Severus still couldn't believe what he had heard coming from the
mouth of Harry Potter.
"Harry, you've got to be bloody kidding!" Ron spoke up, unable to
believe that his friend had suggested such a thing.
"No, Ron, I'm not." Harry, still crouched next to Padma, held up
a hand to stop his red-faced friend from objecting further. "Think
about it. What other way do we have of helping her other than
sending the Headmaster back there? There aren't enough of us active
in the resistance movement right now to pull off anything bigger
than random guerilla raids and sabotage. We don't know enough about
all of this. We aren't in a position to wage all out war on
Voldemort's regime and you know it."
Ron's shoulders sagged as he sat down again and he looked
defeated, even as he cringed at his friend's casual use of the Dark
Lord's name. Harry continued, obviously on a roll, "Headmaster," he
addressed Snape, "can you go over what you remember about the place
for me?" Severus nodded.
"It's a large manor house, I think, from what I saw of it. It's
richly appointed in the way a home belonging to old blood and money
would be. We flooed into a sitting room and when Lucius Malfoy left
me alone to go and check that everything was 'satisfactory', I was
able to take a look out a window. The place is somewhere on the
coast, built on the edge of a cliff overlooking the sea. There are
at least three levels to it, because we went up a flight of stairs
to reach the room and I saw that there was a flight of stairs
leading to another level again." He looked apologetic. "I'm sorry,
but that's all I can tell you about the place itself."
"What about Hermione and the other girls there? Can you tell us
everything you know about them? Every little bit of information
helps." Padma had wiped the tears from her face and was now leaning
forward expectantly, ready to catalogue the information in her brain
along with everything else.
"Miss Granger didn't look emaciated, so we can assume they are
getting regular meals. Lucius took my wand from me but gave it back
when he came to collect me, so I also think it's safe to assume they
don't want to risk the chance of one of them getting their hands on
a wand, even if they're under the Imperius. Unfortunately, from what
she told me, they are used and abused quite horrifically then are
healed and used and abused again." Severus trailed off as he took a
moment to gauge their reactions. Harry and Padma were pale and
shocked and Ron seemed to be getting more and more agitated. Miss
Granger is also under the effect of a double Imperius, so I can
assume she's been causing some trouble, even in captivity."
"A double Imperius?" Harry tried to wrap his mind around the
concept. "I've never heard of that before. Is it even possible?"
"It's possible, but usually unnecessary. She was fighting it to
give me the answers she did, but she managed to tell me what she
could, a fact that's amazing in itself. I'm surprised she hasn't
broken from the strain of it all."
"If there's one thing I can say about Hermione, it's that she's
extremely single minded when she needs to be." Harry commented.
"Did she tell you how many girls there are there?" Padma asked,
intrigued and horrified at the same time by what Snape was telling
them.
"She said there were twenty prisoners in all there. Fifteen women
and four men are still living."
"Did she give you any names?" Padma wanted to compare the names
with the list of witches and wizards who had not been found
"None, except for the name of her cell mate."
"And who is that?"
"Lavender Brown." Padma and Harry stared at him open mouthed.
Snape's gaze flicked to Ron, as the pair had dated for a while
before the war broke out. If he was looking for a show, he wasn't
disappointed.
"Merlin's fucking balls!!!" The hot-headed Gryffindor stood up
again so quickly that the chair he'd been sitting on slammed back
against the floor with a clatter. "They've got Lavender too?!? Don't
you have any good news for us?"
"Is there ever any good news where the Dark Lord and his Death
Eaters are concerned, Mr. Weasley?" Severus replied with a question
of his own.
"Ron," Padma began, her voice reasonable, "we thought they were
dead until today. The fact they're alive means we have a chance to
get them back." Ron looked at her penitently as her words sunk in
and he read between the lines. Parvati, whose broken body had been
recovered after the final battle, was well and truly lost to them,
but they had a chance to free their friends.
"I'm sorry, Padma." Ron apologized as he turned and righted his
chair, sitting down at the table once more.
"While I'm talking Lucius Malfoy into letting me see Miss Granger
again, what will the rest of the resistance be doing?" Snape had
finished his food and pushed the empty plate away.
"I guess we should plan a little distraction to keep them busy
and then we'll use some of our unregistered animagi members to trail
them and see where they go. Also, we can have some of the lesser
known members of our satellite cells scour the coastline by broom
and see if they can't come up with a likely location for that
mansion."
"That would be a good idea. Lucius Malfoy would not tell me where
I was last night, so I can't see him being forthcoming about it and
if I were to ask again outright, I may make him suspicious and we
don't want that."
"Well, we'll leave it up to you to come up with a way to see
Hermione again."
"I'll let you know what happens." Severus told him, standing up.
"Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to get back to the school."
Hermione looked around the dining room table at the other
prisoners as she took her seat. She counted to make sure everyone
was there, something she'd done obsessively every day since Hannah
had died. Dean and Justin, two other muggle-borns from her year,
looked disturbed and washed out. They must have had a rough night
last night. Sometimes she wondered who were the most depraved, the
male or female Death Eaters? Then another ritual began. One by one,
as in a round robin, they spoke the name of who they had been with
the night before. She shook her head as the usual suspects were
named again and again and then it was her turn.
"Professor Snape." She told them, watching as eyes widened all
around her. That name had never been said at this table before. They
knew better than to say anything more out loud, but the questions in
their eyes spoke volumes. She gave them a reassuring smile and
watched as they relaxed, puzzled looks on their faces. Everyone here
had become a master at reading body language as it wasn't wise to
say too much in front of the 2 burly Death Eater guards stationed at
the doors. They didn't look as if they had one brain between the
pair of them, but they were mean sons of bitches and it didn't take
a lot to provoke them.
