Cherries

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Story: Cherries
Author: bubblybabs
Email: bubbalilly@gmail.com
Beta: Periculum
Total Word Count: 13,037
Chapter 19 Edit Date: 01/22/2009
Clean-up editing: 06/05/2009
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One thing I wish is that AFF would make it so the authors could respond to people in the review section instead of above or below their story.
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JordenK – Chapter 17 was a bit of a shocker, wasn't it? *giggles* And I don't mind everyone's views on the story. Good or bad, they are all appropriate. It *does* help guide the story – the scat stuff never would have been added if someone hadn't requested it. The Ginny stuff probably would not have made an appearance. And, yes, my goal is to make you uncomfortable! While trying to give a half-decent read, of course. *smile* I appreciate soniab's show of loyalty by sticking up for me though. She is right, it's my story and I should stick with it as I envision it, but I'm also curbing stuff in order to modify the story for the reader's benefit. The backbone of my story will stay the same though.
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roxie – Youch, that review hurt! But, as I have said before, all reviews are welcome, both good and bad. How else will I know what you think if everything is candy-coated? Yes, the bulk of the chapter was repeated. One portion giving Hermione and Sirius' views, the other giving Ginny's views. I did it this way so I wasn't struggling to give everyone's views one after the other and confusing things. Just thought I'd try a different style is all. There will be more F/F in the future – this portion was a mixture. And, yes, you caught the most obvious 'hint', that Kreacher isn't only watching Sirius and Hermione in their sleep. *big grin* Who else, do you suppose, has he been teaching? And, where is SS? Why, he's mentioned in this chapter, getting worked in little by little! :-) He's worked in a little more heavily in chapter 20, though. I think you all will like that. I hope.
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elphaba – I am dying to know what you meant by “oh there has to be away around that!” Around what? Did I leave a loophole in my story? Actually, there is one, which will be addressed in a future chapter, and I keep waiting for someone to mention it! When you find out what happens with the baby, you'll have to tell me if it was what you thought – I bet you'll be partially correct but mostly wrong!
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Wistful Stargazer – Nice of you to comment! It's been a while since I heard from you! And a nice sized review it was, too! Keep having hope for Sirius! He isn't a bad guy, just one unfortunate enough to have been taught by Kreacher. I'm glad people are finally seeing who the one is at fault, at long last. But, remember, Sirius doesn't realize this – yet. Everyone seems to like this Ron and Ginny thing, maybe I'll have to play it out more – will see.
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soniab – *giggles* on the 'baby is Ron's' thing – was hoping to throw you all off balance with that one! Same with the Ron and Ginny thing. Hermione is taken to Bella's frequently, though she isn't always treated so harshly. Even Bella knows to back off so Hermione doesn't become catatonic – if Hermione is out of her mind then she can't use her for....oh, you'll find out in this chapter! Mum's the word for now! As to the baby, keep wondering. And tell me if what happens is what you expected, or even thought of.
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WesleyY7 – I just realized I've been spelling your name wrong for most of my replies. Did you notice or were you being polite? So many twists and turns, huh? Oh, there's more, much more. And, no, I'm not *that* dark! Though it's a thought, but, nah! And you caught the true meaning of that line you quoted! Yes, it's silly, and I reworked it a few times until I thought I had it right; but you are correct, it catches the whole fiasco of what's happening beautifully. And, you are noticing how Hermione's thought processes are becoming twisted as the story goes on, I see. Good. Magic wand sex. Hmmm, gee, could that be possible? *Snicker* on the Ginny and Hermione and Sirius and Kreacher remark! It's amazing how nearly everyone worries about Harry over their own worries – kind of like in the books, huh? And you caught the “taught” part for Ginny, yes, yes. Kreacher has been very busy indeed, hasn't he? And, could you all handle a graphic moresome fruit-sex sex scene after all this? Oh, what am I talking about? Silly me!
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Chapter 19 – Time Moves Along

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Story Date: January 11, 1996

“Sirius?”

“Hmmmm?” Sirius put his book down and turned to look at Hermione.

“You seem upset tonight. Is something wrong?”

They had been having a quiet night, after the inevitable sexual interlude, but Hermione sensed something out of the ordinary with Sirius. For one, he had seemed far more intense than usual while in bed (actually, while on the dining room table), but he was also far more quiet afterwards. Usually, his sex was either really wild or what she considered romance novel sex, but today he had seemed keyed up, like he needed to work some frustration out of his system. Once done with the sex, he would normally sit and talk with her for a while or read a book with her, not reading his own book while she read another book on the opposite side of the couch. She also noticed that he had been staring at the same page for a very long time, his eyes not moving.

Over the past few weeks, she had begun to worry that he was getting bored with her and wanted Ginny instead; ever since that day last month, when Master Kreacher had brought Ginny down, she had worried incessantly that Sirius would want the other girl instead. She had begun to see any slight, anything out of the ordinary, as a potential deterioration in their relationship, as unconventional as it was. 'She's younger, and her body isn't a big, ugly beach ball, so she'd be more agile than I am right now. She responded to him, and he responded back, too.' That last one had really bothered her, that Sirius had been excited over Ginny and responded to her sexually. She knew she was being ridiculous, feeling jealous, but that was how she felt. Jealous, and a little afraid. It would be too easy for Sirius to let Mistress Bellatrix take her and go get Ginny for himself. As it was, the only thing she thought of when she was at Mistress' was Sirius, she thought of him constantly, trying hard to keep focused on him so she wouldn't go mad, fearing she would if he didn't come down and erase their touch with his own each night. She simple didn't know what she'd do if she didn't have Sirius to think about and look forward to while being used by the others.

She remembered that day, when Master Kreacher had brought Ginny down. Once the curse had been lifted for the first time, how both she and Ginny had been so exhausted after their forced '69ing' for so long that they could barely manage to crawl away from each other and flop down on the bed, each trying to catch their breath as they stretched out their trembling limbs that felt all crampy and heavy. The next thing she knew, Sirius had climbed on top of her as he pulled one of her knees over his shoulder and began fucking her – she couldn't call it making love, there was no love in that moment of copulation – long and hard; he fucked her so hard she felt her ass sliding on the bed covers as he rammed himself into her, his one hand placed on the bed above her shoulder the only thing keeping her from sliding away from him; he was grunting and groaning loudly, the look in his eyes scaring her – they had looked so animalistic, so frighteningly wild that she feared he'd hurt her if she dared move wrong. Then he had the nerve to lean down, while fucking her, and started sucking on Ginny! She had become so angry at that moment that she had lost all caution and tried to pull him away from the other girl, wanting him to suck on her nipples, not on Ginny's. And then, he came within her while he still had Ginny in his mouth – for some reason, that had bothered her a great deal, and she didn't know why. She supposed it would have been worse if he had fucked Ginny and merely sucked on her, but yet it still upset her.

After they lay there a while longer, Sirius had Imperiused them again, without Master Kreacher telling him to, and he had made them do things together, to him, and to Master Kreacher (oh, she didn't like to picture Ginny's mouth around the elf's penis!) for what felt like hours and hours. She wondered why he had gone from reluctant partner to one who initiated everything – Master Kracher became the follower at that point, doing as Sirius asked. They all did, but Master Kreacher wasn't under a spell.

