Unavoidable Attraction

Glass shards

Hermione sat in the corner of the cold dungeon with her knees pulled up to her chest. She had been waiting there for four days. It was Christmas.

They had pulled her out a few times to "have their fun with her". She was covered in bruises and cuts and she had burns on her wrists from when they had tied them with coarse rope.

They mainly took Severus. She could faintly hear his grunts of pain but he was never very vocal. He would come back to her even worse than the last time. She would cradle him in her lap and rock back and forth until he fell asleep from exhaustion.

His body was developing more scars and he was becoming weaker every day. They occasionally brought down a small plate of food and a cup of water and she would force Severus to eat.

"I'll be fine love, I'm honestly not hungry. You eat. You'll need your strength for the next round."

Hermione was sitting there all alone in the dark. She gave a little chuckle when she thought of this being her first Christmas with Severus. "Some Christmas."

She let out a sigh and stood up. She shook her arms and legs trying to restore blood flow, and she pulled her arms closer to her body. She began to pace around not paying attention to what she was stepping on. She would flinch a little when her foot would hit some glass or a loose nail but she didn't stop. "There's no use" she'd say to herself. "You're going to die here anyway. This will make it quicker"

Her head was practically empty which was new for her. She had no emotions. She felt like she was stripped of what made her a human being as she sat in the cold dungeon of Malfoy mansion as she waited to be used as a punching bag again. 

She heard scuffling coming from the other side of the bars and she watched as a bruised and beaten Severus was thrown onto the floor and the door locked behind him. She rushed to his aide and kneeled down by his head.

It was a strange sight to see the rigid potions master cry, but the tears were rolling down his face as he let out small whimpers while slowly rolling into the fetal position.

"Shhh love. It's alright. It's over." She whispered as she wiped the blood from his face. "I'm here darling."

"Hermione?" Came his feeble response "I'm sorry I got you into this"

"Now you stop right there. I don't want to hear it. I'm with you in this. Well get out of here."

"Do you really believe that?"

Hermione paused and shook her head but Severus couldn't see. "Yes love, I do."

"How? We have no wands. Nobody knows we're gone."

"Well..." Hermione paused again. "Once school begins again and we are there, surely someone will come looking."

"I don't think I can last that long Hermione. I can't do this anymore" He slowly slid his hand across the floor and grabbed a rather large shard of glass and motioned it towards her. "Pleas kill me"

Hermione froze. She hoped that she had just imagined him saying that but she knew that she hadn't. "Severus..." She began to cry. "Severus you put that glass down. I will not..." She couldn't finish her sentence. She leaned down and buried her face in his and cried.

"I know it seems dark now love, but we can get through this. We just have to."

He was too weak, and his hand dropped along with the shard of glass, and suddenly Hermione had an idea. She brought her head up and looked at the shard laying on the cold stone.

"Severus... I'm going to get us out!" There was so much hope in her voice. She gently placed his head on the ground and stood grabbing the shard on her way up. "I just have to wait until yaxley or nott comes down to get me. Then... Oh Severus! You're a genius!

She gave a little skip and helped Severus over to a wall and propped him up. She paced the floor more quickly this time. The adrenaline in her system was pumping quickly.

The time seemed to be passing slowly but she didn't stop. Eventually she heard footsteps approaching. She placed both hands behind her back and watched as Nott defended the stairs with his wand held high. The door unlocked and he walked in with a smirk on his face.

"Malfoy is ready for you" he said looking her up and down.

Before anything else could happen, Hermione quickly brought the shard around slicing him across the neck. Blood came out quickly which made Hermione want to vomit. She watched as he gasped for air and then watched as his wand hit the floor soon followed by him.

Hermione was terrified of what she had just done but she couldn't help but smile then run to Severus and kiss him. "Merry Christmas, we're getting out of here!"

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Merry (late) Christmas to all my beautiful readers! You are all so amazing and I appreciate the support! As always, I love comments and suggestions. You're all amazing and I can't wait to hear what you all think of this chapter. I've been sitting on this idea for a while and I finally got to use it. I don't want Severus and Hermione to be there too long but we'll just have to see what fate has in store for them. Again, you're all amazingly awesome!!!