"Mr. Olivander?"

"Oh, Mr. Potter..."

"Is Luna here?"

"She was...yes..." The frail man gave the two young men a look of worry, "They've taken her upstairs...about 30 minutes ago..."

Their conversation was muted by a shrill scream coming from above, both of them shivered despite themselves but they listened closely to the wild witches words. When her voice lowered once more Harry looked to Griphook who had been taken along with them, "You must tell her it's a fake. You can't let her know that it's real."

The goblin gave him a long look but didn't reply. The sound of steps silenced them all and the boys shuffled into the darkness beside Olivander. The cell door swung open to reveal a very rough looking Greyback, the beast snarled at all of them before reaching nearly halfway over to take Griphook by the arm nearly carrying him by the appendage out of the cell.

Harry swallowed thickly before turning back towards Mr. Olivander, "Where do you think they've taken Luna?"

"I can't say...this is the first time they've removed her from the cell...I did hear talk late last night about giving her away? I don't understand it but I can't imagine she's been taken out of the manor..."

"Right..." Harry puffed up his chest as the loud voice of Bellatrix rang out overhead once more. Reaching down into his sock, he pulled out the broken mirror willing an image to appear. When a bright blue eye peered back at him through the glass he couldn't stop himself from begging, "Please help us. We're in Malfoy Manor."

With a blink, the image was gone and with it Harry's heart. His head turned up towards the stone wondering just what was going to happen to them all.

oOo

Hermione's world had gone completely black, a tight cloth around her eyes blocking out the world and a similar and somewhat painful strip of cloth through her mouth. The last thing she remembered was stepping out of Gringotts with the cup in her cloak. It had been an amazingly easy task fooling the bank guard and gaining access to the catacombs. She'd used the previously discovered entrance at the back of the building to make her escape, betting rather recklessly that the ward that protected the passageway would allow her exit. She hadn't even made it a step before a powerful blow from behind had sent her unconscious.

A small groan filled her chest and it was then she realized that it was bare. Not only that, it wasn't her own. It was Severus'. The polyjuice potion was still running through her system which meant whatever had happened had happened recently. Her sense of hearing had kicked in well over what was normal, telling her that she wasn't alone.

She could hear two distinct breathing patterns. One somewhat stuttered and very shallow. The other deeper, calmer, slower. A small and subtle shift of her arms told her that her wrists had been tied tight behind her, the wooden back of a chair keeping her awkwardly bent forward. A flex of her legs told her that her shins were similarly bound.

"Imagine my surprise when I believed myself a better duelist than the infamous Severus Snape?"

A cold shiver ran all the way down her spine, curling into her stomach where it formed a heavy stone. When the cloth held between her lips was pulled free she didn't hesitate, "What do you want?"

"What I've wanted from the beginning."

"You gave me six months."

"What can I say? I'm an opportunist." Marxan grinned darkly, running his hand through the hair of his latest purchase. A girl in her early twenties who happened to have the misfortune of being related to a blacklisted pureblood family who was ashamed of having a squib. He'd bought her at a deceptive price, promising to take her away from the war and out of the public eye. The family believed he would protect her, they were grievously misled. Though it didn't much matter now, as they were dead.

"I can't very well give it to you if I'm to be your prisoner." Hermione tried to find her strength in the persona she was presently embodying.

"No, but I believe a lesson can be learned here."

Hermione's back tensed when she heard the sound of shuffling. Then—slowly at first—small hands ran up her clothed thigh, making the stone-like muscle beneath twitch. A warmth grew between them as a body slowly pressed closer and Hermione could feel a lump growing in the back of her throat.

"Don't do this."

"Why not? You should be very familiar with the circumstance. Then again, it was always in reverse wasn't it?" Marxan's smirk was reflected in his tone as he took a casual seat in the chair directly across. He crossed his legs and let out a content sigh, "Has it been so long? Don't you remember how much you begged for it? How much you craved it?"

Hermione pulled against the binds that held her arms behind her back but she could do nothing to stop the hands from moving further. The years of control the man who she mimicked did not transfer down to her and she could feel a sickening growth forming between her legs, "I never enjoyed it. You twisted monster."

