Minerva and Hermione arrived in the atrium and began to look for Kingsley.
They eventually found him over near the lifts talking to a tall woman wearing a sour expression. The woman seemed quite irate and was speaking loud enough for Hermione to hear.
"His sentence is most likely already been carried out!" Hermione felt all the color drain from her face.
"How can we rehabilitate a dead man?" Hermione launched herself full force into the woman tackling her to the ground.
"Where are the papers!" The woman just stared at Hermione. She was tempted to slap her but didn't instead she calmed down and in a deadly quiet voice whispered.
"Where are the rehabilitation papers? I want them now," The woman glanced up at Kingsley who didn't look like he was going to help her then back to Hermione who looked like she was going to seriously maim her if she didn't get her those damned papers.
"Fine!" The woman yelled, Hermione got off of her and stood waiting.
The woman waved her wand quickly through the air and moments later a packet of papers sailed towards Hermione; who caught them and instantly disapparated.
*(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)
Hermione arrived on the shores of Azkaban in the midst of a storm, the wind was whipping the charcoal black waves everywhere, Hermione was soaked in seconds.
She didn't care though all that mattered right now was time.
Hermione ran to the gates, she wondered if she could still get through, she closed her eyes and ran praying that Kingsley had pulled strings quickly.
When Hermione landed on the other side of the gate unscathed she almost cried in relief.
Instead she sped off in search of someone she could question.
Hermione arrived in the large room that contained the one lone desk.
Like last time there was no one here and Hermione wasn't going to stand here and wait for someone to show up.
Hermione ran down the corridor opposite the one she came in and straight toward the courtyard.
Hermione heard a harsh shout and the struggled noises of a man dying as she turned the corner and saw a man in deatheater robes struggling at the end of the noose.
Hermione didn't take a second to think, she didn't consider that the person dying before her could be another prisoner, and not Snape. She also didn't think about the guards that were crawling all over the area.
Hermione didn't think of all these things and whipped her wand out cutting the rope holding the man on death's door.
The black clothed figure fell to the ground and stopped struggling.
Hermione took off and had almost reached him when she was knocked off her feet and thrown against the stone wall behind her.
Hermione brought a shaky hand to her head and when she brought it down to her face for inspection saw blood.
A guard ran over to her and was about to haul her to her feet and take her away when she reached into her bag and presented the ministry papers to him.
For a second she thought he might ignore them and haul her away anyway but he proved to have a good sense of judgement and grabbed the papers riffling through them.
A moment or so after reading them the guard ran off.
Hermione wasn't sure what was happening at this point she saw out of the corner of her eye that Minerva had arrived.
She could also see that the guards weren't letting her anywhere near Hermione or the man she was sure was Snape.
This had Minerva McGonagall in a good fit of anger her deep Scottish burr could be heard everywhere cursing everyone and everything in a hundred foot radius.
*(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)
The guard Hermione had given the papers, finally arrived back in the court yard.
By this time Hermione had become a little less dizzy and was able to stand up without feeling sick.
The guards were all back at their stations and Hermione took this as a good sign; she didn't really want to push her luck but the man in the deatheater robes hadn't moved much since crashing to the ground and it was making Hermione nervous
Hermione started walking towards the still figure whose one arm was bent at an impossible angle.
No one stopped her so Hermione moved faster ignoring the pounding in her head and the sickness in her gut.
Hermione reached the figure and breathed a sigh of relief as she saw his chest rise and fall.
Hermione looked at the hideous deatheater mask, she wanted so badly to see if it was truly Snape beneath that much hated disguise but she also feared being wrong.
What if Snape had already been executed and this was some nameless deatheater Hermione saved.
She mentally berated herself for letting fear stop her even for a moment, she was a Gryffindor after all, and reached forward pulling the mask away from the mystery man's face.
*(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)*)*(I definitely considered ending the chapter there :)*(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)*(*)*
As she threw the mask away she saw coal black hair framing a pale face with a hooked nose. Hermione was so happy she nearly hugged him, but as her grip tightened on his arm his eyes snapped open.
He must have been unconscious before because he was in so much pain, not even his well trained mind and disciplined body could stop the terrible shrieks that ripped out of his throat.
Hermione was still wandless and able to do nothing for him but sit there and hold his hand as he screamed for his dear life.
Hermione didn't have to wait long, at the sound of his yells McGonagall came running, she still had her wand and began murmuring healing spells before she even reached them.
Hermione sat there numbly as McGonagall healed his broken arm and two broken bones in his one leg, she tried to fix his cracked femur but only ended up making it worse.
Finally she tried to get him to talk and realized his vocal cords had been crushed by the rope intended to kill him.
Hermione could feel her tears running down her cheeks but couldn't seem to make her hand move to brush them away.
In fact Hermione couldn't move at all and she could see darkness creeping into her vision.
Hermione stared at Snape's wide black eyes one more time before she fell in the darkness letting it carry her away.
Hermione woke to blinding white light. She squinted and blinked as she looked up into the faces surrounding her. She saw a healer and Mcgonagall and then someone else who she couldn't identify because his back was turned.
Hermione tried to get up and was instantly pushed back down by both McGonagall and the healer.
McGonagall smiled gently at her and put a finger to her lips shifting her eyes towards the other person in the room leading Hermione's attention to focus on him.
"Miss Granger is still too tired to see anyone," Hermione now knew the figure was Kingsley and he sounded absolutely exasperated.
Hermione eyes shifted back to McGonagall a question in them.
"I insist on seeing her Kingsley, I have that right, now!" Hermione's eyes became large disks as she heard her former Professor's deep voice, she noticed that it was mostly in tack only cracking a little as his voice rose in, well she wasn't quite sure what the emotion was, but she was positive it wasn't a good one.
Hermione looked back at McGonagall and saw that she'd turned towards the two.
"Hermione's awake," This statement caused a flurry of activity.
Hermione couldn't see much of what was going on but she could hear Snape's voice rising above the rest.
"I WILL TELL HER MYSELF, everyone out!" Hermione cringed at his tone and the statement wasn't even aimed at her.
McGonagall needed no further prodding and flashed Hermione a sympathetic look as she exited, Kingsley tried to stand his ground but he couldn't come up with a good enough excuse to stay so he left, head down tail between his legs.
The last person to exit was the healer who gave Hermione a few nutritional potions and left without a second glance.
Hermione sat and stared at her hands which were resting in her lap.
She felt the bed shift as Snape sat at the end of it.
"I feel that I am obligated to break the news to you Miss Granger,"
Hermione kept her eyes down. "They said that you were told you would merely have to watch me for a few months, correct?" Hermione nodded her head to show she understood.
"They lied to you," Hermione's head popped up at that and she finally saw that Snape was as far on edge ad he could get and was cradling his head in his hands, his voice came again from behind his curtain of lank and greasy hair.
"You have been magically bound to me for the next five years," Hermione felt her breathe escape her lungs in a whoosh and couldn't help the tiny sound of surprise that escaped her.
Snape looked up and locked eyes with her, she could see the guilt as clear as day on his face she could also see anger, which she wasn't sure if it was directed at her or at the ministry for lying.
"I'm so sorry," He spoked so quietly that if Hermione hadn't caught the subtle movement of his lips she'd have thought it was merely her imagination.
"Don't be," Her voice was just as soft and quiet but she knew he'd heard her when his head jerked painfully and he got up storming out of the room his exit not nearly as intimidating since he was still in his filthy prison uniform.