Criminal Ravishment

Criminal Ravishment

Chapter 4

Hermione headed to dinner, petrified at the thought of Lucius’ reaction when he realized that she was not coming for her nightly visit. She tried to get his attention during dinner, but, as always, he ignored her. Serving herself some food, she began to play with it by mixing it together so if anyone noticed, it would look like she had eaten. Her stomach turned at the thought of eating.

Severus was sitting next to her and noticed her playing with her food again. “Miss Granger,” his voice was silky, “you need to actually place the food in your mouth if you want to receive its nutritional value.”

“Yes sir,” she replied, but she still did not eat. Severus looked more closely at her, noticing for the first time that her cheeks were sunken in and she had black circles around her eyes, displaying the weight she had lost and the stress she had been experiencing. He decided not to let her out of his sight until her detention was over, because he knew something was definitely wrong with her.

When Severus finished eating, he stood up and said, “Miss Granger, I believe it is time for your detention.”

Hermione glanced over at Lucius who was still ignoring her. “Yes sir,” she quietly said as she stood up and followed Severus out of the Great Hall. Her stomach turned,wingwing that she was going to pay for not showing up in Lucius’ room tonight. Maybe if she got out of detention early enough, she could sneak down there, but it was hopeless to expect a quick detention with Snape. She prayed Lucius would still love her in the morning.

Upon entering the dungeons, Professor Snape had a cauldron set up with the same ingredients that she had attempted to brew the sleeping potion with earlier that day. Next to the cauldron was a copy of the book she was to have read the night before.

“Miss Granger, for your detention, you will read the assignment and brew the sleeping potion, understand?”

“Yes sir,” she said as she walked over to the table, sat down, and began to read. At first she was hopeful that the detention would be short, but she quickly realized that the reading was a weeks\' worth of reading assignments that she had not done. Trying to comprehend the words on the page, her mind kept going back to Lucius, wondering whether he was angry with her or if maybe he just missed her.

Severus sat at his desk watching Hermione. Clearlyis wis was a different girl in front of him. The old Hermione, well, for one, she would not be in detention, and for another she would have been eager to read the assignment and anxious to brew the potion.

“Miss Granger,” hissed Snape, “I do not have all night. Please concentrate on the reading assignment so you can begin brewing the potion.” Hermione turned her attention back to the reading and read it again.

She read the assignment three times, not because she wanted to be well prepared, because it took her three times before she actually understood it. Finally she felt she was ready to brew the potion. Hermione laid out the ingredients in order and began to add them in the proper order. The potion took on a rich, yellow color as she added the crushed centipedes. Satisfied with the progress of the potion, she turned her attention to the set of vials that needed to be added. She reached for the first vial containing dragon’s blood. At the same time, Professor Snape walked over to observe her progress.

“ bet better Miss Granger,” his voice was silky, but he startled Hermione who did not realize he was standing behind her and the vial of dragon’s blood fell from her hand and shattered on the stone floor. Hermione instinctively cowered on the floor, covering her head defensively. Reacting as if she was with Lucius, she expected to be punished. Severus was shocked at the behavior she displayed, but recognized it was the reaction of a physically abused person.

‘Gods, what has he done to her,’ thought Severus. He took a deep breath, knowing the last thing Hermione needed was for him to yell at her.

Carefully, Severus knelt down next to Hermione and calmly said, “Miss Granger, I am not going to hurt you.” Hermione slowly looked at him as she still cowered on the floor. He reached out and placed his hand under her chin and raised her face to look at him.

“Hermione, it kay.kay. Nobody is going to hurt you.” Cautiously, Hermione looked around, realizing she was not with Lucius, but with Snape. Embarrassed at her reaction, she quickly tried to explain. “I’m - uh - Professor Snape, - I’m sorry,” was all she could say.

“Hermione, you are safe. I won’t let tou touch you anymore - ” the door flew open at that second and Lucius walked in. He saw Severus kneeling down next to Hermione with his hand under her chin. Lucius gave Hermione a cold stare and turned his attention to Severus.

“Interesting, Severus,” Lucius sneered, “I thought that you would be the last person to take a student and personally train her.” In one graceful movement, Severus rose to his feet and was standing inches from Lucius.

“Leave my dungeons!” Severus hissed as he stared at Lucius with a look that could kill. Lucius was not stupid. He knew Severus was more powerful and he would be a fool to take him on, especially since Severus was already angry. Before leaving, Lucius shot Hermione a look that let her know she would be punished.

With Lucius gone, Severus turned back to Hermione and tried to help her off the floor. He saw the fear in her eyes as she refused his help and tried to leave, but Severus was faster and grabbed her by the arm. Hermione flinched from the pain he inflicted.

“Hermione, I did not grab you that hard,” he said, quite puzzled by her reaction.

Ignoring him, Hermione desperately said, “I have to go!”

