Severus Snape walked hurriedly back to the classroom in the dungeons to find the last essay he had to mark that night. He must have left it behind on the desk when he picked up the rest of them at the end of the seventh year potions class. As he strode up to the desk, a movement in the corner of the room caught his eye. What he might have taken for a bundle of robes in the corner of his classroom, had he indeed noticed it at all, he now realised upon further investigation was actually a student. "Lumos." The lights in the classroom were suddenly brighter, and he realised that the student cowering in the corner was Hermione Granger.
"What are you doing here Miss Granger? Get up and explain yourself at once." No doubt she was intent on stealing more illegal potions ingredients, he thought to himself, but as time passed and the distinct lack of compliance continued, it struck him that he had never known her to ignore a direct order from a teacher. He moved forward to see if he could discern anything else, but she shrank away from him, trying to bury herself in the solid rock wall of the classroom.
"Miss Granger, are you hurt?" His voice was gentler this time. "Get up; let me have a look at you please." She shook her head and shrank further into the corner. He crouched down and tried to put a hand on her shoulder, but she fought him with unexpected ferocity. He backed off.
"OK, I'm not going to touch you, but I need you to tell me what happened here Miss Granger." He paused again, giving her the chance to speak up. "There is clearly something serious going on here, and I need to know what it is if we are to sort it out." He looked at her, but she refused to meet his gaze.
"Hermione, I need you to talk to me," he said, still in the same calm, steady voice. She was shaking, he noticed, and an awful suspicion began to dawn in his mind as he realised with a shudder that her robes were ripped at the front. He tried to push the possibility to one side of his whirring mind; surely this kind of evil could not exist within the castle walls. He was crouched directly in front of Hermione now; he would have to tread softly to get to the bottom of this.
"Hermione, I need you to look at me. Whatever has happened is over now. No one is going to hurt you Miss Granger. Look at me." The authoritative tone in his voice clearly worked, for her eyes met his for the first time. "Good girl. No one is going to hurt you, but you need to tell me what happened. We need to know who hurt you. You know that. I need you to talk to me." His eyes didn't leave hers once. To his horror, she began to cry. That was all he needed, a hysterical female. He had never been any good with weepy women, and he was at a loss now. All his instincts told him to reach out and hold her, but he wasn't sure if she would let him. She clearly had issues about being touched, which would make sense if … well, he would cross that bridge when he came to it. He reached out awkwardly to pat her on the shoulder, and found that he had a sobbing student in his arms. She was clinging to the front of his robes, shaking all over; to say the events in the dungeon must have unsettled her somewhat would have been, he thought, something of an understatement. He put his arms round her, rocking her gently, until her sobs slowed and her breathing returned to normal. He brushed her hair out of her eyes, and continued to hold her, waiting for her to calm sufficiently to loosen her grip on his robes. She was still very shaken, her face was deathly pale when she lifted it to glance up at him. Severus felt she ought to have some chocolate, but couldn't move to get any at that moment with her in his arms (not that he generally kept any stashed around his classroom anyway…).
"Hermione, tell me what's wrong. I can't help you if I don't know what the matter is." He made his voice as soft as he could. He had learned something from years of watching Minerva McGonagall dealing with his homesick Slytherins, then. "I need you to tell me what happened, and who did this." He didn't want to push the issue with Hermione in such a fragile state, but if this had something to do with the Dark Lord, then something needed to be done, and now.
Hermione felt safe for the first time that evening when Severus had taken her in his arms. She clung to him, and couldn't seem to release her grip. She couldn't bring herself to think about what had happened to her in the room only an hour earlier. It seemed like a lifetime ago. It seemed unreal, as if it hadn't happened to her, but at the same time the dull ache in her stomach told her that it was all too real, and that she would have to face up to it at some point. She was safe here though. She didn't have to think. The beat of Snape's heart was calming, and she relaxed a little, leaning further into the crook of his arm. He was talking to her, asking her questions but she couldn't answer them, couldn't think about answering them just yet. She closed her eyes, pretending that it would all go away when she opened them again.
"Hermione." Severus spoke the name so softly. "Hermione, I know that something horrible has happened to you tonight, and I know that you're frightened, but I need to know if you're physically injured anywhere." I need to know who the hell did this to you he thought, trying desperately to keep a lid on the anger that was welling up inside him. Getting angry now would not help him; there would be time for that later. Right now he had to concentrate on Hermione. Once she was ok, then he could get angry. "Hermione, we need to get you to the hospital wing. Madam Pomfrey needs to have a look at you. Is it alright if I carry you?" he said, giving up on the hope that she would open up to him there and then. Picking her up despite her feeble protests that she would walk, he carried her out of the classroom in the direction of the hospital wing.