A few days had passed and tension hung so thick in the air between Severus and Hermione that at times, she thought she could feel a tight band of it weaving its way casually around her ribs and chest cavity and squeezing the breath right out of her.

The tension only built ten-fold whenever Severus and Draco were in the same room together. Severus wanted to do nothing more than slowly wrap each one of his long fingers around Draco's stark-white throat and squeeze as hard as he could until the light left Draco's eyes and he fell limp within his hands as he tried to suck in his last breath.

Hermione must have mentioned something to Draco about what had happened, because as of late, Draco had been giving Severus an incredibly wide berth whenever he happened to come upon him. Either that or guilt was gnawing away at Draco for what he had done and in turn, he decided it was best to give plenty of leeway when it came to being around Severus.

Severus wasn't a jealous person by nature, he didn't really care if people had things he wanted, or if people had better things than he did. He was quite happy to live his life simply and easily but when it came to Hermione and the thought of anyone even laying a single finger on her, the anger bubbled in the pit of his stomach and the rage inside awakened, like a beast that had lain dormant for an eternity, it reared its head and it growled loudly and it growled with viciousness.

He could only put it down to the fact the wretched fucking marriage contract they signed tainted him with its filthy magic that made him like this, that made him desire the girl as much as he currently did, and that in itself made his hatred towards Voldemort ignite tenfold for putting him in this fucking shitty situation.

He had this overwhelming urge to be near her all the time, or to touch her and to kiss her. He managed to over-ride those deep primal feelings but they gnawed constantly at him all day and all night until they consumed him wholly and he would have to brush a hand over her cheek whilst she slept or brush past her in the hall.

He had awoken a few times during the nights to find the girl tangled in his embrace, listening to the rhythmic breaths of slumber whilst watching the soft rise and fall of her chest and he couldn't help but imagine what could have become of them and if she would have even glanced at him sideways outside of their current situation. He often thought about them happily married outside of these trying times and what it would be like to have Hermione Granger as a willing wife rather than a forced one.

Hermione hadn't really said anything to him since the day she had pinned him down under her body after she had hexed him. He had fucked her hard and given her all of him that afternoon. Something about being pinned beneath her while she possessed all of the power was somewhat of a turn on to him and he could only hope it happened more. He found it sexy when she had the power and he found it even more so when she was being assertive over him.

She didn't want to talk to him and he was trying not to talk to her, he knew eventually she would come around and he knew she was hurt and she was clearly giving him the silent treatment over his claim to her ownership in their argument. He knew it was wrong, he knew technically a person could not or should not own another human being, but deep down he wanted to own her and he wanted to control her. He wanted to be able to control every single aspect of her life and stop her from ever going near Draco again.

It didn't help the fact that Hermione had become somewhat moodier and snappier towards him when he did try to talk to her on the odd occasion, she was also off-color and often complaining to herself about feeling the need to throw up over the past few days and he couldn't help but wonder if she had conceived his child already and thought that if she ignored it, the issue would go away for a while. Denial was a place many people easily lived in.

His thoughts wandered to what would become of his spawn if she was with his child and he decided that thought was best to be pushed to the back of his mind for now because worrying wouldn't change anything in the interim. He knew the child would be snatched from her arms and he knew he would have to fuck another one into her. That was all that was guaranteed here.

He blinked rapidly pulling himself from his slack-jawed stupor at the breakfast table that morning. He had just been pushing his eggs around the plate in a bid to entice himself to eat but he couldn't. Not whilst Hermione sat next to Draco at the complete opposite end of the table to him as she shot daggers with her eyes at him and would throw in a little laugh and a toss of her hair for good measure whilst conversing with Draco which only angered Severus more.

The fucking little slut knew how to play him like a finely tuned piano and he hated her for it.

He had to physically grab onto the table to stop himself from launching onto the expensive piece of wooden furniture, strutting down the length of it and kicking Draco square in the nose.

Hermione would always come back to their room at night and settle down beside him to sleep but she barely said a word to him and he hadn't touched her sexually since the day on the floor of their room. He at a guess assumed she hadn't touched Draco either because she didn't reek of the little prick so that was something he could at least revel in.

He tried to ignore them and take his mind off of them but every time he heard her laugh his body would stiffen and his gaze would creep towards her and snatch a look. He wanted to apologize for saying all of the horrible things to her but he knew he couldn't. Apologies were just something that he couldn't do, his lips would refuse to form the words he needed and his mouth would go dry. He was literally incapable of doing so.

So instead he would sit and watch her every morning forlornly wishing it was he beside her. Wishing it was him that she looked at with that glimmer of fondness in her eye.

-o-o-o-o-

Harry Potter couldn't breathe. He was frustrated and angry. He paced the small, dingy unit he had been prisoner in for way too long to even think about. He wanted to smash something. He wanted to hex someone. He wanted to go home, well, to whatever semblance of a home he would have on his return to the life he had wholly fucked up with the help of Voldemort.

He was going stir crazy, everyone was going stir crazy staring at the same four walls and it didn't take long before it felt like the walls were closing in on them and they were all at each other's throats. They needed to get out of here and they needed to get out of here soon before one of them went on a mass-murder spree and killed every single one of them and at the moment, the most likely person to do that was Harry himself.

So when one rainy day Harry jumped to his feet and proclaimed that he was going back to England to go into hiding there in preparation to Kill Voldemort, Ron was quick to side with him and agree to go amidst the protests of the others.

