Snape lay in his hospital bed steaming with rage. It had been four days since he had asked…no, demanded to see Hermione Granger. What was taking so long? He had a feeling she would not agree to come so he refused further treatment until she arrived. He felt for sure that ploy would work because everyone here seemed to be falling all over each other to appease him. His slightest whim was granted, and yet, where the hell was Granger? His whole body ached, but he would not give in and take the treatment. All his misery and pain was her fault. If she hadn't meddled in his affairs, he'd be there with Lily, right now; holding her in his arms and enjoying eternity free of pain with the only woman who had ever loved him.
It had been hours since he'd seen anyone. He yelled and belittled anyone who attempted to enter his room to the point that no one, but Arthur Weasley, who he needed and Ginny Weasley who had been assigned his nurse, even dared. Snape had to tolerate Arthur because he needed him to do his bidding, and because he refused to see anyone else, especially anyone from the Ministry of Magic. Of course that was not counting Professor McGonagall who had stormed into his room three days ago. Weeping and wringing her hands she had apologized profusely for how she had misjudged him and called him a coward. He allowed her a small amount of time in his presence and had graciously forgiven her, never being able to handle a woman crying. He even went so far as to accept the position of Defense Against the Dark Arts, which he would fill once he was well enough. He feigned an air of supposed responsibility for the spreading of his knowledge to the future children of Hogwarts, when he actually reveled in the power and respect that came with teaching DADA. Even though potions were his passion, he knew that DADA was what he was meant to do…what he was made for. He'd almost exploded when she mentioned that Hermione Granger had been away at the Academy and would be assuming the Potions Master Position once she was through with her Apprenticeship at Hogwarts.
He was able to quickly regain control of himself before McGonagall had a chance to see how much her news bothered him. He couldn't believe almost a year had passed since that wretched night. Let her have the Potions position, he reasoned as McGonagall droned on about the repairs that had taken place at Hogwarts. That just meant he would be able to watch her every move and look for opportunities to make her suffer. Yes, his heart felt a little lighter when McGonagall left, although it didn't last long. Thinking of Granger again only caused him more pain. Where the hell was she? He couldn't take the treatment, although his every pore seemed to cry out for it. No he would not take the treatment, until she arrived and he could set in motion his plan to make her suffer. He still hadn't decided how he was going to make her suffer for all the misery she had caused him, but he was sure something would come to him. Even if it was to be a daily presence in her life and ensure that she was constantly reminded of what she had cost him in bringing him back.
He went to turn over and it felt as if needles were stinging his body. Hearing his discomfort, Ginny came into the room and placed a cold compress on his forehead. He tried to push it off his forehead, but slapping his hand away, she repositioned it. Here was another thorn in his side. She was constantly checking on him and mothering him to the point of exhaustion. He was in so much pain that it was hard to sleep and so time seemed to drag on, but he wouldn't give in to Ginny's constant mention of the treatment. He had only wanted to be left alone to wallow in his misery and wait for Granger to arrive.
The hospital kept his room dimly lighted so he couldn't even tell if it was morning or night. Ginny departed taking the cold compress with her, and a breakfast tray, the eggs and toast confirming it was breakfast, magically appeared on his bedside tray. He picked at it, not having an appetite. Pushing the tray aside, he once again wondered where the hell she was. How dare she keep him waiting! Didn't she even care about him? Why save his life and then abandon him? No…no…he would not start thinking along those lines. She had brought him back from the dead and against his will no less. Shame and humiliation caused his face to burn when he thought of how she had degraded him. He remembered how warm her hand had been on his cock that night she had forced him back into the world of the living and felt it stir slightly under his gown. No…no…there was nothing sexual in the way she had treated him, he reminded himself. Undressing him had been a way to a means for her. But what about what happened after? His cock began to harden when he thought of her grinding herself on him and the slight moan she had cried into his open, helpless mouth. He pushed the thoughts aside roughly as he pulled himself to a sitting position.
Where the hell was Arthur? The last time he'd seen Arthur Weasley, which he believed was yesterday, Weasley had the nerve to bring up the stupid marriage law the ministry had concocted. He had more than proved to the whole magical world that he was a force to contend with, why couldn't he be exempt from the law? The thought of the ministry forcing people to marry strangers and start producing babies seemed so preposterous to him. In a few years, Hogwarts would be overrun with the results of their breeding program. He shuddered, when Arthur had mentioned the part of the law that would force him to weekly engage in sexual intercourse, especially when it would be with someone that he would be forced upon. She would probably shrink at his very touch, and cry every time he soiled her body with his. Or worse, she could be so hideous, he would have to keep his eyes closed in order to do, "the deed" that would be necessary to impregnate her. Of course, who was he kidding? He was no catch either. No woman, witch or muggle, had ever looked his way, even if he would have spurned her due to his devotion to Lily.
