Hermione looked at the closed door feeling the blush rise over her cheeks and started looking around the room for her clothes. She threw on her sweatpants and t-shirt before heading downstairs to the kitchen to see what consequences awaited her over breakfast. She stopped on the stairs listening to the pan sizzling and Severus muttering to himself. She couldn't help but smile at him berating himself, as though it was his fault that she had put her enchanted collar on and tried to seduce him. She coughed lightly as she walked into the kitchen announcing her arrival, Severus turned slowly and looked at her, and flushed.
"Those smell amazing." Hermione said, breaking the silence.
"I thought they were a good comfort food, plus they're the one thing I know how to make without burning."
"But you're so good at brewing, I thought cooking would be a natural progression from that."
"You would have thought." He replied frowning at the pancakes.
Hermione took a seat at the breakfast bar and wondered how to break the ice and talk through everything that had just happened. He placed the warm pancakes down in front of her with a cup of tea and joined her to eat.
"Severus, I want to apologise for my behaviour. I should never have put you in that position. It was so wrong of me."
"Hermione, you have done nothing wrong. It was an enchantment and I should have gotten rid of that collar the moment you stepped foot in this house."
"Can we please forget that it ever happened?"
Severus looked at her blushing furiously over her pancakes wondering how he was ever going to get the image of her straddling her out of his mind.
"Of course we can, I had already put it behind us."
"Thank you."
He smiled and started eating his pancakes wondering how long it would take to scour his mind of the lust he had felt.
"I'm sorry to have to ruin our breakfast but unfortunately today is one of those days and I will have to leave to report in."
She visibly froze and he wanted to reach over and take hold of her, and reassure her that they wouldn't hurt her ever again.
"Are they suspicious?"
"No, I'm feeding the Dark Lord enough false information that it seems to be keeping us out of his sightline for now. But Bellatrix is like a dog with a bone and I'm not sure how long I can fend her off for."
Hermione's face went ashen pale as she remembered her last up close and personal contact with Bellatrix Lestrange.
"She will not hurt you, but we may have to be smart about this."
Hermione nodded, looking down at her half eaten pancakes, she decided she was no longer hungry.
"I'm just going to get a shower and change and then you will have the house to yourself."
She nodded and watched him leave, and buried her head into her hands. She wanted so desperately to panic, to scream, to run, to hide, anything, something more than sitting in this house watching the days pass her by. She scraped the food off her plate and placed it in the sink and cuddled herself down on the couch with a book, she calmed herself down and let herself relax into the cushions. There was nothing else she could do, she just had to make sure she was ready for whatever Severus had planned. She heard the hot water start to run and she was immediately aware of every move he was making upstairs, and before she even had chance to school her thoughts she was wondering what it would have been like if they hadn't stopped this morning. There was a warm pit in her stomach opening up and there was an intense pang of want and regret. She shook her head panicking a little, she had only been in his life for a week and he was already risking everything for her, he wouldn't want this as an added complication. The water stopped and Hermione stared at her book trying to make the words sink in but they were swimming on the page and she could hear her heart beating faster and harder and the sound of her breathing. He walked down the stairs and she met him at the front door just before he left.
"Please be careful." She whispered.
Severus looked at the young witch and took in the look of panic on her face. He crossed the hallway in three long strides and brushed her hair out of her face.
"I'll be back as soon as I can."
"Just come back to me."
He nodded unable to say anything and walked out of the house without saying another word. Usually he would have just apparated outside the front door but he had to take a breath and a moment to compose himself. The way she was panicked and asked for him to come back had left him utterly defenceless and that was no way to greet the Dark Lord. After a few long breaths and a strong talking to himself he apparated away and into the long conference hall where he and the others fawned over their master and told him everything he wanted to hear.
"Master, I'm concerned that Severus isn't treating his present the way he should be." Bellatrix sneered at him.
"And why would that be Bella?"
"Well I just think this information is being given too freely."
"Or maybe my methods are just better than yours." He replied back coldly.
"I would like permission to check on the situation and make sure everything is as it should be."
