AN: Yeah, okay, so the prologue was filled with a bunch of rambling about the story and very little of the story, but I use the prologues to set a setting and give information, which generally makes them small chapters. Oh, BTW, prin69 made me think about something. My type of discontinue doesn't mean that it will never be finished. What I mean is when I think of a better story to start writing, it takes up most of my time and I end up neglecting the other stories I've written. Think more of…delayed than discontinued. Sorry about that.
VM13
If the End Comes
By: VeilMistress13
•Chapter One•
Hermione couldn't remember when she passed out. All that she knew was that she did. Her body was still sore and weak but she felt warmer, safer, now that she was within the Snape residence. She snuggled deeper into the softness of the feather mattress and opened her eyes slowly. She was a little startled to find that she was no longer in the Malfoy Manor but in a cozy little room, dressed in a soft, cotton nightgown and tucked under a satin down comforter. She lifted her head from the pillow and looked around the room.
It was dimly lit by a few torches in the room and a crackling fire opposite the bed. The bed…Hermione breathed in deeply the soft jasmine sent of the scarlet pillows as she rested her head on them. She tugged the soft, red, satin coverlet over her body and rolled over onto her back, drinking in the soft glow of the golden clothed canopy. She stifled a yawn and rolled back onto her side, staring into the warmth of the fire once more. She jumped and nearly fell off the bed when she heard voice approaching her door from the corridor.
"I know, Poppy. I said 'I know, Poppy'!" came the slightly aggravated voice of Severus Snape. "Yes, she arrived last night and I said 'I know,' Poppy!"
"I'm just making sure, Severus," replied the voice that Hermione remembered as belonging to Madam Pomfrey. "Where is she? In this room? Ah, good." The door to Hermione's room opened slowly and the medi-witch entered, followed closely by Snape. "She's awake! Good gracious! What have they done to you child?"
The elderly witch strode over and Hermione sat up, grateful that she had been changed into a nightgown. Suddenly, her face flushed, remembering that she had been naked, exposed, and spread before her old Potions professor not too long before. Madam Pomfrey took Hermione's chin in her hands and turned the brunette's face this was and that, taking in the few scars and scabs from previous injuries dealt to her by Lucius Malfoy and his colleagues. Poppy clicked her tongue and shook her head, before turning to Snape.
"Severus, would you mind leaving so that I may give her a thorough examination?" the medi-witch asked. The dark-haired wizard looked between the two witches for a moment before exiting the room. "Such a suspicious man of late, Severus has become. All right, deary. Please remove your nightgown and relax. No one here is going to hurt you."
Hermione reluctantly pulled the soft cotton nightgown over her head and tossed it onto a nearby pillow so that she could access it quickly if need be. Madam Pomfrey's eyes drifted over the several scars and injuries her and there on Hermione's usually pale skin. The elder witch sigh, shaking her head and clicking her tongue. She flicked her wand here and poked Hermione there until most of the scars and bleeding cuts had been removed.
"Lucius Malfoy is a savage bastard," growled Madam Pomfrey healing injuries in intimate places. Hermione's brows rose. Madam Pomfrey barely ever cursed and when she did, they were small 'damns' or 'hells'. Everything that was happening was odd to Hermione. Things she never thought would happen.
"Madam Pomfrey…" breathed Hermione, looking at the irate medi-witch. Madam Pomfrey looked up and smiled.
"Now, now, Hermione," she said in a soft voice. "I'm hardly a school nurse any longer. I've been relieved of my post since the war began and Voldemort drove us from the castle. You may call me Poppy now."
"Oh—er—alright, Poppy," Hermione obliged. "I was wondering if there's anyway you could check to see if I am…er…with child."
"Pregnant?" questioned Poppy, aghast. "I certainly hope you don't mean by Lucius Malfoy!" There was an awkward silence. "Dear girl, did he—"
"Madam Pom—Poppy, I would really rather we not talk about it," Hermione explained. "I was just wondering if there was some way that you could check and see."
