Severus took a quick look at the door he just threw Ms. Granger in. It was shut tight, and he quickly put up the wards on the door. Once he was sure that Hermione was hidden away and no one can hear her, he sat back down behind his desk and lazily flicked his wand at the door. The door slowly creaked open and his eyes glared at the intruder that entered the room. "What do you want this time, Minerva? It is awfully late at this time, is it not?" His tone was sarcastic, and he got into his role of evil Headmaster quickly. He put on this façade to hide away his true feelings. He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms as he watched his colleague walk into his office.
The old Scottish Professor walked into the room and sat down in the available chair in front of the headmaster's desk. She made herself quite comfortable and she began to speak filling the room with her soft Scottish accent. "I came here tonight Severus because I am concerned about how your deputy Headmaster and deputy Headmistress are treating the students. It is unacceptable and needs to be stopped. They won't listen to me."
"What are they doing to them?" He asked with very little concern in his voice.
"They are using unforgivables on them. They are being crucioed for minor things and now the older students are starting to bully the younger ones. The first years are being tortured by Amycus and Alecto and many of the students have to seek out Poppy to heal them."
"What do you want me to do about that Minerva? I regretfully cannot help you. I can't control what they do," he answered seriously.
"This is wrong, Severus. I know you know it's wrong. You must do something about this before one of the students gets killed. You are the headmaster. Tell them to stop," she pleaded with him. She was furious with how uncaring he was being about the situation. "Don't you give a damn about our students?"
"I have no say in how they discipline the students, Minerva and I must ask you to refrain from calling me Severus. I am no longer your colleague. I am your superior. You must treat me as such. What do you expect me to do? The carrows are in charge of how they discipline the students and as long as the students are being healed by Poppy, I see no problem with it. Now I must ask you to leave my office. I got other things to attend to and next time you have a problem I expect you to send me an owl before you come knocking on my door. I thought I have gone over this with all of you at the beginning of the school year. Have a good evening." His tone left no room for argument.
"If one of the students dies by the carrows it is on your hands Headmaster. How do you sleep at night knowing what you have done to our school?" She stood up and left his office in anger.
Snape sighed and put his head in his hands. He hated playing the evil headmaster. He hated the role he was forced into, but the war wasn't over yet. He had to continue to play his role accordingly. He stood up from his desk and opened the door to his library. He was now in a foul mood because of the carrows. If he was being honest with himself, he hated how the carrows were disciplining the students. He was well aware of the unforgivables that were being used and the numerous students that had been in the hospital wing because of it. He couldn't step in though. He wasn't lying to Minerva when he told her he couldn't control them. If he did step in the Dark Lord would know his true allegiance. He was muttering under his breath about the shitty life that was handed to him, but he quickly stopped when he saw Hermione fast asleep in one of his armchairs. He quietly stepped past her, not wanting to disturb her, and grabbed a book off one of his many shelves. He sat down in the other armchair, opposite of her, and began to read. He tried to pay attention to the words in the book, but his eyes drifted towards the girl next to him. He pretended not to care about her wellbeing and his eyes darted back down to his book. A full fifteen minutes went by before his eyes looked up again and landed on her. He was angry at the stupid girl. She put herself in danger and now she was going to have to suffer for it by his hands. He didn't want to do it. He didn't want to see her bloodied. He didn't want to see her cry. He didn't necessarily like the girl. In fact, she annoyed him when she was a student, but he didn't wish this on anyone. She was so young and had so much courage and spirit that he had to break. He wished he could hide her away and lock herself up somewhere. For now, he just wanted her to stay asleep for the time being. Once she woke up, he had to begin the job if the Dark Lord was to be happy with him. For her sake I hope she can handle this. Her foolish bravery just may keep bloody Potter safe, but how far is she willing to take this?
"Rigby," he whispered quietly.
A little house elf, who was wearing dirty rags, appeared in the room. "Yes Headmaster Snape, how may I serve you today?" He asked timidly.
"I have a few things that I need you to bring to me. Do you understand me, Rigby?" He glared at the little elf, keeping up with the dark evil man he supposedly portrayed.
"Y-Yes sir, of course. What do you want me to bring?" The elf stuttered fearfully. He didn't want to anger the Headmaster.
"I need a cup of tea and a bottle of fire whiskey. Be quick or you will be punished," he spat at him.
"Yes sir, right way sir." The elf disappeared to get the items his master required of him.
Snape leaned back in his chair and closed his book. He set it down on the small table that was next to his chair. He closed his eyes in concentration and not even a minute went by when Rigby returned.
Rigby set down the tray that carried the requested items and bowed his head low to his master. "Here you go Headmaster. Anything else?"
"No Rigby, you may go." Rigby disappeared from the room with a loud pop. He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose. He was starting to feel a headache coming on thanks to the situation that was laid out for him. He grabbed the bottle of fire whiskey that he requested off the table and took a long swig. He relished the burning sensation that went down his throat and filled his stomach. He took another pull from the bottle and started to feel more relaxed. He closed his eyes and leaned his head back in the armchair unaware that Hermione awoken from her nap.
