Chapter 32:
Prelude to hell"You are solemnly responsible for what is about to happen now, Severus", Malfoy said before he turned away and disappeared through the cell door.
Severus closed his eyes once more, trying to collect himself a bit. Malfoy was no beginner, and he knew exactly how long he could place someone under Cruciatus without causing irreparable damage. Severus had hoped to manipulate the man but now, with his intentions made clear, he wouldn't succeed in that anymore. He would need all his remaining strength to withstand the pain that was soon to come, and to not break after all.
But he wasn't a beginner either. He knew the curse and had been submitted to it before and he had a stronger will than Malfoy or even Voldemort gave him credit for. He would endure all without begging. It was his game and it would become his last and only true victory.
The agony in his body diminished somewhat, after he got time to deal with it, even if there was still the painful dryness and ache in his throat and a slowly increasing thirst, which pained him.
He was unpreparedly pulled back into reality however, as something hard hit him in the stomach, squeezing all air from his lungs. It felt as if he was being attacked by thousands of needles in a sharp bundle of agony, so he instinctively rolled into a foetal position to protect his vulnerable lower body.
Whilst he rolled onto his side and tried to gulp for air, the painful stinging jet wandered upwards to his shoulder and he caught a mouthful of a cold liquid that made him choke as it filled his mouth and flowed down his oesophagus and windpipe.
The water, as what he recognized the liquid, burned hellishly in his windpipe and triggered a coughing fit that shook his body and made him curl into an even tighter ball. Shortly after, the violent jet of water disappeared, but it took quite a moment until Severus had coughed all the wrongly swallowed water out of his lungs and gulped greedily for air.
He was completely drenched at that time and his hair hung like a soaked curtain around his face, sticking in thick strands against his cheeks and forehead.
"He's at least touchable now", he heard Malfoy's disgust-ridden voice. "Take off his shirt."
Before he even really registered what was happening, strong hands seized his upper arms and pulled him uncaringly to his legs and away from the wall into the middle of the cell.
Unwilling to show any more unnecessary weakness, Severus brought his knees to lock and carry his weight. He looked up to see a brawny hand grasp the front of his silken, black shirt and rip it open with a yank so violent that it sent the buttons flying. Somebody else grabbed the backside of his collar and pulled the shirt violently off his shoulders. He glanced to his left and saw how Crabbe let go of him and twisted his arm to wrench it painfully out of the shirtsleeve, making the string of the button there snap too. Severus didn't pay attention to the slight burning sensation of his skin as the fabric rasped over it, nor the protestation of his joints as they were unnaturally twisted and yanked.
Crabbe held onto his now bare arm again, as a just as stupid and disinterested looking Goyle repeated the actions with his other arm. The bulky deatheater looked as if this simple action would require all is intelligence and concentration. He, too, retook his painful grip on Snape's arm right away.
Severus ignored those two and looked at Malfoy, whom was standing in the door and smirking arrogantly at him. Snape answered that with a sneer and a glare of his own, which usually managed to make even his seventh year students more than nervous. He hefted his eyes on the older wizard and did his best to ignore the silvery chains, which Malfoy was holding in his hands.
What the hell did the man want with them anyway? Severus had never before seen that a prisoner was tied down before he was tortured with the Cruciatus. It must be less exciting for such a sick mind like Malfoy's if the victim could not writhe on the floor unrestrained.
The blond wizard still portrayed that expecting, arrogant smirk and didn't let Severus' scowl impress him. He slowly approached until he stopped around a meter before Snape and casually lifted the hand with the chains in it, as if he wanted to show his former friend something rather unimportant.
"Your arms please."
Snape stiffened and clenched his fists, without humouring Lucius' friendly order. He wouldn't give in and submit to the other man.
Lucius made a show of sighing softly, yet he had an expression on his face, as if he'd not expected anything else.
"Crabbe, Goyle?"
The hands on his upper arms tightened their vice-like grip as the two imposing deatheaters stepped closer, grabbed his lower arms and pulled them forcefully up. Snape didn't even try to fight them, knowing that he wouldn't stand a chance against the force of those two. He contented himself to ignore them and kept on glaring at Lucius, who smirked again and changed his grip on the chains.