He was waiting for Arthur Weasley, to bring him news of who had put in a contract for him. If they were all unsatisfactory choices, maybe he could think of someone he could offer a contract to. He quickly brushed that thought aside. He couldn't think of anyone that would be willing to marry him, let alone breed with him. His thoughts were interrupted when Arthur entered the room.
"Sorry to keep you waiting, Severus…I was hoping more contracts would be offered to you, however, you only received these three." Snape's stomach tied in knots when he realized Arthur wouldn't even look at him. He laid three folders on Snape's lap and sat in a bedside chair, suddenly very interested in a button on his vest. Snape looked at the folders and it was worse than he feared. There was a picture of each women attached to their respective folders. They were either smiling which showed how many teeth they were missing, or they were winking and waving at the camera as if they were going on a long vacation. Each muggle-born witch was way up in age making him wonder if they were even able to conceive children and all were hideous looking. Surely as a hero, he deserved better bids than this. He bet Potter was getting his fair share of offers, why even Granger, who was muggle-born, probably received more offers….Granger! Snape felt his whole body tense. Great Merlin! She was muggle-born. How had he forgotten that so easily? Snape turned this thought over in his head fighting to keep the familiar sneer of satisfaction from his face as an idea occurred to him; a wonderful, delicious idea. His body began to tingle just thinking about his new idea. Granger…Granger could be his. What better way to make her pay him back for what she had done? Why should she be permitted to find happiness with the likes of Potter or Weasley? It would serve her right to have to marry him and…he had to close his eyes and fought to control his emotions when the full ramifications occurred to him. As his wife, Granger would have to give herself to him once a week. She'd have to spread her legs and let him…Merlin, he could shag the hell out of her every week and she'd have to let him. He had to concentrate to control his breathing and keep his heart from pounding out of his chest. It would be her turn to lay naked and helpless why he used her body…not that she had actually done that to him, but for all the humiliation she caused him to feel, she might as well have.
His mind was racing as he settled on a plan to ensnare Hermione Granger. Could he make this plan work, though? Arthur had confirmed that Granger was no longer seeing his son, so that must mean she was up for bids, as well. He realized he'd have to word his next few sentences very carefully, if he were to avoid causing Arthur to be overly suspicious. He hadn't been a successful spy all those years for nothing. Sighing loudly, he handed the folders back to Arthur, who looked as if he felt awful about the position the ministry was putting Severus in.
"You would think," he began slowly, carefully choosing his words, "the mere fact alone that I helped bring down Voldemort would provide me with a better choice of mates." He sighed again, "Those women just seem to be interested in my position and the prestige they would receive from being my wife." He saw Arthur nod in agreement with him, still not looking at him. "I feel sorry for all the muggle-borns, like Hermione Granger, for instance, who are probably facing the same if not worse fate."
"Yes, I couldn't agree with you more on that one." Arthur looked up at the ceiling as if he still couldn't believe what was happening in this world.
"So, poor Miss Granger has received offers from unsavory wizards?" Snape asked, feigning sadness while shaking his head as if he truly felt for the situation Granger had found herself in.
Arthur hung his head, his voice thick with unshed tears, "Poor Hermione. She's received marriage offers, all of them seemingly beyond child producing years." He clenched his fist in anger. "Old goats, all of them, just looking to make a name for themselves and willing to use poor Hermione to do it. She was exempt, due to her being a student at the Academy, but now that she is coming back…"
Oh this was going to be too easy, Snape thought. Keeping his voice steady he continued, "I'd offer Miss Granger a marriage contract myself if I thought she would accept. I mean we are both considered hero's of the war and I could use my position at Hogwarts to keep poor Miss Granger safe from all the wolves that would seek to do her harm and…" dare he say it "force her to bear their children; if they are even capable of producing children with her." Snape paused and then went in for the kill, "Of course I'm sure the first atrocity they'd commit would be to deny her the freedom to continue her education, much less teach at Hogwarts."
Arthur winced, knowing how important it was to ensure Hermione took over as Potions Master; there were no other qualified candidates.
"More than likely" Snape continued, driving fear deeper into Arthur's heart, "they're just interested in using poor innocent Hermione's body up and throwing her away."
Arthur looked at him with fear and desperation in his eyes. "We can't let that happen…poor Hermione, it would just kill her." He was wringing his hands now as he stood up to pace back and forth.
"Of course, I'm sure Ronald or Harry would be willing to save Hermione from a fate worse than death." Snape said calmly.
