Plaything

Title: Plaything

Rating: R/ NC-17

Pairing: HG/LM, HG/SS

Warning: Darkfic, Non-consensual.


~*Severus*~

I want to kill him.


I found her lying in the fireplace grate this morning, discarded like so much refuse. Her body was a patchwork of bruises,
scratches, and welts. She was covered in excess floo powder so it was hard to discern how extensive her injuries were. For
a terrible moment, I thought she was dead but I could hear her labored breathing. Her skin virtually hummed with the
byproducts of some very powerful curses and they were slowly killing her -- feeding on her life force and her inborn magic.
This was cause enough to incur my wrath, but what truly enraged me were the clearly defined fingerprints on her neck. That
bastard nearly choked her to death. I gathered her up in my arms and hurried to my lab to work on her.

I spent the better part of six hours piecing her back together. It was a small mercy that she was unconscious. I had to do
several anti-magic spells to counteract Malfoy\'s hexes. Each time I removed more of the magic until I eventually lifted
every curse. Apparently, he didn\'t intend for her to die quickly. He wanted to slowly sap her
strength - feed on her. I also had to brew several healing potions and pour them down her throat. It wasn\'t until I\'d cleansed
her body that I found my vision blurred with tears. I have regretted many things I have done in the past but I\'ve never cried
over any of my transgressions. My conscience has plagued me for months but I have
consoled myself with the thought that I have never personally participated in the abhorrent acts my brethren seem to relish.
Well, she was proof positive that my actions have consequences. I may not have physically harmed her but I was a party to
her debasement. Hermione Granger was an innocent schoolgirl with a bright
future ahead of her and I not only defiled her -- I gloried in it.

And I will not let her go. I cannot.

But I will protect her from Luciusfoy.foy. I never dreamed that bastard would truly harm her. I want to kill him - but I
can\'t. Senior Death Eaters simply didn\'t use the killing curse over something as \"trivial\" as a slave. Hermione is considered
property and she belongs to both Lucius and me. We both have rights to her so I can\'t
keep him from her but I can make it impossible to harm her. I really want to kill him and ,if he\'s foolish enough to offer me
the opportunity, I will take it. In the meantime, there are other ways of exacting revenge and I am well-versed in all of
them.


~*Lucius*~

I nearly killed her.

After I left her on my bed, I spent the better part of last night imbibing the contents of my liquor cabinet. But it brought me
no peace, it merely dulled my senses. I was convinced that I had killed her and I wanted the blissful blessing of oblivion.
Perhaps, it would have been more kind if I had ended her life. She is doomed to an existence full of pain and despair. . .and
at my hands. Every time I shut my eyes, I see her wretched tear-stained face. I can feel her desperately clawing at me.

Somehow Hermione wormed her way into my life, my thoughts - dare I say, my heart? I\'d always thought that mine was
flawed. I\'ve never been moved by the suffering of another. I\'ve never given a care to another\'s wants or needs. I cannot deny
that I care for her anymore. I beat my own son because he dared to touch her. And then I turned
on her and blamed her for my own weakness. I very nearly killed the girl in my zeal to purge myself of those tender
feelings. I\'ve never lamented any of my own actions and yet here I am inexplicably burdened by guilt.

I\'ve done far worse. I am a Death Eater in every sense of the word and it is a privilege to be one of the Dark Lord\'s chosen
few. I\'ve tortured Mudbloods for information and for sport. I\'ve taken part in several Dark Revels. The climax of my
initiation was when I sacrificed a Muggle with a ritual dagger. And my conscience has never pricked me before. I\'m guilt
ridden because I hurt her - not because I was suddenly cursed with scruples. And that terrifies me.

This morning, I found a letter on the mantle from my son. Draco is my heir and must be treated accordingly - but we have
never been, nor will we ever be, close. I am grateful that we do not have a relationship to repair. He declared that he was
going to visit his mother. I would not bring Hermione back into this house while he
was in it. Draco alluded to a Malfoy\'s honnd dnd discretion and said that he saw no reason to tarnish our reputation. He
might be heartless but he\'s never been witless.

