A Light in the Dark

by Lyndsay Kaye

Hermione winds up on the doorstep of the most hated Professor at Hogwart's, and she has to save his life. Little did she know...the tables would turn and she would have to place her life in his hands.

20. A Late Night Visit

Chapter Twenty: A Late Night Visit

Snape relaxed in the suddenly empty kitchen, finding it suited him much better this way. He was sipping his tea when Hermione's nervous squeaking voice entered his mind.

Do you enjoy Wizards Chess?

What an odd thing to say, Snape mused to himself over the last page of the Daily Prophet. What a silly little girl. A bemused smirk crossing his lips as he recalled the girl's worried expression as she left him seconds before.

He couldn't help but notice that blasted morning chill was back.

Both Hermione and Severus had come to the internal agreement to be civil to one another. Both would strive to be polite in one's company, and no words would be exchanged over their supposed marriage.

The marriage had been the elephant in the room, the taboo topic none would speak of. Hermione had felt her stomach drop at the very thought of it, and Snape was truly disturbed with the thought of sharing his quarters.

This implemented strategy had gone well, as neither had run into the other during the past week since the infamous egg/breakfast debacle that Harry couldn't seem to stop talking about -"You asked him to play chess?"- and Hermione couldn't have been happier.

But sadly, as usual in life there are bumps in the road. Neither of them got the real chance to put action to these civil endeavors for only a week after the said problem, Snape was gone.

He'd left silently, probably in the middle of the night and without word to anyone.

Hermione had come down to breakfast the next morning to hear Albus and Molly talking about his sudden departure sadly over breakfast. The words 'Death Eater meeting' and 'Voldemort' came up enough times that Hermione felt physically ill and had to leave.

Whilst the thought of Snape going off to see Voldemort normally would have bothered Hermione a bit, she now felt wholeheartedly responsible for the entire mess.

"What have I done?" she said softly to herself walking back to her room, fully intending to cry herself to back to sleep. "I was so cruel to him, he tried to save my life and now...he may be dead...all because of me."

She had rounded the corner to her room when Harry suddenly appeared at the doorway, looking at her perplexed as the tears rolled down her fevered cheeks. He didn't say anything, he didn't need to for as soon as Hermione had seen him she'd thrown herself into his arms and proceeded to sob.

Harry had been most kind, having hugged her back generously and guided her to his empty room. Minutes passed as he soothingly brushed her hair from her face, giving her gentle kisses on her cheeks and telling her it would be all right.

"I may loathe the git," Harry had stated firmly, "But he's not stupid. He'd never get himself killed. He's much too crafty for that...I mean come on 'Mione. He's a Slytherin through and through."

After a while of Harry's confident speeches Hermione had resolved to stop crying and had believing him when he said the words. He'd looked happy to see her brightening face and in a turn of sudden charity offered to play Wizard's Chess with her.

"You're a good friend Harry." She's smiled, as she kissed his cheek gently as he beamed slightly. "But no thanks, if you don't mind I think I'm just going to take a walk."

Harry had nodded respectfully, watching her form longingly as she left the room and shaking his head at his spineless approach. When would she see that he didn't want to be a good friend?

She walked out to the large, gnarled tree outside the Weasley home and leaned against it for support. She'd been disoriented, still worrying about Snape and what Voldemort must be doing to him. She hugged the tree tightly, wondering all the time whether he was being tortured because of her.

If he died, it would be because of her.

Many days had passed and Severus Snape was no worse for wear. His pale face was dotted with stubble, his eyes heavy with fatigue and his muscles ached with indignation. Voldemort had called him in that night after his run in with Miss Granger over eggs and wizard's chess. How he'd give anything to have eaten those eggs, played stupid chess...anything but this endless torture.

He was more irritable than usual, save for when he was in front of the Dark Lord. Seems the insatiable Lord wanted a bit of fun for the weekend and had ordered his followers to raid a Muggle town and bring him a bit of entertainment.

"Use the rest of them as you wish," he'd commanded breezily, "Only bring me the most promising. Untouched."

They'd been off within seconds, knowing full well the range of their Lord's patience. Snape had been reluctantly following the eager in front, trying to look excited about the evenings occurrences.

