Innocence Lost

Severus was smiling on the inside as he watched Lucius Malfoy twitch on the floor. A short while after he had started his rounds of socialising, the Dark Lord entered the room, and as everyone stopped what they were doing to bow in respect, he pointed his wand at Lucius, casting a non-verbal Cruciatus as casually as if he were just saying hi. As Lucius started to cry out in pain, Voldemort looked around at his followers and declared, "Listen closely. Your brother Lucius is being punished for his laziness. He is being punished for damaging precious herbs intended for my Potion master's project...a project that is of the greatest importance. I will not accept this behaviour again," he said as he waved his wand, taking the curse off the now stone-faced Lucius. "If any of you are asked to procure ingredients for Severus, you will do as you are asked. If you damage the herbs you will pay dearly," he said as he started walking toward Severus.

Severus bowed low, as expected, and knelt to kiss the hem of Voldemort's robes. "Now rise, Severus. I declare you my most loyal Death Eater," Voldemort said as he turned to the room to survey everyone. "You are all now his servants as well. I give him full authority to punish any of you in my absence. Bow and show your respect!" he hissed. Severus allowed a small smirk to show on his face as Lucius came to him and took his turn at bowing and kissing Severus' hem. Once everyone in the room had paid their respects to the topmost Death Eater, Severus Snape, their Dark Lord left the room. Many continued with their base pleasures and socialising, but there was a distinctly quieter note as the revel continued that evening.

~{}~

Lucius glared daggers at Severus as he leaned against a darkened corner, wondering what on earth he could do to destroy his old protégé. Suddenly startled by a tap on his shoulder, he turned to his left and found Amycus Carrow standing there. "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be watching the meadow!" he spat out at him as quietly as possible.

Amycus smiled as he leaned closer. "We captured you quite a prize, Lucius. We put her in the dungeons at the Manor like you instructed us to if we found someone. You're going to love this...it's that filthy Mudblood, Granger. You know the one, Potter's friend," he said with unreserved glee in his eyes.

Lucius smiled widely at him. "Very well, let's go home and I can see for myself," he replied, wondering what the girl's first lesson should be. He also wondered how he should approach the Dark Lord about her. He had to time it right so that he could reveal what he suspected as Severus's true regard for his "apprentice." It was well known in the higher ranks that he was teaching her privately when he was with the Order. Severus had approached their Dark Lord when she was assigned to work with him and promised the Dark Lord that he would teach her and use her for the information that she might share regarding Harry Potter. This is a great development indeed, he thought as they approached the Apparation point outside, then Disapparated to his home, Malfoy Manor.

~{}~

Severus watched as Amycus spoke quietly with Lucius and then as the two slipped out of the room in a hurry. He wondered briefly what they were up to...it definitely would not be anything good. Lucius was a very vengeful wizard; Severus would have to watch his back closely now. He was pleased about his new rank. It would make him even more useful to the Order's cause. But at this point there was nowhere to go but down, so he would have to be very careful. Suddenly he remembered his earlier worries about Hermione and his un-warded journal. He made his way across the room as quickly as he could with so many people stopping him to congratulate him. He had to get back to Headquarters as soon as possible.

~{}~

Lucius entered his dungeons and chuckled to himself as he looked inside the very first cell. Lying inside, completely unconscious, was Hermione Granger, now his personal toy. He turned to Alecto and Amycus as he pulled a large pouch of Galleons from his robes. "Very well done, my friends. Now, get out of here and tell no one of your find. This is a delicate situation, and utmost secrecy is needed. Do I make myself clear?" he said, the last part coming out of his mouth as softly as a caress, although warning laced his words.

"We wouldn't share this with anyone, Lucius. You can trust us. Thanks for the nice payment. Let me know if you have any other little jobs we can do for you," Amycus said as he grabbed his sister's arm and steered her out the door. They knew better than to cross Lucius.

~{}~

Lucius unlocked the cell door with a wave of his wand and entered the cell. He leaned over Hermione's unconscious form and checked her sleeve, pocketing her wand; then he checked her other pockets as well. Seeing that she was clean of anything that could harm him or help her, he stood up and waved his wand again with the incantation, "Sceacul!". Instantly her body lifted into the air, her hands above her head, and shackles appeared around her wrists, keeping her upright with her feet barely touching the floor. With a simple "Ennervate!" Hermione started to come to.

Her eyes fluttered and she tried to focus them. She was uncomfortable, and her wrists hurt. Focusing her confused mind, she gradually realised that she was chained to something, and when she really focused on who was in front of her with that sadistic smirk, she gasped. "Malfoy!"

Lucius glared at her, knowing that her even saying his name was wrong. He reached forward and backhanded her hard across her face, leaving her lip split at the corner, bleeding lightly. "There are some rules to follow, Mudblood. You will never disgrace my name by saying it. You will call me sir. You will not bother with pleas of freedom...and trust me, you don't want to. When I'm through with you, you will be brought before the Dark Lord, so be thankful that I'm willing to have a little fun with you first. Do I make myself clear?" he replied nastily, leering at her in a way that made her cringe.

Steeling herself, she spat in his face. "That's all the thanks you're going to get, you bastard. You're going to regret ever keeping me here. Malfoy!"

