****PLEASE READ****

I know I have not updated in a LONG time, but I ended up moving twice in the last year and having a beautiful little boy so life has been very hectic and I apologize. I have recently found the external hard drive that my story files were placed in and I am rereading all of my stories in hopes of finding where I left off and finishing them because I have several others in progress that I haven't published because I want to finish the chapters before uploading so they aren't left hanging for a long time like this story unfortunately was. I am uploading two chapters tonight that had been written some ago and I am hoping to go back into this story and finish it soon. I appreciate everyone who has been patient and I apologize for the long wait. Also, for those who sent me private messages, I have updated my info so that everything goes to my new email because my other is rarely used and therefor I didn't get the notifications that I had messages on the fanfiction. net site so I apologize for that. I wasn't trying to blow anyone off. :/ Enjoy the chapter! And remember that this story is GRAPHIC and has disturbing content.

Love the Unloved

Chapter 24

It had been weeks since Hermione and Severus had stopped talking. The rumors had morphed into horrible lies about how she supposedly pleasured her Potions Professor under the desk during certain classes or how she tried to mother him when he broke down because of his past nightmares. The students talked about how her grades were only good because of her sexual indiscretion with the dour man. Some of the female students had even started to bully her and push her around.

Hermione felt shunned from everyone. No one wanted anything to do with her except for Ginny, Harry, Remus, and Neville. The rest of the Professors were cold to her and even when she had been punched in the face by another student, Madam Pompfry had snubbed her and told her that she didn't have the appropriate pain potion for. She had never felt so alienated in her life and now, she no longer wished to be at Hogwarts.

It got to the point where Professor Lupin escorted her whenever her three friends could not. Harry, Ginny, and Neville acted as body guards on her behalf and had even gotten into their own physical fights with students to keep them from hurting their friend. Hermione didn't eat much anymore and had become sickeningly thin. Her face was gaunt and her magic was depleting to the point that she no longer really used it.

Her worst class was potions and Professor Snape made sure that she was miserable every second that she was in his class. He didn't even discipline the students who teased her. Now, she was sitting in the back of the classroom, working quietly, trying to follow the instructions in front of her. She didn't care really. She almost wanted to deliberately put in the wrong ingredient so that her cauldron would blow up in her face and end her misery.

"Pay attention, Granger! Your lousy skill will get us all killed!" Snape said coldly, startling her. Several students snickered and watched as the young Gryffindor finally lifted her face to look at her cold ex-lover.

"Why do you keep doing this?" she whispered. His eyes narrowed and he braced himself on her table, leaning over so that his face was so close to hers she could feel his breath on her face. Despite his anger toward her, the temptation to kiss her was still there and he had to reinforce his Occulmency shields to keep his emotions in check.

"You know perfectly well why!" he hissed, ignoring the students who had all stopped what they were doing to watch with interest.

"I didn't tell anyone anything!" she finally yelled. It had been weeks since she had expressed any kind of feeling but despair, but she couldn't help the anger she felt right then.

"I will not discuss this with you right now!"

"You haven't wanted to discuss it at all! Why don't you believe me? Everyone thinks I started these rumors but I didn't!" she shrieked, feeling slightly lightheaded from lack of nutrition.

"Gryffindor whore!" a Slytherin called.

"Yeah! Whore!" another chimed in and then the students were laughing and calling her names while Professor Snape just stood there and stared at her.

"How could you let this happen?" she asked tearfully, feeling the exhaustion finally hit her.

"How could you tell anyone about me?" he hissed. "You are…nothing but a whore."

Everyone stopped laughing when Hermione used what strength she had in her and slapped him so hard across the face that the sound echoed in the classroom. They all stared wide eyed and even Snape himself was speechless.

"FUCK YOU! FUCK YOU ALL!" she screamed and ran from the classroom.

Hermione raced to her room and flung herself onto her bed. She was dizzy from her exertion and breathed shallowly as the room began to spin. Darkness overcame her and she drifted into unconsciousness.

Professor Snape was angry and made sure everyone in his way knew it. Later in the day when he was prowling the halls, he took so many points away, it was astonishing even for him. The events of earlier had spread quickly throughout the castle and the students were talking in whispers about how Hermione had slapped him across the face. Oh he was furious.

As he walked down the corridor, he overheard a couple of boys talking about him and it caused him to slow his pace. He was going to deduct so many points from these boys, but what he heard caused him to stop in his tracks.

"Yeah…I heard he was raped in school! Supposedly, Harry Potter's godfather did it! I heard it happened in the boys bathroom on the third floor. Sirius Black had tied him up with his legs open and did his thing right in one of the bathroom stalls," the boy said.

Fury swept through Severus and he stepped around the corner, catching their attention. He saw their faces pale instantly, but before they could leave, he grabbed the boy by his shirt and pushed him against the wall.

"Where did you hear about that?!" he hissed.

"Um…Granger…she was the one telling the stories…" the boy said.

"Oh really? Did she tell you that personally?" he sneered viciously.

"Um…yeah…" he said uncertainly.

"You're lying," he said coldly, his eyes dark with malice.