"Oh, you wound me." His voice was juvenile, mocking.

"I will kill you-" Her threat was cut short when the button on her slacks was released, her hips jerking backward, "I will hang—your body—by your bollocks!" Speaking was becoming more difficult to produce. Feminine hands had begun to explore the newly released skin making Hermione plea to the heavens that her transformation would revert, though the awful taste in her mouth begged otherwise.

"Should I give you something to help you enjoy yourself? Or is the knowledge of the experience enough to sate your lust?" Marxan was enjoying himself immensely. It wasn't very often a circumstance such as this presented itself; how could he not enjoy creating the memory?

Hermione bared her teeth as she tried to think of anything else. Umbridge in a tutu, Draco in drag. Anything to try and stop the warmth that was beginning to form. How did Severus restrain himself? How did he do everything he had to care for her without finding an ounce of personal pleasure? It was clear that he was 'fully' functional so how had he done it? Had he done it?

"Nice and slow, I want to savor this moment." His command went to the girl bent between his captive's knees. Her eyes glossed over from the spell that controlled her actions. Held captive by the potion running through her system and the spell he'd placed on her mind. He had little patience these days for properly training his slaves.

Hermione could feel her chest heaving, the coldness of the air in the room raising bumps over the scarred flesh. Her nose told her the house was old, but not underground. She highly wondered if he'd taken her to his actual hide-away. It would explain why her vision had been taken away. A painful grunt ground her teeth when an all-encompassing heat seared up through her chest.

Impossibly soft hands. A smell like a summer rain. Despite everything inside her, the body in which she inhabited betrayed her. The muscles in her legs were taut but her hips jerked to the motion of the heat that was quickly taking over her senses.

"Please...you don't have to do this...fight it...Stop..."

"You are really are one of a kind." Marxan ran his finger over the top of his lip, "She can't hear you. Nor see you, a little lesson I learned from training you."

"I'm not your pet." Hermione jerked against her bonds feeling the bone in her wrist pop from her effort, "I will never be your pet."

"You speak as if you are worth anything else." Marxan's laugh was deep, "When will you finally understand your place in this world? You're nothing but a cum eating slut, that is your only purpose. You will never be anything else. Your life would be so much better if you'd just concede to the truth."

"You're wro-ng."

"Am I?" Marxan was losing his amusement. Coming up to his feet he moved closer. His breath, reeking of alcohol, pressing tight into her ear, "I can still feel you. How tight you held me. How you moaned for more, taking everything and anyone who would have you. Your body trembled with need, night and day. You drank from our seed to slate your thirst."

Hermione jerked her head towards his but he was much quicker than she was. A hand had come up to rip her head back pulling down the blindfold. It took her eyes a moment to adjust to the dim light but of what she could see she was in a wood built home.

"You will carry me inside you forever," His grip grew tighter pushing her head down to look at the deed happening between her legs, "And this as well."

Hermione snarled down at the head moving up and down before forcing her eyes to look at anything else. A pressure was building, one she knew very well. There was no way for her to stop it but she wouldn't give Marxan the satisfaction of giving her another nightmare.

"Give her what she wants." Marxan was like a devil on her shoulder, "What she needs. Does your mouth water to taste it again? Even in this body, you could have it."

"Go...fuck...yourself..." Hermione's entire body tensed when the pleasure that had been pulled out of her released. It was an odd feeling for sure, something that she had previously been curious about but no longer wished to know. She hadn't fully intended to go as far as this in her explorations.

Marxan grinned slowly, taking hold of the girl who had done the deed. He pressed his thumb into her mouth to explore what had come from the polyjuiced witch. Curiously, what he found was a clear liquid. Apparently, the potion couldn't replicate everything.

oOo

"It will be my greatest honor, My Lord. To give the seed for a child of the cause." Yaxley lowered his head turning his eyes over the girl still sleeping away on the table. While he didn't have a taste for children, he wasn't one to disobey a direct order either. His skill with mental charms would prove useful in making the girl forget where she'd come and bring her fully into the dark.

