A/N: Many more well-deserved thanks to my beta, anogete, for her help with this story. Also, thank you to all of my readers and reviewers; some of you are getting dangerously close to figuring out some of the mysteries in this fic!
Obligatory: None of these things belong to me; they all belong to JKR. I just like to have a bit of fun with them, and no profit is desired.
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After he had rid himself of his unwilling assistant, Severus stalked towards the audience room. He had received word of a meeting with the Dark Lord that morning from Wormtail. Apparently, he was to learn of the first round of new potions he was to create and place his order with the Gryffindor rat for ingredients.
He was weary, for he had spent all night contemplating how to deal with the Granger girl. She had proved more sensible than he had given her credit for, though it was not surprising that she resisted him at first. He wondered why he had not just taken her initial refusal as her final answer and handed her over for the amusement of one of his companions. He couldn't imagine how he could possibly tolerate her presence while he was engaged in his craft, but some part of him felt that it would bring relief from the boredom he had been experiencing while making such ridiculously simple potions.
Why her, though, he wondered. Certainly some Slytherin student could have been more willingly obtained from Hogwarts, someone he would not need to convince to help him. There was some deeper meaning to her being deposited at his door, but, try as he did, he could think of no reasonable explanation. One could be torture, of course, as his anxiety over the situation had made the pain in his chest unbearable.
'Merlin, I'm getting old,' he thought to himself as he approached the door and tried to steel himself against the pain. Perhaps a heart attack would relieve him of all the burdens he felt at present.
He found the audience room open, with many of the higher-ranking Death Eaters standing silently before the Dark Lord's empty chair. He took his place next to Lucius, and looked around to see all unmasked Death Eaters, with Bellatrix Lestrange conspicuously absent from the side of her husband.
As soon as everyone had taken their places, Wormtail led in the fearsome lord. The Dark Lord looked uncharacteristically pleased with something, and so Severus assumed that whatever plan was being hatched was going well.
As he took his seat, all of the assembled Death Eaters bowed deeply before him. He enjoyed their subservience for a moment before motioning for them to rise.
He wasted no time in communicating their instructions to them through Silent Speech. In Severus' mind, the commands of his master sounded. "Severus, I would like for you to inform Wormtail of all of the ingredients necessary for an extensive supply of the most terrible, misery-inflicting potions in your mental arsenal. We will be attacking our enemy on all fronts, and poisoning them where they feel safe will be invaluable when our final strike comes."
Almost immediately, Severus began thinking of all of the complex brews he could create that would soothe the irritation he had felt at being resigned to making potions he could make in his sleep. He was as giddy as a man like Severus Snape could be at all of the possibilities now laid before him.
When they were dismissed, he sought out his sniveling personal shopper and provided him with a foot-long parchment of rare and expensive ingredients. If the Dark Lord wanted the most terrible potions in his arsenal, he was going to get them.
"Are all of these really necessary, Severus? Where am I supposed to find some of these things? Peruvian Manticore blood? Fresh Pogrebin eyeballs? Are you serious?" Wormtail's eyes were wide with bewilderment.
"And here I thought the Dark Lord assigned you this task because he assumed you up to the challenge. If you are not, I am sure that someone else can be found to replace you." Severus placed special emphasis on the last two words.
Wormtail opened his mouth to make a smart retort, but all that came out was, "You'll have it all by tomorrow." His head lowered, he stalked away.
Sufficiently amused, Severus made to retrieve his help from The Cell. He could only hope that she could hold her tongue long enough for him to derive some enjoyment from his new task.
When he got to The Cell, he found that the door was already open, and Bellatrix was watching the activities inside with amusement. To his horror, he saw the Granger girl panting on her knees before his godson, ready to take his manhood into her watering mouth.
He was absolutely furious, and the calm that had recently taken him was replaced with rage. "What is going on here?"
Bellatrix's whole body shook with thinly veiled delight. "It seems your little chit was unsatisfied by you, Snape, and had to find enjoyment elsewhere." She made a quick move to pocket her wand, ostensibly hidden in her sleeve, but she wasn't quick enough to keep Severus from seeing it. Severus began to sense a set up, but, if he were being fooled, he would have to play the part.
With hardly any hesitation, he moved in front of Hermione and slapped her as hard as he could across her face. Instantly, the ache in his chest stabbed through him like a knife, and his composure nearly melted away like ice in a hot cauldron. He could see her composure fade away as well, and the instant explosion of tears sickened him. "I will deal with her."
Without looking back at Bellatrix's smug face, he grabbed Hermione by her jumper and dragged her back to his rooms. He could feel the fear emanating from her trembling form, while his own body shook with anger.
Once they were inside his rooms, he released her into a pile on the floor and slammed the door shut. He took a moment to settle himself before turning towards her. "What on earth were you thinking?"
