A malicious voice.
Evil, pure evil.
He was drunk too. She had known that since he had burst in back at Hogwarts. But having just come-to from being knocked out more or less, and finding herself actually tied with rope to a chair in a bedroom, Hermione had started to struggle even though she knew it was no good.
She glared up at Lucius through the hair that had fallen over her face and she hadn't bothered to push it back yet. Yes, she was scared, of course she was, but she couldn't let him know that and she certainly wouldn't allow herself to become any weaker because of it.
Lucius sneered. "You will lead them both right to my door," he stopped talking momentarily and in a flash was right in front of her, his putrid breath making her feel sick to her stomach. "I will be honored above all for bringing the traitor...and the failure."
"Traitor," she said in all but a growl. "What exactly are you talking about?" She knew she had to at least try and save some part of Severus' appearance with Voldemort. Right now she knew that he was still highly trusted by Voldemort, even though she was quite sure some of the Death Eaters had hunches that said otherwise, much like Lucius Malfoy here.
"Oh I think you know very well what I'm talking about, Mudblood," he spat. When Hermione only gave him a look of what she hoped was ignorance, he continued in a furious tone, obviously upset at Severus' ability to supposedly fool the Dark Lord.
"There is only one reason you are still alive and have not been delivered to the Dark Lord. You are being hidden, this I know. He is helping you...I can't prove it—oh not just yet—but that evening in the woods when you disappeared," he put a sarcastic stress on the word, "I know who it was who came from no where and saved you. Disgraceful. Shameful...an utter disappointment, I should say, to the entirety of Death Eaters. Makes me sick," he finished, then suddenly roughly taking hold of Hermione by the chin, jerking her head, forcing it to tilt up and backwards slightly, the grip painful.
"They'll be here any minute, you know," he said in a low voice. "And oh, when they do, justice will surely be given. That you can be sure of." With that, he leaned in very close; Hermione shuddered knowing evil was so close to her. She flinched and tried to lean away from him as he started to move his face down to her neck, barely touching her skin, only the feeling of his hot, drunken breath.
An ice-cold hand moved down her arm and onto her upper leg. When she suspected Lucius was about to put his disgusting mouth on her, she took the opportunity and kneed him as hard as she possibly could. He growled in pain and stumbled backwards, doubled over, breathing hard.
"You insolent little wretch," he spat as he regained some composure. Without any warning, he smacked her across the face with the back of his hand. Hermione's head swung to the side, but she didn't flinch or cry out; she wouldn't be giving him the satisfaction. Instead she waited for a few seconds before slowly turning her head back to glare daggers at him. "Bravery won't get you very far in this house, Mudblood."
Hermione was sure he would strike her again. Suddenly though, he stopped whatever he was about to do, Hermione getting a sickening feeling as the reason. Lucius' face had brightened somewhat, a twisted, evil grin on his mouth. She did not like the looks of this one bit.
"They've arrived," he said with a glint in his eye to suggest he had been waiting for this for a long time now. Hermione could say nothing; her stomach had just taken a dive both at the notion that they came to rescue her and that the idiots had just walked right into his trap.
So far, so good, Severus thought optimistically as the three of them began to ascend a flight of stairs off the foyer, which they had managed to cross without triggering
any alarms, although he knew better than to think any part of this would be easy. He would not let his guard down, no matter what.
Severus was now in the lead as Draco was sure all of the wards he knew of were down and he did not want Neville or Draco to be in the direct line of fire should anything unexpected come out of the shadows.
Just as he thought this, however, he took his next step and found that it no longer existed, these thoughts only registering as he began to fall forward into what was now a gaping, black hole in the staircase.
There was no time to yell out. He was falling...wait, no. Something grabbed his arm and back of his robes from behind him, pulling him back as he heard the crumbling sound of wood from where he had just stood.
Turning around, he quickly hid his surprise as the scared face of Neville Longbottom came to his eyes, Neville just having released his hold on Severus' cloak. He himself looking a bit shocked at what he had just done.
Draco probably looked the most shocked, looking from Neville to the new hole in the stairs, and then up to Severus several times; his mouth slightly open at what had just happened.
Severus straightened up and looking Neville straight in the face said with the most sincerity he had ever found while speaking to the boy, "thank you."
Neville seemed to have momentarily lost all senses he possessed at the notion that Severus Snape had just thanked him, not to mention the fact that he had probably just saved the man's life. He stood there, senseless, for a couple more seconds before he realized that the other two were cautiously making their way around the gaping hole in the staircase and he was still not moving.
