"Hmmm." Severus hummed, still taking the memories from Hermione's mind.

"What is it?" Hermione asked.

"There seems to be many memories here. Are you sure you are bringing only the ones from the past two weeks to your mind?" Severus asked.

"Yes." Hermione said.

"It doesn't make sense to have this much in your mind for only a few weeks." He said more to himself. It was awhile longer before he finished gathering the memories. He used his wand to swirl them around. "You don't have to come with me, if you don't want to. If you're not ready." He told her.

"I think it would be best to wait a little longer before I do, Severus." Hermione said.

Severus nodded, and reached into the pensive. The expected pull brought him to the day and the room where it all began.

The first few memories that Severus had encountered were of Hermione's daily routine. Her classes, conversations with staff and students, and working with Korun (which made him clench his fists until his short fingernails dug moonlike imprints into his palms).

Then the one he was looking for came. Hermione and Korun had been working on his experiments, and were at the point of testing.

"Korun!" She said. "I think we've done it!" Hermione exclaimed excitedly over a cauldron. Severus approached it, looking in, knowing it was what started it all.

Korun came over from his calculations and looked over her shoulder. "I believe you're right, Hermione." He replied. Severus could tell from the look in his eyes, he more than believed she was right. He knew it. 'The bastard had this planned.' Severus thought, noting the evil gleam in Korun's eyes.

Severus watched as Korun examined and commented on the potion. Hermione and Korun discussed the final ingredient that had finally made the potion a success. He was impressed that Hermione had considered going outside the normal realm of potions as to use something as simple as muggle rum.

"Well, it worked. However unorthodox the contents." Korun smiled. "We should test it."

'This is where it turns all wrong for her.' Severus thought to himself. He knew what was coming, and he didn't want to see it. But he couldn't control how much of these memories he would be an audience to, and he needed to watch for anything that might solve what happened in his office during the interrogation and in the infirmary.

"What will we use for the test subject." Hermione asked. Severus thought that she looked so happy. Her life was finally getting back together. She had new friends, she had new projects, and she had new goals. But it all went downhill. After Korun volunteered to take the potion, despite Hermione's concerns that it might pose a danger to him ('I wish.' He thought), he watched as the unsuspecting Hermione become so enthused at the success of the potion. He almost smiled at the light bantering between them.

"I'll write down the observations." Hermione volunteered, going to the parchment on the desk.

"It's going to be rather difficult without a quill." Korun said. Hermione turned around.

"True enough." Walking back to Korun at the front of the room. 'Don't Hermione!' Severus thought, recognizing the triumphant look in Korun's eyes. But nothing could change what had already happened. Before she was halfway across the room, Korun held out his hand. Both Hermione and the visiting Severus watched as her wand flew out of the pocket of her robes and into his hand. He threw it to the side, grabbing his wand, and placed wards on the classroom before pointing it at her.

Severus watched, looking for any details that might help the question of why Hermione had such a violent reaction to the Vertaserum. He had to force himself to watch for it. Seeing the pain in Hermione's eyes proved to be too much, and he avoided looking at them as Korun beat her. He became slightly interested in the carving on Hermione's torso. The knife that Korun had used had been pure silver, he knew. He could see that it was the same knife he kept in a case in his office.

Hermione didn't notice, not surprisingly since she was a bit distracted at the moment, but Korun was muttering a charm between his biting remarks. He could barely make out the words, but luckily, they were repeated again and again until the mark was complete.

"Through the eyes of the doer, the watcher sees." 'What does that mean?' Severus asked himself, keeping the words in mind for later.

Once Korun had finished, he lifted the dagger to his face. Severus looked at the traces of blood present on it. Korun cleaned the knife with his tongue, leering at Hermione as he ingested the small amount of blood. "Ah. The blood of the innocent is so delicious. Had I known you were in fact innocent, I would have done this sooner."

Severus paled at hearing it. 'She was a virgin?!?' The anger and hatred that Severus had felt for Korun before was nothing compared to what he felt now. He couldn't believe what the bastard had robbed her of. Her first time should have been gentle. Not this. It was an abomination!

He watched, heart wrenching, as Hermione continued to struggle as much as she could, in vain. But she could not fight off the restraints as well as Korun. "I could always use the blood of a virgin in some potions. Could be a good learning experience for the class." He whispered in her ear, seeming to think for a moment. "Nah. I think I'd rather just take you here and now."

After it was over, Hermione was dressing herself as Korun continued to taunt Hermione. He heard the threat made against Professor Una, but knew that Korun would never follow through on that threat – not that Hermione would know until later. Severus watched as Korun placed a charm on Hermione's wand, saying it was so that it would be useless to use against him. And it would be. As long as Korun was holding his wand as well.

He used a wand binder spell. If Hermione attempted to use a spell against Korun while he had his own wand in hand, then Korun could control the spell since Hermione didn't know what defenses she could use against that kind of violation. It was another detail that Hermione may have missed. He'd better make sure that she knew of what kind of defense to use against him. It would take more power, but it would help her to defend herself.

After Hermione left Korun's office, Severus watched the next few memories with vague interest. He was still seething over what had happened during the rape. Hell, he was still seething over the rape itself.

But then the surprise brought him to full attention to the memories again. He looked around the room he was currently in, and saw that it was somewhere that Hermione would most likely not have been. He was in Korun's rooms, at the time that Korun was under house arrest. He looked at the figure in the middle of the room, seeming to be waiting for something or someone.

The door opened at the end of the room, and Severus watched in shock as Bill Weasley entered, bowing down before the figure.

"So he hasn't a clue, has he?" A voice from a robed figure asked as Bill entered his chambers.

