Amidst the Ruins

Chapter III

Hermione let out a yelp as her shoulders hit the cold, hard wooden door. She was beginning to think that Snape was not really on her side. He was not affected by their potion because he had been a part of it all along. Her mind screamed out to run, to get away, to save herself but as she struggled pointlessly against his rough administrations the thought occurred to her that he was much stronger than she was and she would be going nowhere unless he wanted her to. It was this thought that stilled her, for he had yet to truly hurt her. Yes, she would have bruised shoulders later but he was not still grounding her into the door. Snape then put his arm around her lower back and pulled her into a crushing embrace and covered her mouth with a bruising kiss. She tried to push him away from her but as her breasts heaved against his smooth, hard chest she relented and let his tongue slip into her mouth. Snape’s kiss became soft as she yielded to him and he lost himself in the moment forgetting that a Death Eater was present and staring right at him. Snape’s mind came back to him as suddenly as it had wandered off. He paused for a split second from complete and utter shock. The realization hit him then that she had given in to him, he had been so sure that since this was not planned she would fight him all the way and make it look even more realistic. Snape quickly hid his amazment and resumed his rough attentions to her for fear Lucious would notice that he was not being himself.

“Don’t forget to leave a little for us Serverus.” Lucious said with a malicious grin.

Lucious turned and strode off down the hall as Snape pulled Hermione, still entangled in their kiss, into his office and shut the door. She was almost absolutely sure Snape had started this all as a show but somewhere in the middle of it, it seemed he had begun to enjoy his performance. Without warning he let go of her as suddenly as he had grabbed her as if she had brought him appalling thoughts from his past and he began to pace about his office with a grim look on his face. Hermione stumbled slightly from the sudden lack of support. She stood in the middle of his office breathless with a dumbfounded look on her face.

“What just happened?!” Hermione demanded.

“I just saved your life you insolent little girl. Now be quiet while I try to figure out the best way to get out of here and where to go from there.”

Hermione tried to think of a plan but was failing miserably as her mind kept wandering back to the kiss that happened only moments before. Why wasn’t she disgusted? She had just been kissed by Professor Snape. Shouldn’t she be ill by now? Great she had obviously lost her mind, next she would be chasing the headmaster himself down the hallways like some lovesick puppy.

Just then the obvious popped into Hermione’s head.

“Why don’t we sneak off of Hogwart’s grounds and apparat?” Hermione suggested.

“Because then they could trace us. I would expect more from Hogwart’s own little miss-know-it-all.” Snape said in a scathing tone.

“We’ll just have to fly out of here. We won’t have time to collect any of our belongings.” He said curtly.

Snape went to one of his closets and pulled out his broom and his long black cloak. He hastily cast a quick spell on himself so that he now stood in his full school robes, he then turned to Hermione and eyed her with a discriminating look:

\"If I were you Miss Granger, I would change your harlot attire to something more suitable for a long, cold flight.\"

Hermione put on a brave face and transfigured her outfit to look somewhat like a regulation school uniform. She would not let him know that she had been hurt by his cutting comment. Snape then commanded Hermione to follow him into his private quarters, and when he came to the two bulky, damask curtains at the back of his quarters he pushed them aside to reveal two immense windows that looked out onto the dark lake. There was a full moon that night and the stars shone brightly. Not ideal conditions to escape unnoticed but they would have to do. As Snape mounted his broom Hermione looked at him quizzically and asked:

“I have to ride with you?” She hoped he hadn\'t noticed the tone of disgust in her voice but realized more than likely it was very apparant.

““Well, it’s not like I make plans for students to rudely interrupt me in the middle of the night and ask me to save them. I have only one broom. You may join me or stay here to find out just what it is that Death Eaters do to young girls.” He stated acerbically.

Hermione stood there with a look of disbelief.

“We don’t have all night Miss Granger, please close your gaping mouth and mount the broom in front of me. We still have a long way to go.”

Hermione gave an exasperated sigh and stepped over the broom handle and settled herself in front of Snape. She felt him put his strong arms around her and grab onto the broom in front of her then her feet gently rose off the hard, stone floor. The large windows unlatched themselves and swung open into the crisp night air and they were quickly rising high above Hogwarts. As Hermione looked down on the castle with all its windows lit up like tiny little jewels in the night she thought to herself that she may never see the castle again. For that matter she may never see her friends again.