Dance with the Devil

Disclaimer: Not mine, never will be, make no money.

Chapter Eleven: The Devil’s Revelations

When Severus stepped through the fire cradling Draco’s unconscious, blood-soaked body to his chest, Hermione did not even attempt to ask what had happened. She silently followed her husband into their bedroom and watched as he carefully lay Draco face down on the bed. Running his wand over the younger wizard, Severus assessed the wounds before striding out of the room. Hermione heard the trap-door being flung open and briefly wondered how she could have not known about the existence of the Potions laboratory before that afternoon.

But that was life as a Death Eater’s wife, she supposed. Weeks of dreary routine followed by a sudden flurry of fear, activity and revelations. It reminded her of her school years at Hogwarts, in some ways. Except, of course, for the sex.

She was so focussed on her internal musings that she did not notice Draco’s eyes fluttering open.

“You,” he moaned out, hatred evident through his pain. “All your … fault.”

“Do not be ridiculous, Malfoy,” Snape countered as he re-entered the room, his arms laden with vials of various potions and unguents.

“Not … ridiculous,” Draco gasped out. “Wanted … to know … wedding … found out … vow.”

His voice disintegrated into a whimper as Severus poured a foul smelling, blood red liquid over the wounded boy’s back. The slashes immediately started knitting themselves together whilst expelling a glutinous yellow pus. Snape’s nose wrinkled up at the smell in disgust, but still managed to have a proud look on his face.

“Nagini’s poison,” he briefly informed a nauseated Hermione. “I knew there was something wrong when Fenrir was standing so close to him but not licking up the blood.”

Hermione breathed in sharply. “You didn’t need to share that with me, you know,” she tried to calmly inform him. The tremor in her voice belied her intentions.

As the wounds healed, Severus turned Draco over and forced potion after potion down his throat. Except for the moue of disgust on his face at the taste of the liquids, Draco offered no resistance. Hermione watched, fascinated, as the young Slytherin seemed to recuperate before her very eyes.

“What is in those potions?” she asked. “I’ve never seen anyone healed so quickly!”

Snape grunted. “It is not a recommended course of action. He will eventually have to pay for this quick healing. However, we must know what happened with the Dark Lord.”

“Of course,” Draco concurred quickly, his eyes bright and a smile breaking across his face. “What do you need to know? I can tell you lots of things if you want. Did you know that … ?”

Snape quickly withdrew his wand and cast a quick Imperio at the babbling wizard. “You will only speak to answer my questions in the most succinct manner possible,” he ordered.

Catching Hermione’s horrified glance, her husband shrugged. “When used in conjunction with other potions, the Babbling Brew has some healing qualities which I am not going to tell you about. It is the easiest way to get answers. Do not concern yourself with the ethics of the situation, madam – Draco would certainly prefer that I do this to him rather than let him blab out whatever is in his head.”

Wide-eyed Hermione nodded and Snape turned his attention back to his fellow Death Eater.

“What happened to you after I left you at Hogwarts?” Severus asked, ignoring Hermione’s start of surprise.

“The Floo powder was knocked over and we went to Sinistra’s old office to get some more before returning back to the Headmistress’ office,” Draco recounted, a drug induced smile still curling his lips. “All the portraits were in an uproar. I didn’t know why and the Headmistress put a Silencing Charm on all of them and ordered me to leave. So I just left and joined you here for lunch.”

“You just left?” Severus demanded incredulously. “Why, you useless little…”

He stopped, pursing his lips against any further remonstrations. “Continue,” he finally ground out from between his clenched teeth.

“After I left you, I decided to go to The Haven and … you know, see someone … and stuff …”

Hermione was amazed at the red blush that infused Draco’s face, together with the fact that he was obviously trying to resist Snape’s Imperius Curse. Her mind buzzed with unanswered questions: what was The Haven? Who was Hogwarts’ new Headmistress and what did Draco and her husband have to do with her? Was she a Death Eater? Was it Umbridge? However, Hermione remained silent and contented herself with listening.

“I do not need those details,” Severus hurriedly assured him. “Do you know now what the portraits were upset about?”

Draco nodded. “Apparently my spell must have been less than subtle because Dippet finally noticed it. Phineas tried to stop him, but Dippet had already escaped to his other portrait in the Ministry.”

Severus clenched his fists, his only reaction to this catastrophe.

“What happened after you left here?” Snape prodded Draco to continue.

