There were so many wonderful review for the last few chapters... I love you, guys!
Some of you have commented on Hermione not being very stable - and you are right! Merlin, she is a rape victim in a stressful situation, clever - therefore seeing all the aspects and risks of her decisions - and only 18 years old! She needs to grow up and she will as the story progresses; just be patient with her and give her the time, please :-)
CHAPTER 28
Hermione was staring at the bruised and bloody mess that used to be a hand and couldn't really believe her eyes. She had never seen an injury looking so awful; the skin was blotched, swollen, bloody and coloured all shades of red, pink, purple and blue. But that was not even the worst of it by far...
The misshapen, broken digits were shaking and twitching constantly, forming themselves into a morbid claw, obviously still spasming along with the whole limb. The tissue was ruptured where the bones had broken, likely by the pressure the spasms were putting on the muscles, and bones were protruding through the skin. It was her work, at least partially. She was the one to blame if he would never be able to move it again. She had done this to him...
She was so angry at him just moments ago! First he was being sarcastic over her appearance, the jerk - it was not her fault she looked the way she did; there was hardly a hair brush or any make-up around here, was there? - and then he even laughed at her, the cheeky bastard! Ridiculing her and making fun of her questions! She was the one that was armed here at the moment. He was at her mercy! Even that did not get the man to behave like a civil person should!
She only wanted to shake him a bit to remind him she was not as helpless as she used to be. To make him listen to her finally. Not to break his bones and crush his hand even more.
She blinked a few times to get rid of the suspicious stinging in the corners of her eyes. She was NOT about to cry for this man! He will NOT use her guilt against her ever again!
Still, she had to do what she could to correct the consequences of her actions. She could heal at least some of this.
Braving herself, she slowly reached out to his bound hands, watching him closely. His eyes were shut again, skin pale and beads of sweat slowly trickling down his forehead in the direction of his black hair. He still sounded like he was having trouble breathing, but that painful expression - the first that had appeared there during the whole day - was gone from his face now. You can do it. Just touch him. It's your fault he is hurting now. Take responsibility finally, Hermione! she ordered herself and let her fingers rest on his bruised and bloody skin, fearing his reaction.
He only opened his eyes slowly and stared at their touching hands, not saying anything.
Well, she was not a Gryffindor for nothing!
Moving his fingers gently until they seemed straight and in the right places, she held them firmly so they would not twitch at the wrong moment and cast "Episkey" at each, praying she was doing the right thing and eyeing him occasionally for signs of pain. They never showed, he only watched her without concern. A "Scourgify" came next - she needed to see what were the scratches and ruptures and what was just his dried blood. She stored his wand in the cloak's pocket for the moment, took the bottle of Murtlap and had just managed to dab the gauze in it again when she was startled by his voice.
"I have no idea why you are bothering yourself with that, Miss Granger." He sounded nearly bored, the jerk!
Not caring for his opinion too much at that moment, she simply continued her work and started healing the skin.
"You will need that hand for your potions, won't you? As far as I know, they are hard to brew with just one ..." she answered, her eyes never leaving the mauled hand, hoping she could really mend it well enough for the limb to actually start working again one day.
"Miss Granger, what exactly are you planning to do?" he asked her carefully.
"Fix you, obviously. Then ask some more questions." Then we will see. I still have time to figure something out.
He went silent for a while and she was grateful for that. She needed to focus now. The hand was looking much better now, only the swelling and discolouring hinting at it being so horribly damaged recently.
Now the rest of him... She observed the bottles of potions that were lined beside her. She had no idea which ones to give him safely, except the Pain Killer. She took that one, uncorked it and offered it to him to drink. He didn't take it, though; he only watched her with his blank stare.
"What?" she asked him, hoping it would prompt him to act finally.
"This one would put me to sleep in minutes. Not very good if you really want to ask anything today," he informed her drily. Oh, how wise that man could be! she thought, annoyed.
"Fine. Which ones are safe and good enough for you to take then?"
