Strength

Severus woke a few hours later, hearing a moan of pain from the main bed. He sat up quickly and looked over at Hermione. Her eyes were barely open and her face was scrunched up; the pain she was in was clearly bad at the moment. He walked swiftly over to the nightstand and fetched another bottle of the Pain-Relieving Potion and sat on the edge of the bed.

"Here, let me help you sit up. You'll stop hurting if you take some of this. All that jumping around and crouching between furniture and walls didn't help your situation," he said grumpily. He almost regretted his attitude, but he was not a morning person, something she knew fairly well after the months before of living in the same house as him. He also assumed that she would consider his "usual morning grumpiness" to be a refreshing change from being babied.

She tried to sit up, but the newly re-grown bones in her wrist prevented her; she nearly started to cry from the pain. Sighing in frustration, Severus laid the potion bottle back on the nightstand and stood up, leaned over towards her, and carefully grasped her under her arms, trying to avoid the still tender skin of her back. It had healed over within the first few hours of her taking the special healing potions, but those could only do so much. There had been so many lacerations before that just below the lining of her tank top by her neck, where the cuts started, it looked like bumpy ripples, still pink and inflamed.

Severus uncorked the bottle with his teeth, struggling to support her shoulders carefully with one arm, and slowly started pouring the potion down her throat. She swallowed it greedily, ignoring the disgusting taste. When she was finished, he figured he might as well give her doses of the various other potions that would speed her recovery. After she was done taking them, she started to look a little green. He had looked closely at her while she was taking the potions, really noticing how she looked extremely skinny from lack of nourishment. He carefully laid her back on her pillows and said, "I imagine you would like something to eat. Give me a few moments and I'll bring you something. What do you want?" he asked her irritably.

She looked at him after a moment of thinking it over and said simply, "Scrambled eggs and toast, I think. I'm not sure I can handle much else."

"Very well. I'll be back," he replied, leaving the room. He went down to the kitchen, where he was shocked to see Remus sitting by himself, fully awake and drinking coffee at the table. "What are you doing up?" Severus asked as he wrote down on the piece of charmed parchment what he wanted for his and Hermione's breakfast. Since it was a house of mainly bachelors and everyone was always busy anyway, they received all of their meals from the Hogwarts house-elves, delivered by Floo. The parchment had a charmed twin; when they wrote their order onto their copy, it appeared on the matching parchment at Hogwarts, and they received their food within minutes.

"I couldn't sleep after last night, when she woke up," Remus said quietly, taking a sip of his coffee. "I'm planning on going over to the Burrow to break the details to Molly and Arthur. I'll make sure to tell them that they aren't exactly welcome just yet. I imagine she'll still be jumpy about any kind of physical contact. I'll make sure to stress that point; no sense in startling her, making her any more uncomfortable than she already is," he said.

Severus nodded his head. "I agree. Make sure they fill in the rest of the Order since everyone is working out of the Burrow anyway. I think she'll be more comfortable around just us for a little while since we were the ones she first saw when she came to," he replied. "I'll be busy enough as it is. I'm sure that despite my added duty of 'nursing her back to health and gaining her trust in the process', I won't be granted any leniency or extra time to finish the Depreciare Potion for the Dark Lord, something I'm sure Lucius is happy about. I'm nearly finished with it, though; I'm actually further along than the Dark Lord knows. I demonstrated old progress to him the last time he asked to see it. As soon as she is able, I'm going to need her to step up and help, whether she's recovered emotionally or not. No one else in the Order can come close to her mediocre talent," he said with a nasty smirk, a reminder of Remus's mere passing grade in Potions.

Remus looked at him, ignoring the snide remark, and said, "Severus, she needs time to heal. I'm not sure it's a good idea to encourage her to bury herself in work. She needs to deal with this fully, not cover up the pain with research and potion-brewing. It would tear her apart eventually if she didn't deal with it."

"I know you're a friend of Hermione's, but that doesn't mean you know her well. I taught her for six years and worked one-on-one with her for several months, Lupin, and I promise you she will be able to cope with things while she works. She's done it before, and she'll have to do it again," Severus said, turning when he saw the green flames in the fireplace as a house-elf stepped out of it with a covered tray of food. He snatched the tray out of the small hands and started for the door. "If you'll excuse me, I have an invalid to tend to," he said, irritated at the very idea of feeding Hermione. He wouldn't admit it openly, but a part of him felt obligated to help her. He had wondered briefly, a few times, if, had he got over his need for control long enough to share the "Order" meadow's location...long enough to actually treat her like an equal... she would never have been captured.

~{}~

He brought the tray into the room and set it down on Hermione's lap. She raised a shaking hand to pick up a fork, dropping it after a moment; her wrist hurt her too much to even accomplish that. She just sat there, staring at the tray, embarrassed at her uselessness. Severus sighed loudly and sat down on the edge of the bed; he picked up the fork and uncovered her food. "Open your mouth," he said as he lifted a forkful of eggs to her face. She looked at him for a moment before lowering her eyes and opening her mouth. She chewed slowly, savouring the taste of food she hadn't had in months.

Severus watched her face as she enjoyed the flavour of the eggs like a truly starved person would. "Hermione, were you fed at all during your time... away?" he asked hesitantly after she swallowed her food.

Still looking down, she replied, "No. I was given a special potion once a week, something that gave me a minimal amount of nourishment I believe, so that I would not die, but not enough to give me any actual strength." A single tear rolled down her face as she said that, then she opened her mouth to accept a second bite of food. Severus watched her closely as he fed her breakfast, catching glimpses into her mind whenever she looked at him briefly.

