Once again the disclaimer: I bow in awe of J.K. Rowling genius. All characters and things in the Harry Potter world are hers. Please do not sue me. I make no money and you would undoubted piss readers off if you delay in continuing the saga as we anxiously await your next book. I have cited other fan fiction articles which have inspired me to incorporate their ideas in this story as well. I encourage you to read them. Please read and review. Thanks~ Leyna
Chapter 18: Revenge
She unlocked the trunk and donned her cloak quickly, knowing she wouldn't have much time after she cast the spell. She had suspected a long while ago that Lucius was trying to track her spell casting like the MOM did to track students, identifying quickly underage magic practiced outside of school. Malfoy was a connected man to say the least. He had ways. She hadn't brought her wand with her, but he had located her just the same. That was scary. She felt his breath on her neck and his wand at her throat when he grabbed her. She smiled somehow, dangerously unafraid.
He apparated her to a room that she supposed was used for torture among other things. It was surrounded by damp stone, there was a large X shaped cross with chains hanging from it for obvious uses. She tried not to think of what other devices lay around here. Lucius wouldn't get a chance to use them.
He breathed heavily in her ear. She found him repulsive. Many considered him attractive, but beneath his pompous and arrogant veneer lied a political monster. He was tall and slim, with a shockingly platinum coiffure, vain to the bone. He wore the finest custom clothing money could buy which reminded everyone of his wealth and power wherever possible. He leaned and the wind blew his direction. Instead of his customary cane, his silver handled wand was already pulled from it's sheath. He was a serpent and his fangs were pointed at her neck.
He flung her around to face him still gripping her left forearm and she glared at him.
"Lucius." She spat out, then in a calm but seductive whisper, "Whatever kept you." Let the games begin. She focused her mind, using hypnotic feminine persuasion as her own Imperio. She reached up slowly with her hands and he grabbed her left wrist pinning it tightly to her chest.
He looked a bit surprised at her statement and then stiffened his expression, "Miss Granger, tonight, you will do as I command." He was angry, venomous, but before he could cast, she fingered the clasp and her cloak fell to her feet. She wanted it to fall in this fashion and not expose the multitude of weapons in her possession. My terms not yours, Lucius. Her subtle sultry gaze continued to entrance him, locking her eyes with his, never blinking.
"Interesting attire." He was captivated. She was stunning and she knew it. Beads of perspiration clung to her forehead and hair. She parted her lips slightly letting out a slow breath, very aware he was watching her every move.
"Imperio!" He yelled as he pointed his wand at her, a burst of light leaping forth and blasting her in the face.
Her facial expression was completely unchanged. Not unlike her first successful Occlumency lesson. Truly, she had killed two birds with one stone that day. Same principle really.
"Come on now," she taunted teasingly trailing a finger down her neck toward her cleavage. "You'll have to do better than that."
Not many can fight off Unforgiveables. He fumed as rage took over his pale skin as it was replaced with terror. He was not in control. Therefore, malleable. "IMPERIO!!!" He screamed at her, and another light shot forth from the ebony wand and pricked her forehead. She bled, a small drop of blood trickled into her brow and she smiled at him. She smiled at him. And stepped forward.
"Lucius, tsk, tsk. What would Rose say? Are the Unforgivable curses all that you know?"
"What do you want?!" He bellowed.
"I…want…you…," she approached him a stern finger pointed outward, "to pay for your crimes against an innocent girl!" Now she was yelling as she pushed him, hard, back into the damp, moss covered, stonewall.
But he pushed back, forcing her to the ground, trapping her with his legs, his fierce arms pining hers far apart. His wand was on the ground, abandoning it in order to restrain her. "You have no idea who your dealing with you stupid girl!" He spit in her face and she simply bore her eyes into his. He released a hand to slap her, but once free she reached backward to her cloak to retrieve the first blade. She threw it with a snap of her left wrist and he screamed in agony as it pierced his left shoulder.
She crawled backwards at the opportunity. Gloves were off.
He lunged at her before she could pull another dagger from her cloak, and after yanking the knife from his arm he sliced her dress open straight down the front. His shock was apparent as the dress slipped off an revealed the fitted black voluntary body bind. He should have cut her, and there was no blood save for another nick at her neckline.
He quickly reached for his wand, and hexed her. "Jelly legs!" What would've normally been a very effective disabling hex had no effect. It was a mistake. He had expected her to lose bodily control but she stood fast. It ricocheted off her and for the second time tonight she was pleased with her purchase.