I finally forced myself to enter my room. I was prepared for many things. Part of me feared that Draco had removed the
corpse for his own. . .use. I was prepared to find that she had been removed by the house-elves. I had intended to bury
Hermione in the family cemetery. Normally, slaves were incinerated and their ashes were
set adrift on the wind. Selfish as ever, I couldn\'t bear to part with her -- even if it was deliver her into the keeping of a
zephyr. She would be mine for eternity.

Only she wasn\'t dead.

I hadn\'t killed her. No, she was still chained down to the bed. Her breathing was very shallow and her eyes were trying to
flutter open. I hurriedly released her from her bonds and gathered her nst nst my chest. I was ecstatic -- giddy with the
knowledge that she was still very much alive and mine. But my glee turned to horror
as I slowly became aware of the potent magic that was poisoning her. I am a very powerful wizard but I recognize my own
limitations. I was aware of only one wizard who could provide the level of care she so desperately needed.

So, I placed her in the fireplace and flooed her to Severus\' apartment. I have a good instinct for self-preservation so I did
not Apparate there with her. Knowing Severus as I do, I knew she might have expired while he rebuked me. He has always
been a self-righteous bastard. Tomorrow, Hermione will be well enough
to come home with me. I fully intend to bring her here. Nothing has changed because of my mistake. A Malfoy never
apologizes for his actions. We may not apologize, but there\'s no rule against indulgence.

~*Severus*~


I\'m relieved when she finally opens her eyes. She\'s been unconscious for nearly twelve hours. I smooth the hair from her
face and cup her wan cheek in my hand. \"How are you feeling?\"

\"Better.\" Her voice is still hoarse. Hermione dazedly looks about the room. \"You came to get me?\"

\"No, I found you in my fireplace.\" My expression hardens \"You almost died.\"

\"Maybe it would have been better if I had,\" she says her eyes welling up.

I don\'t try to offer her platitudes or false comfort. If I were in her situation, I might see death as a release as well. \"Tell me
what happened, Hermione.\"

\"Malfoy. . .Draco raped me and he hexed me too.\"

\"Draco did this?\" I say sharply. \"Did Lucius offer you to him?\"

She shakes her head. \"No, he waited until Lucius was at a meeting and then he snuck into his room.\"

I nod. \"I was at the same meeting.\"

\"H-he said he\'d kill me if I told Lucius.\"

\"So Lucius didn\'t know.\"

\"No, but he came home to find Draco on . . . raping me.\" Hermione swallows, her voice a bare whisper. \"Lucius
attacked him.\"

\"If I were his father, I would have had him horsewhipped,\" I say fervently. Its not an exaggeration. While Malfoy, Jr. might
have been one of my more promising students, I quickly learned that he was mentally unstable. As his Head of House, I had
to deal with an incident his last year involving a girl who\'d had the \"audacity\" to turn down his lewd advances. Malfoy had
used the deformation curse on her -- disfiguring her
permanently. Because I\'d been renewing my association with darkness, I helped cover up the incident but I was disturbed by
his actions. The rumors I\'d heard about his activities as a neophyte Death Eater merely confirmed my original suspicions.
Lucius may have many jaded tastes, but Draco\'s predilections are far more
depraved.

\"I assume Draco choked you during the sex act?\" He seems the type to find the asinine practice of erotic
asphyxiation stimulating.

\"No, Lucius s-strangled me after his fight with Draco.\"

It was difficult to not let the rage that slowly seeping through my veins show on my face. But I did because I was afraid my
anger would only scare her. \"Lucius did this?\" I managed, my fingers stroking the bruises on her throat. I purposefully
didn\'t heal them completely because I wanted to force Lucius to view his own handiwork. Let the vengeance begin.

