Authors Note: Alright, I owe you an apology. And I'm sorry it took me so long. I just couldn't work this out, and got frustrated with the whole thing. Not a really good excuse, but the only one I have. The other reason for the delay would be my laziness, not a better one either, is it?
There's also another excuse I have to make, and that is for this chapter. It's not even half as good as one would wish with all the time I needed. I am sorry, especially since I know I could do much better, but there are still other chapters to come, so there's still hope.

My sincere thanks go to all of my wonderful reviewers:
diane, awwwwwww, Queen Li, MorThreeo, Sunshine Cammie (I laughed my ass of when I read your review ;)), Deb .. (nice ideas for punishment, have to remember that ;)), Hermiionee, Olivier, Cindy Lucy (Maybe you're right, that would be me, saying prick and piece of shit. Sorry for that.) dryade, kathryn, marajade179, Severia, wavy avey, Greenstuff (lol, not sure if I would consider it fun to write that stuff, but it's making my own problems seem less important), Wendynat, JustJeanette, totowizofoz, Tiffie101, wild child, Raclswt, theophania, DodgerMcClure.aka.Drama-Queen (you're right, she does not deserve it, but who on earth does?), elfgirl, piper5050,
Anger (wow, your review was really interesting to read, you have quite a different point of view as the other ones. I must let you know, that Hermione won't grovel, as she has no reason to do so. Honestly, they only had an argument, and I think he hurt her also. He can not understand her properly, and vice versa. The problem is lack of conversation, and not that she is stupid and unthankful. She's just scared, and I wish you would try to understand the thing from her point of view also.),
jessica Garcia (I've watched love actually. Great movie, great actors. Alan Rickman is indeed a brilliant actor, though I liked Colin Firth better.), princess310889, snickerdoodle, FEAngel258, totallylost, IzzyMalfoy, Antigonesev, lazy, Sara D, yuer, Tracey Claybon, twister, Cinderella1, SilentSoul (:P for me it was long ;-)), ladyreason, aquana, Draco-Malfoy-Severus-Luva, Ariana Althena Evergreen, FieryWildChild, donotsrock, WTWFFN, TheBunnies, anonymous, Nocturnus, Azz, babygidgurl, Professor Farie, AnImEfReAk81, ROTCGirl, dazed§kitten, Dragonmaster Kurai, Sammy Rettop Malfoy, Davina Meaoru, metatrons-gurl, bugzz13th, Mandy, Katrina Tonak, BabyGiGurl, Bridget;
and of course a special thanks and a hug to my beta LisaViola!

-§-- 9. False Security --§-

Hermione did not return to potions. She didn't show up at lunch, and neither did she attend Care of Magical Creatures. Ron and Harry got really concerned about her in the evening when there was still no sign of her.

They wondered if she had gotten sick, but she wasn't in the infirmary, and neither was she in the library. It wasn't like Hermione to skip classes just like that.

Back in their common room, they asked Lavender and Parvati to go up to their dormitory and look if she was there.

The two girls returned just some minutes later only to tell them that Hermione appeared to have locked herself up in her bed, and had put a charm around her curtains that no one could lift.

Although Harry and Ron wondered what happened to Hermione, they decided to leave her alone at least until tomorrow.

Hermione had been hiding in her bed for some hours. She had listened to her dorm mates yelling, but she wouldn't lift the spell.

She could not stand to face them. Not after what she had done, and what Snape was probably about to do.

He could not understand. No one would. The only thing that seemed to count was to stay here - to stay in Hogwarts, with her friends who were almost her family. This safe place had meant nearly everything to her. It had become her home after spending almost six years of her life in this castle.

Hogwarts was the only footing in her life, a place where nothing ever seemed to change.

She hated Smith for taking away her sanctuary. She hated him for taking away her privacy, her intimacy. He had stolen her youth together with her virginity, and it seemed as if those joyful moments in Hogwarts had been ages ago.

Probably, it would be for the best if she left.

She could have a new start. She could leave everything behind her. Forget about Snape, about Smith, and about last summer.

Deep inside she knew, she would never be able to leave last summer behind her.

There it was, again. She had avoided thinking about it all the time, but now the pain was right there again. Emotions and memories flooded back to her once again, threatening to overwhelm her.

She closed her eyes, trying to avoid what she knew she could not stop. Hermione felt her head go dizzy already, and her vision seemed to blur from the tears that appeared in her eyes.

Desperately, she grabbed her schoolbag that she had tossed onto her bed earlier. She scanned threw her things hurriedly, searching for something, anything...

She sighed in relief when her fingers clutched hard, cold metal. It was the key for the door to the house of her parents. She would not need it when she was at Hogwarts, but it was a habit of her to take it wherever she went.

She tried to push away the thought of her home, her own room, the house where she grew up.

The only vital part was the sharp ending of the key, and the relief that would come with its contact with her skin.

She pushed up the sleeve of her robes and it took her only one moment to draw the key in the right position. Hardly half an inch away from the arteries, she placed the jagged edge of the key to her wrists. The cold metal impacted with her hot flesh and just one skilled movement of her right hand made it slit deeper into her wrist.

Hermione inhaled sharply, but let go of her breath and relaxed when she saw how the hot slash began to fill up with red liquid. The first drop of her blood that ran down took all her emotions with her. Every sorrow that had built up inside her now left with ease, and Hermione lay down on her bed silently. She closed her eyes, her throat hurt because of suppressed tears.

She only wished sleep would come and seclude her from reality.

-§-

Severus was pacing in front of the fireplace in his room, trying to sort out the mess that was his mind.

After Hermione had left him standing stunned in the corridor, he hadn't found time to think things through without distractions.

