Severus still couldn't believe what he had heard coming from the mouth of Harry Potter.

"Harry, you've got to be bloody kidding!" Ron spoke up, unable to believe that his friend had suggested such a thing.

"No, Ron, I'm not." Harry, still crouched next to Padma, held up a hand to stop his red-faced friend from objecting further. "Think about it. What other way do we have of helping her other than sending the Headmaster back there? There aren't enough of us active in the resistance movement right now to pull off anything bigger than random guerilla raids and sabotage. We don't know enough about all of this. We aren't in a position to wage all out war on Voldemort's regime and you know it."

Ron's shoulders sagged as he sat down again and he looked defeated, even as he cringed at his friend's casual use of the Dark Lord's name. Harry continued, obviously on a roll, "Headmaster," he addressed Snape, "can you go over what you remember about the place for me?" Severus nodded.

"It's a large manor house, I think, from what I saw of it. It's richly appointed in the way a home belonging to old blood and money would be. We flooed into a sitting room and when Lucius Malfoy left me alone to go and check that everything was 'satisfactory', I was able to take a look out a window. The place is somewhere on the coast, built on the edge of a cliff overlooking the sea. There are at least three levels to it, because we went up a flight of stairs to reach the room and I saw that there was a flight of stairs leading to another level again." He looked apologetic. "I'm sorry, but that's all I can tell you about the place itself."

"What about Hermione and the other girls there? Can you tell us everything you know about them? Every little bit of information helps." Padma had wiped the tears from her face and was now leaning forward expectantly, ready to catalogue the information in her brain along with everything else.

"Miss Granger didn't look emaciated, so we can assume they are getting regular meals. Lucius took my wand from me but gave it back when he came to collect me, so I also think it's safe to assume they don't want to risk the chance of one of them getting their hands on a wand, even if they're under the Imperius. Unfortunately, from what she told me, they are used and abused quite horrifically then are healed and used and abused again." Severus trailed off as he took a moment to gauge their reactions. Harry and Padma were pale and shocked and Ron seemed to be getting more and more agitated. Miss Granger is also under the effect of a double Imperius, so I can assume she's been causing some trouble, even in captivity."

"A double Imperius?" Harry tried to wrap his mind around the concept. "I've never heard of that before. Is it even possible?"

"It's possible, but usually unnecessary. She was fighting it to give me the answers she did, but she managed to tell me what she could, a fact that's amazing in itself. I'm surprised she hasn't broken from the strain of it all."

"If there's one thing I can say about Hermione, it's that she's extremely single minded when she needs to be." Harry commented.

"Did she tell you how many girls there are there?" Padma asked, intrigued and horrified at the same time by what Snape was telling them.

"She said there were twenty prisoners in all there. Fifteen women and four men are still living."

"Did she give you any names?" Padma wanted to compare the names with the list of witches and wizards who had not been found

"None, except for the name of her cell mate."

"And who is that?"

"Lavender Brown." Padma and Harry stared at him open mouthed. Snape's gaze flicked to Ron, as the pair had dated for a while before the war broke out. If he was looking for a show, he wasn't disappointed.

"Merlin's fucking balls!!!" The hot-headed Gryffindor stood up again so quickly that the chair he'd been sitting on slammed back against the floor with a clatter. "They've got Lavender too?!? Don't you have any good news for us?"

"Is there ever any good news where the Dark Lord and his Death Eaters are concerned, Mr. Weasley?" Severus replied with a question of his own.

"Ron," Padma began, her voice reasonable, "we thought they were dead until today. The fact they're alive means we have a chance to get them back." Ron looked at her penitently as her words sunk in and he read between the lines. Parvati, whose broken body had been recovered after the final battle, was well and truly lost to them, but they had a chance to free their friends.

"I'm sorry, Padma." Ron apologized as he turned and righted his chair, sitting down at the table once more.

"While I'm talking Lucius Malfoy into letting me see Miss Granger again, what will the rest of the resistance be doing?" Snape had finished his food and pushed the empty plate away.

"I guess we should plan a little distraction to keep them busy and then we'll use some of our unregistered animagi members to trail them and see where they go. Also, we can have some of the lesser known members of our satellite cells scour the coastline by broom and see if they can't come up with a likely location for that mansion."

"That would be a good idea. Lucius Malfoy would not tell me where I was last night, so I can't see him being forthcoming about it and if I were to ask again outright, I may make him suspicious and we don't want that."

"Well, we'll leave it up to you to come up with a way to see Hermione again."

"I'll let you know what happens." Severus told him, standing up. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to get back to the school."

***

Hermione looked around the dining room table at the other prisoners as she took her seat. She counted to make sure everyone was there, something she'd done obsessively every day since Hannah had died. Dean and Justin, two other muggle-borns from her year, looked disturbed and washed out. They must have had a rough night last night. Sometimes she wondered who were the most depraved, the male or female Death Eaters? Then another ritual began. One by one, as in a round robin, they spoke the name of who they had been with the night before. She shook her head as the usual suspects were named again and again and then it was her turn.

"Professor Snape." She told them, watching as eyes widened all around her. That name had never been said at this table before. They knew better than to say anything more out loud, but the questions in their eyes spoke volumes. She gave them a reassuring smile and watched as they relaxed, puzzled looks on their faces. Everyone here had become a master at reading body language as it wasn't wise to say too much in front of the 2 burly Death Eater guards stationed at the doors. They didn't look as if they had one brain between the pair of them, but they were mean sons of bitches and it didn't take a lot to provoke them.