The girl reached up and wiped a tear from her cheek. "It wasn't my fault, sir. I didn't do anything!"
"Do you think me an idiot? That little charade of Bellatrix's could have fooled her husband, but it did not fool me. Certainly you know how to throw off the Imperius Curse? I know Crouch taught it in your fourth year, and I am told you studied it with Potter during your clandestine meetings. Did you learn nothing?" He knelt down on the floor in front of her and roughly pulled her face up to look at him.
"She was too strong. I couldn't fight her. What was I supposed to do?" Her tears flowed freely down her face, and she reached up to brush them off her very sore cheek.
With an unintelligible mumble, Severus pulled out his wand and pointed it at the source of the pain he had caused, casting a healing spell. "Listen to me very carefully, because I will say this only once. Everything you do here, everything you say, has the potential to be scrutinized, interpreted. Whether you are in The Cell or walking in the hallway with me, you are being watched. In here, you are safe, because I have secured the rooms with very strong wards to prevent anyone from intruding on my business, but outside of here you are not safe. You were tested today, and, as of yet, I do not know if you passed or failed."
"What could what happened possibly prove to anyone?" Hermione gasped through the silent sobs that were shaking her body.
"There is no way to understand the mind of someone like Bellatrix. Be on your guard, do you understand? I have tried to tell Draco to do the same, but he is as stubborn and prideful as his father has always been." He stood from the floor and sat down with exhaustion on his chair by the fire.
"I understand, sir, and I am sorry." She followed his lead and propped herself up in the other chair.
"What exactly did she say to you when she was controlling you?" Severus stared at her intently.
"She told me to suck the traitor's cock like the filthy Mudblood whore that I am. Or something to that effect." Hermione rubbed at the cheek Severus had slapped and then healed.
"I had to strike you. I would apologize, but I cannot be sorry for playing my part in what goes on around here. You are my property, and, as such, I have to treat you like property. When you betray me, I must punish you. I thought that I had made that very clear before." Severus waved his hand, and a glass filled with firewhisky appeared in it.
"I know, sir." Hermione's voice was steady, and, while obedient, still hinted that she was losing her fear. Severus tried to pry into her mind to determine her true mental state, but, much to his surprise, he found it closed.
"You have learned Occlumency, I see. A better study at it than Potter. Impressive." Severus chuckled darkly. "It will not save you here, however. The Death Eaters have other ways of obtaining information."
"I have nothing to hide, sir." She looked into the fire.
"We shall see." Severus got up and made for the door that concealed his lab. "Are you coming, Miss Granger, or must I drag you again?"
"I'm coming, sir." With a sigh, Hermione rose and followed him into the lab.
Severus watched as Hermione surveyed the lab with barely-concealed awe. He had used spells to enlarge and illuminate it, and some of the finest equipment he could get Wormtail to locate filled its every corner. He smirked inwardly at her response; so few people took an interest in the art of potions, that it was actually something of a relief to him that, if he had to be saddled with help, at least it was respectful help.
He pointed her towards a smaller table with a number two pewter cauldron on it, steaming with a freshly brewed Headache Potion. "That will be your work station. I will give you some more cauldrons so that you can work on more than one potion at a time." He moved to two large cabinets with glass doors. "These are the supplies. The one on the left contains more common ingredients for you to use, and the one on the right is completely off-limits to you. You will not be able to open it, so I caution you not to try. Yes?"
"Yes, sir," Hermione breathed as she eyed her workspace with amazement. "What are we going to do first?"
"We are not doing anything. You will begin by making a batch of Dreamless Sleep potion, and I am going to do some reading. I shall be keeping an eye on you, so do not get any ideas about using the knives to which I have so kindly given you access to try to murder me and escape." With one last warning glare, he turned on his heel and returned to the main room.
Reassured by the sounds of the girl gathering the necessary ingredients, he turned towards his bookshelf and ran his finger along it until he found the book he was looking for: Moste Dark and Dreadful Potente Potions. It was going to be a long captivity locked up with the barely tolerable Gryffindor chit, but at least he was about to start having some enjoyment.
--
The next day, Hermione found herself being deposited back in The Cell after a very long and silent night making potions well below her level of skill. Now she understood why he had been so willing to accept her help; she didn't know how long she could make such simple potions with only this dour man for company, so she could only imagine how he had been feeling.
She had other things on her mind, however, like his warning that all of her moves were being monitored. This meant that it was possible that the Death Eaters knew all that was being said by Draco's Army in The Cell even though they only spoke when they were alone. She wasn't going to save herself unless she could save them too, so she knew they had to come up with a way to communicate without being heard. Silent Speech seemed to be the best option, though it may exclude Jane. It was all she could think of, however, and as they were short on other viable alternatives, it was going to have to do for the time being.