Arthur Weasley stopped pacing suddenly and looked as if someone had punched him in the gut. Quietly he said, "Ron has fallen in love with Gabrielle, Fleur's younger sister. They eloped at a secret ceremony last month and the ministry has agreed to honor their union. It's been kept a secret, besides you and Harry, no one outside the family knows."
"And Harry?" Snape whispered, hoping he hadn't just given Hermione a way out.
"That's just it…the Ministry wants him to marry Hermione. Two heroes of the war marry and the Ministry looks like a success. Ginny…doesn't know yet, neither does Hermione. Harry can't bear to tell them. Ginny thinks the Ministry will agree to let them marry, since they were together before the war."
Snape ran his hand through his black hair as in desperation. He couldn't let Potter have Granger…she would live happily ever after, Damn it! He had to think of something.
"That's not right Arthur, Harry and Ginny belong together. I mean if they want a hero of the war to marry Miss Granger, then I'll do it. I would be willing to give the Ministry total credit for the…Union." His heart began to ache with the hope that he might just be able to pull this off.
Arthur was looking at him now, nervously chewing on his lower lip. "But…I thought you were angry at Hermione for making you leave Heaven or whatever it was…" Snape winced, but Arthur didn't notice and continued speaking. "Why would you be willing to marry Hermione?"
Snape forced a look of calm sincerity on his face, just as he had many times when convincing Lord Voldemort that something was true when it really wasn't.
"I've kept Miss Granger safe since she first appeared at Hogwarts. There's no sense in stopping now. No matter how angry or disappointed I've been in their antics, I've always kept them safe and had their best interest in mind." He suddenly felt like a snake for deceiving Arthur like this. His guilt was replaced with relief however, when he heard Arthur sigh as if a great weight had been lifted off his shoulders.
"I would like to see her file, of course." At Arthur's startled looked he quickly added, "I mean, I haven't seen Miss Granger in over a year. I'm not sure I even remember what she looks like."
Mr. Weasley hurriedly reached into his bag and shuffling several items aside producing a folder and handed it to Snape, with a look of reverent hope. Snape couldn't believe his luck, if he kept this charade up; Arthur would be practically begging him to marry Granger.
He opened the folder and his breath caught in his throat as he looked into the face of Hermione Granger. The picture inside the folder was a close up that someone had taken while she appeared to be standing on a hillside gathering flowers, perhaps for a potion. She was wearing a dark colored cloak and her hair seemed longer than he remembered; no longer bushy but full of body with occasional curls throughout. She had turned toward the camera as if the person taking the picture had called her name. Her dark brown hair had been partly pinned back and a small piece had pulled free and was gently blowing about her face. Her lips were slightly parted. He couldn't tear his eyes away. Great Merlin…she was beautiful….
"When was this picture taken?" Snape whispered, having trouble finding his voice. Her eyes were such a lovely shade of brown.
"A couple months' back, I think end of March, at the Academy where she has been studying potions." Arthur was saying, but Snape was only half listening. He'd never realized before how lovely the color of her eyes were. She'd always been little Miss Granger to him, with eyes that seemed to light up a room. Now her eyes seemed different somehow; the eyes that use to contain laughter and mischief now seemed to convey so much sadness, as if her heart were breaking. Yes, these were the eyes of someone who had seen too much heartache and sadness. Much like the same eyes that had stared back at him in the mirror all those years he was spying for Dumbledore. A part of him deep down inside, hidden somewhere within him wanted to wrap his arms around this lovely woman-child, to hold her and protect her from whatever had caused such sadness to be etched across her lovely features.
Arthur had cleared his throat to get his attention and yet Snape continued to stare at her picture, unable to tear his gaze away from her hauntingly, beautiful face.
The more he stared at her expression, the more he had the feeling of déjà vu. He had seen her look at him with this same haunting expression of incredible sadness before, but when…when? Suddenly, the memory of that haunting look hit him and nearly knocked the breath from his lungs. He had seen that very look upon her face the night she handed Harry Potter the vial to contain his memories. The night she watched him die.
Snape slammed the folder shut and fought to catch his breath and forced himself to calm down. He didn't want to remember Granger that way. What did she know of sadness? Of loss? How many people did he watch die, unable to help them? No…no…she had to pay for what she'd done. He'd earned the right to spend eternity with Lily and she had robbed him of it. He handed the file back to Arthur and made his decision.
"Please notify the Ministry of Magic immediately that I'm submitting a contract of marriage on Hermione Granger and," he added making sure Arthur understood his meaning, "If you ever cared about Hermione Granger, you will convince her that it's in her best interest to accept my offer. As my wife she will be encouraged to continue her education and become the next Potions Professor at Hogwarts. Make sure she understands my offer is only to protect her." He paused and then added, "This arrangement would benefit us both and keep us from falling into the wrong hands and suffering their ill will." Thinking further he said, "When can this contract be presented to her?"
