Inside the Blackest Heart (Edit, Not Update)

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to JKR. All situations are mine. No $$$ is being made from this fanfic.
*******************************

Chapter 23 ~ A Conversation with Snape

Snape sat at the Head table eating a rare steak and potatoes none the worse for wear. He had healed his cracked ribs with a powerful healing potion he had created himself to treat injuries received from the Dark Lord. One day he planned to market it, if he were ever freed of his service to Albus and Voldemort, and managed to live. The Professor looked up when the doors to the Great Hall opened, and Miss Granger entered with her backpack slung over her shoulder.

He looked at the witch curiously. Hermione had an excited flush on her face as she took her seat at the Gryffindor table. She began pulling platters toward her, filling her plate. Her appetite was still quite large judging by the amount of food she gathered. Harry and Ron were conspicuously absent. Ron was still in the infirmary with his ass’s head still in braying evidence. The Potions Master smirked at the memory of the red-tufted donkey-faced wizard. He didn’t know where Harry was. Probably on the Quidditch pitch, knowing the young wizard’s love of the game.

Snape looked toward Hermione again, hooding his eyes so his gaze would not be obvious. The Dark Lord had ordered him to try and turn her to evil, to stay close to her, and to continue to fuck her. Though the Professor originally had no intentions of indulging Miss Granger again, he found the idea of someone as despised and hated as he fucking and brutalizing the most powerful witch in existence quite arousing. Even if he could not choke her anymore, he could tear into her body the way he wished. There was an element of danger to the act that he found quite appealing. But he had to get her to agree to continue her association with him. He had to do more than that actually. He would have to get her to confide in him, so he would know how to proceed with her.

Suddenly Snape was aware Hermione was looking at him. The expression on her face reminded him of her when she was an overzealous first year student dying to tell him some kernel of information or an observation. He scowled at the witch out of habit, but her expression didn’t change. The Potions Master glanced down the table at Albus, who was looking at Miss Granger as she looked at him. There was something malicious beneath the Headmaster’s genteel expression that made Snape feel a little colder than usual inside. He began to eat again, wondering when he could arrange a talk with Miss Granger. Possibly tonight, when she was on her rounds.

*****************************

Hermione headed toward the dungeons corridor. She didn’t catch any snogging or shagging students tonight while on her rounds, probably due to the curfew Dumbledore imposed on the student body because of Ron’s transfiguration. Normally, Hermione would have felt guilty about the entire school being punished for something she had done, purposely or not, but she found she didn’t feel any remorse about it. She could move freely through the school after the curfew, so Dumbledore’s proclamation didn’t affect her. And if it didn’t affect her, why should she worry about it?

She continued down the hall, checking niches and secret rooms. Again she found no one. She approached the Potions Master’s door, and hesitated. Did she dare disturb him? If she did, would he assume she had come back for more of the same treatment he had given her the night before? She didn’t want that from him. She just wanted to talk to him and see if he were all right after his visit to the Dark Lord. Of course, he wouldn’t appreciate her concern and by rights, he didn’t deserve her concern, but she couldn’t help how she felt.

As she stood there debating, the door to the Potion’s office was flung open, and Professor Snape stood there, looking down at her, his eyes glittering.

“Miss Granger,” he purred, “Is there a reason you are standing in front of my door?”

“Ah, no sir,” Hermione said, “I was just doing my rounds.”

The Professor studied the witch’s face.

“Don’t lie to me, Miss Granger. It is obvious by your expression there is something you wish to talk to me about. Come in here now,” he said commandingly, opening the door wider and stepping aside.

Hermione hesitated. The Potions Master scowled.

“Miss Granger, I don’t want to stand here all night holding the door open and letting what scant heat my office holds be sucked out into the dungeons. Come along!” he sneered.

Hermione walked into his office and sat down in the hard wooden chair in front of Snape’s desk. The Potions Master had purposely put the uncomfortable chair there to keep his students off balance when they came to talk with him. His chair swiveled, and was comfortable upholstered. The Potions Master warded his office and put a silencing charm around the room. He then walked around his desk and sat down, looking at Hermione expectantly. When she didn’t speak, he sighed.

“Miss Granger, I don’t have all night,” he said tiredly. He was very interested to know what the witch had to say.

“Professor Snape, please don’t tell the Headmaster I’m a Primordial!” Hermione blurted out.

Snape was shocked that the witch had discovered her own secret. He was doubly shocked that she knew he knew. He decided to find out exactly how much she knew.

“Miss Granger, what are you talking about?” he asked her.

