Thanks to all the reviews for the last chapter. I am aware that I am covering dangerous territory here as there may be people out there who suffered from abuse. I can't know what people think when things as horrible as abuse happen to them but I try to be careful. Don't be offended please. The rape is not a plot device here but a mean to explain Severus' behaviour. There was one review from I think Viola and she mentioned something about a way to improve my writing. There was no email address given in her profile. So please if you could mail me sometime and tell me how I can improve. That would be awfully nice. That goes for everybody. I encourage you to flame me.

11. [ The Return of the Dark Lord ]

Patience had never been one of the virtues Lucius Malfoy treasured and as he waited for the arrival of the messenger in a worn-down hotel in East London he felt close to a breaking-point. Nothing so far was going the way he had planned it, the attempted kidnapping of this stupid mudblood had been prevented by somebody he thought was loyal to the course of the Dark Lord and he had to hide again.

Aurors were looking all over the island for him and his wife Narcissa refused to talk with him in fear that she or Draco would be imprisoned in Azkaban. He had absolutely no access to any of his money and right now it would be a relief to torture some muggles. But a day ago he had received an owl by an old friend who had informed him that the Dark Lord had risen again and he was to wait in this filthy little excuse for a hotel. Of course he wasn't foolish enough to disobey and therefore he had been here most of this and the last.

Slowly he was loosing the last shred of patience he still possessed but something made him stay. He knew what the Dark Lord did to disloyal Death Eaters and fear made him stay when in reality he wanted to run. He had not been delighted by Lucius' attempt of revenge and he knew he would suffer for it.

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It was already late morning when Hermione woke from a deep dreamless sleep and for a moment neither the environment nor the conditions were right. She was lying in a cold room with stone walls and the bed was hard and uncomfortable. In her back something warm and large alerted her senses and when she turned around she saw the peaceful figure of Severus Snape next to her with his soft hair now covering his face as he snored softly.

Painfully the memories came rushing back and inhaling deeply she cupped his cheek softly as not to startle him. He moved into the caress slightly without waking up and she hoped whatever Poppy gave him would give him some more sleep before he had to face her. Turning around she glanced around the room and recognized it immediately- it was the coldest place she had ever seen, Snape's sleeping chamber, and shortly she pondered if she should make some tiny alterations.

Maybe something nice he would see when he woke up later, something that would show him that she suffered with him but didn't pity him. That sounded like a good idea and with a short wave of her wand she concentrated and turned her clip into a small daisy which she placed on the pillow she had vacated in the bed.

She had to talk to Dumbledore, for long enough had he played with her and she wanted an explanation. She wouldn't bother Severus with this when the headmaster could give her the same information, not after last night. Trying to chase away the pictures she dressed herself quickly and left the chamber to make her way to the headmaster's office.

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"She sure is behaving extremely unusual don't you think?" Ronald Weasly tried to catch his friend's eyes but for some reason he was focused completely on the high table and had failed to answer him this question for three times already.

"Professor Snape is missing as well and I haven't heard from Hermione since yesterday. I am worried Ron." The dark haired boy turned his green concerned eyes to his friend and noticed the sulking expression there. "What?"

"Nothing. As usual you are not listening to a word I say, Harry or you would know that I had mentioned the fact that I am worried about her too."

"What do you think is keeping them? I hope they are not hurt but I think Professor Dumbledore would have told us that already." Harry rubbed his scar and cursed silently. "On top of it all my scar hurts all day already."

"Speaking of the headmaster, don't you think he looks awfully tired this morning?" Ron motioned in the direction of his place at the high table.

"Yes, and if I didn't know better I would say that Professor McGonagall looks almost as if she had cried."

Not knowing what to say in reply to that the younger Weasly son stared into his tea cup.

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"Lucius? Tell me what am I supposed to do with you?" The shrill voice made him want to die as the white scalp-like face of his Lord appeared above him after he had gone down with the first cruciatus curse. Still panting Malfoy tried to anticipate his master's next move but right now he was more occupied with trying to get enough air into his lungs to not suffocate.

The curse had hit him without any warning and as usual the Dark Lord never showed any mercy to his Death Eaters. If you did well there was praise in abundance, but if you failed he rarely showed any reason. And he had failed this time- his Lord wasn't happy.

"Instead of waiting for me as I had instructed you rush off to get some cheap revenge. Now tell me Lucius, what do I usually do with people who fail to comply with my wishes?"

He inhaled sharply.

The Dark Lord laughed manically obviously enjoying the torment his captive was in. From the corner of his eye Lucius saw a tall dark figure step next to Voldemort and mentally groaned in agony. Bellatrix Lestrange looked down at him in clear disgust but there was something else in her eyes, she was waging chances against each other.

"Maybe I should just kill him, what do you think Bellatrix, my only loyal follower? Or maybe I could leave it to your capable hands to finish this piece of shit off for me?" He placed his wand at Lucius throat and applied some pressure which made him choke again.

Pointing her heavy lidded eyes at her brother-in-law Bellatrix frowned shortly. Then she turned to her Lord obviously having reached a decision.

"If I may be allowed to talk master, I could provide some input that prove helpful in dealing with this traitor?"

Voldemort nodded and bent up again but not removing the full body bind on Lucius.