"Not one. He's hit a brick wall. Led him right to it." Bill answered, walking to the figure and kneeling before it.

"Very good. What's the traitor up to now?"

'What the hell?'

Severus came out of the pensive, taking a moment to compose himself before saying anything to Hermione. She seemed to understand, allowing him to break the silence. But looking over at her form, he realized that it wasn't necessarily the case.

She'd fallen asleep waiting for him to return from her memories. He wondered how long he'd been in there for. Looking at the time, it was close to four in the morning. He had arrived in her rooms shortly after leaving the experiments with Weasley.

No, not Weasley. It was Creevy. Making a mental note to change the wards over the lab, if the experiments haven't been compromised already, Severus watched her sleep. He was exhausted himself. But he knew that she would ask about what he had found out from her memories. What would he say to her? Until he had all the information he had gathered straightened out, he would just have to tell her nothing. He knew that she wouldn't be satisfied.

Try as he might though, he wasn't able to concentrate properly on the matter to come to another solution. He decided that sleep would be the best since his body wasn't allowing him anything else at the moment. Not wanting to leave her, he removed his outer robes and jacket, leaving himself in his trousers and his button down shirt, he crawled on the bed beside Hermione. He gently pulled her to him so she was sleeping on his chest, and closed his eyes to fall asleep.

Hermione awoke the following morning. Her cheek was resting on something warm and soft, and there was warmth surrounding her. She cuddled closer to it, not wanting to lose it. Realizing that it was gently moving, she opened her eyes and looked up at Severus' sleeping face. Tracing his face with her eyes as she had done months ago, she realized that she felt comfortable like this. After the attack from Korun, she was expecting to shy away from human contact, even though this was Severus.

She wondered what time he came out of the pensive, and felt bad for falling asleep before he returned. He would understand though. Try as she might, she couldn't shake it off, and before she knew it, it was morning.

She was interrupted in her thoughts as she felt the arm that was around her tighten slightly, and Severus opened his eyes to look at her. They said nothing, just looking back at the other until Hermione broke the silence.

"I'm sorry for falling asleep on you." Hermione said. "I was hoping to be awake when you came back."

Severus still said nothing, but he brought the hand that wasn't around her waist up to her hair, and smoothed it over her. "You have nothing to apologize for." He said.

Hermione smiled at him, lifting herself into a sitting position. Severus followed her, and suddenly grabbed her by the waist and pulled her to him, burying his face in her neck, and holding on like he would never let go.

At first Hermione tensed up, but she soon relaxed, bringing her arms around his shoulders, and allowing him time to think.

"I am so sorry, Hermione." Severus murmured against her skin. The feeling of his warm breath on her neck made her shiver slightly.

"What for?" She asked, confused. Severus brought his face back up to look at her, not letting go of her.

"For hiring Korun, for not protecting you against him." He said.

"Severus, you couldn't have known what he was going to do." Hermione replied, repeating his sentiments when she was in despair over Neville. "What happened in the pensive? Did you find anything?"

His mind went back to the pain that he had seen her go through during the rape, and he held her tighter to him, resting his chin on the top of her head. "You never told me that was your first time." He said.

"It wasn't important." She muttered, turning her eyes away from his face. "It happened, and that's that."

Severus removed his head from the top of hers, placing his finger under her chin, he brought her eyes to meet his. "It was important." He said. "It was something that was supposed to be special. Something that you should have been able to freely give to someone you loved. And it was taken from you so violently."

Severus thought for a moment. He wanted to tell her what else he had seen. But if what he had seen of the memories that were in Hermione's subconscious were true, than it's possible that Korun would be able to spy on their conversation. He remembered the spell that Korun had cast during the attack: "Through the eyes of the doer, the watcher sees." And Professor Una had mentioned a connection between Korun and Hermione.

"Was there anything else?" Hermione asked.

"Nothing of value. But I need time to think about what I have seen." He replied. "In the meantime, I have a few things that I need to take care of in the lab."

"Is there anything I could do to help?" Hermione asked.

'Not yet.' Severus thought. "I'll let you know." He said, reluctantly letting her go and removing himself from her arms, grabbing his robes, and heading for his own rooms. He'd make a stop by the lab to make sure he adjusted those wards.

Upon entering the lab, Severus noted one of the test tubes sitting on one of the tables. It was one of the experiments he was conducting that tested for added ingredients. Taking a closer look to make sure and comparing the other test tubes, he was surprised that it was the only test tube that showed any added ingredients. None were missing apparently. But it made no sense. Vertiserum doesn't have Lion's teeth. Lion's teeth wouldn't have altered any effects of the Vertiserum. . .

Unless the drinker had ingested a drop of vegetable oil beforehand. That was a possibility! That could explain why Korun was able to lie under Vertiserum. The combination of Lion's teeth and vegetable oil acted as a counteragent to Vertiserum itself. Korun must have had some vegetable oil in his system from something he ate.

But why did Hermione have such a reaction? The only immediate explanation he could come up with wasn't plausible – an allergy to cats. It was possible there was something he missed. It could also be possible that the tests had been tampered with. The only thing he could think of to be sure would be to restart the tests...without his help, of course.

AN:

My apologies. I never realized how long it has been since I updated this. But it's been a hectic year. I'm just glad that I can work on it again.

Since it has been so long since I've worked on this, please review. I have to get back into the groove and make sure that I don't muck up my original intention with this plot.

And finally, I have some good news, and some bad news. If you enjoy this story, that is. Good news is, the next two chapters are completed. I just want to look over them before I post them. Bad news is, I'm stuck on the chapter after that. But it looks to be a minor glitch.

Aras