Food began to materialize on the plates in front of them. It was simple fare, plain but nourishing, and you ate what appeared or you ate nothing at all. As they ate, they observed yet another ritual, asking after each other's health. Everyone was present and accounted for, which meant that no-one was tortured to within an inch of their life last night. She studied Lavender, sitting next to her, hair artfully arranged to hide the faint, residual bruises around her neck that Milly hadn't been able to completely erase. Well, she knew that story intimately, having experienced it many times herself. Her eyes flicked across the table and she studied Roisin McEldowney, a black-haired, muggle-born, Ravenclaw witch from Belfast who was three years older than she was. The woman's mouth was curled into a moue of distaste, probably an unconscious reaction to what ever it was she'd been put through last night. Apart from looking drained and unhappy, she didn't seem to be too badly off. Claire Beecham, a Hufflepuff a year younger than Hermione, appeared closed off and barely holding herself together but then again she'd been unfortunate enough to host the brutal and cruel McNair last night again. He'd developed a taste for the slightly built strawberry-blonde and his frequent visits were fraying her nerves and sanity as she hadn't been all that strong to begin with. Hermione didn't envy her in the least, as he'd visited her a few times himself and she knew firsthand there was nothing that turned him on more than the sound of a woman screaming in pain. She repressed a shudder at the thought and tuned into the small talk which was deliberately bland and supposedly innocent so as to not attract the attention of the guards.

***

Monday morning after breakfast, Severus escaped up the staircase behind the gargoyle into his sanctuary, Dumbledore's old office. Every time he crossed the threshold he was reminded of that, not only by the muttering portraits of all the preceding headmasters, but by a sullen and faded Fawkes, who hadn't sung a note since the day Albus Dumbledore had died. "Hello, old boy," he greeted the phoenix as he crossed the room. He had settled on sending an owl to Lucius first to test the waters. Once he had his reply, he'd know how to proceed. He sat down at the huge oak desk and sharpened a new quill.

A few minutes later, he watched as the school owl winged its way towards the south, to Malfoy Manor. Well, that was taken care of, now to get back to what he would do once he met Miss Granger again. He'd had to get up and take a Dreamless Sleep Potion last night, as his mind was filled with images and impressions of the girl and what they had done behind the closed doors of the Green Room, as Lucius had called it, every single time he closed his eyes. What could he do to let her know he was going to help her, without really saying anything? She had been an exceptionally bright girl when she was at Hogwarts and he hoped her months of abuse under the Death Eaters had not dulled her reasoning skills too much. Of course, he didn't think that was true, but it was better to prepare for all possible scenarios.

A soft, magical chime let him know he had company and he looked in the scrying crystal imbedded in the desktop to see Professor Sprout coming up the stairs. He had an idea for a potion, but needed to check with her to see if some of the ingredients he needed from the greenhouse were mature enough to use. He didn't want to have to send away for them, because he knew that if he did that, someone might get wind of what he was up to.

"Severus," the windblown little witch greeted him affectionately, "you wanted to see me?" As per usual, she had a smudge of dirt along the side of her nose. Of the old staff, Professor Sprout was the only Head-of-House still living. Well, he was still alive but one could not be the Headmaster and also a Head-of-House. Poppy Pomfrey, Professor Trelawney and Professor Sinistra were still alive and on staff. Professor Binns was still undead and on staff. All the other teachers were new. Apart from Hagrid, who was missing, every other member of the old teaching staff were dead and gone. He shook himself out of his reverie as he realized he hadn't answered.

"Indeed," he gestured for her to take a seat in one of the squashy chairs in front of his desk, "would you like some tea?" Professor Sprout nodded and, as he poured her a cup from pot on the tray that materialized in front of him, he asked, "How are things in the greenhouse?"

"Everything is coming along quite wonderfully. We had a spectacular growing season this year. You needn't worry about a thing, there's been no root rot or mealy bugs, although I thought we had a bit of a problem with leaf blight, but I got that under control. Everything is perfect for herbology classes and all the ingredients required for the potions curriculum are in order."

"That's splendid to hear." he told her, leaning forward conspiratorially. "Now, what I'm actually interested in is growing in your own private greenhouse. Are you familiar with the Vestigium Teneo potion?" Professor Sprout's eyebrows knitted together in concentration as she dredged her memory.

"Not from personal experience. I know it's quite difficult to brew and what you need to brew it--quite the interesting list of ingredients. What's this for?" She studied him, a worried look stealing onto her face.

"I'm afraid I can't tell you at the moment, however, I can assure you it's nothing untoward… Can you supply the rarer ingredients?" Professor Sprout nodded and sipped her tea.

***

Lucius was grinning as he read the contents of the scroll. "Developed a taste for our little mudblood, have we Severus?" His smile got wider and more predatory. "She's done her job well. This is exactly what I had hoped for." Since the end of the war, Lucius had been unable to find a weakness to exploit in the former Head of Slytherin that would go unnoticed by the Dark Lord. He hated being on an even footing with Snape. If he nurtured this situation, he'd have the leverage he needed to gain the upper hand again. He scratched out a quick reply on a fresh piece of parchment and rolled it up, sliding it into the little silver scroll tube on the school owl's leg. As he watched the owl soar into the sky, he felt like celebrating and decided that a visit to the mudblood was in order.