"Excellent..." Voldemort's head turned slowly, his eyes going out of focus at something obscure to the right. Everyone in the room held their breath, while Severus grew uncomfortably tense. He knew that look, he knew it very well.

"He's here..."

Severus' nostrils flared and his eyes snapped towards the far end of the room where Avery had just entered. The circles around his eyes had grown darker since he'd last seen him and his face appeared rather gaunt. No doubt a reaction to the dark magic that was steadily filling the manor.

"My Lord-"

"Your words are not needed." The snake-man snapped coming to his feet but before he could act something rather curious happened.

A house-elf—one to which no one knew the name—appeared on the table standing over the waist of Luna. The creature looked confused at first before his large eyes turned towards the man himself. It was in that moment of confusion that the elf took hold of Luna's arm and vanished.

Chaos overtook Malfoy Manor. A battle quickly fought yet deeply lost. By the time Severus had made it to the drawing room, the fight had already been lost. Bellatrix screaming at the top of her lungs while Narcissa held her wounded side. It had taken Voldemort seconds to cut down all that had failed him.

Starting with Narcissa, who fell easily enough as she'd not been capable of protecting herself, her wand gone. Lucius who had gone to her side had taken the second more powerful blow sending them both down to the floor where they pressed themselves as tightly as possible to the wall to avoid losing their lives.

The snatchers who had dared to linger were quickly sent to their graves. No one really important among them as Greyback and Scabior had been the first to leave with their bounty. The other's had lingered hoping to get more coin for giving up information on the woman they'd seen in the woods. Sure that she was the rogue the Dark Lord had been searching for. Unfortunately for them, they'd never been able to give up their information.

Bellatrix has spared herself a most painful punishment by quickly spilling everything she could on what happened. How she had tried and failed—due to the incompetence of others—to keep Potter locked away, that when he'd come up to dual them she had had him pinned down before the wretched house-elf had intervened.

The Dark Lord had not taken the failure well. Bodies of house-elves covered the drawing room floor. Potter had managed to free not only himself and Ron, but Luna, Ollivander, Dean and Griphook. It had been a well-earned bounty a rather find collection of traitors. Completely lost.

"I am surrounded by incompetence!" Voldemort spun on his heel facing the two who had managed to remain standing after his warpath. Snape and Yaxley.

"You! Find them, burn down anyone who stands in your way." Voldemort pointed his wand directly at Yaxley, his red eyes flaring before turning towards Snape, "Snape. Return to Hogwarts, continue your tasks."

The two men responded simultaneously, bowing their heads before taking their leave. Severus was actually rather impressed with all that had happened. He would have never guess Potter had had the ability to basically clean out Malfoy Manor. No doubt the Dark Lord would be retreating to a safer stronghold. As angry as he was now, he was no fool. He would strike when the time was right.

"My Lord...I know now is not the time to speak."

"Then you should hold your tongue."

Bellatrix ducked her head submissively but dared to take a step further, "I just...I can't help but notice...that whenever your plans fail...Severus is always present."

Voldemort turned towards her slowly, his eyes narrowing, "He is the one who has failed me the least." His wand raised to silence her ramblings, though the kernel of doubt had taken hold in the back of his mind, "He removed our greatest obsticle."

"Yes, he did, My Lord...but was it for you? Or for him?"

oOo

Hermione could feel her body growing smaller. The silence of the room she'd been left in giving way to the soft creak of the chair as her body began to shift. It was still a stomach unsettling experience but she kept her meager lunch down in favor of pulling the ropes from her rapidly shrinking wrists.

Once free she hastily pulled up the blindfold that had begun to give her a migraine, her eyes blinking at the near pitch blackness of the room she'd found herself in. Marxan had already left, his words of defilement ringing in her ears. She was sure he'd knocked her out once more by the feeling of dried blood around her chin.

A slow breath raised her wrists, rubbing away the soreness the ropes had given her before reaching down to release her legs. Once completely free, she found herself on her feet with a hand quickly coming to hold up the trousers that were now two sizes too big. A whispered spell yielded surprising results when her wand that must have been on a table in the shadows, snapped into her palm.