Severus didn't lower his eyes from the deatheater's face and didn't see what the man did with his hands, yet he heard the threatening jingle of the chain links as they moved together and then he felt cold and heavy iron manacles snap shut around his wrists. Heavily, they hung on his arms and when Crabbe and Goyle let go of him and took a step back he had to flex his muscles so that his hands were not pulled down immediately by the weight of the chain.
Lucius took hold of the heavy chains close by the iron shackles and gave it a strong tug. The weight disappeared but Severus was pulled forwards by his wrists until he found himself only a few centimetres from the blond man's face, who bored his blue eyes into his prisoner's black ones and swore in a dangerous voice that was more of a promise than a threat: "I will break you eventually, Severus."
Malfoy then pushed Severus from him, so that he had to take a step back to not lose his equilibrium and fall. Malfoy still held the end of the chains in his hands and was now pointing his wand at the ceiling, directly above Severus.
"Viniculum anulus!"
A yellowish, pale stream of light left the tip of his wand and hit the stone of the ceiling, where it started to morph and transform into a golden ring, attached firmly to the stone.
"Wingardium Leviosa", Malfoy spoke again, his wand directed at the end of the chain.
Snape observed with helpless anger how the chain moved from Lucius' hand and floated weightless like a feather on wind into the air, following the movements of the wand and gliding up towards the ring. It snaked through the holes, link after link, producing with each one a clinking sound before the chain's end softly descended once again, to land gently in Malfoy's hand.
Snape hated to be tied up. When he had been arrested and led off in front of the whole school some months ago, it had been one of the worst experiences in his whole life and only the necessity of it and the reassuring presence of Dumbledore, who knew the truth and was lending him the necessary strength by that, had made it possible for him to go through it without dying of shame. Now, there were no students and teachers here. Also, Dumbledore's strengthening presence was missing. This time he was all alone.
A pleasured smile played at Malfoy's lips, as he seemed to guess Snape's discomfort. With satisfaction, he pulled at the chain and Severus felt the painful upwards-tug on his wrists. However, this time he stemmed his body against it and held his arms down at his sides, his muscles tightly flexed and rigid while he stubbornly held Malfoy's gaze. Lucius' eyes narrowed to small, angry slits and he pulled harder on the chains, but Severus locked his elbows and tightened his muscles, using all his strength to keep his hands at his sides.
He had never been an athletic person, or very strong physically, but his arms had developed quite some force to withstand resistance through years of lifting and carrying cauldrons and unrelenting stirring sometimes quite sticky potions for hours on end. In this aspect, he had an advantage over the blond Slytherin who had always been spoiled by life and never had done any real bodily work himself. And he was perfectly aware of this too. While Lucius gave another unsuccessful tug at the chain, Severus smirked arrogantly.
"Are you having a problem, Lucius?"
The face of the blond wizard consorted into an angry grimace. "Crabbe!" he barked. "Come over here!"
The bulky man to Severus' left immediately joined Malfoy's side. Lucius then nodded to Goyle at Severus' right side and the big deatheater stepped around the potions master and rammed his fist into the bound man's abdomen, just below the ribs. Like with the water before, all the air was pushed out of Severus' lungs and he gasped in pain and surprise. Instinctively, his body curled around the pain in his stomach, and in this moment of inattention his arms were brutally wrenched up above his head, pulling his body back into an upright position.
His vision blurred as, against his will, tears of pain welled up. Severus still panted for air, trying at the same time to suppress the tears and the pain in his lower body. He clenched his eyes shut and forced himself to take deep, calming breaths. The iron manacles cut painfully into the soft skin at the inside of his wrist as the chains were pulled so tight that he could barely keep his feet flat on the ground, his arms being agonizingly overstretched above his head and leaving no freeway for any movement whatsoever. His shoulder blades started to protest in pain at this unnatural, tensed position and he could do nothing more than breathe shallowly.
He opened his eyes when he felt someone move in front of him. Lucius had approached him again and from the corner of his eyes, Severus saw Crabbe now holding the chain tight. That also explained the easiness with which he now could be held in such a position.