She squirmed and felt ashamed when she remembered how good it felt when Ginny was sucking the fruit out of her, she came several times while the girl was between her legs while Sirius held, kissed, and fondled her – she felt a perverse sense of glee at the thought that he didn't lie next to Ginny while she was the one sucking cherries out of Ginny's privates. She remembered how, while under the spell of the curse, she had jammed Ginny full of cherries while Sirius was on his knees, leaning over and lazily sucking the girl's nipples while Ginny held her breasts in place for him, his mouth going back and forth from one hard nipple to the other, every once in a while going up to kiss Ginny before going back to her tits. Hermione had brought her face down, between Ginny's wide open legs, working hard at licking and sucking the fruit out, marveling at how good cherries tasted after being warmed in a fragrant, juicy vagina; making the other girl gasp and writhe above as her lips and tongue slurped their way along Ginny's nether-lips before puckering to suck out another firm ball of deep red fruit, her tongue circling the girls vaginal rim as the fruit popped into her mouth, the cherries dripping with the girl's juices. At one point, Hermione had pulled back so she could chew the fruit, her fingers busily circling and rubbing Ginny's clit until the girl's overstuffed vaginal walls began to rhythmically clench around the fruit-filling during an orgasm, making a few cherries, coated with their Ginny-juice, ooze out and slowly slide down towards the girl's anus. Hermione remembered how she had found it fascinating to watch Ginny's quim go into spasm, and had watched the slippery fruit as it slid out with a burble, her mouth following as she sucked the errant balls into her mouth while rimming the girl at the same time. Ginny's ass had come up off the bed, allowing Hermione to slide her cherry-coated tongue into the girl's pucker while sucking, her fingers still busy around Ginny's clit as the girl above gave out a strangled groan. Hermione recalled how she had sucked out a few more cherries before Kreacher pushed her away, she had sat up and watched as Sirius continued mouthing the girl; when he noticed her sitting back, watching them with indifferent calm, he had come up from the girl's breasts, leaning over Ginny while absently putting his hand on the girl's tit, his other hand coming up to massage Hermione's breast, and kissed her with great passion, sucking a cherry out of her mouth. Hermione thought about how they had kissed ardently, passing the cherry back and forth between one another, their tongues playing together. She brooded over how his hands played with each girls tit without abandon before he grabbed her hands and brought them down to Ginny, who lay below them. The two of them explored the other girl's body while they kissed, both listening to Ginny moaning from the combined stimulation as the elf labored over digging the fruit out of her.

She frowned sadly as she remembered all of that. What was she turning into, to be glad that Siriius didn't lie next Ginny while she was busy stimulating her orally? To find it fascinating to watch a girl's vagina spasm while it was stuffed with fruit? She hung her head a little as she thought about all this, about how she had changed since she had been down in this room.

After he released the curse for the final time, the girls had cried together, Sirius keeping himself off at a distance and Master Kreacher nowhere in sight (but she knew he was there, somewhere). It took them a while to quiet down, Ginny especially. Hermione kept hugging her and telling her everything would be all right, but Ginny kept on crying, saying she wanted her mum. Hermione guessed she calmed down quicker because she had been dealing with this stuff for a while now, so she was able to sort of deal with it better than Ginny – poor little Ginny who had no real sexual experience at all and was thrown into a small orgy without consent.

They had both been so relieved when Master Kreacher suddenly showed up and said it was time to take Ginny back; so, so relieved. Sirius had made sure to heal her with his paste before their departure, telling her, as she cringed from him and whimpered, that she'd feel much better soon. Then, when they left with Ginny, she was alone once again, feeling oh so sore, until Master Kreacher came back. And then he made her.... do things. Best to not think about that, it would just upset her more.

She assumed Sirius performed a memory charm on Ginny so she didn't remember what happened. 'Lucky girl', Hermione thought bitterly, 'at least she gets to forget the memory, and she's upstairs with her family and friends'. She was stuck here, with only Sirius and Master Kreacher for company. When 'the boys' did come down, all they did was have sex with her and maybe talk a little; well, Master Kreacher didn't talk, though, not in conversations. She sighed. She knew that that was the reason she was brought down here, because Sirius wanted her sexually, though he was a nice man, and tried to do more when he saw she needed it. And now, she had fallen in love with him, not a burning type love, one where your knees feel weak or anything, but a type of love she didn't know how to name. And she had felt that horrible jealousy when she saw Sirius going down on Ginny. Surely she loved him if she felt that? And now she was afraid he'd want Ginny over her, especially since she was carrying another man's baby. She frowned a moment. Best not think about Ron or she'd start crying again.

Sirius watched her silently, watching as several emotions played across her face, and wondered what she was thinking. He surmised that she must have been Occluding because he didn't feel anything from her. “What gives you the idea something is wrong?”

“I can just tell.”

“Ah, well.” He paused, thinking about what to say. “I don't normally talk about what's going on with the others, do I?”

Hermione shook her head 'no', her eyes lighting up at the thought she would be told some news about her friends. He smiled as she perked up; he supposed she was starved for information about life outside this room, and especially about her friends. He frowned a moment, realizing she never asked about them, or about her parents, and he wondered why. 'I'll have to remember to ask her about that later on.'

“I'm just angry with Snape.” He punched his fist onto the book in his lap. “I know why he needs to do it, but I just know he's going to torment Harry. I can't protect him from that snake and it pisses me off.” He threw his head back onto the couch in frustration.

“Professor Snape? What does he have to do to Harry?”

He brought his head up, turning to look at her. “You are aware of the Order, correct? The Order of the Phoenix?”

Hermione nodded.

“Snape is a member of the Order. And he's kind of a link between Albus and Harry right now. Between Harry and all of us, in a way, I guess.”

Hermione pulled closer to Sirius, wanting him to continue.

“Well, it's not what he's going to do to Harry, specifically. Yeah, I guess it is. It's the potential of what he could do, I guess.” Sirius was using his hands to express himself, and she watched them as he spoke.

“You aren't making sense. What's Professor Snape going to do to Harry?”

“He's going to teach him Occlumency. Snape is an expert at Occlumency and Albus has asked him to teach it to Harry.” Sirius' head was back on the couch, rocking back and forth.

“Occlumency? What's that? Why would Professor Dumbledore want Professor Snape to teach Harry something that he could hurt him with?”

“Occlumency, it's a magical way of shutting your mind down so others can't see into by it using Legilimency. He-who-must-not-be-named is an expert Legilimens, from what I understand. You don't realize it, hon, but you Occlude at times yourself. Not always, but you do it without realizing it. You were doing it a moment ago.”

“I do? I was? I don't understand all of this. How will Harry be tormented?”

“Snivellus can make Harry see things from his past, the terrible things from his past, with this Aunt and Uncle. Do you understand? With Legilimency, a person is forced to relive parts of their lives for the viewing pleasure of the other. Using Legilmency on a person is a technique to help a person learn how to Occlude. It's rare for a person, such as yourself, to be a natural Occlumens, but it's obviously possible. I don't sense any Occlumency skills in Harry right now, so I'm very worried for him.”

Sirius didn't state that he was also worried because Hermione wouldn't be there to light a fire under Harry's butt and make him try to learn the art. Head still lying on the back of the couch, he turned his head to look at her, wondering how much her absence would hinder Harry.

