A/N: Here's a nice long chapter. Yes, what follows after the page break is the same portion of the plot as what is before it, but the second time around it's from Mina's view. I felt the second portion was very necessary because it reveals something about her. Enjoy.
Severus didn't even realize he had fallen asleep until he snapped awake. He had always been a light sleeper, his hyperactive senses not shutting down in the slightest when he fell asleep. His senses had always been helpful when he was acting as Dumbledore's spy; he could always tell when someone was watching him and he had to put up a good act and when they weren't and he could perform things half-heartedly.
He sat bolt upright in the chair, his hand immediately going for the wand in his pocket. But he quickly realized his sleep had only been disturbed by Mina, who was tossing and turning on the bed beside him. Not sure how severe the nightmare as, he hesitated to wake her.
All his hesitation faded as she started to scream.
"Mina!" he said. He leaned forward and placed his hand on her shoulder, shaking it slightly. Her right arm shot out and shoved it away, then her left arm came up above her face, protecting it. He placed his hand on her shoulder and shook her again, more forcefully this time. "Mina, wake up!"
She sat bolt upright in bed and the shrieking stopped quite abruptly. The panting, however, did not. She was still breathing heavily and her eyes were wide. Clearly, she was still terrified. Gently, he squeezed her shoulder, attempting to reassure her, but again she lashed out with her right arm, shoving his hand away, then raising her left arm in a defensive maneuver. This time, he left his arm down by his side and said, "That's twice now you've done that." She peeked out at him from behind her arm and a flicker of recognition danced in her eyes. "I'm not going to hurt you. I rescued you, remember?" Slowly, she lowered her arm and gave a short nod. He leaned back a little in his chair and watched as she studied herself in awe. He figured she hadn't felt such painlessness in quite a long time. Eventually, she looked up at him, a question evident in her eyes. Hoping he was interpreting her correctly, he said, "Yes, I healed you, as did a woman named Poppy Pomfrey." He gestured to the woman sleeping in a chair on her other side who, surprisingly, had not woken at the sounds of her nightmare. "She is the resident Healer here at Hogwarts. And so that you have it for future reference, my name is Severus Snape. I'm the resident Potions Master here at Hogwarts; I also teach potions here and I am the head of Slytherin House." She nodded stiffly. She could tell something he had said had disconcerted her, though he was unsure what. Perhaps she was uncomfortable with potions? Or was she worried about what Poppy would do if she woke up? She certainly couldn't know anything about the majority of Death Eaters coming from Slytherin House, could she?
But then he remembered that she could read minds by looking people in the eye and realized that yes, she probably did know most Death Eaters came from Slytherin House at Hogwarts.
He sighed and she turned toward him. "I suppose you don't want to talk about what you were dreaming about?" he asked. The color drained from her face and her eyes widened again, her breathing becoming shorter. Hoping to calm her, he raised his hands in defeat. "It's fine if you don't want to talk about it just yet," Snape said, "but know that it will help to talk about what happened. It will take a load off your chest." Her breathing began to slow a little and her eyes relaxed, though they were still wider than normal and her breathing rate hadn't hit normal since she had started having the nightmare. She nodded her understanding.
Suddenly, her gaze flew to the floor in front of her side table. Figuring she must have imagined something there, he watched her gaze at it intently for a few moments. But eventually, a few moments turned into a few minutes and he realized she must actually be seeing something there. But what could she possibly be seeing that would intrigue her so?
"What are you looking at?" Snape asked. She jumped again and looked at him, fear in her eyes again. "You can tell me. Whatever it is, I'm sure I'll understand." She hesitated for a few moments, clearly having an internal battle with herself about whether or not it was advisable to trust him. He was content to wait, knowing that if he forced her to tell him, she would likely have a flashback and never trust him, which was exactly what he was trying to avoid. So he waited until she stretched out her hand, then slowly, calmly took it, making sure not to startle her as though she was some sort of dangerous animal, which, in a sense, she was.
Severus felt something change and he looked up. His eyes widened when he saw Poppy. Perched on her shoulder was a kestrel, its head tucked beneath its wing in sleep. He could have sworn a moment ago that there was nothing there, too. Shocked, he continued to stare at the pair and eventually realized that the bird was semi-transparent and that this was likely what Mina had seen. But Mina had been looking at the floor in front of her side table, not at Poppy.
