She drifted slowly into painful consciousness, her stomach twisting as she let out a muffled cry against the soft velvet material that bound her tightly. The black sky was glittered with minuscule embers, the rustling trees swayed overhead with his movements.
His movements?
He was holding her! Someone was holding her..!
She gasped as the sensation of arms holding her strengthened, her mind spun and her shoulder throbbed, blood seeping through her shirt… she tried to struggle, to wrenched herself free of the restraining arms, but the ground swayed violently as he turned a sharp corner and she found herself cowering and clinging to him, shielding herself from the pressing darkness in his warm embrace…
Her mouth tasted metallic…
The smell of stale smoke was clouding her bruised mind comfortingly…
With a sickening heave, she fainted in his arms.
'Miss Granger?' sharp, piercing nails dug into her shoulders, dragging her violently and forcing her to kneel before the tall, darkened figure - whose sharp outline blurred against the blaze of flames licking his back. Her skin bristled with icy sweat, warm blood pulsing through her veins as her heart hammered with a fresh wave of fear.
'Lessen your grip Wormtail. Before she bleeds to death' the voice was familiar… soft and dangerous and perhaps slightly exasperated.
She looked so small and pitiful in the clutches of the vermin. He suppressed a smug snarl to see the hunched man flinch at his words, before letting his eyes travel over the girl and taking a casual step forwards.
She suppressed the urge to scream as her vision focused-
His slick, sweaty hair was plastered to his pale face, his eyes a penetrating glare as he surveyed her almost lazily, his expression fathomless as always - there was no warmth in that harsh glare, only an intense dislike and - pity?
Her voice died as her mind screamed. Irrational fears and reasonable judgement began to battle in her head as she struggled against the restraining hands pushing her towards him.
The ghost of a sneer dared to flitter across Snape's colourless lips as his eyes found the ripped hole in her t-shirt. She let out a pitiful whimper as he extended an elegant, long-fingered hand toward her.
Her bright eyes widened, framed by a mass of bloodied clumps of frizz and sweat-stained skin…
The wound was open and messy, the flesh surrounding it raw and angry - Bellatrix's work.
'Let her go…' Wormtail complied with the order immediately, scenting danger, and the girl dropped in surprise at his feet.
'P-please p-professor' she uttered, struggling to regain her balance - her bloodied hands slipped on the slick floor.
Snape ignored her, fixing Wormtail with a blatant glare 'Drinks…' he ordered casually. Wormtail shuffled toward the door when Snape added in a low undertone 'and bring a medi-kit'. Then he strode toward the girl and seized her upper arms before she could twist away. He half-dragged, half-carried her across the dark room to the faded couch and pushed her onto it. Weakened with shock, she huddled into the sagging cushions and drew her knees up against her chest nervously, staring up at him with a mixture of disgust and betrayal in her soft eyes.
Wormtail had trailed back into the room, holding a tray of glasses and wine. The girl was gulping and shuddering through her tears, her hands pressed to her face, her shoulders trembling. Severus accepted the glass of swirling red liquid Wormtail had handed him and crouched in front of her, grasping her wrist and forcing the glass into her hand.
He raised it to her trembling white lips, which were dry and split like parchment, her hand shook beneath his, threatening to spill the contents all over her lap.
He caressed a bloodied clump of matted hair with his other hand and pushed it back behind her ear, letting his hand trace her jaw and lift her chin to meet his gaze
'Granger' he started, setting the half-empty glass on the rickety table 'I am sorry to inform you that your parents are-'
'DON'T SAY IT!' she shrieked, flinching away from him and swatting at his hand, her expression torturous as she collapsed back against the cushions-
'You are injured. Let me-'
'GET BACK!' She glanced around wildly, grabbing the nearest thing - the discarded glass - and hurling it at Snape, who had taken a step backwards and raised one hand to shield himself as the glass shattered at his feet.
With nothing left to throw, Hermione stumbled back against the wall for support, cowering and sliding to the corner. Wormtail was watching the exchange with open surprise, the medi-kit dangling from his hand - forgotten. Snape had drawn himself up to his full and considerable height and squared his shoulders… an amused expression forming over his sharp features.
Hermione searched her surroundings desperately…
A prison cell in Azkaban could have rivalled the comfortableness of this room. A threadbare sofa, an unsteady table and an armchair huddled together, edged only by shadows in the poor candlelight. The walls were lined with shelves, their mostly leather spines gleaming as her eyes blurred with a fresh wave of tears.
'You..!' she muttered miserably, her eyes brimming, yet burning with hatred and disgust, seemingly unable to phrase her anger as her former Potions master approached.
'Me..?' he finished with a sardonic smirk, quirking an eyebrow at her glowering resentment.
For half a second, it felt as though she was back at Hogwarts, but then the sordid reality finally hit home… anger boiled in the pit of her stomach, hot blood pulsed beneath her icy skin-
She lunged at him suddenly, with a raging attack, an attack that he had long been awaiting, and simply clamped her within an embrace and let her fists pound ineffectually at his chest. She cried harder than ever, screaming and swearing.
'They k-killed my f-family. They killed my…' she broke off, her racking sobs buried in his robes. He held her close until her fight eventually died down, shooting Wormtail a deadly glare that silenced his immature sniggering from across the room. What felt like thick, hot coffee was trickling down his wrist-
'Kindly escort Miss Granger to her room' he murmured silkily, addressing Wormtail with half a glance and wrenching himself free of the girls' desperate clutches. He turned away to drain his glass of wine, catching glimpse of the two figures struggling with each other as they left the room.
A creaking of springs told him that the grandfather clock had just chimed midnight. He set down the glass with reluctant contempt and strode toward the door, which hung ajar… he slammed it shut behind him and ascended the bare stairwell in darkness.
His bed was a simple four-poster, much like the one he used to have in his Hogwarts quarters, with a dark grey cover instead of a feather duvet slung over the sinking mattress. The cushions sank miserably as he lowered himself onto them, stripping the robe and waiting for sleep to arrest him.
A/N - Owing to how the reviews - if any - go… I will decide which way to take this story forward… Just a little note - I have not set out to write a classic prisoner/Snape romance plot, although of course elements or romance may procure - but thanks anyway to duj and IceQueen66, whose reviews made what was a miserable day quite purposeful.