Shaking from nervousness and excitement, Arthur said, "She's being brought back from the Academy tomorrow morning, Professor McGonagall was finally able to arrange it, in accordance with your earlier demands." He looked at Snape for guidance. "I was planning on bringing her, to see you tomorrow."
Snape had to fight to keep the tremble from his voice as he said, "Very good, please tell her of my marriage offer, tomorrow and then bring her to me right away. That way she can think on it and give me an answer tomorrow when she comes to see me." Arthur started to say something but Snape interrupted, "I must see her alone tomorrow to explain to her my reasoning on why this arrangement will benefit us both. Please hurry Arthur, time is of the essence, if she accepts one of those offers because she feels she has no choice…."
Arthur nodded and after hurriedly shoving all the folders in his bag raced out the door, practically dropping his bag in his haste to get back to the Ministry.
The breakfast tray that he had received an hour earlier disappeared and Snape lay back on his pillow and sighed. He thought of all the delicious things he would do to her and realized he was stroking his cock under the covers. Yes, he would make Granger pay in a whole manner of ways. He stopped rubbing his cock short of coming as he didn't want to leave any evidence on the sheets. The first day he had awakened, he'd learned that Ginny Wesley was an intern at the hospital and had been assigned to watch him. He was careful when touching himself, hesitant about leaving cum stains on the sheet, for her to find when she changed his bedding, so he had refused to bring himself to the point of completion.
Ginny had turned out to be a lovely young lady. With her beautiful red hair and tight body, it was all he could do, at first, not to reach out and caress her. Yes, he had noticed her nice firm body as she reached over to adjust his pillows when the pain became too much for him. She'd given him a sponge bath everyday and washed his hair. He'd seen the look of shock and then admiration on her face when she'd first seen his cock.
At first he felt dirty for thinking Potter must not be doing it for her and wishing she would touch his cock the way Granger had. But then he admonished himself, Ginny had always been respectful and he stopped thinking of Ginny that way almost immediately. She was just doing her job, taking care of him and touching his body out of duty, not out of some sick sense of pleasure that Hermione had touched him. Besides, he was smart enough to know that Ginny also acted as the Ministry's spy, keeping an eye out to make sure no one tried to take revenge out on a certain Professor who was recovering on this ward. The last thing he wanted was for her to discover his seed all over the sheets, or for the ministry to hear that he had groped a female nurse when she tried to bath him.
He moaned again as he tried to get comfortable. The constant pain he was in coupled with the inability to obtain sexual release from jacking off made his whole body ache. Of course, he'd never known sexual relief from being with a woman so he had to imagine what it would be like in order to get himself off, which he wasn't doing now anyway, because of the damn sheets. He sighed again in frustration. Today, even his balls ached. Somehow or another, this was all Granger's fault. He laid still and tried to control his breathing hoping to drift off and dream of his beautiful Lily again.
Unfortunately, he spent the next several hours trying to get comfortable and failing. His lunch tray appeared, followed hours later by his dinner tray, but he only picked at them, until they disappeared. He was too nervous to eat.
Arthur said Granger had been pulled out of the Academy and would be coming to see him tomorrow and he had to think about how he was going to force her into marrying him. He was no fool. As soon as other Wizards heard Hermione was no longer a student and subject to the marriage law, she would be inundated with marriage offers, all of them more attractive than him or anything he could offer.
His Grandmother Prince, on his mother's side had left him a small fortune, when she died and he knew it had grown quite large over the years in Gringot's Bank. He lived comfortably on his teachers' salary and had never seen a need to touch his inheritance. It seemed that's all he had to offer her, though. He knew he wasn't a pleasant man, or even a handsome man and he shuddered to think of all the times he had belittled her in class, bringing her to tears at times. No, the only thing he had going for him was the money. But Hermione didn't care about money; he thought angrily, even he knew she wasn't that type of girl. No, unfortunately, this called for some sort of blackmail. He'd have to threaten her with something in order to gain her submission. Yes, that was it, perhaps the fear of him revealing to the magical world how she had stripped him of his dignity, while dying, would scare her into accepting his proposal. She had to accept it, he thought desperately, he couldn't let her live happily ever after, watching her every day as one of his fellow Professors…wanting her the way he did.
Yes, he admitted to himself, absentmindedly stroking his cock, causing it to become hard again. The moment he saw her picture he knew he had to have her…no matter what the cost. He growled and yanked his hand away, the sudden movement causing him further pain. Damn her! This was all her fault!
After several hours of staring at the ceiling, Snape finally fell into a fitful sleep.