He had been distracted in all of his classes and nearly failed to notice when one of the third year Hufflepuffs blew up his cauldron.

After dinner he had stormed into his office, poured himself some fire whiskey and let himself drop into an armchair, only to stand up again to pace around in his room.

His first intention was to head to Dumbledore's office and tell him the tale immediately.

It would be for the best. Albus would understand, he would be angry at Smith, kick him out of Hogwarts and contact the ministry of magic. Snape could stop worrying about the number one student of Hogwarts, and he could stop to pondering about why exactly he wanted to save her from Smith so badly, and Hermione could go back to her friends and be her cheerful self.

It was now after dinner, he would have had enough occasions to go to Dumbledore, but yet he had not told the old man.

What was preventing him?

'Am I really such a cold-hearted bastard?' he wondered. 'If I really cared, wouldn't I have gone to Dumbledore a long time ago? Wasn't it the most logical thing to do?'

He took a sip from his whiskey and swallowed it down his dry throat. Their argument this morning was still replaying in his head.

"But why? What would it do to you if you tell him? He doesn't rape YOU!"

"So that's what it's about? You want his job?? That's why you're playing the hero lately???"

Was the only reason he wanted to help her because of the job he craved for so long? Probably he would not even get the job if Smith left. Dumbledore had always succeeded in keeping him from teaching the subject. Except 4 years ago, when Lupin was teaching DADA, but even then it was probably only a week.

What would he gain from helping her out of the situation? He never liked her, or her friends, Gryffindors generally and Potter's lot specifically.

But was that really a reason for leaving her life this miserable?

There were a lot of things he had seen during his time as a Death Eater, and not few of them had he done himself. He sometimes had to watch at least three of his "friends" lunge at a girl who was even younger than Hermione was. They would have their enjoyment and then they would kill her. She was only a minor toy to them.

Severus often wondered if they had ever seen in the eyes of one of their playthings. Had they seen the pain that he had seen? The haunted look showed fear beyond imagination and pain above the Cruciatus curse.

Severus had seen them all. He had not been able to look away. He would not have denied what he had done by only watching them. The guilt came from the knowledge that he had never done anything to stop them. But it was not only the liability which made him lock his gaze with the victim. He was mesmerized by the fact that every single girl that had to endure the torture of the Death Eaters showed the same fear. It was not mortal fear. Actually, their looks seemed to plead for them to end their life.

The only thing they were scared of, Snape realized after a while, was that they would do it again.

It was beyond his imagination why Hermione would not do anything against it.

That was probably the reason why he hadn't gone to Dumbledore yet.

He had to find out what she was hiding.

-§-

In the early morning of the next day, Hermione decided it would be time to face the world.

She was surprised that no one broke the spell. Of course, her mates couldn't break it, it was advanced magic, after all, but if McGonagall or Dumbledore would have wanted to talk to her, the curtains wouldn't be a problem.

But they never came. Hermione wondered if Snape really held his promise and didn't tell them, even though it seemed unrealistic. If Snape would start to obey a student's plea, something could only be wrong.

Harry and Ron eyed her carefully when she sat down next to them at breakfast, but decided to question her later and just greeted her friendly, glad that their friend was okay again.

They did not notice the glances Hermione shot towards the staff table, trying to figure out what happened yesterday, and why nothing had changed.

Professor Snape was his normal self, sitting sourly in front of his plate and sneering now and then, giving a snide side remark to the conversations his colleagues had. Smith seemed as joyful as ever, though Hermione could tell that there was a kind of tension in his face, not able for anyone else to see.

The two men who momentary controlled her life acted as if they would not notice that the place next to Potter and Weasley, which had been empty yesterday, was seated again with Hogwart's brightest student. Mentally, both of them sighed with relief and concern.

Smith noticed Hermione's absence yesterday at dinner, and he was anxious. He had been caught, and it could only be a bad sign if the girl wasn't there, just when she obviously had spoken to Snape some hours ago. On the other hand, it was weird enough that Snape hadn't done anything so far. It had been some days since he walked in his office and found the two of them, and still the other man hadn't done anything serious to him, except for braking his nose, but did he honestly think that THIS was about to stop him? He'd had it fixed again in less than one minute.

For a short time, he was glad Hermione was out of his way. If she just stayed away from everyone else, she wouldn't be able to tell anyone. But now she was here again, and he knew he couldn't resist.

Snape would watch his very move from now on, and Smith knew it. He wouldn't dare make any step out of the line at the moment. But Snape wouldn't be watching her forever, and the DADA teacher was very patient.

-§-

Slowly, everything seemed to get normal again.

Hermione spent more time with Harry and Ron again, feeling comfortable and warm around them. They would make a trip down to Hagrid's, or play wizard chess. Sometimes they just sat in the common room and talked, laughed or fought. Even simple things like doing their homework together made Hermione smile peacefully.

Smith hadn't attacked her since the incident with Snape, and Hermione felt like she could breathe the first time in ages, although he still threw her dangerous glances in the DADA lessons, and she felt his eyes on her at every meal.

Those eyes, which seemed to strip every clothes on her body... which said that she still was his, that he still owned her. It would only be a matter of time when he would touch her again.

Hermione ignored it. She ignored the nagging voice inside her head, telling her to watch out, to be scared, anxious, and she should better run. She didn't want to run. Hogwarts was her home. She enjoyed every moment with her friends, more so because she knew at any time it could be over.

At any time, she wouldn't have enough strength to pretend everything was fine, and then she couldn't see them again. Yet, she was still here, and Smith hadn't touched her.

She would not be waiting for him.

-§-

I wouldn't dare to forget this: Merry Christmas to you all!
I won't push you to review this time... I'm afraid some will bite my head off. §hides in the corner§