“I Flooed back to Malfoy Manor to get … things before I went to The Haven but when I stepped out of the fire, Fenrir and Weasley were waiting for me. I don’t know how they got into my home. They grabbed me and Flooed me to the Ministry and the Dark Lord. There, tied up on the rack, was one of those annoying Creevey boys – I don’t know which one – and the Dark Lord said that as a reward for witnessing your marriage I could have him. I tried to get out of it, saying that I didn’t like blondes. Once I rejected the boy, the Dark Lord nodded to Percy, who smiled at me before “entertaining” the crowd with the Creevey kid. Once he was finished and the boy had been taken away, Weasley walked over to me and said in that stupid officious voice, ‘You should not have interfered – she was to be mine.’ Then Fenrir dragged me over to the rack and tied me on. Percy started cutting up my back and the Dark Lord tried to invade my mind.”

Draco faltered for a moment, his smile fading, before he continued.

“I was doing all right – I gave him innocuous images and had everything else hidden. But then … but then Nagini slithered up the rack and over my shoulder. When the first drop of her poison hit my cuts … I’m so sorry, Severus. I did the best I could.”

“I am sure you did, Draco, but I need to know what he found out about,” Snape insisted gently. “Tell me.”

“Only her vow, and the fact that I did not see the wedding consummated. I think I must have passed out then.”

Snape nodded and was about to speak but Hermione, unable to remain silent any longer and wanting at least one of her many questions answered, interrupted.

“Why did you make a claim for me?”

“It was the contingency plan,” Draco began before Snape bellowed out, “SILENCE!”

Hermione spun to face her husband.

“No,” she asserted quietly. “I need to know what is going on here. Percy has some sort of vendetta against Draco and me and I deserve to know why.”

“You deserve nothing,” Snape hissed, clenching his fists in rage.

“You owe me,” Hermione returned levelly. “You promised me that I would have full protection if I married you, but you keep on reminding me how I can be given away or how I can be used by him.”

“No, you can’t,” Draco interjected. “You’re his vassal – Severus is unable to give you away. It goes against your vow.”

“I ordered you to be silent!” Snape commanded.

Draco laughed. “I’ve been put under the Imperius Curse more times than you can imagine, Severus. Compared to my mother and Aunt Bella, your Unforgivables are pretty weak. Well, except your Avada Kadavra - that was pretty much as strong as it needed to be.”

Hermione watched with horrified delight as the two Death Eaters engaged in a battle of wills. Both stared flatly into the other’s eyes, neither backing down.

“Whose contingency plan?” she finally asked once it was evident that neither was going to give in.

“It does not matter whose,” Snape finally said as he broke contact with Draco.

Turning, Severus slumped down onto the end of the bed and buried his head in his hands, his wand still gripped in one hand. Draco gazed at the defeated figure of his former professor, a tender look of sorrow crossing his face.

“If you were ever caught,” Draco confided to Hermione while still watching Snape, “I was to request to have you as my own. It would not seem odd that I would want the Mudblood who bested me for all those years at school to humiliate and punish as I please. Also, your abilities would have enhanced the Malfoy line.”

He wrenched his gaze from Severus and looked at Hermione, his gaze raking her body before they rested on her wedding ring.

“I chose that stone for you,” he confided, “in the hope that you would understand its significance when I gave it to you.”

“So why did you renounce me?” Hermione asked, ignoring the black cloud that sat on the end of the bed. “Was it because I’m fat?”

“I have said before that you are not fat, madam,” Severus ground out, not moving from his previous position. “You are womanly.”

Draco snorted in disagreement. “I had to renounce you,” he continued, deftly avoiding the dangerous subject of a woman’s weight. “Percy insisted that Severus ask for you instead – a small problem of a life debt, which we will not go into,” he warned.

Hermione nodded, thrilled to be getting any answers at all. She was not going to alienate this oddly helpful Draco until she had gleaned all knowledge that she could from him.

“What about me being a vassal? And when will I be fully protected?” she asked.

“I will explain that later,” Severus interjected hurriedly. “Draco needs to rest.”

“You will have the full protection of marriage, Hermione,” Draco informed her, his voice beginning to slur. “Once you are pregnant.”

Severus stood up and walked around the bed, pulling up the sheets before spelling the clothes off the young wizard who was losing his battle to stay awake.

“Sleep, Draco,” he instructed. “Wake when you are well.”

As Draco’s eyes shut, Snape indicated to Hermione to leave the room with a curt jerk of his head towards the door.

“I want answers,” she whispered as she turned to go.

“Later,” Snape promised.

He quickly shot off a couple of spells in the direction of the library before lying down, fully clothed, to watch over his sleeping patient.

Arriving in the library, Hermione found the couch had been made up with sheets and pillows. Another virginal nightgown was laid over the back.

