Maternal Instinct

Severus looked up, "Did you hear that?"

Narcissa fiddled with her sleeve, saying reluctantly, "I... did. Yes... I knew he was up to something..."

"Well, aren't you going to go and see what's going on?" He frowned.

She shifted in her seat, "Well, I usually let him get on with it..." When she saw his disapproving look, she sighed and stood up, "Fine... B-but he might... will you stay afterwards? I don't want to be left with him..."

Severus sighed; she was shaking with fear. He shook his head, "I'll go and see what he's doing; you stay here. Alright?"

Narcissa nodded, "Thank you."

Severus left the room quickly, but slowed as he crossed the large hall and went through a door. He had always hated this journey as a Death Eater - down steep stone steps to rooms under the mansion - but now he hated it more. He could almost hear the screams of the hundreds of murdered women as he got to the bottom of the stairs.

As quietly as he could, Severus pushed open the huge stone door. Lucius was leaning over a woman, pulling her hair, so that she was almost bent over backwards underneath him. Severus couldn't see who she as, but she was clutching her left hand protectively to her chest and making quiet, fearful noises. Red stained the white t-shirt by her shoulder.

Just when Severus was about to say something, the noises stopped. Then the woman brought her right fist up in Lucius' face, her left hand still held tightly to her chest. The blonde staggered back a few steps and Severus realized exactly who the woman was.

"Lucius!" he barked.

The man turned around, his hand clamped over his nose, blood seeping through his fingers. Hermione looked up as well, and immediately moved over to him. Severus wrapped one arm around her, pulling her close, while his other hand reached for his wand.

Lucius sneered at them both, "Ah, Severus. I wasn't expecting you so soon, but no matter. We always shared in the old days - I thought I might start up our old tradition again; I knew you wouldn't mind sharing your new toy with me. She is a good choice, I must admit, but she seems to cooperate more with you than with me. Perhaps you could reassure her for me, explain that I look after my toys... most of the time... if they do as they're told. Come on Severus, just send her over here."

Hermione shivered and leaned back into Severus' chest, the fingers of her right hand clutching desperately at the arm around her.

Lucius went on, "You can leave if you like... after you've given her to me, of course. I know you never really liked my shows in the old days, did you? I always thought you were squeamish -" He laughed cruelly, the sound bouncing off the marble walls and floor, "But no! One would think you were almost Gryffindor!" The blonde took a deep breath, "No, you weren't squeamish - you were disgusted, weren't you? Disgusted by what we did! By what I did! Well, I woke up this morning and decided that you, my dear friend, you had already condemned me! Condemned the Dark Lord!"

He paused, and then went on, rambling like a madman, "What do I have to lose? Nothing. What do you have to lose? Everything! Everything! I have that pathetic excuse for a wife - she is nothing to me... But you have a daughter, a job and predominantly her!" He pointed to Hermione, his voice raising so much that he was almost screaming, "And what do I have to gain by taking her? Hurting you! You, Severus Snape! The traitor! The spy! So give her to me and leave! Or stay! I would be more than happy for you to watch as your precious little Gryffindor is destroyed!"

Severus growled and raised his wand, but Hermione put her hand on his chest, saying quietly, "Don't. Please. Just get me out of here. Take me home."

He was torn between taking her home, and staying to murder Malfoy - slowly. Very slowly - but she was still holding her wrist carefully, there was blood on her t-shirt and a bruise was forming on the side of her head.

Reluctantly he nodded and took the anti-apparation wards down as quickly as he could. Snarling, Lucius moved towards them, but Severus pulled Hermione close and disapparated.

In his living room, Severus pulled Hermione down on the sofa beside him. He took her left elbow and looked closely at her wrist.

"I think it's broken..." She offered quietly, using her right hand to wipe away any tears hastily.

Gritting his teeth angrily, Severus used his wand to mend it as best he could, then he conjured up a bandage and wrapped it around her hand and wrist. Silently he pulled her closer and pushed the blood stained cloth away from her shoulder. The red had come from deep teeth marks in her skin.

Hermione winced as his wand touched the skin and he looked up quickly, "Sorry..."

Hermione shook her head, "Don't worry about it."

She tried to move away but he kept her in place and closed the cuts, cleaning away the blood. Slowly he sat back and watched her as she rubbed her right hand over her forehead, closing her eyes. She tried to slow her breathing and control herself, but - just like Narcissa - she couldn't and, as Severus put his arms around her, she let out a reluctant sob.

Although Severus didn't like her crying, at that moment he could only be thankful that she was actually alive and able to cry. As much as Lucius liked long, drawn-out, torturous deaths for his 'toys', he got impatient when they didn't play by his rules and sometimes - in a temper - he lost himself and used the killing curse on them. The blonde liked them to have fight in them - he even used to tell them so - but too much fight made him annoyed, because they was too much hard work.

As the state of Lucius' mental health was questionable, he would definitely have made a rash decision somewhere along the line, so there was a considerable chance that Hermione could have escaped... but then that depended on how badly she was hurt when he made a bad judgment.

It made Severus feel sick to think of how close she had come to being one of Malfoy's many female murder victims. Nobody would have known where she was - she might never have been found!

Severus knew that Ronald Weasley was useless, but he had never realized the vast extent of his uselessness! Where was Weasley? He was supposed to be with Hermione, wasn't he?