As soon as the wall reappeared and they were all locked securely inside, Hermione held her finger up to her lips when her comrades made to attack her with questions.
"I'm using Silent Speech. Don't say anything out loud. If you can hear me, blink your eyes once, and if you can respond, say something to me."
Andrew, Jeffrey, and Angelica blinked their eyes, and Jane, Draco and Elizabeth replied with "something." When all of them looked at Jane with shock, she smirked and commented, "There are some kinds of magic Squibs can do, you know. Besides, I come from a pureblood family. They spent a lot of money trying to teach me something."
"What's this all about, Lieutenant?" Draco asked Hermione, conscious of allowing all of them to hear his words in their minds.
"Snape told me that we are being watched in here and that they can hear everything we say. If we're serious about coming up with a plan of getting information and getting out of here, we need to be more cautious. We can't be heard, so I recommend that we only use Silent Speech to talk to one another. If you can hear it, it shouldn't be too hard to be able to use it."
"Just concentrate on making your words heard to specific targets. It may take you some practice, but you'll get the hang of it. If you've learned anything about Legilimency, the concept is roughly the same. You're just using your voice to get inside someone's mind rather than your mind's eye." Elizabeth smiled at those who hadn't mastered the skill kindly with the promise of further instruction.
"Why would they be watching us?" Draco asked to no one in particular, looking towards the ceiling as if determining how they were being monitored.
"I have no idea, but I have a feeling there is a lot more going on here than we know. I think that you were right that Snape doesn't know much about any plans Voldemort may have. He hasn't said exactly what he's been told to do, but I think that he's going to be making some pretty nasty things. He seems pretty excited to be brewing something complicated, and not really thinking about what's going to be done with them. If there is some master plan, he doesn't know about it."
"Very few people ever know what Voldemort's master plan is. Unfortunately, it seems that my godfather isn't one of them. We're missing something here." Draco rubbed his eyes. "Lieutenant, when you left, we were talking about how odd that whole incident with Bellatrix was with her trying to get you to, you know…"
"Yes, I know what she was trying to get me to do," Hermione interrupted with a smirk. "Snape knew that she was responsible."
"And yet she played it off like she just happened to walk in on it, almost like she was trying to get a rise out of him," Jane offered.
"I've been thinking about it too, and I can't come up with anything other than she just wanted to see Snape slap me. That doesn't really seem like Bellatrix's style, though. If she just wanted to see me slapped, she has already proven that she's more than happy to do it herself."
"What if she's testing the General's godfather?" Andrew's voice was so loud in his first attempt at Silent Speech that it made the rest of them wince. "Sorry, I'm just getting the hang of this concentration thing," he added more quietly with an embarrassed smile.
Hermione rubbed at her stomach, and Draco regarded her with a frown. "Still not feeling well?" he asked.
"I guess I'm just trying to digest all that's happened, so to speak." She smirked. "Do you think it's possible that the DEA doesn't trust Snape, and that they're using me as some kind of test?"
"The enemy is cunning," Draco replied with authority. "I wouldn't put anything past them."
"So what are we going to do?" Elizabeth asked, looking towards Draco.
"Nothing yet, my compatriots. We have only speculation at this point. Now, Jane and Elizabeth, you work with the others on Silent Speech. I must discuss strategy with Lieutenant Granger." Draco nodded his head in dismissal, and the others relaxed back onto the floor like they did when Death Eaters were in The Cell so as to look as inconspicuous as possible.
Draco closed his eyes and relaxed his head against the wall before speaking. "What's your general impression of Severus?"
"I don't know, exactly. He seems rather just like he was back at Hogwarts."
"What do you know about him? About his life?" Draco pretended to sleep.
"I know that his mother was a witch and his father was a Muggle. The rest is just speculation from things Harry told me about what he saw during Occlumency lessons…"
"I might have known his little meetings with Snape fifth year weren't remedial Potions. Severus would never volunteer to spend more time with Potter than absolutely necessary," Draco interrupted.
Though he wasn't looking at her, Hermione gave him an irritated look just the same. "Yes, so, as I was saying, the rest is just speculation. He didn't seem to get on too well with the other students in school, and it seems like his family life wasn't the best. Am I getting warm?"
"You're red hot, Granger. That Muggle bastard of a father of his was an alcoholic and abused him and his mother because he thought they were freaks for having magical abilities. While Severus was at home over the summer before his fifth year, his father beat his mother a little bit too hard and she died. Severus completely lost it. Not long after that, he hooked up with some other Death-Eaters-to-be at Hogwarts. They promised him that, if he joined Voldemort, he would get revenge on his father."
"I take it things didn't end too pleasantly for Mr. Snape?" Hermione asked wryly.
