Taming the Snake

Chapter 2

Severus knew immediately that the girl kissing him was not his Lily. When he had first kissed the girl in their seventh year, he had felt sparks immediately threading themselves through his body and into his heart, filling with joyousness. This kiss was nothing compared to that. It was weak and lifeless, filled with no emotion.

Hermione's kiss had been the best he had ever experienced, though. Hermione. The thought hit him immediately. His heart began to race, and it had nothing to do with the woman dragging herself all over him at the moment. He extracted himself from the kiss, even though the woman hung her arms around his neck.

His eyes flew to where the girl had hit the floor when the woman entered, but all that was left was the cement floor, bare of all signs of the girl. Regret and guilt filled him, upsetting his stomach. The woman next to him had said something, but he ignored it. Frankly, he didn't give a fuck.

He noticed the small swing of the door to the classroom and shot off, easily removing himself from the woman's grasp.

He heard animalistic screams coming from down the hall, which he recognized from the night Bellatrix had tortured Hermione. He sprinted as fast as he could toward the screams, but found himself outside the locked doors of the Room of Requirement. The screams filled the halls again and Minerva was at his side almost instantly.

The shrieks stopped and tears filled Minerva's eyes. She turned to Severus worriedly.

"Who is in there, Severus?" She asked, dreading that she already knew the answer.

"Hermione Granger, I fear." He said, masking the terror and guilt that consumed him in that moment. He truly was the worst person ever, and he had never hated himself more than he did right now.

In the next minute, the doors were ashes and Minerva stood inside the crowded room, but only a measly blonde boy stood in the room, looking the tiniest he ever had.

Severus strode quickly over to him, his robes billowing behind him. In a moment, he had the boy on his eyelevel, holding him by the collar of his shirt. The silver eyes widened immensely, stricken with fear.

"Where. Is. She." Severus snarled out harshly through gritted teeth. The man was furious, his glare lethal. Draco had always known the Potions Master had a temper, but he had never seen him like this. It made him fear for his life. "Tell me, Malfoy!" The teacher snarled again, his voluminous tone only hinting at how enraged he was. The hold around the fabric tightened as Severus lost his patience and sanity.

"I-I don't know!" Draco cried, his face squinched up like in his third year, when Hermione's wand was connected to his throat. He was starting to see how the pair were compatible.

"Bullshit! Malfoy, if you don't tell me this fucking second, I swear-" The elder barked, coating the blonde in a layer of spit.

"Severus!" Minerva warned from the doorway, calling his attention away from the boy who didn't dare to move. "I have the answers you need. Legilimency." She explained, pulling his hands away from the boy's throat.

"Fine." He turned back to the boy, hatred burning in his eyes. "You live for now, Malfoy, but if I ever see even look at her again, I promise I will put you through hell and back until you beg for death." Severus snapped before releasing the boy to a crumpled mess on the floor.

The older wizard stalked out the door, a rushed Minerva attempting to stay in pace with him. She finally was able to grab his strong wrist when he whirled on her angrily. "What?!"

"Remember who the enemy is here, Severus. I beg you not to forget your senses." Minerva attempted to bring the man back to his senses. "We can't go into this battle without sense. Miss Granger wouldn't want that and you've never done this before."

"There is no we in this war, Minerva. I'm going alone. You are going to tell me where and I'm going to go there. Alone." He said, grasping the elder witch by the shoulders.

"Severus, please-" Minerva said, placing her hands on top of his. He glanced away, not able to match her caring eyes.

"No. I'm the reason she is missing. I need to be the one to bring her back." Severus stated quietly, shame rising in him.

"Please be careful, Severus." Minerva said, slipping a folded-up parchment into his hand. "Bring her back safe."

He nodded in return and she disappeared down the hall, returning to her office to attend to other business. He dismissed the thought as he apparated away from Hogwarts, a power Albus had granted him long ago.

He arrived at the gates of Malfoy Manor, what Minerva had written on the parchment, easily walking through the wards.

He strolled straight up to the front door and tore into the house, whirling on Lucius, who was unfortunately the closest inhabitant of the household.

"Where is she, Lucius?" He near-screamed in the man's face. The blonde only smirked evilly in return.

"I have no idea what you're on about, my friend." Lucius replied calmly.

"Where is Hermione, you filthy evil little cockroach!" He snapped, his lethal anger obvious in his eyes.

"Oh, the newest member of our household!" His face lit up in fake recognition and Severus nodded. "She's in her chambers, resting. She's a rather good lover, you see. I may keep her for myself." Lucius smiled at his friend's reaction of fury and lethal looks. He knew just how to aggravate the greasy-haired wizard after years and years of practice.

"Don't you dare!" He snapped, drawing his wand and placing it at Lucius' Adams apple. "Take me to her. Now."

"As you wish." He complied, leading the way up the regal grand staircase.

Severus followed begrudgingly, not putting his wand at rest or away for second. The black-haired man seethed with anger because he knew just how terrible and awful his friend could be, especially to women and mudbloods. Unfortunately, the girl he had sworn to protect was both.

Lucius opened the last door of the hallway they were currently in and motioned Severus to enter. Severus quickly stepped inside and was horrified at what he saw. The girl on the bed was not his Hermione. A sharp pain echoed in his empty chest and he sucked in a sharp breath. The girl, hearing her visitors, sat up. She looked at him with empty and unfamiliar eyes.

"L-Lucius, who is this?" She said as her eyebrows furrowed and her newly-black eyes scanned his face without recognition.

"This is a friend of mine, Hermione. This is Mr. Severus Snape." He said as if the girl was a grade-school student, learning names and faces for the first time.

"M-Mr. Snape, it is wonderful to m-meet you. I'm very tired but if you need something, please feel free." She said shakingly, motioning to the dark bed she sat on. He shuddered at the thought of what Lucius had done to the girl in the short period of time she was here alone.

She physically shook, wearing nothing but a black corset, which had obviously been Bellatrix's, and short black cutoff jeans. What worried Severus the most was the dark tattoo on the inside of her left arm that he recognized all too well for comfort. The Dark Mark.

It took all his power not to rush up to her and ask her if this was all a horrible nightmare right then and there. He so hoped this was a sick cruel joke Lucius, Draco, and her had played on him and that the girl sitting before him with hair blacker then his own and dark scraps of clothes was in a dark costume and not the girl he'd known for eight years ruined.

Clueless and scared, she was a beautiful masterpiece ripped to shreds and it was all his fault. An emptiness filled him, aching worse by the second. What do you do when someone is completely destroyed and it's all your fault? He had to save her, but he had know idea how.