Be Careful in the Dark

In the end, she killed Lucius Malfoy the old fashioned way. She shoved a large, pointy knife between his ribs straight into the blackness he called a heart. She had not wanted to touch his wand and a killing curse from her own would cause her too much pain. Beyond that, the things Lucius had told her did not inspire any mercy in her. He was a monster, more so than she had ever imagined possible and she felt dirty just from listening. He should have died a harder death than he did. Hermione resisted the urge to spit.

She had several interesting items and books from Malfoy Manor that she reduced and tucked into a spelled locket that she had had hidden in a small, secret pocket in her skirt. They settled next to the scrolls of information she had gathered from Malfoy. She looped the necklace around her neck and tucked the locket under her shirt.

Time to begin the charade. At this point, she'd been gone almost 24 hours. She took a deep breath and braced herself for the pain of the next set of spells. First she had to take care of the letter.

"Adlegatio letter a'Dumbledore!" The pain was sharp and uncomfortable but not debilitating. Within moments Dumbledore would be receiving a letter that read: Lucius Malfoy is dead. Hermione Granger was his guest until his demise. She may be there still. I suggest you hurry. She did not know where she was going to go from here but she was not going to paint a target on her forehead or call anymore attention to her family if she could help it. It was necessary for her not to be the killer in the eyes of others.

The next spell was a new addition that Lucius had provided at her urging. She tried not to think about what it have been used for in the past. Vapulo! She yelped in pain and she felt sore and beaten and was pretty sure she looked it too. It was a spell designed to create minimal wounds, a warm-up in Lucius' words, and it would make her tale more believable.

The last step. She curled up on the bed. I might as well be comfortable while I wait. Conligare. Ropes slithered out from nowhere and trussed her up. There was even a blindfold. She sighed and hoped that they wouldn't take to long to rescue her.

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Hermione woke with a start. How the hell had she fallen asleep? She blinked in irritation at the blindfold and wondered if had been a good idea. She could not wait to get home and take the ending potion. It was disconcerting to be ever so slightly aroused while being tied up in Malfoy Manor. She wanted a long hot bath and Crookshanks purring on her pillow.

Was that a whisper of cloth? She lifted her head and strained to hear. There was someone here. She scooted herself towards the head of the bed and into the pillows. What if it wasn't a rescue team? What if it was someone else? She struggled to keep her breathing calm though she knew it was a little ragged.

A hand stroked her upper thigh and Hermione panicked.

"I am going to kick your scrawny Death Eater ass!" She shouted kicking out viciously with both her legs in the most likely direction.

"Keep your voice down Miss Granger!"

Hermione stilled her body completely.

"Professor Snape?!"

"None other." His voice was dry and bitter.

She could feel the heat of his body next to hers and then the blindfold was removed. She blinked rapidly trying to clear her blurry vision. For once Snape wasn't sneering at her. His face was serious as he studied her and she looked down at her leg where his hand rested over a nasty bruise. He followed her gaze and they both stared at his lean hand against her creamy thigh. He snatched his hand back and cleared his throat.

"You are injured." Again, he managed to speak without a sneer. In fact, he spoke with no inflection at all though she thought she detected a faint coloring on his pale cheeks.

"Details for another time, Professor. Perhaps you should untie me and we should get the hell out of here first." She controlled the urge to tremble. She could not break down until she made it out of here and away from prying eyes. Killing Lucius... was something to be thought about another time.

"There is no rush Miss Granger." She blinked. Well, that's a pretty subtle way of informing her Malfoy had a knife sticking out of his chest.

"I see. Still, getting untied would be nice." Two could play this game.

"Do you think you can manage to restrain yourself from... what was it? Kicking my scrawny, Death Eater ass?"

Did Snape just make a joke? A dry, not very funny joke but a joke nonetheless. Hermione wasn't sure she was equipped to handle a funny Snape at this moment in time.

"If you can restrain your urge to strangle a know-it-all, I'll see what I can do. I'm not making any promises though." She smirked while she said it, though her eyes meeting his were serious. She was graced with a small smile.

He untied her and she stood on shaky feet. She tried not to fall on her face and Snape reached out a steadying hand. She wasn't really sure what to do with Snape's thoughtful behavior. It was... weird. She looked down at his hand wrapped around her forearm and felt a flash of desire. She gritted her teeth and stifled it.

"Do you have any... pressing injuries?" Snape peered down at her over that beak of a nose of his.

"Is that a subtle way of asking me if he raped me?" She snapped the question. She almost preferred snarky Snape. He stiffened and did not look at her.

"It was a direct way of asking if you are injured beyond bruises."

"Damn it. I'm sorry, I'm really shaken up but I'm not injured." Hermione rubbed her face with her free hand and sighed as she said it. Snape posture relaxed fractionally and he nodded.

"Understandable. We should return to Hogwart's and have Poppy take a look at you."

Hermione stopped in her tracks.

"I can't go back yet."

"What?"

"I can't.. .please..." She started trembling and began licking her lips, trying to convince her body that it didn't want to vomit. She felt heat spread through her body in a panicked rush.

"Miss Granger, you are upset. The best place for you to be in back in Hogwart's." Snape said, frowning at her.

"No!" The room swam in front of her. She wasn't ready to face Dumbledore, Harry, Ron. She wasn't ready to go back to pretending to be normal. She was not normal. She didn't want sympathy. She was going to shatter. She realized that she was rocking on the floor, arms wrapped around her legs.

Snape was hovering around her, not touching her, but clearly at a loss as to what to do next. She turned her head and met his eyes.

"I cannot go back. Not yet. I need to go someplace quiet. Please." Her voice sounded ragged even to her. Snape let out a long suffering sigh and nodded.

"Where do you propose we go, Miss Granger?"

"We?"

"You think I'm going to let you run off by yourself? I thought you were supposed to be the smart one, Miss Granger." Snape snapped in his comfortingly nasty way.

"In that case, I honestly don't care where we go." Anywhere silent was sufficient. A cave, a hotel room. Wherever. And Snape could come along as long as he kept his mouth shut.

"Stand up, Miss Granger. It's time to go."

Hermione nodded and stood.

The distinctly uncomfortable feeling of a portkey and then she found herself in a spartan living room. She blinked and looked around. Cream colored walls, a leather couch and matching armchair. Most interestingly, bookshelf after bookshelf lined the walls. The huge picture window next to the front door gave a view of woods. Through a second door she could see part of a kitchen and a stairway. She realized with a start the she was in Snape's home. Cabin? Would Snape be the kind of man to have a cabin? She didn't really care.

"I need a bath." Gods, was that her voice? She sounded like she speaking around an armful of pillows.

"Up the stairs, to the left." Snape looked at her and his lips twitched. She wasn't sure if it was worry, disgust or laughter. Everything about this felt surreal. As she was leaving the room, she turned. "When you contact Dumbledore, tell him to pass a message on to Harry and Ron. Tell him to tell them... China doll." She felt a blush spread over her cheeks.

"China doll, Miss Granger? Are the Gryffyndors playing spy?" At last, the sneer. Hermione felt the world tilt a little back towards normal.

"It's a spelled password. If I had been under any compulsion, I never would have remembered it. It should prevent Harry and Ron from doing anything... impetuous."

Snape raised an eyebrow at her. Hermione grinned.

"Well, for at least twenty four hours."

Snape's snort of amusement followed her out of the room.