As you all know I own nothing of the Harry Potter universe. Please review. I would love to know what you all think. Thank you to all those that have reviewed so far. Also want to thank those that are following the story. They let me know that people are looking out for updates for my story.

This chapter takes a different turn. M for sexual themes and dark scenes involving torture. If this disturbs you please do not read this chapter.

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"Was there a misunderstanding with what has to be done Draco? It's been months and you have found no leads as to the location or identity of this Myra Gray bitch!" Lucius was livid and came close to cursing Draco. "Have you found anything at all?"

Draco learned to show no emotion when it came to experiencing his father's temper, and remained still until his father finished his rant. "No one has heard of her including Granger who seems to know something about everything. I believe contacting Myra Gray may have to be done through Muggle methods."

Lucius sneered at the idea. He wouldn't admit it but he had virtually no idea how muggles lived nor did he care. Their overdependence on technology made them seem so primitive to him. "And?"

"Only mudbloods or those that live in the muggle world know how to use the technology well enough to do research at the level to find Myra Gray." Draco knew more than that but his father didn't need to know that at this time. He knew his father wouldn't understand a single word spoken if he explained what he knew. "The information the Muggle Studies Professors have is out of date by possible decades."

"Of course it is. Do you honestly believe that those courses are set up to actually teach students anything useful?"

Draco suspected it was a false course. Granger must have laughed through the course when she took it. He imagined her raising her hand to correct the Professor on every issue that was incorrect. "If you want me to understand muggle communication I will have to live among them and use their technology. I did say this before."

Lucius was loathe to admit that Draco was correct but he didn't want his son mixing with the less intelligent. "Someone else can do that research. Keep looking for what you can find while at school."

"Yes, father."

Draco left and returned to Hogsmeade to resume his duties and Umbridges' enforcer for Sunday morning's round of name tracking and to instill insecurity.

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The fact that this second trip was proving to be worse than last weekend didn't help her mood. Hermione held onto her stomach that was threatening to display what she ate for breakfast followed by a headache that was determined to push her eyeballs from their sockets.

She remembered that Snape did warn her of the effects of the potion she witnessed being brewed. This would pass and the fact that she would be with Order members within an hour made her feel slightly better.

Harry was with her and was concerned again with her health but he felt as bad as she looked. He got very little sleep that night and knew that he would get even less tonight unless something was done.

"Are you sure you want to do this Hermione? Once you leave there will be a target on your back."

"What about you? You will be the center of what could only be an unpleasant interrogation." Hermione was very pale and was getting worse by the minute. "Let's get this over with."

"Let's not hurry to our destination yet. I know you are not feeling well but remember we are being watched."

A cold breeze forced Hermione further into her coat. She was ready to burst into tears soon as she was so tired. "I can't do this, next weekend. I don't think I will make it."

Harry had to relent and they walked to the Broken Bookworm. It was an older shop with the shopkeeper asleep as students entered and left. There was little business here now since the new shop opened up. Hermione approached the owner and realized that he wasn't real.

"Never mind him Hermione we have to hurry." Harry was nervous but didn't want to get into why.

"Oh, yes of course." Hermione looked up and followed Harry.

As she walked toward what she thought was her freedom she realized that there was something seriously wrong with her. Blurry vision was not a side effect of the potion, nor was confusion. "Harry there is something seriously wrong. I need to get back to the castle." She fell to the floor and everything spun in and out of focus.

"Please Hermione you are almost there." He levitated her closer then into the room with a large fireplace. Hermione started to convulse. "Shit, no!"

Harry heard footsteps enter the room and he looked up to find Snape with a very serious look on his face. "When did she start to convulse?"

"Less than a minute ago."

Snape lifted her off the ground and she leaned into him for support. She was a thousand miles away in her delerium. "I'm taking her to the infirmary. You will come to my office at seven tonight." Without another word he disappeared with a loud pop.

Harry sighed in relief that was short lived as Draco and his goons entered the room. "Headmistress Umbridge wants to see you Potter, and Granger."

"Hermione is with Professor Snape as he took her to the infirmary."

"Then I guess she will speak with you first."

Harry knew that Umbridge used veratsurim on Ron and simply waited for Harry to get caught in the act of leaving or helping another student leave.

He didn't put up a fight and went back to the castle to await what would be a very horrific Q&A.

Harry sat in Umbridge's office that was sickeningly cute with pictures of moving cats on plates held onto a wall that was a bright pink. The space was very unsettling and he knew that it was a façade to hide the dark intentions behind what supposed to be a fragile surface. As Harry sat in the office surrounded by cat plates he realized how freeing it would feel to be truly honest with a woman so loathsome that she would be considered too evil to be a death eater.

Headmistress Umbridge entered her office and sat down across from Harry with the air of authority. She had all the power at this moment and wanted to savor every minute of control she had. Harry wasn't going to give her the satisfaction.