“Oh.” He could see her thinking, and wondered how many more questions she'd ask. “Sirius? What's Legilimency?”

“In brief, it's a magical way of viewing another person's mind.”

“Mind reading?”

“No, no, viewing the mind. Viewing. Kind of like the memories are a movie, but out of order, like a dream.”

“Oh.” That didn't sound like what Mistress was doing with her, she seemed to be mind-reading. Hermione wondered if there was another form of magic that allowed that as well.

“Anyway, I'm just worried about that. Snivellus and I got into an argument over it today. Actually, it came very close to a duel, but Arthur's arrival from St. Mungo's, fully healed, stopped it. I can't believe I let myself get so out of control like that.” Sirius put his head back on the couch, staring at the ceiling.

Hermione suddenly sat up straight, her hands to her mouth, alarm on her face. “Mr. Weasley was in St. Mungo's? Why? What happened to him? He's healed? How long was he in there for?”

Sirius raised his head to look at Hermione silently, thinking about all she did not know that was going on with the others.

“There's a lot to tell, sweetie. I'll give you a quick run-down of the events, okay?” He began an abbreviated tale of the going on with the others in the household and some of the background events so that she had nearly as much information as Harry and Ron. While he told the tale, she had slowly fidgeted until she was on her knees, slowly moving closer to him as well.

“But, there's more going on behind the scenes than what you've told me, isn't there?”

“Yes, there is.” He nodded as he agreed.

“Harry won't get hurt, will he, over this? This weapon?”

“I hope not, but I don't know. Albus has told us what is being protected, but has not told us the contents of it. That's all I can say, hon.”

She looked at him quietly, frustrated by the thought that she was so removed from everything and everyone.

“Sirius?”

“Mmmm?” He was trying to read the book again, or at least look like he was.

“Would you consider, if I developed this Occlude skill you mentioned, would you let me go so I can help Harry? If I promise not to tell where I've been? Could you teach me?”

She held her breath as she watched him. He was quiet for a long time before he spoke.

“No.” He took in a deep breath and let it out forcefully. “Number one, I can't because of Kreacher. Number two, you'd have to be one hell of an Occlumens to block Albus and Snape. And, number three, I don't want to let you go. You're mine. I won't teach you to hone that skill.”

Hermione sat back and looked at him quietly. She understood the first two reasons, but the third?

“You think I'd leave you? Is that it?”

He nodded wearily, a grim look on his face. “I do. Yes, after all that's been done, yes.”

“But why? I told you I loved you.”

“And you're pregnant with another man's baby. A man, I guess you'd call him a man since he was able to get you pregnant, a man you loved before I brought you here.”

He watched as she rubbed her belly unconsciously, wondering what she thought about having Ron's baby. Ron, who had no idea he was going to be a father, and not even sixteen himself.

“But...”

In frustration, Sirius put the book down and looked at her. “Hermione, just believe me when I say that you won't want to stay with me if I set you free. You are dependent upon me for everything and your love for me would fade once I did not have complete control over you. There's a specific syndrome named for this.”

“A syndrome?” She cocked her head to the side a little, thinking. “What is it called?”

Sirius suddenly didn't want to deal with it. He didn't want to talk, he just wanted to sit in silence and think. He brought his hand up and waved at her absently, as if telling her non-verbally to go away. “Never mind. It's not important.”

“If it wasn't important, you wouldn't have mentioned it, Sirius.”

Sirius looked at her hard, anger starting to bubble in his chest. “I said, leave it. It's not important.”

“No, I won't leave it be! I'm tired of you just bossing me around and keeping secrets from me!” Hermione threw herself back and crossed her arms angrily.

Sirius slammed his hand down on the book as he turned himself on the couch so he was facing her. “What? What did you just say to me?” His voice came out in a hiss.

Hermione froze at the sound of Sirius' voice and the look on his face; her sudden, uncharacteristic show of anger forgotten. She lowered her arms slowly and swallowed.

“I....I.....”

“I think you forget a few rules here, that's what I think.”

She looked in his eyes, going from one to the other. “I, I can't voice my opinion?”

“Not that way, no.”

Sirius watched her as she looked down, playing with a ribbon on her bathrobe made of dark plum-colored satin and lace, thinking about the warnings Kreacher had given him a while ago – the ones stating she would begin to disobey him due to his lax treatment with her. He couldn't start having her showing him disrespect, not now. Not with Kreacher in control.

“Don't make me punish you, Hermione. Maybe it would be best if you start calling me 'Master' again, just to help you remember that you should use a respectful tone when conversing with me. You don't want me to punish you again, do you? To show you your place like when you first came down here?”

She stared, wide-eyed, at Sirius. Was he serious? He'd punish her, like when he first brought her down here? With her being so pregnant? She thought they had left that stuff behind, or maybe it was just her hoping that he would never do it again. Would he tie her up and whip her and use the pillowcase on her head again? She was so afraid of pillowcases now, and she knew it was irrational, but she feared them just the same. She hid them as soon as she found any, wishing she could magic them away. She feared Kreacher would find the pile of pillowcases she had hidden, not sure what he would do with them if he did find them.

“N-n-no, n-no, I d-d-don't, I-I-I don't n-n-need, no, no...” She couldn't get a full sentence out and her throat constricted painfully as she tried to voice her thoughts, her head slowly turning back and forth.

Sirius looked at her silently, seeing how pale she had become and how she couldn't verbalize her thoughts. He knew he should be more sympathetic towards her, but he had to keep her obedient, even if he had to threaten her with something he had promised he would never do to her again. She was his, and he wasn't going to lose her, no matter what. And to do that, he had to keep her under control.

“I take it we have an understanding then.”

Hermione nodded her head, her eyes moist, not daring to make a sound.

“Good. Now, take off that bathrobe and come here, onto my lap, and straddle me like a good girl.” He turned so his back was against the cushion once again, then waited while she slowly crawled across the couch and hesitantly climbed into position, pouting, before he grabbed a handful of tit, covered in the same dark plum-colored lace and satin that matched beautifully with her bathrobe, with one hand, and a handful of ass with his other. He thought it was time for a lesson, but not by punishing her. It was far more fun to do other things with her to show her who was boss, even if he did have to work around a belly full of developing baby.

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Story Date: January 15, 1996

“Sirius, I don't want to do that.”

Sirius stared at her, a faux-fur covered set of handcuffs held loosely in his hand. “What do you mean?” His voice was stiff, irritated.

“I don't like having my hands restrained behind my back.”

He gestured for her to come to him as he held the cuffs at the ready. “Fine then, they can be in front of you.”

“No! I don't want to! I don't like being restrained!”

“What the fuck, Hermione! I'm the one who makes the decisions here, not you.” He stepped forward, making a grab for her. “Now put your arms behind your back!”

Hermione turned and ran from him as she cried, “No!” She had decided she was going to make her feelings known when he tried to make her do something she didn't like. She reasoned that if he didn't know what she thought, he wouldn't stop doing these things, so she finally tried to put her foot down today. She saw the other props he had pulled out – it would start with the handcuffs, then move on to the flogger; she thought she saw the handle of a whip and that frightened her. She also saw the ropes and leather sling he used on her when he hung her from the ceiling – she definitely did *not* want to do that, not with her belly so big, no matter how much he liked doing it to her.

