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Farid was confused and a little bit frightened. The whipping earlier had been very savage, but he had had worse, albeit not for a while. What frightened him was his master’s reaction to his pain and Farid had been in pain. He knew that he had a very stubborn nature and that the vampires had taken an extraordinary long time to break him even though he had been a child. They took pride in his stubborness, boasted about it to visitors and demonstrated their mastery over him, just like Master Yusuf had today.

It was a game that they had between them, the alpha vampire and Farid, he would have Farid demonstrate the proscribed poses that a slave was always meant to adopt, punishing Farid if he was even a tiny bit out of proper position, Farid determined that he would be perfect so that there could be nothing to penalize him for and the punishment would have to be just for the Master’s pleasure and not for correction. Then Yusuf would beat him, he would hold out before screaming and begging for as long as he could and Yusuf would not give up untilhe gave in and he always gave in eventually usually the pain was just too much in the end.

He had been fucked far more viciously too than he had been today and jeered at and laughed at, but right now he felt more hurt and vulnerable than he had in a long, long time. The vampire’s thought Farid broken, completely submissive, and in many ways he knew he was. They had control over every part of him, his body was not his own, he knew that they gave him pleasure and they gave him pain and nothing, nothing that he did or did not do had ever changed that. But he had always secreted away a tiny part of himself that no one had been able to reach.

Until now.

Farid had never given his heart before, he had never fallen in love. Stupidly, foolishly he had been taken in by the kindness that Master had given him and imprinted like some baby duck on the English Wizard, and he was disgusted with himself. The first person in all his life that he could remember to show him any kindness had been the one to whom Farid had awarded his love and there was nothing he could do about it any longer what was done was done and it was too late to ever go back to how it was before, Farid submitting, giving in to whatever was done to him, but keeping his heart safe and protected.

Farid could not believe how stupid he had been, he had seen this many times in the past, wizards had come here, professed themselves horrified by the treatment of the slaves and ended up joining the ranks of the vampires before very long. Farid knew how seductive such power was as he had seen it corrupt many. He had hidden his own magic because he was aware that even in him there was a seam of darkness that could not be denied and he knew that if he were to be turned, if he were to lose his conscience and become as immoral as Yusuf was then there would be no hope for the world. So instead of inflicting pain, he received it instead.

But this wizard he had thought to be different. He had been kind and caring, outside of their room he had played the master and Farid had gone along happily with their game, but in here Farid had had more freedom than he had ever known, his master had been tender, playful. He had encouraged Farid to initiate things had kissed and caressed him had begun to teach him English words so that they could better communicate and made Farid feel that he was not a freak or an object but a human being capable of choices and of love.

When his master had fucked him so brutally, become so aroused by his pain, Farid had thought his heart would break in two, he had come as ordered, compliant as always but the orgasm had been agony, bitter and wrenched unwillingly from him and he had wanted his master to kill him then so that he would feel no more.

When Master had carried him back to the chamber he had not been able to help himself, he had turned to him for comfort because there had been no one else. And Master had been kind, he had bathed him and caressed him and shushed his tears, just like before. But then he had made him kneel to feed him, and fed him from his hand, and Farid had understood that the freedom that he had thought was his was an illusion, that could be taken away as easily as it had been given and that he had no more rights with this master than he had ever had, and the little delights that he had grown to love, to rely on could be taken away in the blink of an eye.

Fat tears squeezed themselves out from the corner of his eyes and a large prickly lump of anguish lodged itself in his throat and he almost lost himself to despair. But then he felt his master’s hand soothingly stroke his cheek, a long slim finger gently catch a tear and brush it away.

“Hush Farid,” his master was saying, “ Shush, shush my precious boy, I am so sorry, so sorry Farid for what I did to you. Please forgive me, please my sweet boy. Do you understand? Farid please understand.”

And Farid did. A day ago he would not have done, two days and he would have understood even less. But he knew his master was apologising. To him. And he did not know what to think any more.

But Master had buried his head in his hair and was sobbing, gently stroking him and caressing him and Farid thought that maybe, maybe his Master was sorry, but he did not know what to do, what to say because never in all his life before had anyone ever apologised to Farid.

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


The next morning they left.

Snape removed them from that doomed place of cruelty and torture as fast as possible, as if the hounds of hell were on his heels. He had said goodbye to Yusuf as politely as he could manage to someone whose throat he wanted to tear out with his bare hands and he and Farid left.

They were walking and would be for some time, there was no way that they could apparate for at least a day or two as the castle and this part of the forest were under a dampening spell, and although he had his broom he could not use it as he was not sure how his muggle slave would cope with such a magical object. They had rucksacks on their backs with all they would need for a few days, the load shared between them, magically lightened but still needing to be carried if they were to eat and have somewhere safe to sleep.

Now that they were leaving and the relief that he felt at getting away from the pernicious atmosphere of the vampire’s stronghold was beginning to dispel, the worries that he had suppressed were rising to the front of his mind. How would Farid deal with Hogwarts, would he even be able to see the castle school? How would Hogwarts cope with Farid? What would Dumbledore do? And most important of all, would Farid ever forgive him, how could he make things better between them after what he had done yesterday?

For Severus knew that he had indeed destroyed something precious, when he had carried Farid back to their room, when he had seen how distraught the boy had become, really looked at the scars the vampire had inflicted he suddenly realised that this was real Farid was enslaved and had been for almost all of his life, he was a boy who had been horribly abused and who had clung to him as his salvation and Severus had turned his back on the boy and used him for his own gratification, just like everyone else.