"I suppose you are going to question me like you did Ron. The ministry seems to have no issues treating students like prisoners going to trial for murder for simple things like being young." Harry was past the point of caring. "Voldemort would be proud."

"Don say his name!"

"Voldemort." Harry leaned forward. "He wants to kill me. Saying his name will not make him hate me anymore than he does now. I am past fearing his name."

The look Umbridge gave Harry was murderous. "You need to understand how other's feel. Starting panic with your lies deserves punishment! Crucio!"

Harry was blindsided as he fell to the floor screaming in pain. He realized that he would have to push her further and reveal what she really is to everyone. "Voldemort!"

Another round of crucio hit him. "Don't. Say. His. Name!"

Harry knew that the effects of crucio lasted longer than a few hours. They would be seen. Harry stood up after she was finished. "You are a cruel vindictive woman."

"And you are dangerous. Maybe no one else sees it but you will bring about panic after things have finally settled down. But I didn't bring you here for this. I want to know where you were taking Miss Granger."

Harry decided to sit down but didn't say another word. He wanted to see how far she would take things and push her to her limits.

Umbridge saw that she would get no answers this way she decided to use a different tactic. One that she knew would work. "I had a very strict mother Mr. Potter. She would not allow any secrets to be held from her. I learned at a young age that as an authority figure you need to have control. To gain control from those that kept secrets you had to come up with some very cleaver ways to ensure that they never held anything from you."

Harry watched as he pulled out a small box from her desk. Inside was something that looked like a three inch sewing needle a couple of millimeters wide. She took it out and inspected it in the light then gave him the most frightening smile he had ever seen.

"It goes under the skin in the hand and weaves though until it gets to your heart. If you don't answer the questions asked it will travel a few more inches."

"And when it reaches the heart?"

"I look forward to finding out."

This stopped Harry cold and he knew that he would not be able to attack a Headmistress, even if it was in self-defense. "Let's get this over with."

Umbridge spoke Harry's name over the needle and then it moved on its own. Harry didn't see it coming at it imbedded into his hand. The needle went directly into the tendon of his middle finger flexor and travelled up the hand waiting for a question to be asked.

"Where were you taking Miss Granger?"

"Go to hell!" Harry screamed out and then screamed in pain as it moved up his hand through the joint in his hand. This was actually worse than cruciatus. It was blinding pain that travelled up his arm and never stopped or ebbed away. Tears rolled down his face and he almost threw up from the pain.

"Where were you taking Miss Granger?"

"None of our business! Ahhhgh!" Harry heard the needle break radius below the thumb. Bruising had already started and the nerves in his arms were on fire.

"Where were you taking Miss Granger?!" Umbridge wasn't yelling but almost laughing at Harry's pain knowing that he wasn't going to answer again.

"NO, no, no!" The needle travelled higher up his arm a few more inches, cutting through nerves. He was on the floor and threw up from the pain and clawed at his arm to get the intruding needle out. He clawed through a layer of skin not caring about that pain as it paled in comparison to the internal contents of his arm.

"Is Dumbledore planning on taking back the castle?"

"I will tell you nothing!" The needle now tore through muscle of the arm. It wasn't as painful as before as it was softer tissue but he knew the elbow would be very, very unpleasant.

"Have you been in contact with Dumbledore?"

Harry really did want to answer to ensure that the needle didn't go further but she couldn't win. It had to end. "I. Won't. Tell. You. ANYTHING!" The needle moved into the elbow and the pain intensified when the nerves forced him to bend his arm. Harry thought he was going insane. He looked at his arm and saw the end sticking out and the damage that has been done to the arm already.

He crawled to the side of the room and stood up against the wall. He grabbed one of the plates with a cat on it and smashed it on the floor. "I hate your cats!" He fell down to the floor.

"Have you been in contact with Dumbledore?"

"I won't speak to you!" The pain intensified and he wanted it to end? How could a mother do this to their child? He looked down and saw a sharp piece of porcelain and before she knew what happened Harry slit the wrist of his damaged arm and watched as the blood began to flow from his wrist.

"Explain this to the ministry." Harry got very light headed and the pain was going away.

Umbridge ran in front of him and did a bandage spell on his wrist and did her best to get the needle out. It remained in the arm as Harry needed to answer a question for it to be removed. His eyes closed and he slumped to the floor.

The door to the office opened after it was unlocked by magic. "What is with the screaming?" He turned his head to see a dying Harry Potter. Snape took his want and threw Umbridge against the wall. "What did you do?"

"It wasn't supposed to last this long!"

Snape let her go and levitated Harry up and used an emergency door to get to the infirmary as quickly as possible but not before stunning Umbridge. She fell to the floor in a heap.

Harry was deathly pale and Poppy wondered what happened to him.

"Severus, what happened to him?"

"Our Headmistress Umbridge was no doubt questioning Mr. Potter about something."

Poppy checked for curses and found something very curious. "There is something in his arm but it won't allow me to remove it."