"No, sir! It's always Granger! She knows everything about you!" the boy argued.

"Yeah, I mean…you were dating her," another boy dared to say shakily. Professor Snape dropped the kid to the floor and looked at the frightened group.

"Granger does not know everything about me because I never told her. She didn't know about any of what you were talking about," he snarled before stalking away.

His mind was in a whirlwind now. What was he supposed to think? How did they know about something that he had never confessed to Granger? His eyes narrowed as he noticed Professor Lupin at the end of the hall. Angrily, he stalked over to him and grabbed the man by the arm, dragging him into an empty corridor and pointing a wand at his throat.

"Did you tell Granger about the incident between Black and me?" he hissed. Remus recovered from his shock and glared at the dark haired man before pushing his hand off of him.

"No, I did not. I had told Hermione that Lily broke friendship with you because of something that had happened between you and Black that she discovered, but I never said what nor do I know the details," he snarled. "Why?"

"The students know about it! A group of Ravenclaws were talking about it," Severus snapped.

"Well, it didn't come from me and it certainly didn't come from Hermione," Remus hissed.

"Protective of her, are we?" Severus challenged dangerously.

"Yes, because you apparently aren't man enough to protect her yourself," he replied evenly and felt the ebony wand dig deeper into his throat.

"I have no reason to protect that wench!"

"It wasn't her and if you'd stop thinking about your miserable self for just a moment, you might realize that. She never even told her best friends about you! What makes you think she would tell the entire school?" Remus sneered and pushed Snape off of him.

With that, the DADA teacher walked away, leaving Severus to his thoughts. The Potions Master was in turmoil. He would not deny his feelings for the girl were still there, but he had locked them away and let all his hatred out and it consumed him. Now, he was wondering if he should listen to Lupin and reconsider what he thought. After all, he really had never told Granger about what Sirius Black had done to him.

Hermione groggily opened her eyes and looked around her room. Weakly, she got up and stumbled to her sitting room, only to see an envelope stained with red ink sitting on her sofa. Frowning, she picked it up and opened it.

Mudblood,

You should have known better than to have an affair with the Dark Lord's traitor. Since you are so precious to our traitor, hurting you will hurt him. Now…what does a child like you cherish most in life?

Hermione stared down at the letter in horror and then looked at the envelope. Opening it again, she looked inside and saw a ring covered in red. It wasn't red ink. It was blood. Trembling, she picked up the ring and looked at it. It was a Bella style Princess cut bridal ring. Looking at the inside of the band, she gasped. Written were the words: Forever my Flower.

Hermione Granger was quietly reading a book when she heard her parents talking in the kitchen about where they were going to spend their summer that year. She smiled as they spoke lovingly to each other, making Hermione sigh in contentment and hope that one day she would find true love like they had.

"We could take a trip to Spain," her father suggested.

"Or Italy," her mother pointed out.

"Maybe we could go to America and visit their beaches," he replied.

"Hmm…I'm not sure. I am not as young as I used to be and I might not look as good in a bikini," she joked.

"Honey, you will always be lovely in everything you wear," her father replied.

"Even when I am old and wrinkled…you'll still love me," she asked with a smile, her eyes sparkling.

"I will. Forever, my Flower," her father replied.

Hermione felt as though she couldn't breathe as she stared at the bloodied ring in her hand. Tears fell down her cheeks and the reality of everything set in. They went after her parents to get to her and in turn get to Professor Snape. Dropping the letter to the ground and pocketing her mother's ring, she grabbed her wand and ran from her room.

She pushed passed several students who yelled after her angrily, but she didn't care. She had to get out of the castle. She had to help her parents. Hermione was about to run through one of the court yards when Lavender suddenly appeared and tripped her, causing the brunette to crash to the ground, skinning her hands and knees. Several students burst out laughing and Hermione felt a rage like never before. Without warning, she got up and attacked the girl, punching her viciously in the face. Several students gasped in shock and cried out worriedly for her to stop as blood gushed from Lavender's nose. The blond girl screamed, but Hermione was ruthless. She didn't realize that she was screaming herself until she remembered why she had been running toward the Hogwarts gates. Hermione suddenly jumped up and ran again and left the courtyard and several shocked students behind.

Once she was outside of the gates, she apparated to her home. She felt weak and dizzy, but she forced herself to run to the house. Bursting through the door, she ran to the living room and stopped dead in her tracks. On the floor of the sitting room were her parents. Blood was pooled around then and splattered on the walls. Hermione fell to her knees in the dark and sticky liquid and stared at them in disbelief. By the looks of the blood, it would appear that they had been killed maybe a day before. She would never have been able to save them.

"No…no…I've lost everything…" she sobbed, her eyes wide open and staring at the massacre before her. Anguish like no other filled her and she let out a piercing scream as she cradled her mother's limp head in her arms.

Madam Pompfry had tended to Lavender's face and had reported what had happened, but no one could seem to find Miss Granger. Professor McGonagall had been angry and searched for her, but she came to the conclusion that the young Gryffindor was hiding because of what she had done. Several students did come forward and say that Miss Granger was definitely not herself and Minerva felt a bit of sympathy for the girl who had been shunned by everyone, including herself.

