"I'm so sorry Ron hit you..." Harry grimaced pressing the ice pack gently against Luna's cheek.

"It's alright, he was upset." Luna gave him a kind smile placing her hand over his to take his place, "We've all been a bit tense, I think it has to do with whatever you found in Bellatrix's vault."

Luna had cast the spell successfully on one of Hermione's books, but the needle that was meant to point them in the correct direction just spun in place unable to lead the way. Ron had thrown the book in a fit of rage hitting Luna by accident who had been wholly unprepared for the outburst.

Bill had stepped in then, bodily forcing his brother from the room while Fleur and Mister Lovegood saw to Luna. Harry had stepped in as well leaving Ron to his brother.

The guilt that rested on his shoulders almost made it impossible to stand. The image of his best friend tied and tortured was worse than he could have ever had imagined. It brought back all the pain and hopelessness he had felt when they were in the cellar, her screams then, standing in for the silent ones he had witnessed.

Everything was such a mess.

oOo

Snape looked up from his desk to a soft groan. He'd laid Hermione down on one of the couches before the fire; making sure her broken form was in clear view of Albus. He had said nothing since their return and Snape knew his point had been made very, very clearly.

Her left side was still vibrating, but she hadn't had a full seizure since they had returned. He was grateful that his preventative measures had done something. He would have to wait until she woke naturally to give her his own special potion. It would help counteract the effects of the curse but the potion didn't play well with others. He had to make sure everything was out of her system before he gave it to her.

That was at least another four hours away. He'd noticed her breath had smelled of cherry when she'd been pressed against him. There was no doubt that she had taken one of the lozenges for her throat before everything had happened. In the meantime, he was going to make Albus watch her suffer.

Severus looked back down at the pure onyx stone on his desk and raised his wand again. Like a stone cutter with a blade, he pressed the tip of his wand into the stone, carefully carving the runes she had written.

"Pro...professor?"

Severus finished the rune he was working on before answering. He pulled the magnifying glasses from his eyes and came to his feet so that she could see him from where she laid.

"Yes, Miss Granger?"

"Wa-ter?" She shifted her upper body, her left arm falling off of the couch to the floor. She winced and pulled the incorporative limb back up.

"One moment." Severus moved around the desk over to a small cabinet. He pulled down a rather ornate looking goblet before spelling it to fill with water. He came to kneel beside her helping her shift so that she was sitting up enough to drink properly.

He frowned when she reached for the goblet, both hands trembling too much to be of use. He used his fingers that held the cup to push them back down before taking the back of her head with his free hand.

"I'll do it, small sips." Snape's jaw twitched growing tight. He brought the rim up to her lips tilting it just enough for a taste. Hermione did her part well, using his support to take three small sips. Her eyes closed with relief after the third before she turned her head away with a grimace.

"What's wrong?"

"Stomach...hurts..." Hermione's fingers curled into her dirty jacket and she hardly had time to warn him before her stomach lurched. The meager amount of water she had swallowed came up in one swift motion. Her bile was clear but smelled acidic.

Snape didn't even balk at it, clearing the mess away before it triggered another reflexive urge. He set the goblet down on the floor before moving to help her sit up further. A small sob bubbled up the back of her throat and the girl turned her head to his chest.

"It hurts..." Her plea was so soft, so broken. It was the sound of someone on the edge of just giving into it all.

"I know..." Snape pursed his lips and shifted so that he was sitting on the couch. He pulled her upper body so that it was resting against his chest and her bottom between his knees. He tucked her head beneath his chin. Her skin felt as though beetles were crawling beneath, all the little muscles shifting and winding tight.

Hermione hiccuped softly, tears silently rolling down her cheeks. She pressed her head closer, listening to the rapid beating of his heart. She felt tired, worse than tired; completely and utterly defeated.

"A bath may help...do you want to try?" His voice was uncharacteristically soft. His eyes too, without their normal cut-throat edge. Her hair smelled like him, it was odd. Smelling yourself on another. It felt personal. Intimate.

Her head shook jerkingly, "No...nonono...no..." Her mind replayed her last memory of the shower. How much the water burned against her skin. She didn't want to move, she didn't want to think.

Snape sighed heavily and shifted his hand from her shoulder to her head, his fingers threading through her hair by her temple. "Alright...rest now..."

His hold seemed to relax her back down. An arm around her waist and one around her head. He kept her still while her body continued to shake. It was light, like a shiver on a cold winter's day. Not necessarily painful but exceptionally exhausting. He knew she would be back asleep soon enough.

oOOo

"Why didn't it work?"