"Snape said he would come back and see us, give us more information," Ginny pleaded with Harry, desperation overtaking the tone in her voice.

"You think Snape cares about us sitting here? You really think he gives a fuck about us all? He is sitting back at home, probably on his ass doing nothing without even casting a second thought about us." Harry threw his hands up in frustration as the came to brush down his face with anger.

They all knew it was much too dangerous to head back, but right now Harry wasn't thinking with his head. He was angry and he was sad at the loss of Hermione and he blamed himself for that. If he had just told her their plan to escape, she could have come with them, instead, because of his stupidity, she was dead and he would never, ever forgive himself for that. But he would have rather her dead than thrown into the dingy dungeon in Malfoy Manor to be taunted by Snape and heckled by Draco.

The fact Minerva knew Hermione was alive kept niggling in the back of her mind, a deep, dark secret she wanted to spew forth to ease her mind, she hated letting everyone carry on mourning the death of their friend but Severus had been so adamant that they shouldn't know, so she kept it to herself and she would take that secret to the grave if she had to, but she wasn't going to sit idly by and watch Harry walk out of here with Ron and back into mortal peril.

If he insisted on going, then all of them would be going, even if it meant she had to lay out the footwork and orchestrate a plan for them all and to do that, she

"You really want to go back there?" Ginny spat angrily at Harry. "Are you fucking stupid or do you just look it? You don't think Voldemort would have his best trackers poking around for us at every fucking corner? If one of us sneezed they would find us." She shook with sheer anger and worry and she needed to literally bite her tongue to stop her giving him a thorough tongue lashing.

"Don't hold back, will you Ginny?" Harry almost spat in her face with pure irritation.

"Well if you don't want me to, I'm happy to speak my mind." She smiled a mix of sweet and sardonic at him before Ron jumped in the middle of them diffuse the situation and to stop them drawing wands and murdering one another.

"Look. I know we all hate being here, and I know we are all going stark, raving mad but you both need to settle down, turning on one another will not help the situation." He held a hand up at either of them and they both backed down and the tension began to diminish.

Minerva spoke softly from the corner, "If you wish to go back, we will go back but we have to lay low, Potter and you have to be ready to fight should you be found."

Harry nodded solemnly. He was ready to fight if need be. He was sick of hiding like a coward and he was sick of lying low.

-o-o-o-o-

Hermione tousled her hair over her shoulder as she heaved the contents of her almost empty stomach up the next morning. Severus leaned against the doorframe coolly with a brow quirked and a half smirk plastered on his face.

She had finally chosen to talk to him, or rather argue with him and in the middle of her screaming at him like a fucking woman possessed, she had clamped a hand tightly over her mouth and dashed for the bathroom. Now she was keeled over, beside the toilet bowl with her head resting on the edge as her body heaved unceremoniously once again.

He couldn't help but laugh to himself that the little bitch got her karma for screaming at him and throwing a high-heeled shoe right at him with a perfect fucking aim, hitting him in the chest.

The brazen little bitch had no qualms in telling him what she thought about him and how much she really hated him with every fiber of her being. Not long after the shoe had come sailing towards him in a blur of silver glitter as it hit him hard enough to emit a groan from him. It was seconds after that, that she had been sick.

"I fucking hate you," She forced herself to whisper at him while throwing shade in his direction and the pure hatred in her eyes was enough to make him recoil.

"And I daresay you are about to hate me even more because whilst I am no healer I am ninety-nine percent sure you are the unlucky incubator of my spawn."

"It could be Draco's," She protested as another wave of sickness swept over her and she was now vomiting nothing but the bile in her stomach that burnt her throat as it forced its way out.

He snorted loudly. "Really, Hermione? A few days after you sleep with him and you think you would be this ill already? I thought you were a smart girl." He tutted.

"I am living in hope it isn't yours, at least let me have that much," She snapped. The truth was, she was petrified. Petrified of the possibility of being pregnant, petrified of giving birth. Did it hurt? Was it hard? She knew millions of women gave birth every year and many went back time and time again, but this was different, this was her.

But most of all, she was petrified of what would become of her child, that was the thing that scared her the most. She didn't want to have the baby torn from her arms for a cause that she didn't believe in. She was merely a pawn in this game and she hated it.

"I can't do this," She sobbed hard, turning to look at him with tears running fast down her cheeks.

"Throw up any more, or…?" He trailed off with utter uncertainty, still leaning against the doorframe.

"This. Everything. Having a baby. The uncertainty of it all."

"I know what is happening at the moment is hard… It's hard for everyone but you just have to take one step at a time and deal with whatever comes your way," He tried to sound sympathetic but right now he couldn't help but feel the same uncertainty that she was feeling about the whole thing.

"This is not how my life was meant to go. I had everything in my life planned out. The next twenty years of my life were perfectly planned and prepared. I like structure, I need routine."

"Well, to be honest, I never planned on being married and especially not to you but I am slowly coming to terms with it."

"I really, really hate you," she muttered as she vomited once more.

"I really doubt that," He whispered and she was almost sure she had imagined it.

A/N: Thank you each and every single one of you who have reviewed. I read every single review I get and I am so humbled. Welcome to the newcomers who have just discovered the story and I thank you for taking the time to binge-read my story.

This is just a filler chapter. I felt totally horrible that I haven't updated you all lately. Hopefully, the next one will be here quicker than this one.

Thanks!
-Aliasmel1