Chapter 4

Not So Sweet


Disclaimer: I don't own Harry, Snape, or Hermione. If I end up naming my dog Draco, then I own my dog, but not his name.

Author's Note: Well, I know it's been a long while since I last updated and I can only say I'm sorry. I had this finished by the second week in February, but my beta has been extremely busy and I was nervous about asking another person to beta. When Pointblank1 left for Greece I decided that I couldn't wait and asked another friend, target1. So I would like to thank her for her help and being so patient. I've been busy as well, let's just say that it's been a really stressful year, but now most of that has come to an end and I'm now free to write more. Thanks for all those reviews. And Please review this chapter, it's my favorite.


"A true master of Occlumency never drops their guard. Never drop your guard in the Dark Lord's presence because it may be the last thing you ever do."

"Right, sir. Good Night."

"Good Night, Miss Granger."


Dear Draco,

I've barely been here a day and I have already gotten on Professor Snape's bad side. I came to my room barely a second past curfew and he went berserk; he's making me scrub cauldrons today as punishment! (no magic, of course) It's going to take ages!

He's going to start training me today. I'm kind of nervous, but very excited all the same. I'm finally on my way to proving myself. No longer will Hermione Granger be associated with the word mudblood.

I hope that your father will let you come to visit soon, even if it is to teach me the "Malfoy Manners." Maybe Professor Snape will allow me to visit once during the summer; I'm already thinking about how great it will be to get out of the castle.

Hope to see you soon!

Always yours,

Hermione Granger


Dear Ron and Harry,

I know that you are both at the Burrow and I don't think that I can write two letters. It's hard to write just one after the way that you two acted.

I'm not writing this to try and persuade you to talk to me again, but to tell you the whole truth and everything that I have found out so far. After the last letter I sent you, I went to the Ministry to see if they had any record of me being born; they didn't.

I then went to Borgin and Burkes to see if they had any books on blood testing or ways to figure out parentage. Thankfully, they did. I had everything ready for the potion I was going to use to test if I was Lucius Malfoy's daughter when I was kidnapped by the man himself, trying to obtain a sample of his blood.

I can hardly believe that you think I would go over to that side when my so-called "father" nearly starved and tortured me to death. I'm safe now, though I can't say where I am for fear of this letter falling into the wrong hands. I have said too much as is.

Please forgive me,

Hermione Granger


Hermione woke early the next morning; unable to keep her eyes closed against the light that was pouring into her room from a sizable gap in the green velvet curtains.

She still felt tired, but now that she was awake she didn't think she could fall back asleep. Sighing, she rolled over and glared at the gap that let in the God forsaken light. If she had really wanted, Hermione could've grabbed her wand and shut the curtains, but that would still have meant getting up, and Hermione didn't really feel like doing that.

Getting out of bed, Hermione stretched and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Glancing over at her clock, she saw that it was earlier then she had originally thought. Six o'clock was way too early a time to be awake for the weekend. With a groan, Hermione walked slowly into the bathroom to shower and start her day.

After a hot, long shower and getting dressed in muggle clothes (for comfort), Hermione made her way downstairs to the kitchen to see if there was anything she could grab for breakfast.

Hermione was surprised to see that there were lights on in the kitchen and that she was not the only one up so early. Then it dawned on her who she had to spend the summer with and let out an exasperated sigh. She wasn't sure she could stand dealing with Snape this early in the morning.

Snape sat at a round wooden table near the back of the small kitchen. He looked up as she entered, dressed in jeans and a light purple top.

"You're up, it's about time. I have something you need to see," said Snape icily.

Hermione sat down opposite him at the table and looked coolly at her professor.

Snape sneered and tossed over a copy of the Daily Prophet. The paper slid to a halt in front of Hermione and she looked down questioningly as the title of the paper blazed up at her.

