Hail Mary

I know I haven't finished the other 3 stories I've started but this one came to me and it needed to be written. Its a dark fiction between Severus and Hermione. There is no happy ending because sometimes in life we need a little sadness to help us appreciated all that we have. It's a one-shot!

Hope you enjoy!

HBP non-compliant.

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Hail Mary full of grace,
The Lord is with Thee,
Blessed art Thou amoungst women...


She sat there shuddering looking into cold, dead eyes. Eyes that had once been so warm and full of life. Eyes she used to stare into while they we making love. But there was no longer love in them, only coldness and hatred.

"Crucio!" he cried as her body began to convulse violently. It felt like all the bones in her body were breaking and her muscles were shriveling. It felt like eternity before the curse was lifted. "Very good Severus. Now lets see if Hermione is willing to talk," commanded a voice that only could belong to one person. "Yes my Lord," Severus replied as he bowed away from Hermione's shaking form. The tall, unearthly wizard seemed to slither up right near her face. His mouth was barely an inch away from her face, "Now my little stupid Gryffindor, tell me, where is that wretched boy hiding? He's not at the school, nor by those filthy blood-traitors home. Tell me, where is he hiding?"

Hermione closed her eyes and mentally shut down all the walls in her mind. Voldemort had been furious with her when he found out she could shut him out of her mind. Thus began the beginning of her torture. She was first strung up a foot above the floor and whipped with a cat'o nine tails which rendered the flesh from her back and sides. On the brink of death she was healed and the process started all over again. It went on like this for hours until she was questioned again by Voldemort. When she still refused him he had her shackled to a table, covered in honey, while fire ants ate her flesh. Again she was healed and brought back for more questioning. And again and agin she was tortured. He was trying to wear her down.

It wasn't the tortures that were beginning to get to her, oh no. She could mentally disconnect herself from the pain. It was the fact that behind every strike of a whip or beat with a hot poker, it was her husband doing the handy work.

She and Severus had married shortly after she graduated from Hogwarts. They had started being lovers in her 7th year and it just continued from there. He had told her how much he loved her and how he wanted to spend the rest of his life with her. She believed him. They married and a year later had a child, a little baby boy named Tebirean. Hermione loved her son so much, but tradgically he died 3 years later. The cause of death was unknown at the time. All they new was his body was found at the edge of the Forbidden Forest so guessed an animal or some dark creature must've attacked him.

Hermione was inconsolible then, but Severus stood by her and gave her courage to move on. Now, she comes to find out not only did he marry her to gain better access to Harry, but he was also behind the death of their son. He had told her, "I would never allow any offspring of mine to have such filthy, tainted blood in them." Hermione felt as though her heart was ripping in two.

Blessed is the fruit,
Of thy womb Jesus

"I asked you a question mudblood, I expect an answer!" he hissed in her face. Hermione cringed. She slowly turned her head to meet his gaze and simply stared at him. FInally after a minute she replied, "I...w-will, never...te-tell you where...he is." Volemort gave her a lipless smile and moved back to his throne. He turned to Severus who stood there with a goblet of wine in his hand, smirking.

"Severus my faithful servant. I think we need a little more incentive," Voldemort said to him. Severus nodded and placed his drink down on a nearby table. He then began to circle Hermione, undoing the buttons on his robes. Hermione's eyes were cast down but she could still feel him watching her, knowing what he was about to do. She waited for the inevitable. Knowing that after this, there will be only one option. Death. She closed her eyes again and thought of Harry and Ron. She could see Harry
and Ginny running through fields of flowers, laughing, in love. She then saw Ron and Luna riding a broom together as they dipped, swirled, and dipped again against a starry night sky. They both were happy.

Finally she opened her eyes again. She would not die like this. She was not going to be raped and killed by the man she had shared her heart and her bed with. She looked up to where Voldemort sat giving her his disgusting lipless smile. Then she turned her head toward Severus, who was almost done undressing.

She made up her mind. She wasn't going to die like this.

Holy Mary mother of God

It all happened so fast.

Pray for us sinners

There was so much shouting, so much blood.

Now and at the hour of our death

Suddenly a bright green light flashed in the room.

Amen

Hermione's body hit the floor with a loud thud. Her eyes wide and looking up towards the heavens.

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Somewhere else in the stronghold, deep in the subdungeons, a man screamed and clawed at the walls like a madman. He was forced to watch everything through a one way mirror and saw the death of his beloved.

Severus Snape screamed like a man possessed and threw what little furniture he had around the room. He had witnessed that son of a bitch Lucius drinking polyjuice potion, witnessed her tortures, and now her death. His only happiness came from when Hermione slit Lucius' throat, that was right before she was hit with the Killing Curse. He knew they were coming from him now. He knew that he was the only other link they had to finding Harry Potter and Dumbledore's army. Severus looked again at the mirror. Suddenly there was a loud crash as the mirror broke into a thousand pieces. He searched for the biggest piece he could find, and then he heard it. The sound of heavy footsteps approaching his room.

He would not be taken by them. Severus found the biggest piece available and held it to his throat. The footsteps were right outside the door now. Severus closed his eyes and said, "This is for you my love. May we find each other on the Other Side." The door opened and his world went black.

FIN.

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Well, how was that for a one-shot Darkfic? Hope you enjoyed it!

-Aggie