"Miss Granger," he tried to calm himself. "I am stunned you would wear such a contraption. It is very flattering." His gaze was still poisonous.
"Glad that you approve. I purchased it especially with you in mind. Are you fond of restraints?" She was still using her coy voice, maintaining eye contact.
"Why yes, as long as they are on other people. Rictusempra!" His aim was accurate and this time the armor could not shield her as her body was flung head over heel and flat against the cross. The chains came alive and seized her hands and feet rendering them useless.
Malfoy puffed up and slowly walked toward her as Hermione felt her first dose of apprehension about the next cards that would fall. Be calm, as a still river. She heard the voice of Professor Snape and Master Qian in her head. The memories of multiple lessons. He kept eye contact with her an she resumed her focus. She mentally began to loosen hershoe straps and wiggle them off her feet. She hoped he didn't notice.
He was in her face now, threatening her. "Well, Mudblood, this is some predicament you have found yourself in." Wiggle, wiggle. "I must admit, it is far more enjoyable with a worthy partner." He licked the side of her face, demeaning her. But she wasn't falling for it. He was now brandishing the knife, first holding it at her throat, then his muscular hands traveled slowly down her body. She could barely feel a thing as he attempted to prick her with the knife. "So delicate, the flesh of the stomach…"He poked and needled, gazing at her, waiting for her pleas and cries in agony but they never came.
"Problems, Lucius?" she asked casually, bored.
How could she be so collected? She's mocking me. "What is this…thing?" He was angry again, but intrigued. He felt he had all the time in the world, but it was slowly running out. He poked at the rubber, and after applying enough pressure, out popped a tiny circular hole. He thought at first he had succeeded in piercing it, and then his smile faded, as it immediately repaired itself.
She wore a smug look as she further commended herself for the purchase. "Lucius, you are admiring a hexproof and virtually indestructible full body corset." She enunciated each syllable.
"We'll see about that. Amolior Vestitus!" He expected the corset to be ripped forcibly from her body but it was stubbornly unaffected.
"I'm sorry, I believe you'll have to go about this the hard way. Rather, the only way. If I am a voluntary participant, which I am not, it would take you many hours to remove this." She wore a smug look of triumph on her face.
He was in her face again, breathing heavily on her face—the look of fury in his eyes made her break eye contact. It was time to stop playing games. She reared her head back and butted his forehead forcefully knocking him backward. Her feet now wriggled free of heels, her bare toes made contact with stone and connected.
Earth.
The quiet chant that eluded her during the first vision now ripped through the stone and blew him across the room, smashing him against the stone wall. The once well dressed man now collapsed in a heap of rags. Blood seeped from the back of his skull. The monster who had brutally tortured her childhood schoolmate now lay nearly unconscious. With a mere thought her shackles freed her, her mind clearer than it had been in years. As angry as she was, as bitter as she had been, she could not victimize him as he had done by her own hand. Instead, she walked up to him, towering over his body and stooped to squeeze the back of his neck.
"You will know, Lucius," she said through tears and clenched teeth, "your own brutality. Let's see how you fare with a dose of your own sick torture." She emptied her horrifying memories that plagued her childhood dreams right into his brain, imprinting him with the suffering from the victim's experience and removing any trace of previous pleasure in dispensing his cruelty. He writhed in agony below her grip which tightened even more. "You will stay away from me, and if you ever so much as breathe in my direction… you will regret it."
She picked up the bloody knife, torn dress, shoes and cloak, flung open the dungeon door and ascended the stairs to freedom.
Narcissa had been sitting in the conservatory, her peripheral vision barely registered the woman in black as she exited through the front door. Comprehension dawned on her. Ignoring the intruder, she ran down the dungeon steps. No one ever left there of their own accord.
****
Severus apparated back to Hermione's flat frantic with worry. He paced back and forth. Maybe he'd take her to the Malfoy mansion. He could apparate there, he knew the grounds… Harry would kill him if he let harm come to her. But if he went, then his role as a spy would be exposed. Harry. Harry can go. He apparated to the shadows of 12 Grimmauld Place and the door appeared in front of him. He entered and ran right into a very startled Ginny.
"Where's Harry?!" He yelled in a panicked voice.
She shook her head, "He's working. What's wrong? Oh… she's gone isn't she?"
He nodded, utterly mortified.
Ginny returned a worried look, then added, "Professor Snape, I didn't want to say this in front of Harry, but Hermione, well, she seems quite capable of handling herself."