In another instant, Draco found himself being shot backwards, a spell hitting him hard in the chest to send him all the way back down to the foyer.
Severus cursed out loud as he flung a spell into the dark where Lucius was standing and had begun to laugh manically when it missed.
"Go help Draco," he hurriedly said to Neville in a low voice, not looking back as he kept his eyes fixed at the darkness in front of him, waiting for Lucius' next move to come. He concentrated fully on his target after he heard Neville shuffle backwards and go back down the staircase.
"So you've come, Snape," Lucius said after his laughing died out. Severus held his ground, listening with his ears and his mind as hard as he could; he could not yet see where Lucius was. "I knew you would," Lucius added with what must have been a malicious grin.
He knows, Severus thought as he sidestepped a flash of red light which crashed into the banister, blowing the chunk of wood into pieces. He sent back several curses, hoping to draw Lucius out.
"What made you so sure," Severus countered evenly, aiming yet another stunner in front of him. He heard it find its mark as a thud was felt and heard on the floor not that far up on the landing.
Moving slightly sideways, Severus climbed the remainder of the stairs and upon lighting his wand, saw a heap of robes lying on the ground.
Although, he knew Lucius wouldn't stay that way for long...and for that, he would be prepared.
Draco curled up into a ball, trying to ease the searing pain that had just hit his chest and back, not to mention his head from hitting the ground. He clutched his stomach, feeling like he would vomit at any moment, sure that his father had now completely lost it.
It took him a moment to remember why Neville Longbottom's face had appeared as he knelt down, apparently wishing to help. He was all ready with a true Slytherin-like insult when he remembered what Longbottom had just done, and that he was obviously now at his side to help.
"A-Are you alright," Neville whispered nervously, not knowing what else to say. It was quite obvious, too, that he was shaking.
Draco groaned as Neville bravely took him under the arm to help him to stand. As he rose, the pain seared again, but Draco clenched his teeth hard and breathed through them, trying not to lean on Neville too much, afraid of showing he was weak to someone he had tried to be so superior to for most of his life at school.
"We should get to Hermione," Draco said, breathing with a little difficulty.
Neville paused a moment. "But what about—"
"He'll be fine," Draco cut him off, holding his torso again, trying to breathe so it didn't hurt so much. "I'll come and take care of my father after we find her," he added with resentment.
"Do you know where she is," Neville asked, nerves rising again, unsure still of what he was doing here, afraid of being in the way at all.
"I suspect he'll have her upstairs somewhere," Draco said quietly. "This way." He moved to his right to a set of doors off the foyer, pulling Neville along who still was slightly supporting him under the arm.
The doors revealed a smaller staircase leading to a long corridor with many doors in it once they had reached the top. Draco now walked on his own, only with a slight limp out of pain, but he managed it.
Neville said nothing as he followed, Draco seeming to be looking for the right door. Even with both wands lit, they found it difficult to see because of the mustiness of the hall which seemed to be caked in a layer of dust. It was as if no one had occupied it for a very long time.
"Here," Draco finally whispered stopping in front of a door in the middle of the hallway. "This is the one, it has to be." He began to study it, as if contemplating how to get in and trying to anticipate any wards his father may have placed there.
"Stand back," he ordered as he readied his wand, pointing it at the door and muttering Alohomora and then shielding himself, expecting the worst.
Nothing happened. The door opened a fraction and Draco lowered his wand only a fraction of an inch, still waiting. When nothing else happened, he glanced back at Neville who was watching apprehensively from the other side of the hall, and then gave the door a good kick.
Neville moved up to stand next to Draco in the doorway as a cloud of dust that had surfaced from the door cleared. When it was gone, the two of them felt simultaneous waves of relief as the dark outline of a person sitting on a chair was revealed in the middle of the room.
Hermione immediately jerked to attention as she heard the lock on the door click. A wave of internal pain hit her; Lucius had gotten them and now he was coming to gloat in his disgusting glory and then, she swallowed, take her in his own way.
Apprehensively, she waited and then jumped when the door suddenly banged open as if kicked. She coughed as a cloud of dust became unsettled from the door and carpet, her heart now racing at an alarming pace.
She screamed in shock as two figures suddenly rushed at her and came right up to the side of the chair she was sitting on, only to stifle the yell when she actually looked, realizing who it was.
