive about its taste, so she set it down and picked at some fruit and cheese.
Severus, however, was drinking ravenously from the magical glass. "It is a fine evening. It is an evening for celebration." His eyes looked almost glazed over. "It is time for me to celebrate and take all of the gifts that the Dark Lord has given me."
Hermione's head snapped up as he ranted. She suddenly became frightened by his change in mood. He was rapidly becoming uncharacteristically animated and excited. "Sir? Are you alright?"
"Ah, I have preserved your innocence long enough. It is long overdue for me to use you for the purpose for which you were given to me. Come here, now." His stood and made for her chair, grabbing for her arm.
"No, sir! Please, you aren't yourself! You've had too much to drink! Please, stop!" she yelled as she ran about the room, trying to elude him as he staggered towards her.
"Come here, girl, and pleasure me. I need you now. I have waited entirely too long to partake of your warmth. To hell with dignity and morality. You will be mine!" He was too quick for her and was able to grab her by her jumper.
Hermione held up her hands, desperate to find a way to stop him. "Impedimenta!" she shouted.
She looked, bewildered, as he froze. She had almost not expected the spell to work, but there he was, stilled in mid-attack.
"What the bloody hell was that?" she muttered, looking about the room. Suddenly, she looked over at the wine glass on the table. "Paper and grass. Good Merlin, he was slipped Amorentia!"
Her mind spinning with all the possible reasons for trying to drug Severus, she burst into the lab and retrieved a bezoar. She certainly didn't have time to come up with an antidote, so she hoped that the bezoar would do the trick.
Taking a deep breath, Hermione wrapped one arm around Severus' precariously positioned body. She waved her hand over him to unfreeze him, and, in his moment of confusion and unsteadiness, she forcefully shoved the bezoar into his mouth.
She stepped back as Severus fell onto the floor, coughing and coming back to his senses. He looked up at her with a mixture of fury and curiosity. "What did you do?" he shouted.
"I didn't do anything, sir! You were poisoned! You were going to attack me so I had to freeze you and give you a bezoar. If you don't believe me, smell the wine. I think you'll find that it smells like something you find desirable." She crossed her arms over her chest in challenge.
Looking at her incredulously, he moved to the fire and picked up the glass, giving it a cautious sniff. "Lucius," he spat out, trembling with anger.
"But why would he want to poison you? Certainly he isn't that interested in seeing that you lose your virginity." A thought dawned on her. "But he might be interested in seeing that I lose mine."
"What do you mean?" He sat down on the edge of the bed after vanishing all of the food and drink from the table.
"All of these potions we've been making, all of the time we've spent brewing all of these months, and not a one of them has ever been taken to be used. And then, suddenly, you're supposed to brew this incredibly complicated potion that only you know how to brew? Well, why would they trust that potion when obviously they aren't all that interested in any of the other ones?" Hermione paced furiously.
"Are you implying that the Dark Lord doesn't trust me?" He narrowed his eyes at her.
"Do you honestly believe that he does, sir? He just tried to get you to take my virginity, to rape me when you clearly didn't want to. They want my blood! They want my blood to make the Animus Redimio, and they've been watching you make the Discindium so that they would know how to do it! They must have been watching us all this time, having someone else do the brewing!" Hermione began to feel slightly sick yet triumphant that so many of her previously unfounded theories were proving to be correct.
"You are talking nonsense. Why not ask me to make the Animus Redimio? I would have done it gladly for the Dark Lord." He huffed at her.
"With what blood?" she asked defiantly.
"With your blood, the same way that I made the Discindium with my own." His angered expression faded away as though he were beginning to believe her.
"But I have other blood you could take," she mumbled, looking down. "It would make a much stronger potion, wouldn't it?"
"You seem unusually interested in the Animus Redimio. Why is that?" Severus stood and towered over her, commanding her to come clean.
Hermione took a deep breath and realized that now was her only chance. "Harry has destroyed all of the Horcruxes except for one. His scar is the final one. Since I figured it out before I was kidnapped, I have been trying to come up with a way to brew the Animus Redimio to give to him so that his soul would be bound to him while the piece of the Dark Lord's soul was destroyed so that Harry could live. Professor Caveo told me that you are one of the few people in the world who can make it, so I kept trying to come up with a way to find you to convince you to make it." She looked up at him hesitantly.
"So you got yourself kidnapped so you could try to convince me to help you save Potter?"
"No," she responded defiantly. "Do you really think I would do something so stupid? I admit that it was a touch convenient, but it just happened. But it seems that I am not the only one interested in making it. I know it all sounds crazy, but doesn't it seem to fit the facts?"
"Well, if you or anyone else thinks that watching me make the Discindium will help you in making either it or the Redimio, you are wrong. There are silent incantations involved that only I know, even if anyone managed to figure out what to do with the ingredients. So, you see, this has all been a waste of time." He stared at her, triumph evident in his eyes.
"Well, they didn't ask you to make it, and they tried to poison you into getting my virgin blood, so if you want to ignore all of that and still think that they trust you, then that's fine. Just leave me out of your delusions." She amazed even herself with her sudden boldness.
"You are overstepping your boundaries, Miss Granger." His voice was quiet, and his eyes traveled over to the bubbling cauldron in the lab.
"I know. I am through playing the obedient servant. It is obvious that, for some reason, I have been brought here for the sole purpose of getting my blood, so I refuse to be a sacrificial lamb. If you want to keep pretending that you are this high ranking important Death Eater, entrusted with such important tasks, that's not my problem anymore."
Severus glanced back at her with his eyes wide with contemplation. She expected him to lash out at her, to punish her for her brashness, but he didn't. Instead, he strode into the lab and pointed his wand at the cauldron that contained the Animus Discindium and vanished the potion. He then levitated a trunk into the center of the lab and cast a number of silent spells at it.
Reentering the main room, he turned back to Hermione and spoke to her with a level, quiet voice. "I want you to fill this trunk with anything we could possibly need to continue brewing. Gather all the contents from both cabinets, all of our tools, and as many books as you can manage, and then roll the trunk into this room. In exactly one hour, make sure that you are sitting on top of the trunk, and it will bring you straight to me. Do not use any magic unless someone comes in here. I want to be very clear on this point: do not use any magic at all. You must fill the trunk by hand. Performing any magic may alert them to our departure and destination. Do I make myself clear?"
"Yes, sir," Hermione responded with a tinge of hope in her voice.
"We are in great danger. See that you do not increase it." Those were his last words before he Disapparated, leaving Hermione in a whirlwind of confusion and excited hope.