Hermione nods, tears spilling down her face. \"I thought he was going to kill me, Severus. H-he kept telling me I was
nothing.\" There\'s a nearly hysterical edge to her voice. \"If he would have killed me nothing would happened to him because
he did *nothing* wrong. You can\'t be imprisoned for \'punishing\' a slave!\"

I pull her into my arms and awkwardly pat her back. \"Shhhh. . .you\'re upsetting yourself.\"

She burrows her head in my chest, hiccoughing. \"I don\'t want to go back there. Please don\'t make me go back there.
Please?\" She begs, clutching at my shirt desperately.

This is a request I cannot grant, although I would do so gladly. Instead, I hold her to me. \"Unfortunately, you have to go
back.\"

\"No!\" she wails as she scrambles off the bed to prostrate herself at my feet. \"I\'ll do anything! Anything you want.\"
Hermione pauses to suck in a deep breath. \"You can have me any way you want. Anytime. I\'ll-\"

My breath catches at that offer. . . oh, if she\'d asked me for anything else. \"Please stop,\" I say pulling her up and placing her
back on the bed. I patiently tuck her beneath the covers and press a kiss to her forehead. \"That\'s very generous, Hermione,
but it\'s out of my hands. Lucius owns you too,\" I explain as delicately as possible. \"He has certain rights.\"

\"And mine?\" She tilts her tear-stained face up. \"What about my right to live?\"

A lump forms in my throat. \"You don\'t have any. Not anymore.\"

\"I am nothing,\" she says softly.

\"Not to me,\" I murmur as I pressed a kiss to her temple.

Hermione looked up at me in wonderment.

~*Lucius*~

I apparated into Severus\' apartment to find Hermione seated on his bed while he ran a brush through her hair. I\'m envious of
that small intimacy. I\'ve inadvertently thrown them closer together. No doubt she sees Severus
as her savior now, while I\'m relegated to the part of the villain. My eyes strayed to the pale line of her throat which is
marred by ugly bruises in the shape of my very own fingers. Severus has always been an expert on mind games. Hermione
immediately shrank from me and settled herself close against his chest. Even though I
can certainly understand her reluctance, it pains me.

\"Lucius,\" he says cooly.

I don\'t even bother to return his greeting. I turn my attention to the girl and clear my throat before I speak. \"It\'s time to go.\"

\"Yes, well, she doesn\'t want to.\" Severus touches a finger to his chin, his voice laced with honeyed venom. \"I cannot
imagine why. Oh, wait. Perhaps it is because you tried to kill her the last time.\"

\"That was. . lamentable. No harm will come to her from now on,\" I promise in a politely formal tone. I may regret my
actions but I certainly don\'t need the holier-than-thou Potions Master taking me to task.

\"Now, that we are agreed on,\" he snaps. Severus points to a jeweled charm which is currently attached to the collar on her
throat. It is in the shape of a gryphon, and most people assume he has no sense of humor. \"This is a protection portkey. It
activates if she experiences any pain. It is also identity-sensitive so it can only be removed by me. I will not tolerate the
abuse of my property, Lucius, and I will defend what is mine. Do you understand me?\"

\"Yes, even if it was delivered in your overly-dramatic fashion,\" I say with a feigned sigh. \"Are we finished here?\"

\"Almost. If that whelp of yours ever-\"

\"Draco is in France with his mother,\" I interrupt before he can malign my son\'s name. While I am his harshest critic, I do
not tolerate the criticism of him from others.

I hold out my hand to Hermione who is still clutching at Severus. \"Come on,\" I say gently, offering my hand to her with the
palm up as if she were a frightened animal I was trying to coax. In many respects, she is.

\"Go on,\" Severus encourages her, placing a hand a the small of her back and giving her a small push. He glares at me over
her back when she finally begins to move. Hermione reluctantly gets down on her hands and knees and crawls to me with
her eyes downcast.

We dissapparate back to my den. I do not take her directly to my bedroom because it was the scene of yesterday\'s debacle.
She is still on the floor beside me and I can see that she is trying to still the trembling of her body. \"Hermione. . .\" I begin
softly as I crouch down beside her. She raises her head slightly and meets my eyes. \"It will never happen again.\"

She continues to look at me suspiciously.