She turned to look and saw him coming after her. She knew he could have used his wand to force her back to him, but he seemed to be enjoying the chase. She didn't think her refusal was sinking in. It had taken her over a month to get up the nerve to refuse him, each time she tried her heart would start beating madly in her chest and her voice would falter. Today, somehow, she had found the courage to refuse and he was treating it like a game. She dodged him several times around the couch and once around the dining room table, all the while she was begging him to leave her alone, tears forming in her eyes and falling down her face.

She was wearing a dark peach colored negligee with a matching thong, picked out for her by Kreacher - to her dismay, Sirius was able to grab onto the satiny shoulder strap, ripping her outfit down through the lace so that her breasts were exposed as the material fell forward. She grabbed at the lacy remnants of her top and continued to run from him, this time screaming at him to stop. To her surprise, he did stop, allowing her to gain some distance between them. They stood about six feet apart, panting in unison.

“Hermione, stop...... running from me or you'll have a v-.............. very sore ass before........ I'm through with you.......” Sirius spoke between puffs of air, irritation very evident in his voice.

She stood still, holding her lacy negligee up so her breasts were covered. Her tearful pantings showing her fear. 'Oh! That didn't work! And now he's getting angry! Oh! I don't want to do all that stuff! I don't want to! I don't want to!' She began to whimper as he neared her, her head down, her arms pulling closer to her body as he closed in. She blinked a few times and cringed slightly when he raised his hand to push her hair off of her shoulder; she dropped her eyes and concentrated on the hair encircling his umbilicus, thinking about how soft it was. His hand slid behind her neck, holding it tightly yet gently.

“Kitten, would you mind telling me what this is all about?”

“Please, Sirius, I don't want to do all that. Please.”

He stood, looking at her a moment, obviously thinking. He sensed her need for control, though he wondered why it was once again showing its ugly head all of a sudden. She didn't want to do all that. What did that mean? Was he expecting too much from her? She knew what he liked. But, if it would make her happy.....

“I'll agree to let you refuse one thing; except swinging you from the ceiling, I really like that.”

Hermione looked up at him warily, then turned her eyes down, thinking. 'He'll let me refuse only one thing? Well, that's a beginning, I suppose. I wish he wouldn't do so much, it's so overwhelming.'

Her eyes rose up slowly as she regarded him carefully, her arms still crossed over her chest as she cowered from him. “Please, Sirius, can't you just do one thing instead of a bunch of stuff? You want to do so much you make me dread it.”

His eyes hardened, his voice sounding the same. “What have I told you about my preferences? You're lucky I'm allowing you to turn one down. Now pick.”

Her voice came out as a whisper. “I, I, I don't like to be whipped. Or flogged.”

He stared at her a moment. “That's two choices.”

“They are similar, one just hurts more than the other.” Her voice was very light as she hoped she could keep him from becoming angry.

“Which don't you want? Pick one.”

Hermione wiped a tear from her face, her lips trembling as she replied miserably, “Whipping. Please don't whip me.”

He grabbed her hands and pulled them behind her, applying the handcuffs; her ripped top falling as he did so, exposing her breasts, which he wasted no time in grabbing. Hermione's buttocks immediately reared back as she shoved her tits forward, a moan on her lips as a tear formed in her eye. 'There goes my body again, betraying me.'

Sirius stood behind her a moment, frowning, feeling her fisted hands on either side of his cock, feeling her trying to shrink away from him as he pulled her against him.

“Fine, no whipping.” He lowered his head, kissing her shoulder as he continued to play with her breasts, relishing in the fact that they were getting larger. He kissed along her shoulder, working his kisses up her neck, finally whispering into her ear, “And, no flogging, either. All right, Kitten?”

She nodded quietly, her eyes closed, trying to prepare herself for the next few hours she knew he'd be busy with her. She knew it had been risky, trying to refuse him, when she should have focused on the fact that she had to keep him interested in her.

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Later that night:

She sat up straight, listening to the creaking – whatever it was, it was getting closer. She tried to look into the shadows of the room, barely breathing so she could hear over her heart. She was sure there was something in the room, something that would hurt her. She attempted to make a sound, any sound, to alert Master Kreacher; he'd be able to protect her with his magic.

Creak!

What was that? What was making the creaking noise? Was it still moving closer to her? She kept waiting to feel it touch her, could almost feel it reaching out for her. She tried to will herself to move towards Master, to reach a hand out and shake him, but was so afraid she couldn't move.

Creak!

There it was again! That noise! It was right next to her. She was panting now, so very frightened, as she tried to see what it was. She was sure she could feel its breath on her neck as it inched closer. She tried to scream, but in her terror no sound came out of her mouth. Her eyes were wide as she tried to see it, to see what was going to touch her, fearful of what it would do to her.

“Mudblood....”

She screamed, then fainted, falling off the bed and onto the floor. When she awoke, Master was holding her, having just picked her up from the floor and readying to lay her on the bed.

“Hermione? What happened, hon?” He was gently brushing her hair out of her face as he sat down and leaned over her, his right hand on the bed next to her, helping him keep his balance, his face so worried it almost hurt her to look at him.

“I, I, it, I...” She couldn't talk of it, she looked around, fearful it would come back. She sat up and grabbed at him, throwing her arms around his neck, her legs awkwardly around his waist, and began to cry. She was so relieved to have him there, so glad because she knew he would keep that thing away. Maybe it was afraid of Sirius? It came with Master Kreacher, but was gone when Sirius was here. She felt his arms around her as he pulled her further onto his lap, holding her tightly.

“Baby, what happened?” He kissed her over and over, rocking back and forth as he held her, giving her comfort. He couldn't fathom what had happened, and looked at Kreacher for answers but all the elf did was shrug his shoulders. “Did something happen?” He continued to look at the elf, making it clear he thought Kreacher had done something.

“The creaking, the creaking...” Her voice was high-pitched and shaky, and she attempted to burrow closer into him while grabbing at his arms, making him wince. He barely had enough time to pull his boxers on before he was brought down, and was now sitting on her bed with nothing else on. He looked at what she had on and realized that she was actually more dressed than he was.

“What creaking? You heard creaking?” He put his chin on top of her head, feeling her fingers dig in as they clung to him. He frowned when she nodded her head into his chest.

“Where did you hear the creaking, hon?”

“Ne-n-next to me. It was ge-getting closer.” She pointed to his left with her right hand, his eyes following, as she began to cry again.

“Hermione, that sounds suspiciously like a bad dream, babe.” Relieved, he wanted to laugh but he was sure that would upset her more than she already was.

“No! No! It wasn't! It was right there, coming closer!”

“Hermione, come now. Think about it, we have ghosts and ghouls, but they can't creak floorboards because there aren't any in this room. It's stone, hon. Stone under the carpet.”

“R-r-really?”

“Yes, there's no way you could have heard the floor creaking.”

She pulled back and looked at him carefully, sniffling, trying to see if he was telling the truth. She decided he looked as if he was and dropped her head down, feeling silly. She felt his hand in her hair, petting her while his other arm held her close. “A dream? It was just a dream?”

“Seems so. Do you remember anything else?”

She shook her head 'no'. She was absurdly relieved that it had been a dream, but she wished her fear would go away. She still felt as if something was hiding and would come get her when Sirius left.