Once ensconced on the couch, Hermione rolled onto her back, ready to process all the new information she had received.

Instead, she fell asleep.

*~*

Hermione was awakened by the feel of the couch dipping slightly at her feet. Groggily she opened her eyes to find her husband there, wand in hand and his eyes hollowed with exhaustion.

It had been two days since she had last seen him. Three times a day she had prepared enough food for both him and Draco and left it on a tray outside the bedroom door.

All the food had been consumed but it appeared that Snape had not slept at all during that time.

“You wanted answers, madam,” he rasped out.

“You need to rest first,” she replied, half wanting to slip back into sleep herself.

Severus shook his head. “Now or never, madam,” he asserted.

Hermione struggled upright and curled her legs up, allowing Snape to slip back fully onto the couch. He stood and lifted up her bedding before settling back on the couch. He reached out for her feet and settled them on his lap before placing his wand carefully in the dipped hollow where her legs were slightly raised. Checking that the wand was quickly retrievable, his hands then began to gently rove over her feet and up her calves, before settling down to lightly massage her toes.

This was disconcerting for Hermione to say the least.

“There was a possibility that I could have married you properly if you had accepted my first proposal,” Snape began.

“Wait,” Hermione interrupted, remembering the contents of the letter he had placed in her hands a few days prior. “Should you be telling me this?”

A small, self-effacing smile crossed Severus’ lips.

“Wise as well,” he muttered, giving her feet what could be construed as an affectionate squeeze. “However, it does not matter if you know now – the Dark Lord is in full possession of the facts of our current marriage, even if he does not seem to fully understand the significance of it.”

“Well, that makes two of us,” Hermione exclaimed, trying to ignore the feelings his gently rubbing hands were engendering. “Although I can’t find any pleasure in having something in common with that psychopath.”

A short bark of laughter escaped from her husband.

“As for our current marriage,” she began, “what is this ‘vassal’ thing I’ve got myself into?”

Snape sighed. “Do you know about vassaldom in Muggle history?” At her nod, he continued, “It is rather like that. You have given your body and life to me to protect in exchange for certain services. For you, it is not too terrible, but for me … I am responsible for your actions and your livelihood.”

“I don’t understand …” Hermione began.

“If you do something against the law, you cannot be punished for it. No-one except myself may punish you, unless I give them my express permission. However, since you have pledged yourself to my safekeeping, if I do give that permission and you are punished, I will feel the punishment twice as intensely as you do.”

Hermione’s eyes widened at this. “So if I am given to the Death Eaters to be used …”

“I will suffer for it as well,” he concluded.

She frowned. “Why then did you keep saying I would have to be resold or given to them if you knew you would suffer as well?”

“How else was I to get you to do what was needed?” he demanded, his frayed temper breaking. “You would have fought me every step of the way and …”

“Not if you explained it to me,” she softly interjected, halting his tirade. “I’ve said it before – I’m not stupid, Severus. I know the precarious nature of my situation and to be honest living with you has not been too much of a chore. In fact, it’s much like living with my parents.” She paused and then added truthfully, “Except for the sex, of course.”

Behind them the fire flared slightly, but neither of them noticed. Severus was too tired and Hermione was trying not to think of the sex, which she was, she must confess, beginning to enjoy immensely.

Severus thoughtfully studied her. “I have ignored you most of the time,” he stated.

She nodded. “So did my parents. My father was ready to retire when my mother found out she was pregnant. They had planned to sell their practice and spend the rest of their lives travelling. Instead, they both had to continue working – my father as a consultant and my mother as the senior dentist. They sort of didn’t know what to do with me. If I hadn’t gone to Hogwarts I would’ve ended up in another boarding school.”

Severus stared at his young wife, his thoughts hidden behind an impassive façade. She blushed slightly under his scrutiny before moving back to enquiring about the vassaldom.

“What do you gain from my vow? What are the ‘services’ I owe you?”

Breaking away from his current thoughts, Severus returned to the matter at hand.

“You have basically promised to follow me in any endeavour I undertake. However, the vow is usually associated with pledging to be part of my fighting force so I gain a minion, if you will,” he explained.

She thought about this briefly.

“So I could be seen as being the beginning of an army you are creating,” she realised aloud.

Severus nodded. “It is fortunate for us, therefore, that the Dark Lord is unaware of the various actions that can be construed from this vow.”

“Whereas I am fully aware,” Rodolphus smirked smugly as he stepped out of the Floo.


*~*~*

And I shall leave you with that cliffy whilst I disappear to laugh evilly....