Man That You Fear

A/N: Thanks for waiting for this one. Real life tends to get in the way sometimes. Many hugs to my team for helping me with this chapter--it was a doozy and had to be re-written way too many times. I hope you are all satisfied with the outcome--I am.

As Severus Snape stalked up the three flights of rickety, wooden stairs, heading towards the flat that Fenrir Greyback had rented above a shop in Knockturn Alley, he couldn't help but feel a twinge of excitement--he had finally been given the opportunity to rid Greyback and Lestrange from his and Hermione's life.

Snape hadn't even bothered knocking on the door before he blasted it apart, splintering the wood and knocking it off its hinges. A woman's startled scream pierced his ears.

"What the fuck?" Greyback shouted, scampering out of the bedroom.

"Stupefy!"

The force of Snape's curse sent the rugged man hurtling backwards, hitting the wall.

The woman in the bedroom screamed again.

Snape marched into the room and wasn't at all surprised to see a young woman 'spread eagle' on the bed, each of her limbs tied to one of the posts.

Muggle.

"Did he bite you?" he asked.

Wet tears painted streaks on her red cheeks, and her lip was quivering. "N-no."

Snape sulked at the thought of having to save someone tonight, but after a brief second, he decided to inform Harry and Ron of the Muggle in Greyback's flat. He thought of his cat, Jynx, and flicked his wand to cast his Patronus.

But instead of the silver doe that always burst out of the tip of his wand, a small otter glided out, flipping and flopping in the air.

Hermione...

Snape closed his eyes for an instant, remembering her smiling face, pleased that the doe, which had represented so much misery in his life, was finally gone.

A rustle from the bed brought him back to reality. The Muggle was wide-eyed, most likely wondering what he had done.

"Help is on the way," he uttered, leaving the room.

Snape strode over to the crumpled form of Greyback. "Let's go and pay a visit to Lestrange, shall we?" he said, looping his arm through the stunned man's and Apparating them to Rodolphus' favorite wizard tavern located on the North Wales coast.

Snape magically bound and hid Greyback behind the tavern while he went inside to get Lestrange.

After a small struggle with the other wizard, Snape took the two men to his childhood home and set their unconscious bodies on the grimy, moth eaten, yellow sofa.

After securing the wards on Spinner's End, Snape went downstairs to the cellar, where he had his private potion lab, gathered supplies, and went back to the room. He cleared the larger furniture pieces out of the tiny sitting room and brought in the wobbly table from the kitchen, setting it in the middle of the room. He levitated Greyback to the table, laying the naked man on his back and strapping him down with magical ropes. He now resembled the Muggle girl that Snape had found in his flat only a few minutes ago.

He levitated Lestrange upstairs to the tiny bathroom, setting him inside the bathtub. "Rennervate."

"Snape! You sodding--"

Another swish of his wand and Rodolphus' body was immobilized, his senses of sight and hearing the only things left untouched by the charm.

"Be patient, Rodolphus... Your turn will come," Snape said, smirking. "Greyback is downstairs, waiting for me. I'm sure you will enjoy hearing his demise as much as I will. Or perhaps not because that will mean that you're next." Snape chuckled as he left the man and walked downstairs.

"Rennervate!" he said to Greyback.

The scruffy man's eyes shot open, and he jerked his body around, attempting to break the ties that bound him to a table. Nasty growls mixed with obscenities flew out of the wolf's mouth.

Snape slowly circled around the table, arms crossed over his chest. "Do you know why you are here, Greyback?" Snape asked, glaring at the growling man. "No? Well, it's because you attempted to take something of mine away from me, didn't you? You and Lestrange had every intention of raping and killing my Hermione tonight."

"It wasn't me! Lestrange was the one--"

"What do you mean, 'it wasn't me?' You were there, weren't you? You placed your filthy paws on her body--you..."

"I didn't fuck her! It was all Lestrange!"