Lucius's lip curled in amusement. "So, you're going to be a feisty one, are you? Well, that's just fine with me. I think I'll enjoy breaking Potter's little Mudblood friend. Oh, and you will break. I'll make sure of it!" he assured her. He waved his wand and she flew toward the wall face-first, the chains still holding her arms tightly above her head. She heard him whisper another incantation, and before she could understand what it was, the first strike of the whip he had conjured lashed her back and she screamed in agony. Again and again she screamed as the whip started cutting into her skin, shredding her clothes. When it was obvious she was on the verge of blacking out, he stopped. He walked up to her and leaned close to her ear as he patted the broken skin on her back. "Like I said...you will break."

She whimpered as his hand came in contact with her torn skin. She felt him move away and chanced a look over her shoulder. Her eyes froze in horror when she realised he was taking his clothes off as he stared greedily at her body. She really did black out this time. Her conscious mind and magic helped her in the vain hope that she would not remember what he was so obviously planning to do.

With a flick of his wand, she was stripped of her clothes, and with the act of a monster, she was innocent no more.

~{}~

It was close to one in the morning when Severus arrived back at Headquarters, and immediately his fears doubled. The lights were on in most of the rooms of the house. He rushed through the door into the kitchen, realising right away that his fears must have come true. Remus, Molly, and Arthur were sitting quietly at the table, drinking tea. As soon as Severus registered the fear in their eyes he asked stiffly, "How long since she left?"

Remus looked at him oddly before asking, "How did you know Hermione was gone?"

"I just assumed her Gryffindor instincts would find a way to do something stupid. We had a discussion...basically she was whining about learning how to harvest potion ingredients. I explained the need for patience to plan an outing such as that. She went back to work on the potions I set her, and when my Mark burned, I stupidly forgot to ward my journal before I left. My Dark journal. Being the nosey little know-it-all that she is, I can only imagine she was captured after finding my Dark ingredients harvesting map," he said as he pulled up a chair, sat down, and poured himself some tea as well.

Molly leaned forward, tears falling down her cheeks as she screeched at him. "Well, don't just sit there and help yourself to tea! Go find her! Surely you can find out where they would keep her, if they did catch her!"

"Molly, more is at stake than the life of Hermione Granger. I'm not happy just sitting here and drinking tea and not finding her, but I can't risk the suspicion that would arise if I started checking Death Eater houses," he said, irritation lacing his voice. He got up after downing his tea and headed for the door. "I need to confirm where she went. I'll be in the lab or her room to see if she left any clue to where she might have been captured."

Remus watched as he left the room, wondering if she hadn't been captured, which seemed the only option at this point, where was she?

~{}~

Severus noticed right away that the journal had been moved. It was sitting perfectly in the middle of his desk, and by unconscious habit, he always laid books and papers more toward the right. He opened the book, and even though nothing was missing he could easily imagine her copying the map. He just felt it. He walked over to her own desk, and when a brief search turned up nothing he knew she had taken her own ingredient list with her. Ever since he had begun allowing her to gather the basic ingredients by herself, he always made sure she went to one place only. He would have to stop by there tomorrow and ask the shopkeeper if he remembered what time she'd left.

He left the lab and walked upstairs to her room, which was right across from his own. He had been living at Grimmauld Place since Hogwarts closed after Dumbledore's death and Severus had proved his own innocence in the matter. Everyone in the Order was now aware of Dumbledore's subconscious plea to him to save Draco. Severus thought it a pity that even though the Death Eaters believed him to still be loyal to the Dark Lord, Dumbledore's "murder" had not saved Draco from his fate. He was killed mere hours after leaving the tower, another crime Lucius had decided to lay at Severus's feet.

Upon entering Hermione's room he saw her book, which she had left on the ottoman in front of her chair. It was a book about herbs and where they could be found. He picked up the book and leafed through it to see if she had marked anything. There were creases on the pages toward the back, which detailed how to harvest herbs. Even if she's reckless, at least she tried to do something smart, he thought to himself. He laid the book back down on the ottoman and made his way back down to the kitchen. When he entered the room he said, "I think I know where she intended to go. I'm going to check the area for her, see if I can find anything that proves she was at the Dark Meadow. I'll return as soon as I can." With that he swept from the room, hoping that maybe she was really just stupid and was still there safely picking herbs, maybe having lost track of the time. He thought it unlikely, though.

He Apparated to the little bridge over the creek, and after Disillusioning himself he made his way swiftly through the woods, grateful for the moonlight that lighted his way. He slowed his pace as he approached the meadow, pulled out his wand, and cast a detection spell. The wand would grow warm in his hand if there was anyone within a mile of him. It did not, so he knew he was safe, though he did not remove the Disillusionment Charm. He canvassed the meadow until he found her knapsack, a pouch and a pair of cutters lying next to it. He picked up the pouch and cutters and stuffed them into the knapsack and made his way back to the bridge. As soon as he arrived back at Grimmauld Place, he showed them what he had found; then he left the room for the comfort of the lab as Molly started sobbing into Arthur's arms and Remus hung his head. They would have to bide their time until it was safe for Severus to search for her.

~{}~

Once he had closed the lab door, Severus dumped the knapsack out on the table and inspected what Hermione had gathered. From the look of it, he had to admit to himself that she would be a great Potions master one day...her clippings of white willow and red clover were perfect...that was, if she lived.

A/N: I hope you liked this update, even though it was a rough chappie to read... more to come soon! *HUGS* PLEASE read and review...