As if on cue, she directed his attention to the same spot and he stiffened at the sight.
Lying in front of the side table was a beautiful doe with a young male fawn curled up against her side. The doe appeared to be soothing the fawn, making soft noises and resting her head upon his back. But perhaps what was most disconcerting was the fact that the doe looked almost exactly like his Patronus, save for the fact that it was not a silver mist, but rather a full-color, semi-transparent animal. He quickly recovered, however, and relaxed, knowing that his tension could potentially rub off on Mina, who might interpret it as anger. But he was still somewhat disconcerted by the doe because she was so like his Patronus.
After all, his Patronus represented Lily.
After a few moments, Mina released Snape's hand and his vision returned to normal. He looked at her in awe and disbelief. She shrunk back into her pillows, and, realizing that she probably couldn't read his expression (it was something he had perfected as a spy), he shook his head to clear it and looked at her again, the corners of his mouth playing upward a little. Surprisingly, she cowered a little more. When Severus raised his hand, she shut her eyes and grimaced as though expecting a blow to fall. But he merely gently placed his hand on her own. She opened her eyes and stared at their hands, blinking disbelievingly. She looked up at him as he spoke. "You are an amazing young girl," he said, "and don't you ever forget it." She blinked at him a few times.
Eventually, he withdrew his hand and pulled out his wand. Mina cowered again at the sight of it, but Severus chose not to comment on the action.
"Now then," he said, "judging from your stick-like frame, I'd say you haven't been fed properly. I take it you would like some food?" She simply looked at him in shock for what seemed like the umpteenth time and Severus quickly realized that she was not misinterpreting his dry humor as a threat but rather she was shocked that he was offering her food. Clearly, it had been quite a while since someone had offered her food and judging from their past actions, the Death Eaters had probably yelled at her for taking too much even though all she had eaten was a heel of bread and a small glass of water every two or three days. "I take it you know what food is?" he asked gently. She nodded and the corners of her mouth twitched upward slightly for the first time. Proud that he had managed to get her to smile, even if only a little bit, he gave her a small smile of his own and turned around, flicking his wand toward the doorway. Since the wand was pointed away from her, Mina didn't flinch, but instead stared curiously at the doorway. After a few moments, two trays flew through the open doors and came to a stop in front of Mina and Severus. She stared at the trays, eyes wide in shock. Clearly, she was also unused to wands being used for things other than hurting other people.
Quietly, Severus handed Mina a tray. She sat up a little straighter and placed the tray in her lap. She rolled her shoulders a little and Severus flicked his wand again. A potion came to him. He placed it on her tray and she gave him a questioning look. "It's an Appetite Enhancer," he explained. "You haven't been eating enough and this will improve your appetite so you can regain nutrients and put on weight faster." She looked at the bottle questioningly. "I would recommend you drink it first," he said pointedly. She threw him another look and picked up the bottle, uncorking it. Cautiously, she sniffed at the bottle. Reminding himself not to push her, he watched as she hesitated, obviously debating whether or not drinking the concoction was a good idea. His patience was rewarded. Eventually, she downed the entire bottle of potion, which he knew tasted pretty decent given the fact that it was a potion. She then began to eat the pieces of toast and tomato soup that sat before her. She ate slowly, but she also ate most of the tray, which pleased Severus.
Eventually, the two of them finished eating and with another flick of his wand, Severus sent the trays away. Not surprisingly, Mina fell asleep once more not long after the trays disappeared. It was only to be expected that she was so tired given the amount of potions in her system and the amount of healing her body was doing.
As he pulled the sheets up around Mina's lean frame and settled back down in his chair to snatch a few more precious hours of sleep, Severus couldn't help but feel relieved that she had awoken so quickly, even if it was due to a nightmare.
Mina would survive. That much he knew.
Severus didn't sleep for long, however. Clearly, the forces of the universe were intent on keeping him from getting more than an hour's worth of sleep tonight.
