Chapter Two

Chapter Two

Hermione closed her eyes as what was left of the first man shambled up onto the platform, urged on by a muscular wizard. Slackjawed and dull-eyed, his red hair falling out in patches, Percy Weasley stood there attired in the dull green shirt and trousers that marked a wizard prisoner. She felt Harry's sharp intake of breath of recognition.

"What am I bid for this one?" Fudge asked the audience. "He is relatively young, and will provide years of faithful service! And remember, he will be absolutely obedient!"

"Three galleons!" called a voice from the front left.

The Minister of Magic looked shocked. "Three galleons? Surely you jest! He's worth more than that!"

The bidding went slowly and topped out at twenty-three galleons. "Sold to the gentleman in the blue cloak in the back row! Come forward, sir, and claim your property."

The wizard came forward, throwing back the hood of his cloak to reveal long red hair. "Make the paperwork out in the name of William Weasley," he growled as he glared at what had once been his brother. In a voice of stone, he repeated the spell that would bind the Soulstruck man to him for life. "And this one's new name shall be Cain."

Tears welled up in Hermione's eyes. Percy had caused the deaths of Fred and Charlie before being captured. She watched Bill stride off, Percy - no, Cain - shambling along behind him. No shackles were necessary; he was bound in chains of magic far more powerful. Harry caught her eyes and gave her a sympathetic smile. The next former Death Eater was climbing onto the platform. She recognized him at once: Vincent Crabbe, senior.

In the back of her mind, she had to admire the arrangement of the auction. The most infamous Death Eaters would be last. Given Fudge's animosity towards Dumbledore, that meant that Snape, if he were here, would be one of the last ones. She swallowed hard, hoping she could stand to wait through it all.

It dragged on and on. She recognized most of the faces, and kept count as one by one they followed their new owners out of the room and into their new destiny. "Twenty-five down. Nine more to go." She muttered to Harry. He was looking pale himself. Walden MacNair had been horridly disfigured. Nevertheless, he'd brought 1800 galleons.

"I'd do this for you if I could, Hermione," Harry replied. "But you know what would happen."

"Yeah, Fudge would spin it like you were bidding purely to affront him. He might even invalidate your bid, and God knows what might happen to Snape then.

The crowd had thinned slightly, the curiosity seekers more interested in talking to the new owners than watching the slow-paced auction. The press coverage was also thinning. Rita Skeeter had left after number twenty-two - Lawrence Nott - had been purchased by Madame Hyacinth Malkin for 1639 galleons.

Number twenty-six shambled into view, and Hermione bit her lip hard to keep from crying. It was Severus Snape. Harry caught his breath as he recognized his former nemesis. "Bid what you need to, Hermione," he whispered. "I'll lend you however much you need to get him out of this."

Always slender, Snape was now skeleton-thin. His skin was stretched tightly over the bones of his face, giving him a death's-head appearance. Bruises and welts showed on every inch of exposed skin. His hair was matted and snarled, and the prisoner's garb he wore was torn and filthy. His left foot dragged behind him as he walked, and it seemed he could not stand upright.

A flash of disgust passed over Fudge's face before he turned his politician's smile on the audience. "Here we have one of the most notorious Death Eaters yet captured! He served He Who Must Not Be Named for over twenty years! No crime was too foul for his hands. He committed rape! Murder! Torture! He used the Unforgiveable curses on any who crossed his will! He tortured and killed at least a dozen defenseless Muggles in fits of bloodlust!" He paced around the platform, gesticulating wildly. "He pretended to reform in order to spy on us! He betrayed at least six Aurors who were then slain by his fellows! Execution is far too kind to this criminal; he must pay for his offenses! Who will open the bidding?"

"Four galleons!"

Hermione twisted around to see who else was bidding. Althea Parkinson, Pansy's youngest sister. Her expression boded no good for her former Potions instructor.

"Six!" That was Devon Clearwater. He'd bid up to ten galleons on every Death Eater, and been outbid on all of them. Hermione's heart ached for him. He'd been close to his sister. Although Percy Weasley had been the principal in Penelope's death, in Devon's mind, all Death Eaters were equally culpable.

"Seven!" Ludo Bagman! What the heck was he doing here?

Hermione raised her hand and called, "Nine galleons!"

"Ten!" Althea again.

"Twelve!" A new voice. A wizard Hermione didn't know.

"Fourteen!" In the midst of her bid, the thought came to her that she would have to give Severus a new name. She gasped and sat in a daze for a moment, hearing the others continue bidding through the roaring in her ears. "Get a grip, Granger," she muttered to herself. "You've got to do this!"

"I have twenty-eight galleons!" Fudge was saying when her head cleared. He sounded a little disappointed. "Going once!"

"Thirty!"

"Thirty galleons going once!"

"Thirty galleons going twice!"

"Sold for thirty galleons to the young lady! Step forward, ma'am, and claim your property."

Harry caught her hand and squeezed it for encouragement as she stood up. She was pleased that she wouldn't have to borrow money from him. She walked up to the platform, calling on all the self-control she'd learned during the war. "Make the paperwork out in the name of Hermione Granger," she said. She turned to Severus and repeated the binding spell, looking into his dull, dead eyes. She had hoped to see some spark, some trace of her former teacher. She saw only a terrible emptiness. "And this one's new name shall be…"