A Different Kind of Magic--UNDERGOING EDIT

Thank you so much my wonderful beta Stephania aka VIVAvivacious for her wonderful help on this story. I couldn't do it without you!

Warning:Graphic beating, aftermath of rape and violent threats. You have been warned.


Hermione and Deidre had to stay on their toes in the days that followed. Surprise visits into the patients’ rooms became mandatory by the guards. There was no way any further anticipated interaction could occur between Hermione and Severus under those uncertain circumstances. Hermione discovered all owls were being retained and messages read before they were released on to their destination, and alarmingly, the guards suddenly started wearing firearms at their side.

When she confronted Brian in the empty staff room one evening, he got in her face, backing her against the wall. “Now look here, Hermione. I like you and Deidre. I’d hate to see anything bad happen to either of you. Keep your mouth shut and your nose clean, and you’ll both be just fine. I don’t want to hear you asking any more questions about how I run this place. Let’s just say the Minister wouldn’t be inclined to turn a blind eye if you were to disappear. Do you catch my meaning, Miss?”

Hermione nodded in obvious distress, her eyes failing to hide the terror behind them. Brian shoved her roughly into the wall, pinning her arms over her head. His breath reeked of whiskey as she felt him grind his sordid erection against her belly. She squeaked, unable to contain the rising alarm that made her feel as though she were choking on bile.

“It wouldn’t hurt if you or your little Scottish friend were to, let’s say, find your way ‘round to my office one night, for a try at hide the sausage. I might just be so inclined to look the other way if any infractions were to arise.” He gazed lustfully down at her chest, making her want to vomit. With a sharp thrust, he shoved her away, telling her to get back to work and keep her trap shut.

Hermione had scuttled back to her patient’s room, face white as a sheet. She had pulled Deidre out into the hall for a moment, trying to seem nonchalant around the guard, while speaking softly about Brian’s bold warning about their safety. The girls secretly hatched a plan between shifts to get Brian to talk more about his involvement in the hospital. It was simple, bold, and dangerous. Deidre felt she had no other choice but to try and get Brian drunk when she got off her day shift and let him take her to bed. There, she would ply him for details, promising future sexual encounters and secrecy. Hermione instinctively felt time was growing short for not only Severus but her and Deidre, as well.

Severus kept his mouth shut and his eyes open. He was well-aware of the presence of firearms on all the guards, and the sharp looks he was given when he and one of the ladies headed down to the Conservatory. He noticed there were never any other prisoners or guards on duty when they ventured out. Hermione kept to a strict time schedule in the Conservatory, before having them escorted back to the room.

Very little light conversation passed between anyone during those tense, awful days, when the air was so thick you could slice it with a whistle. Severus suspected the girls were up to something, but the presence of the guard prevented him from saying anything of relevance, beyond a meaningful glance or chastened stare. He could smell the crisis brewing; it felt almost exactly as it had in the final days of the war against Voldemort. It wouldn’t take much to set this place off, and Severus wanted to be ready when it blew, so he could try and save not only himself but also Deidre and Hermione. He made sure as he grew stronger to alternate days between isometric exercises and strengthening ones to preen his body into a wiry, lean, tough adversary. Patience was a virtue, and he had plenty of it. Let them bring it on, whatever it was. He was ready, magic or no magic.

Although they weren’t allowed outside, the staff and patients could see spring returning to the bleak Scottish moor out the windows. The electric fencing with razor wire at the top marred the beauty of the landscape. Attack dogs and guards patrolled the borders of the Manor, frequently looking into the ground floor windows and further invading any false sense of privacy there may have been.

Hermione was desperate to get an owl to Minerva. This horrible sense of foreboding was making her sick to her stomach. It was finally the night Deidre had gone to seduce Brian, and both girls were nervous as strung-out as junkies in anticipation of the outcome.

The outcome was not good.

Faint shouting ensued in the hallway shortly after Hermione had closed another copy of Shakespeare’s work. Severus was snoring softly on the bed, his back to her. She looked at her watch. It was just past 11 p.m. Deidre had said she would go to his office at 7 p.m. to share a bottle of whiskey and seduce him. Hermione tiptoed to the door and put her ear to it. She heard Brian’s drunken slur hurling insults at someone. Opening her door a crack, she slipped out into the hallway when she saw Ralph run down to the office to gawk at the commotion. She quietly snuck down the hall, peeking around the corner.

Brian was slamming Deidre’s head against the wall. She had a nasty cut over one eye that was crusting shut from the blood that had already caked over it. Drops of cum and juice stained her bare legs. Brian was cursing at the top of his lungs, calling Deidre every name in the book. “You fucking bitch! You don’t think some of the other bitches haven’t already tried what you’re doing? Goddamnit, Donnelly, why did you make me do this to you? I liked you! I was going to let you and your friend transfer to Ministry headquarters, but now it looks like you’re going on a one-way trip to Davy Jones’s locker with the rest of these scummy fuckers! Why couldn’t you two just leave well enough alone?”

He pummeled her with his bare fists, each connecting with her nose and jaw in rapid succession. Deidre’s beautiful face was quickly becoming unrecognizable. Ralph did nothing to stop Brian’s tirade, and seemed to be enjoying the show. “Can I fuck her when you’re done, boss?” he leered, making a move to unzip his trousers. Hermione squeezed her eyes shut tight, unable to continue watching the unending assault on her unconscious friend.