This time, Mina was rolling about in her blankets. Again, Severus hesitated to wake her, not wanting her to lash out at him again and unsure as to the severity of the nightmare. But when she started moaning, he knew he had better get her out of the world of her dreams. She was now crying in her sleep, which was not a good sign. And the things she was saying were even more telling. "Please," she cried. "Please, anything but this. Anything." Quickly, the tears streaming down her face turned into sobs. "Please!" Carefully, Severus laid a hand on Mina's shoulder. "Mina," he said calmly. "Wake up. Mina, wake up!" He shook her. "Wake up, Mina!" He shook her again, harder. "MINA!"
Instantly, her eyes flew open, wide with terror and she began struggling against her sheets, panicking. He quickly pulled out his wand, muttering, "Shh, relax. Relax; it was just a dream, just a dream." He waved his wand above her and she cowered, letting out another sob. The sheets disentangled from her and she fell to the side into him, burying her face in his robes, not saying a word, simply sobbing her heart out. He carefully laid his hand across her back and rubbed soothing circles there, reassuring her. "Shh, it's all right. It was just a dream. You're safe now. I promise. You're safe. I'll protect you. You're safe." Mina's sobs transformed into mere tears and shuddering breaths as he began to calm her. He continued to soothe her and the huge heaving shudders became mere shivers. Severus allowed her to soak his shirt and release all the stemmed tears of the past, knowing she desperately needed to do so in order to heal. So, he cared for her, held her, helped her.
Eventually, the tears died away and she fell back asleep. Carefully, he laid her back against the pillows and cast a quick Drying Charm on himself. He then summoned a Dreamless Sleep potion, deciding that they both needed a few good hours of sleep, and spelled it directly into her stomach just before he too fell back asleep.
*Page Break*
Mina was scared. She had no idea where she was or how she had gotten there. All she knew was that it was dark and cold and the people who had brought her here called themselves Death Eaters. Her mum had never liked the Death Eaters, but then again, she hadn't liked her father much either. Mina still didn't understand how she had been born if Mum didn't love her father, but Mum had promised to explain when she was older.
Now Mina wasn't sure that was going to happen. Mina wasn't even sure how much longer she had to live.
She heard a heavy door open. Her eyes had long since adjusted to the darkness and she saw the outlines of several figures approaching her. They were all wearing silver masks, each one with a different intricate design on it. All their animi were snarling, growling, hissing, or otherwise acting aggressively toward Hugo, who was cowering beside her in mongoose form and hissing in warning. Mina looked back up at her assailants. One had white-blonde hair that was poking out from the sides of his mask. The rest were completely hidden behind their black robes and silver masks.
The one with the white-blonde hair and albino peacock anima, which wasn't half as regal as a male peacock animus, but still carried its head high just the same, stepped forward, acting as the leader.
"Do you know why you are here?" he asked in a low voice.
"No."
"Well, allow me to explain." He raised his wand and Mina couldn't help but cower. Beside him, the albino peacock strode forward, feathers fluffed out. Hugo promptly shifted into a spoonbill, the better to fight the bird on its own footing, and fluffed his own feathers.
"Crucio," he muttered.
Pain, so much pain, erupted throughout Mina's entire body. It felt as though thousands of white-hot barbed knives were being shoved deep into her skin and sawing away. At the same time, she felt as though she was being dumped in a corrosive acid bath. Her vocal cords strained as she screamed at the top of her lungs, her muscles contorting in strange directions as the pain grew and grew. She wasn't sure how long she was under the curse, but eventually the peacock man stopped the pain. She looked up at him with pure loathing and terror in her eyes.
"You are here because you are a threat," he told her. "You are a threat that needs to be kept in check. That is something that we can do quite easily here.
"Know now that you will never leave this place ever again."
And, as a single tear dripped down her face, the pain started again once more, throwing Mina into a world where the only sounds that came out of her mouth were pleas and screams.
"Mina!" an unfamiliar voice shouted. She figured this was a new Death Eater, one she hadn't seen before. Not that it mattered. Whoever it was still intended to hurt her, and that was all she really had the energy to care about. A hand was laid on her shoulder and she flinched, lashing out at the hand with her right arm and using her left arm to counter the attack she felt certain was coming. The hand shook her.
"Mina, wake up!"