"Neville? Draco?" She was panted in a whisper, stunned but extremely relieved as one of them began to work at getting her untied.
"What are you doing here, are you completely insane!?" she said as she finally found her voice again. "Don't you realize this is a trap?"
"Of course we realize it's a trap," Draco said exasperatedly as he hurriedly began to undo the restraints behind the chair. When Hermione scoffed as if to say she wasn't important enough for them to risk their lives, he stopped and looked her in the eye. "You didn't actually think we'd leave you here, did you," he asked, raising an eyebrow.
She only responded with an obvious look and shook her head. Draco returned the same obvious look and returned to freeing her, seeming to have a bit of difficulty with the last knot his father had tied.
A very loud bang jolted all of them just as Draco had finally managed to undo the last knot, sending Hermione back into the chair from which she had just stood up.
"What—was that," she asked, half not wanting to know the answer.
"That would uh, probably be professor Snape and um, well, Draco's father..." Neville said a bit nervously as if the thought of the two wizards battling downstairs was positively frightening to him. Hermione's heart jumped; she hadn't heard anything after 'Professor Snape'. It hadn't even crossed her mind that Severus might also be here right now. Well, it had...but fleetingly. She, for some now odd-seeming reason, didn't think he would expose himself to that kind of danger by coming to rescue her.
Another blast shook her out of her thoughts and made the three of them try and hold their balance as the floor shook beneath them.
"We should go," Draco pointed out, nodding his head toward the door. "Come on."
Hermione nodded and looked to Neville who still looked positively frightened. The questioning of his presence here then crossed her mind but only briefly because he ushered her out in front of him and she decided she would have to ponder that later...assuming they all made it out of here alive.
More crashes could be heard as they neared the staircase to the foyer. Draco lead the way, walking cautiously to make sure all was clear for the other two behind him.
As they came to the landing of the stairs, the sounds of the fight below them were louder. It was clear that the two men were using non verbal spell casting as no voiced spells were heard.
Hermione cringed as she heard a maniacal laugh that followed directly after a large crash, suggesting the receiver had most likely just been thrown into something very big and probably wooden.
The scene they came upon was horrific: Lucius' long, blonde hair was hanging down in wet, bloody strings over his face, revealing a nose that was surely broken. One side of his robes was torn and hanging off of his body in rags to show a part of his shoulder that was also bleeding.
Severus looked somewhat better off, or at least that's what Hermione thought from the view she had of him. He only seemed to be bleeding slightly from the top of his forehead at the hairline; although, she also noticed there looked like there was a large-sized gash on his left thigh, but he was ignoring it, as he was the other injury.
The two of them were now circling each other, starting one another down, both looking as though fire would erupt from them at any given moment. Lucius, unfortunately, seemed to catch the movement on the stairs out of the corner of his eye and an even more evil grin appeared on his slightly mangled face.
"Well, well, well," he sneered. "Looks like my son has freed the Mudblood." He laughed coldly; not in the least bit amused. Draco glared, venom etched in every line of his face. He gripped his wand tighter and stepped down one more stair.
Severus looked up and caught Hermione's eye, a look of relief passing through his own briefly before returning his attention to Lucius who seemed to have forgotten he was in the middle of a duel and was now clearly focused on Draco.
But Draco had just taken his eyes off of his father as he came down a few more stairs which revealed more of the hall...and a heap of black robes laying on the floor near the wall to the left.
When Draco stopped dead on the staircase, Lucius, Severus, Hermione, and Neville all turned their attention to where his was. Hermione closed her eyes for a moment, knowing what he was seeing, remembering what had happened when she'd first arrived in the house, and wishing she'd had the common sense to give Draco warning before coming downstairs. However, now it was too late and he had seen it, almost instantly understanding that the heap that lay on the floor was Narcissa, his mother.
Narcissa had tried to stop Lucius from what he was doing, pleading with him to leave it be; she had only wanted her family safe at this point. She had not petitioned for Hermione's release out loud of course, but she certainly did not agree with the decisions Lucius had just made. In the end of a battle of words and a few flying curses at each other, he killed her without so much as a second glance. He had knocked Hermione out a second time in frustration before bringing her upstairs.
Cautiously, Hermione moved down to the step that Draco was standing on and reached out to his arm but right at that moment he lashed out.
"What did you do," he cursed nearly under his breath, the words almost choking in his throat. Hermione was sure he was holding back tears as he confronted his father.