Professor Lupin had addressed them angrily at the last few staff meetings and told them that he did not believe it was Hermione that had started this, but Minerva was torn. She looked at Severus like a son and she had known him many years and not once had he ever told her what really happened when he was at home with his parents. Now, the entire school knew about it and she knew that Hermione knew the truth so it had to have been her. Right?

Minerva had been so angry at first and dismissed the girl so easily but as time went on, she wasn't so sure that she had made the right decision. Guilt was finally starting to settle in and she felt irresponsible as a Professor and Headmistress. Even Albus had angrily ignored her for the past few weeks because of the ordeal, claiming that he knew Hermione was not the one who started this.

Ginny and Harry had heard about what had happened to Lavender and actually thought that it was somewhat funny, but very unlike their friend. Hermione usually didn't lose self-control like that and it left them concerned. At dinner, they weren't surprised to see that she hadn't shown up and listened to everyone talk about what happened and how she had slapped Professor Snape across the face.

"Well, at least she showed some spirit," Ginny said, proud of her friend.

"Yeah, but why now?"

"Think about it, Harry. Everything probably got to be too much. She finally just let it out. I mean, everyone has been mean to her since this all got out and she finally snapped," Ginny said softly. Harry nodded and looked around the Gryffindor students.

His eyes landed on Ron who was smiling and talking happily with Dean and Seamus. He hadn't thought about his friend since this all started. Now, he couldn't help but think about it. He had avoided Ron when he had come back to school because he didn't want to be pestered about who Hermione was in love with, but Harry frowned now. Why hadn't Ron been saying anything? In fact, he didn't really talk much about it at all. Instead, he went about like Hermione didn't exist and he didn't ask them any questions at all.

"What's the matter, Harry?"

"Have you noticed that Ron hasn't been bugging us about Hermione lately? I mean, he seems perfectly fine with all of this. Don't you think that's a bit odd?" he asked. Ginny frowned and looked at her brother.

"As a matter of fact, I do, especially after the way he acted at the Burrow," she conceded.

"Yeah, I find this kind of strange," he said quietly.

"You don't think…I mean…do you think he had anything to do with this?" Ginny asked curiously, wondering if he could have.

"I don't know…I mean…how though? If Hermione kept Snape's secrets from even you, then how would Ron find out, especially because she's not talking to him?" Harry replied with a frown of thought.

"Good question…"

Hermione cried until she couldn't cry anymore. Now, she sat there with her parents bloodied bodies and stared unblinkingly at them. She began to feel numb and cold as everything came crashing down on her. It took some effort, but she had managed earlier to drag her father's body close to her mother's and now she was sitting between them in a pool of thick blood. Their bodies were cold and the stench of death was thick in the air, but it didn't faze her. She sat unmoving, covered in their blood.

Feeling exhausted she lay down between them and curled up next to her mother. Hermione was far too gone at the moment to think about the fact that she was lying with her dead parents. All she knew was that these people were her mum and dad and were the two people out of everyone in the world that had never rejected her and right now, she wanted to be with them and only them.

Resting her head on her mother's shoulder, she looked around the darkened room. The curtains were closed as well as the windows and doors so no one knew they were there. Softly, Hermione began to hum some of the songs that her mother used to sing.

"Do you remember that, Mum? You used to sing it to me whenever I had a nightmare. It always made everything better and now I am making things better for you. It will be ok, mum. Dad's here and I'm here and we're all safe now," Hermione said softly through her delusion. Her lack of nutrition finally hit her hard and she found it difficult to remain conscious. "We have to be quiet cause Daddy's sleeping and he's very tired. Actually, I'm very tired too so I'm going to go to sleep, Mum." With that, Hermione lost consciousness.

Hermione's dreams were filled with anguish as images of a very angry Severus Snape came to mind. In her mind, he threw her to the ground and kicked her hard in the ribs before sneering down at her and telling her how pathetic she was.

You said you wouldn't hurt me…

Snape laughed at her and walked away, leaving her a shuddering mess on the floor. Hermione was faintly aware that this was a dream, but soon what wasn't real began to merge into what was and she found herself believing that her parents were comforting her in her time of need.

"Hermione, dear, don't think too much on it. Life is a hard road that everyone must endure. Perhaps you should come and stay with us for a while. It's peaceful here…" her mother said.

"Yes…I think you're right. I should come back and stay with you. I don't want to be at Hogwarts anymore. They are so mean to me," Hermione said.

"People will always be mean, but you don't have to worry when you're with us," he father cut in.

"I should just stay…"

"Yes…stay with us, honey."

Hermione's eyes fluttered as the scattered thoughts and misconstrued memories flitted through her mind. She was a horrible mess and the logical part of her mind was not functioning anymore. All she knew was that she felt despair and loss and she slowly losing it. She had never in her life felt like this and with the last bit of sane thought she could muster, she wondered if perhaps these feelings were why Severus Snape was so cruel and untrusting.