Payback is a Witch

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to JKR. All situations are mine. No $$$ is being made from this fanfic.
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Chapter 22 ~ The Dark Knight

Severus appeared silently in front of Hermione's home. Her waves of terror fairly rolled over him as he approached the door. As much as he wanted to go to the witch, his experience told him caution was necessary. He tried the door and found it open. Slowly and quietly he entered the house.

"Open up, damn it. I'm not going to tell you again witch," said an angry male voice.

Severus' eyes turned hard as stone and he drew his wand, stealthily walking through the foyer and leaning to look into of the living room. He saw Hermione bound naked to a chair, and a masked wizard standing in front of her, his hips thrust out. The Potions Master felt rage pour through his body.

"Get away from her!" Severus roared, firing a blast at Fletch and hitting him, sending the startled wizard flying down the hallway.

The Potions Master ran forward, past Hermione to the fallen criminal, dropped his wand, dragged him up by his collar and began to beat Fletch viciously in the face, blood flying as his bony knuckles collided with his nose and mouth over and over again.

"There are two of them!" Hermione screamed just as Jackson ran up the hallway, his wand extended.

Severus held Fletch up just as Jackson fired a blast, blocking it then threw the unconscious wizard at his comrade, who staggered back as they collided. The Potions Master grabbed his wand and stunned Jackson before he could recover. He then stalked down the hall, plucked the wizard's wand out of his hand and put it in his pocket and bound them both securely. The wizard dragged both of them into the living room, a trail of blood left behind by Fletch, dropped them hard, then turned to Hermione, who looked at him with wide eyes.

She certainly looked delicious naked and all tied up.

Severus pointed his wand at her and removed her bonds, then unfastened his robes, took them off and covered her, guiding Hermione to the sofa and sitting her down. The witch was trembling.

"Are you all right?" the wizard asked her, his black eyes searching her face.

"No," she said in a whisper, her eyes resting on the bloody Fletch, "He was going to rape me."

Severus looked at the blonde-haired wizard, his nostrils flared and felt like stomping the life out of him as he groaned. He walked over to the fallen wizards and yanked down their bandanas. His eyes glittered murderously.

"Vargas," he thought.

"Stay here," Severus said to Hermione. He walked outside and fired a red burst into the sky, the signal for Auror assistance, then re-entered the house.

"They were robbing the house. I came back to get the paperwork for the spell and walked in on them," Hermione said weakly, clutching Severus' robes around herself. Then she looked up at him.

"How did you know to come?" Hermione asked the wizard, who sat down beside her.

"I felt your terror," he replied shortly.

Hermione stared at him a moment, thanking the gods he had that connection with her. If he hadn't….

"Thank you, Severus," she said softly.

He blinked at her several moments, then asked, "Do you know what they took?"

"The dark-haired one has my file cabinet in his pocket. They got into my lab by cutting a hole in the floor behind the armchair. I don't know what else they took," she said.

Severus stood up and walked back over to the wizards. He kicked Fletch over and checked his pocket. He found some jewelry. Then he turned Jackson over and dug through his robes until he found the file cabinet and removed it. He kicked the groaning Fletch in the stomach as hard as he could, the wizard vomiting.

"If you had succeeded in abusing the Potions Mistress wizard, I would have killed you," he hissed at the retching man. "With my bare hands I would have killed you."

Normally Hermione would have protested such viciousness, but in this case, she held her tongue, marveling how angry Severus was as he addressed the man. Would he kill for her? Yes, looking at the hatred on the pale wizard's face as he looked at the man, she had no doubt Severus would have killed him. He looked as if he wanted to kill him now.

"Hermione!" a male voice cried.

Ronald Weasley tore into the room followed by several Aurors. His blue eyes rested on Severus, then Hermione, then the two bound wizards on the floor.

"What happened here?" Ron addressed Severus angrily as if he thought the wizard had something to do with it.

The Auror didn't know anything about the Potions Master's past with Hermione. He despised Severus so much, Hermione thought it best not to tell the red-haired wizard about her encounters with him. Ron would have blown a torch and probably want to seek revenge for her.

Severus looked at Ron distastefully for a moment, then replied, "Apparently these gentlemen were in the process of robbing Mistress Granger's home when she walked in on them. Here is one of their wands."

Severus handed the Auror Jackson's wand as Ron looked at Fletch's ruined face.

"And what happened to him?" he asked Snape, an eyebrow raised.

"He was attempting to force himself on the Mistress when I entered. I treated him accordingly," the Potions Master said, looking at Fletch grimly as the Aurors hauled him to his feet.

Ron blanched, then walked over to Hermione swiftly and took both her hands in his.

"Are you all right, Hermione? Did he get to you in any way?" Ron asked her.

"No. He was close to it when Severus came in and saved me," Hermione said.

Ron looked at Severus suspiciously. How did the wizard know to arrive in the nick of time? Did he set this up somehow?

"I find it strange that you were right here when the crime was occurring, Professor," Ron said to him, "Why did you come here? Normally Hermione is at work this time, and you at Hogwarts," Ron said.

Severus looked at Ron for a moment. He couldn't tell him about the connection…that would open up all kinds of questions about the Switch potion and an uncontrolled experiment.

"Mistress Granger contacted me by two-way mirror about nine-thirty this morning and told me she forgot some important paperwork she needed to file at the Ministry and asked if I could fetch them for her. I told her if I could find the time I would before the day was out. Obviously, she believed I wouldn't do so and came here herself, finding the robbers. I arrived to retrieve the paperwork and discovered her situation," the Potions Master lied smoothly.

