Don't take that sinner from me
Chapter 17: Memories never die
A/N: I own nothing except my mistakes. There are so many people I would like to thank for all the sweet reviews, but let me first start with Geowyn. Your reviews have made me smile for days and I am so grateful to hear such sweet words from you. Thank you all so much!
Hermione had left early in the morning, leaving Snape a note to tell him that she'd be back tomorrow. With that, she had apparated to her own town, where she rang the doorbell once it was still early in the morning.
Her mother sleepily opened the door and her face lightened up immediately as she threw her arms around her daughter. "Hermione! I did not expect to see you already, are you alright?" Her mother urged her in and Hermione smiled weakly at her mother's concern. "Yes, mom, I am. Our headmaster, however, passed away at the end of term. It was therefore that they sent us off sooner." Hermione explained and watched as her mother called upstairs for her father and went to make some tea.
"Dumbledore, was it? What a pity – he seemed like a good man from what you told me." Her mother said, offering her breakfast which she gladly accepted. Her father greeted her just as happy and tiredly as her mother did, hugging her from the back as she was seated on the chair and took a seat next to her. "What did I miss?"
"The headmaster of Hogwarts passed away." Her mother repeated as she placed a delicious looking breakfast in front of Hermione, which she gladly began to eat. "Really? How did he die?" Hermione swallowed the food as she tried to lie as smoothly as she could, "Old age. He had it coming, we all knew that." Her parents nodded understandingly as they asked her about her year.
Leaving all the important things out, like her marriage and her becoming a Death Eater, she just told them she had learned a lot and had been getting a lot of good grades. This satisfied them greatly as they ruffled her hair, complimenting her on her hard work.
"And what about you lot? How has life been treating you two?" Hermione asked when she had finished eating, and listened happily to what they had been up to all year. From their work to their little trips and adventures, glad to hear they had been doing alright without her.
After they were done talking, she waited for them to get dressed and passed her time with reading a few Muggle books, smiling as she remembered reading them countless of times when she was still younger. After around fifteen minutes, they came back down fully washed and dressed and they got all their old games out of the wooden closet that stood in their living room – playing the games they used to play when she was little.
It was great to finally be able to spend some time with her family again, to have her mom take care of her as her father gave her cared for advice on life. Yet, she couldn't help but get sad whenever they got quiet – knowing that soon she'd have to leave them until Voldemort was defeated and she'd be sure they would be safe.
It was therefore greatly saddening that the night started to approach, and Hermione had taken a grateful warm shower as she washed her body, having been unable to do so at Snape's place. She had drunk one last cup of tea with her mother as her father watched some tennis on the television, not knowing that this would be the last night for a very long time that he would get to spend time with his daughter.
Hugging her parents goodnight, she moved upstairs and stepped into her old bedroom – one that made her feel at home immediately even though she hadn't been in their for an entire year.
A satisfied sigh escaped her lips as she embraced the softness of the mattress, appreciating the fact that there were no old rusty springs poking into her back. Yet, as she fell asleep, she was unable to think of anything else than wondering how Snape was doing – what he had been up to and how he was feeling.
It truly was weird to be away from him for the first time after all those months spending by his side. Never had she slept more than one room away from him over those past few months they had been married. It felt oddly uncomfortable as she couldn't hear any shuffling – any sound she recognized from him.
It was for that reason that she had gladly woken up next morning, happy to know she'd return to the one she had grown so used to being around. But first, there were other things she needed to take care of before she could.
Taking one last shower, she packed everything from her bedroom that she needed – although, that wasn't much. It were mainly some books and clothes that she thought useful enough to take with her, for she had no idea for how long she would be saying goodbye to her parents.
Hermione had eaten breakfast with her family and played some more games with them, helping her mother in the garden and then finishing it off by watching her dad's favorite TV show with him. When it was nearing five in the afternoon, however, she knew that it was all coming to an end.
Her mother had started to make dinner, and Hermione quietly finished it, hugging them both from behind as she had stood up and brought away their plates, washing it quickly so her mother wouldn't be burdened by that mess.
Tears slowly started to fill her eyes as she watched the happy exchange between her parents - looked at the loving stares they were giving each other, reminding her once more of something she'd never have. Yet, she was happy – happy to know that they'd have each other when she'd be gone.
Unnoticed by the chattering couple, she raised her wands at them as she muttered the incantation to the false memory charm, making them believe that they were two entirely different people, who had no children and were originally from Australia – where'd they soon be returning to.
As they were still in a haze from the charm, she quickly hurried out of the door with her bag slung over her shoulder. The minute she stepped outside, she apparated back to where Snape lived – greeted by the deserted streets as the darkness consumed her, thanks to the lack of lights.
Hermione knocked twice on the door, nervously glancing around her as if afraid someone was following her. A face vaguely appeared in front of the blurred glass, checking for who it was and he opened the door once he had recognized her.
She hurried inside, not bothering to wait one second longer in the dark streets and was happy when the door closed behind her. With the presence of him, she suddenly felt safe – knowing that she could handle whatever was coming her way as long as she had him by his side.
However, her comfort did not last long as she discovered why he had looked so serious when he had opened the door. She had not been prepared to find the Malfoy family and Bellatrix sitting in Snape's sitting room – all looking stiff except for Bellatrix, who shot her a taunted smile.