Mina's eyes snapped open and she found herself shrieking. Immediately, the sound ceased as she realized she was no longer in the dark stone place but rather in a solid white room on a solid white bed. It was quite a comfortable bed; it wasn't too hard, so it didn't remind her of the stone floor she used to sleep on, and the sheets were softer than anything she had ever felt before. She quickly realized that her legs were bandaged, as was her back, which also felt as though some sort of liquid was pressed up against it. It felt nice though; the incessant prickling and stabbing pains of the burns had faded.
Despite the fact that she now knew she was safe, she was still breathing quite heavily, her breath coming in short gasps that didn't seem to really be providing her with air. The hand on her shoulder tightened a little and she jumped, her right arm shooting out toward the hand and knocking it off her shoulder. Instantly, her left arm came up over her face to ward off the blow she felt certain was coming.
"That's twice now that you've done that," a silky voice said next to her. She peeked out from behind her arm to see the doe man who had rescued her with the tall phoenix wizard and the cat woman. "I'm not going to hurt you," he continued. "I rescued you remember?" Slowly, she lowered her arm and gave a short nod. It was then that she realized it no longer hurt to move. Not only had the pain of the burns on her back gone away, but the pain everywhere else had at least dimmed if not faded completely. She no longer felt like shrieking every time she moved her arms and she found that she could wiggle her toes without too much pain, though her healing bones did mumble in protest.
Mina looked up at the man, a question in her eyes. Hoping he was interpreting her correctly, he said, "Yes, I healed you, as did a woman named Poppy Pomfrey." He gestured to a woman sleeping in a chair on her other side. "She is the resident Healer here at Hogwarts. And so that you have it for future reference, my name is Severus Snape. I'm the resident Potions Master here at Hogwarts; I also teach potions here and I am the head of Slytherin House." She nodded, a little more disconcerted now to hear that he was the head of the house that many of her torturers came from, and glanced around her once more, taking in more details of the room.
It was not, in point of fact, solid white, though most of the furniture was. The walls were actually a pale brown stone, as were the flagstones that made up the floor. The screens that sat next to each of the beds were an interesting shade of green. All the rest of the furniture (beds, side tables, cabinets, etc.) was white.
Mina had never really seen colors before. She didn't have any memories of anything before her life in the stone room, though sometimes she would wake up thinking that she had dreamt of something from her previous life. However, she could never recall these dreams and thus was left feeling more frustrated and depressed than if she simply hadn't had the dreams at all. But thanks to the fact that every time she looked someone in the eye, she could look into their memories, she saw enough to be completely fluent in the English language and to understand most things. Sometimes, when she was too tired or scared, she would forget some of the things she had learned from their thoughts, but in all essence, she had just as good a knowledge of the basic world as any other child her age despite the fact that she had never been properly raised like any other child her age.
Next to her, Snape sighed, bringing her out of the world of her thoughts and back into the real world. She turned toward him. "I suppose you don't want to talk about what you were dreaming about?" he asked.
Mina felt the color completely drain from her face. She did not want to talk about the dream. It wasn't even one of the worse ones. But she didn't want to tell anyone about anything that had happened to her. It was too painful to try to remember. She shook her head fiercely, her eyes quite wide. Her breathing sped up again. He raised a hand in surrender, attempting to calm her, and she flinched. "It's fine if you don't want to talk about it just yet," Snape said, "but know that it will help to talk about what happened. It will take a load off your chest." Her breathing began to slow a little and her eyes relaxed, though they were still wider than normal and her breathing rate hadn't hit normal since she had started having the nightmare. She nodded her understanding.
Suddenly, something out of the corner of her eye caught her attention. Sitting in front of the side table beside her bed was a large doe. It was Snape's doe, she realized, and curled in to her side was a young male fawn that she instantly recognized as Hugo. He too seemed to be rather afraid as though he too had been having a nightmare, but the doe was making soft noises to the fawn and had her head resting on top of his back, attempting to soothe him. The sight of it made her feel a little better.
"What are you looking at?" Snape asked. She jumped again, not used to having people speaking to her unless they were jeering at her. She looked at him, a look of fear in her eyes again. "You can tell me. Whatever it is, I'm sure I'll understand."