"You don't need to ask permission Bellatrix, I'll invite you for dinner. How would tomorrow at 7pm suit?"
Her eyes narrowed at him and he could almost see her trying to figure out what game he was trying to play.
"See Bella, I don't know why you feel the need to be so distrustful."
"Tomorrow at 7 it is then Severus. I'll bring some wine."
He nodded curtly bringing his focus back to the Dark Lord and listening to his plans to further ruin the wizarding world. He nodded at the right moments and sneered convincingly, but the moment they were dismissed he was apparating back to Hermione trying to figure out a game plan for hosting at his house. He stepped in through the door and almost went barrelling into Hermione who looked as though she had spent all day pacing by the door.
"You're back." She said, stating the obvious.
"I said I would be."
She nodded and walked back into the living room and sank down into the chair.
"Why are you so worried?"
"You're usually back earlier than this and I feared the worst." She said, her voice layered with unspoken words and emotion.
"Sorry, there is no way to tell how long I will be at his disposal and no way to let you know of any delays."
"No, it's okay. I'm sorry I shouldn't be getting so frantic."
He looked at her appraisingly wondering whether now was really the right moment to spring the dinner date on her. He decided it was, better to rip the bandage off and deal with the bleeding that followed then to ignore the wound completely. He took a deep breath.
"Hermione, I don't want you to panic. But there has been a complication."
Her intake of breath was audible.
"Bellatrix LeStrange is coming for dinner tomorrow night."
She stood up as though she wanted to say something but instead ended up slumping into his arms as she fainted. He scooped her up into his arms and cursed himself for being so clumsy with his word choice, maybe he should have led with the fact that he had a plan and it was going to work. He laid her down in her bed and went into his room for some Reviving Draught and tipped some into her mouth. Almost immediately she was awake and she gripped the front of his robes in sheer panic.
"Hermione, it's okay, she's not going to hurt you." He said in what he hoped were soothing tones.
Her grip loosened slightly but didn't quite ease off, he placed his hands over hers.
"I promise you, no harm will come to you. But we do need to discuss a game plan. Are you up for that or would you like to sleep for a little bit first?"
She looked at him as though searching his face for a lie, and when she couldn't find it she released his robes and relaxed. Hermione had never felt so useless and pathetic before in her life, fainting at the sound of someone's name. She remembered when she was a part of the Golden Trio and they had ran headfirst into danger. But that was back when there was the three of them and the world didn't seem to be such a scary place.
"I'm listening." She said weakly.
He moved so that he was sat more comfortably on the bed along with her.
"We need to make it seem as though you are completely beaten and broken. I promise you that it will all be for show, we just need to convince her that you're having the worst possible time."
She looked up at him and wondered whether he knew it wouldn't take too much for her to revert back to that young girl he had picked up just over a week a go.
"I can manage that."
"There is something else."
She looked at him and was surprised to see a blush rise on his cheeks.
"What is it?"
Severus cleared his throat and wondered how he should broach the subject, to discuss the disgusting thoughts that the other death eaters were having when thinking about him and her.
"There is a certain role that I need to play in front of LeStrange and it includes you."
"You mean I am supposed to be your whore and she would expect to see something referencing that tomorrow evening?"
He looked at her gauging her reaction and saw nothing but defiance.
"I'm sorry."
"No I understand, this is the world we live in now. What do we need to do?"
For the rest of the afternoon they readied the house, getting rid of any sign that she had been anything but unhappy here, deciding they would leave the rest of the changes until tomorrow and went to have some dinner instead. They ate in silence, Severus kept glancing over at her trying to come up with the right words, to say anything that would make it better than what it currently was.
"I'm fine Severus. You needn't worry." She said quietly, finishing off the last of her food. "I'm going to head to bed though. I will see you tomorrow night."
He nodded and watched her leave. Now that she had a healthy flush to her cheeks he could see the woman she might have come if the world had been a different place. He sat downstairs and read until the small hours of the morning until he couldn't keep his eyes open any more and headed up the stairs to his own bed only after listening at Hermione's door to ensure she was sleeping as peacefully as she could. He closed his eyes and hoped that it would all be a dream when he woke the next morning.
