When Good Wizards Go Bad ~ (Small Edit, not Update

Chapter 11 ~ The Final Piece to the Puzzle

Hermione did finish transfiguring the wands into parchments and Snape did manage to acquire the Elder Wand without any complications since he was required to go into the lab off of the throne room to prepare Voldemort’s elixir. He simply pocketed the wand, brought the elixir to the despot, who carefully checked its signature to make sure it wasn’t altered, then drank it down.

Snape also made the arrangements with the Daily Prophet to bring several reporters and photographers to Azkaban for a tour and to interview a few of the prisoners. He then went to Azkaban itself with the parchments and told the warden his plans and gave him the parchments to be distributed to each prison. Houley looked over the forms which basically asked each inmate to describe his treatment at the facility. Snape pressed the importance that each parchment be given to the prisoner it was addressed to and they were to keep them with them until the day the reporters arrived so they could actually witness them being collected. Otherwise they might believe the documents to be falsified.

This made perfect sense to the warden. Snape also requested that the guards be in uniform and ready to be inspected when he arrived, as the show of uniformity would be good press. Houley promised everything would be in order. Then Snape requested to talk to Kingsley in private again, confiding to Houley that the black Auror was seen as the Order’s leader, and he would be able to impress his fellow prisoners to act accordingly and that he really was misleading the man. He had no idea that afterwards they would be treated possibly worse than before.

This deception appealed to Houley, who was having a hard time with treating the prisoners well. They were in Azkaban to be punished. He’d enjoy breaking them again.

Snape left Houley feeling well into the loop, and once again used his office to talk to Kingsley, who looked much better than he did the first time. After powerfully warding the office, the two men talked.

”I have to say, Snape, that you really came through. Dumbledore always trusted you for some reason,” the Auror said, “Though I still don’t understand why you are doing this after you murdered him. You are a criminal in the Order’s eyes.”

Snape leveled his eyes on Kingsley.

”Suffice it to say Kingsley, I am and always have been Dumbledore’s man. The truth of what led to his death will be revealed at the end of all this. Now, you will all be receiving parchments that ask for you to write down how well you are being treated at Azkaban. It is a ruse. The parchments are your wands. In less than a month, on the day I arrive with the reporters, those parchments will turn back into your wands. You are to use them to overpower the guards and take Azkaban. Then you will break into the supply room and use the Port keys there to transport to the Ministry. They are all keyed to that location. They will have to be shared among you . . .”

Snape told Kingsley exactly how he planned to take Voldemort down. The wizard looked at him in disbelief.

”You are risking your life, Snape. It is very dangerous what you are going to do,” the wizard said, looking at the pale wizard archly.

”It’s worth it if I can help him die,” Snape replied, an ugly look on his face, “That is all I want, Kingsley. His death. If I have to join him in the darkness, so be it.”

Kingsley nodded. Snape seemed committed.

”Now, let us discuss my future, should I survive. A wizard has to look out for himself and I am giving you back a world. You will become Minister of Magic, and as the Minister, you will have the power to issue rewards . . .”

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Almost everything was in place now. Two weeks had passed and no one had yet come forward with information about the location of the mansion where Harry was. Snape was beginning to worry. They could act without Harry but Voldemort’s wrath would be terrible and he would be able to rally help. All his Death Eaters were employed by the Ministry and Gringotts. They were also dissatisfied, but would not go against the Dark Lord. It would be the Final Battle all over again. And Snape’s own life would definitely be forfeit. He needed Harry if he were to survive this. So a lot was riding on finding that location.

Snape had already figured out how to access the guard once he found the location of the mansion. He would simply inform him he located it because he neglected to obliviate the whore he’d captured. This would be horrible news for the wizard because it would mean death if it were found out he had been so lax. The wizard would more than likely be grateful to Snape for telling him and not the Dark Lord. When the wizard let his guard down, he would stun and bind him, then go and speak to Harry.

He’d bring a pensieve. As much as he hated opening up his past with the boy’s mother to him, it was necessary, as well as his dealings with Dumbledore and for Harry to discover exactly what the Prophecy had meant.

His sacrifice.

He would have to access the Dark Lord’s stronghold, kill Nagini then allow himself to be killed and make Voldemort vulnerable to permanent death. Snape had no doubt Harry would do this.

The idiot boy was a born martyr.

But the way Snape intended to get Harry access would show Voldemort that he had betrayed him, and the wizard would come after him to kill him. He’d be able to locate him by his Mark. There was no place he’d be able to hide. He would have to face him in the mansion. He had some ideas how to sway the confrontation to his favor, with Hermione’s help. Voldemort was far more powerful than he was, but there was a chance he could be overcome.

