Chapter 5

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Thanks again to my beta LadySunflower and any and all reviewers.

Chapter 5

Severus swept along the corridors of St. Mungo’s, having stopped briefly at the reception desk to find out where Miss Granger was being kept. At least it had required a letter from Albus to gain access, so security was not exactly lax.

After leaving the Dark Lord, Severus had reported to Albus what said megalomaniac commanded. To say the least, Albus had been disappointed that his nemesis had already learned of the new Necromancer. Of course, with an institution the size of the Wizarding hospital, it was almost impossible for there not to be any leaks giving confidential information freely. Albus had realised that St. Mungo’s was not as secure as Healer Pye had claimed. Miss Granger’s safety was in question, so Severus had been sent to retrieve her. Healer Pye had complained, but knew that the girl could be treated just as well at Hogwarts now.

Severus paused outside the Secure Ward, placed in the basement of the hospital for defensive purposes. He needed to gather his ragged emotions; it would not do to allow the girl to see how rattled he was. It had been a struggle for him not to reveal to the Dark Lord how alarmed he was by the despot’s plans. After a few deep breaths, he touched his wand to the door and stepped inside as it opened for him. He stalked down the empty ward to reach the only occupied room.

Hermione – ‘Hang it all! I need to seduce her before too long, so I might as well use her given name!’ – was asleep, in the unnaturally quiet slumber given by Dreamless Sleep. It would cause less disorientation for her if he woke her now, rather than let her wake up in the hospital wing at Hogwarts. Severus withdrew a vial of the antidote from a hidden pocket in his robes and leant over her to administer it, tipping a few drops into her mouth and gently massaging her throat to cause her to swallow.

It was only when Hermione woke with a start and attempted to sit up that Severus realised she was restrained. With a wave of his wand, he disengaged the magical bonds.

“Professor!” Hermione’s voice was hoarse. She grabbed his arms and used them to lever herself up, wrapping them around his waist to avoid flopping back down. Severus stiffened then relaxed as he brought his hands up to support her shoulders and rest in her unruly hair. Her arms tightened around him, only for them to slacken as a pained gasp escaped her.

“What’s wrong?” Severus gripped her shoulders as he pushed her back far enough to be able to see her face.

“Curse scar. It reopened in the crash.” Hermione unconsciously traced the diagonal line cutting across her chest from sternum to midriff, where Dolohov’s speciality flame spell had seared her over two months previously. “Not that it had fully healed in the first place.”

Severus had to stop himself from slipping the hospital gown off her shoulders to examine the wound himself; his hands convulsively gripped and released her shoulders.

“How are you?” Severus scrunched his eyes shut, wincing at how trite that sounded.

“I was prepared, you know. But not for this.” At Severus’s quizzical look, Hermione explained further, “I almost expected my parents to die now that Riddle is back. But I didn’t expect them to die in something as commonplace as a car crash. It just came out of the blue…”

“A complete, extremely unpleasant, surprise. There is no real safety, even in a non-magical world. I’m sorry that you had to learn it this way.” Severus’s arms tightened around Hermione’s slim shoulders. Her arms slipped around him, squeezing with surprising strength for someone a head shorter than him.

“The Headmaster said that someone would come to collect me, although the Healer wanted me to stay here for a week. Have you come to take me to Hogwarts already?” Hermione asked, eager to escape the drab, sterilised prison that was St. Mungo’s.

“Yes. You are not as safe here as Professor Dumbledore was led to believe.” Severus pulled back the blanket, conjuring a cloak around her as he slipped an arm below Hermione’s legs and swept her up into his arms. She reflexively wrapped her arms around his neck, bringing her head up to rest under his chin. Severus dipped his head and whispered into her ear, “He knows, Hermione. Already.”

“Voldemort?!” Hermione bit her lips after her startled exclamation. She usually knew better than to blurt out the Dark Lord’s name around Severus, but in her defence she had just received another rather nasty shock.

“The Dark Lord, yes. He wants you on his side.” He began to make his way to the exit, wand in the hand under her legs, ready to use if the occasion called for it.

“If St. Mungo’s isn’t secure, won’t he learn that you took me from here?” Hermione squirmed a bit in his arms, clearly uncomfortable with having to be carried.

“Yes, he most likely will. But it will not matter.” Severus poked the door with his wand and it opened.

“What? He hasn’t…” Hermione trailed off, unwilling to voice the fact that he was a spy outside the soundproof ward.

“It’s alright; I cast a secrecy charm. We cannot be overheard. And the Dark Lord does not know that I am a traitor, if that’s what you wanted to ask.”

“Then why doesn’t it matter? Tell me!” Hermione grabbed a lock of his greasy hair and gently pulled as a warning not to ignore her.

“Very well.” As he stepped foot outside St. Mungo’s, he used Side-Along-Apparition to instantaneously take them to the gates of Hogwarts, currently bathed in moonlight. They opened at his approach and closed after they were inside. He cast a Warming Charm on the girl in his arms before the chill in the Scottish early autumn night air could take hold of her.

“The Dark Lord commanded me to bring you over to his side. He wants me to seduce you, giving me until your birthday to begin. The Headmaster has been alerted of this and agrees that it is necessary. To that effect, from hereon you must rebuff the affections of anyone else. Or we are both as good as dead, understand?” Severus felt Hermione nod.

“I see.” Hermione sounded perfectly calm if a little taken aback. She shrugged then proceeded to stun him by casually saying, “It’s just an acceleration of my original personal plans for after Hogwarts.”

“Wh-what?” Severus stammered, almost dropping her.

“I had plans for us, Severus. Ever since I knew you well enough, I could tell that I was far more suited to you than to anyone else my own age. If boys don’t view me as an androgynous brain, they bore me with endless talk about Quidditch and the average ditzy twit like Lavender Brown.” Hermione almost hissed his given name in a way that sounded far more welcome than when the Dark Lord did it.

He paused. “Good,” he murmured as they reached the torch lit entrance hall. He lit his wand with a silent 'Lumos', to cast a little light to see by in the darkened corridors. He swept through the quiet castle, past dozing portraits, ignoring a gaping Argus Filch, shocked at the sight of teacher-carrying-formerly-missing-student in the dead of night.

They reached the hospital wing where Poppy Pomfrey was waiting. Severus gently set Hermione down on a bed, squeezed her hand (careful to shield the sight from the mediwitch with his body) and left the room to let Albus know of their safe return.