Let Me In

Chapter Six

"Come Severus, we are celebrating tonight." Lucius Malfoy met Severus at the door of Malfoy Manor with a wide grin.

"And what would tonight's cause for celebration be?" Severus asked, feigning interest.

"Draco has joined the cause. Tonight, he becomes a Death Eater. He's in there receiving his mark right now, and, for later we caught him a few muggles to play with." Both men shared a laugh.

"Excellent news, congratulations, my old friend." Severus followed Lucius and entered, what he knew to be, the largest room in the house. The first thing he noticed, upon entering, was the ear-splitting screams. They were coming from, what Severus presumed to be, a muggle. She was writhing around the floor under the cruciatus curse. The curse was being performed by Draco Malfoy who had a fresh 'Dark Mark' protruding from his wand arm. Severus wondered where it had all went wrong for the boy. He had once had so much potential and Severus couldn't help but feel as though he had failed his God son. The next thing that he noticed was the Dark Lord himself, sat upon his throne, watching the activities a malicious grin and an approving gleam in his eyes.

"Congratulations Draco" the Dark Lord called, instantly commanding the attention of everybody in the room "I have a welcoming gift to bestow upon you, my boy, but first, kill the muggle." Everybody turned back to Draco, eager and expectant; he swallowed hard and looked towards his parents, who nodded at his encouragingly. He took a deep breath and shouted 'Avada Kedavra', killing the muggle where she lay. Voldemort cackled loudly, as did everybody else.

"Well done, Draco. I must say, I didn't believe you capable of murder, you have proven me wrong, something so few have the privilege of doing, I am impressed. But, now, your gift. This is an honour I would grace so few with; I am trusting you with a task, Draco. A task not many could complete and I am counting on you not to disappoint me. I need you to kill Albus Dumbledore." Everybody in the room gasped loudly

"Dumbledore? You want me to kill Dumbledore?" Draco stammered

"Will this be a problem?"

"No, of course not my Lord" Draco dropped to his knees "thank you my Lord, I am honoured, I will not disappoint you"

"Now" Voldemort addressed the room "if you could all return to celebrating, I'd like to have a word with Severus in private." Voldemort's gaze met Severus' across the room and he knew he had no choice but to follow. He followed his master to a room he hadn't seen before. It was smaller, darker and smelt of blood and death

"Welcome, Severus, this is my torture room, isn't it marvellous" Severus merely smiled and nodded "and what is your report, this evening?"

"My Lord, Dumbledore says he brought Slughorn back to Hogwarts for a memory. A memory he holds with a former student which Dumbledore believes will be key to winning the war. He has also recruited Harry Potter to befriend Slughorn, to gain his trust enough to retrieve this memory from him." The entire time Snape spoke his voice never faltered and Voldemort looked pleased.

"Well done Severus, this is excellent information. I always knew you were a good and faithful servant. But, I regret to inform you, you are in my torture room, and I am afraid that once I step foot in this room, I cannot leave without using it for its intended purpose; it's a rule of mine."

Half an hour later and Snape left the torture room sore and bloodied. He'd been whipped across his back and he was pretty sure his wand arm had been fractured. He was grateful, however, that this time, he was able to walk away (he remembered the last time he left Voldemort's presence and how he was left for dead outside of the gates of Hogwarts). He wanted nothing more than to retire to his chambers and he'd almost reached the front door of the manor before he was pulled aside by Narcissa Malfoy and her sister Bellatrix Lestrange.

"Severus" Narcissa spoke "I am sorry to trouble you, but I didn't know where else to turn. Draco is just a boy."

"You should be honoured Cissy, as should Draco" her sister told her.

"I realise, Narcissa, that this is a difficult situation. It might be possible for me to help Draco" Narcissa smiled at him but Bellatrix looked far from convinced.

"Swear to it. Make the unbreakable vow..."

Severus returned to the gates of Hogwarts wondering when he'd gotten so stupid and irresponsible. He'd have to report this to Dumbledore but, first, he had to tend to his wounds. It took him only half an hour to realise he couldn't reach the wounds on his back and, with his wand arm fractured, there wasn't a lot he could do anyway, so he reluctantly made his way to the hospital wing. He walked in to the infirmary and looked around for Madame Pomfrey, but found only Hermione.

"Miss Granger, I need to see Madame Pomfrey"

"I'm sorry sir, she's out"

"Out? What do you mean out? That's impossible, who's watching the infirmary?"

"I am, sir. I work here. Madame Pomfrey volunteers at St. Mungos a few times in the week now and, in her absence, I am the matron of Hogwarts"

"nonsense, this is ridiculous. I will not be seen to by a student, especially a Gryffindor student. I will heal myself"

"with all due respect, sir, you are holding your wand arm incredibly tightly to your chest. I can tell from over here that you're injured. Please, sit down sir, I promise you that I am capable" Severus weighed up his options. He knew he couldn't fix it himself, he'd already tried. He sighed internally and sat down on the nearest bed. Hermione looked momentarily shocked but quickly composed herself and scurried over to him. She waited for him to roll up his sleeve and carefully took his arm in her small hands, examining it. After a minute, she spoke

"you've slightly fractured this bone here sir" she very lightly ran the tip of her pinkie finger up his arm "just hold very still." She pulled out her wand and muttered an incantation. There was a slight crunch from her professor's arm and he took it out of her hands, moving it around

"thank you, Miss Granger, that will be all" he nodded at her and stood up

"Professor, wait, that's not all, is it? I can see the blood on your shirt, sir. Your back is bleeding, you're hurt"

"that is no concern of yours, Granger, you are over stepping your boundaries"

"What do you mean, no concern of mine?" Hermione raised her voice slightly, forgetting for the moment that this was Professor Snape "I am the Hogwarts matron and, right now, you are my patient. You will be out of here a lot quicker and we will both never have to speak of this again if you would just cooperate" she took a deep breath, looked him in the eye, and said "professor, please remove your shirt." Snape sighed, glaring at her, and muttered about 'insufferable Gryffindors', whilst he unbuttoned his shirt. He winced visibly as he pulled the shirt off of his back and Hermione gasped

"Oh, professor, what have they done to you?" Snape suddenly felt very exposed, not only because he was sat, shirtless, in front of one of his students, but because of the obvious pain in her voice. He'd never had anyone feel sympathy for him before and he wasn't quite sure how to react. Hermione struggled to hold back tears as she carefully cleaned out Snape's wounds. It was obvious to her that he'd suffered some form of thrashing and the thought made her angry as well as upset. After she had cleansed his wounds, she applied Essence of Dittany and then a cream to prevent scarring. The entire time she worked Snape couldn't help but notice the warmth in her hands. He then told himself he shouldn't be thinking about her hands and tried to focus on anything other than Hermione Granger.

As soon as Hermione finished, Snape rose from the bed, re-dressed and left the hospital wing without so much as a glance in Hermione's direction, leaving her to stare at the door where he had just left.

That night Hermione cried herself to sleep. Thinking that, if she were to ever find herself in another situation where she had to tend to Professor Snape, she wouldn't be able to handle it.