“Hermione, you are not going to him,” and Severus waved his wand, undoing the charms she had placed on herself. His suspicions were confirmed as the bruises that lined her face and neck were revealed. With his stomach turning, Severus gripped his wand tighter, knowing he was going to kill Lucius.

Without warning, there was an explosion down the hall. Both Severus and Hermione froze as they heard screaming. Severus ran to the door of the dungeons, but turned around to face Hermione before he left.

“Do not leave!” he hissed and then he ran out the door, but not before placing wards on his door.

Severus heard another explosion and ran in the direction it came from, the Slytherin common room. Upon entering the room, he saw that it was splattered from floor to ceiling with a brown slime that contained the undeniable odor of hemlock. This particular potion was forbidden to most of the wizarding community because of its inability to be brewed properly, and from Hogwarts because it was from the Dark Arts. Although it could be a powerful healing potion, if not brewed under a perfectly controlled environment, it was unstable, causing it to change from a healing potion to a killing potion. Seeing several dozen bodies unconscious on the floor, Severus knew he had only minutes to administer the antidote.

Turning around to retrieve the antidote, he found Albud Mid Minerva standing in the doorway.

“Cicutae?” asked Albus.

“Yes sir, I need to get the antidote,” Severus hissed as he stormed back to his dungeons.

When he arrived, the door to his dungeons had been blasted in. “SHIT!” he yelled, realizing Lucius had set up to whole explosion so he could take Hermione. There was no time to waste; Severus quickly searched his private stock for the antidote and immediately returned to the Slytherin common room.

Albus and Minerva had already cleaned up the potion that was dripping from the ceiling and the walls when Severus returned. Minerva was still waving her wand, cleaning the floor as Albus lined up the students who had been affected by the Cicut

“Albus, take this antidote and rub it on every spot the potion touched them, even the places it soaked through their clothing. The antidote can only touch the skin that was affected. You have less than fifteen minutes before it becomes fatal,” said Severus.

“Where are you going Severus?” Albus was almost afraid to ask, knowing his Potions Master would never leave a situation like this unless something else -.

“Lucius kidnapped Hermione. I need to find her.” Albus cringed as he nodded, watching his Potions Master storm out of the common room.

“Minerva, we have no time to waste. Summon every house elf in Hogwarts now!” Albus immediately began to administer the antidote to a third year Slytherin.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Severus stormed the halls of Hogwarts, searching for Hermione, trying to figure out where Lucius would take her. His instincts told him they were still here at Hogwarts. “May the gods have mercy on Lucius, because tonight the son of a bitch is going to die!” muttered Severus as he made his way to the Gryffindor common room. It had been nearly an hour and he needed help, knowing that every minute was a minute closer to Hermione’s death.

Approaching the Fat Lady, he hissed, “Let me in, this is an emergency!”

The Fat Lady smirked, “That is not the password, Head of Slytherin!”

“LET ME IN OR YOU WILL BECOME A MUGGLE PORTRAIT!” he said as he raised his wand. The Fat Lady screamed and the portrait swung open. Severus ran through the portrait, straight into the common room.

“POTTER!” he yelled. There were a few Gryffindors in the common room who all froze at the sight of the Potions Master storming around.

“WHERE IS POTTER?” he yelled.

“I’ll show you!” squeaked Ginny Weasley who took off toward the boys’ dorm room with Snape closely following her. “This is his room,” she pointed as Snape raised his wand and blasted the door off its hinges. In shock, Harry, who had been reading, jumped to his feet and stared in disbelief at Professor Snape.

“Leave us Miss Weasley,” he hissed without looking at her. Ginny took off running to find her brother, Ron.

“Potter, I know you have the Marauder’s Map,” his words were precise as he pronounced each one carefully so as not to have to repeat himself. “Hermione has been taken and I need to see the map now!”

Harry froze at Snape’s words.

“NOW!” he growled and Harry snapped back to reality and headed for his dresser where he retrieved the map and handed it to Snape. Harry quickly waved his wand and activated it as Snape stared intently at the map. His eyes searched it in vain, trying to locate Hermione. Finally, he saw the black dot labeled Hermione Granger. She was in the north tower on the highest floor. Searching the map again, he saw no sign of Lucius Malfoy. He gave the map back to Harry and ran out of Gryffindor, his black robes billowing behind him.

Harry knew Malfoy had something to do with this as he picked up the map and searched it. He saw the dot representing Hermione, but he did not see Malfoy’s dot either.

*I have changed Harry and Ron’s references to Lucius to ‘Malfoy’ because I don’t think it would in character for them to think of him as Lucius---similar to my argument in chapter 1 about Hermione.

“Harry! Are you okay? Ginny said Snape was up here and - ” asked Ron who just appeared in his doorway.