"I can't believe what you're saying! It's lunacy! Lucius will tear her to pieces!" He was getting more furious with every word coming from his lips and then the shrill howling began.
"Who dares besmirch the House of Black? Get out! Out! GET OUT VILE, DESPICABLE,TRAITORUS…."
They had already moved to the kitchen and cast a silencing charm at the door so they could drown out the sounds of the previous long deceased matriarch of the House of Black.
"Sit." Ginny was in fine form, reminiscent of her mother's fine leadership skills. "Sit," she repeated as she drew a pot of ready made tea to the table and poured a cup for each of them.
"There are a number of things about Hermione which have impressed me over the years. Even though we were in different years at Hogwarts we were girlfriends in more ways than she could be with Ron or Harry and therefore I am privy to more of her, how should I put it…hidden talents?" She looked over the brim of her cup and took a careful sip.
He regarded her, still irritated but relaxing a bit, glad he was not waiting alone, but also eager to return to the flat in hopes of finding Hermione, safe. "And are you going to just sit there? Or are you going to impart your vast knowledge?" His bitter words dripped with his usual sarcasm.
To his dismay, Ginny was wholly unaffected. "You'd do a lot better with honey than vinegar. I am trying to help you, you know."
He did not apologize. "Continue, Miss Weasley."
If that's all the cooperation she'd get. Fine. "Hermione researched quite a few subjects during our last two school years off the curriculum."
"And those were?"
"Self-defense and elemental magic." She regarded him again over the lip of her teacup as she let the words sink in. She doubted he'd get it right away but he liked puzzles.
He knew about the self-defense. Hermione could be a formidable opponent, but so was Malfoy. "Elemental magic? That's just unintentional bursts of innate magical ability. Children grow out of it in their youth, and adults only benefit from it in unexpected ways... like Harry's souvenir from Voldemort's attempt to curse him. Lily offered him that protection, it wasn't Harry." He despised the recognition and glory Potter received for defeating the Dark Lord in this way. Undeserved.
"I'm well aware of your feelings about Harry, Professor. But you've missed— we've all missed, some important knowledge on this subject. Hermione figured it out." She stopped. A pause. "I'd actually rather Hermione tell you. It's her baby, and I don't think she'd want me to let the cat out of the bag."
Before he could object she interrupted him. "You should go back to the flat. She'll need someone there to meet her when she returns."
So he did. He apparated to the den and ran straight to the lab, preparing several potions at once for various curses, conjuring bandages, hoping…hoping she would be here soon so he could be of use to her. To heal her, comfort her.
He walked through the bedroom and wondered why he hadn't noticed that garment bag before. The black one, a familiar serpentine letter no customer of Knockturn Alley could forget. Gods, Hermione. What have you been planning? He shuddered at the thought. Lucius was not stranger to bondage. He cultivated and refined the art. Now he was more concerned than ever.
He ran to the kitchen to pour a basin of water. His standard supplies he used to survive Death Eater meetings. Survive Hermione, please survive.
****
She was sickened by what happened. She hoped Severus wouldn't be too angry with her. More than anything, as she collapsed in a fetal position on the grounds of the Malfoy estate, she wanted to be on her own flat, on her own couch with Crookshanks nearby— purring, serenading her with sounds of security from home. She stilled… and in a instant everything fell into perfect order. A moment of clarity, flash of understanding. She thought of him, and home and suddenly…she felt the cool leather beneath her feet.
He had filled the basin and when he turned around he all but dropped it as water splashed all of the kitchen floor.
"Hermione!"
He threw the bowl aside to the counter, and dashed to her huddled form. She shuddered. He almost hesitated to touch her, too many pain-filled memories of Crucio reminded him that touch was unwelcome and further exacerbated the remnants of the curse. He knelt on the floor beside her, "Hermione," he whispered gently.
His voice was deep and soothing rousing her from the withdrawn place, she slowly released the objects she was holding. The cloak and a soiled knife clattered to the floor, the blood not even dry. Tears came to her eyes as she looked up at him. "I got him," she said softly. Then her sobs came and she reached out for him, hugging him tightly to her.
He breathed a sigh of relief as he held her, blinking back his tears to hide his emotion as he was accustomed to doing for so many years. She wept but appeared unharmed. He noted a bit of blood at her forehead and after a few minutes pulled her away from him to examine her with his own eyes.
"Are you alright?" His eyes struggled to make eye contact for verification but hers were unfocused. She was numb. He looked around and gasped on seeing the ripped leftovers of the red dress and the cloak filled with her rather formidable collection of blades. "What are you wearing?" Her exaggerated voluptuous figure finally caught his attention and noticed the smooth rubber. It didn't register as a source of arousal, he was too concerned at the present for her welfare.