"She got in the way," he said very simply, dismissively, waving a hand like he was swishing at a pesky fly.
Hermione found herself shaking her head in utter disgust at what she was hearing. She was almost ready to curse the wretched man herself when Draco, seeming to forget he had a wand, charged down the stairs in a rage, ready to tackle his father.
For a moment, Lucius seemed stunned that someone was running down the stairs at him, but just as he remembered himself and readied his wand to strike him down, Draco went flying off to the side.
Hermione looked over just in time for her to see Severus lower his wand. It took her a moment to realize that he'd probably just saved Draco's life.
"HOW DARE YOU!" Lucius roared as he too realized what Severus had done. Hermione took her opportunity while Lucius was preoccupied elsewhere to also get down the stairs, to at least protect Draco.
Lucius, however, was not as occupied with Severus as she'd thought.
"No!" He screamed as he sent a jinx to hit her directly in the side, sending her flying directly at Severus who seemed to nearly catch her, causing them both to tumble backwards, the end result leaving Hermione unconscious.
At this point, trying to keep up appearances was nearly useless, Severus knew this; he knew that either Lucius or himself would triumph today, although there was no certainty of which one it would be, so it didn't phase him to try and aid Hermione in some way whilst trying to form another plan in his head to stop this mad man from killing anyone else.
Seeming satisfied with his work, Lucius began to turn back to finish off his son, only to be knocked backwards by a spell. Furious, he looked up to see Draco staggering towards him with a slight limp, but a very stone hard, determined look on his face. He too now seemed murderous.
Lucius began to laugh, staggering still from the spell. Draco was now fuming that this man he would never again call his father was laughing at him.
"Pathetic," Lucius spat. "Worthless little boy!"
"Shut UP!" Draco screamed, nearly choking again.
Lucius continued to laugh like a maniac. "Too much for you, son?"
"I am not your son," spat Draco venomously. "STUPEFY!" He screamed after a pause, catching Lucius off guard slightly, but enough to allow the spell to hit him squarely in the chest, sending him flying backwards now.
Draco took a few steadying breathes before limping over, standing above him with his wand pointed directly in the bloodied face still full with malicious, evil, unrealistic laughter.
"Are you going to kill me, Draco," Lucius sneered up at the tip of the wand, laughing yet again. "Hmm," he continued to taunt, "can't do it? Don't want my death on your conscience, boy?"
"It WON'T be on my conscience," Draco now raged, becoming more and more angered by the second.
"Then do it. DO IT! YOU WORTHLESS, NO GOOD, USELESS BOY! KILL ME YOU COWARD!"
"SHUT—UP!" Draco screamed again, but Lucius only started to laugh again, quietly at first and then practically throwing his head back, closed his eyes and began to roar with laughter.
"You're the worthless one, old friend...and Draco is above putting your miserable life to an end."
Lucius opened his eyes and nearly choked on his laughter as it died away at the sight of not Draco, but Severus who now stood over him, his want pointed directly into his face.
"Goodbye."
Faintly, as she came to, Hermione heard the curse, heard Severus' voice say it but did not dare look over in case her ears had betrayed her. She lay quite still for another moment, a million horrible things running through her mind before someone knelt next to her. Briefly she started to recoil, only to relax when familiar hands gently touched an arm and a shoulder, helping her to sit up.
Sadness very present in her eyes, she looked up at Severus who seemed emotionless except for a small hint of relief.
He looked at her for another brief moment, speaking silent words that he knew she would understand in his eyes. With a subtle nod, Hermione allowed him to pull her to stand. She put a hand on her forehead to steady herself and gain her bearings back as Severus carefully walked back over to Draco.
Neville walked up cautiously next to Hermione. Seeing him, having almost forgotten that he had been there, Hermione looked up when he touched her arm, realizing how unnerved he must be by all that had just happened. She knew no words would suffice at this moment, no words for any of them, least of all Draco.
He had managed to stagger over to where his mother lay. She was helpless, unmoving, her life ended unfairly trying to protect her family and even though she knew the woman would never have admitted it, Hermione had a feeling that Narcissa had in a way been trying to protect her as well.
Hermione looked over to where Draco had dropped to his knees next to Narcissa's body. He was just staring at her, almost as if it would make her come back to life. Hermione found Severus' eyes briefly, understanding passing between them that they needed to leave Malfoy Manor as soon as possible; Voldemort would surely know that two of his closest Death Eaters were dead and they wouldn't be safe there much longer.