"I can't fail to notice that somebody is missing here in your trustful circle my Lord?" She sounded as if she was weighing her words. She wasn't stupid enough to address the issue openly, she had no idea what her master thought of this.

"Severus, I know. I haven't summoned him tonight simply because he contacted me a couple of days ago to inform me that thanks to Lucius' stupidity he is watched more closely now in Hogwarts."

Bellatrix nodded as if completely agreeing to him and then bowed her head as if she gave Voldemort permission to slaughter her if he wanted to. She simply had to know.

"Is it allowed to question Severus my Lord?" Her voice sounded low and calm.

"No it isn't my dear Bellatrix. I admit I had my doubts about my trusted potions Master for a while but he has proven his loyalty in more ways than anybody expect you and the two of you are the only ones I trust enough in this circle to turn my back on you. Why are you asking?"

"Because through some contacts I have received information that surprised me my master."

He waved with his hand. "Continue."

"I heard that Severus is now married to the same mudblood Lucius tried to kidnap and I heard that she was lodging in the dungeons with him now. You might remember her my Lord, she is one of Harry Potter's best friends. Her name is Hermione Granger."

For a while Voldemort kept silent obviously contemplating that information. Then with a wave he undid the body bind. "I think I need to talk with my old friend to see what he has to say for himself. Lucius' fate will be decided after I have attended to this immediate problem."

Slowly exhaling Malfoy felt the relief pumping through his body. At last he wouldn't die tonight.

Turning again to his fallen Death Eater Voldemort grinned evilly. "I trust you to attend to his whereabouts Bellatrix my dear. Have fun, all the fun you want to."

With that he disappeared and Lucius saw with horror the sadistic smile that appeared on the pale face of his savour. This was even worse than the killing curse.

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It was shortly after the lunch in the great hall had ended when the sleep potion's effect ended and Severus opened his eyes. For a moment he felt a bit dizzy as was usual when he had taken sleep potion and he shortly wondered why he had done something he never did under normal circumstances. Then the memory returned, not mercifully in tiny parts but it hit him like a ton of bricks making him gasp in pain.

Now in the bright daylight he realized that somebody had played a horrible trick on him last night. His father was dead and he had never in all these years returned as a ghost. Somebody obviously knew about what he had done to his son and had decided that it was an enjoyable activity to torture him for a while. Or maybe somebody had simply thought it would be fun to make his life more horrible than it already was.

Remembering Hermione and how she stormed in he realized that obviously she had seen what had happened in his living room and knew about the sexual abuse and the curses. Gulping he buried his head in the pillow and groaned. Perfect. Just what he needed on top of it all. Somewhere in his guts he knew that she would be disgusted with him like everybody else was and all hope to ever be more than Snivellus to anybody had vanished.

He didn't want to think about any of this and hurriedly he got up not noticing the flower on the pillow and disappeared into the bathroom. He wanted a hot shower now and then he had to start to face his life as he always did. As the evil sneering witty bastard which had proved effective in dealing with the pain. There was nothing more for him here anyhow.

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"Hermione, I understand that you are upset about last night but unfortunately I can't tell you much and I am almost sure you know more about the current circumstances than I do." Albus Dumbledore bored his blue serious eyes into her hazelnut ones trying to make her understand. So far without any success.

"But Sev- Professor Snape told me you knew about my visits to this hidden chamber. How can you know about that and not know anything else?" She was slowly getting angry; very much so and red patches appeared on her otherwise pale skin.

She looks like Severus would look like in a situation of distress.

Minerva tried to shake off the feeling of doom in her every cell, somehow she knew that this journey was far from over for Hermione and Severus. How could they really send her out all unprepared and expect her to understand that. Sighing the head of Gryffindor rose from her chair.

"Albus, tell her about the prophecy. Severus knows and she has the right to know as much as he does." For a moment their eyes met and he nodded the twinkle reappearing.

"If you say my dear." He looked in the shocked face of one Hermione Granger and nodded again. "Yes Hermione, some thousand years ago a prophecy was made about you and Severus. Of course you weren't named but after I had gotten to know Severus I knew he was the one the text was referring to. I almost forgot about the prophecy until you began to attend Hogwarts and I was sharply reminded of the prediction. I won't tell you the content of this prophecy however I know that you and Severus will be much more involved in bringing Voldemort down than you can imagine right now. It even mentions the necklace and you forced wedding."

For a moment Hermione was stunned and then she sprang up from her chair her curls flying.

"I don't want to be part of a prophecy! Nobody asked me ever if I wanted to be married, if I wanted to meet this creepy ghost in the dungeons and if I wanted to feel the pain Severus goes through." Her voice sounded shrill but somehow she couldn't care. Her breaking-point had been reached without her noticing and now she just wanted to spit the venom out. "You tell me always there is good in the world but how can there be? Severus' father did horrible things to his son and he enjoyed them, was utterly pleased by the horror his son was in. He was almost worse than Voldemort and now I am here wanting some guidance and some explanations and all I get are more riddles. I am tired of guessing, tired of fighting. I am tired of it all." With that she left the office banging the door behind her.

"Well, surely that went well." Albus Dumbledore was sarcastic on very rare occasions and so Minerva sputtered her tea.