Chapter 10: "Remembering"
He rose and returned to face her again. She raised her wand again and the spell was cast again.
"You are quite skilled at this, Hermione," he offered. "I'm glad that you will be challenging Potter. In time, you will be as good at this as I am."
That seemed to please her. He could see it in her eyes, but more importantly, he could feel it inside her where he now stood. Or was he inside himself with her. He could not quite remember, as if it made a difference. She was willing to join her mind to his in spite of the terrors she'd just witnessed. Again, she touched the Dark Mark on his arm with similar results. This time, they were transported to a torture chamber where Snape was being beaten.
"I think this is it," he exclaimed to her. "This is what happened when I returned without Potter. I can't remember much but… I'm not sure you want to see this."
"We will watch together," she stated without hesitation. "We need to know what happened to you that night."
She watched as Voldemort screamed the cruciatas curse at him and held it for fifteen minutes at a time. He let Snape rest for two minutes then another cruciatas curse was hurled. Voldemort kept it up until blood ran from Snape's nose and mouth. Satisfied with the punishment so far, he ordered Snape to be taken to the dungeons and physically beaten. Draco was to watch, since he, Draco, had also failed the Dark Lord. Crabbe and Goyle each took an arm and dragged Snape through the Riddle home to the cellar below. They descended three flights of stairs racking Snape's knees along the stair treads as they went. When they reached the lowest level, they flung him to the floor. Crabbe opened the door to the inner dungeon and motioned Draco to enter ahead of them. Together they pulled Snape up and heaved him through the door onto the stone floor at Draco's feet.
Goyle ordered Draco to kick Snape, but Draco protested, "He's my godfather. He's head of my house. I can't…"
Goyle drew a slender dagger and sliced open Snape's sleeve. He cut a deep mark across the Dark Mark. Crabbe had pulled up Draco's sleeve at the same time.
Golye spoke roughly, "He's not your godfather now!" Pointing to Draco's Dark Mark, "Your sole allegiance is to the Dark Lord and him alone. Forget about anyone else. They don't matter. Only doing the Dark Lord's bidding matters."
Crabbe continued, "Now kick him and kick him hard."
Draco gave a couple of feeble attempts to kick Snape but could not muster sufficient strength to do much damage. Snape was beginning to come back around after the multiple cruciatas curses. He was up on one knee and elbow when Crabbe's foot came crashing against his skull, sending him back to the floor.
"Nobody said you could get up, traitor!" bellowed Goyle who proceeded to kick Snape's ribs in on the other side of his body.
Draco was reduced to tears as he watched them tear into Snape's body with a vengeance. Sometimes they kicked and other times, they used a board with nails sticking out of it to inflict as much damage as possible. After an hour of this, Crabbe stopped to wipe his face from the sweat that had begun to run into his eyes.
"You know Goyle," Crabbe offered, "We'd better leave something for the Dark Lord to finish."
Goyle grunted in agreement, "Come on, Draco. Tell you what we're going to do. We're not going to tell the Dark Lord that you chickened out on us. But next time…"
"I understand," Draco looked back over his shoulder at the crumpled body on the ground behind them.
They started back up the stairs when Draco detached himself ostensibly to use the bathroom. Instead, he went straight to Snape's side. He rolled his former head of house over to see if he was even still alive. He wiped blood off Snape's face.
"Oh God, what have I done?" he began to cry again. "You were always my favourite professor. Oh God, what have I done…"
He tried to get Snape to his feet, "We've got to get you out of here and back to Hogwarts. They will take care of you. It's what they do. Oh God, what have I done…"
Snape flopped around and staggered a little. Somehow they got up the stairs and into the kitchen. Snape lost consciousness again. Draco was reduced to dragging him by the arms out the door and onto the grounds. It was still deepest dark. He got them to past the point where wards prevented apparition. Using all his remaining energy, he hefted Snape into his arms and disapparated with him. They reappeared near the front gates of Hogwarts. He dropped Snape at the gates.
"I've got to hide. They will do to me what they did to you," he knelt by Snape's body. "You've got to get up and through the gates. It's the only safe place for you now. Oh God, what have I done…" he cried. His chest heaved, "I'm so sorry Professor. I never meant for this to happen. If only I had listened to Dumbledore and you."
Draco stood and walked a little way off and disapparated, never looking back. Snape was barely conscious and lay on the ground for at least an hour before catching hold of the gates and hauling himself up and through them. The backdoor password had not been changed. He was not even sure if anyone other than Dumbledore and himself even knew about it. He crawled along the lane and into the Forbidden Forest. There he found some plants that he stuffed in his mouth. He chewed them up the best he could and swallowed. His throat was parched, tongue swollen. He crawled further and further into the Forest and curled himself into a ball. He remained there for the rest of the night and the next day.
Hermione broke the spell, "Oh Severus, I'm so sorry!" she held him close.
His arms went around her and his head fell forward onto her bushy hair. Seeing it all again, made each injury fire up with pain again. Each held the other until Dobby popped in with food, directions, and potions from Madam Pomfrey. They ate breakfast in silence. Hermione then drew his bath water, dropped in the potion, watched it turn milky white, and announced that it was ready for him. She laid out fresh clothes and towels for him and sauntered off to think about all that she had seen and experienced in the past few hours. She found herself crying quietly. He reappeared from behind the curtain, cane in hand.
"I'm exhausted, Hermione," he spoke quietly. "I'm guessing you are as well. The tub has been emptied and refilled. I put some of that bubble bath in that you like so much. I would recommend some sleep."
Hermione nodded and made her way to the bath. Indeed, it was a heavenly fragrance that he'd chosen. Always trust a Potion Master to have a good nose…she chuckled to herself since Snape was known for having a big nose. She lowered herself into the warm bubbles and felt some of the stress and hurts dissipate. Snape lay in his bed hoping that what she had seen that night would not completely alienate her from him. He found himself in the curiously odd position of needing another living soul. As soon as he heard her start to stir again, he rolled on his side away from her. It simply meant that he'd have to listen even harder. She padded over to her bed and threw back the covers and slipped under them. He wanted to tell her that he was mortified by how bad it had been, and how he wished that she had not have seen it at all.
"Severus," Hermione whispered. "I'm okay."
His lower lip twitched just a little bit, but he persisted in pretending to be asleep.