Brian raged at Ralph. “Get the fuck back to your post and watch that motherfucking Death Eating scum! The Minister will have my head if anyone gets out of here before it all goes down!”
Hermione froze, ice sliding through her veins. Her suspicions had been correct! Oh, dear God, Deidre! The Scottish lass had sacrificed her own safety for the sake of her friend, and now she was most likely going to die in this awful place as well.

“Looky what we have here, boss!” exclaimed Ralph with glee. He effortlessly picked Hermione up by the scruff of her uniform, holding her out in front of him. Brian quit beating the shite out of Deidre and let her lifeless body crumple to the floor, storming down the hallway to focus his murderous gaze on Hermione.

“Should we have some fun with this one too, boss? I bet she’s got a sweet little pussy under that skirt. Come on boss, let me fuck her, just once!” he begged, rubbing his crotch with a dirty, meaty hand.

Brian screamed at Ralph, “I told you to get the fuck back to your post, now MOVE!” Ralph dropped Hermione, muttering to himself as he reluctantly went back to his place by the Professor’s door. Dr. Shaw seized her wrist, forcibly dragging her into his office where he slammed the door, leaving the broken and bleeding Deidre unconscious on the floor in the hall.
With deadly calm, he trapped her against the door and looked into her eyes. “Now Hermione, I’m only going to ask you this one time. How much of that did you see? Hm?”

Trembling, Hermione took a shaky breath and met his gaze before answering. “Everything, Doctor. I heard everything. She deserved everything she got too, the stupid bitch.”

Her reply gave Brian pause. It evidently had taken him by surprise. That was not what he was expecting to hear from her. ‘Good’ she thought. ‘Just maybe I can make it out of here alive yet.’

“Oh? And why do you say that my dear, sweet Hermione?” he slurred, reeking of whiskey and sex and death. One hand started to stray to her throat, a thick finger tracing at the hollow of her throat, bringing a small cringe to her lips.

“D-D-Deidre knew she wasn’t supposed to ask questions. I told her what you said, to keep her mouth shut and her nose clean. She kept saying she was going to tell you off, and I begged her not to stir the pot. Please, Brian, I had nothing to do with this, please believe me! Don’t punish me for what she did!” Hermione hadn’t meant to beg and sound so pathetic, but she was ready to grovel at this point. It was not on her to-do list to be raped, beaten, or killed tonight, or any other, for that matter.

Brian let out a rough chortle, as if sniggering over some private joke. If there was one, he didn’t let her in on it. “Hermione, Hermione, Hermione. Just what am I to do with you, eh?” He twirled his finger below her neck, dropping lower to dip into her cleavage, rubbing his finger up and down the inner flesh of her breasts. Hermione quivered, trying not to submit to shaking violently under his grasp.

“So, you think Deidre deserved what she got, eh? Hmm, well now, I’m not sure I believe you, Hermione. You see, you seem to have gotten pretty cozy with that fucking Death Eater. Oh yes, you may think we haven’t been watching you, but ol’ Ralph tells me he’s heard you whispering a lot to both Snape and Donnelly. The other nurses tell me you don’t talk to them anymore, and you’ve been taking your meals with Deidre and the Death Eater. I think you’re telling me what you think I want to hear. I think you want to save your sorry hide. I also think you think you’re one crafty bitch, but you know what? You’re not. You’re just like the rest of them.” He grabbed her nipple and twisted it viciously, causing her to cry out in pain.

Leaning in, he came within an inch of her face, speaking very slowly. “You’re not getting any more warnings, Miss Granger. If I didn’t need you to watch after that fucking Death Eater, you’d be on the floor, in the same state as your friend out there. I’m going to tell you what is going to happen. You are going to go back to that room, and keep your fucking mouth shut. If you fall asleep, I’ll have Ralph drag you into my office and shoot you in the head. Just like that. One word to the Death Eater, and I’ll shoot you myself. No one is gonna come looking for you, honey, because no one cares. If you’re a good girl tonight and watch your ass, I’ll let you come here in the morning and suck my fat cock. If you do a good job, I might just let you work a double shift and come back tomorrow night and ride my dick until I blow it up your tight, virgin butthole. One thing is for sure: you will not be fucking up my plans for this facility. Now, be a good girl, and get the fuck back to work!” He smashed his lips against her face, forcing his putrid, rank breath and tongue into her mouth. Hermione tried her best not to gag from the smell.

When he finally shoved her out the door, Hermione was an absolute wreck. Her blouse was torn down the front, hot tears streaked her face, and she winced from where he had kicked her when shoving her against the door in his office. Deidre’s body was nowhere to be seen, and there was no trace of a scuffle in the corridor at all. Hermione didn’t understand how it was possible for the entire incident to have been erased so quickly. She desperately tried to compose herself, stumbling down the hall back to her Professor’s room. She slipped inside as quietly as she could. He was awake and sitting on the edge of the bed, waiting for her. Immediately, Severus made a move to get up and go to her, rabid ire etching lines never meant to appear upon his face. Hermione vigorously shook her head, motioning at the door, and signaling for him to lie back down. He did sit back down on the bed, but he did not lie down and he did not sleep. That night, he picked up Shakespeare’s Sonnets and read to her while they waited for the dawn.
Tears streamed down her face as dawn broke over the facility. Hermione knew in her heart she would never see dear, sweet Deidre’s face ever again.