Harry Potter's Muggle Born Friend, No Longer:

Hermione Jane Granger is Half-Blood

Harry Potter's best friend, Hermione Granger, who, until recently, was thought to be muggle born, has now been thrown into a new light. A recent development, brought to light through an anonymous tip-off, proves that Hermione Granger is not only a half blood, but the daughter of Lucius Malfoy…

Hermione dropped the paper. "How did they find out?" she stammered.

"Did you tell anyone besides the Dark Lord?" asked Snape coolly.

"Of course not…," started Hermione. She looked at Snape, her eyes suddenly wide and disbelieving. "In the letters that I wrote to Ron and Harry I said that there was a good chance that I was Lucius Malfoy's daughter." She dropped down into a chair, looking as if she had seen a ghost.

"I thought as much," replied Snape. "You foolish girl, did you not think? The Potter brat's mail is being searched. Anything and everything that you said has been read by the Ministry."

"Damn," said Hermione. "The Dark Lord isn't going to be pleased by this."

Snape snorted. "Is that all you are worried about? This is huge news and more focus on yourself is the last thing you need."

"What do you mean?"

"Use your head!" spat Snape. "Now that the press and the Ministry have gotten a hold of this, not only are you in danger from Lucius, but from those fools you call friends. And not just Potter and Weasley."

Hermione stared at the paper, thinking everything over. She couldn't believe this was happening. This was going to make her life a living hell, she just knew it.

"What should I do?" asked Hermione in an desperate voice.

"There is nothing to do but to wait. Acting on this would just make matters worse."

"Wait for what, for this to blow over? I'm sorry; I don't see that happening any time soon."

"You will wait in these rooms until you receive a letter from either Lucius or Draco. You need to act accordingly. You will need to be wary of Lucius, and if you act before he gives his say, you will only endanger yourself further. Do you understand?"

Hermione nodded and placed her head in her hands and murmured, "This isn't going to help my cause in trying to get Harry and Ron back on my side. They will, or at least Ron will, think that this will be further proof that I'm not to be trusted."

"Pine about your lost friends some other time, Miss. Granger, I have potions that need making and I will require your assistance making them."

Without another glance at the girl, Snape got up and crossed over to the door that led down to his private laboratory.

The black door creaked open and, pausing, Snape glanced over his shoulder to the girl still sitting at the table, "Miss. Granger, I don't have all day and these potions won't brew themselves."

He waited a second longer before he heard the scraping of wooden chair legs against stone and a second later a ruffled looking Miss Granger stood in front of him.

"Before you enter my private laboratory I will set down some ground rules, and if any of them are broken you will find yourself scrubbing the dungeon floors with out magic," sneered Snape. "First, you will only brew what I tell you to brew. You will not go off making your own concoctions or brew anything like polyjucie potion. Second, if I tell you to do something you will do it. If I tell you to get out of the dungeons you will do so immediately. And finally, if you are done with your set of tasks you will not pester me. You will clean up any mess that you have made and you will leave quietly and read, staying in these quarters. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, sir," sighed Hermione, "Crystal."

Snape gave a snort of acknowledgement and tuned, pushing the black door open.

Hermione couldn't believe that the door opened up onto more stairs; could they go any farther down? Grabbing the door as he passed, Hermione was relieved that there were only a few steps and the endless stairs had merely been an illusion.

Snape snapped his fingers and the dark potions laboratory sprang to life, as torches along the walls flickered into existence, throwing rows of caldrons, potions ingredients, books and desks into sharp relief. From what Hermione could see, all of them were stacked or pilled or sorted neatly in rows. Neither a book nor caldron was out of place.

Hermione's mood lightened considerably at the sight of the room; she loved organization. Even if she didn't want to admit it, she had always hated how cluttered and disorganized the Gryffindor common room was. She was glad to finally see that she wasn't the only crazily neat, organized person in the castle.

Snape motioned to a stack of caldrons, stacked neatly in a far corner. "Because of your tardiness, you will first scrub those cauldrons until they are clean. Remember Miss Granger," drawled Snape, "I do not tolerate lateness and as punishment you will clean them by hand, no magic. When you have finished, you will cut up a jar of flubber worms, I want them all cut to be one cm in length. And neatly. Once you have finished that, you will wait till I have finished here, then we will work on you training."

