Chapter 31

Victims

When Hermione woke up, the first thing she saw was Draco Malfoy's smug expression. She struggled to sit up but discovered her arms and legs were bound. She wriggled around hopelessly, as Malfoy laughed. He leaned over and started to say something, but before he could she hit him in the face with her bound hands.

"Agth! You- !" He fell over and she kicked him in the stomach, so his wand went flying out of his hand. Struggling up, she crawled haphazardly toward his wand, which qualified lots of undignified looking movement. Finally, she within range, and reached for it with her bound wrists.

A strong hand grabbed her by the shoulder. "That will be quite enough, Miss Granger."

She looked up and gasped at the pallid face of Severus Snape, looking at her, as usual, with disdain. "You-!" She coughed and tried to hit him as she had Malfoy, but he sighed and pushed her away, grabbing Malfoy's wand and throwing it at him as he mopped at his bleeding nose, looking enraged. "Excellent job with the captive, Draco. I'm sure the Dark Lord would be very impressed by your self defense skills against a bound, unarmed teenage girl."

Draco scowled. "Filthy Mud-

"What have you done with Harry? Where are my friends? You'd better-!" Hermione screamed, but Snape cut her off. "Please, Granger, I know hysteria and crying are your natural bent, but if you could stay calm and stop hitting people, I believe everything could be explained."

"All I need to know is you killed Dumbledore and now you're working for Voldemort! After all the times I told Harry and Ron "Oh, I know he's a lousy git (or whatever they'd say about you) but he can't be evil, he's on OUR side! Just because you're a horrible person doesn't mean you're a Death Eater! But I suppose I was wrong! You're a…a…murderer! And if you think I'm letting you get near me, you're wrong! Now, tell me where Harry and the rest of my friends are!"

"Oh, of course, why would I not? You look so very menacing all tied up like that. You always think you're such a clever little girl, don't you? Well, I'm afraid that you've been outsmarted. You really are very stupid after all. Now, if you'd just listen…" Snape said, leaning against the barren wall of the room she was in.

"The only stupid thing I ever did was trust you!" Hermione screamed, as Draco chortled. "And don't even get me started on you, after all the times we've beaten you, you don't realize you're a pathetic-

"If I may interrupt, Granger, I'd like to ask a question of your oh so magnificent mind to unravel," Snape said smoothly. "Why aren't you dead?"

"What?"

"Why haven't we killed you? You are of no value to the Dark Lord, we have nothing to gain from keeping you in here and God knows I despise you. Think: Why aren't you dead right now?"

"You wanted to make me listen to your snide comments before I died?" Hermione guessed.

"You really have been hanging around Potter far too long. His churlishness is rubbing off on you. No, Granger, because Draco and I want the Dark Lord as dead as you do."

There was a moment's pause where Hermione gathered together her thoughts. "Oh, honestly. Do you really expect me to believe that? You killed Dumbledore! Harry saw it!"

"And this is why good grades do not equal brains. Do you really believe I could have killed Albus Dumbledore if he didn't want me to?" Snape scoffed.

"What? Harry said he was weakened…"

"And do you think Albus just trusted me with no reason behind it? Here's another question, Granger, get this one right and I'll award Gryffindor ten points, What did Potter say were Dumbledore's last words?"

Hermione bit her lip and tried to remember. "Severus…please…?"

"Oh, good job. This one's for twenty. Do you honestly think Albus Dumbledore would beg for his life?"

"I…"

"He wasn't begging for his life. It was his death he was begging for."

"Why would he want you to kill him?" Hermione asked angrily.

"You got an O in Arithmacy, Granger, why don't you figure it out?"

"Well…the only reason…I can fathom…is that he'd think your status as a spy is so important…that if the choice came down to jeopardizing that or killing him…you would have to kill him to cement your place in the Death Eaters?"

"And Hermione Granger single handedly propels Gryffindor to the House Cup! For once, Potter doesn't take all the credit!" Snape said sarcastically, leaving his spot of wall and beginning to pace. "Yes, Miss Granger. That was a deal Dumbledore and I made. It was the hardest thing I ever did. Dumbledore is the only person in the world I care about."

"Hey-" Malfoy interrupted.

"Silence, Draco. And as my reward, I am now The Dark Lords most trusted associate. Nobody doubts my loyalty now. As my reward, I have been given the task of killing five bratty teenagers, two of whom are most certainly my second and third least favorite students in the history of Hogwarts. Unfortunately, I made a promise to Albus long ago not to kill any of Harry's friends, so we're just going to have to kill the Dark Lord instead and end this damn war once and for all."

"And Malfoy?" Hermione said.

"Is going to help us as well. I know you children have a petty rivalry, but Malfoy is going to overlook the fact that he will be inadvertently saving Potter, because Draco doesn't really have a taste for killing at all. The Dark Lord wasn't very happy with his failure to kill Albus, and killed Narcissa as punishment for the insolence. Since then, he has sent Draco on several missions that his other Death Eaters are too valuable to send on, and has tortured him a bit as well. Needless to say, Malfoy is quite disenchanted with his Lord and Master. His hatred for him exceeds his hatred for Potter."

Malfoy nodded sullenly. Hermione noticed for the first time he was even thinner and paler than he last time she'd seen him, and appeared to be in ill health. She turned her attention to Snape again. "Why should I believe any of this?"