"Armor," she muttered. She slowly gathered herself and attempted to stand. She reached down to grab the red fabric, now but a sheet, and dropped it unceremoniously in the wastebasket at the foot of the couch. He watched her slender but weary frame drag the cloak to her bed as she laid it out exposing all of the weapons. "Excuse me a moment." He stood rooted to the spot as he watched her retrieve her wand from the bedside table where she had left it for the evening. Gods, she went without even her wand. He remembered Ginny's words "hidden talents…elemental magic." Long story, indeed. Through the door, he overheard her mutter the spell to remove the bindings.
"Amolior Vestitus." Right spell, wrong caster, dick. She took in a large breath of air as the corset released her and she struggled to slip it off, the rubber furiously clinging to her sweaty body. She pulled a large terry cloth robe from the door and wrapped herself in it as she drew a hot bath.
She walked back into the room and began replacing her knives one by one on the wall. There must have been thirty or so. She worked slowly, almost in a daze, making no eye contact with Snape.
"Severus?"
"Yes, Hermione." No demands, just his presence.
"Thank you for being here. I know it must have been hard on you. I'll tell you everything, but right now I need some privacy and a hot bath. I hope you understand." She didn't even look at him as laced the longest, the stiletto, on the wall. She left for the bathroom and shut the door.
He retired to the den and paced. Angry, relieved, still worried for her. He hoped Malfoy was dead, but knew that kind of thing changes a person forever.
Harry apparated in the middle of the den and Snape's wand sprung outward, at the ready.
"Harry! Now I understand why you said Hermione would hex you to death if she was caught unawares." He lowered his wand as Harry looked around.
"Lucius Malfoy was just admitted to St. Patrick's Solarium in Luxemburg. He's listed in critical condition, but is expected to survive. Where's Hermione?"
"She's fine, she fine." Harry didn't like the way he said that twice for reassurance.
"What do you mean she's fine? She did that to Malfoy? You let her go?!" Harry fumed ready to strike.
"Damn it Potter, you know as well as I do no one prevents Hermione from doing anything she sets out to do! I followed her tonight and then Lucius apparated and took her in the middle of a parking lot!" Then more calmly, "She's ok. I tried to find you at Headquarters but you were out. She's washing up now. I don't think he hurt her Harry," he consoled her friend as much as himself. "Not like you think. Not like Rose. She's fine."
Harry shuddered and sighed, sitting on the nearby chair, his hands covering his face. He shook his head and tears escaped his lids. "I should've known," he groaned, piling more guilt upon himself.
"This isn't your fault."
"I should've been able to apparate to her side, immediately."
"What are you talking about? You couldn't have possibly known."
"Snape, she must trust you a great deal to let you be the other person who gets to apparate here. So I am revealing something to you in confidence and I trust you'll use your own good judgment as to how best to use this knowledge in the future."
Gods boy, out with it.
"Hermione is my sister."
"Your sister? But she's Muggle b-… oh you mean…"
"She's my magical sister," he finished. "We did it halfway through our sixth year. We're both only children, no siblings. My parents were gone and Hermione's magical experiences leave her rather cut off from her parents. She confided a lot in me and I her. We were too close to be anything different. She's the closest thing I have to family. She wears a ring on her right hand that connects us," he pointed to his. "I should've been able to know instantly if she were in danger."
Perhaps she didn't want to be rescued. "Only Hermione will be able to answer your questions, but I think it can wait until tomorrow. I'll take good care of her. She is safe here. I doubt she'll go anywhere for a while." Snape was sincere, and he had tried his best to reassure Harry. He deserved to have family who survived.
"Thank you. Tell Hermione, I'm glad she's safe." He disapparated.
Snape paced a bit more, then straightened his vest and went to the top right cabinet. He pulled the tranquility blend from the top. He prepared the pot from the cabinet and filled it with hot water from the bottomless kettle on the oak table behind him, and waited.
Author's Notes:
My Latin sucks, so recommendations for spells are welcome, but I didn't want to steal from previous stories I've read. 'Amolior Vestitus' should translate to "remove clothing."
Once again, the concept of connecting with another thorough a magical object that bonds two people is inspired from an excellent fanfic I recently read and recommend, though it is for a mature audience. Contemplations of Birth by Saavik13 is posted on the www.designerpotions.comwebsite and www.fanfiction.com