"Yes, Sir," replied Hermione. She did not know what else to say. As she couldn't get out of cleaning the caldrons, and it was clear that she couldn't get out of cutting the flubber worms, it was looking to be a long day.

After placing the top most caldron on the floor, Hermione set to work, using the wire brush that seemed to be the most sensible of brushes for this task, to clean the caldron in front of her. Without magic, Hermione set to work scrubbing cauldron after cauldron, till all nine cauldrons sat in a neat stack, clean as a whistle.

Wiping her forehead on the back of her sleeve, Hermione stood up, only to feel her back protesting, as her muscles screamed out in agony.

Glancing over, she saw Snape was busy at work, chopping ingredients and measuring them out, before gently dropping them in the cauldron. Hermione felt that, with him so focused on the potion, she could have dropped a bomb in that room and he still would have continued to work.

Turning from her professor, Hermione noticed a table with an awfully large jar sitting on it. Swearing under her breath, she made her way over to the table where the massive jar sat, containing hundreds of wriggling worms.

Taking the knife that had been laid, perpendicular to the table beside it, Hermione set to work, cutting the disgustingly slimy worms into one centimeter pieces.

Snape was doing everything that he could to keep himself from glancing over at the witch that stood at the table opposite, cutting up flubber worms. He couldn't help but notice the care in which she cut up the worms; how she measured twice before cutting, yet did it in a very efficient manner. She was smooth and graceful in her movements, and Snape was mesmerized by her, so much so that he almost, almost put too many hiccupping slugs into the potion.

Cursing under his breath Snape threw all his concentration back into his potion, trying unsuccessfully to get the witch out of his head.

Time seemed to pass rather quickly for Hermione as she cut the flubber worms. And she was somewhat surprised, and relieved when she reached into the jar to find that there were no more worms to cut.

Pleased to be finally done, Hermione cleaned up the table, content to use her wand and after bottling the pieces of worm, turned to look over to see if Snape was still working.

The room was empty, except for herself, and walking over to the caldron that he had been working on, she noticed that it thankfully had already been cleaned. With a small sigh of relief, Hermione made her way back into the living room.

Blinking as she stepped in to the slightly brighter room, Hermione was relieved to see that Snape was sitting in a lounge chair in front of the fire, reading. She didn't understand why she was relieved, except for that fact that she didn't really fancy sitting and reading at the moment.

Without looking at her Snape marked his place and, setting book aside before standing up, walked over to the door that led to the castle halls.

"The headmaster has requested that we dine in the great hall tonight, so I feel we have no choice but to oblige his request. If he asks anything to deal with your parents or how your summer was before you arrived here, I suggest you do a damn good job at lying to him, because he may try to use leginamency if he doesn't receive the answers he is looking for."

Hermione just nodded and made her way to the door her professor had just disappeared through. She had almost reached it when she felt a sharp, searing pain shoot through her left arm. Eyes watering, Hermione pulled back her sleeve to see the outline of her mark darken.

Snape turned sharply, when he heard a gasp of pain from behind him. Standing in the door way was Miss Granger, looking slightly pail, grasping at her arm. Her watering eyes met his and, with a sneer that he did not entirely feel, Snape said, "You've been summoned. And seeing as I have not, that must mean that He just wants you. Go, now, do not anger him further by delaying; I'll take care of the headmaster."

Hermione could only nod as the searing pain continued, each wave worse then the last, till finally the pain dulled into a mere throb.

When the pain eased, Hermione looked up and realized that without consciously knowing where she was going, she had walked just outside the Hogwarts gates. Thanks to Hogwarts, a History, Hermione knew that she would have to walk a little further before she would be allowed to apperate. Otherwise, she would set off the wards that kept the castle safe from other wizards and witches apperating in.