Shaking his head, “Malfoy took Hermione,” he hissed, showing him the Marauder’s Map. “Snape is on his way to get her. She needs us,” Harry told Ron.

“Lets go!” said Ron without a second thought. As they walked ou Gry Gryffindor, Ron was still looking at the map when he stopped.

“Harry, look!” Ron shouted, pointing to the map. Harry moved closer to look at it and saw the black dot labeled Lucius Malfoy. Harry also noticed the black dot labeled rus rus Snape was closing in on Hermione.

“Snape will reach Hermione in a few minutes. In the meantime, let’s pay Malfoy a visit!” hissed Harry and he and Ron took off in a sprint toward the DADA classroom.

Upon arriving at Malfoy’s door, Ron and Harry both began banging on the door. Professor Malfoy did not answer, so they placed charms on it, trying to open it, but it was no use.

“That bastard is going to pay!” Harry’s words carried more meaning that just paying back Malfoy for tonight, but for everything he had done in the past. Ron stormed the door once more when Albus came walking around the corner.

“Harry, Ron, please return to Gryffindor. I will deal with Professor Malfoy,” his voice was stern and the boys knew better than to object. Ron and Harry hesitated, but finally left.

Albus waved his wand, dropping the wards Lucius had placed on the door; the door opened and Albus walked in. Lucius was sitting at his desk, working.

“Albus, what a pleasant surprise!” Lucius said with a smile. “I don’t believe that I have had the honor of you visiting my classroom before.” Albus ignored his words as he made his way to Lucius.

“Lucius, have you seen Miss Granger?” asked Albus.

Lucius paused before he answered, “Yes, I saw Miss Granger in the dungeons with Severus. When I walked in, he threatened me as if I had walked in on something rather inappropriate. It was quite peculiar, to think of it. Severus was kneeling over her, holding her face in his hand. One would think he was getting ready to kiss her. You might want to keep an eye on him Albus. The man is so lonely; it’s a wonder that he is not having student relationships with more than just Miss Granger. Now, Albus, if you would excuse me. I have a lot of work to do.” Lucius turned his attention back to his work and Albus left.

Albus knew that it would be a waste of time to interrogate Lucius at this time. Albus needed to obtain proof of Lucius’ activities with Hermione first. In the meantime, he placed a tracker charm on him so that he could always monitor his location.

~*~*~*~*~

Severus finally reached the top room of the tower where the Marauder’s Map had shown Hermione’s location. There were several wards he had to override before he could access the door. Upon entering the room, he murmured, “Lumos,” and several torches lit up. Then he saw her lifeless, naked body curled up in the corner. Before he went to her, he quickly scanned the room for Lucius or any other person lurking in the shadows. Except for him and Hermione, the room was empty and he took three quick strides to cross the room, reaching Hermione whose back was facing him. Placing his fingers on her neck, he felt a faint pulse along with sticky, warm blood. His stomach cringed as he carefully rolled her onto her back and saw that her face was broken and bruised.

“Son of a bitch!” he spat as he examined the rest of her body, noticing several lacerations along her face, neck and stomach in addition to some broken ribs that were threatening to break through the skin. Fresh bruises were already forming along her body and Severus waved his wand to stop the bleeding, just until Poppy could heal her properly. Taking off his robes to cover her, he noticed that Hermione’s bruises led to the inner part of her thighs and he cringed. He covered Hermione’s body, needing to keep her warm so she would not go into shock. A new level of anger arose in him as he heard someone approaching.

“Severus,” a voice came from the hall. Snape recognized it as belonging to Albus and he stood to face the Headmaster. “How is she?” Albus asked, knowing it was bad, but needing to know she was not dead.

“She’s alive, but barely, and she can’t be moved, Albus. Poppy will need to come here and at least heal her lacerations and broken bones; then she can be moved to the infirmary.” Severus turned back to Hermione. “Did you find him?” he hissed.

“Yes.”

Severus spun around, “Where is he?”

“He is in his rooms. I cannot touch him until Miss Granger is well enough to testify about what he did to her,” said Albus.

“Fuck that! I will kill him myself!” growled Severus.

“Severus, if you do that, you will be in Azkaban before Lucius’ body turns cold. I cannot let you spend your life there,” said Albus.

“Albus, he is controlling her. He beat her and he raped her and she will continue to protect him. She will only testify about how much she loves him,” Severus spat.

“Lucius’ time will come and when it does, we will all be there to witness it. I am going to get Poppy. Stay by her side Severus.” Severus nodded and turned back to Hermione as Albus left to fetch Poppy.

Severus sat back down next to Hermione as she started to mumble. He carefully moved her hair from her face as she began whispering.

“I’m sorry, Lucius. I am so sorry - ” her words trailed off, slipping back into an unconscious state as Severus closed his eyes realizing that Lucius had possibly mentally ruined one of the most brilliant witches Hogwarts had ever seen.