"He's an animal!" She sniffed, sitting back slightly and wiping her cheeks, "A complete animal! He bit me! What kind of person bites?" She rubbed her hands over her face, and sighed, "My head aches..."

"I bet it does," He said quietly, reaching out to brush her hair away from the bruise at her temple, "What the hell happened?"

Hermione told him what happened, but Severus was hardly listening. The enormity of what had happened was slowly but surely creeping up on him. Another minute alone, and Lucius might have killed her... Or worse, he might have kept her alive. Within an hour she would have begged for death; all the other women had.

Severus took the thought further and further in his own mind, imagining every situation that could have taken place, had he not decided to see what was happening in the rooms below the house. Every situation ended in death, bloody and sickening.

There was a pause, and Severus realized that she had stopped speaking. She let out a shaky breath, "I... I should go home and see if Ron's there. I don't think he's going to be happy..."

Severus didn't know why, but he wasn't ready to let her go yet and as she went to stand he put a firm, but gentle hand on her leg. Startled, she looked up at him.

"Wait..." He said quietly, "Stay..."

She played distractedly with the edge of her bandage, "What? Don't be stupid. I've been enough trouble today. And I’m tired and I feel ill and I want to sleep. Thanks you; really, I can't say that enough, but..." She laughed slightly, looking down at her fiddling fingers, "I'm afraid that I’m not up to being a toy right now."

Severus caught her right hand - her good hand - in one of his and drew her closer, his other arm slipping around her waist. "You are the one being stupid. It's impossible for you to be anyone’s toy; you're too... you." He kissed her forehead and she sighed. His arms twisted around her and she rested her cheek on his shoulder.

"I was so scared." She said quietly, "I am so scared. Everything's happened so fast and I don't know what to do..."

Severus leaned back, still holding her close, "You don't have to do a thing. Not one single thing."

He was sure she was going to laps into tears again but, before she could, she fell asleep.

Severus knew the emotion he was feeling, but only because he had never - not ever in his life - felt it. Not only that, but he could distinctly remember thinking to himself that he didn't want to feel this. At least not with this woman.

But Merlin! There was no argument; Hermione would have died today if he hadn't have been there. And he wasn't seeking gratitude, or looking for any kind of dubious repayment. He was just glad that she wasn't seriously hurt - he could look at her wrist tomorrow and see if he could mend the bone a bit more.

A mixture of protectiveness, concern, anger and relief swirled within him, coming together to form an emotion that he wasn't sure he could bring himself to name.

""""""""""""""""""""

Hermione was disorientated when she awoke. Her head was throbbing and her wrist hurt like nobody’s business. Groaning quietly, she didn't even bother to open her eyes and just wished she was asleep again. But then someone took her hand and seemed to be looking at her wrist.

Reluctantly, Hermione opened her eyes and found herself in a bed she had only ever slept in twice before - and sleeping was the only thing she done in it.

"I'm sorry," She told Severus, as he set her hand back on the bed - seemingly pleased that nothing was terribly wrong - though he didn't let go, "I shouldn't have fallen asleep on you like that."

He shrugged, "It's fine. You haven't exactly had the best day... Anyway, Corrin's back - I left her with Albus - and she wants to see you."

Hermione shook her head, "God, I didn't even wonder where she was!"

Severus rolled his eyes, "You were a bit preoccupied. However, when Albus brought her home, he also came with some interesting news..."

"Yes?" She urged.

"Narcissa Malfoy has been arrested for murder. Her husbands murder... Well, actually, she confessed."

Hermione’s eyes went wide, "Why would she do that?"

Severus eyed her for a moment, "Let's just say that at least the other women got to die after he was finished playing with them."

"You mean he did that to his own wife? Oh my God! The man's deranged!" Hermione inclined her head, "Well, at least he was before she murdered him. I don't blame her; I think I would have done the same, only a lot sooner than she has."

He nodded, "Albus feels the same. He's going to see if he can stop her going to Azkaban."

Hermione sighed and ran a hand through her hair; she winced, "I must look a mess." She pushed herself up from the mattress and Severus got up to allow her to stand. She went over to mirror on the wall opposite the bed. When she saw her reflection, she winced again; She was pale, with a bruise next to her right eye and her hair was all over the place. "God..." She groaned, "What a sight. You should have let me go home and sort myself out. I look terrible."

"You're beautiful."

It was so quiet, Hermione almost missed it. Expecting some sarcastic remark, she raised her eyes in the mirror to look at him, but was startled to find her was right behind her. She looked over her shoulder; he wasn't sneering, or smirking... Hell, he wasn't even smiling!

Shaking her head, Hermione looked back to the mirror and was about to try and deal with her hair, when an arm snaked around her waist. With his free hand, Severus pushed the hair away from one side of her neck. She shivered and watched in the mirror as he pressed his lips to her pulse.

"Does that surprise you?" He asked, his warm breath sending tingles through her body. When Hermione didn't answer - couldn't answer - he repeated the question, slowly against her skin.

Just then the door banged open and Corrin ran in. Obviously she didn't understand what was going on, as she said, "Hermione! Daddy said you weren't very well! Is he giving you a hug to make you better! Your hugs always make me feel better!"

Severus seemed as if he was trying to hide a severe scowl as he moved away and Corrin moved up and threw her arms around Hermione's waist.