Mina's eyes darted back and forth between Snape and the deer pairing on the floor. Something told her that Snape was something like the doe, that he was only trying to help and that he wouldn't help her. But the paranoid, defensive side of her simply couldn't bring itself to trust him as quickly as Hugo had come to trust the doe. The impulsive, needy side of her, on the other hand, wanted very much to pour out her heart to him and tell him everything.
The impulsive, needy side won out, though it was heavily tempered by the paranoid, defensive side. As much as she wanted to, she didn't pour her heart out to the stranger clad in black that sat next to her, but simply raised her hand, palm up, asking him to take it in her own. Instantly, Snape reached forward, slowly, so as not to startle her, and took her hand.
Mina saw it in his eyes that his vision had changed. She wasn't sure what he saw normally, but judging from the shock in his eyes, it was quite different from what she saw. But he wasn't looking at the deer pairing on the floor, so she didn't understand what could be so different. She followed his line of sight and realized that he was looking at Pomfrey, whose animus, a kestrel, was perched on her shoulder, sleeping with its head tucked beneath its wing. Instantly, she understood why he was so shocked.
Carefully, she pulled at his arm and pointed to the deer pair lying on the floor. Through his arm, she could feel him stiffen slightly, then relax. She wasn't entirely sure what had prompted that, but she didn't really care either. She was just glad he wasn't hitting her because she saw animi.
After a few moments, Mina released Snape's hand and she could see in his eyes that his vision had returned to normal. He looked at her with an expression she couldn't read. Suddenly afraid that he was angry with her, she shrunk back into her pillows. He shook his head to clear it and looked at her again, the corners of his mouth playing upward a little. Even though she knew a smile was associated with happiness to most everyone else, Mina had always associated it with pain because everyone who had smiled at her had hurt her. She cowered a little more. When Severus raised his hand, she shut her eyes, expecting a blow to fall. But instead, she felt his hand rest lightly on her own. She opened her eyes and stared at their hands, blinking disbelievingly. She looked up at him as he spoke. "You are an amazing young girl," he said, "and don't you ever forget it."
And for the first time, Mina didn't feel threatened by the command. Instead, she felt a light sensation that she could only assume was happiness. But she was too dumbfounded to show it and merely blinked at Snape a few more times.
Eventually, he withdrew his hand and pulled out his wand. Mina cowered again at the sight of it, never having had a good experience around one, but she straightened a little when he lowered it so the tip rested on the bed.
"Now then," he said, "judging from your stick-like frame, I'd say you haven't been fed properly. I take it you would like some food?" She simply looked at him in shock for what seemed like the umpteenth time. No one had ever offered her food before. Rather, they had yelled at her for taking too much even though all she had eaten was a heel of bread and a small glass of water every two or three days. "I take it you know what food is?" he asked gently. She nodded, feeling the corners of her mouth twitch upward slightly for the first time. He gave her a small smile of his own and turned around, flicking his wand toward the doorway. Since the wand was pointed away from her, Mina didn't flinch, but instead stared curiously at the doorway, wondering what was going to happen. After a few moments, two trays flew through the open doors and came to a stop in front of Mina and Severus. She stared at the trays, eyes wide in shock. She had never seen anything quite like that.
Quietly, Severus handed Mina a tray. She sat up a little straighter and placed the tray in her lap. She rolled her shoulders a little, relishing the fact that there was no pain in doing so, working the stiffness out of the muscles. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Severus flick his wand again and a potion came to him. He placed it on her tray and she gave him a questioning look. "It's an Appetite Enhancer," he explained. "You haven't been eating enough and this will improve your appetite so you can regain nutrients and put on weight faster." She looked at the bottle questioningly. "I would recommend you drink it first," he said pointedly. She threw him another look and picked up the bottle, uncorking it. Cautiously, she sniffed at the bottle. It certainly didn't smell like poison. The paranoid, defensive side of her had another battle with the reckless, needy side of her and eventually the reckless, needy side won out. She downed the entire bottle of potion, which tasted pretty decent, especially given what she had been forced to eat before. She then began to eat the pieces of toast and tomato soup that sat before her. She savored every bite, having never tasted food this good in her life. Also, she was unsure as to when she would get a meal this large again, so she ate every bite her stomach could contain, which was most of the tray.