Food began to materialize on the plates in front of them. It was
simple fare, plain but nourishing, and you ate what appeared or you
ate nothing at all. As they ate, they observed yet another ritual,
asking after each other's health. Everyone was present and accounted
for, which meant that no-one was tortured to within an inch of their
life last night. She studied Lavender, sitting next to her, hair
artfully arranged to hide the faint, residual bruises around her
neck that Milly hadn't been able to completely erase. Well, she knew
that story intimately, having experienced it many times herself. Her
eyes flicked across the table and she studied Roisin McEldowney, a
black-haired, muggle-born, Ravenclaw witch from Belfast who was
three years older than she was. The woman's mouth was curled into a
moue of distaste, probably an unconscious reaction to what ever it
was she'd been put through last night. Apart from looking drained
and unhappy, she didn't seem to be too badly off. Claire Beecham, a
Hufflepuff a year younger than Hermione, appeared closed off and
barely holding herself together but then again she'd been
unfortunate enough to host the brutal and cruel McNair last night
again. He'd developed a taste for the slightly built
strawberry-blonde and his frequent visits were fraying her nerves
and sanity as she hadn't been all that strong to begin with.
Hermione didn't envy her in the least, as he'd visited her a few
times himself and she knew firsthand there was nothing that turned
him on more than the sound of a woman screaming in pain. She
repressed a shudder at the thought and tuned into the small talk
which was deliberately bland and supposedly innocent so as to not
attract the attention of the guards.
Monday morning after breakfast, Severus escaped up the staircase
behind the gargoyle into his sanctuary, Dumbledore's old office.
Every time he crossed the threshold he was reminded of that, not
only by the muttering portraits of all the preceding headmasters,
but by a sullen and faded Fawkes, who hadn't sung a note since the
day Albus Dumbledore had died. "Hello, old boy," he greeted the
phoenix as he crossed the room. He had settled on sending an owl to
Lucius first to test the waters. Once he had his reply, he'd know
how to proceed. He sat down at the huge oak desk and sharpened a new
quill.
A few minutes later, he watched as the school owl winged its way
towards the south, to Malfoy Manor. Well, that was taken care of,
now to get back to what he would do once he met Miss Granger again.
He'd had to get up and take a Dreamless Sleep Potion last night, as
his mind was filled with images and impressions of the girl and what
they had done behind the closed doors of the Green Room, as Lucius
had called it, every single time he closed his eyes. What could he
do to let her know he was going to help her, without really saying
anything? She had been an exceptionally bright girl when she was at
Hogwarts and he hoped her months of abuse under the Death Eaters had
not dulled her reasoning skills too much. Of course, he didn't think
that was true, but it was better to prepare for all possible
scenarios.
A soft, magical chime let him know he had company and he looked
in the scrying crystal imbedded in the desktop to see Professor
Sprout coming up the stairs. He had an idea for a potion, but needed
to check with her to see if some of the ingredients he needed from
the greenhouse were mature enough to use. He didn't want to have to
send away for them, because he knew that if he did that, someone
might get wind of what he was up to.
"Severus," the windblown little witch greeted him affectionately,
"you wanted to see me?" As per usual, she had a smudge of dirt along
the side of her nose. Of the old staff, Professor Sprout was the
only Head-of-House still living. Well, he was still alive but one
could not be the Headmaster and also a Head-of-House. Poppy Pomfrey,
Professor Trelawney and Professor Sinistra were still alive and on
staff. Professor Binns was still undead and on staff. All the other
teachers were new. Apart from Hagrid, who was missing, every other
member of the old teaching staff were dead and gone. He shook
himself out of his reverie as he realized he hadn't answered.
"Indeed," he gestured for her to take a seat in one of the
squashy chairs in front of his desk, "would you like some tea?"
Professor Sprout nodded and, as he poured her a cup from pot on the
tray that materialized in front of him, he asked, "How are things in
the greenhouse?"
"Everything is coming along quite wonderfully. We had a
spectacular growing season this year. You needn't worry about a
thing, there's been no root rot or mealy bugs, although I thought we
had a bit of a problem with leaf blight, but I got that under
control. Everything is perfect for herbology classes and all the
ingredients required for the potions curriculum are in order."
"That's splendid to hear." he told her, leaning forward
conspiratorially. "Now, what I'm actually interested in is growing
in your own private greenhouse. Are you familiar with the Vestigium
Teneo potion?" Professor Sprout's eyebrows knitted together in
concentration as she dredged her memory.
"Not from personal experience. I know it's quite difficult to
brew and what you need to brew it--quite the interesting list of
ingredients. What's this for?" She studied him, a worried look
stealing onto her face.
"I'm afraid I can't tell you at the moment, however, I can assure
you it's nothing untoward… Can you supply the rarer ingredients?"
Professor Sprout nodded and sipped her tea.
Lucius was grinning as he read the contents of the scroll.
"Developed a taste for our little mudblood, have we Severus?" His
smile got wider and more predatory. "She's done her job well. This
is exactly what I had hoped for." Since the end of the war, Lucius
had been unable to find a weakness to exploit in the former Head of
Slytherin that would go unnoticed by the Dark Lord. He hated being
on an even footing with Snape. If he nurtured this situation, he'd
have the leverage he needed to gain the upper hand again. He
scratched out a quick reply on a fresh piece of parchment and rolled
it up, sliding it into the little silver scroll tube on the school
owl's leg. As he watched the owl soar into the sky, he felt like
celebrating and decided that a visit to the mudblood was in order.