Chapter 2

In the early hours of the next morning Hermione woke, having only a few hours of sleep. Since she was a little girl, Hermione had had a special routine of waking up. First she wriggled her toes against the pristine blankets, then her fingers. Then she drew her legs up tight before stretching them out and wincing at sharp pain across her right side before deciding that she only slept funny. Then she strained for any sound to reach her ears, usually the snoring of her roommates or the twitting of the early bird, but nothing meaning it was most likely very early. Then she opened her eyes to pitch blackness.

'Must still be late,' she mused sitting up staring around and waiting for her eyes to adjust to the darkness and the shadows to form but they didn't. Rubbing her eyes she strained again. 'Oh God, I can't see. My eyes! I can't see.' Tossing over reached for her wand under her pillow but it wasn't there. 'Come to think of it, it is very quite.' Reaching for the bedside table she found there wasn't one. Turning she moved to get out of the other side of the bed she found the bedside table.

"Lavender, were you moving the furniture again," she called into the dark as she groped across the table in search for her wand. 'There it is.'

Suddenly there were hands on her shoulders pushing her back, trying to take her wand from her hand.

"Get away! HEY! Back off. Leave me alone. No. Stop It. Help, someone help me. HELP. Protego!" Hermione finally shouted knocking her assailant back. "Lumos." 'Shit, that won't do me any good. Oh, double shit! I can't see, I can't hear' "Nox."

"Stay away from me you hear," she shouted to the dark. Sitting still she focused on sensing for other beings. She felt a rush of magic moving towards her, a spell. Raising her wand she deflected it. "Stay away from me. Protego!" It was then that the memories of the previous night started flooding back.

"Mudbloods are only good for one purpose."

"Do you think you can walk?"

"You won't even remember you exist."

"Shit…I'll be back. Don't you worry."

"Don't leave me, please."

"Stay away from me. STAY AWAY. Leave me alone," she screamed, continuing to send curses flying every so often for good measure until the presence was gone. "God, help me please, help me," she prayed.

ooOOoo

"Severus, Severus," called a voice from Professor Snape's fire early the next morning.

"What is it Pomfrey, its 4:30 in the morning?" called a groggy voice from the Professor's bedroom.

"Its Miss Granger, she's throwing a fit. She's screaming her head off and I can't get near her," she nearly cried.

"Sedate her woman. You're a medi-witch for Goodness sake," he called.

"I can't get close enough to her to giver her anything. She found her wand you left lying there last night and every time I try to physically restrain her she sends hexes flying! You must have something?" the Matron pleaded.

"I'll be there as soon as I can. Now get out of my fire," roared the Professor. 'Just my luck. I do a good deed and now they think it is fine to get me up at 4:30 in the bloody morning,' he grumbled to himself as he got out of his bed to dress.

ooOOoo

Stepping out of the fireplace, Snape dusted off his robes before heading out the Matron's office into the ward.

"There you are finally," said the matron as she stepped out from one of the curtained beds. "Come on, she is where you left her last night."

"I don't see a problem. Unless my ears are failing me too, I can't hear a thing," he said sarcastically strolling after the matron.

"Very funny, Severus. There is a silencing charm around her bed," she said pointing to the curtains. "You brought her here quiet and calm, you can surely get near enough to her to give her a sedative."

"I came prepared," he told her removing a small flask from his robes as the witch tried to hand him her own small bottle. Wand in hand, he opened the curtain and slipped in. Huddled against the back board was Miss Granger wrapped in the blankets from the bed, wand tightly in her hand. Taking in her appearance, Severus was not surprised by the look of sheer terror on her face.

As if sensing another presence in the room she began to scream jumbles of sounds as if trying to say something, say something very loudly. It was shortly after the shouting started the hexes began flying, all easily deflected. Soon Snape was tired of her ramblings and feeble spells and disarmed her. Her screams changed from those of anger, to shrieks and pleas in fear as she began to recede into herself.

Moving towards the bed, Severus placed down their wands and the sedative on the table. Reaching for her hands she began to fight back, kicking and thrashing about in the bed but he simply held her hands until she began to calm and move into a passive state. Stepping towards the bed he placed her hands flat on his chest, moving them across and then up to his neck showing her his robes and build. Soon she began to move her hands of her own accord, understanding what was happening. Along the buttons of his robe and across his chest, up to his high neck collar her hands travelled. Then moving upward to his face, a look of concentration drawn across her face, her hands moved up his long face across his cheek bones, slowly down his long hooked nose and across his fine lips.

Tears began to form in her eyes, spilling down her cheek as her hands finally moved to his hair, feeling its texture and length. More tears began to fall as her hands moved back to his chest and around his mid-section and drawing towards him. Again this young witch dumbfounded him. One minute she was cursing him and fighting against him, the next she was crying into his chest, nonsense murmurs escaping her lips.

Moving to sit on the bed, he drew the terrified girl to his chest holding her close and safe, tucking her head under his chin and stroking her hair. Soft sobs quickly turned into streams of tears. Tears of joy at finding someone she knew; the person who found her and cared for her. Tears of fear and terror at being lost somewhere she did not understand.

ooOOoo

Several minutes later Madam Pomfrey came in to be met with the sight of the Hermione in Severus's arms. Turning, he placed her on the bed. Her face streaked with freshly shed tears and mucus. Reaching into his pocket Severus drew a handkerchief, wiping her face dry before placing a pillow under her head and pulling the covers around her. Standing up he grabbed his wand and turned to leave. Upon spotting the peaking witch he raised a questioning eyebrow.

"What did you do to her?" she asked once he had stepped outside.

"I dealt with a terrified young woman. What did you find out was wrong with her?" he said changing the subject away from his very out of character actions.

"What wasn't wrong? There was bruising, lacerations, a particularly deep incision across her right side, several burn marks. It appears that she was tortured and raped, there was sever tearing, but that wasn't the worst of it," she said grimly with a sigh, "Follow me." Leading him through her office to a small dark room she continued. "I just developed these. Any case like this requires I do." She moved to a drying line taking down the many pictures drying and moving back into her office and spreading them across her desk before picking out two. "Here," she said pointing to the photograph, "see for yourself. The bastard who did this to her branded her with the Dark Mark. The top of her inner thigh. I only saw it when I prepared for her internal examination. It's horrible."

'It truly is,' Severus thought, looking at the very graphical photos. One showing the mark half covered in blood. The other the same except the area had been cleaned.

"How did you approach her?" he asked handing back the photos.

"What do you mean?" Madam Pomfrey asked filing away all the images.

"When she awoke, how did you find her, what did you do?" he elaborated, as if he was speaking to a two year old.

"She was yelling so I went to check on her. She was sitting in her bed with her wand. I told her to lie down. When she didn't I moved to take her wand off her and lie her down, but she just yelled louder and shot me back. After that I couldn't get near her," she finished.

"No wonder then. She is terrified. She can't hear or see and has just been raped and beat. She woke up scared, and you petrified her out of her mind. You have to show her who you are if you want anything from her. She can sense the energies around her, meaning you. Every witch or wizard has a certain aura…"

"I know that," the medi-witch interrupted.

"…which is different," he persisted. "Miss Granger out there as identified you in her heighten state and it is most likely that if you go near her she will be scared of you. I would suggest that you get either Potter or Weasley in her to comfort her. I do believe that you will need a potion to restore her senses? Therefore I will be in my lab. Be thankful that it is Saturday." Turing on his heel he strode over to the fireplace and flooed back to his rooms.

Heading into his labs he started on a restoration potion.