A/N; Ok, as I'm aware that everyone probably knows there is currently a problem with FFN when trying to upload a document I'll tell you how I managed this.

Take a current Chapter, Export it. Then go to Documents and delete what was originally there and paste it with your next chapter. Thats what I did anyway, for anyone who is interested.

Knowing my luck the problem will be fixed as soon as I post this, and I will have tried in vain for days for no reason. Ah well.

Hope you enjoy the Chapter and I hope the format is not too bad, as I am using a back up file and I dont know if that will make it appear any different.

Once again THANK YOU to all my wonderful reviewers!

Enjoy...

The meeting finished soon after Hermione's initiation to the Death Eaters.

Voldemort left first with Pettigrew, soon after others followed. Severus waited with Hermione. He needed to wait till she had the strength to move, he wanted to carry her, to hold her in his arms, but he couldn't. Not whilst everyone was there, but as soon as they had gone he helped her to her feet.

"Are you ok?" he asked quietly

She didn't reply, she swayed in his arms and stumbled back to the floor.

Severus took a breath as he held her up again.

"You need to walk with me Hermione, just a little, just until we get outside".

She found her feet but continued to stumble.

Severus walked slowly with her until they were at the end of the long lawn, "hold on to me" he told her.

Hermione grasped his arm as tight as she could; the sleeves of Severus' old shirt were red with stains of blood. Before she had time to think about it however, she felt the familiar pull of apparation.

They landed in front of a manor Hermione recognised as Snape's. She looked around dazed, her head was spinning and there was still a burning pain in her arm.

Her arm. The mere thought of it made her want to hurl. She suddenly collapsed to her knees and threw up at Snape's feet.

Severus looked down on her with empathy. "Hermione" he said attentively rubbing her arms.

Her voice quaked in her throat. She sat back on her heels and wiped her mouth, she didn't look at Severus she couldn't. Not just yet, she had just sacrificed a big part of herself and she couldn't bring her eyes to meet the man she did it for.

Severus bent down in front of her so their eyes were level. He looked at her for a long moment, studying her face. She couldn't even look at him. She was repulsed by him. The realisation was like a bludger to the chest.

"I'm sorry" he whispered.

Her eyes snapped up to his and she in turn searched his face for any hit of a lie, there was none.

She smiled at him shyly and was rewarded with a slight turn of the lips back.

"You don't have to be sorry" she said quietly.

Instead of replying he stood and with extreme delicacy gathered her up in his arms, he brushed her damp hair from her face and carried her toward the manor.

She was asleep by the time he reached the front door; he set her down in an armchair and searched for some potion to sooth the pain on her arm. He knew how much it hurt; it astounded him that she would do that willingly for him. It must be possible she felt something for him. Severus was actually scared by the idea, he had never had anyone pay him any attention before and the thought of not actually being in control of the situation unnerved him.

"Hermione?" he whispered as he uncorked the tiny vile of blue potion.

She mumbled in her sleep.

He brushed the hair away that had fallen over her face, "this may stink" he said.

With extreme care and attention he dabbed the contents of the bottle over her wrist where the newly etched mark resided, as first she hissed out in pain but soon fell back into a deep sleep as the soothing affects took over.

Once he had finished he once again scooped her up in his arms and carried her to the room she had claimed as her own over the past couple of days. He laid her down gently on the bed and pulled the cover over her.

As he reached the door she called over to him.

"Severus?" she whispered.

He was initially stunned and shivered in a good way at her casual use of his name. The way it sounded on her lips, he couldn't even begin to describe. But he couldn't let his mind ponder, "Yes Hermione?" he answered quietly.

"Would you stay with me?" she asked, at Severus' perplexed look she added, "just lie with me, just for tonight, I" she took a breath, "I don't want to be alone".

Severus looked at her and was torn between doing what was morally right and what he so desperately wanted to do, which was comfort the girl.

Without further thought on the matter he strode over to her and laid down on the bed beside her, he took her head in his arms and gently stroked her hair until she fell asleep.

Soon after he fell asleep himself.

IIIII

"This is it" Harry said as he peered over at the small building, "this is where she is"

"And you're sure?" Ron asked

"Yes"

"Ok" Ron said taking out his wand along with Harry, "we go in, you go for Snape, and I go for Hermione".

"Ready?" Harry asked wand pointed forward.

"I'm ready" Ron growled, and both boys made their way through the bushes to the front of a row of houses.

Crouching down behind a wall at the front of the garden Harry blasted the front door open and waited for movement.

There came none.

"Come on" he whispered to Ron as they both made their way into the abandoned home.

Inside there seemed to be no life, all the rooms were dark and cold, the smell of damp lingered in the air. Harry and Ron between then managed to blast through every door in the house without finding anyone or any sign of life.

"It's weird" Ron said as he peered round the bedroom, "I thought Snape would have had wards all around the place".

"You can break through wards Ron" Harry told him, "what's weird is the place is abandoned".

"Well I could have told you that mate" Ron said slumping down onto the musty bed.

Harry sighed and ran a hand through his messy hair, "I don't know where else he could be?"

"Malfoy's?" Ron suggested.

"Perhaps" Harry agreed, "I was just certain that when we found that parchment with his address on we were close to finding Hermione".

"Yeah I suppose" Ron said, "maybe it was a decoy though, send us here when he actually lived elsewhere?"

"No, this is defiantly Snape's house" Harry said looking around at the various potions and dark magic texts that lined the bookshelf. "Besides it's the kind of neighbourhood I would have imagined he lived in".

"Dark and dreary?" Ron half grinned.

"Yeah, Spinners End definitely is just that" Harry said almost smiling.

"What now?" Ron asked more seriously.

"I dunno'" Harry sighed, "look around maybe there'll be something to tell us where he's hiding?"

Ron nodded and lazily blasted open a set of drawers across from the bed without even getting up.

As the papers began to fly around the room Harry and Ron searched through them in vain trying to find something that would give then a clue as to where their lost friend was.

IIIII

Severus woke up to the feel of Hermione's head on his chest. It was an unusual sensation, having a woman draped across him, and against his will he couldn't help but slightly enjoy the feeling.

He didn't want to wake her, but as he lay in such a position, with his arm around her back, he began to feel like he was overstepping some sort of boundaries.

With the utmost care he gently pulled his arm from underneath her and slid off the bed, careful not to make a sound as he walked from the room.

Hermione didn't even stir.

As soon as he was in the hallway he heard a small alarm going off from his study downstairs.

As quietly and quickly as he could manage he made his way to the small room.

Once inside he immediately noticed the cause of alarm. It was a trigger he had set, as soon as someone had trespassed into his muggle home in Spinners End an alarm would sound in this Manor.

What picked at his curiosity however was the fact that everyone he knew, Death Eater or Order member knew that he only used Spinners End over the summer whilst he was not at Hogwarts. Could it be possible that muggle thugs had broken into his home?

With increasing curiosity Severus made his way into his apparation parlour, the only part of the manner that wasn't warded against entering and exiting the building. With a smug smile on his face at what shock he would indeed give his burglars, Severus disappeared with a 'pop'.

A/N; Please Review :D