Poppy nodded and raised her wand, tapping Hermione's lower abdomen six times. A little picture appeared before the two witches, something that reminded Hermione of an ultrasound photograph. The brunette let out a relieved sigh when she saw that there was no sign of life on the screen and then fell back onto her bed, reaching for her nightgown.
"Now, I do believe that's everything," Poppy muttered, giving Hermione a quick examination before nodding her head. "Yes, it is." There was a knock on the door and both witches looked up, Hermione pulling her nightgown over her head and Poppy adjusting her robes slightly. "Yes, who is it?"
"Poppy," came Snape's severe voice. "There are…people here who wish to see Miss Granger. Shall I let them in?"
"No, she needs her rest," the medi-witch replied. Hermione rested a hand on the older woman's forearm.
"No, Poppy, I really think it would do me some good to see some friendly faces after what I've been through," Hermione reasoned.
"Oh fine!" Poppy grumbled, looking dejected. "Let them in, Severus!"
The door creaked open and Hermione's face brightened considerably with whom she saw. Harry Potter, Ron and Ginny Weasley, Nymphadora Tonks, and Remus Lupin all entered the room. Harry, Ron, and Ginny all raced over and took Hermione into a bone-crushing bear hug. Hermione, still sore with the pain, let out a squeaky protest.
"Guys, be gentle, okay?" pleaded Hermione. "I'm not in the best condition."
"We know!" cried Ginny, who had tears leaking down her face.
"You were in a bad way when Snape brought you here," explained Ron. "All battered and bruised. We weren't sure if you were going to make it. What happened anyway? Where have you been?"
"Ron, I'd prefer it if we didn't touch on this subject just yet, okay? I'll tell you when the time comes but I don't want to think about it," Hermione explained, looking down and taking a deep breath. "But you guys have to fill me in. I've been incarcerated since graduation and I haven't the slightest what's going on." By that time, Tonks and Lupin had joined them. Hermione hugged Tonks and received a sympathetic pat on the shoulder from Lupin. "So, what's happened? What have I missed?"
"Oh, no you don't," barked Poppy. "I think this is enough excitement for one night. You need your rest, Miss Granger, or else you won't heal properly. I'll have the elves bring up your dinner, you'll eat, and then you'll take some of this Dreamless Sleep Potion! There will be no fussing about past events this evening. And just to be sure that you do as you are told, I'm going to have Severus watch you and make sure!"
Hermione opened her mouth to protest, obviously annoyed by the fact that the woman was treating her like a child, which, in her perspective, she no longer was. Poppy held up her hand and shook her head, giving Hermione a fierce stare and causing the brunette to snap her mouth shut. Poppy ushered all by Severus Snape from the room and then left herself. Hermione, grumbling, crawled back into the large, comfortable bed and relaxed into the pillows. She saw Snape flick his wand at an armchair encircling the fire and enchant it to float over and sit next to the bed. He reclined into it, staring pointedly at the fire.
"Thank you," Hermione said after a few minutes of silence. Snape jumped at the abrupt break in the quietness that had surrounded them and turned his black gaze to her. The fire in the grate cast an almost eerie glow in his eyes and ominous shadows about his face.
"What did you say?" he asked her, his voice the same velvety purr it had always been.
"I said 'thank you'," she repeated, sitting up and resting her back against the large, oak headboard, "for getting me out of there. Out of Malfoy Manor."
"Do not thank me, Miss Granger," he replied, his face of stony seriousness. "I was merely doing my job. Nothing more."
"Oh," murmured Hermione, tersely, turning her eyes to the fire and just staring at the crackling flames. Again, there was silence and, again, Hermione spoke up. "But still, I am grateful. I mean…I don't know what I mean. I just feel like I should be thanking you. I should probably apologize too."
"And what, pray tell, are you apologizing for, Miss Granger?" asked Snape, looking back toward her face.
"I thought…I thought you might have really been a Death Eater, when I saw you coming into the dungeons, even though I knew better," she explained, twiddling with her hands. "I guess I was just in so much pain that I really didn't think about it. All I remember thinking when I saw you was 'Oh great, just what I need right now…more Death Eater scum to make my life a living hell.'…Oops! Sorry."