Snape loathed these tidings at times, especially when the women fought. How he hated the screams that ripped through the air, the wide eyes in fear and shock. He'd become hardened over the years, that much was true. But it didn't mean that he didn't feel the slight anguish as Muggle after Muggle was used, tossed and forgotten in a matter of minutes.

Animals. he thought furiously as they descended upon their prey, rubbing their hands together and smirking to one another in hidden delight.They're all animals.

Suddenly a light haired Muggle came screaming out the side of a door, her clothing in ripped tatters. Evidently she'd been the object of one Death Eater's desire. Her hands were bound together behind her back and she was swaying dangerously as she ran heedlessly.

"Help me!" She screeched as she ran through the street, tears streaming down her face as she almost choked. Through her blinded tears she stumbled and fell in front of Severus shakily with a yelp as her hands hit the pavement. She saw Snape above her, immovable. He was about to turn, to pretend he hadn't seen her and let her go when he heard a voice behind him.

"There you are Severus." Lucius said silkily, moving towards the two unmoving figures. He'd just finished off himself in the bar adjacent to the street and smiled smarmily as he viewed his friend and his current conquest. "So nice to see you're joining in the festivities. She's perfect for you."

"Hardly. She seems more your type." Snape had said coolly, his eyes transfixed on the young woman before him. She was shaking and Snape sighed darkly, knowing full well her fate.

"I've had my fill for the moment," Lucius said haughtily, "But I don't believe you've been too immersed in the activities."

Snape felt the perspiration trickle down the sides of his temples at these words, he knew what Lucius was insinuating. He was one of the few that never fully trusted Severus. With a growl of anger at Lucius Snape grasped the blonde girl by her hair, bringing her scratching and clawing at him up to her feet.

"Let m-me go." She tried to scream, her eyes losing their fire rapidly as she stared into the hypnotizing depths of Severus Snape's eyes. "Please...please I don't want to die."

Snape tried to keep focus, but at her begging he felt his mouth begin to water. For years he had tried to suffocate the darkness that threatened to overwhelm him at times. For years he had tried to put the past in the past, but staring at her reddened lips and hearing her sultry moans of panic he felt himself growing hard.

Months of celibacy had been forced upon him because he never trusted himself with a woman. Too many times had he been the weakened male of Hogwarts. Whilst others retired to their chambers with loved one's he was alone. Now here was a young woman, at his mercy and he relished in the intoxicating realization that he was her master.

Lucius stood back as Severus lowered his mouth to the helpless young woman. She tried to pull her mouth away, but Snape was too strong for her. Her bound wrists burned and she tried to nip at his lips as they overpowered her own unwilling ones, his hand ravaged an unwilling breast that he grasped in his hand and his tongue slid into her mouth, tasting every essence of her.

Soon she felt as his nose glided over her cheek and his lips traced a mark over her earlobe. She cried out in fear, begging him not to hurt her, but it was too late. Already Snape could feel the familiar darkness invading him, already did he have the smell of fear inside him, building him up and he pressed himself harder against her eliciting a moan from her.

"You should have run whilst you could. But you lost your chance. It's too late." Snape said smoothly into her ear, a tone of malice intermingled with its sultry timbre as he continued.

"Now you're mine."

"Of course he's coming back." Dumbledore said to Hermione lightly as they sat in the meeting room once more. "I know Severus. He's been gone longer than this before my dear, worry not."

Hermione nodded, looking to the departed members of the Order and looking contemplative. It had been two whole weeks since she'd last seen Snape, and it was proving to be her undoing.

She'd had horrible nightmares of Voldemort killing him, shooting him with wands or poisoning him at dinner. Then she'd have nightmares of marrying Snape and having him kill her. It was rubbish, but every time she had awoken with a sense of dread and her pillows drenched with sweat.

She hadn't thought that she'd be so affected by all of this; in fact she'd believed just the opposite. Part of her had been convinced that she hated him, that he was disgusting and that if he did die it would mean no marriage. But the other part saw him as the noble, brave and brilliant Professor she'd known since she was eleven.

My, she'd known him that long? It didn't seem that long. She supposed it was his absence in her day-to-day life that made it so. Outside of classes and the occasional run in during hallway patrol she'd never spoken to him. Was that what was causing this foreign feeling?

She didn't love him, have no mistake about that. She wasn't even sure if she liked him yet. She was merely on the basis of getting to know him and having him abducted once more into that world of darkness.