"The only reason you didn't fuck her was because you were prevented by Hermione's illness! Don't blame everything on him!" Snape reached in his pocket and slipped out a glass phial, dangling it in front of Greyback. "Do you know what this is?"

Greyback shook his head.

"Pure silver."

Greyback's flushed-red face quickly drained, leaving him pale. "Y-you wouldn't... Snape, come on! D-don't do this to me!"

"Oh, yes. That got your attention, didn't it?" Snape taunted. "Pure silver is the most feared thing amongst werewolves. It is a certain death for any wolf that lets it get into their body. Isn't that correct, wolf?"

Greyback blink away his tears. "Please Snape--I swear... It wasn't me! Lestrange--he forced me too! I--"

"You caused Hermione pain, Greyback. You could have killed her! You should have known you wouldn't get away with that. Now, it's your turn to feel pain like nothing you could ever imagine."

Snape snatched Greyback's limp cock in one hand, startling his victim.

With his other hand, he popped the tiny cork off the phial. Using his forefinger and thumb, he pushed back the foreskin, spreading the tiny hole wide. It repulsed Snape to touch the disgusting man, but he had to push that thought out of his mind and think of this as another potion experiment. He carefully placed the mouth of the glass phial against the opening.

Greyback thrashed, desperate to break free. "NO! NOT THERE!"

"You didn't think I knew about this carefully guarded secret amongst your kind, did you? Of course I knew--it's the worst way to kill a wolf! Silver inside the urethra--a slow and incredibly painful death. Perfect for a monster such as yourself!"

Snape ignored the screaming werewolf as he poured the melted silver into the shaft of the other man's cock.

As soon as trickles of silver flowed down the wolf's member, Snape released the man and recorked the phial, slipping it back into his pocket. He sat down on the sofa, watching the other man meet his end, minute by excruciating minute.

Snape leaned against the back of the sofa, crossed his legs and sighed. "I have always wanted to do that. You should see yourself squirming--it's beautiful. It will take about a full hour for you to die. I'm sure that silver feels like molten lava, isn't that correct, Greyback?"

Snape chuckled as Greyback buck widely against the ropes. The table moved slightly, creaking under the heavy weight. Snape rose, opened a cupboard that housed several bottles of alcohol, poured a glass of scotch, and sat back down. He swirled the liquid in his glass, pleased with the way the fucking wolf was being tortured.

After several minutes of simply watching the man convulse, Snape picked up one of his mother's magazines that lay forgotten on the table next to the sofa. A thick layer of dust coated the pages. He placed his glass on the table and began flicking through the thirty year old issue of Witch Weekly.

"No wonder dragon's blood is scarce... Wizards used to be able to buy it in mass volumes. Fools," he chided. He glanced up. Greyback's skin was melting off his body. This was the moment Snape had been waiting for.

Snape stood up.

There was a loud crack, and a long, jagged slice split Greyback's chest open, breaking his breast plate in half, revealing bones and muscles. Snape took a step closer, looking for the overly large heart that werewolves were known to have. It was beating extremely fast, almost ready to explode.

Interesting...

White foam and black, thick liquid seeped out of the body cavity, eyes and mouth, draining down the table and into a puddle on the floor. Snape had read and heard about the moment just before a werewolf turned into a pile of dust; it was the moment at which one could capture the essence of a wolf, a very valuable potions ingredient. It was rarer than even virgin's blood. Snape's heart raced, ready to secure the valuable ingredient.

Just after the bones sizzle...

The smell of flesh nauseated Snape, making it difficult to stand so near the withering body, but he desperately wanted that element of the werewolf. A last horrific scream, and a hissing from the body, and all went silent as a metallic silver-purple ball of goo bubbled out of the mouth of the dead body. Snape carefully levitated the ball from the burnt flesh and placed it in a container. He quickly sealed it, stepping away from the body. Seconds later, the body dissolved, leaving only a pile of dust.