Severus strode over to Lucius with an eerie and satisfied, yet grim look on his face and bent over to pick up his wand. He twirled it in his fingers as he looked down on a man that he had nearly wished this upon for a long time now.
"Hermione—" he said warningly in a quiet voice as he noticed her walking behind him towards Draco. He took hold of her wrist without turning around. She said nothing, barely turned around to face him, but she didn't pull away. She assumed he didn't think it wise for her to try and console Draco at all; that he thought it would only make it worse. Although, she did have a feeling that was because Severus would never want anyone pouring over him while he mourned. There was a chance, however, that Draco might be different.
When Severus finally turned to show a very warningly obvious expression, as if to tell her to leave him be, she only shook her head. "No one should be alone when they're dealing with this," she barely whispered, her voice cracking slightly. "I should know," she said even more quietly as a determined afterthought. At this, Severus' brow creased ever so slightly in questioning but said nothing more and dropped her wrist.
She looked at him once more before turning again, cautiously coming up behind Draco, unwilling to startle him and upset him more. The horrible feeling in the pit of her stomach would not budge as she approached him, noticing that he had picked up Narcissa's ghost-white hand from the floor and was now simply holding it.
"Leave me alone," he croaked in a sad voice that was barely audible, but it was not truthful. He didn't want to be alone; Hermione could hear it in his voice. She paid no attention to it though and crouched down next to him. She could feel Severus watching her as she reached a hand to place it on Draco's shoulder very lightly.
Draco hung his head a fraction lower, trying to hold back his tears...but they wouldn't stay. It was as if the emotion that allowed one to sob uncontrollably had just suddenly been turned on for him; first it was only a few heaves of tears, which then turned into near hysterical sobbing. He leaned into Hermione who put her arm around his other shoulder, needing to sit back instead of crouch as Draco was leaning his full weight onto her now.
A few tears of her own found their way down Hermione's cheek as well as she sat there and let Draco cry into her shoulder.
After a time, Hermione glanced up to Severus who hadn't moved from where he stood above Lucius' body, watching and waiting. She could tell he was anxious to leave the manor and didn't blame him, however she had no intention of uprooting Draco from his mother's body so soon.
But the look on Severus' face soon became slightly more urgent-seeming and when Hermione made no indication of getting Draco up, Severus decided it was time to leave.
Hermione looked up at him when he walked over to them, nearly standing directly over Draco, gazing down with only his eyes. Hermione tried to give him a look to say to let him be for a few moments longer but a slight shake of the head, as if it were final, stopped her and she nodded with reluctant acceptance that he was right.
They somehow had managed to get Draco to stand up and after several tries, nearly pulled him from the house. He had become very silent and still once outside in the dying sunlight. He looked straight ahead, eyes and face blank and devoid of any kind of expression whatsoever as he slowly followed the other three. Hermione walked slightly behind Neville and Severus to stay closer to Draco just in case.
No one uttered a single word as they walked along to a clear spot to apparate back to Hogwarts. Four distinct pops ensued, one by one, as they apparated, each appearing back in front of the main gates of the school.
It was beginning to get dark as they started walking up the path to the school. Hermione and Draco were concealed under Harry's cloak which Neville had went and retrieved from upstairs in the manor before they had left.
To anyone glancing out of a window, they would probably find the very strange sight of Neville Longbottom walking alongside Severus Snape and wonder what in the world the two of them could possibly be doing coming back from the front gates at this hour of the day; most especially because both people had ironically gone missing slightly after lunch earlier in the day. Coincidence? Perhaps not, some of them might think.
Fortunately, they didn't meet anyone in the corridors on the way back to the Headmaster's office. Draco continued to be mute as they entered the living room. He seemed so defeated; it nearly tore Hermione up to just see someone like that, no matter who they were.
She almost had a thought to say something to him but words didn't make it out of her mouth in time because no sooner did he leave her side from under the cloak, he made his way down to his room concealed under the floor and disappeared from sight.
Hermione stopped where she was and didn't turn around. Severus said nothing. She could feel his eyes on the back of her head again but only momentarily. When she also said nothing and didn't turn to face him, he brushed past her almost passively and went down to talk with Draco. Hermione stared straight ahead as he went by, unable to look at him because even though he hadn't said anything, she had a feeling he was upset with her.
It was several hours later and dark outside when Severus emerged from Draco's room. Hermione hadn't bothered to put any lights on in the room; the only source of light coming from the small rays of moonlight that were peeking through the windows.