She felt sympathy for him, for a man whose life had never been his own. Too long had he been another's servant in spirit, and the thought that a man as brilliant as him would have to suffer like that was unbelievable horrid to imagine.

"Thank you Headmaster." she said grimly, "I'll take that into consideration."

"See that you do Hermione." Dumbledore said with a confident smile, hiding a worried expression in his eyes. "He's much more resourceful than you give him credit for."

Hermione nodded once more, standing and brushing off the dust from her skirt. "I know Headmaster."

She said this nodding once more and standing as she walked out of the room, trying to conceal the worried sobs from the white-haired man still seated at the table.

The young woman they'd brought to the Dark Lord for his interest bore a small resemblance to Miss Granger and as she writhed under Voldemort's forceful body, Snape couldn't help but be disturbed.

They'd left Voldemort and his victim and headed out to the mess hall where the rambunctious shouts of Death Eater's rang around them and Snape sat in solitary silence.

"Severus." the smooth voice rang out beside him as Snape titled his head lightly to the left. Familiar silvery eyes gleamed from inside the dark hood of the Death Eater cloak.

"Lucius. What do you want?"

"Is that anyone to talk to a friend?" Lucius said silkily, moving forward from the shadows and smirking at his old friend as he sat next to him. Seemed Severus had been in a horrible mood these past few days and he was determined to get to the bottom of it.

"I'm tired." Snape said roughly, rubbing his eyes as he said the words to solidify credibility.

"After your show with that blonde I can see why." Lucius said with a smirk at Snape's stoic face.

He felt his stomach churn as Lucius said these words, lowering his eyes to the ground as he forced a lecherous smile onto his face, but his eyes told all. The blonde.

He had awoken the next morning to a pounding head, a groggy feeling of post climatic pleasure and the nagging realization that he'd slept with the girl and killed her in a matter of moments. Just as her lips had formed the small O of unexpected pleasure he had taken her life. And enjoyed it.

Now he felt sickened at his animalistic actions, disgusted at what he became when around Death Eater scum. Lucius was carefully regarding his old friend with a look of malicious interest.

"So," Lucius said lazily. "How is that little Mudblood of yours?"

Snape looked up from his hands with a look of worry in his eyes as he regarded the blonde man. Lucius didn't bring up things unless he wanted to gloat, or to disturb.

"Fine. Why do you inquire?"

Lucius offered a toothy smile, "You're still adamant about wedding the filth?"

Snape made a weary face, not even sure of how to answer. He had planned on speaking with Voldemort about the situation. He would claim that it would cause too much scandal, and that he would come up with another plan.

"I'm going to have a word with the Dark Lord later on." Severus said with a careless shrug, "I don't think marriage is the wisest course of action."

"You know the Dark Lord is intrigued with her."

"I'm duly aware."

"Tut tut, such vicious sarcasm." Lucius said with mock concern, raising a dramatic hand to his chest. "I'm merely informing you of the rules the Dark Lord has implemented."

"In regards to?"

"Why, your Mudblood of course."

Snape felt his heart leaping into his throat at the mention of his student. If anything horrific was to happen to her, it would be entirely his fault. He should have taken better care of her. The glittering orbs of Lucius Malfoy sent his stomach whirring with uncertainty.

"I don't see why." Snape said paling a bit, trying to appeal casual. What was Lucius getting at? Why was he bringing up Hermione Granger at all? Evidently Voldemort had been inquiring about their relationship. They'd have much to talk about when he returned to the Burrow.

"The Dark Lord is worried about you Severus," Lucius said with a careless wave of his hand, "He claims you've gone weak."

"He needn't worry."

"That's what I told him." Lucius said in a placating tone. "I told him he had nothing to fear on your account, but he did make his intentions of obtaining the girl quite clear."

"What are you trying to say?"

"What I'm trying to say dearest man." Lucius said with a malicious grin. "If you don't marry her, one of us will."

She'd been dreaming of nothing in particular, perhaps a long summer's day reading under the confines of a shaded tree by a pond, or perhaps nothing at all. It had been peacefully shattered when she felt her shoulder being shook and was in a grogged state when she felt a clammy hand go over her mouth, as her eyes jolted open in fright.

