Hermione was beginning to panic. A house that could not be seen. Oh God, Oh god, Oh God she thought. I am going to be sick. Then the horse stopped and the thief moved off the horse. Hermione was alone bound on a horse. Then horse took a step. She fell! She screamed hands caught her around her waist. She cried out again in thanks. " Good lady, do not be afraid." The voice came from the man called Potter she remembered. Then the bandit swept her up in his arms and made for the front door. Hermione heard the crunching of gravel; no mere farmhouse had a gravel drive. This must be a house of substance. He will not hesitate to kill me to save himself from the gallows. " Please." She said " Hush make any noise and I will gag you. Potter I will put here in my room." Did that offer more danger or safety? Hermione wondered. Hermione prayed with Malfoy it would have been vile but her choice for her purpose and now she was at the mercy of a thief. Would she lose her virtue to a mere bandit? Then she was being lowered on to something soft. His bed. Hermione's heart began to race. " No one here will hurt you. Please believe me." Curiously she did. " I have things to do," he said, " So I must leave you bound a little while longer. However I need to tie you up a little more." "No." Snape ignored her and bound her arms up over her head to the headboard of the bed and left. Severus ran down stairs to see Harry Potter waiting for him in the sitting room drinking his best cognac. Harry was a handsome young man who usually shared in Severus' attitudes and sense of mischief. Now he looked at Snape disapprovingly. " I could not let her go with Malfoy." " I'd think not but to tie her up. Why?" Sev grabbed the decanter and pour himself a glass. " I should leave her free to wander the house or run off?" Severus arched an eyebrow. "You could explain..." Harry made a face, " No I guess not." "Quite. She'll keep, and we still have a coach to rob." " You said that would do." " On second thought it will not. Malfoy, damn his hide, is hardly likely to run to the nearest magistrate." " Bullocks. If we have to go again, can I hold up the coach?" " No. I claim right of rank." " Spoilsport." They left the room heading for the stables and fresh horses. Hermione realized why the room felt so creepy it had no clock. She heard a distant chime two quarters then one o'clock. What would happen when the man returned? She'd set out on her quest prepared for terrible things, but not this. She had been prepared to give herself to Malfoy. She'd had a plan to avoid that a plan that now lay in ruins. She turned her mind to planning first to escape her captor, then return to Raven's Keep, and complete her mission. But it was late and she had had hardly any sleep with that she began to drift off wild plans running thought her mind. Hermione woke with a start. Darkness.... No, she was blindfolded. This was not a dream this was reality and he was back. Presumably to do things. Shivers ran tough her body. Then she heard something water... splashing. He was washing. " May I have a glass of water please?" She asked. Silence " I thought you were asleep. Just a moment." She only flinched a little when he toughed her face. " Water." He said. Then he titled the glass for her to swallow. Then a new foolish distress assaulted her what must she look like hair in tangles and her dress in creases. Then she heard a sound soft tearing and curses. His false mustache, what would he look like? Would she know him or he her? She had lived at the edges of fine society for a year now. If she did know him she must not show it. That would be a disaster! She was merely the daughter of Sir Jeffrey Granger, a minor nabob. She doubted most of the ton knew she existed. And anyway a man who had to resort to robbing coach would hardly attend balls would he? More splashing. Two thumps his boots then the sound of his stocking feet coming towards the bed. Now it would happen but Hermione would not give up without a fight. A hand grabbed her foot she kicked. Then she felt something sharp at her legs a tug and her feet were free she kicked at him again. "Don't be afraid." "Why not? You're a common criminal." " Yes but of the more noble kind." She stilled when he came no closer. " You really did not want to go on with Lord Malfoy did you?" " Oh, yes I did." "Why?" " Why what?" " Why go willingly Malfoy?" " That sir is none of your business. Now kindly return me." " Do you think he will be waiting by the road?" The amusement in his voice made her want to scream. She had thought that and it was ridiculous. " Of course not you may take me to Raven's Keep." " Where I will be arrested." " Then take me close by and I will make it from there." "I do not doubt it." After a moment he asked, " Who are you?" He must assume she was a light-skirt so why the question? What would get her on her way to Raven's Keep everything hinged on getting there. He seemed to think that he was rescuing her so she must make him believe that she was a harlot. "Who am I sir?" She answered in a cold and brittle tone. " Your captive and yes Lord Malfoy's whore." The bed moved as he laid down beside her not touching but beside her. A hand brushed down the front of her dress and she managed not to protest. A whore would not mind, right? " I won't hurt you my dove, but if you are willing to serve Malfoy why not me?" Suddenly he rolled on her hot, hard and huge. " NO!" She screamed "why not? I'll pay your usual fee. Double?" "I'm very expensive." She replied " I 'm very rich he countered. " Lord Malfoy bought me I consider myself his." " Honor among sinners. Malfoy would do the same if our positions were reversed. He moved up and for a second hope sparked until his knee moved between her legs parting them. " STOP...PLEASE!" She screamed. "Who are you?" He asked again. " Minerva McGonagall" "Whore?" He demanded " No" Then he was gone, gone from her body and the bed. She fought again when he grabbed her hand until she felt the knife again. With a snap her hands were free and she shoved the horrid bag of her head. She was in a modest but masculine room. Green velvet seemed to be on the bed curtains and on the windows. Ivory walls and a cherry wardrobe. And the man at the end of the bed was the handsome Duke Severus Snape