"Well, well, look who we have here. I didn't know your wife was living with you, Severus." Snape had followed her, and passed her as he took his seat back in his usual armchair. "You haven't really bothered to ask, Bella."
Bellatrix approached Hermione, circling around her and Hermione felt her breath getting caught in her throat as she remembered their last encounter. Bellatrix seemed to have remembered as well as she suddenly grabbed Hermione's left arm and forced her sleeve up.
And that's when Hermione finally saw it – the damage Bellatrix had done to her. She had lived up to the promise she made to Snape when he asked from her to not look at it. And she had succeeded so far, but now it was inevitable as it was on full display.
Her arm was scarred badly – the flesh unable to heal properly as the light redness displayed the word 'mudblood'. And Hermione understood why Snape hadn't want for her to see; it was absolutely sickening to know that she was carrying such a foul name on her arm, as if the Dark Mark hadn't ruined it all enough already.
"Enough!" Snape bellowed and Bellatrix's smile fell as she closed her mouth, having been on the edge of saying something. With an annoyed scowl, she dropped Hermione's arm as she took a seat back on the sofa near the door to the hallway.
Hermione looked into the scared eyes of Draco, yet she had no idea why he was afraid – not that she cared much either. She had enough problems as it was – and his surely weren't going to be added to her list. Lucius and Narcissa both looked tense, sitting stiffly in their seats as they, too, watched the display.
"I'll be off to bed, then." Hermione announced, looking into the eyes of her husband and felt the sudden warmth of comfort rushing through her body once more as she noticed his concern for what she saw.
"Don't forget about your hubby, make sure he tucks you in nicely." Bellatrix taunted and Hermione raised an eyebrow, "No, thank you, I'll manage just fine on my own." A flicker of fury crossed on Bellatrix's face, but she was held back by Snape, who dangerously warned her with his wand raised. She had clearly walked into a tense conversation they had been having.
Snape nodded at her and she took that as her approval to leave, and hurried out of the room and into her own bedroom as fast as she could. However, even though she changed into her pajamas, she did not go to sleep. The idea of sleeping with people below her that were longing to kill her – especially Bellatrix, greatly disturbed her and made it unable to go to sleep.
Eight o'clock at night.. she had been staring up at the ceiling for longer than she had liked, but she couldn't fall asleep – it was physically impossible for her to do so.
Ten o'clock at night.. she'd occasionally catch a shrieking outburst from Bellatrix, which had her shivering in her bed. At other times, she heard people moving through the room, however, she could not make out what it was they were discussing.
Eleven o'clock at night.. her eyelids were drooping as she felt herself getting unbearably tired – she had been awake since the early morning, and the tough events of the day had totally worn her out.
And it wasn't until one in the morning that they all finally left, yet Hermione was too scared to allow herself to sleep. What if she had misheard, or what if they were lingering near the house – ready to strike her?
Feeling more than uneasy, she got out of the bed and cautiously walked down the stairs with as little noise as possible, carefully pushing the door open. To her relief, she found it empty – yet, it became a bit too quiet and she scanned the sitting room as well as the kitchen and the hallway. After checking that the light wasn't on in their outdoor lavatory, panic started to rise as she sunk into the armchair near the fireplace.
So, the Malfoys and Bellatrix hadn't been the only one to leave – he had left too. He probably hadn't bothered to give her a heads up, thinking that she would be vast asleep by now. Where he was off to, however, she had no idea.
She wasn't going to lie – she was both worried and scared to her bones. Here she was, stuck in a house that was unfamiliar to her – that was even more unpleasant at night than at day. All alone with her husband gone to wherever he was.
"If you wish to sleep, I'd suggest using a bed instead of my chair." The low drawl ripped her out of her slumber immediately, and she wearily looked around her – noticing that it was still dark outside. "I couldn't sleep – not with them in the house, and especially not after discovering you were gone." Taking in his ragged clothes, she frowned at him, "Where were you anyway?"
"There had been some things I needed to take care of for the Dark Lord – matters concerning Potter." Hermione knew that she shouldn't press the matter and nodded. "I thought you'd stay at your parent's house for a longer period of time than just two days." Snape said as he cleaned the room from the mess the others had made.
"I just needed to visit to see them one last time before I played around with their memories." This time Snape frowned at her and she decided to explain herself, "A false memory charm. For as long as the Dark Lord is still alive, they will not be safe. At least now they're untraceable and out of the country – ensuring their safety." Snape slowly nodded and Hermione yawned, managing to make the time out from the tiny clock on the table that had been cleared up. It was nearing half past three in the morning, and she was absolutely exhausted.
Having noticed that she was making her way to the door, he stopped her by saying one last thing. "You followed my request?" Snape asked in surprise and Hermione nodded, turning to look at him and his features softened. "It's not true." Hermione frowned, "What isn't?"
"Whatever that scar says. You're way better than that." Snape spoke softly, his eyes staring intently at her and she gave an unconvincing smile. "Hermione." He warned and she sighed, nodding in defeat. "I know, Severus." And with that she turned around, making her way upstairs once more and gratefully stepped into her uncomfortable bed – welcoming sleep as it quickly consumed her.