"She must be somewhere protected." Mr. Lovegood could sympathize with the young man, he had felt the same desperation when Luna had been taken.

"There's a secret keeper in the order. That may be able to help." Bill crossed his arms, shifting his weight against the door frame he was leaning against.

"How do we talk to him?" Harry was determined now more than ever to get Hermione back. To hell with what she wanted. She needed them, just as much as they needed her.

"Her, and it'll take some time, it's too late now to contact anyone. Stay here tomorrow and we'll see what we can do."

Harry glanced up at the clock, it was two a.m. He had been unable to sleep and had given Ron the dreamless sleep potion that Hermione had had in her potion kit. One of them needed their wits about them.

"Alright..." Harry had nothing else he could say. He looked down at the mirror he'd slipped from Ron's sleeping grip. "Show me, Hermione Granger..."

The mirror slowly came to life, the magic that it held was taking longer to regenerate. Harry feared that their use of it had been too much already but he had to see her. Ron had watched her for a few minutes before he'd fallen asleep thanks to the potion. He'd said she looked like she was sleeping again, though Harry needed to be reassured himself.

The image faded in like one of those old TV sets. Harry adjusted the mirror with a furrow on his brow. She still looked as though she was sleeping, but she wasn't alone. Harry's heart thumped a little heavier. A hand was shielding most of her face from view. The palm nearly covered from temple to jaw and their fingers long and lax around the underside of her jaw.

It didn't move and neither did she. Her brow was completely relaxed, not a tick or grimace to be seen. She looked peaceful, it was odd given what had happened. Harry feared that she had gone the way Neville's parents did. She was strong, but everyone had a breaking point. Even if they did get her back, would she still be with them?

oOOo

Dawn's early light smacked Snape hard in the side of the head. The golden light disturbed a rarest and welcome dreamless sleep. He hadn't meant to fall asleep at all, but for once he conceded to his own exhaustion.

His eyes opened next and the feeling of being stiff from sleeping upright soon followed. His brain fell into step soon after. Reminding him why exactly he'd fallen asleep there in the first place. He turned his head down to the girl in his lap. Her body had gone still. Completely still.

His heart beat a little faster. Had he lost her? Did his one brief moment of reprieve spell disaster for the one he was supposed to protect?

"Miss Granger?" His voice felt distant and foggy. His eyes tried to communicate with his brain but something was wrong.

Blood. Where had the blood come from?

He leaned back further, his breathing coming out shorter and harsher. Everywhere, it was everywhere. Her face, her neck, her arms, her body. It had soaked through everything. His eyes rose to his trembling hand by her head, it too was painted red. His eyes went wide, a cold terror shaking his frame.

What had he done?

oOo

A sharp noise ticked in his brain and suddenly he felt himself spinning from one world into the next. His eyes snapped open and his chest felt tight. He looked around the pre-dawn room with panic on his brow.

It was a dream, just a dream.

His eyes turned down to the girl in his grip. His muscles sore from having stayed tense for far too long. Snape shifted his hand from her cheek to her shoulder. His eyes watched her, was she breathing? The hand he had wrapped around her waist moved up to her side. His heart thumped when he felt the faintest of presses to his palm.

She had curled herself into a ball against him. The bottom of her trainers pressing against his thigh and her knees into his side under his arm. The compact position couldn't help her damaged ribs. He noted her arms were tucked away in the space between, only compressing the space further. Her head was stretched back though, resting just under his chin. Her hair was a tangled mess between his fingers and it took him a few seconds to carefully pull his hand free.

Snape pressed his wand into his palm and then into her side. He was just about to cast when he felt her breath hitch and restart a slow intake. His eyes turned down watching her chest. Had she gone into respiratory arrest? Why hadn't his charm gone off?

His scowl deepened while he tried to sort out the answer. He shifted her head back against his chest relieved when her eyelashes fluttered against his thumb. She was responsive, her breathing was just very slow and very shallow.

A softly spoken diagnostic charm revealed her heart was strong and steady and aside from her seemingly holding her breath in her sleep, her lungs weren't showing anything amiss either. His heart relaxed to his findings and his hold did too. The girl in his arms none the wiser to anything that had happened.

Snape let his arm come back down, it was still early. Too early for the sun to even have come to the horizon. A quick glance at the large grandfather clock revealed the time to be just after 4 a.m. He normally didn't wake until 7 and was exceedingly grateful that he still had time to properly rest.

A small adjustment brought him to his feet. Hermione sighed heavily and shifted in his hold. Her hand curling tighter around the fabric of his coat. His jaw twitched to the feeling of her knuckles pressed against his chest. Her hand was warm, and steady with only a small twitch every third step.