Snape smirked. "Miss Granger, maybe it would be better for you to stop prattling on and some of that rest that Poppy was talking about. All of this chitchatting seems just to get you even more riled up."
Hermione opened her mouth to retort angrily when there was a loud popping sound and a tray appeared on the bedside table, laden with food for both of the occupants of the room. Snape picked up the tray and approached Hermione, after he had set his own dish on the table. He rested the dish on Hermione's knees and then sat back down, paying know regard to his own food.
"What, not hungry?" she asked him, glancing between him and the untouched meal on the bedside table.
"Not remotely," he replied. "But whether I am hungry or not is not the issue so be quit and eat your own meal. I have other things that need tending to other than you." Hermione felt the color rising in her cheeks.
"Well, I'm sorry to hold you up, professor," retorted Hermione, taking a gulp of pumpkin juice and looking at him angrily.
"Not at all," he replied sarcastically, smirking slightly.
Snape watched Hermione eat in silence. The brunette finished her food quickly and then reached for the bottle of Dreamless Sleep Potion on her bedside table, ready to get to image of Severus Snape out of her mind. 'I thank him, and what does he do? He bloody treats me like a child. Of all the nerve…' She poured the required amount of potion in a cup and downed it, quick and easy. She nestled herself into her bed and quickly the potion started taking over. She felt her lids began to droop heavily as sleep overcame her. The last thing she remembered seeing before the warm sensation of dreamland washed over her was the image of Severus Snape pulling the satin coverlet up her body.
…
Severus was finishing up in the girl's room when there was a soft knock. With a flick of his wand, the light in the fireplace extinguished and he moved slowly over to the door, grasping the doorknob in his pale hand and pulling it open with a loud, disconcerting 'creeeak.' She pointed his wand at the person on the other side and was greeted by a pair of kind blue eyes behind half-moon spectacles. The blues eyes stared at the wand pointing in between them and there was a light, raspy laugh to be heard from the man before the Potions Master.
"Well, it's good to see you as well, Severus," greeted the old man. Severus dropped his wand to his side and let out the breath he'd been unconsciously holding in.
"Albus…" he breathed, relaxing visibly. "I am sorry. I am not used to being in such…different surroundings."
"Yes, yes," Dumbledore wheezed. "You're apprehension is not out of place here. Everyone seems tense now that the war had taken such a…drastic turn. How is Miss Granger by the way? Am I too late to see her conscious? Poppy just informed me as I have been up above dealing with a few matters regarding out dementor issue. It seems there will be no turning them to our advantage."
"Yes, well, Miss Granger has already been laid down, Albus," Severus replied, extinguishing the last few torches and then exiting the room with the older man.
The ex-Death Eater had never seen Albus Dumbledore in such a way. He was actually beginning to look as old as he was. His hair, which had once been a shiny silver, was a dimming gray and his eyes had lost a bit of twinkle. The wrinkles, especially around the eyes and mouth, were deepening and becoming more apparent, as were the black circles around the eyes that showed the elder man had not been sleeping properly.
"How is she, though?" questioned Dumbledore. "I cannot imagine her coming from Malfoy Manor after such a long stay with minor cuts and bruises. Was the damage irreparable?"
"Not mostly, no," replied Severus. "She had been extremely beaten and raped. Lucius spared no mercy for her. Poppy had informed me that Miss Granger…asked to be checked for anyone…other life that may be residing in her body." Dumbledore shook his head as the two men walked down the hall. "Poppy says she will heal physically…but emotionally, she may always live with a fear of intimacy with a man again."
"I see…" rasped Dumbledore, shaking his head in despair. "It is a shame such an innocent was taken like that. We can only hope for the best now. Has she been informed?"
"Not yet," Severus replied. "Poppy made them wait until morning. There is going to be quite a bit of explaining and I hope you will be there to assist since to pick the best times to disappear."
"I will be there, Severus," Dumbledore assured. "No need to worry. For now, I think I could use a good rest, as I'm sure everyone could in these dark days of ours."
"And it is a mercy if anyone shall find it," Severus finished before turning into his own room and locking the door.
AN: Did I mention how dark and depressing this story might turn out to be?