She settled her amber eyes on him measuringly.

“I know you were in the library looking up spell-less magic today, Professor, after what happened to Ron in the Great Hall, and what happened to your ink in class. I read the same book you did. You sped up the process, Professor, when you fucked me last night. I am a Primordial, and my powers are growing. You know what that means,” she said evenly.

“Yes I do, Miss Granger,” the Potions Master replied, “it means that a great amount of power will be in the hands of someone not able to make her own decisions. It means you will be a powerful puppet for others, that’s what it means.”

Hermione winced at the Potions Master’s puppet reference. It made her think of the vision.

She frowned at him slightly.

“I assure you, Professor, I have no intentions of being anyone’s puppet. When my powers fully manifest, I will control my own life. No one will control me,” she said darkly.

Snape raised his eyebrows at this. She fully intended to use her powers for her own agenda. Well done, Miss Granger.

“But I need to hide what is happening to me until I can consciously control my magical abilities. As it stands, I am physically mature enough to have awakened the powers, but they only manifest in response to my emotional state. If I am angry or upset. I need to be able to feel emotions and keep the magic from reacting. Once I can do that, then I will be able to consciously direct it, and come to full power. If Dumbledore finds this out, he won’t let me leave at the end of the year,” she said.

Snape’s expression went dark.

“Leave, Miss Granger? You are going somewhere after graduation?” he asked, his stomach tightening. Albus would never let her leave his influence. Especially now that her powers were manifesting.

“Yes. I talked to the Headmaster today, and tested him as you suggested. I want to take a year off after graduation, to spend with my family before starting work in the Order. He hedged a little, but finally agreed. He didn’t try to manipulate me into staying like you claimed he would,” she said rather smugly. The Potions Master ran his pale hand over his face and looked at Hermione keenly.

“Miss Granger, where are your parents?” he asked her.

“Why?” Hermione asked him, looking at him suspiciously.

“I need to know where your parents live, Miss Granger. They are in danger,” he said evenly, “I will arrange protection for them.”

“In danger? How? Why? Shouldn’t we tell Dumbledore?” she asked, standing up now and pacing.

“No!” the Professor hissed. “No. Don’t tell Dumbledore,” he said shortly.

“Why?” Hermione asked. She had a stubborn look to her.

Snape sighed. The witch wasn’t stupid. He would have to come clean. Partially.

“Miss Granger, what I am about to tell you can go no further. I need you to give me a Wizard’s Oath not to reveal me as the source of this information, ever, in any manner.” he said in a low voice.

A Wizard’s Oath would not only keep Hermione from revealing Snape as her source, but it would also lock the memories of their exchange in her mind, unable to be revealed by veritaserum or drawn out into a pensieve.

With her parent’s lives in the balance, Hermione quickly agreed and magic swirled about them, sealing her Oath.

“Miss Granger, others are aware of who you are becoming, and want your powers for their own. They are willing to do anything to keep you under their influence or bring you to their side. If they cannot do this, they will attempt to kill you before you come to full power. Have no doubt about that. You can trust no one, Miss Granger. No one,” he said.

“Not even you, Professor?” she asked, blinking her amber eyes at him. He looked at her speculatively.

“Miss Granger, I’m afraid that I would most definitely be interested in influencing a Primordial to reach my own ends,” he said honestly.

Hermione considered him.

“And what are those ends, Professor. World domination?” she asked, her eyes narrowed.

The Potions Master gave an ugly chuckle.

“No, Miss Granger. Those two words are at the bottom of all my misery. My ends are simple. To be free of both Dumbledore and Voldemort. Out of the middle of their power struggle. They are the ones would want to control the world. I just want to live in it, free to do as I please.”

Hermione cocked her head at him.

“That’s really all I want too, Professor. To be free to live as I want,” Hermione said.

Snape scowled at her.

“No one will want that, Miss Granger. No one has ever wanted that for you since you arrived in the wizarding world. At first it was your formidable mind that was to be harnessed to think outside the limited box of the magical world. You were to create spells and weapons to destroy the opposition…” he said. Hermione interrupted him.

“Voldemort,” she said, almost in a whisper. Snape shook his head.

“The opposition, Miss Granger. Currently, Voldemort is the main opposition, but there are others as well. Less flamboyant, but still opposition. The Ministry, the Wizengamot , the International Consortium of Wizarding States among others…” Snape said. “The same institutions that Voldemort would remove if he were to come to power.”

Hermione’s amber eyes widened.

“But that would mean Dumbledore…but no, he is on the side of the Greater Good!” she exclaimed.