A quick lumos spell revealed her theory to be correct. She was alone. The room she'd found herself in was derelict. As though the former occupants had simply vanished without a trace. Small bits of furniture in various states of disrepair could be seen at the shadow's edge.

A soft murmuring of voices brought her cautiously towards what appeared to be a boarded up window. Despite being completely topless she leaned closer looking out through the slats. "Son of a bitch..."

The words were salty on her tongue when she realized just where exactly she'd been taken. It hadn't been far from where she'd been knocked out. Merely across the street from Gringotts. Operating his depravity in plain sight. A sharp snarl crawled over her face before she turned back to look for any remnants of her clothing.

A shadowed lump on an old partially collapsed couch gave her what she needed but she quickly realized what she had originally come for had been taken. A missive in its place.

An eye for an eye. I'll be waiting.

A deep growl crumpled the paper into her palm and her task of putting on a shirt quickly took over. A quick search through the inner pockets of Snape's frock coat revealed that his search hadn't been all that thorough. She pulled the pin tight over her heart before closing her eyes tightly. What a mess she'd made. There was no one to blame but herself.

oOo

Severus had just sat down behind his desk when a noise from inside his chambers caught his attention. The familiar sound of a portkey and the subtle vibration of his wards told him that Granger had returned. He waited, fully expecting her to come prancing into his office like the cat who'd caught the canary. From his side, he fully believed her plan to have worked. Though he wasn't sure how she'd managed to help tweedle dee and tweedle dumb escape he was sure she had a hand in it somehow.

When his chamber door didn't open his brow began to furrow. Where they still fighting? He couldn't be sure. She'd taken to sleeping on the couch beside the fireplace. Was withholding information her new way of punishing him? Perturbed by her apparent immaturity. He pushed himself up from his desk and made towards his chamber.

The door came open silently but the energy that filled the room wiped away all of his anger, "Did you get it?"

"N-no..." Hermione refused to turn to look at him. Her body slunched over holding the borrowed clothes just a bit tighter to her chest, "I uh...I didn't..." Not wanting to go into the particulars without a stable mind. She started towards the bathroom, keeping her head down and her eyes to the floor.

Severus instantly knew that something had happened, though without eye contact he could only feel the turmoil bubbling inside her. He made it halfway into the room by the time she'd made it to the bathroom door. Her head turning ever just so when she'd realized he was expecting more from her.

"I need a shower..." Without further comment Hermione pulled herself from the room, closing and locking the door behind her. She knew it wouldn't keep him out if he really wanted to follow her but it was a small comfort after all she'd been through.

With the adrenaline of the encounter leaving her system and the potion he'd no doubt fed her while she had been unconscious fading, she could do nothing more than to reflect back on her carelessness. She had become the very thing she despised most in this world and what was worse, she almost believed the words he spoken to her.

Her mind having cartwheeled back to her time in the woods. Where her only focus had been pleasure and pain. Her world had been so small then, without complication or unknown. She knew what had been expected of her. What they wanted from her. There was little question as to what her purpose had been. It had been painful, yes, but the rules had remained the same. The players changed but the goal had always remained.

Now she found herself floating through the days without knowing what tomorrow would bring. When her last breath would be. How the man she'd come to care for so deeply would react to her advance. How any of this was going to play out for either of them in the end.

It was almost too much for her brilliant mind to bear. For someone who always had an answer to a problem or knew where to find one. The very idea of being completely helpless was terrifying. That coupled with her obvious failure. Had left what had been built of her confidence cracked and crumbling. She had never truly believed those who had praised her brilliance. Though she did find a small bit of pride in their praise it had never truly sat solidly in her heart.

She was good at what she did, yes—but she wasn't without replacement. There were others just as—if not more so—of a keen mind than her. Others, like those hanging in the office who were much more skilled than her. That despite all her desperate attempts to cling to a world she knew nothing about, she was just an outsider. A muggleborn. A mudblood.