All For Nothing
See chapter 1 for disclaimer.
A/N: Well, I'm back, with more plot development. This is our first confrontation between Severus and Hermione. Ooh fun. And I did up the rating to M, as this will have more mature content in later chapters.
Chapter 3
Hermione grew worried as Voldemort took Harry away again- what would happen to him? As Malfoy nodded to Snape and left with Ginny, she frowned. At least Voldemort wouldn't use Harry for- well, she didn't want to think about it. She sent up a quick prayer for them to the god she wasn't sure existed.
She whirled from where she had been staring at the door when Snape cleared his throat. Hermione's eyes narrowed at his smug expression. Up to now, she'd been numb. To Hogwart's fall, Ron's death, Ginny and Harry's predicaments, betrayal by a trusted mentor. But now she fought tears as Snape approached her.
She took a step back, tears flowing freely now. She inhaled deeply, looked her captor straight in the eye, and unleashed a dam of anger and confusion.
"How could you?" she shrieked, "How could you-- after he trusted you! You made us all trust you! And now you stab us in the back-- killing us-" she gestured to the bloody Quidditch pitch outside the window, "-or reducing us to slaves and playthings! And what of the students," Hermione cried, stepping back further as he continued to approach, his demeanor turning stormy,
"what of the children! Dead and raped in the halls, the purebloods rounded up and sent to bed while their classmates rot on the floor!"
Snape was less that two feet away from her now. As he reached out to grasp her shoulder, she slapped him across the face as hard as she could.
Hermione froze for a moment, aghast at her own audacity. Slowly regaining her motor skills, she backed away further, knocking herself against the bookcases as a bright mark reddened Snape's pale cheek. The man's face twisted inscrutably before he lunged at the eighteen year old, capturing her wrists abover her head with one hand and holding a knee against the right side of her pelvis, effectively paralyzing Hermione's torso.
Pinned against the shelves, Hermione looked fearfully into the Potions master's eyes, which were glittering with anger. He raised his free hand to her throat, resting his palm heavily on her collar bones. She squirmed uncomfortably as he leaned to speak in her ear, his lank hair brushing her shoulders.
"If I remember correctly, my dear, part of your safety involves complete obedience. While you're lovely when you're angry," she could feel him smirk against her ear, "I have more important business to attend to than silly little girls."
Hermione's eyes widened in fresh anger at his words and she tried to turn her head to look at him, but Snape leaned back, regarding her with a bored expression on his face. She squirmed more intensely in frustration, but her position inhibited most movement. Giving up, she turned her head to the office's double doors and sighed.
"Then why didn't you just let me die?"
The soft inquiry hung in the air for several moments before Snape released her and sat at the oak desk. He pulled a piece of parchment towards himself and loaded an eagle feather quill before speaking again, writing as he did.
"Did you intend to?"
Of course not! What was he thinking? "I intended to help my best friend save the world, sir. Never to die."
Her professor sneered at her irritably. "Then why are you asking stupid questions? Have some tea, and then go to bed, you insufferable girl."
Hermione was still fuming at his words, but didn't speak this time. Instead, she poured a cup of tea from the sideboard and ensconced herself in one of the leather armchairs in front of Snape's desk.
Sipping the warm beverage, Hermione tried to rethink the entire situation rationally. She, Harry, and Ginny were alive. That, at least was a start. Though, to be honest, Hermione wasn't entirely sure that they would all remain that way unconditionally. By the look of that awful gash across Harry's torso and the awful collar they'd put on him, Voldemort was going to enjoy toying with her friend. She shuddered. No one, especially Harry, deserved that.
But, nonetheless, what did Voldemort have in mind? Harry had told she and Ron (she winced) about the prophecy at the beginning of sixth year- if one of them had to die, what was Voldemort playing at? Was there, perhaps, something that Dumbledore hadn't taken into account? A different way to interpret Trelawney's message?
Hermione's mental ramblings were interrupted when Snape cleared his throat. She looked up absently, her anger having slowly dissolved during the mental analysis. Her former Professor looked irritated.
"I thought I told you to go to bed, Miss Granger."
She eyed him belligerently. "You never told me where I was staying, Professor."
Snape sneered and pointed to a door to her right in the circular chamber. "Through that door is a short hall. Your room is the first on the left."
He stopped at that and returned to scratching away at the parchments littering Dumbledore's old desk. Hermione sighed, but decided not to push the issue. She was still Head Girl, after all, and would have to help with students in the morning, she supposed.
Hermione left her empty teacup on the sideboard and headed through the door Snape had indicated. Opening the first door on her left, she gasped slightly at the suite before her.
The room was large and airy, and even in the dark she could see the creams and earth tones that permeated its decor. There was a large four-poster bed in the center of the room, covered in a chocolate duvet with curtains of the same color. At the foot of it was her trunk, and her school bag was left neatly on top of the trunk. Hermione ventured to the left side of the room to find a dark cherry writing desk and matching wardrobe, which she opened to find the same belongings that had inhabited her wardrobe in Gryffindor Tower. Returning around the bed to the right corner of the room, she found a forest green upholstered armchair, that sat between a half-filled bookshelf and a small side table. Further down was a door that, when Hermione opened it, entered a marble-tiled bathroom that included a shower and bathtub, along with extra shelves along the sink that already held her toiletries.
Returning to the wardrobe after this exploration, Hermione changed into her bedclothes and lay down on the bed. She didn't even bother to brush her teeth- it could wait until morning, just this once. For a while she just lied there, running everything over in her mind. Eventually she fell into a fitful sleep.