“Stay with me, Sirius? Please?”

“Stay? But why? I mean, I don't mind staying with you, baby, but why do you want me to stay?”

“I'm scared.”

He laughed. “Sweetie, don't be scared. Nothing is here to hurt you. I feel nothing, sense nothing. It was a dream, that's all.”

“Please stay.”

To her relief, he climbed onto the bed, pulling her with him. “Well, now that I'm wide awake, it would be nicer to stay here with you than go back to my room and listen to Buckbeak's breathing and snorting.”

She turned, pulling close to him, his arms coming around her nicely, making her feel safe. She closed her eyes as she snuggled against him, her right leg going over his. She felt him beginning to harden and his hand slid from her shoulder to the swell of her breast that was mashed against his ribs, his thumb finding her nipple. She turned slightly so that his hand could fondle her easily, her hand going down to slide under his boxers, bringing a groan from Sirius as it reverberated in his chest and vibrated nicely against her head. She figured this was a nice way to keep him here to protect her, and she smiled as he turned onto his side, rolling her onto her back as he brought his leg over hers, his lips coming down to her neck, giving her a kiss.

“So, my dear, [kiss] what did you have in mind?”

She looked at him, thinking, as his hand roamed from one satin covered nipple to the other. “Sirius, do you remember that day when we did it outside, in the park, after we went to McDonalds for chips?”

“Ahhhh, [kiss] you mean when I had you completely under my power [kiss] and gave you a good workout?”

She nodded, blushing, her ass pushing into the bed as her breath caught.

“You mean, [kiss] when I had you completely [kiss] under my power [kiss] and gave you a good workout [kiss] over and over [kiss] again?” He brought his hand down to her crotch, his fingers lazily looking for a way around the lace of her nightie.

She giggled as she nodded, her legs coming up and closing around his hand as she brought her own hand up along his arm, resting it on his bicep.

“Mmmm, yes,[kiss] I believe I do [kiss] remember [kiss] something [kiss] like [kiss] that.” He continued to kiss her neck slowly, repeatedly. “Are we [kiss] asking for a [kiss] repeat [kiss] performance, [kiss] my dear?”

She nodded, and took in a deep breath as he lifted himself up, pulling at her negligee.

“I do believe I can grant you your wish, my little minx.”

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Story Date: January 28, 1996 3:02am

“No! No! No! Don't! Noooooo!” Hermione was screaming, her eyes wide with fright as she tried to climb under the bed, her arms over her head.

Kreacher had been unsuccessfully trying to stop her screaming for several minutes as she scuttled about the room trying to hide. Watching her, he made a decision and popped up to his Master's room.

“Master!”

“Mmmmph.”

“Master! Wake up!”

“Kreacher? What? What is it?” Sirius rolled over, grabbing his wand from under his pillow, and began to sit up, readying for a fight.

“It's the Slave.”

“Hermione? What's wrong? Is she bleeding?”

Sirius succeeded in untangling himself from the covers and climbed out of the bed while pulling on a pair of boxers before walking over to where Kreacher was standing.

“No, she's screaming and won't stop.”

Sirius looked at the elf, noticing he seemed to be truly worried over Hermione. That wasn't good.

“Screaming? Is she in pain?”

“Come see.”

Kreacher grabbed Sirius' arm and they Apparated to the slave room, Hermione nowhere to be seen.

“Hermione? Where is she Kreacher? What did you do with her?”

“She was trying to climb under the bed when I left. I don't know where she is now.”

“Lumos.” All of the lights in the room came on at once, and Sirius heard a small squeak to his right. He walked around, looking and listening carefully, but found nothing.

“Hermione? Where are you, Kitten? I can't find you.”

“Sirius? Sirius? I'm here! I'm lost!”

He turned at her voice, looking at the armoire. 'No, surely not.' Hesitantly, he opened the armoire slowly and found Hermione huddled, trembling with terror, within it.

“Hermione? Sweetie? What are you doing in here?”

She seemed to look through him, a dazed look in her eyes.

He bent down and reached in to grab her arm but she pushed away from him and began to scream.

“Don't hurt me! Don't! Don't hurt me!” She broke down into loud, terrified sobs.

He stood back in alarm, then turned to look at Kreacher, his face contorted with fury.

“What THE FUCK did you do to her?!”

“Nothing, Master! Nothing!” Kreacher backed away with his hands up, not sure what his Master would do to him. It was true, he hadn't done more to her than he usually did – all he did was perform the punishment Mistress had given him with the Mudblood; she hadn't been thrilled doing it, not that that mattered, but she did it, and he had enjoyed it, which did matter. He didn't think that what she had to do was all that bad, and nothing she hadn't done before. But it certainly did feel good as she did it. He liked Mistress' punishments. Oh, yes, he did.

“I'll fucking kill you if I find out you did something, you bastard.” Sirius' voice came out in a low snarl, his teeth actually bared as he stared down at the elf.

Kreacher gulped, his eyes wide as he looked from his angry Master to his terrified Slave cowering in the armoire, the negligees hanging all around her like lace curtains of many colors. Right now, he wasn't sure how rational his Master would be, and he didn't want to risk Master making good on his promise. Silently, he watched as Sirius crouched down a foot away from the armoire.

Sirius spoke very softly, as if to a child. “Hermione, baby? It's Sirius. Come on, honey. Look at me, baby.”

“Sirius? Sirius, where are you?”

“Baby, look at me. I'm right in front of you.” He slowly advanced towards the distraught girl, talking slowly in a soft, low voice. Her eyes suddenly shifted to him and widened in alarm as he continued to talk to her. “Kitten? Hermione? Do you see me now? It's Sirius, baby.”

“Sirius?”

“Yes, hon. Come on out, sweetie. I promise, you're safe, baby. Come on.” He slowly extended his hand towards her.

Her voice was a violent whisper. “No! No, they'll find me! They'll hurt me!”

“Honey, no-one will hurt you, not with me around. Okay? You're safe.” He raised his hand towards her slightly, trying to get her to take it willingly.

“Shhhhh! You have to be quiet! They'll find me! They're big and green and angry! They'll find me if you aren't quiet!”

“Hermione, no-one will hurt you. I won't let them hurt you, baby.” He put his hand on the armoire, near her foot and she kicked at it in alarm, then began to try and back herself further into the closet while making little terrified squeals.

“Hermione, it's only me, baby. It's Sirius.”

“You aren't Sirius! You're Master! Master hurts me! They'll hurt me! Don't let them find me, please!”

He pulled back at that. She saw him as two different people? He wasn't quite sure what to make of that.

“Hermione, LOOK at me, it's Sirius.”

“Sirius?” She looked at him, her eyes clouded over as she struggled to make sense of the real world interfering with her dream world. “You're not Sirius! You're trying to trick me! You'll hurt me!”

“Baby, I won't hurt you, I'm not trying to trick you, sweetie.”

Her voice was tiny, like a child's. “You promise?”

He smiled. “Yes, baby, I promise. Now, come out, hon.”

“They'll hurt me!”

“They won't hurt you, I won't let them hurt you, baby.”

“They will! They're bigger than you.”

“Hermione, look at me, sweetie. It's Sirius, I'm the only one here. They won't hurt you with me here. I'll protect you, babe.”