Snape siphoned the dust into a phial and corked it. He put it into his pocket along with the small bottle of melted silver and the essence of werewolf, went down to his lab, labeled the new containers, and locked all three items in his magically sealed and warded cupboard.

He headed upstairs to attend to Lestrange. He released the spell, holding him at wand-point.

"After listening to Greyback's death, are you wondering what I've got in store for you?"

Lestrange closed his eyes, and Snape could see him trembling.

"Your wandless magic can't work here. I've warded my house against that. And don't even think of Apparating. You'll only splinch yourself."

His eyes snapped opened. "You won't get away with this, Snape! Bellatrix will come looking for me!"

"Not likely. Your marriage is a sham, a convenience for both of you. She cares for Voldemort only--not you."

"My brother--"

"I'm not afraid of Rabastan."

"Damn you! Let me go, you traitor!"

"Don't fear the reaper, Lestrange. Your death tonight is inevitable," Snape said coolly.

"I fear nothing. Least of all, death," Lestrange said matter-of-factly.

Snape clicked his tongue in disapproval. "Everyone fears something. Even Voldemort."

Lestrange snorted. "And you Snape? What do you fear?"

"Many things, but we aren't talking about me," he said, pointing his wand at the other man's forehead. "Let's find out what you fear... Legilimens!"

Snape was slightly surprised that Rodolphus was trying to Occlude him. Perhaps he and Bellatrix had shared something other than their bed after all. But Snape was stronger, and he finally found the information he was looking for.

"Interesting, Rodolphus," he said, putting his wand away. "As you are a pure-blood, I should have known that your deepest fear was Muggles. You pathetic fool. That is Voldemort's problem as well--you both are afraid of something that you shouldn't be. Muggles are intelligent, Rodolphus. Because I am a half-blood, I get the best of both worlds. And I have only known one other Muggle-born who has taken the knowledge of Muggles, and the magic of Wizards and Witches and embraced both. Do you know who that is, Rodolphus?"

Rodolphus shrugged his shoulders.

"It's Hermione. She may be a Mudblood, but she is far more dangerous than you. She knows how to benefit from both worlds, just as I do. And you tried to take that away from her tonight."

"Muggles and Mudbloods are filth!" Rodolphus spat.

"No. You just can't see past your own prejudices to understand the wonders of the Muggle world, that they too have a certain... magic."

"What are you talking about? They aren't magical, you idiot. You sound just like Dumbledore."

Snape grinned. "I didn't say they were magical. I said they have a certain magic, and now, I have found an appropriate way for you to die." Snape walked to the door and looked back at Rodolphus. With a flick of his wand, Snape immobilized him once again.

He trudged down to the kitchen and found exactly what he was looking for.

"What the bloody hell are you doing, Snape? If you are going to kill me, get on with it!" Lestrange said after Snape returned and removed the spell.

"Not without teaching you a few things about Muggles," said Snape with his back turned as he set the item on the cabinet. He turned the tap on and began to fill the bathtub up to the brim with cool water.

"Ridiculous," Lestrange muttered under his breath. "You won't be able to drown me, Snape."

Snape ignored him, sitting on the toilet as he watched the water rise higher and higher.

"The first lesson is about electricity. Muggles can't survive without it. However, it can be highly dangerous and even cause death." Snape turned off the tap now that the water was high enough.

"Do you have any idea what this is?" he asked, holding the object.

Lestrange shook his head.

"This is a toaster. This piece of metal will be the cause of your death.

Snape plugged the toaster in. Who would have thought that he would ever be electrocuting another.

A quick flash of his father entered his mind, but Snape quickly snapped back to reality, sickened by the memory of his father threatening to electrocute him as a young boy as a new form of punishment. But Rodolphus deserves this. He attacked, and could have killed, Hermione. You are not your father.

He turned back to Lestrange. "Now, this might prickle..."