"Now we will see how long you can keep up that pride of yours, Severus."
Malfoy reached inside one of the folds of his robes and pulled out a wire-made whip, which he presented to his former friend like a trophy. Severus did all to hide his surprise and uneasiness. What in seven hells did Malfoy need a whip for? The potions master had counted on being tortured with curses and potions but a whip was unexpected and not Lucius' style at all. He habitually never soiled his hands with such barbaric methods.
Despite his tries to hide it, Lucius seemed to see, or at least to suspect his thoughts.
"I am aware that such things are generally not my style but I don't underestimate your stubbornness. You are familiar with my usual methods and deserve to be surprised by something new. I have sworn to break you, but I know that it will not be easy and I doubt that I'll accomplish that with my normal methods before you'll end up insane. I have once told you that torture is an art, and I'm a master of that art."
Malfoy moved out of Severus' line of sight as he stepped around him, and the potions master squared his shoulders as much as it was possible in his position and balled his fists to prepare for the pain.
Still, despite all his mental preparations, the first stroke hit him like a bolt of lightning and he gasped in pain as the whip left a trail of liquid fire between his shoulder blades.
Something sticky, blood probably, mixed with his still damp skin and traced down his back. He had barely acknowledged this, however, as the next stroke of the whip had already hit. Again, it happened suddenly, full of cutting and burning agony. It was no comparison to the pain that the Cruciatus curse caused, but it was not minder cruel, as every time he was given a pause to mentally anticipate the next blow. The body was hit only in one place, but the spirit didn't lose orientation and realized everything in sharp detail.
At least for the first few hits.
After maybe the third or forth, Severus' surrounding started to blur and he only lived to feel the ever-returning agony on his back and sides.
When it finally ceased, he was hanging limply in his chains. His back and the backside of his legs were soaked and sticky from the blood, and he was only halfway able to still notice what was going on around him.
He felt dizzy and then the pull on his wrist disappeared and he fell unceremoniously to the ground.
Severus found no more energy to move and stayed immobile, laying face down where he had fallen. His sight tunnelled out and the weightlessness of an approaching unconsciousness started to engulf him. But before he could sink into it completely, he heard Malfoy's voice as if it was coming from a great distance.
"Enervate!"
As if some invisible force was hooking into his mind and giving it a strong pull, he was brutally jerked back into consciousness. His eyes shot up and all the drowsiness fell off him, letting the pain come back in all its clear brutality.
Still, he found no force to move as a well-manicured hand reached for his left wrist and someone murmured an incantation. The iron manacle sprang open and fell off his wrist.
Both his arms were seized and forcefully yanked behind his back, where the cuff snapped shut around his wrist again, binding both hands together. The position was uncomfortable for itself, but with the deep cuts on Severus' back it was pure agony.
Alas, it was not as much as when the chain was pulled tight again and his arms were wrenched up. A short yell of pain escaped his throat but his arms were only pulled higher, putting such a pressure on his shoulders that he thought his arms were to be pulled from their sockets. He did his best to get on his feet to alleviate the pain, but every time he managed to move against the pressure and lessen it the chain was pulled tight again. He finally got to his feet, but the shackle was still being pulled up, more and more, until he thought that he couldn't stand the pressure anymore and lost the ground under his feet.
He groaned loudly and pressed his eyes shut. The pressure on his shoulders was insupportable, while the iron bracelets cut deeper into his skin and it became almost impossible to breathe with his chest overstretched in such a manner.
"Crabbe, you stay here for the first four hours. Take care that he doesn't fall asleep. I'll send someone to take your place after that time."
A grunting confirmation was to hear and then Severus heard the door close with another groan.
T.B.C.
A/N: I'm sorry if the updates take a while for the moment. Some big problems in real life showed their ugly heads and they take away a lot of my time at the moment. However, I'll try to work more on the translation the following week, so I hope that I'll get back on track soon. Still, there will not be any postings next week, for I will not have any access to internet. The rape-chapter is almost done too, and I'll start to send it out by the next weekend to everybody who wants it and sent or will still send me his or her addy.
Betaed by Slytherin's silver snakeJ