Hogwarts Online

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DISCLAIMER: i own nothing; standard disclaimers apply.

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Snape reached into his robe pocket, drawing his wand and casting a light spell. After putting his wand back into his pocket, he reached out and pushed aside the front of her pajama top an inch and stared at a garish slash that started at her collarbone winding down between her breasts, though he couldn’t see where it ended. The wound was raised and glistening with a thin layer of blood, as if it were cut with a super fine blade or razor.

“What…? Hermione? What is this?” His voice sounded unused and he looked at her with a mixture of confusion, shock, and compassion.

“It’s ok, Severus. They’ll go away shortly,” she said, fixing her eyes on his hand that rested on her chest next to the scar. “They always do.”

Snape was becoming exasperated with her, and started to take deep, slow breaths to keep himself under control. Snapping at her now would probably not be a good course of action.

Hermione noticed this as her mind began to clear, her consciousness focusing into awareness and wakefulness. She saw the look on his face and her heart ached at causing him this grief. She saw the concern for her etched there and she began to girdle herself for what she knew she had to do.

“Severus, maybe it would be easier to show you, rather than to tell you,” she whispered, her gaze seeming to be focused somewhere on his elbow, now.

For a moment, Severus Snape looked confused until she looked up and met his eyes. Then he realized what she wanted him to do. He let his hand drift up to her shoulder and then down her arm before resting on her hand. She let him take her hand into his while his other hand reached into his robe and pulled his wand back out. Then he pointed it at Hermione.

“Legilimens.\"

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Hermione woke up feeling very cold and stiff. Her head drooped to one side and her chin rested on her chest. Slowly she opened her eyes, only to realize they wouldn’t open all the way. They were puffy with bruises and swollen from tears.

A scuffling sound came from a darkened corner and she lifted her head, trying to see. The wall across from her was a floor to ceiling mirror and she could see herself strung by invisible binds. She thought it looked like a mock pose of Christ on the crucifix, only she had no cross. Instead, she was mounted within a wooden frame, like a morbid, human picture box, her body exposed on both sides. In the mirror she could see her reflection from behind in an identical mirrored wall. There was nothing but rock wall on either side of her. There were no windows or doors to be seen, but she supposed there must be an entrance hidden somewhere. How else could they get in here?

Her body was covered in bruises and razor-fine cuts that stung slightly in the cold. Her nude body was slumped over, her shoulders aching with the strain of being pulled.

She pushed up on her feet, which were suspended a few centimeters above the bottom edge of the frame, allowing her to take the weight off of her shoulders and back. But in doing so, it caused an intense pain in her chest, making it harder to breath.

“Awake again, mudblood,” a voice called out to her. Just then, from the corner, she could see him making his way to her.

“Are you ready for more? Or are you ready to tell me what I want to know?”

“I’ve already… said… I nothing… know nothing…” she rasped out, slumping back down a bit, trying to find that middle ground for her body.

“You’re Potter’s friend. I know he had to have told you something at the least, but I have a good feeling that you are involved int tht those muggle-loving fools are doing. And most specifically, I want to know,” and then he was right in front of her, “what Snape is up to.”

Lucius Malfoy ran his hand down her side, raking his fitipstips over her wounds, causing her to clench down her jaw to keep from crying out.

“I know… nothing… why you care… about… Professor Snape…?” It had been days since she was let down from her confines, days since she ate, and hours since she was allowed even a sip of water. She’d lost count of how many days she’d been there, but knew it was coming up on two weeks. ‘Classes would be starting again soon,’ she thought. ‘I have revisions to work on. NEWT’s are only a few months away.’ At least she still had her priorities straight.

“Come know girl. Surely you know Snape’s a Death Eater?” He waited until she sighed and shook her head in the negative.

“Sn… Snape just… teacher… git maybe… not bad…” she feigned shock. She closed off any thoughts of knowknowledge of Snape being a spy for the Order. ‘Better to not think it, in case I slip up.’ “Sna“Snape’s a bloody traitor, and I know it, but I need you to confirm it. The Dark Lord won’t listen to me,” Lucius whined like a petulant child. Then his voice took on a most vicious quality.

“You’ll change your mind about talking after this weekend, bitch!” he spat, clenching one hand in her hair, jerking her head back, while the other grasped her breast and twisted her nipple to the point of bruising. She tried to scream, but only a strangled noise escaped her lips.

“I will be inviting over a few friends. This Saturday, we will be,” he paused and licked the side of her face, “making you a woman.”

At that moment, a laugh was heard from the back of the room. From the same corner Lucius had appeared from earlier.

“Having fun without me, father?” Draco’s voice rang out cold and echoed against the stone walls. He came forward carrying a sterling silver tray that looked like a tea service tray, and Hermione fought back a laugh at the absurdity of her thought that the Missus of the house wouldn’t be please to know how they were using her things improperly.

Draco cast a levitating charm on the tray and lifted a straight blade from it.

“Ready to have some fun, Granger?” he drawled. Lucius stepped back and went to look at the other contents on the tray.

“Draco! You really do know how to make a father proud.”

Lucius lifted a small bowl from the tray and went to stand by his son. As Draco began to slice into skin, Lucius dipped his fingers into the bowl with a small square cloth, then dabbed along the fresh lesions in her skin. Hermione jerked sharply against her restraints screaming with what little voice she had left.

Lucius chuckled, shaking his head. “Citrus extract, Draco. Wherever did you come up with this?”