Snape dropped the toaster into the water, and immediately it sizzled, sending electrical currents through the water. Rodolphus screamed, shaking uncontrollably, his body spasming and twitching in the water. Snape could smell the hairs singeing off Lestrange's head. The dim lights flickered on and off as sparks shot out of the tub.

It had only been a few seconds, but Snape didn't want his toy dead yet, so he quickly levitated the toaster out of the bathtub and cast a general healing charm over the body.

"Being electrocuted is terrifying, hmm? Now you have a legitimate reason to fear Muggles."

Lestrange's head bobbed around on his neck, weak from the shock of being fried. "Fucking... bastard..." he groaned weakly, crying.

"That is Muggle magic. You should have listened to my warnings to stay away from Hermione. Now, your deepest fear is about to come true. A wizard really shouldn't die like a Muggle. But, you brought this on yourself."

Snape opened the cupboard below the sink and rummaged through it, looking for his mother's old Muggle electric curlers. He found them buried behind other items and pulled them out and plugged them in. As soon as they were warm, he tossed the toaster and the curlers into the water.

This time, Rodolphus' body convulsed so badly that his head slipped below the water, his eyes wide as the electrical currents burned him. The smell of fried flesh filled the small room as blue sparks danced over the water, the lights flickering. Snape could hear the electricity surging and zapping through the ancient wires.

Lestrange's body floated, the water waving over his frame and splashing against the tub.

Snape sighed heavily. Two of his most hated enemies were finally dead. It had been such a thrill to kill these two that he had almost forgot why he was doing it.

Hermione. This was for her. They will never harm her again.

He drained the tub and flicked his wand at the body, whispering, "Incendio".

The body burned until nothing was left but black ashes and a vile smell. Just as he had Greyback, Snape placed the ashes inside a glass phial and then placed it in the cupboard in his potion lab with the other phials.

After he finished cleaning his house of all evidence and disgusting smells, he lay down on the yellow sofa and closed his eyes, no longer able to fight his exhaustion.

A few hours later, he was being nudged awake. He opened his groggy eyes and was face to face with a silver stag. "Hermione's awake," said the voice of Harry Potter.

When Snape arrived back at the Hospital Wing, he was greeted with an extremely angry Healer.

"I told those boys to not let you walk out of here until I had a chance to examine you! Why do you always feel the need to go against my wishes, Severus?"

"I am a grown man, Poppy. I do not need you coddling me."

"This isn't about coddling you, and yes, sometimes you do. How are you feeling?"

Snape grunted and pushed past her, entering the infirmary. "I'd feel better once I have had a talk with Miss Granger. In private."

Madame Pomfrey huffed and left the room. Harry and Ron got to their feet when they saw him walking towards them.

"She fell back to sleep," Harry said.

Snape stood at the side of her bed, gazing down at his beloved.

"Did she say anything when she woke?"

"She asked if she was dead. She said she remembered Greyback and Lestrange throwing her against a wall, but after that, her mind was blank. We told her what we presumed happened. She started crying and said that she had deserved it, that everything was her fault. We tried to calm her down. Why would she say she deserved to be attacked?" Harry said.

"I'm not sure."

"Madam Pomfrey came in while she was upset[] and gave her a potion to help her rest. You turned up a few moments after she fell asleep," Ron said.

Snape nodded his head. "I need to be alone with her."

Harry and Ron shuffled to the door, but Ron stopped and turned around. "Did--Did you deal with--"

"Yes."

After the boys left, Snape sat down in the chair next to the bed, threading his fingers through Hermione's soft curls.

"This wasn't your fault. Can you hear me, Hermione? They came after you because of me. But don't you worry, sweet one. I dealt with them," he whispered gently.

Hermione's brows furrowed, and her eyes fluttered beneath her lids.

What the bloody hell? Why is she dreaming? Didn't that woman give her Dreamless Sleep?