Snape interlaced his fingers.

“Miss Granger, sometimes the lines between good and evil become blurred, and they become one and the same. Dumbledore has the Order and Voldemort has his deatheaters. The mode of operation is surprisingly similar, except you do not hear about all of the Order’s exploits as you do the deatheater’s. I am privy to both sides and know how they operate. To claim Dumbledore’s “good” is better than Voldemort’s “evil” is something I cannot do.”

Hermione absorbed this, her brow wrinkled. Dumbledore wanting to rule the world? It was just too crazy. He was the Headmaster. He was the one spearheading the fight against Voldemort.

“I find this hard to believe, Professor. But still, I need your word you will not tell Dumbledore about my powers,” she said.

“He already knows you idiot girl!” Snape snapped at her, “Aren’t you listening to me? How can you be so intelligent and so fucking stupid at the same time? And if you think he’s going to allow you to leave for a year, you are insane!”

The Potions Master struggled to regain his composure as the witch stared at him.

“Miss Granger, your only hope in surviving to become a full-fledged Primordial is to pretend to go along just as you have done, developing your powers in secret and not letting anyone know how far you’ve come along. Not even your friends.”

“Harry already knows. And Ron will too in a bit,” Hermione replied.

Snape shook his head. Well, Potter and Weasley did manage to keep an extraordinary amount of secrets. They might not purposely divulge Hermione’s secret.

“I suggest you bind both of them under a Wizard’s Oath as soon as possible,” he said, rubbing his forehead again, then looking at her with bright eyes.

“Your parents need protection, Miss Granger,” he said again. “Tell me where they are.”

Hermione scowled. “How do I know you won’t tell Voldemort?”

The Potions Master stared at her.

“I intend to tell Voldemort,” he said shortly.

“What?” said Hermione, staring at the Potions Master as if he were crazy.

“Miss Granger, the reason I was summoned today is because Voldemort sensed your growing powers. He knows you are a Primordial and wants me to bring you over to the dark side, by whatever method.”

Here the Potions Master’s eyes took on a decidedly lustful look, before returning to the steady dark gaze he fixed the witch with. Hermione felt a throb in her belly, knowing the method he meant. The Potions Master continued

“My telling you this has made my life worthless. But Voldemort wants you as badly as Dumbledore. To get in your good graces he would not harm a hair of your parents’ heads. He would protect them. That is what I am proposing. That you accept his protection for your parents. That way he will not be scheming on other methods to win you over or kill you, and you will have time to learn to control your powers. Plus, you will see that all is not what it should be with the Headmaster when the inevitable attempt on your parents’ lives occurs.”

Hermione looked at the Professor, her eyes full of suspicion.

“Why are you trying to help me, Professor? You’re an evil man. You are caught between Dumbledore and Voldemort, but you still are a dark wizard. You are risking a lot telling me these things,” she said.

“You are under a Wizard’s Oath, Miss Granger. What I tell you will go no further. And as I told you before, I am not beyond trying to influence a Primordial. You wish to be free, and so do I. Ultimately, the only way you are going to be free is to end this asinine power struggle between Albus and Voldemort permanently, or both will be trying to claim you or kill you for the rest of your life. As a Primordial, this will be within your power to do, if you have some direction. My assisting you is not for any other reason than I want to be free, and to manipulate you into a position where you can rid me of both of them,” he said evenly.

“So, you want to manipulate me too,” she said.

“Yes, but the only difference is, you know it Miss Granger,” he replied, “my manipulations are not for control or gain, but for freedom.”

Hermione considered this. Of the three wizards who would use her for their own ends, the Professor’s agenda was the one most closely aligned with her own. His hatred of both Dumbledore and Voldemort was insurance that he would not double-cross her, she hoped. He had no morals, no conscience, but he was a self-serving bastard, and in this case that was his strength and what compelled her to say what she did.

“I’ll accept the Dark Lord’s help,” she said, “tell him to protect my parents, and that I will be very grateful for his protection.”

Snape looked at her in surprise for a moment. Then his dark eyes slitted.

“A very Slytherin decision, Miss Granger,” he said silkily, knowing he had been accepted as a kind of partner in her deception. She had turned, not necessarily to evil, but at least to serving her own self-interests. This was a milestone.

“I know,” Hermione said with a slight, dark smile. Then she told Snape her parents’ address.

****************************
A/N: Wow, this was a draining chapter to write. Snape just spilled it all, counting on Hermione to either accept it or reject it, putting himself at risk in the process. He is not doing this for her, but for him. Please review.