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Snape slumped back against Hermione’s headboard, his face drained of what color he had, his hands shaking. He still clutched his wand in one had, his knuckles going white with the effort. Hermione reached out, and soothed his hand, trying to coax it into opening, finally releasing his wand as it dropped onto her duvet. She looked up into his face and saw tears streaming down his cheeks.

“Don’t cry, please.” She reached out and brought him to her chest and held him as his silent tears broke out into choking sobs. He snaked his arms around her waist and held on to her as if he expected her to disappear at any second. He wept for her pain, he wept for his own, but most of all, he wept for her forgiveness.

“Hermione, forgive me.”

“Shh,” she soothed, as she lowered her cheek to the top of his head, one hand absently stroking his hair. “There’s nothing to forgive. Except for maybe all those points you took from me in class.”

Snape coughed out a laugh against her chest and nestled his face further into her. He felt as though he should be ashamed for showing such weakness. He should be ashamed because he was crying after witnessing the pain and torture she endured and yet here he was, leaning on her, the one who suffered because Lucius Malfoy had it in for him, and she was providing him with comfort. Oddly though, he instead felt safe, and warm. She took all of that punishment to protect him, so yes; he did feel safe in her arms.

Taking deep, cleansing breaths, Snape slowly raised himself from her, keeping his hands on her waist, as she lifted her own hands and wiped away his tears. She gave him a small, encouraging smile, as if to say ‘it’s ok, we’ll be ok.’

“I didn’t hurt you, did I?” He took a quick look down at her chest and noticed that indeed, the welts were fading away, leaving behind just the tiniest hint of silvery scarring. “How did you get out of there and… why? Why do those…?” His question trailed off, but she understood.

“It was the Christmas holiday a was was on my way home. Harry and Ron were staying at Hogwarts, so I was alone. Draco cornered me at the train station before I had a chance to cross the barrier, and drug me to a corner, away from everyone else. Lucius was waiting there and grabbed us both and portkeyed us out of there.

“For two weeks I was there. At first, they would just string me up for a few hours a day. They\'d cut me, put me under Cruciatus, and after a few days, my time being bound stretched longer and longer until they finally just left me there.. The day after that incident you saw, the day before the little party he had planned for me, Narcissa came down to visit me.

“She was drunk. I could smell her before I saw her. She started off calling me names but then, then she began to talk to me as if I were her confidant, or shrink.” At this, she snorted and took a shaky breath.

In a mock, higher-pitched voice, Hermione continued, “’My husband and son spend more time with you than they do with me’ she told me. ’They never let ME play. Why? Why won’t they let me play with you? I think you are a cute dolly.’ HAH! If I could have laughed then, I would have. She pulled a thick knife from her robe and I thought she would kill me. I was actually praying she would.” At that, Severus’ hands tightened a bit on Hermione’s waist.

“But she was too unstable on her feet. She decided that she would let me down from the box so she could sit down and play with the dolly. She pulled her wand out and ended the spell that was binding me, but I wasn’t ready. I began to fall, and she tried to steady me to lay me down on the ground. But she fell with me on top of her. I don’t know how, but my mind began to spin fast and I had a glimmer of hope. I was acting on pure instinct and adrenaline at this point. I snatched her wand and cast Petrificus Totalis on her. Then I staggered towards the corner where they always appeared from.”

Hermione paused and looked into Snape’s eyes. She smiled sadly at him and continued.

“lt alt along the mirror until I fell through an opening. It led into a small corridor with a locked door at the end. I got through the door and staggered until I saw a fireplace. I found some floo powder on the mantle, grabbed a handful, and called out the Headmaster’s office. You could imagine Albus\' face when a naked, half dead me came rolling out of his fireplace!

“As for the recurring, um, dreams, it seems that the senior Malfoy cast a dark spell on me. With very exc exceptions, I relive my days there every night, and I awaken with the cuts that were inflicted on whatever day I dream of.” At this she shrugged and looked down. “Both Albus and I have tried to find what he used, but to no avail.”

“Hermione, what did you mean ‘with very few exceptions’? Are there times this doesn’t happen?”

“Oh, I always wake up with the cuts, but there have been a small handful of nights where I’ve slept through the night and not remembered the dream. The only times I’ve managed it was a couple of times where I’ve just been too exhausted, and a couple of times where I’ve felt so happy that I didn’t think about it before going to bed. It’s hard to forget when every time you see your skin, you see this,” and she lifted the edge of her top, showing him her stomach. There were thin scars running every direction. “My whole body is like this.” The last sentence came out as a whisper, her head hung down in shame.

She yawned then, and without a second thought, Snape lowered himself into her bed and pulled her to his chest, covering them both with the duvet. He picked up his wand and whispered “Nox” before setting it on the night stand. Then he wrapped his arms around her and whispered, “Rest now, Hermione.”

Hermione nuzzled into Snape’s chest, one arm lying across his stomach, the other lifted up over her head, her fingers tangling into his hair. Snape wouldn’t be sleeping tonight. He was thinking about the spell that Lucius cast on Hermione. He thought he knew where he might find it, so they could find the counter-curse.

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A/N:
Deb >^..^< : the broken shell i was alluding to is narcissa malfoy, which i think you get in this chapter. i never specify how or why she\'s there, only that she is and one of the other malfoys is in prizon, and the other dead. thanks for the review!

jenocclumency: maybe you could email me. one other person pointed that out but i read my own stuff too many times to catch it. :) thanks.

everyone else, also, thank you for your reviews. i\'m not very good at answering them all because i just end up saying thank you over and over. :)