Snape paused when he got to the edge of the bed, a whispered spell removed her shoes before he made to lie her carefully on the bed. His back let out a rather sharp protest from the action sending a burning pain all down his right side.

He gritted his teeth and braced himself over top of her on his forearm, trying to capture his stolen breath near her ear. The young woman beneath him shifted and her lips ever so lightly brushed his cheek. His heart skipped three beats and it took him an extreme amount effort not to bolt straight up. Instead, he shifted and tried to push himself up on his palms but the hand on his coat kept him from going far.

His breath hitched when her eyes opened, deep chocolate with a hint of caramel looking directly into his own. Close, way too close. Like a deer caught in the headlights, he was frozen in place, his breath wafting the hair that had curled around her lips.

It took seconds too long for his body to respond, but eventually, he gathered his wits enough to push himself further away. Her hold remained, keeping him over her but at a much safer distance.

"Release me." His voice was nothing but a breathy command. His eyes flicked to her neck when the S that had been placed there suddenly appeared, a small spark emanating from its edges.

Her eyes went wide and a sharp pained gasped made her hand release like a spring trap. A haze, like a cloud over a brilliant full moon, passed over her eyes for a split second and he knew what power her branding held.

Hermione whimpered softly. She didn't understand, it was clear on her face. Her hand pulled back going to her neck. The pain had been brief, like a sharp shock of static. Then her body had followed his command on its own. What was wrong with her? What had that snake-faced man done to her?

Snape felt a torrent of emotion flowing through him from the hurt and confusion on her face. Her fugue-self had come to rely on him and even still he could see that she trusted him. Expected pain from him. It was worse than having her angry at him.

"I'm sorry..." Words that hadn't left his lips in many a decade eased some of the pain in his heart. His hand came down over hers, gingerly pulling it away from her neck. He watched the S fade away back into her skin, the raised lines their only tell. "I'm sorry..."

He watched tears well into the corner of her eyes. Her hand moved under his, slipping between his fingers. So small, against his own, so warm. He didn't know what to do. He didn't know what she needed of him. What good his presence would bring. She was lost inside the emptiness inside her mind. Lost and turning in the void.

"Please... don't leave me alone...I don't want to be alone..."

"I..." It wasn't right.

"Please...?"

Warmth rolled down his knuckles and his breath shuddered in his chest. His back screamed at him in protest from the position he held and he knew he had to make a choice. There was always a choice. Even if one was impossible.

"I won't..." His heart eased its grip when she smiled ever just so, the fear gone away to something he couldn't readily identify.

oOOo

"Going somewhere?"

Ron jumped and spun away from the front door. It was still really early. He'd passed Harry sleeping on the couch having taken the mirror from the coffee table and put it in the backpack. His heart thudded loudly as he looked at his brother trying not to feel guilty.

"A walk..."

"You always were a terrible liar." Bill took a casual sip of his tea, "What do you hope to accomplish by leaving your best mate on his own?"

"He doesn't need me, he needs Hermione. This would all be over if she was still with us." The shame he felt over having lost her was heavy in his face. All of this was his fault. He'd let go.

"I don't think that's true."

"I need...I need answers. It doesn't make sense..."

"War never does, but leaving on your own is just asking for trouble. We've already got a plan. You've just got to keep your head."

Ron closed his eyes shaking it slightly, his rest had been dreamless but his waking memory was still on repeat. He wasn't sure how much more he could take of it all. It all felt so unbelievably hopeless.

"Come on, I'll make you some tea."

Ron lowered the backpack down to the floor and shuffled after him. His shoulders defeated as he took his seat. He pulled out the mirror from his jacket pocket and set it down on the table.

He stared at the black glass for what felt like an eternity. He was starting to feel as though whoever sent it to them was truly, exceptionally cruel. His fingers traced the outer edge before he placed his wand against the glass, "Show me, Hermione Granger..."

The image slowly swirled into place. Ron lifted it from the table and adjusted it just so, his heart skipping at the sight. She was sleeping, but she wasn't alone. Just as she'd been before, someone was with her. Her hair was pulled back from her face by a hand that rested gently along her temple. Her face still relaxed.

His brow furrowed when she shifted, her hand coming up beneath her chin. Was she laying on black sheets? Ron leaned back a little further, his blood started to boil as he realized. She wasn't sleeping on black sheets, she was sleeping on someone in black clothing. The blanket was pulled up but he could tell by the way her head rose and fell with their breaths. She was in a bed, with someone.