She whimpered and twitched her legs. Snape stood, pushing the chair backwards with his legs. "Hermione? Can you hear me?" he asked, patting her hand.

She parted her lips and began mumbling. Snape positioned his ear over her mouth to hear her soft words, but it was all a jumble.

He stood up and went to the potions cupboard, rummaging around the bottles in search of the Dreamless Sleep bottle.

When he turned around and headed back to her with the phial in his hand, Hermione had begun to thrash. Snape rushed to her side, needing to know what was causing her fright. He slipped into her unconscious mind and watched as a swirl of images flooded her dream.

They were in the ballroom of Malfoy Manor. He saw himself talking with Jezzie in a corner, laughing. Lestrange held a crying Hermione by the throat against the opposite wall and was pointing to her cousin. Ron's voice echoed around them, "I tried warning you about him, Hermione--he's dangerous!" On the wall behind Hermione, blood oozed from the ceiling, forming a word across it: Traitor.

Shocked at the horrible scene, Snape quickly pulled out of her mind, forcing her to swallow some of the Dreamless Sleep potion. As soon as the liquid filled her mouth, she began to calm down, and seconds later, she was still and serene.

Snape corked the bottle, setting it on the bedside table. His hands were trembling. He didn't understand the significance of her dream, but as he held her hand, watching over her, he couldn't help but wonder if somehow she had found out about what he had done and, if deep down, she really thought of him as a traitor.

He ran the dream back through his mind, focusing on everything he could remember.

Lestrange strangling her--that was obvious. Ron's voice. Well, he was looking after her, but was he warning her against me--that I'm the dangerous one? And then there's Jezzie. Hmmm. She was pointing at Jezzie. Why?

Snape thought back to the conversation that he had with Ron and Harry before he had killed Lestrange and Greyback. Harry had said that Hermione thought her cousin told me the location of Beauxbatons. Ron said that Hermione thought it was her fault the school was attacked.

Snape gazed at Hermione, thinking.

Her dream is telling her that she is the traitor!

"Hmph. I don't want this for you." But if you hadn't open that mouth of yours and told Jezzie the secret, this wouldn't have happened, and I wouldn't have been put in the position to tell Voldemort!

Snape sighed. This is both our faults. But I won't let you take the blame. I can cope with this sort of stress. You can't.

"You will not carry the guilt about revealing the Secret. Can you hear me, Hermione? This isn't your burden. If I hadn't... You see, your cousin... We were being followed... She was in danger... I had no other choice."

Snape slumped into the chair, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I don't even know where to start, Hermione," he grumbled. "I presume the beginning would be best."

He raised his head. "You need your rest for now. We have much to discuss when you wake. As much as I want to stay here holding your hand all night, watching over you, I cannot. I must retire to my rooms; I'm exhausted as well. Besides, Poppy will have my head if I attempt to stay here overnight," he said, standing up. He leaned over, brushing his lips over hers. "I love you," he whispered. "Sleep well, sweet one."

He tucked her in once again and left the hospital wing.

Harry and Ron were sitting on the ground outside the doors, and Madame Pomfrey was pacing the corridor, all of them waiting for him to emerge.

"She was having a nightmare, so I administered Dreamless Sleep. Since my services are not needed tonight, I'm going to bed and will be back in the morning." He faced the boys and said, "I suggest you go home as well and get some sleep until you are needed."

For a split second, Harry looked as if he was going to argue. "All right. We'll check on Hermione tomorrow," he said, heading towards the staircase.

"Goodnight, sir," Ron said, following his friend.

Snape nodded his head.

"I would like to give you a check-up, Severus," Madam Pomfrey said.

"I promise you, I am well. Just tired. If you will excuse me," he said, walking away from her.

Snape marched down the stairs, and a few minutes later, he was in his private room. He stripped naked, took an incredibly fast shower, and fell into his bed, falling fast asleep.

Up next: Hermione has a chat with a Headmaster.