A slim chance, but still a chance.

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Snape continued to engage Hermione, having discovered the best way to get the witch to respond to him was to purr how her freedom was close, and to boost her spirits as he took her. Giving her hope was the way to get his pleasure. The wizard was very aware that Hermione Granger was more than likely to be the last woman he ever possessed before he faced the Dark Lord, and that knowledge served to keep him rather randy. It was as if he were trying to have enough sex to last an eternity.

Hermione dealt with the dark wizard’s hungers stoically, accepting her situation. Besides, one wizard was better than a multitude. He also gave her access to his library and once again she was able to feed her mind, which put her in a better place mentally.

Snape took to spending many nights with the witch. He barely remembered Odessa, who had indeed landed a nice apartment and was being kept as a mistress by a wizard who was over one hundred years of age. She was doted on and spoiled by the old man. All she had to do was imagine she was with someone else when she attended to his needs. It wasn’t too bad at all. And there was still Lucius.

Snape lay beside Hermione, who as usual was silent, her hair curling in ringlets and damp from their last engagement. Snape studied her.

“I have intelligence that Ronald Weasley is in Canada,” Snape said to the witch, who looked at him with interest, but said nothing.

”I imagine he will be returning after Voldemort falls. He was quite . . . sweet on you if I remember,” the wizard said to her.

”Yes. He was,” Hermione said a bit flatly.

”Most likely he will want to pick up where you left off,” the wizard purred at her.

”Not when he finds out I’m sterile,” Hermione replied. But she didn’t evidence any sadness or regret. “Weasleys breed large families. I’m not suitable for a wife any longer. And not just for that reason.”

Snape looked at her, wondering how she was going to adapt to a free world again. Suddenly he picked up his wand off the nightstand and pointed it at her.

”Legilimens,” he breathed.

For the first time, Snape witnessed exactly what Hermione went through as a whore and some things even made him pale as he watched her being fisted and violated in a number of ways. There was even an incident when Bellatrix LeStrange was fucking her with a strap-on twice his own girth, cursing because the witch wouldn’t scream. No wonder Hermione could take him as she did. She had indeed had larger things inside her body.

But she had suffered before she became stoic, before her body adapted to being used as it was. She had suffered horribly. How would she ever be able to cope with those who had no idea what true suffering was? It was one thing to become a whore because of the inclination, it was another story to become one under duress, because one wanted to survive. She didn’t choose her situation, but she had to live with it. Now that her liberty was approaching, she might physically be free, but what about her mind, her soul?

It all had a cost. He knew this for himself.

Hermione lay there impassively as she too witnessed the memories the wizard observed, watching them like a movie, a horrible pornographic movie that had happened to someone else. To Norma Jean Ashton. Hermione had no intention of revealing to anyone how she had survived. Harry was the only one who knew outside of Snape and those who had captured her. She would make up some cover story or simply refuse to talk about it. Harry wouldn’t tell. She’d make him take an oath not to reveal what he knew.

Then she would return to as normal a life as she could. Snape withdrew from her mind.

”You’re going to be a hero, Miss Granger,” he said to her. Snape recognized many of the wizards who had engaged her. Many of them were well-known wizards of means, dignitaries and council members. They would be the same men she would meet at award ceremonies and celebrations once this was all over. But he wouldn’t tell her that. She had to experience it for herself, and deal with it.

“You’re going to find that . . . quite an experience,” was all he said.

“I’ll deal with it,” she said softly.

Snape looked at her, wondering exactly how she’d do it. Those who knew her before were going to find her a very different witch than the one they remembered.

Very different indeed.

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The very next day, an excited young Auror entered Snape’s office with the information he needed concerning the location of the mansion. In his hand he had a realtor’s SOLD sheet.

”I started questioning all the brokers in the area. At first, I couldn’t find anything and thought the mansion was outside of England. But then one realtor found this. It had been listed by a Horace Jenkins. He was found murdered two years ago. The purchaser’s name is listed as Thomas Marvolo,” the Auror said. “It’s located . . .”

Snape took the parchment from the Auror, thanked him and issued a vacation order with pay for the young man, who happily left his office. His wife would be thrilled.

Snape finally had the last piece to the puzzle. The Polyjuice potion would be finished in about a week and he had three days after to get to Harry and put him on his path.

It was coming down to the wire.

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A/N: Thanks for reading.