The next day they spent time recharming the house into a one bedroom and Severus charmed a hard unforgiving cot at the end of his bed with a threadbare blanket. He then spent the afternoon transfiguring bruises onto Hermione's skin and she went in to his room to check out the clothes he had had delivered to the house that morning. All of the outfits featured a short skirt and high heels. She brushed her hands over them and could feel the bile rising in her chest, she was actually having to go back into that world even if it was for a night. She picked the outfit that was the least revealing and threw it on before she could run and hide from the situation. She walked downstairs to the living room where Severus was waiting and looked at the clock, 6.40pm, it was nearly showtime.
Severus looked at her and his breath catched she really was a stunning woman, he cleared his throat and walked over to her.
"Remember Hermione, tonight is just a show, tomorrow we will go back to how it was. Just get through tonight."
She nodded just as the doorbell rang and Bellatrix walked into the room. Hermione immediately bowed her head and shrank in on herself, trying to disappear into the dark corner of the room.
"Bella, how nice it is to see you. I trust you found your way okay?"
"Of course I did. Now what's for dinner?" She smirked eying the house around her and catching eye on Hermione.
She strode forward and caught Hermione's chin in her hand.
"My my, don't you look just the same as you did at the Manor." She snarled in her face.
Hermione to her credit did not faint but could feel her legs shake and feared that she might collapse from terror.
"Now Bella, hands off my toy. It's not nice to play with things that aren't yours."
Bella released Hermione with a grin and moved towards the dining room and sat on one of the two set places.
"Hermione, sit in your corner and if you behave you might get some scraps." Snape said harshly.
She merely nodded not looking at him before kneeling in her position on the cold hard kitchen floor. They had practiced this all afternoon so she knew exactly what was expected off her. She knelt there and watched as he made idle conversation with the witch who had carved her arm and she could feel the anger begin to pulse through her.
"Shall we retire into the living room for coffee?"
Bella nodded and scraped her chair out from under the table and walked into the living room before flopping herself down onto the floor.
"Hermione you may follow us."
Bella sneered as she walked into the room and Snape indicated for her to take her place at his feet. He absentmindedly started pulling and playing with her hair, sometimes it would be gentle and the next it would be pulling her head all the way back exposing her throat to the room.
"So how are you finding your toy Snape?"
"I find that she's very pleasing indeed."
Bella looked at him as though expecting more, and he dragged his hand down over Hermione's body and squeezed her chest harshly, leaving her to emit a gasp. Severus looked into her face slyly, to see if he had caused her pain to only see a faint blush on her cheeks.
"Is she obedient?"
"Of course she is." Snape replied, pulling Hermione up by her hair. "She does exactly what I tell her and if she doesn't there's punishments."
He flashed her bruised arm to Bella allowing her to see the damage that he had already caused. She smiled and looked back at him pleased.
Snape pulled Hermione back to stand up beside him and to her horror he slid his hand up her thigh to settle between her legs. She flinched a little bit.
"Oh you have taught her well."
Snape sneered at her and nodded.
"Well it's all well and good having a toy but it's no good if she doesn't know her place."
Bella looked intrigued and clicked her fingers, and a young boy appeared, he looked dirty and skinny, covered in open sores.
"I took inspiration from your actions and took a toy of my own, meet Oliver."
Hermione risked a glance up and almost sank to the floor in shock. Severus gripped her leg in an attempt to steady her.
"Well he sure doesn't look like he's having the best time."
"He's only a half-blood. Should be grateful to have survived the purges."
Snape smirked and nodded.
"I was thinking we should move our get together to a party and have a little bit more fun."
Severus' heart sank into his stomach and he tried not to panic as he felt his head nodded yes. They gathered their cloaks and walked to the door, Severus gripped Hermione's arm as if he could portray that there was no need to panic through the touch, but he wasn't sure how they were going to get through the night.
