Broken Lives

DISCLAIMER: Alas, I do not own the characters, the belong to Ms Rowlings. I am only playing with them for a little while. I promise to put them back where they belong when I am finished.

Chapter 1.... Hermione Broken.

‘Damn little know-it-all Gryffindor,’ the thought repeated itself in his head as he hurried out the front doors of the castle. It was Saturday, his day to himself, and she had to go missing.
The last anyone had seen of her was when she was making her way back to Hogwarts from Hogsmead at 2pm. It was now nearly 9pm, and Minerva was in a state. Had it not been for the fact that Miss Granger was supposed to have helped Miss Patil with her homework at 8pm, she might not have been missed at all, so much for having friends like Potter and Weasley, they had been blissfully ignorant of her absence.
He made his way to the lake, he knew she liked spending time there alone. ‘No,’ he thought to himself, he had not been keeping tabs on her, he just liked to know the goings on of the students. ‘Liar,’ his mind cried, ‘You have no idea where most of your Slytherins like to go, just one bushy-haired, adorable, know-it-all, sexy, Gryffindor girl.’ He reached the lake and began to follow the shoreline. He was barely out of sight of the castle when he saw her, still, in a bloody heap on the ground. ‘Please don’t let her be dead,’ he sent up a silent prayer, as he raced toward her. He dropped to his knees beside her, brushed a bloody strand of hair from her face and breathed a sigh of relief when he heard her groan. She had lost a lot of blood and her clothes were ripped to shreds, it could have been and animal attack, except for the evidence that proved otherwise. Her swollen lips and the skin around her mouth were smeared with dried semen.
With a wave of his wand, he halted the bleeding, then again to make sure it was safe to move her. Finding no major broken bones or serious internal injuries, he scooped her into his arms, and, holding her close to his chest, made his way, quickly back to the castle, not to the front doors, where there would be gawkers, but to the secret entry to his chambers. He would heal her himself, she was too precious to him to allow even Poppy to see to her injuries.
He strode purposefully through his rooms and placed her gently on his bed. With a flick of his wand, he removed her tattered garments, and with more care than anyone would give him credit for, he started to heal her bruised and battered body. He was nearly done, he gently parted her legs, she had been raped, but not by a human appendage. The scratches, pieces of bark and splinters indicated the use of a stick, a large one at that. He completed her healing and gently drew a blanket over her naked form. She moved her head slightly, and groaned from the pain. He left her briefly to run a bath to which he added a healing potion and grabbed two more vials from his bathroom cabinet. When he returned to her side her eyes were open, but instead of their usual intelligent sparkle, they held only terror. He sat beside her, and with an arm around her shoulders, he gently sat her up. He flicked the top off the first vial and brought it to her lips, ‘Drink’ he said gently, ‘it will help you heal and replace the blood you have lost.’ She swallowed with difficulty, and then sighed as the potion began to work. He repeated the process with the second vial, ‘For the pain’ he said, as she swallowed it with less difficulty. He conjured a glass of water and made her drink that too. Her breathing became easier and she relaxed as the pain subsided, but she sat silently staring into space. He heard the bath stop running and he turned back to the terror filled witch. ‘Hermione,’ he said gently ‘I’m going to put you in a bath so you can clean yourself up. I’ve added a healing potion to the water that will help you as well.’ She did not respond at all. He picked her up, carried her to the bathroom and gently lowered her into the water. She did not move she just sat there. Snape knew he would have to help, he removed his coat and began to roll up the sleeves of his white shirt. He heard her frightened gasp, and looking down he was the dark red stain on his shirt, her blood had obviously soaked right through his jacket. He quickly removed his shirt and threw I aside before sitting on the edge of the bath. He gently stroked her cheek, ‘it’s alright Hermione, you are safe, everything will be OK.’ He picked up a sponge and gently began the process of cleaning her body. Last of all her washed her hair, carefully lathering it with his own shampoo before conjuring a jug of clean water to rinse away all traces of dirt and blood from her hair. Hermione remained passive through the entire time he bathed her. He was just about to help her from the bath when her tears began to flow, and then she began to cry uncontrollably. Without conscious thought, he toed off his boots and socks and, still wearing his trousers, climbed into the bath behind her and wrapped his arms around her. Hermione turned in his embrace, buried her face in his chest and cried until no more tears would come. She didn’t move, so they stayed that way until the water around them began to cool. Severus laid a gentle kiss on the top of her head, ‘Time we move, before we end up freezing,’ he said lightly. He stood and gently lifted her from the tub. He wrapped a large warm towel around her before retrieving his wand and cast a quick drying spell on himself and his clothes. He gently rubbed her dry with the towel then cast a drying spell on her hair before leading her back to his bedroom and sat her on the side of his bed. He went to his dresser, removed a pair of dark green satin pyjamas and handed her the shirt. ‘Here, put this on,’ he said to her softly before moving toward the door. Finally she spoke, ’Please, don’t leave me, I don’t want to be alone.’ ‘I’m just going to fetch some hot chocolate, and floo the headmaster to let him know you are alright, Hermione, put on the shirt and hop into bed, I’ll be back shortly.’ He left and she did as he had requested.
She was sitting in the middle of the bed under the comforter, propped up with pillows when he returned a short time later with two mugs of hot chocolate. He sat on the edge of the bed and handed her a mug. They sat in silence while they drank. When she was finished he took her mug and stood, he placed both mugs on the bedside table and said, ‘I’m going to have a shower and get ready for bed, lie down and get comfortable, I won’t be long.’ He grabbed the pyjama bottoms and went into the bathroom. He showered quickly and soon returned to the bedroom, wearing the pants that matched the shirt she wore. She was still sitting in the middle of the bed looking lost and hurt. He pulled back the covers and crawled into bed. He lay down beside her, wrapped his arms around her, and drew her down to his side. She buried her face in his chest once again and he felt her relax, before long she was asleep. It took much longer for sleep to claim Severus. He looked down at the beautiful young woman asleep in his arms, he would find out who was responsible for hurting her and make sure they spent the rest of their lives in Azkaban. Finally he relaxed and was lulled to sleep by the gentle rhythm of the breathing of the woman in his arms.