"I'll leave you to it. I'll question Umbridge myself to see what was used."

Snape returned to the office and Umbridge was just getting up from the floor. She knew from the look on Snape's face that this wasn't going to end well.

"I have no love for the boy and I understand how infuriating he can be but that is no excuse for torture."

"He is dangerous Severus."

Snape wondered like many how she wasn't a death eater. She thought like them in so many ways. "Says the woman who turned a school into a prison. Now tell me what did you use on Mr. Potter?"

"What I had to!"

He looked at her desk and saw a small box with an indentation for a needle. "A breaking needle. Those have been outlawed for over three hundred years."

"He needed to be broken."

Snape said nothing but approached the desk take the box. "If you don't resign tonight I will ensure that the needle is used on you next." He left the office and headed down to the infirmary to inform Poppy about what she was dealing with.

Poppy was stunned to see it. She had heard legends of its use and the magical damage that could be caused if left untreated. "He will have to go to St. Mungo's for this as this well out of my range of practice."

Snape knew that McGonnagall had to be called in for this. When she arrived he had never in all his years seen McGonnagall so upset. "I will take Mr. Potter there myself. I'll owl ahead to let them know of the situation. Oh and Severus, please take care of Miss Granger. I want to thank you for being there to help her when you did. You will be an excellent teacher for her to apprentice under."

"I was going to tell you eventually." The smirk he gave her said different.

The levity was welcomed but it ended just as fast. "Teach her quickly to qualify for apprenticeship. There isn't much time for formalities and we both know it. I can put in a good word for her for the council."

With that McGonnagal made her way to St. Mungo's to take care of Harry. Snape was shortly approached by Poppy for a different matter.

"Severus, it's about Miss Granger."

"Yes?"

"She is doing better now and from what I could gather was that she was cursed with something but there are no signs now. I would ask McGonnagal about it to ask if Miss Granger has anyone who has a crush on her. There seems to be signs of a fascination curse in her system. Or at least there was."

Snape knew what the question would be, and he answered as simply as he could. "There was some interest with some of the boys but I think it's more of an issue of jealousy. I am training her for the apprenticeship qualification."

"Well I will give her a dose of fascination reversal to make sure it is out of her system for good."

Poppy left to get the dose and Snape wondered what the side effects would be. This was not a factor he was expecting. He created a potion that prevented any reversals and now an unknown will enter the mix.

He watched as Poppy handed the drink to Hermione and in her weakened state she drank it without question.

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Hermione took the medicine given to her as she was starting to feel better but her stomach was giving her issues. The liquid held a mild salty taste but she couldn't say that it was unpleasant. It lulled her into a sleep.

Her dream started off very pragmatic with no symbolism but rather her at her caldron brewing a potion.

Hermione sat cutting up ingredients that were to be placed in the now simmering water. The temperature in the room was increasing and she moved the hair around her neck to her back. This was a very tricky potion that held a lot of steps to it. There would be a severe punishment if it was not done correctly.

Of course she was prepared and had everything ready. The heating was ready and she placed the first of ingredients in and cast the cooling spell just at the right time. The water turned into a deep red colour and almost glowed.

"Very good Miss Granger."

Hermione was aware that Snape was standing behind her watching her every move. She prepared for this and kept her nerves under control. After the cooling took its effect she waited until there was some crystallization before adding the next ingredients and placed a stirring and heating spell. She almost forgot the next set of ingredients but caught it just in time.

"For a moment there I thought you wanted to get punished." He stood so close behind her she could feel the warmth of his chest on her back. His face only inches from her own. He leaned in and placed his hands on the desk on both sides of her.

"Of course not Professor."

The heating was at the edge of acceptable to almost being too much as she was distracted by Snape's hand on her stomach below her blouse.

Hermione caught the temperature in time and set it to cooling and ended up freezing the potion to ice when Snape's fingers squeezed her breast.

"You failed Miss Granger."

She breathed out. "So I did."

"You know that this requires some form of punishment."

"Yes, I know." She was lost now that his hands where expertly playing with her breasts as he whispered into her ear.

"How badly do you need to be punished?"

"Very badly."

He pulled one hand from one of her breasts to reach down between her legs. He smiled realizing how much she wanted this. "My, my one would wonder if you failed on purpose."

"I would never…"

"Shh, quiet and want to hear you moan."

Herminie never knew fingers could do so much in so short a time. A beautiful pressure built up to almost the point of pain. The moans she made were driving him crazy and Hermione could feel the effects of her moans on her back.

"Please, please."

"Please yourself. I want you to finish."

He watched as she moved her hand down.

"Miss Granger."

"Yes?"

"Miss Granger!"

Hermione woke up with Snape looking down at her with a displeased look on his face. "Yes Professor?"

"You have been excused from your morning classes. Be sure to arrive to my class in the afternoon on time."

"Yes, Professor."