“No, no, you don't understand! You can't protect me! Close the door so they can't find me!”

“Hermione, baby, wake up. It's a bad dream. You're having a bad dream. I'm the only one here.”

“He's here, he's here. You aren't alone, you aren't alone.” She was pointing at Kreacher, her eyes nearly bugging out of her head as she tried to push herself further back into the closet.

“Kreacher, please.” Sirius continued to look at Hermione when he spoke, waving his hand at Kreacher from behind him, indicating the elf should go away.

Kreacher disappeared with a small pop.

“See? He's gone, it's just you and me. We're all alone. I've got my wand and I'll protect you.” He raised his hand with his wand, providing her proof.

“They won't come here?” Again, the little girl voice. He struggled with hearing her sound that way, normally he liked it, but now it would be perverse for him to enjoy her sounding like that.

“No, baby, they'll stay away because I'm here. Come on out, baby. I'll protect you.”

He grabbed her hand gently and slowly pulled her out of the armoire and into his lap where he wrapped his arms around her securely. She curled up, her eyes looking over his arm as she clutched it fearfully.

“Hermione, it's okay, sweetie. No-one is going to hurt you.”

“They aren't here? Are you sure? Where are they? I can't see them!” She began to struggle in his arms as her voice became frantic. He tightened his arms around her, trying to keep her from fleeing.

“Who? Who are you looking for, hon? No-one is here but you and me.”

“They're here! I know they are! They're hiding and they'll get me when you leave! They're hiding!”

“Hermione, no-one is here! I promise you, we're alone! What are you so afraid of?”

Hermione shook her head, refusing to answer him. He picked her up and carried her to a chair in the living room area, sitting down on it with her in his lap and holding her tightly as she trembled, making sure she didn't get up and bolt from him. Slowly, her trembling dissipated and she relaxed against him. After a while, he realized that she had gone back to sleep. He continued to hold her, rubbing her back as he thought about what could have brought this on. Finally, he picked her up and put her back to bed, then climbed in with her, his arms pulling her against him and holding her tightly. He heard the pop of Kreacher returning.

“Master!”

Sirius felt Kreacher pulling on his arm and he shook him off. “Go away, Kreacher.”

“Kreacher sleeps with her now.”

“Go away, Kreacher.”

“Master...”

Sirius sat up and whipped his wand at the elf, his voice a snarl. “I said, go away.”

Kreacher frowned, then disappeared with a pop. Sirius lay back down, pulling Hermione closer, and took a deep breath. He hoped the elf didn't decide to punish him later by refusing to bring him down to see her, then worried incessantly half the night that that was a probability. 'Fucking elf! Fucking Dumbledore! If he hadn't put that tracking charm on him, Kreacher never would have had a chance to bring her to Bella. Fuck!'

Hermione woke up later that morning, climbing out of the bed to use the loo. When she came back, she found Sirius watching her from the bed.

“Master! What are you doing here?” She ran the rest of the way and happily jumped on top of him, eliciting a laughing “oof!” from him as she did so.

He grabbed her and pulled her down onto his chest, then turned so she was on her back and he was on his side with an arm under her neck, looming over her. He brought his hand up to tug at her hair, his gray eyes watching her carefully.

“You don't remember last night?”

“Last night? What about last night?”

He watched her a moment. “You seemed to be having a bad dream, or something, and Kreacher couldn't calm you down. He came and got me when he realized he couldn't help you.”

Hermione looked at him quizzically. “I don't remember any of that. A bad dream? I don't remember one.”

His finger was tracing her jaw, then rubbed her cheek until she pushed her face into his hand with a smile. His eyes remained serious as he watched her a moment longer, then he turned onto his back, pulling her so she was partially on him, the blankets between them, her bare butt in the air.

“Master, I'm cold!”

He rubbed her back with his hand before pulling her so she was on top of him, his legs opening so she fell between them.

“Really? And what will you do to get back under the covers with me, my dear?”

She giggled as she brought her mouth to his. “Anything you want,” she whispered before kissing him as his hands slid down her back.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *
Story Date: Find it in the story below!

Sirius sat at the breakfast table, reading the Quibbler and having a good laugh at some of the tripe contained within it; he found it hilarious that another person thought they had seen him as Stubby Boardman in Diagon Alley.

“What's so funny, Sirius?”

Sirius looked up at Remus, his smile leaving him briefly. Poor Remus had been sleeping all night due to the Wolfsbane potion, asleep after he had transformed during the full moon, and awoke not long ago. Sirius felt a tug on his heart, his old friend looked so blasted tired.

“Oh, some crap from people who thought they saw me as Stubby.”

Remus smiled as he poured some milk into his morning tea. He thanked Molly as she put some eggs and bacon in front of him, looking over his plate to view the hand-drawn picture of Stubby Boardman on the front page.

“Looks just like you, could almost be your twin.”

“What?! Quit it, Remus! I look far more dashing than that!”

Sirius was glad to see Remus give a hearty laugh as he shoveled some eggs into his mouth. Sirius went back to reading the paper as he ate his own meal. He glanced up at Molly as she put a plate in front of her husband, the both of them smiling at each other in a manner only married people could do, wishing that he could have Hermione here, helping her cook, and catering to him a little. He'd be proud to call her wife, and wished he could do so. When she turned seventeen, he was taking her somehow, taking her from Kreacher's clutches. She was becoming more despondent each day that elf took her to Bella's, letting them do heaven knows what to her, and him powerless to stop it. He wondered, for the millionth time, if he should come clean with Albus, hoping that maybe he could help him free her. The only reason he didn't was because he was sure the old man would take her from him, and he just couldn't bear the thought.

He had begun to struggle with the knowledge that she may get to the point where he had to shelve his own wants and needs in order to save her, period. He was getting worried over her mental state of health as she dealt with her experiences when she was removed from his home – she never spoke of what happened, but he could guess some of the things that occurred. A shadow passed over his face as he remembered what Kreacher had told him his mother did to her sex slaves, and he wondered if the same things were being done to his Kitten when she was with Bella, the bitch.

He looked up and saw Remus looking at him, seeming to study him closely. He wondered if Remus had an idea of what he was thinking; he knew Remus was better at Legilimency than he was, and he himself was not master Occlumens. He looked into Remus' eyes, not sure what to think; Remus smiled warily before eating a piece of bacon, his eyes going down so he could stab at some of the scrambled eggs.

Sirius sat back, trying to forget what he saw in Remus' eyes, and thought of Harry. Today was his big date with that girl named Cho. He wondered how it was going to go with her today and smiled. Harry was so smitten with Cho it was cute. He'd have to remember to owl the teen later to see how things went. He leaned forward, over his plate, as he grabbed his tea.

“Harry goes on that date with Cho, today. I wonder how it'll go.”

“Yes, yes. Cho's a nice girl.” Remus thought a moment before continuing on. “I'm not sure she's exactly right for Harry, but you never know. You can't tell when they are so young.”

“Oh, I don't know about that, boys. Mrs. Weasley and I were in love way back in fourth year, remember Molly?” He gave his wife an affectionate swat, making her jump from his reach, hitting him with her towel.

“Oh, I knew at the end of second year. You were slow on the uptake, as men usually are.”

“Is that so, Molly dear?”