Pain... Whips... Insults... Assault... Rape... Beatings... Laughter... Anguish... were just a few of the many horrifying glimpses he caught in those brief looks.

He helped her drink some orange juice while he thought of a way to say what needed to be said to her. "Hermione, this is the situation," he said at last, making sure she was paying attention. "You were held for three months. Many things happened to you that should not happen to anyone, but none of us can change that now. Yes, it's hard. What you have been through would cripple most people for life. You are strong, though, determined and... talented. It will take time, but you will overcome this time in your life. But now is not the time...no time is really...to dwell on what could have been, how things could have changed. You will have to be stronger than that, and I believe you can be. You will work hard to build your strength back up, and then you'll throw yourself into working with me.

"I... need... your help with a special potion. The Depreciare Potion. The Dark Lord is growing more impatient by the day. Because of my rescuing you, he has been led to... believe... that you will be of value to me, and in turn to him. I need to have some convincing memories to share with the Dark Lord about how much your trust in me is growing. It's for the sake of all our safety that we play this out perfectly. You do all this, and I promise you in our spare time I'll help you overcome this event, and I will either deliver you Lucius's head on a spike or the opportunity to get rid of him yourself if that is your wish. Will you... help... me?" he said, the seriousness in his tone of voice entrancing her, making her feel appreciated.

He wants me to help him, as an equal! she thought with wonder. She took a moment to mull over his words, understanding that it must have been very hard for him, Severus Snape, to ask for help...and from a former student he always seemed to hate, at that. She was overwhelmed by this rare act of civility. Looking him in the face, she said, "Thank you, S-Severus. Of course I'll do whatever I can to help the Order, and you. I can honestly tell you now, though, that I wish to never see that man again, so if you get the chance to get rid of him, then by all means kill the bastard," she said, a steely note to her voice. She took a breath and continued, "I promise to follow all of your orders and wishes from now on also. I'm...I'm sorry for the trouble I caused you all. I can't thank you enough for... bringing me home."

Severus was in awe of her, though his reaction to her words never showed on his stern-looking face. He was awed by her strength, apologizing for something that wasn't entirely her fault. He had known for years now how resourceful she was when faced with roadblocks. He knew he was just antagonizing her, insulting her, whenever he refused to treat her as an equal, like she was lacking in any talent. Here she was, apologizing for her mistake, which he was to blame for as well. He thought briefly of apologizing for his own part in what had happened, then he mentally sneered at the idea. With a curt nod he rose from the bed and headed toward the door. "The book about the appropriate exercises and your wand are on the nightstand. We have work to do," he said as he swept out the door, intending to give himself a moment's peace in the laboratory before he did something stupid. Like act even more friendly.

~{}~

Remus caught himself as he appeared at the edge of the Burrow's driveway, nearly falling as he once again landed halfway in a deep rut in the road. Catching his balance, he walked slowly to the door and knocked.

"Who's there?" asked Molly Weasley, the nervousness in her voice evident.

"It's me, Moony," he replied.

She unlocked the door and swung it open quickly. "Remus, my dear, come in," she said as she led him into the small kitchen and poured him some tea. "Any news on Hermione?" she asked him cautiously.

"Molly, is Arthur here? I would prefer that we call a meeting for anyone who can attend before I share what I have got to say," he said.

"He's at the Ministry, but I'll page him," Molly said. She pulled out one of the fake Galleons that Hermione had made for the Order, just like she had done for the D.A. in her fifth year. Molly waved her wand over the fake Galleon and watched it glow red as the message appeared.

"All who can attend, please come."

Molly bustled about the kitchen, preparing more tea and small sandwiches for whoever showed up, while Remus fidgeted with his teacup. The first to arrive were Kingsley and Tonks. Next were Mr. Weasley, Fred, and George. They all sat down and looked from Remus to Molly, wondering what was going on.

Clearing his throat, Remus began. "Last night Severus rescued Hermione," he said with a brief smile as the others all around started to clap or exclaim in their happiness. He waved his hand to get their attention. "She'll be okay, in time. But I came here to warn you to be careful when you do finally see her. She's been through some terrible things, and she's rather jumpy if you try to get near her. She just needs some time to adjust to being home, I think. She will also have to work even closer with Severus in the lab, so when she's completely able to function again, she will be busy. Severus and I think it would be a good thing if only one of you stopped by at a time, starting later this week. We don't want to overwhelm her."

Molly waved her own hand for attention and worriedly asked him, "Remus, what do you mean by a terrible time? What do you mean by 'completely able to function'?"

Remus looked down at his hands and chose his words carefully. "This does not go beyond this room, nor is it ever, EVER to be brought up around Hermione. But it's probably best you know; that way you'll really understand what I mean when I say she's jumpy if she's touched." He released a heavy breath and said, "Lucius Malfoy was the one who had her these past three months. From what Severus said, she was chained by her wrists from the dungeon ceiling the entire time. She was beaten and... and raped repeatedly." He stopped as people either started to cry, cuss, or both at the thought of their sweet and intelligent Hermione being brutalized by Lucius. "I know it's hard to hear; believe me, it was hard to witness the immediate aftermath when we healed her. But please respect her enough not to let this knowledge show in your eyes. If you can't keep it to yourself, don't even come to see her," he said stiffly as he rose from the table and left them there. They all sat in shock, trying to absorb the news, several of them starting to plan revenge on the monster that had hurt their Hermione.

A/N: I hope you enjoyed this update. Please read and review! *HUGS*