AN: A huge thanks to my 1st two reviewers, Morfinafina and DawnGrimm. And to all those who are reading this story. You guys make me sooooo happy!
Enjoy!
Chapter 3: Man And Wife?
The meeting room erupted with cheers and laughter—the loudest being Bellatrix's—as the innocent Muggles were delivered to their deaths, leaving their daughter behind.
Severus averted his eyes from the girl, after lifting the Body-Bind. Though, she did not move. She buried her face in her arms, and Severus could not tell if she were crying or had passed out.
"Well done, Severus!" The bastard said with satisfaction.
Severus strengthened his Shields again, before bowing to the 'praise'.
"You have proved your fidelity, my faithful friend," he said with another sickening smirk. "Now, you may bind the girl to yourself and serve me."
"As you wish, My Lord," he dipped his head. A nasty headache was brewing behind his eyes but he ignored it.
"I will reward you for your loyalty greatly, Severus," the Dark Lord said. "For your Dark Wedding, I will be your binder."
Fuck! Not that it mattered who the binder was, but the idea made the entire obnoxious practice even more atrocious. "How can I ever pay my gratitude for your humbleness, My Master."
"With driving the Potter boy insane, I should hope, and being my eyes to spy to him," he laughed. "Rodolphus, Rabastan, go, dump the filthy Muggles somewhere."
"Where, M'Lord?" Rabastan asked.
"I don't care!" He growled impatiently. "Take them away!"
"Yes, M'Lord," Rabastan squeaked.
Severus heard Rodolphus mumble, "There's a garbage pit thin' for these Muggles nearby, let's dum' these there." The other man might have nodded but Severus could not see it.
As they went to pick the bodies up, Granger started shrieking again, "No! Don't touch them! Let them go!"
The Dark Lord ignored the chaos. "Severus, get your young bride here."
Hot fury shot in Severus' veins but all he could do was to dip his head. Meanwhile, he heard one of the two Lestrange brothers kicking the girl away from the bodies. The girl didn't give up, though, still trying to stand on her feet, going after the two men.
Severus held the girl's arm tightly—both for the show and in order to keep her away from the two insane brothers and the Dark Lord's further wrath.
He thought of whispering some words to reassure the distraught girl but his sudden change of character would not help the girl or himself in the delicate circumstances. Eventually, he grabbed her by her upper arms and drew her to her feet.
"Don't touch me! Don't you touch me!" She kept struggling against him, despite her visible fatigue and pain.
He kept her back in front of him, not wanting to see her face... Severus dragged her to the dais. She kicked his shins frantically but he had had far worse. She did not possess much strength as it was, currently. Severus deposited her to the ground again.
The Dark Lord stood up from his throne and stepped down. His snake followed suit. He looked at the girl and touched the side of her face with one of his long, filthy fingers. Granger flinched hard, away from him.
"At least the little Mudblood would warm your bed well," he laughed, and so did the others. Severus let himself smirk, despite the rising bile in his throat.
"Shut up, you swine!" Granger spat.
"Your bride is trying my patience, Severus," the dark wizard said warningly.
Severus cursed the girl inwardly, again, for goading the madman. He could still, very well, change his mind and kill her without reservations.
"You, little bitch!" Severus drew the girl to her feet again, shaking her violently. In that moment, he felt like the wayward soul of his Father was putting the words in his mouth. "You will apologise to the Dark Lord. Now! Or you will sorely pay for it!"
"What can you do now, Snape?" She spat. "How low can you stoop than this?"
True.
"Do not test me, girl!" He snarled, desperately hoping that the girl attained some sense.
"Your Lord is a fucking-"
"Enough!" Severus knew he would never be healed of the wounds that night would impose upon his soul. He slapped the girl, making her already wounded lip bleed fresh. The words of his younger self reverberated in his ears. 'I will never become my Father.' But it seemed that he was too much his Father's son already to undo the damage.
"Apologise to the Dark Lord!"
Please.
But to his relief, the sharp slap was enough to make the girl lose her consciousness. She slumped in the grip in his arms.