"To say the least. As proof of their commitment to the rights of wizards, they sent my father out to kill Severus' father in exchange for Severus' loyalty. They fed his hatred of Muggles, and they obtained his obedience. They made him feel wanted and respected at a time when he felt alienated from everyone and everything around him." Draco rolled over onto his side and regarded Hermione as she stared off into space. "Severus may appear confident and controlled now, but back then he was anything but. He was intelligent, manipulative, and powerful, yes, but he was alone, and he was angry. They played him like a fiddle, make no mistake."
"But was he really committed to what the Death Eaters and Voldemort were doing?"
Draco looked down at the floor. "I don't know."
"How do you know the rest, then?" Hermione's voice rang out with irritation in Draco's mind.
"No need to get testy, Granger. Everything I know about him, I know from what I have been able to pick up from my parents and their friends. He was something of a joke to everyone. He had once been in love with Potter's mother or something, and so they used to talk about how pathetic he was, and how they could manipulate him into doing anything, because he was so angry and desperate to make everyone pay for his suffering."
Hermione's eyes widened. "He was in love with Lily Potter?"
"Lily Evans at the time. And yes, he was, or rather he was besotted with her. They used to work together in Potions and got on pretty well, until he started hating Muggles after his mother died."
"If he was such a joke, why did Voldemort put him in charge of spying on Dumbledore? Wouldn't he want someone he could trust more to get him information?" Hermione was bewildered with all that she was learning.
"Honestly, I don't know. It never sat right with me, but my father never let on that anything was other than it seemed. A lot of Death Eaters were rubbed pretty raw that Severus stayed out of Azkaban and above suspicion after Voldemort's first fall, but no one seemed to blink when he resumed his position with them after Voldemort's return." He sighed out loud. "It never really seemed too terribly amiss to me until I found out that my dear mother and my lovely aunt went to him to tell him how I had been ordered to kill Dumbledore. My parents may have made him an honorary member of the family, but no one trusted him at all."
"I take it the Slytherin motto is 'Keep your friends close and your enemies closer?'" Hermione snapped with a smirk.
"See? You know more about the Wizarding world than you thought." Draco returned Hermione's smirk with one of his own. "From what I could tell, everyone thought he was Dumbledore's man. When they tracked us down, I thought for sure they would kill him."
"Why kill him when he had just proved his loyalty once and for all by killing Dumbledore?"
"That didn't prove a thing to them. They set him up. If my plan failed, he was the closest one to Dumbledore to do the job. If he was a loyal Death Eater, then he just did his duty, and if he was Dumbledore's man, it was guaranteed that Dumbledore would order him to go through with it to preserve his alleged place with the Death Eaters. They were probably never certain of what the truth was, so I just figured they would Avada Kedavra first and ask questions never. He served his purpose."
"So whose side is he really on?" Hermione knew the answer before Draco had a chance to answer. "His own, right?"
"Like every good Slytherin. Truthfully, from what I can see, I don't think that Severus even knows. He's never had much of a choice. He's made so many compromises to save his own neck, that I don't know if what side he believes in matters any more." Draco shook his head sadly.
"He makes a deal with one devil to get revenge on his father, and then another to stay out of Azkaban?"
"I think it may be even more complicated than that. If he did have feelings for Lily Potter, it certainly wouldn't have amused him to lose her to his arch nemesis. It probably amused him less that he was somewhat responsible for her murder." He sighed deeply.
Hermione scratched her head, overwhelmed with the realizations that were washing over her. "By telling the Death Eaters about the prophecy about Harry."
"Exactly. I can't tell you who, in his heart of hearts, he's loyal to, but I can tell you that it isn't as cut and dry as you might think. He's sharp as a knife and clever, and he's been a very good double agent, but, if you ask me, he's never had the opportunity to choose his path either way. With that many years unable to make a free choice, a man like him will snap eventually. Even a Slytherin can't keep up self-preservation for that long at the expense of his own dignity and freedom."
Hermione rubbed again at her stomach. "I have to tell you, I find all of this a little difficult to believe. Snape doesn't seem the indecisive type to me, nor the type to let others tell him what to do."
"That's exactly how he's managed to stay alive all this time, by seeming that way. I don't know how many people he's fooled, however, though I'm sure it's either everyone or no one. Something tells me that Voldemort is testing his loyalty because he figures Severus is on the side of the Order, but for some reason there is still some use to be had from him. You need to find out what that is. It's certainly something more than making big batches of Burning Potion."
Hermione grinned again. "You know about that one, do you?"
"It's a delightful little concoction, if you're into that sort of thing, of course." Draco faked an evil expression.
"Are you?" Hermione cocked her eyebrow at him.
"I was, Granger, but I've seen the light. Just call me Saint Malfoy."