Hermione stared at the wizard wide-eyed as both he and Ron turned to look at her.

"The quaffle is in her court," Severus thought, looking at the witch expressionlessly.

"Is this true, Hermione?" Ron asked her, his blue eyes narrowed.

Hermione swallowed, then nodded weakly.

Ron still looked at the pale wizard suspiciously. Something wasn't on the up and up.

"All right," Ron said, turning to the bound wizards held up by the Aurors. "Bring them along."

He made a very ugly face at Fletch as he was dragged by. So this bastard tried to rape Hermione eh? He wouldn't have a very pleasant time down at the Ministry. Ron would make sure of that. The Auror turned to Hermione as the crack of apparition sounded outside.

"You're going to have to come down to the Ministry and make a statement against these two, Hermione," he said to the witch who nodded. Then he looked at Snape as if he expected the wizard to leave too.

Severus stood there stoically, his black eyes gleaming at the Auror.

"I assume you'll be going, Professor Snape?" Ron asked him with a little edge to his voice.

"As soon as Mistress Granger returns my robes," the Potions Master replied.

Ron looked at Hermione and realized she was wearing the Professor's teaching robes. She must be naked under them.

"You want me to wait Hermione?" he asked her, his blue eyes shifting to Severus.

"No. You can go Ron. I'll be fine," she said.

Ron looked hesitant. Severus sighed.

"Mr. Weasley, surely you don't think I am hanging about to assault Mistress Granger the moment you leave?" he said snarkily.

Ron did kind of think that, though he knew it was ridiculous.

"No, I don't," Ron said, kissing Hermione on her cheek and walking toward the door.

"The paperwork will be waiting for you," he said to Hermione. "I'm glad you're all right."

Ron exited the house. He didn't thank Severus for saving his friend.

Severus stared down at Hermione and she rose from the sofa.

"I'm going to put on some clothes. I'll be right back," she said, walking down the hall, the hem to Severus' robes dragging on the floor behind her. The wizard sat down. He had been tempted to say, "Don't rush on my account," but considering the circumstances the comment would have been entirely out of line and would have started a row between them. He didn't want that. He still wanted to talk to Hermione about their connection.

Presently the witch returned, looking no worse for wear, but her eyes still looked a bit traumatized. She handed Severus his robes.

"Thank you," she said again. "If you hadn't come Severus…"

Hermione shuddered again as she thought of Fletch's red, smelly organ moving toward her mouth. Severus felt her wave of disgust wash over him.

"That wizard truly disgusted you, didn't he, Hermione?" the wizard asked her quietly.

"Gods yes. He smelled and…eww…I don't want to talk about it," the witch said with another shudder.

He looked down at her as he put his robes back on. Hermione looked up at him, her face curious.

"Severus, did you mean what you said to that wizard? About killing him?" the witch asked the wizard.

"I most certainly did," Severus growled, fastening up his robes. "He's lucky I arrived when I did. If I had walked in here and found him forcing himself on you…"

"But killing him, Severus?" Hermione asked him.

Severus looked at her rather possessively. Hermione felt a knot form in her stomach.

"He would have deserved it," the wizard said firmly.

Hermione scowled at him. "But you're guilty of the same thing concerning me," she said somewhat accusingly.

Severus frowned at her.

"Hermione, when are you going to take some responsibility for what happened years ago? Neither time did I force myself on you. You could have said no. And the second time around, witch…you enjoyed my attentions. You told me so yourself. And you agreed to let me fuck you the last time we were together. All three times you were given your choice, unlike me when you fucked me while I was trapped in your body. I didn't have the option of saying no to you."

The witch blinked up at him. He was right. She needed to come to terms with the truth. Severus moved in quickly.

"Hermione…I truly need to talk to you about the residual connection I have to you and what happened between us the last time. There are other aspects you don't know about, but I have to get back to Hogwarts. It is very important witch," he said sincerely.

Hermione frowned at him.

"How do I know you won't feed me a sack of lies, Severus? You aren't the most trustworthy wizard," Hermione said, "You could tell me anything to try to pull me over to your way of thinking."

Severus looked at her. He hated doing this, but it was the only thing he could think of to persuade the witch to listen to him.

"I will talk to you under veritaserum, with the stipulation we will only talk about our situation. A wizard's oath you will ask me nothing else," he said.

Hermione looked at him. He was willing to take veritaserum in order for her to listen to him. That was a huge concession.

"I can provide the veritaserum?" Hermione asked him. She wasn't about to let the wizard bring his own. It could be doctored.

Severus nodded.

"I would expect no less," he replied.

Hermione looked at him. What he wanted to talk about must be very important to the wizard indeed if he were willing to bare his soul like this.

"All right," she said, "You can come by Friday at seven."

The wizard nodded.

"Thank you Hermione," he said, his black eyes glittering at her.

"Don't thank me, Severus. I may find out you are a worse bastard than I already take you for," she replied as she started toward the door. They both had to get back to work.

"Yes, there is that," he agreed, "but you may find out something else as well."

Hermione snorted.

"I highly doubt that," she responded.

Severus scowled at her for a moment, tempted to take her to task for being so flippant to a man who had just saved her from being sexually assaulted. But he held his tongue as they crossed the threshold. Severus walked a few paces away from the witch, who was warding her door. She turned toward him.

"I'll see you on Friday," the wizard said, disapparating.

Hermione stared at the empty space for a moment, then disapparated as well.

Friday was going to be very eye-opening.

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A/N: Woo. Severus saves the day. Hermione is still down on him however, but she did lie to Ron. Wise thing too…a lot would have come out she didn't want known. Anyway, please review.