Severus Snape stared, rooted to the spot, at the lifeless figure lying in the darkness on his sofa. He could not understand what evil trick of fate brought Hermione Granger to his house. Cautiously, he approached the sleeping woman. Up close, he could see that her face was ashen and her breathing was coming fast and shallow. Sweat covered her body, but the hand that peeked out from under the covers felt ice cold.

As quietly as he could, he settled down on the floor beside her to examine her further. He quickly realised that the young woman was hypothermic. What had put her in this state? And why was she in his home? He couldn't ask Ginevra, because she was locked in her room as she was every night, and he didn't feel like doing anything about it now.

With a quick movement, Snape lit the fireplace, providing light and warmth. Then he disappeared into his brewing room to check his supplies for useful potions.

oOoOoOo

A headache plagued Hermione as she opened her eyes for the first time in a long time. Unable to sit up, she looked around her - and froze. Sitting in an armchair across from her was Severus Snape, looking directly at her. It was dark in the room, indicating night time, with only the last flickering flames of a fireplace illuminating the room.

"You're awake."

"Why am I here? Did you ... did you ..." Hermione stammered, unable to formulate what she wanted to know. The expression on Snape's face darkened as she guessed what her question was.

"I may be a violent bastard, Miss Granger," he replied grimly, "but even I take no pleasure in abusing on a woman's lifeless body."

Surprised, Hermione registered that Snape again used her last name to politely address her, something that had caused her confusion weeks ago. Again, she tried to straighten up, but her limbs would not obey her.

"I would advise against moving too much right now. You have had severe hypothermia, and the potions I gave you will take a while before they take effect. Get some rest."

"Rest?" she asked indignantly, "Do you really think I can relax in your presence?"

For a long moment, he simply stared at her. Then, with an almost unnoticeable nod, he got up and moved towards the door.

"Where are you going?" Hermione could hear that her voice sounded frightened and anxious. She wanted to be anywhere but here.

"My presence obviously makes you uncomfortable. I thought, therefore, that you would prefer me to remove myself."

"Like hell you would!", Hermione snapped at him, "I'd rather put up with the sight of you than not know where you are. Until I can move myself, I want to know where you are!"

Snape raised an eyebrow, but remained silent, just standing right in front of the sofa. Frightened, Hermione stared at him. The way he towered over her, looking down at her, in the dark, reminded her all too well of the night he had claimed his what he had purchased. Since then, she had only seen him at the breakfast table the morning after, the following days he had disappeared off the face of the earth and for Hermione, there had been only her and Lucius Malfoy.

The whole ordeal of the night outside reminded her how vicious the people around her really were and that Lucius Malfoy was a paragon of kindness compared to them, despite all his wrong-doings. That reminded her of something else.

"How long was I unconscious?"

In a weird mix of anxiety and relief, she watched as Snape sat back down on the armchair, obviously intending to honour her wish, but making her more than uncomfortable by doing so. When he spoke, his tone of voice was devoid of all emotion. "I don't know when you lost consciousness or when you showed up here. I found you almost 24 hours ago, lying motionless and alone on this sofa."

"That long?" she asked in shock. She could only remember tipping the bucket over and curling up under it. After that, there was only darkness. She tried to remember what might have happened. Dark images rose in her of Lucius Malfoy pulling her into his arms, of her murmuring his name, and of him hugging her tighter in response. Had he taken her to Snape immediately?

"What do you want me to do now, Miss Granger?" Snape's cool voice snapped her out of her thoughts. "Am I to sit here all night?"

His strangely compliant behaviour only furthered her anxiety, making it impossible to speak. She simply nodded, unsure how to handle the situation. Silence spread through the small living room, interrupted only by the crackling of logs in the fireplace. The fire had surprisingly gained new strength and now gave warmth, which Hermione was only too happy to absorb.

Minutes passed with neither of them saying a word. Hermione felt increasingly uncomfortable, so utterly helpless tied to the sofa, lying and powerless, not two feet from the man who had brutally raped her less than a week ago. She didn't understand why he obeyed her pleas, but the man who now sat before her reminded her much more of her former Potions teacher than the ruthless Death Eater who had abused her body. She could feel fatigue creeping into her limbs, but the idea of sleeping in the same room as this man did not sit well with her.

"Where is Ginny, anyway?" she asked, trying to distract herself.

"In her room. She won't be in until seven in the morning, and there's still about two hours before then."

"Does she know I'm here?"