\"I give you my word,\" I solemnly intone. For some reason, regaining her trust is very important to me. If Severus weren\'t in
the picture, I would have simply used a memory spell on her to remove any remnants of the events. And he would take
pleasure in removing it and then explaining to her exactly what I\'d done.

\"As a Death Eater?\" she says very carefully. There\'s a veiled challenge in there.

I silently cheer at evidence of her spirit. \"As a Malfoy.\"

She nods the
I
I stand up then and offer my hand to her. \"Do you feel comfortable enough to stand?\"

\"I suppose so, Master,\" she adds my title quickly. She ignores my hand and stands on her own.

I slowly lower my hand, disappointed that she hadn\'t taken it. \"Call me Lucius.\"

Her discerning brown eyes flick to my face to gauge my expression. \"Lucius,\" she says slowly, watching for my reaction.

I smile at her then. \"I have a present for you.\"

Hermione\'s instantly on guard once more. She wraps her arms around herself. \"More chains?\"

\"No,\" I assure her as I offer her a blue gift bag.

She hesitantly takes it and looks inside to find a blue satin robe. I had it sent over from one of the finer shops in Diagon
Alley. Hermione fingers the soft silk for a moment and then looks up e wie with tears glimmering in her eyes. \"Clothing.\"

So, the significance wasn\'t lost on her. A house-elf is considered free when its master offers the elf attire. \"You can only
wear it around here, of course, but I wanted you to have it.\"

She removes it from the back and eagerly slides it on her shoulders, relishing the buttery soft feel of it. She wraps it around
her midriff and ties off the robe. I\'m deprived of the sight of her lovely body but the small smile on her face is more than
worth it. \"It\'s been so long,\" she whispered, running her hands down the front of it. Hermione looks up at me and she
appears to be weighing what she sees on my face. \"Thank you, Lucius.\"

\"You\'re welcome, Hermione.\" I\'m pleased that she liked my present and relieved that she seems to be relaxing somewhat. I
nearly groan as she unconsciously strokes the robe yet again. I\'d promised myself that I would ease her back into having sex
with me, but if she keeps doing that I won\'t be responsible for my actions. She
might not have been a willing participant in my bed but I\'ve never used brute force to take a woman and I won\'t. Why
should I, when coercion and the eventual capitulation are so much more enjoyable? I need a diversion. \"Would you like
something to eat?\"

\"Yes, I would.\"

I eschewed the normal practice of dining in the main hall and had a maid bring up a dinner tray for the both of us. A
house-elf would have brought up unpleasant associations for her. We ate our roast beef in strained silence. I offered to let
her sit beside me on the couch but she preferred to sit on the floor at my feet. I could see almost see the wheels turning in
her mind as she tried to comprehend my unusual behavior.

After the trays were taken away, she finally opened her mouth to speak. \"Why haven\'t you had sex with me yet?\"

I couldn\'t very well say that I had restrained myself because I felt it would be callous to demand her favors so soon after my
son\'s disgraceful behavior. I affected a casual tone before I spoke, \"I thought we\'d do things a bit differently this evening.\"

Hermione\'s brow knits but she doesn\'t say anything.

I escort her to the library then. Hopefully, she\'ll forget all about my curious conduct while she gets lost in the many tomes I
own.

A/N: The servant will now become the master. . .or mistress in this case. Hermione\'s POV will be next. Be prepared for
Empowered!Hermione who has realized that she has some power over these two dominant
wizards.

Gratitude:


DragonKindred- Sorry, it took me a bit longer than that to update. :) Hopefully, this was to your liking though.

Veresna Ussep - Thank you so much. It is a very dark tale but I\'m glad it has piqued your interest. I would
never let Hermione die at their hands but that\'s always a fear when reading this type of story. Hermione\' s
slowly becoming empowered and will be taking control shortly.