Severus had played games as most people his age had. But they had been fun, consensual, using silk scarves and cuffs and the occasional paddle or crop, what had happened to Farid, what had been done to Farid was something much, much more serious, more severe than a game. It had been real slavery and the boy had truly had no rights, no recall and no hope of freedom, choice or active participation in the sexual acts that he was forced to endure. Farid had not chosen to submit; placing his needs and wants in the hands of a trusted lover. Farid had submitted because it was either that or die, unwanted, unmourned, an animal used only for sex

The guilt that Severus had experienced immediately after he had raped Farid was bad enough, but the regret that he had felt after that was far worse. Because although he still owned Farid’s body, he no longer seemed to have any claim on the boy’s soul. Farid was still compliant; willing to do whatever his master wanted, submissively, obediently, but that revelation of sprit that Severus had seen, the mischievousness, the flashes of joy. That had all gone. And Severus wanted it back; he suspected that he had broken something in Farid that no one had ever managed to touch before and Severus needed absolution and he needed to make it right.

He walked much faster than his boy, Farid had not been out of the castle for years and had been naked and unshod for all of that time, he followed his master now clad in Severus’ clothes which were far too big for him and which dwarfed his slender frame. The sleeves of Severus’ shirt were rolled up exposing the cuffs that the boy wore and they had cut several inches off the trousers so that Farid would not trip and then fixed them around his slender waist with string. He looked simply adorable and Severus wanted to crush him in his arms and kiss him senseless, but he would not let himself, not yet.

The boots that Farid wore had been shrunk to fit, but still the boy stumbled a bit, obviously unused to footwear of any kind, never mind such clumpy, heavy objects as these. When Severus had put them on the slave his expression had been comical for a moment and then his “slave mask” had been firmly snapped into place and Severus had bitten back the teasing comment that had been on the tip of his tongue because he knew he could not abide to see that the easy relationship that he had taken for granted had gone, been squandered, destroyed.

So he watched the boy clambering over the rocks, loyally following his master, not knowing where he was going or what might happen to him and never once protesting or complaining, merely limping a little from where the boots must be bothering him. And he thought about what he would do to reach Farid, rebuild the rapport; show the boy that he was sorry.

They had been walking for several hours through forests carpeted with moss and scented with the pines that surrounded them and Severus knew it was time for a rest, he was far enough away from that awful place to do what he had planned to do last night when Farid had knelt beside him for the final dinner in the hall with the clan, still unable to sit because of his wounds, or when he had sat gingerly, warily in his allotted chair for breakfast and fed himself, charily keeping most of his attention on his master instead of glorying in his food as he had done the day before.

As soon as the boy finally caught up with his master he looked at him questioningly for direction, and Severus gestured him to sit beside him, obviously still sore the boy began to lower himself to his knees, but Severus had chosen these moss covered rocks very carefully so that Farid’s posterior would be as comfortable as possible, and he patted the one beside him so that boy would know where he wanted him to be and said. “Sit here Farid, beside me.” And cautiously the boy did, his eyes flicked up to peek at his master and then lowered again, waiting to be told what to do.

Severus took a deep breath, knowing that so much depended on what happened next and began to speak, slowly, carefully, enunciating each word that Farid might better understand.

“Farid you know that you are my slave?”

“Jes Masteerr?” Softly, questioningly, tremulously

“Yesterday I treated, you very badly and I am very sorry for that. I hurt you and I am sorry, do you understand?”

“Jes Masteerr.”

“You are mine Farid, you belong to me. But you are not an animal.”

Severus checked to see the boy’s reaction but his head was down, his eyes still lowered and his breathing even, he was listening but he showed no reaction as yet.

“I forced myself on you Farid, and hurt you.”

A flicker from the boy at this statement, regret, sadness?

“I promise you I will never do that again.”

A quick sideways glance, puzzled, unsure.

“I do not need you to wear a collar to know you are mine.”

A soft touch to the back of the neck with his wand and a whispered Alohomora and the silver collar that Farid was wearing fell away

This time eyes widened in surprise met his for a second before dropping again swiftly, to stare at the collar that had landed in his lap.

Then Severus took each slender hand in his in turn before repeating the charm on the cuffs that Farid wore, then one more whispered spell and the hair that had been subdued into plaits and used to tie him down to torture him, wound itself free, sending silver bells and ornaments flying wide and tumbled instead in dark untamed waves over his shoulders and down his back.

Farid was breathing hard now, he lifted the collar in his hands and held it, unsure what to do next, and Severus dropped to the ground in front of his slave on his knees, and gently took those hands in his own. He stared into his slave’s eyes and said firmly, slowly

“We will play games Farid, I want to enjoy your body, it is beautiful, but I want you to enjoy it too.

I will never beat you like Yusuf did, or hurt you like yesterday.

We will have a word, a special one that you can say if you want to stop when we play. Do you understand?”

A juddering breath this time and a trembling nod.

“We will not have sex again until you are better, until you decide. Until Farid say yes.”

Farid’s eyes had already widened in shock and now they filled with tears.

Slowly, tentatively he spoke

“We play game, jes, like before?

Severus nodded

“Masteerr no hurt Farid?”

Severus shook his head

“No….” and Farid held up the collar, not knowing the word in English

And Severus gently took it from him without speaking and hurled it away into the depth of the woods

The boy watched it go, confused, uncertain, a sweet frown creasing his forehead and Severus watched him, drinking in his beauty, the life, the spirit that burned so strongly in this strange, strong, fragile boy. His hair danced around his face in a dark cloud, free, unconfined like he should be, like he should always have been. And he felt his heart clench inside him with a feeling that almost overwhelmed him because he had never felt it with such force in all his life before. A feeling that he knew to be love.

And then Severus did not think again for a very long time as his arms were filled, with a laughing, joyous boy who was covering him with kisses and showering him in tears.


A/N Thanks to everyone who reviewed. I am glad you are enjoying the story and really appreciate reading your opinions. Lucie