"Because you have no other choice. The reason I chose to rouse you before the others is you have better intuition and are more level headed than any of your peers, not that that's saying much, mind you. But unless you're duller than I think, you can clearly see I am telling the truth, if only by the fact, as I said before, you are not dead. I have you at my mercy. What could I possibly hope to gain by lying to you like this? Now, if you want to defeat the Dark Lord, come with us to rouse your friends. You'll find a pleasant surprise."

With a flick of his wand, Snape untied Hermione, who rubbed her wrists and got up cautiously. Whatever this was, there was no way she could escape. She followed them through the door and into the room where she saw her friends, unconscious and tied up. Among them was Harry.

"The Dark Lord is off on some secretive killing spree, and we are unable to contact him, so, as I said, I've been charged with holding all of you until he gets back." Snape handed her a wand. "I believe this is yours. It was up Potter's sleeve."

Hermione took it cautiously, as if she was afraid it would explode or something.

"Well, go rouse them. And try to get the idea we want to help him through Potter's thick skull."

"I think we're going to need something resembling actual proof you're not completely and irredeemably evil to do that, but fine," Hermione walked over to her friends. Snape flicked his wand with a sigh, and all five of her comrade's eyes seemed to open at once.

"Uh?"

"What are we doing here…?"

"Tied up…"

"Hermione, why are you untied?"

"Harry! You're okay!"

"WE'RE not okay…"

"Where are we?"

"Hey, is that Malfoy?"

" Snape. Harry said, ignoring the others and focusing on the greasy haired man across the room.

"Harry…the rest of you…" Hermione knelt down and whispered. "Listen, Snape's untied me. He says we're in Voldemort's…lair or whatnot. He says he only killed Dumbledore because Dumbledore told him if it ever came down between Snape's place as a spy that Snape would have to kill Dumbledore. He wants to help us get Voldemort…"

"That's a lie!" Harry hissed. "Hermione, you didn't see the look on his face! He hates Dumbledore! He's evil! You know it!"

"Harry, I don't know…"

Harry ignored her and turned his head to Snape. "You're a LIAR! YOU KILLED DUMBLEDORE!"

"Potter, I have put up with your antics and melodrama for years now, and I am tired of it. Here is the true story, choose to believe it or not, I don't care. I did make that promise to Dumbledore, and the reason I had to kill him was because I took something called the Unbreakable Vow. When Draco was assigned to murder Dumbledore, his mother came to me begging me to take the Vow that if Draco did not succeed in killing Dumbledore, I would. I had to take the Vow in order not to jeopardize my position as spy. I immediately went and told Dumbledore about it and he told me I was to honor the vow and kill him if Draco did not, because my position was important. I was not happy about it, but those were his orders. Now I am willing to help you defeat the Dark Lord, and if you don't except it, you are dishonoring the whole point of your beloved mentors death. He died so I could be in this position and so I could help you. First of all, I assume you want the snake, as it is the final Horcrux….

"WHAT?" Harry, Hermione, Ron, Ginny, Neville and Luna all cut Snape off at the same time.

"Yes, I know all about the Horcruxes…Albus told me. I assume you've destroyed everything except Nagini?" Snape said in a bored tone.

"DID Dumbledore tell you about the Horcrux? Or did VOLDEMORT?" Harry spat.

"Potter, even you must realize how abysmally stupid that question is. It doesn't matter how much he trusts me, the Dark Lord would never tell me his most guarded secret. Now do you want the snake or not?"

"It's a trap…" Harry muttered.

"Harry's probably right," Ron nodded.

"This…is really…bad…" Neville said, staring at Snape in absolute terror.

"Just imagine him in that Bogart outfit you told me about," Luna comforted Neville.

"I told you not to follow me!" Harry snapped. "Now Snape's going to kill all of us!"

"No, I think he'd give Voldemort the honor of killing you," Ginny said levelly.

"All of you…I don't know about this…what would he have to gain by lying to us? We're in Voldemort's lair…we're already dead…it doesn't matter if it's a trap…" Hermione said reasonably.

"He just doesn't want me to get a shot at getting to Voldemort…" Harry muttered.

"Voldemort would kill him if he killed you. He wants you, remember?" Hermione said.

"Hermione, how can you trust him…?"

"I'm just saying, if it's a trap, it's no worse than the situation we're in now…"

"You do realize I and Draco can hear every word you're saying?" Snape said. "Very well. Malfoy, dispel their notions of deceit. Get the snake."

Draco nodded, and went out of the room.

"You just want to believe Snape's good so you'll be RIGHT!" Harry snarled.

"You honestly think I'm that selfish? You're just ignoring logic, Harry! AGAIN!" Hermione cried. "I hate Snape too! But his argument makes sense! This is the only thing we can do if we hope to get to Voldemort and-

Hermione was interrupted when Draco entered the room with the massive boa constrictor that was Nagini twined around his shoulders.

"The Dark Lord would have to be going on a very dangerous mission, that's the only time he allows her to be separated from him," Snape made everyone's ropes dissapear as Draco put the snake down in front of Harry, glaring at him. Harry immediately snatched for his wand pointing it at Snape. Snape crossed his arms, not making a move to defend himself.

"Don't we have a more pressing matter, Potter? The Dark Lord will be back soon." Snape gestured at the snake.

Harry stared at Snape his wand shaking in his hand and his mouth slightly open. Snape looked calmly back. After a few minutes of silence, Nagini hissed. Finally, Harry lowered his wand to point at her…and hissed right back.

"Nothing spoils a nice car trip like a whiny kidnapping victim."

-Count Olaf, A Series of Unfortunate Events: The Slippery Slope, By Lemony Snicket.