"The first and third from the right." She reached her hand towards the small bottles and had just touched the first - she had no idea what it was - when he continued.
"They are poisons." Her hand froze in the air. "Give any of them to me if you can't do it yourself. I never had you for a coward, really," he finished, making her flinch. He was so cold, the bugger! Why did he want to die so much anyway?!
"I am not a coward!" she defended herself. She was the brave one here!
"Then do what is necessary. You cannot run and leave me behind. Even if you manage to escape, you will die in three days and I fully expect the Dark Lord to restrain me and force me to live for exactly that long to make sure of that. You will never get free unless the Bond is broken. You cannot close your eyes to this. Don't be stupid," he added mockingly.
She knew he was trying to bait her, making her do his bidding again, but that did not stop her from getting angry at him, try as she might to stay calm.
"How very clever and nice you are, caring about me so. Heart wrenching, really. And here I thought you were planning for us to live together in your house, happily ever after, like the nice couple of good Death Eaters we would be!" Her voice raised slightly.
"I didn't suspect that sharing my living space would be so torturous for you. A mistake in my judgment obviously. Still, you would be no Death Eater," he responded, his voice cold, uncaring.
"Liar! You told me yourself only an hour ago that I would have to accept the Mark to be released from here!" she reminded him, angrily. The gall of this man!
"Sure, a Mark. But not the Dark Lord's. Mine. You would be no Death Eater then," he explained and she could only gape at him.
What?! Was he aspiring to become the next Dark Lord? Recruiting his own servants?!
"What does that mean?" she asked. She had never heard of anything like that.
"Anyone can give Dark Marks, same as anyone can accept them. The Dark Lord is not special in that. The curse is quite simple in itself even. He ordered me to brand you so that you could be trusted fully to obey. Not that the Mark would actually make you obey me..." he trailed off, still rather breathy.
So why does he want it in that case? It's not like she has ever had it, is it? She frowned.
"What would it make me do then?"
"Nothing as such, really, except giving you the directions to my current position in case I would want to summon you to myself – I highly doubt it would ever happen though. All it ever truly does is hurt when the caster wishes but the Dark Lord, in his glorious obtuseness, believes pain to be the most motivating sentiment in the world. Hence his liking for that curse."
"Hurt? All the time?" She glanced worriedly at his left hand where she knew the Mark was etched into his skin. She had never seen it herself, only knew about it being there from Harry. Snape did not look to be in pain at the moment, but then he never had even under the Cruciatus...
"Not all the time; at least not unless you have fallen out of favour with the Master of the Mark for a reason so he or she would want to be punishing you constantly. You could ask Lucius Malfoy about that one day, he would know. It hurts while a person is being summoned or punished through it. It also causes considerable pain when it is received or if the Master dies; most of the Death Eaters faint in seconds after being branded actually. Most of us also lost consciousness when the Dark Lord fell several years ago," Snape explained, obviously deep in thoughts and memories.
Hermione could only stare ahead of herself. This was NOT what she wanted for herself, ever. She was NOT going to be Snape's slave. Slave of pain...
"It would not be like that for you though." Snape interrupted her musings. "You would simply have to endure the initial pain, I would provide a potion to help you with that. It will also hurt when I die. However, I have to warn you it would never truly disappear, not even after my death. But otherwise, you would not know about it's existence. You could even pick the place of marking and the shape of it, should you so wish, making it look like an ordinary tattoo to everyone but us. Then you would be allowed to leave this place finally."
There was a minute of silence as Hermione's mind processed all this new information.
But then the man lying in front of her broke the silence. "Someone is coming here, Miss Granger!"
She flinched, a jolt of panic going through her chest, constricting it.
Damn!
Pirocantha edited this one on her birthday - imagine that! There will be never enough thanks to send to her!
Leave a review for me, if you have the time... Each and every of them (even the bad ones; they mean that you care too!) always casts a Smiling Charm on me! :-))