Hermione had begun to submit to her mind in the last few hours, thinking about a lot of what had just happened. Somehow, she had made her way over to Dumbledore's old muggle jukebox. What had drawn her to it, she didn't really know; maybe it was nothing; maybe she just found it comforting because it was the one thing in that room that she was familiar with at that moment.
She heard him open and close the door and mutter a spell to make it disappear but she didn't move. She could tell he was once again looking at her, perhaps contemplating what to say. Even though she still wasn't looking at him, his demeanor was softened somewhat from what it had been earlier.
"It happened in the summer," she said without warning in a very quiet voice, so quiet, had Severus not had near excellent hearing he would have had to strain to know what she had said. "Two years ago..." she added. Severus didn't ask any questions; he knew he didn't have to. She was going to tell this story whether he was tuned in, asking questions or not.
"We had been shopping at this muggle mall downtown in London," she continued, still in a barely audible whisper, an indicator that it was difficult for her to talk about. "We couldn't find the car, the parking lot was so packed. I decided we should split up..." she trailed off, semi-noticing how Severus had been slowly moving closer to her with very small, silent steps.
"We were laughing..." she paused again, trying to find her words. "I couldn't see her but I could hear her. We were laughing at the...absurdity of how we couldn't even find a car." She shook her head. He was closer to her now.
"And then out of no where...it just—happened." She continued to shake her head. "I heard the car and the tires screech...the horn telling her to get out of the way, but it was too late..." A tear hit her hand unexpectantly as Severus closed the inches between them but still did not move to touch her, unsure of what he should do.
"I remember I yelled for her; I was terrified of what I knew had just happened but I refused to come to terms with it until I actually saw it. It was true though...it was just—true."
Severus hung his head slightly. Hermione could feel his shallow breathing near her neck but still she didn't look away from the songs in the jukebox.
After what seemed like a long time, Hermione spoke again, still as quiet as before. "She was in a coma for two months and then she just died...all because of one misjudgment that cost her...her life." She slowly ran her hand across the jukebox's smooth glass surface. She couldn't cry though, tears would no longer come because she had convinced herself to move on. It hadn't been easy, but it had to be done. Much had been at stake here at Hogwarts at that time as well and as much as it hurt Hermione to do it, she had to try and put it at the back of her mind if she valued her own life at all.
"After it happened, after she died, I just had to keep telling myself one thing over and over again..."
Severus, who had been silent this entire time as Hermione poured out one of her most painful memories, looked up as she said this and paused momentarily before drawing a slow breath and speaking.
"That it was beyond your control," he said slowly, not so much as a question but a statement, as if he understood. But Hermione shook her head, furrowing her brow slightly at his words.
"No," she said, still shaking her head and taking a breath of her own before looking up at him for the first time with fierce eyes. "That it would never happen again," she said, the strength in her voice coming back. "I refuse to lose another friend that way. I refuse to lose anyone that way," she added in reference to him as he raised an eyebrow when she said the word 'friend'.
"It's something I never would have gotten through had it not been for my friends. They pulled me through...we pulled each other through," she said, voice becoming stronger still. "That's why I couldn't leave him earlier. I know that feeling...I know," she finished, looking away again, the image of Draco kneeling at the body of his dead mother only hours earlier replaying in her mind. She knew it was a memory she would not soon lose.
The song the jukebox had been playing ended and Hermione jumped slightly, startled when it began to switch records. As it started to play, she smiled a fraction at the familiarity of the old song. It didn't take long for Severus to take advantage of the new, slower tune. He ran a hand down her arm slowly, lightly, visibly giving her goosebumps, speeding up her breathing although all of it she tried to hide, but in vain it was.
She turned her head half way, looking at him out of the corner of her eye, her breath becoming louder as she tried to slow it down. She closed her eyes and swallowed, heart fluttering like a wild butterfly. Oh, what he did to her...
When she opened them, he had gently taken hold of her hand and walked her away from the jukebox. Hermione now looked up into his eyes where she immediately became lost as he pulled her up close to him to dance.
It was a quiet sort of dance, only moving ever so slowly to the gentle sway of Unchained Melody. Hermione closed her eyes once again and rested her cheek on his shoulder, holding him around the middle, taking enjoyment and overall comfort in the way he was holding her in return.