She had fully intended to start screaming, (of course it would have been muffled by the intruder's hand over her lips) and she felt her hot breath bouncing off the hand and floating back into her mouth and face. She couldn't bring herself to do it though. It was if her scream had welled somewhere within her throat and lodged itself there. Her heart had spun dizzily, causing her head to do the same as she tried to register who was holding her captive.

"Miss Granger?"

She took this moment of reflection to calm herself down, shake the worried tears that had started slipping down her cheeks and focus on the familiar eyes and voice above her. She should have bloody well known.

Snape was looking down on her, a worried look on his pale face, currently bathed in moonlight. This look alone sent a shock of terror coursing through her.

Severus Snape was scared.

If there was ever a time to panic, now was it. For Severus Snape was a proud man, not one to fall victim to showing his emotions. Oh no, the plain terror in his eyes was enough to send Hermione running.

"Are you awake?"

Hermione could have rolled her eyes then as he posed the query. Was she awake? WAS SHE AWAKE! He's just smashed his hand over her lips, shook her awake and was currently suffocating her as he peered in her face and tried to detect if her eyes were indeed open.

Instead she forced herself to nod, trying to pry the hands from her lips. Seeing her distress he gently lifted his hand from her lips and placed his palms them on either side of her lying form on the bed. It was then that she noticed he was wearing his Death Eater robes, and was awfully close.

"There is something most important at the meeting Miss Granger." he whispered urgently, "Something that you should have been privy to earlier."

"What?"

"I tried." Snape said still leaning over her and looking utterly broken as he spoke. "I tried to appeal to the Dark Lord, I did everything in my power. But tonight...tonight he made his plans quite clear."

"His plans?"

Hermione sat up a bit in the bed, dragging the sheets up with her over her chest, blushing a bit in the process. Her nightgown didn't really leave much to the imagination. She viewed as Snape averted his eyes and continued speaking angrily.

"The Dark Lord has deemed that if I refuse to marry you under any circumstances...Any of the other Death Eaters will."

Hermione felt her stomach dropping at this. Was Snape refusing? Was she going to be handed over to the Death Eaters? What a stupid thought. The look in Snape's weary eyes made it clear of his decision, although when he said the words it caused her body to shake.

"We will be wed, Miss Granger." Snape said roughly, not looking to the tears that trickled down the young woman's cheeks. She sniffled, forcing the sobs down her throat and into her stomach. There was no point in crying.

"There's no use in crying." Snape said angrily, moving from her hastily as he viewed the beginnings of waterworks. "You knew this was an option just as I."

"I know." Hermione sobbed softly, "I just hoped...I ju-just hoped we could get around it."

"Well we can't." Snape said harshly, refusing to let his emotions take him over. He knew he was repulsive, but did she have to cry so much? "Now stop being a baby about this entire ordeal and-."

"What's going on?"

Snape nearly leapt from where he stood as Ginny leaned over her side of the bunk bed and saw the two figures. In her fatigue clouded haze she thought they were kissing, but when she heard the sobs from Hermione felt inclined to pipe up.

"Get out of here." Snape growled, not waiting for Ginny to ponder any further. The girl offered a worried squeak, leapt down the ladder at the end of the bed and rushed out the door to her mother's room.

Hermione blurrily looked to the darkened figure of Snape, who now sat on the side of her bed, looking to her with undecided regard. He slipped his hands into his robes, and produced a small handkerchief with the initials S.S. on it.

"Here." he said gruffly, handing it to her as she shakily took it from him. She felt her world collapsing around her and blotted the tears from her eyes. Collecting herself she took a deep breath, opening her eyes and giving him a nod.

"I understand and I'm sorry." she said softly, letting her gaze drag itself up to his unrelenting gaze. "I'm glad you're safe Professor."

Snape didn't move a moment, nor did he speak. Instead he seemed quite torn with what he was about to say next. Looking to her innocent face he felt tug at him. If she only knew the horrors he'd been through, and sparked himself.

She saw as his eyes lowered, looking to her pillow absently as his fingers played about with the edge of it. He didn't seem to want to speak, and she wondered if it was because he was still mad at her.

"That's not all Miss Granger." Snape finally said softly, his fingers still absently playing about with the edge of her pillow nervously, catching a few of her stray hairs as his eyes locked with her own.

"They want to see us tonight."