Hermione sat up and almost forgot where she was, but she quickly remembered when she saw Snape sitting next to her. She stared at the dark man feeling all sorts of emotions. The first emotion she felt was fear. She was scared. She was terrified by the unknown but who wouldn't be? She knew what she had to do and what she had to endure and there was no escape from it. The next emotion she felt was determination. Her Gryffindor courage knew no bounds. She was determined to survive and pull through with whatever this man threw at her. She was not going to give in. The last emotion she felt was helplessness. Sure she was courageous and brave, but she wasn't stupid or delusional. She was going to be tortured, she was going to be raped, and she was going to be in pain every waking moment until she gave in.
He cracked opened his eyes and sat up. He felt a pair of eyes staring at him. He turned his head and his black eyes caught Hermione's brown ones. She swallowed nervously and she quickly looked away from him. He turned back to the tray that was resting on the table and he picked up the teacup. "Here, drink this. It should make you feel better." He attempted to give her the tea, but she wouldn't take it. He scowled at her reluctance.
"What did you do to it?" She asked accusingly. She glared at the cup that was in front of her face indignantly.
"I didn't do anything to it. I had my elf bring it here for you. Before we start our first session, I thought it would settle your nerves and you are probably thirsty. If you don't take the tea now you won't be drinking anything else for hours. So, what do you choose?" She hesitantly reached out and took the cup from him. She sniffed the tea just to make sure and took a small sip. "Good girl," he murmured as he watched her drink from the cup.
She ignored his comment and continued to drink from the cup in a hurried pace. He was right. She was thirsty, terribly thirsty. She didn't remember the last time she had something good to drink. She drained the cup and licked the last few drops with her tongue. She lowered the cup from her face and blushed hard when she saw that Snape saw the whole thing. She set the cup down on the tray wishing she had some more. She looked down at her knees and started feeling a probing sensation in her mind. She ignored it until she felt a hard push trying to break through her mental walls. "Stop it. I know occlumency. You can't get through my walls."
"Who taught you?" he asked in disbelief. "There is no way there was someone here at Hogwarts that can teach you that."
"I learned it by myself. I thought it would come in handy one day. I didn't get serious until I heard that you were trying to teach Harry, so I ended up teaching it myself. I think I did a pretty good job of perfecting it over the last two years."
"You can't teach occlumency to yourself. Who told you how to close your walls? Who tried to look into your mind?" He couldn't believe this little girl trained herself to be an occlumens at such a young age.
"I learned it from a book. I practiced and practiced for hours every day. No one tried to look into my mind. I didn't know how strong my walls were, but I continued to practice with them anyway. Obviously, by the Dark Lord's perusal and yours, my walls must be pretty damn tight if you can't see inside my mind," she said arrogantly. She felt a sense of pride swell up inside of her. She stood up from the armchair needing to stretch her legs after sitting for so long.
"Don't be so arrogant you silly little girl. You think your walls will be strong enough after I'm done with you?" He stood up from the chair as well feeling officially pissed off now by her behavior.
"It has to be," she whispered. She was starting to come to terms with what was going to happen to her. Her courage was starting to dwindle and all she felt right now was defeat, complete and utter defeat. He took out his wand and pointed it at the girl. Without thinking she started to beg. "Please don't do this, Professor."
"I am no longer your professor," he replied. He still had his wand pointed at her.
She continued to beg him after seeing he wasn't lowering his wand. "You used to be on our side. Don't you remember your loyalty to Dumbledore? How about you're loyalty to the students? Please don't do this. Please?" Tears started to fall down her face when she saw that he was ready to cast on her.
He pretended that her pleads didn't affect him at all. He kept his wand pointed at her and began to cast emotionlessly. "Crucio," he bellowed. He watched as the poor girl instantly collapsed to the floor and started to seize. He casted the spell again and again on her as she continued to scream and cry. After the third time, he released the spell and instantly delved into her mind. He tried to break down her walls, but they would not budge. He thoroughly examined her mind at a wicked pace, and he kept on trying to push down her walls but to no avail. He left her mind and looked down at her as she curled herself into a ball shielding herself from him. "Not good enough, is it? Is your loyalty to Potter really worth all this?" She of course didn't answer him. She was in too much pain to talk. He crouched down to her level so he was making eye contact with her. "We both know that you won't last very long, little girl. I only just started and look at you now already in a sobbing mess all over the floor. Do us both a favor and just tell me where Potter is. In the end he will forgive you. I know he will."
"No I won't," she declared. "I will not have him die by my hands," she answered passionately. For good measures she spat in his face, but right after she did it, she regretted it. Her eyes stared at the spittle that fell on his cheek. Without breaking eye contact and without saying a word, he wiped the spittle off his cheek with the sleeve of his robes.
"You will regret that," he whispered angrily. The sound of his voice sent shivers down her spine. What have I done? He stood up and picked up the girl from the floor. "It is time that I put you in your place, little girl. How dare you spit at me?" He grabbed the girl's wrist and dragged her through another doorway. She started to fight with him by dragging her feet and pulling away from him. "If you fight with me, it will only get worse," he warned. He walked down a long stretch of hallway dragging the defenseless girl the whole way. He finally stopped at the last door on the left-hand side. He stood in front of the black wooden door and pulled it open. He dragged Hermione into the room with him and slammed the door shut. He threw the girl down on to the bed and with a quick wave of his wand he tied her down tight so she couldn't move. "Any last words, little girl?"