J.S. Sumner - Well, we have a difference of opinion on Snape, I guess. He *is* Snapish. . .if he kept students
chained in his apartment. But, yes, he\'s not as mean to her as he is in the books. I thought he\'d be the \"kinder\"
owner. Thank you for reading and I enjoy the debate! LO
Ma
MalfoyLover- Yes, it took a curve there, huh? I needed to something just awful to her to jar Malfoy out of his
denial. Glad you still liked it. Thanks!

SYNB- I did! Thanks.

ShodanHalo- Unfortunately, I can\'t take credit for that. . .see the author note at the top. But this is *my* version
of that plot.

Noli- Don\'t worry! Severus is always there to fix her up. :) Thanks!

Laurel- Yes, that\'s it exactly (your ration). I was hoping to convey that! I made Draco a foil for his father. :) I\'ll be
slowly working in more of what\'s happening in the Wizarding world. Several people have asked me. :) I\'ve
been preoccupied with the psycho drama. . .and of course Lucius is going to keep her. He\'s a Malfoy. LOL. And
I know it is disturbing to read. . .and to write. Maybe we should swing over to a mental health site. :)

Arsinoe- I want Hermione to win too. And, Malfoy isn\'t going to give up that easy. He\'s come to a very
disturbing revelation about her and himself. I do agree that Severus is much easier to manipulate. .. we\'ll see
what happens.


White raven- Thank you so much! Actually, I\'m a counselor (masters level) so I\'m putting some of my
psychological knowledge to use in this story so it is gratifying to hear that it comes through to the reader. I\'m
pleased that you found the Malfoy scene to be in character. I had to walk a very fine line on
emotions/anger/guilt. Thank you so much for the kind review!


Anti-sheep cheese muffin- Thanks! And Draco being hit by dear old dad is hinted at in canon but explored very
well in fanon. So, I\'ve decided to make Lucius a distant but not abusive father. He\'s simply not interested in him
enough to abuse him but he values him as an heir.


Hannah- I hope this one was long enough for you. . .and what? Three or four days b/t updates. . .Hope it was
worth the wait. Thanks for the chocolate!


Rumidha- I\'m glad you thought that worked out! Yes, Lucius was furious with himself and with her for making
him feeling *something*. And don\'t worry Snape is a very handy \"field surgeon\". :)

Karena- Don\'t worry! I promise that I won\'t kill Hermione. Did I update soon enough? LOL. Well, thanks for
the review! Are you my best friend now? :)

deedee- Hopefully, my solution worked. I hope it seemed reasonable. :)

Sing- It is downright eerie how accurate you were! As for Draco, I think I did a 180 from fluffdom. I truly
believe he can be outright bastard. I think you might be right. Lucius seems to be concerned with her mental
health - which is very important in this situation! You were right about Lucius not having sex with her. I had
the mental image of a man trying seduce a young woman. . .which is ridiculous because he\'s already had sex
with her and he \"owns\" her. I think she\'d find that more disturbing than him acting as if nothing had
happened. I was happy to see that I\'d conveyed the two men in the right way. . .yes, I think Severus speaks
without thinking sometimes while Lucius is much more clever. Thanks for the vibes! I needed them! Hope
this was soon enough.

Sharonsnape- Thanks! I\'m glad you weren\'t too put off by Evil!Draco. :)

The Oracle- I love Severus too and he *is* a survivor. If anyone\'s going to get out of this war it will be him. No
matter what he has to do. And, yes he is a far better choice for her than Lucius. Both men are attractive in their
own way. I would find it hard to choose between them because I think Lucius has more power and resources.

Corazon - Hey there! Thanks for the review. ::hugs::. I\'ve been late on my reviews too. Glad you still like the
story! Thanks.

LadyFeylene- I agree with you. Draco has no clue why his father is so angry and he clearly feels that he should
be important to Lucius. Although, he is an evil bastard. Thanks for reviewing!

Chaos- Sorry for the evil cliffie. You didn\'t think he would give up on her so easily did you? Malfoy\'s aren\'t
quitters. :) Glad you like the story!