"You will need patience to tame her," the Dark Lord laughed again, seemingly over the subject of apology.
He conjured two wedding bands—silver with one black stone on each. One band was thicker than the other—belonging to Severus. His stone, too, was bigger than that on the other, thinner band.
The girl still swayed in his grip, hardly conscious. He kept his grip firm, not wanting to injure her any further—although not much would help.
He was handed the smaller ring. Severus took the cold metal in his hand, slipping the other arm around the girl's shoulders to support her.
"Come to me, Bella," the Dark Lord hissed.
The deranged woman came hopping and stumbling. "My Lord."
"Hold the Mudblood's hand," she was ordered.
Bellatrix grabbed the girl's hand forcefully, digging her twisted nails into her flesh. Her rotting nails drew blood. The lunatic witch licked her lips at the sight of blood, and presented Granger's hand to Severus. "Aw, Severus' new whorey-whore! A Mudblood is all your deserve, you dirty Half-blood."
"I consider My Lord's reward to be as an honour, Bella," he said smoothly. "Would you have refused a reward from Him?"
That caught the woman at a loss. "Of course, I won't refuse it!"
"Choose your words carefully, Bella, or I might begin to think you aren't exactly grateful in your service," the Dark Lord whispered too close to her ear, that seemed to made her shudder—whether in fear or in excitement, Severus did not wish to know.
"Go on, my Servant, claim the bitch," he said 'encouragingly'.
'If you ever marry someone, Severus, be a better husband than your Father ever was...' His mother's words haunted his mind.
He pushed the memory under his Occlumency Shields. All he could see was the proffered hand where he needed to slip the ring onto.
Without as much as another thought, he slipped the band on the third finger of the girl's left hand. The lightning from outside shed light on Granger's pale visage marked with gashes and blackening bruises.
He stood unfeeling, impassively, as Bellatrix made Granger hold the other band in her limp hand and made her slip the thicker band onto his third finger.
The storm outside broke free and worsened. Bellatrix sneered at him and left Granger's hand, leaving behind deep, bloodied gashes into her flesh.
"Now, I shall bind the Mud-blood to serve you, Severus." The Dark Lord took out his wand. His snake slithered closer to its Master's legs. He waved the wand over their hands—Severus realised he was holding the girl's smaller hand into his, as the wand emitted magical thread-like flashes of light that went swirling around their joined hands in the fashion that the tongues of an Unbreakable Vow swirled around the hands of the parties in the Vow. Their bands glowed, the metal heating up suddenly.
At that moment, Granger, too, jerked out of her state of unconsciousness to realise with horror whatever she could fathom. Severus prayed for the girl to slip back into unconsciousness, but to no avail.
She cried in pain suddenly, and Severus realised that her metal band was burning. It didn't disrupt the Dark Lord's spell, however. He remained waving his wand in complex motions, ignoring the girl. It seemed that her hand was momentarily stuck to that of his, for she could not pull it away. Fresh tears rolled down her cheeks as she kept struggling against him weakly, muttering something incoherent under her breath in her state of infirmity and fuzziness.
Severus tightened his grip around her shoulders, but kept his eyes averted from hers. In the background, he saw Dolohov and Yaxley watching the show with something akin to envy. Their gazes were transfixed at Granger like they usually fixated on any victim the Dark Lord 'provided' to his coterie after the initial torture at his hand, to do with as his followers wished.
The women—and some men, too—who were given to the Death Eaters as a reward were used as toys to satisfy the demented desires of the tormentors, and were later left to die a long-awaited death in a dingy cell.
Severus could not refrain from thinking how they would have drawn their sick pleasure tormenting the friend of the boy who brought the vanquishment of their leader.
After what seemed like an eternity, the threads vanished and the metal of his band began to cool.
"Ah! Congratulations are in order, my faithful servant," the Dark Lord said, mocking. "Or as they say it in their filthy culture—I pronounce you, Man and Wife!" With that, the entire room burst into derisive laughter, save for one—Hermione Granger—who was gawking at Severus with shock and disgust.
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