A Crown of Thorns

**DISCLAIMER** All characters etc. belong to J.K. Rowling and I am making no money from this. Don’t sue because I’m sure that I don’t have anything that you’d want anyway. The basic plot for the story was a challenge presented by ArienAstera.


A/N - Okay, I know that this story seems to be moving slowly (maybe it\'s just me being paranoid). I think that at first, I had intended for this to be a pretty short fic, but I am finding myself having such fun writing it. Thank you again to all of those who have taken the time to read and review. *hugs and big sloppy kisses*

Chapter Eight – In These Arms

Hermione felt her heart leap in her chest.

“But…how did…when…?” she stammered.

Severus stood and came around the table, leading Hermione to sit on the leather couch. She looked as though she was going to fall over from shock.

She just stared at him, confused. Reaching out, she tentatively touched Severus’ cheek, and then gently caught a lock of his long bl hai hair, letting the silky strands slide through her fingers.

Severus tensed at her touch. Her fingers were so soft on his skin and it had been far too long since anyone had touched him in such a way. She could sense his discomfort and let her hand fall back to her lap.

He cleared his throat, “Miss Ganger, from the moment news came of your abduction I sensed that Lucius Malfoy and Voldemort were in some way involved. The Order has worked tirelessly in an attempt to locate your whereabouts, alerting af thf the international Headquarters and the American Ministry. However, as we have clearly seen in the past, if the Dark Lord does not want to be found then there is very little that we can do.”

She nodded and he continued, “I even attempted to find out information at the Dark Lord’s gatherings, but none of the other Death Eaters seemed to know any more than we did about your disappearance. I became aware that we were being summoned less frequently and that was when I realized that something was being planned, something very important. And after a while the Order needed to focus their attentions on the final battle,” he saw a look of anger flash across her face and added quickly, “Not that they had given up on finding you, in fact, there is still a group of Aurors out there right now looking for you. But you understand, they had other things to attend to.”

She understood, but it didn’t make what he was saying hurt any less. She fought the tears that were burning in her eyes, and whispered “So how did you manage to find me?”

“I was sure that Lucius Malfoy knew where you were so I decided to spy on him.” He said matter-of-factly.

“You spied on Lucius Malfoy? For me?”

“Yes.”

Her mind began to race as she thought back to the conversation she had overheard months ago between Voldemort and Lucius and she looked at him in amazement.

“It was you. You were the big black bird they were talking about.”

“How did you know that?” he asked suspiciously.

“When I tried to kill Lucius, Voldemort blocked my curse and for some reason I was knocked unconscious. They took me to my room and thought that I was sleeping but I overheard them speaking about a traitor amongst them and a large black bird. Lucius said that after the last time they were summoned, he hadn’t seen the bird. I’m not stupid you know, I figured that it must have been an unregistered animagus, but I had no idea that it was you.” She looked impressed.

“Yes, it was me. I asked Dumbledore if he would allow me to watch Lucius in my animagus form and he agreed. However, when Lucius would be summoned by the Dark Lord, my tracking charms would only follow him to a certain point before becoming ineffective. That was when I knew that he was coming to see Voldemort on a regular basis. Only a very powerful wizard is capable of such strong protective wards.”

“That still doesn’t explain to me how you got here today.” She said impatiently.

He told her the rest and watched as the tears she had been holding back began to fall. She covered her face with her hands and began to sob. Severus looked at her uncomfortably and slid closer to her, “Miss Granger…”

She leaned into him, burying her face in his chest and grabbed the front of his robes, crying even harder. He looked down at the now sobbing girl clinging to him and before he could stop himself, Severus wrapped his arms around her and held her tight. They sat like this for quite a while and he just let her cry.

Hermione relaxed into his strong arms and felt the warmth of his embrace. It didn’t matter to her that she was soaking the front of his robes with her tears, or that the man comforting her happened to be her git of a Potions Professor that had made every effort to torment her during her time at school. All that mattered to her was that for the first time in nearly two years she felt safe. Slowly her sobs began to subside and her breathing steadied as she sat up and wiped the tears from her swollen eyes.

Severus looked down at Hermione and cupped her chin in his hands, forcing her to look up at him.

“Hermione, it’s going to be alright. I promise.”


~~~~

Later that evening, Voldemort came to speak with ‘Lucius’ and Hermione returned to her room with a renewed sense of hope. There was no doubt that she had been completely overwhelmed at first, but that had quickly given way to a new found determination. They had spoken in great length about what she was to expect on the evening she was presented to Voldemort’s followers, and she had cringed when Severus told her that she would most likely be expected to take the Dark Mark, but agreed that if their plan was to go smoothly, she would have to continue to play along.

Hermione went to bed that night for the first time since she was a child, counting the days until her birthday.

~~~~

Severus had known that Voldemort wasn’t going to leave them alone for long. Even the Dark Lord knew better than to leave Lucius and Hermione alone for any extended length of time lest they attempt to kill one another, again.

He followed Voldemort back to the sitting room that he had first apparated to and they sat before the fire sipping brandy.

After several minutes of silence, Voldemort spoke first, “Do you think that she is ready for this type of responsibility Lucius?”

Severus hesitated before answering, “You know perfectly well, my Lord, what I think of Miss Granger.”

Voldemort studied Lucius’ face for a moment. Something wasn’t right. Normally, when asked his opinion of Hermione, Lucius would begin on one of his tirades about her magical abilities or her true loyalties, but tonight he was acting peculiar.

Voldemort knew that Lucius and Hermione could barely tolerate to be in the same room together, yet this evening they had worked on the translations for over two hours without incident. He had even had to come and fetch Lucius. Usually, within minutes of being left alone, one of them wound up hexing the other before storming out in a rage.

Severus felt the Dark Lord looking at him in curiosity and quickly added, “I don’t think that she will ever be fully capable, not unless she can learn to control that ungodly temper of hers. She acts like a spoiled child because that is exactly what she is, a child. Forgive me for questioning your choices, but my only desire is to protect you and serve you, my Lord. I don’t think that I will ever be able to fully trust a mudblood who was once the best friend of Potter.”

Voldemort turned his gaze to the flames. It was a nice show, but he wasn’t convinced.