As she and Snape ate in companionable silence, Mina realized something. When she was around Severus Snape, she didn't feel as scared. Certainly she still reacted with the same defensive maneuvers she was used to, but she didn't truly believe he was going to hurt her, ever. His anima revealed that in her actions around Hugo and he had only ever been nice to her. He hadn't even reacted badly when she had shown him the animi. She'd never felt that way around anyone else before, most likely because all anyone else had ever done (save for the other two who had rescued her and the mysterious Poppy Pomfrey sleeping next to her) was hurt her. She had no reason to believe they wouldn't hurt her, nor did she have any reason to feel happy around them or smile around them.
Eventually, the two of them finished eating and with another flick of his wand, Severus sent the trays away. Not surprisingly, Mina felt quite tired (the potions and healing process had taken quite a bit out of her), and not long after the trays disappeared, she fell asleep once more.
Unfortunately, it was a restless sleep.
She was lying on her stomach on the stone floor. A cold blade was pressed to the back of her neck ever so lightly.
"Happy ninth birthday, Mina," a man's voice whispered in her ear. She shivered at the sound, then winced a she felt the knife dig into her flesh and deliver a solid cut to the back of her neck, marking yet another year of her painful existence.
As soon as the customary cut had been delivered, Mina was dragged to her feet. Surprisingly, her hands were tied behind her back and a loop was secured around each of her feet. Usually, the Death Eaters didn't tie her up unless they were going to hang her by various limbs. She certainly hoped they weren't going to do that. Even though it didn't sound so bad, it was actually quite painful, especially since she was injured in so many other ways already. But the ropes were different this time than they were when they did that.
Mina was shoved against a wall. She began to shiver, and it wasn't because of the cold. She didn't like it when she didn't know what the Death Eaters were planning. At least when she knew what they were going to do, she could brace herself. When she didn't know what they were going to do, she had no idea what to prepare herself for. And she didn't like that feeling.
Suddenly, one of the men was pressed solidly up against her. She could tell it was a man by the way he smelled; the women always smelled of high-end, flowery perfumes, whereas the men always smelled…different. She wasn't entirely sure how to describe it. Not quite musky, and not quite stinky, but different.
Mina's eyes flew wide open and she began to struggle in earnest as the man, who she recognized as the peacock man because of the white-blonde hair, pressed his lips against hers. She knew struggling really got her nowhere (oftentimes, it actually made the situation worse), but she did not like the feeling of this man's lips on hers. And she had seen enough of their thoughts in the past. She knew where this was going. Unfortunately, the ropes around her wrists prevented her from doing anything useful except hurting herself more and the ropes around her ankles were pulled taut, most likely by some other Death Eaters in the background, preventing her from using her legs in anyway. So, she had to be content by simply squirming underneath the Death Eater, which did absolutely nothing to help her.
"Come now," said the Peacock, leaning back slightly. His mask had been removed for this occasion and for the first time, Mina caught a glimpse of his face. She didn't like what she saw, especially in his eyes. "I can't be that bad a kisser, can I?" He leaned forward again as the other Death Eaters laughed and this time, when he kissed her, he forced his tongue in between her teeth. She didn't like the taste of him either.
Somehow, the reckless side of her burst out at that moment and she bit him. She instantly regretted it as he pulled his fist back and punched her hard on the nose, breaking it for the thousandth time. "Do that again," he whispered menacingly in her ear, "and we'll be here a lot longer." He leaned into her again, doing the same thing as last time, this time tasting of blood as well as whatever the hell he normally tasted of, something she couldn't identify, and this time she was smart enough not to bite him. She did not want to buy herself more time with this torture.
Peacock waved his wand and her clothes disappeared. Mina felt herself begin to tremble even harder now, tears welling up in her eyes.
Why do I have to be so different? she thought. Why can't I just be normal so I didn't have to go through all this?
But having those thoughts changed nothing.