“Yes, Arthur, yes. Men are so slow with things that if we women weren't so devious we'd never get our man.”

“Devious, you say? How so, luv?”

“Arthur, if I told you then the secret would be out and you boys who are unattached will stay that way!” Sirius watched as she hit Arthur playfully on the shoulder, reminding him painfully of how Hermione would do the same thing. He stood up quietly, going for the door.

“Sirius, dear, you haven't finished your meal.”

“What, Molly? Oh, well, I'll be back down in a moment. Bathroom.”

He went up the stairs slowly, thinking about his girl, wondering if she were in the slave room right now or if she was - elsewhere. He felt a great gnawing feeling hit him unexpectedly in his gut as he thought of what she might be going through while he sat eating eggs and bacon, and had to sit down as he doubled over, trying to keep from being ill. He'd make it up to her somehow, she'd turn seventeen and he'd marry her and take her away so they couldn't touch her again. He knew how to hide, and he'd do so with her and she'd never be abused again. Yes, that's just what he'd do.

He got up and continued to the bathroom before going back down to finish his breakfast, comforted by the fact that he'd make things better for her.

Later that day, Kreacher brought him down to visit with Hermione. Everyone was gone from Grimmauld Place for the rest of the day so he didn't have to worry about being back until tomorrow. Sirius was looking forward to spending the night with his Kitten. Kreacher had agreed to allow him to stay the night as long as he serviced him (Sirius screwed up his face at the memory of having to do that again to the elf). But, he wanted to be with her, so his momentary disgust was worth it, he supposed.

“Hermione?” He went over to the bed where he knew she lay, freshly showered after her ordeal with Bella. He climbed onto the bed and climbed on top of her, keeping the blankets between them, keeping most of his weight off of her. He pulled the blanket down a little and kissed her head. She lay there for a long time and for a moment he wondered if she was actually asleep until he heard a wet popping noise. He frowned when he heard her thumb coming out of her mouth; they had discussed her stopping that habit, she had acknowledged it didn't help her feel better so he didn't understand why she kept doing it. She turned her head to look at him, her eyes worrying him as usual with their expressionless roundness.

“I'm going to get under the covers, okay, Kitten?”

She nodded her head, her eyes watching him as he removed his clothes and climbed in the bed with her, his arms coming around her and pulling her to him; he saw Kreacher had her dress in her red lace negligee and he smiled at the appropriateness of it. They lay there for a while, quietly breathing, not saying anything, as he tried to give her silent support. He couldn't stop the torments she went through with Bella, but he could hold her gently afterwards, make her feel safe with him at least. Finally, the prolonged silence was getting to him.

“Kitten?” He lifted his head slightly and spoke softly into her ear. “Do you know what today is?”

She shook her head, her soft frizzy hair tickling his skin.

“It's Valentine's Day. Kreacher agreed to allow me to stay here with you for the night, baby.”

She still didn't say anything, but she pushed back against him, burrowing her bottom into him. He smiled and gave her ear a kiss.

“We'll be alone until Kreacher comes tomorrow, babe.”

He was rubbing her front, going from her breasts, over her belly, and back up again. While his hand was over her belly, the baby took that moment to kick his hand; he stilled immediately, waiting to see if the child would kick again – and was rewarded with a barrage of kicks before the child became quiescent.

“You know, sweetie, if our calculations are right, you should be over twenty-five weeks now. We could redo those charms to see how correct they were.”

She turned to look at him, staring silently, unnerving him.

“Hermione?”

“What if it's not yours?”

“Sweetie, I thought we covered this. I won't hurt the baby, I swear.” He had begun rubbing her belly, which had grown nice and big. She was over six months pregnant now and she showed every bit of it. He loved her belly, even if the child wasn't his. Her baby belly proved her status as a woman to him, he didn't care about her age – she could have been thirteen or thirty – he just liked that nice, big, ripe belly full of baby. And those tits that grew along with her belly. “I just thought you'd want to know for sure.”

“Yes, I guess it would be nice. To know, for sure. I guess.”

He looked at her quietly for a moment, noting that her voice was kind of flat; she certainly didn't sound enthused to find out anything new about her pregnancy. Lately, he was the only one excited about the baby coming. He pulled the covers down and got on his knees as he summoned the pregnancy charm book; he redid the charms several times, using the book to make sure he was performing them correctly, and came out with the same results – the child was a girl, it was Ron's, and she was now exactly twenty-five weeks and two days pregnant.

“Well, sweetie, at least now we know for sure.” He summoned a calendar and figured out her due date. “You're due May 27th according to this.” He looked at her and saw she was staring up at the ceiling.

“Hermione?”

“Yes?” She continued to stare at the ceiling.

“What's the matter? You're more melancholy than usual.”

“I don't know. I'm just tired, I guess.” She continued to stare at the ceiling. At that moment, she felt like it would take too much energy to move her eyes; even talking was taking a lot of energy. She didn't know why Sirius seemed happy about the baby, other than the milk part – it wasn't his baby so he shouldn't care, not really.

She thought about how Mistress Bella was thrilled with her belly and had been sharing her excitedly with certain select fellow Death Eaters who would be careful about whom they mentioned her to. Hermione found that the men were actually pretty careful with her and didn't jar her or do things to her like Mistress and Master Rodolphus did. One of them had even warned Mistress to be careful today, which angered her – and she took it out on Hermione when the Death Eaters left. What was it about a pregnant woman that made the men more careful with her, but yet they'd kill a child without a second thought? Well, she supposed they would. They all had the air of being dangerous, but yet they were careful with her, even if she was a Mudblood to them. Were they family men, like Mr. Malfoy? Maybe she reminded them of their wives?

Mr. Malfoy had been the first one Mistress had shared her with - she had been so frightened when he showed up it wasn't funny, nearly ready to pee in her knickers (if she had had any on), truth be told. When Mistress told him about her, she saw how his eyes lit up at the thought of Harry Potter's Mudblood friend being a captive, but then his eyes changed somehow when Mistress told him she was pregnant. She had watched him warily as he slowly walked up to her; her hands had been tied behind her back and she couldn't protect her belly if he did anything to her, so she had tried to turn herself a little to make her belly a smaller target. He stood a moment, as if he was thinking while looking down at her, then reached a hand out and rubbed her belly softly, she thought almost tenderly, a few times before taking her, not violently, not like she had expected, but not like a tender lover, either. His actions had forced her to reevaluate her feelings for the man, he wasn't loving towards her, nothing of the sort, but he wasn't the brutal beast she had expected. For instance, she discovered that he wasn't into the whipping type stuff that intrigued Mistress – he called it “barbaric”, “uncouth”, and “not befitting a Malfoy”; Hermione had been so relieved when he said those things, especially since Mistress frequently shared her with Mr. Malfoy, that she felt an odd sort of affection towards him. She didn't know why, because she truly didn't like the man, but she hoped that his refusal to do those things were because he really didn't want to and not merely because he felt those acts beneath him. Somehow, thinking he truly didn't want to do those things because he knew they would harm her was important, though she couldn't fathom why.

She cringed at the thought that Mistress kept trying to talk Mr. Malfoy into bringing Draco with him during his visits, but, so far, Mr. Malfoy always came alone, much to her relief. She hoped against hope that he would decide that sharing a Mudblood with his son was beneath a Malfoy as well.