She knew she could probably stay that way forever; it would be so easy to just forget the world completely and allow this, allow him, to consume her every thought and move for the rest of life. But as easy as her heart said it was, her mind told her different when it somehow began to push her about what had happened; that, and the thought that Severus had indeed been upset with her for trying to protect Draco.
He felt it, the change that suddenly occurred in her thoughts. He certainly didn't mean to feel it, but when he was being so open as he was at this moment, everything sort of flew in at once without his say so.
He looked down at the top of her head, thinking of a safe way to enquire without getting into something he would regret asking about.
"Something troubles you," he said carefully in observance. "Tell me." He could tell she was thinking, her mind starting to run at what she wanted to say.
"If I tell you what I'm thinking will you answer truthfully," she asked quietly, not looking up but only staring ahead over his shoulder, just listening and waiting for his answer.
Severus paused a moment before answering, knowing it must have something to do with himself. Finally he allowed himself a small nod. "I shall do my best," he answered as evenly as he could. Hermione accepted his response; she knew it was the closest he would ever be to a simple 'yes' or 'no'.
She took a slow breath, hoping it would suffice for time to get the words out that were very clear in her mind but she knew would not be so clear in speech. "Were you..." she paused, searching for the word. "...Unhappy with what I did today? Stopping Draco from coming up here, I mean." She waited, still unwilling to look up and see what answers might be playing about in his face. She noticed that his muscles had tightened slightly at her questions, noting how they had both become less relaxed with a new conversation topic.
Severus knew he had to choose his words and explanation carefully at risk of getting into an unforgivable quarrel. "You realize that Lucius could have easily killed you instead of simply taking you as bait, don't you," he inquired, immediately wishing he hadn't.
"Do not change the subject, Severus," she immediately countered, starting to fire up, finally looking at him. She did not, however, let go of him, which gave him the slight feeling of being trapped as he was being scolded. "You are angry, aren't you," she asked incredulously, yet still had not raised her voice above a loud whisper. The look in his eyes confirmed it for her. At this, she angrily withdrew herself from him and took a few steps back. "It actually upsets you that I may have very well saved his life?"
"You could have died, Hermione!" He found his voice, realizing that the anger he felt about the events of the day...her foolishness to not allow Draco to help her had not dissipated in the slightest, but yet had simply been cast aside because of the fact that she had watched Draco live something she had not very long ago. "He could have helped you," he nearly raged, but managed to keep his tone quiet.
Hermione only shook her head in disbelieving amazement. "And had I not stopped him, Lucius would have killed him on the spot. And then killed me as well," she said bluntly, trying to stare him down. "We would both be dead."
A long silence between them followed, both sides nearly furious with the other, refusing to back down and admit to another that one may very well be right in their thinking.
Severus wished he could retort with something else, but in a way he knew she was right. In the time that she had been here now, he realized how much of his pride he had packed away when he was around her. Not to mention the walls he had completely lowered because of her...even though that was a completely different story.
He was, for some reason, still needing to be a bit furious with her or at least about the whole situation. In truth, it had been worry that drove him to the anger he was feeling now; the thought that something terrible could have happened to her—it terrified him in all reality.
In that thought, Severus suddenly took a sharp breath, his mark burning, searing more than normal. Voldemort was angry...it didn't take a clever mind like Severus' to know why.
Hermione too, amidst her own anger, noticed it and was immediately more concerned, even though she had no intention of backing down from the argument.
However Severus, without a word, turned and made his way swiftly to the office door to leave as quickly as possible, knowing it would only be even more suicidal to keep him waiting any longer. He didn't answer her either when she suddenly asked what he was doing, where he was going...even though she knew. He noted that she was more frantic as he neared the door to his office, still not turning around.
"Wait!" Hermione nearly pleaded, knowing where he was off to, not wanting him to go. She knew she would never forgive herself if Voldemort decided to get rid of him right then and there because of Lucius and Narcissa and she didn't even have the chance to say she was sorry...and that she loved him.
Severus knew he was going to have to do something to stop her, as she was now almost frantically following him, pleading for him to stay. He, however, lost all thought and feeling the moment he entered the office, just as Hermione had taken hold of his hand to try and get through to him, the faces of five fellow Death Eaters meeting his sight.
AN: Credit goes to the film Red Eye for where Hermione's explaining what happened to her friend. That's basically where the base of the idea came from. "That it was beyond your control"; "No. That it would never happen again." Thanks for reading...and for the reviews! You guys are awesome! :)