Somebody Someone, Korn

The location wasn't one he was familiar with, but he could apparate himself to the place the tracer spell had stopped. He focused his mind and moved the exact location a few meters back. He wanted to land outside the house. He wanted to have time to gather his wits before he went inside. He wanted them to know what was coming before he killed them.

In a barely perceptible movement he landed outside the house. He studied it for a moment, looking for ways the death eaters would try to escape. The windows were boarded up and the front door he would be blocking. That left only the back door to deal with. Perfect. If he wanted, they could be dead before they even knew what was happening. But he wanted them to know. He wanted to see their fear. He wanted to hear their pleas for their worthless, pathetic lives. He wanted to hear them scream as they died.

With a flick of his wand the door flew open. He walked slowly across the threshold. All eyes in the room flew to him. They widened in shock. Their pupils dilated in fear. They lunged for their wands.

And the bloodbath began.

Hermione jerked awake. Someone was in the room with her. Not just the dementor. No, one of the death eaters was coming in, shutting the door behind him. Oh god. She reached out but couldn't feel Severus except as a whisper of a touch. She searched for his mind and saw the outside of a house. She heard his words echoing in her head. I'm coming. Was he here already?

The death eater had only taken one step towards her when the screams started. He turned from her, staring at the door. Terror crossed his features. Whatever his original intention, now fear motivated him. He rushed over to Hermione and jerked her up to him. She cried out as her wrist was caught between them, the pain shooting up her arm. He held his wand at her throat. The dementor glided forward hauntingly, gluttonous from the emotions surging around him.

One minute passed. Then two. Five minutes later the last scream died out. It echoed through the house chillingly. Hermione's eyes were glued to the door knob. She knew the death eater's were as well. There was a silence. Then the knob started to turn. The man holding her tightened his grip, a soft moan of terror escaping his throat. Hermione knew what was coming. The door opened.

He was her worst nightmare.

He was her sweetest dream.

Severus walked through the door, wand raised. His eyes were dark with something so potent that rage seemed too pale a word for it. He stood tall and menacing, his black clothing now slick with blood. It dripped from his hair and streaked his face. He took in the situation, looking from the dementor, to the death eater, to Hermione. He raised his wand a little higher. Time seemed to stand still. As she watched, a drop of blood rolled to the tip of his wand and hung, suspended. It dripped and fell to the floor.

"Put your wand down or I'll-"

"Avada Kadavra!" Severus didn't let the man finish his threat. He shot the killing curse at him with perfect aim. The death eater did not even have a chance to blink before he fell to the floor, dead. Hermione stumbled, her legs unsteady. She tried to step towards Severus.

Everything happened at once.

Hermione's legs gave out and she sprawled on the floor, reaching out for Severus. He was at her side instantly, his gaze not on her, but on the dementor. Seeing it would get nothing more from them, it had turned on them. Hermione felt it tearing at her again, at the hope she could no longer extinguish. Severus turned his wand on it.

"Expecto Patronum!" In a flash of white light the spell took form. And neither of them could have expected what happened. Ever since he'd learned to cast the Patronus charm, it had taken the form of a doe. He knew it had done that because of his love for Lily. He even knew that Tonk's patronus had changed when she fell in love with Lupin, to that of a wolf. But he'd never thought his would change. What emerged from his wand was not a doe. It was an otter; not like Hermione's river otter, but a giant otter like those found in the Amazon. It was almost six feet long, with claws and fangs bared. It slipped through the air like it was slipping through water. The dementor saw it and shrank back. But the otter was faster. It wrapped itself around the dementor and squeezed. The animal pulsed light so brightly that Hermione and Severus had to look away. Then with a loud crack like lightning, and the dementor split apart. Its long tattered robes flitted slowly to the ground in pieces.

The patronus came back to them, glowing fainter every second. It slid around Hermione and stayed there for just a moment. Hermione could feel some of the weight of dread inside of her lifting. She reached out to touch the otter and it moved back to Severus' wand, then the remaining light of its body flowed back into the wand.

Severus looked down at Hermione. Her eyes met his and he searched them for fear. For trepidation. There was none. Just relief and love. In the space of a heartbeat he had her in his arms. His real arms wrapped around her. The phantom touch had been soothing for them both, but it was nothing compared to this. He carefully cradled her wrist while she buried her face into his neck and finally let loose the sobs she'd been holding in. She crawled into his lap and clung to him. With his free hand he stroked her hair and down her back.

"I'm here," he whispered. "I'm here."

After a few moments of rocking her gently, Severus stood with her in his arms. He could apparate right from the room they were in, to the dungeons. But should she see the massacre in the other room? Would it help her heal to see their corpses strewn across the floor? Or would it scare her?

She'd been watching his indecision and put her hand up to his face. "It's ok," she whispered. "I need to see. I need to know its finally over." He nodded tightly and carried her through the door.

The room's walls had been painted red with long, dark arcs of blood. Bodies were crumpled on the floor at unnatural angles. This wasn't the work of the killing curse. He'd either used some other, more ghastly spell or he'd used his hands and a blade. In the far corner she could barely discern the face of the man who'd attacked her. Apparently Severus had recognized him from her mind. He looked like he'd suffered hell's worst agony before he died.

Good, she thought savagely. Immediately she felt remorse for the thought. He had been a human being, he deserved some humanity from her, didn't he?

No, he doesn't. He was an animal that had to be put down. And I am glad I was the one who got to do it. I only wish I could have been here earlier. Though his lips were close to her ear, Severus spoke in her head. She turned to look at him and saw the intensity in his eyes.

"Thank you," she whispered.

"There is nothing to thank me for, Hermione. If it wasn't for me...they would have never taken you."

"Severus, don't. You can't hold yourself responsible."

"Can't I?" he drawled. There was pain under his words. "If I'd gotten here sooner I could have spared you."

"You saved me. You came for me."

"I will always come for you." His words were an oath. She felt them slide around her heart and squeeze tightly. He meant them with every fiber of his being.

"Take me home, Severus." She traced a line of blood that ran from his temple down to his cheekbone, wiping it away with her thumb. So much blood. So much death. She felt no remorse for their deaths, but she wanted the evidence of it washed away. She never wanted to look at it again. Severus nodded. "Wait! My wand!" She remembered it at the last moment. With a small smile, Severus produced it from his pocket. He handed it to her and she gripped it with her left hand. "Ok." She breathed a sigh of relief to have it back. "Take me home now."