She thought about the other Death Eaters Mistress brought in to share her with, constantly worrying over who she may see. She tried hard to keep from looking at them, hoping this would keep her from seeing if anyone in particular was in amongst the group. She tried hard to keep from thinking about Professor Snape, fearful she would disclose his work for the Order. Especially now that she knew that Mistress' knowing what she was thinking was a magical type of mind reading called Legilimency. She wondered if Professor Snape knew Mistress had her, if he had shared this with Professor Dumbledore, and if they were working on saving her.

So far, she was thankful in a way, that Mr. Malfoy was the only one who was allowed to use her alone. She truly worried about looking up and seeing Professor Snape enter the room, she feared him and could think of all kinds of nasty things he'd do to her. The worst thing about it was that he knew her as a student, and somehow that made the situation feel dirtier than it already was – as it is, a fellow student's father, Aunt, and Uncle were raping her repeatedly and she feared said student would show up someday as well. Oh, she hoped that never happened.

“Hermione?” Sirius' voice cut into her musing. She looked at him, waiting for him to continue. She did love him, she supposed, but he had been even more cruel to her than the Death Eaters had been, so far anyway – well, except Mistress and her husband. Maybe, once the baby was born, the other men would be mean with her, too. She didn't want to think about that. She looked at Sirius and wondered, yet again, why he liked to do unpleasant things to her. She didn't mind the swinging from the ceiling thing, sort of, especially since he really seemed to like it, except that she had to be so tightly bound that she couldn't move and she was afraid of falling. But she minded the spanking and flogging, and stuff like that. Spanking hurt at first; yes, it felt good, sort of, after a while, but she would rather not do it. Flogging was the same, it was scary to feel those things hitting her. Yes, she tingled afterwards, but still, she'd rather not do it. Being tied up? Without any control? Or having the chains on her and walking her like a dog? No, she didn't like that stuff, not at all. So far, Sirius hadn't done some of the nasty stuff Master Kreacher liked, the 'bathroom stuff', as she called it. She didn't know what she'd do if he did that to her. She shook her head, trying to shake these thoughts from her head. If he would just stay nice, like he was now, well, for the most part, she wouldn't mind staying with him. He just didn't seem to know when to stop once he got started.

She remembered that day they tested her to find out if she was pregnant, how he had used that podium and chained her to the floor. She didn't like that at all, not at all, it had frightened her – and she hated how her body seemed to betray her and respond to them, making them think she wanted them to treat her like that. It reminded her too much of when she first came down, how they had chained her to the ceiling and floor and whipped her. She still got angry with herself for having an orgasm while smothering with the wet pillowcase over her head; she still couldn't sleep with one on her pillow. And anger bubbled up within her when she thought about how she'd beg them to do things; it seemed as if she'd get so excited that she'd spew out anything if she thought it excited them as well, and that seemed to excite her further. It was strange, to hate feeling a certain way, but yet being so engrossed in that feeling that it would block out your sense of self, making you act like someone else. So far, she had tried not to think about all that stuff, trying to pretend, in a way, that it was a bad dream. But, she feared she'd never wake up from the bad dream, she'd never be rescued. And the dream kept getting worse, going from bad dream to nightmare.

She turned over onto her side, her back to Sirius, her fingers playing with the hated pearl-encrusted birthday-collar he had given her with that heart declaring her a sex slave – she still couldn't fathom how he would think she'd like it. She closed her eyes, she just didn't want to think about those things, but the thoughts kept coming anyway, and she struggled to shut them out when they popped up, but they kept coming. She wanted to think good things about Sirius, the man she wanted to be her lover and protector - she didn't want to think about him as an abuser. He had suffered himself, he knew how it felt, and yet he did it to her. She just didn't understand.

She wished she could talk to him about all this, but she worried he'd think she was being disrespectful, and she didn't want him to punish her. She had enough of that between Mistress and Master Kreacher. And, maybe, someday, the other Death Eaters, after the baby was born. She could hope, she supposed, that they'd lose interest in her once the baby was born, but somehow, she didn't think that would happen.

She felt Sirius' hand rubbing her belly, his lips to her ear. “Come on, babe, we've got hours of time to ourselves. Let's make the most of it.”

She sighed. To him, it was sex, sex, sex. She was tired of it. Him, Master Kreacher, Mistress, Master Rodolphus, the Death Eaters – everyone wanted to have sex with her. And not always nice sex, sometimes it sort of was, but usually it was unpleasant in one way or another. It was never nice with Mistress, no matter how hard she tried to please her. Kreacher got his jollies off, for the most part. The Death Eaters, so far, just wanted her to do for them while they lay back, making her do all the work and making her do things she was pretty sure they didn't make their wives do. She was often shamed at what she had to do. Shamed and sore.

“Sirius? Can't we just have a quiet night together?”

“Of course. It's not like I was planning to have a big party or anything.”

“No, I mean, well.....what did you want to do?”

“Babe, it's Valentine's Day, the day for lovers. What did you think I wanted to do?”

Hermione sighed into her pillow as she rolled over, preparing herself to make him happy. To think, just a few months ago she had been upset because Sirius lost interest in her for a few days and now she would give anything for that to happen again. Just for a few days, she couldn't afford for him to permanently lose interest, else he'd go for Ginny. She remembered, too well, the jealousy she had felt when she saw her man touching Ginny, even if he was forced into it. And, if he went for Ginny, what would become of her?


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Authors notes, you may freely skip:

Important dates from books, some things change because Hermione isn't there:
January 11, 1996 – Date Snape tells Harry he will be giving him Occlumency lessons.
February 14, 1996 – Date Hermione would have forced Rita Skeeter to take Harry's interview, which, of course, never happened in this story.
February 23, 1996 – Date the Quibbler would have printed Harry's interview. Educational Decree #27 (banning the Quibbler from Hogwarts) never made in this story.
Hint: look at the story dates and compare them to the dates listed above.
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Wanted to comment... When Sirius thinks: “ Her baby belly proved her status as a woman to him”, I did NOT mean to imply that women who can't conceive are not woman enough for a man. My first child took me five years to conceive, so I know the heartache that goes with fearing you'll never have a child of your own. I was stuck with a husband who refused to be tested and refused to adopt, so I was lucky that I finally got pregnant without intervention. Then I wound up having five children (lost one at five months gestation) total. I am so grateful for that. However, I don't want to insult anyone with that comment – it's just Sirius' twisted thinking...
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Night terrors (of course, I'm pushing the limits in the story on this):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Night_terror
http://www.sleepeducation.com/Disorder.aspx?id=13
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That recurring dream of Hermione's, about the big, green things, were dreams I used to have. I used to try and climb into the dresser drawer in my sleep, trying to get away from the big, green monsters that roared. Sometimes I was actually successful in getting into the drawer though I never managed to close it in real-life but in my dreams I somehow did, and I can remember hearing the monsters attacking my siblings, hearing them screaming in agony. In my dream, if I could have gotten the courage up to climb out of the dresser drawer, I knew the monsters would leave my siblings alone and only attack me, but I never had the courage. Thirty some years later, I still remember the terror of those dreams.
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Anyway, I thought that dream fit in well with this story. I'll give a round of applause to someone who guesses what the dreams represent (in the story)...

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