of Hogsmead. Hermione tried to keep her eyes from widening in shock. Everyone knew Snape. He was the most eligible bachelor of the ton. Most ladies had no hopes of becoming his wife but there were a few contenders. Lavender Brown, toast and a duke's granddaughter. And Pansy Parkinson who assumed an almost proprietal air about him. Hermione wondered how did she dare? He was tall but that was not what made him so formidable. Nor his rank. In a simple shirt open at the neck and black leather breaches, Snape filled up the room. He took up more room than just his size. Though tall and strong he possessed a fine- boned elegance along with the drama of black hair and eyes. And as she had noticed before his lips suggested things a lady should not think about. " You recognize me." It was not a question. " Yes." Would he kill her now she could almost feel the cold knife slipping between her " More water Miss McGonagall?" In her terror the offer and the name confused her. "Y..y..yes, please, Your Grace." She stuttered. Surely even most madmen and murderers would not behave like this. Or laugh as he did now. " No need to be so formal. Call me Severus. I plan to call you Minerva." " Even if I object?" " Miss. McGonagall is such a mouthful, and sounds so stern and disapproving. Like the sort of woman who disapproves of fun and writes tracts." " More water?" " No thank you. I will soon need a chamber pot and the privacy to use it." "Of course, give me your word that you would not runaway and you will be given a room of you own." " You would accept my word?" "why is it not binding?" " Very well, after all I have no shoes so I will have to wait for morning to have some." " Very well follow me." Hermione followed the duke next door . " I will be next door if you have need of anything. Until the Morning." With that he strolled away. After Hermione shut the door she realized she would need help to get out of her dress and corset. She could not reach the tiny buttons on her own. Taking a deep breath she opened her door and walked back to the duke's room. The door was open a crack as she went to knock something caught her eye. There was the duke completely naked as he turned she saw his manhood and blushed crimson. Knocking on the door she waited while he came to the door. " Yes my dove." He asked " I cannot get out of my clothes I was hoping you could help?" She looked into his eyes with silent hope the boning in her dress was very stiff and if she wanted any descent sleep it would have to come off. "Yes of course. Please turn around." When she finally turned around she felt his long fingers undoing the buttons of her dress and thought what would my nanny say if knew that a nearly naked man was undoing my dress? When the last button was done her dress began to slide to the floor and she caught it right before it fell completely down. At the feel of his warm hands on her skin she shivered. " All done. Unless you would like to stay?" " No, No, thank you for you help. I will see you in the morning." Hermione rushed back into her room and stripped quickly feeling hot all over. when she was completely nude she crawled under the blankets and promptly fell asleep. When morning came Hermione woke to strangeness. Would her plan to outwit Malfoy work? It should but if it failed she would go though with the worst- become Malfoy's mistress for a week. Then she stiffened with dismay her plan hinged on a tiny vile of emetic that was still in her bag in the coach. If she could convince the duke to take her to Raven's Keep mayhap he would help her find another vile. She had to win. When the duke came in carrying a tray of food she asked "my I have something to wear?" " Yes of course." Walking out of the room he was back within moments with a gold and crimson robe. When he did not turn around Hermione pointedly asked " would you give me a little privacy?" Snape turned around. when she was decent she let him know. " While we eat tell me your story." Hermione thought quickly should I lie or tell the truth maybe he can help me with my plan. the truth then. " Lord Malfoy has stolen something from my family. It is in Raven's Keep. I need to go there in order to retrieve it." " Why not got to the magistrate?" " He is a peer I do not think that they would listen to me." " Worth trying though it is better than prostituting yourself to him." " Very well. He won it at cards." " Cheated?" " I do not think so." " Then it is his Fair and square." " NO it is not." " Why not tell me the truth we will arrive there eventually." Hermione took several deep breaths and began. " My name is Hermione Granger. Daughter of Sir Jeffery Granger. He is recently home after 20 years in India." " A nabob." Snape said using the common term witch implied wealth. " Yes well I think he missed the excitement of India. He turned to gambling. He is not very good at it I think. He lost everything. My father kept a cache of jewels hidden in a statue. A habit he picked up in India. Well when leaving my father grabbed the statue and came home. Only to discover that he had the wrong one. He has gone into shock. I was going with Lord Malfoy to get the statue. He said that if I played his mistress for one week I could have all the statues as payment." " Ah then I came along. Correct?" " Yes I had a plan. A vile that contained a emetic. I would take a small sip then state it must be from the coach ride. I would then find the statue open it take the jewels and leave." " Well my dove that is quite a story. But it occurs to me that you did not know that this week Malfoy had planned an orgy. I have a feeling you would have been the main attraction. What would that do to you reputation I wonder? " " I had not thought of that." Hermione admitted. " Well I will just have to go to Raven's Keep and get the jewels for you." Severus said. " You can't," At his look she continued, " The statues all look the same I have to see it up close to identify the right one." " Well I guess I have to take you with me. I will procure some costumes and we will leave as soon as possible." Severus said sweeping out of the room to find costumes for them.

Well what do you all think? What will their costumes be? How will young Hermione react to her first orgy? Will Malfoy realize who she is? Stay tuned