After walking for a few more minutes, Hermione, who had never apperated before, focused on the dull throb on her arm and, concentrating with all her might, she turned on the spot and was rewarded with the sensation of being sucked up a straw.


Snape stood rigidly where she had left him. He couldn't do anything to help her; even if he wanted to go after her he had no idea where the Dark Lord was calling her.

A part of Snape felt that she deserved what she was getting, stupid girl. What had she been thinking when she asked for the Mark?

She was sure to pay the price now, and even though Snape felt that she deserved it, he was slightly fearful of the state that she might be in when she arrived back. That was only if she was able to make it back.

Strolling up into the great hall, Snape was relieved to see that only the headmaster sat at the head table and that, at least for now, he could talk to the headmaster in private.

"Ah, Severus, so glad for you to finally make it. Though I had asked you to bring along Miss Granger as well. You don't have her still cleaning caldrons do you?"

"No, headmaster, she is unfortunately not still cleaning caldrons… She got called away," drawled Snape.

"And you are worried about her? Why Severus that's quite touching," hummed Dumbledore.

"Oh, of course I'm worried about her," Snape snapped. "She is a student of this school, and even though she has acted quite idiotically, she is still my student."


With a crack Hermione fell forward from the force of the landing. Having never apperated before, Hermione felt that she had at least managed to do a half way decent job. At least from what she could see and feel, she didn't think she splinched any part of herself.

"It's so nice for you to finally join us, Ms. Malfoy," said a cool, high voice from behind her.

Hermione spun around and there sitting in high backed chairs were the Dark Lord, Lucius and Narcissa Malfoy, and Belatrix Leastrange.

Hermione crept on her hands and knees to the Dark Lord's feet, "My Lord, please forgive me, I have never apperated before and was unsure how to accomplish it."

"She still looks like a mudblood to me," Belatrix chided. "Are you sure she yours Lucius?"

"Be quiet Bella," said the Dark Lord smoothly. "There is no need to insult Lucius any further then he has already been today."

Belatrix gave a bark of a laugh and smiled wickedly back down at Hermione, who blinked back a flinch.

The Dark Lord looked superiorly down at Hermione with those blood red eyes. "Miss Malfoy, did you see this morning's edition of the Daily Prophet?" asked the Dark Lord simply

Hermione glanced up, into the red gleaming eyes. "Yes, my lord."

Narcissa shifted slightly in her seat. Belatrix's smile grew wider and Lucius's grip on his serpent headed cane became tighter. The Dark Lord just continued to stare down at Hermione; having shown absolutely no sign that he had noticed anything.

"Did you see the headlines of the front page?"

Hermione's mouth went dry and her tongue stuck to the roof of her mouth as she nodded yes.

"How did the Ministry come to acquire that information? And after I told you not to tell anyone about you parentage, Miss Malfoy? Before you answer, think about this: Do you think I take being disobeyed lightly?"

Hermione swallowed in an attempt to get her tongue unstuck and opened her mouth to speak, but just then the Dark Lord flicked his wand and Hermione's mouth snapped shut.

Belatirx gave another bark-like laugh and said in a whiny voce, "Oh the itsy bitsy baby death eater is going to get a taste of her own medicine."

The Dark Lord held up a hand to quiet her, still staring into Hermione's chocolate eyes.

"Miss Malfoy, it seems that even though you come from decent stock, you haven't had the rules of this society bored into you, unlike most young witches and wizards. I will have to teach you lesson one the hard way, it seems. Never disobey me."

And with that he flicked his wand and shouted "Crucio!"

Pain as Hermione had never felt before shot though every cell in her body. Her veins felt like they were on fire and Hermione screamed in anguish.

Then just as fast as the pain had been given, it was taken away. Hermione lay panting on the floor, unable to rise to her hands and knees.

"Rule two," continued the Dark Lord, as though there had been no interruption. "You will not speak unless spoken to."

The pain was back, Hermione thrashed on the floor as her body convulsed against the second onslaught. Her muscles were inflamed and her eyes rolled wildly as the pain continued on for even longer than the previous time.