"Of course she does. I assume it was she who took care of you after Lucius dumped you here. It was touching how good she has been taking care of you over the course of the last day." Snape explained, the word touching sounding rather derogatory coming out of his mouth.

"Why isn't she here?"

"Still the inquisitive little Gryffindor of old, eh?" the man commented scornfully, but Hermione thought she saw something like a smirk playing around the corners of his mouth before he continued, "I've made it so that Miss Weasley has to go to her room at ten o'clock every night and can't leave it until seven in the morning. You never know when a cornered lioness might attack you from behind, so I don't want to put up with any contingencies."

"You locked her in?" Hermione gasped indignantly.

"Yes, for my safety. Moreover, no one but me can open the door during that period, so it's protected at night even when I'm out of the house."

"Protected, you say," she continued, but an angry look from Snape prevented her from uttering the cynical comment that was on the tip of her tongue. Whenever she even hinted at implying him doing anything nefarious, his expression became hard and dismissive. She would have expected him to be proud of his misdeeds; after all, they earned him a high rank among the Death Eaters.

"If it makes you feel any better, Miss Granger," Snape began, "I didn't touch your friend."

A disbelieving snort escaped Hermione. "Yes, I'm sure you did."

"You can ask Miss Weasley yourself." His retort sounded almost angry.

"How would I know whether she is able to tell the truth?" hurled Hermione back at him, now fighting tears again. Anger and despair warred within her, but it was anger that finally got the upper hand. "You didn't hesitate one second to take what you had no right to purchase1 I don't believe a word you say!"

"It wasn't my bloody idea to sell your virginity!" This time, the anger in his voice was clearly noticeable.

"You didn't have to buy it! No one forced you to!"

"Would you have preferred Fenrir Greyback to have had the Galleons with him that night?"

With wide eyes, Hermione stared at Snape. She couldn't believe what she was hearing, "Are you going to portray your act of cruelty as heroism now? As rescuing the noble maiden from the clutches of a monster? Don't make a fool of yourself! No one expected anything else from you than to be a murdering Death Eater who takes pleasure in rape."

"You are twisting my words, Miss Granger." In the darkness, Hermione could see Snape staring into the fire, his face back to its usual cool mask. "For what it's worth, Miss Weasley expressed surprise at the realisation that I was a rapist."

"Ginny ... knows?" Her anger instantly faded, turning into a mixture of shame and compassion. More quietly, she asked, "Why?"

"They say confession can help you find forgiveness for your sins," he explained, still not looking at her. "Maybe I just wanted to ease my conscience ..."

Hermione swallowed. The man in front of her had nothing at all in common with the proud, entitled, brutal Death Eater from a week ago. Snape looked beat, as if he truly regretted what had happened. Hermione shook her head. If he didn't want to do it, then he didn't have to. No one had forced him to invest the three hundred Galleons. No one had forced him to sneak into her bed at night and take her hard and ruthlessly. All too clearly, she remembered how he had paused in the middle of it, how he had looked at her, moaned her name, and kissed her brutally. He had wanted her body in that moment, she was sure of it.

No matter what he said now, he would never be able to make her believe that he had not wanted to have sex with her. He was a monster.

oOoOoOo

Ginny hurried down the stairs to the first floor. In the early hours of the morning, when it was still dark outside, loud voices had awakened her. She hadn't been able to understand what was being said, but it was unmistakably Hermione and Snape arguing with each other. Not for the first time, Ginny had cursed about her prison. Accordingly, she now hurried into the living room to greet the awakened Hermione.

"Hermione!" she exclaimed as soon as she entered the room.

"Ginny!"

With a happy laugh, the red-haired girl fell into her friend's arms. It had been weeks since she had last seen her, and all the news she had heard since then had been most unpleasant. She was all the happier now that Hermione was obviously on the mend.

"I'm so glad to see you!" she said effusively. Then her eyes fell on Snape, who sat untouched beside her, watching the scene. A glance at her watch told her that she needed to hurry up with breakfast. "Wait here a minute please, I have to make breakfast first. Oh, I'm glad to see you awake!"

Before she could get up, Snape's words interrupted her. "Do not worry with that, Miss Weasley. I'll do it myself today. Just have a quiet talk with Miss Granger. It will do you both good."

Surprised, both women looked at him, but Ginny finally just shrugged - it wasn't the first time Snape tried to worm his way into her heart with a good breakfast. She turned back to her friend, determined to banish all evil shadows from Hermione's mind and to give her as much hope and confidence as possible in the short time they had together.