"Get down on your knees," Peacock ordered. Mina didn't have much of a choice, she knew, but she still hesitated, not looking forward to anything now. But her hesitation didn't win her much time; the ropes around her ankles suddenly pulled and she fell forward onto her knees, bumping her head against Peacock's thighs. "Eager, now, aren't we?" The Death Eaters laughed again. She heard the sound of a zipper being undone and she could only watch through moist eyes as his pants fell. He leaned forward into her and she felt something bump into her cheek. "Open up," he whispered in what he must have imagined as a seductive voice. She refused, expecting to get hit but welcoming that much more than her other option. But she wasn't hit. Instead, Peacock pinched her nose, stopping her airflow. She attempted to hold her breath for as long as possible, but eventually she couldn't take it anymore and her human instincts took over. Her mouth opened of its own volition and Peacock instantly thrust forward, filling her mouth with a horrible taste. She gagged, but there was nothing she could do as he thrust forward and back, again and again.
"You know, boys, this isn't half bad, even though she's so stubborn." Peacock's sentiment was greeted with a lot of rumbling laughter and tears streaked down Mina's face as she realized this was far from over.
She looked to her left. Hugo, being the intelligent animus he was, had transformed into a bear, much too large for the peacock anima of the man in front of her to do anything to. Or at least, much too large to do anything like her human was doing. She still pecked incessantly at Hugo's feet, and many of the other animi had come to join her, attacking Hugo in all their various forms. They might not be able to do what their humans could, but they could still do damage.
Eventually, Peacock pulled out of Mina's mouth and she could breathe properly again through mouth and nose. She spat at the ground, attempting to rid her mouth of the taste. It did her no good and she ended up heaving next to him. There was nothing in her stomach for her to throw up though, so she simply dry heaved next to him. They laughed at her, mocking her weakness, saying horrible things that she tried (and failed) to ignore.
Once she was done, Peacock threw her onto the floor again. The cold stones were even colder against her bare skin. She felt Peacock settle on top of her and her legs were pulled wide. She began to sob.
"Please," she cried. "Please, anything but this. Anything."
"Oh, no," said Peacock. "I'm going to enjoy this quite a lot, thank you very much."
"Please!" Mina sobbed.
But it did no good. She felt a stabbing pain and tears streamed down her face as he thrust back and forth, again and again. The pain didn't fade, but only got worse and worse. She felt a hand on her shoulder, but she didn't know whose it was, nor did she care.
"Mina," a familiar silky voice said. "Wake up. Mina, wake up!" The hand shook her. "Wake up, Mina!" The Death Eaters were laughing now, taunting her. The hand shook her harder. "MINA!"
Mina's eyes snapped open for the second time in the last hour. She found that the tears that had been streaming down her face in her dream were streaming down her face in the waking world as well. The sheets were tangled around her and she began to fight against them, panicking, remembering the feeling of all those men pressed up against her that night, the aching pain she had felt afterward.
"Shh, relax," the same silky voice muttered. "Relax; it was just a dream, just a dream." A wand waved above her and she cowered, letting out another sob, but the sheets simply disentangled from her and she fell to the side against something soft but firm. She buried her face in it, not saying a word, simply sobbing her heart out. A hand was laid carefully across her back and it rubbed soothing circles there, reassuring her. "Shh, it's all right. It was just a dream. You're safe now. I promise. You're safe. I'll protect you. You're safe." Mina's sobs transformed into mere tears and shuddering breaths as the silky voice began to calm her. Dimly, she was aware that the voice belonged to Severus Snape, the man she had eaten with earlier, the man she had shown the animi. As he continued to soothe her and the huge heaving shudders became mere shivers, she became more and more aware of who was holding her, of who was comforting her, that someone even was. That had never happened to her before. No one had ever held her and simply allowed her to cry. She'd always been told that tears were a sign of weakness and they had always earned her more pain and humiliation. She had quickly learned to stifle them as best she could, only crying when the Death Eater were gone, and even then not crying very hard. But Severus was actually allowing her to soak his shirt and release all the stemmed tears of the past. Slowly, she began to realize that Severus was actually caring for her, holding her, helping her.
And as she thought about it and drifted back into the realm of sleep, this time peacefully, Mina realized something even more shocking.
She, Mina Evans, trusted Severus Snape.
A/N: Sorry if Snape seems OOC; he's just trying to gain Mina's trust so he can help her recover, so he's being nicer than usual. Once Mina gets to know him a little better, he'll be more snarky and sarcastic around her. Review please!