Just when Hermione thought she would surely die from the pain, lest it drive her mad, the curse was lifted and again Hermione lay panting on the floor, too weak to lift her head, too weak to look into her master's unforgiving eyes.

"Rule three, Miss Malfoy, never be late when I call you. You are to apperate as soon as you feel your arm burn."

Hermione tensed in anticipation and was thrown backwards, literarily, by the force the new assault of torture. She screamed in agony as blood started to stream from all the pours in her body. Her skin felt like it was on fire, it was unbearable. Just when she hoped for her mind to black out, the curse was removed.

Hermione could hardly open her eyes, as blood trickled from her body and started to pool on the floor.

She barely heard the click of neatly polished shoes as they came to a halt in front of her. She did recognize the end of the cane that had accompanied the feet though. And she was aware of being roughly pushed over onto her back by said cane.

Her eyes blinked out blood as they started up into the disgusted looking face of Lucius Malfoy. The man's grey eyes glared down at her as he stood like royalty above her.

"Never," said Lucius in his drawling voice as he slid out his wand from the cane, "Bring," eyes blazing as her pointed his wand down at her, "Dishonor to my name again." His last word was punctuated by a scream as Lucius silently aimed a curse at her.

Hermione heard and felt the bones in her fingers break, one by one; each bone in each finger, breaking one right after the other.

Her voice almost gone from screaming, Hermione didn't notice that, though her mouth was still open in a scream, no sound was coming out.

The curse ceased and she stared, though tear and blood stained eyes up at her father. Though the curse had been lifted her fingers still felt as though they had been run over by a car, throbbing with every heart beat.

"Assico, potion," cried a voice from above her head. Hermione couldn't recognize who it had come from.

Her father, still standing above her, looking down with disdain, kept swimming in and out of focus, at times there seemed to be five of him glaring at her.

Hermione barely heard the soft foot falls of another pair of feet, though when the figure stepped on her hand, Hermione became fully aware that there was someone nearby and let them know with a hoarse scream of pain.

"Oh poor baby death eater," chuckled a voice over her head darkly. "Lucius, three drops should bring her around fully, and if not a good imperious curse should do the trick."

The pain in her hand was becoming nothing short of a death sentence and as Hermione's mouth opened wider in a silent scream she felt three drops of something trickle down her throat.

The pain ceased as soon as the liquid hit the back of her throat. Hermione's eyes focused on the three faces still swimming slightly above her.

The red eyes caught her attention at once, and she struggled weakly to get to her hands and knees, where she fell to her forearms and cried, "My Lord, I swear, I will not let you or Father down again."

"I hope you have learned your lesson, Hermione," purred the cold voice, "because that was just a taste. It could, should, have been a much worse. And next time, I will not show you any mercy."

"Thank you my Lord, you are too kind," sobbed Hermione at his feet.

"I expect better from you in the future. May this serve as a lesson to never disobey me again. Now be gone from my sight or I may decide to let Bella have some fun," whispered the cold, emotionless voice.

There was a shriek of laughter and Hermione raised her head just in time to receive a kick from a leather clad foot, which sent her sprawling.

Hermione used what was left of her failing strength to try and stand, but felt her knees give, sending her crashing back to the ground.

"My Lord, it doesn't look like my daughter," said a drawling voice, "will be able to apperate on her own. Perhaps a portkey could take her back to Hogwarts, if I may."

"Yes, do that," demanded the cold, high voice. "Get her out of my sight."

"Yes, my Lord. Portus."

Hermione was aware of the cold floor and of something cold and hard thrust into her hand, before the sensation of being pulled from the navel entered into her mind.

With a thump, Hermione hit the grass ground outside the gates of Hogwarts and collapsed on impact, though not with out feeling the millions of breaks and pains come spiraling back to her. With a scream that tore her already bloody throat, she blacked out.


Hermione woke, what must have been hours later, to find herself still sprawling out in the dew filled grass. Every muscle ached and her fingers had turned black.

Moaning, she struggled to flip herself onto her back, where she gave a hoarse scream from landing on her left arm. She opened her watering eyes to gaze up into the stars twinkling above her.

Hermione tried to free her mind of pain, as tears ran down her face. She needed to get her wand out of her robe and send for help. She didn't know how much longer she could stay conscious after all the blood she had lost, and, looking at her left hand, she wasn't surprised to see it almost cut in two, blood still flowing steadily from it.

Using what little she could of her right hand she managed to work her wand out of her pocket. Performing a patronus was going to be another matter entirely.

Hermione started by trying to clear her mind, which was becoming exceedingly more difficult as her hands started to throb once more. So, in hopes of a better result, Hermione focused on the one person whom she wanted help from, the one person that she would pay anything to see.

She was successful at bring the picture to the front of her mind. Now to hope this would be enough and get the wand movements correct. Hermione figured that she only had one chance at this before she passed out again.

Using what little strength she still possessed, Hermione raised her right arm out in front of her and with a swish muttered, "Expecto Patronum."

Hermione's head fell back and, through half closed eyes, she watched as a silver fox looked mournfully back at her before turning and running full speed through the gates and up to the castle.

The last through to cross Hermione's mind was, "Well that doesn't look like an otter," before she passed out, wand rolling out of her black and blue fingers.


Snape sat, bleary-eyed, as he stared into the dancing flames in the hearth. Looking down at his watch he became increasingly more worried. Why hadn't she returned yet? Was the Dark Lord keeping her there, where ever he had called her? Or had Lucius Bastard Malfoy taken her back to his lair of a mansion?

Snape poured himself another glass of fire whisky. The bottle that had been full was now two-thirds empty.

Snape looked back down at his watch; it hadn't changed. Looking back up into the fire, he thought about what he had done before entering his chambers. He had increased the wards sensitivity so that it would alert him if she apperated or appeared within ten feet of the wards. But what if she had apperated outside of that ten feet?

He shuddered at the thought; he had stood by the gates for almost two hours, waiting, before deciding to trust the wards.

Swirling the drink in his hand Snape downed it before throwing the glass into the hearth, where it shattered into thousands of pieces on impact.

He was just about to get a book off the book case when he was distracted by a silver mist coming in from the door. Snape thought it looked like a dog, but as it neared he noticed that it moved more like a cat then a dog and as it came to a stop in front of him, Snape realized that it was a fox.

The fox looked up at him with a warm, curious expression, before it turned and headed back towards the painting, where it stopped again, turned back to look at him and then continued to walk through the painting.

Snape stood stock still. "Those eyes," thought Snape. They were just like her…eyes.

Snape snapped almost fully out of his drunken state when that realization hit; turning, he ran down to his lab to grab a solution that would fully sober him. Once that had been downed and the bottle thrown aside, Snape ran full out, throwing the painting open with a crash, robes whipping behind him.

His pace quickened as he reached the grounds, the moon shining brightly over head illuminating his path. He could almost see the gates, though they were a mile away.

Ripping his wand out of his sleeve, Snape undid the wards as he ran, faster then he had ever run before, down towards the gates. Which, upon being reached, flung open of their own accord, almost as if they had sensed Snape's urgency and need to reach the other side.

There, only twenty feet away, lay a lump on the usually flat landscape.

Snape withdrew the few potion vials that he kept in his robes for emergencies as he rushed over to the girl's side.

Snape's eyes widened as he looked over her. Her jaw looked swollen shut, eyes black and blue stood out on her normally pail face, which was now covered in blood. As Snape knelt down by his student he noticed a wet sensation seeping in through his robes, and looking down noticed the puddle of blood, glistening sickly in the moon light.

"Fuck," whispered Snape, as he stared down horrified. "What the hell did that bastard do to you, Hermione."


Awe, touching ending isn't it. PLEASE REVIEW!

For some reason I can't reply to my reviewers anymore so I would like to thank all of them again and I'm going to try to reply to the reviews on a different computer to see if that will help.