Disclaimer: All characters belong to J.K Rowling

~~~~~

She looked at him with hope shining from her eyes as he entered the room. Just like the rest of them. He could hear the laughter raise around him; they were laughing at the silly Mudblood’s hope. Severus knew the routine by now, it was one of their favorite games. Every time they caught someone who knew Severus was a "man of the light", they made sure he would enter last so everybody could see the victim's hope get crushed by him. The Dark Lord was always present at these parties; he loved to see his enemies realize they had been fooled by his most loyal Death Eater. Severus took his place next to the Dark Lord and awaited his command. HE always wanted to see them get uncertain before they really realized that Severus was the bad guy. But the latest victim didn't look uncertain or even scared. Despite the ropes that tightly bound her she sat up a bit more proudly now when she "knew" he could help her out of here. A bit irritated, the Dark Lord hissed, “Well, Severus? Aren't you going to say hi to your student?”

Without a hint of doubt he approached the girl slowly. He saw her tense up, ready to flee the second he gave her a hint. A hint he knew wouldn't come. Severus stood above her for a moment before he vanished the ropes and carefully helped her to stand. Disapproving grunts were heard around the room but the Dark Lord kept silent, knowing that his Death Eater wouldn't disappoint him. While she rubbed her wrists to get the blood flowing again Severus studied her closer. Her hair had grown longer over the summer, it went almost all the way down her back, and if it hadn't been so bushy it would go over her arse. She looked up into his eyes and for a brief moment he showed his pity so quickly no one else would notice it. She started to look insecure but hope was still shining bright in her eyes.

“Prof...”

He backhanded her before she said anything more. The laughter rose again but they didn't laugh at him, they wouldn't dare. At least not as long as the Dark Lord or himself was present. Severus forced a smile to appear on his otherwise expressionless face. He watched her rub her cheek and look at him with hurt eyes.

“Why...”

Severus backhanded her again, this time hard enough for her to fall to the floor. He figured that would be enough and turned his back on her and moved to join the circle again when the girl did something he thought no one would be able to do in this situation. She jumped back up from the floor, took his wand and held it to his back. The other Death Eaters moved as one and raised their wands, but the Dark Lord stopped them with a wave of his hand; he wasn't finished playing yet.

“You better let me go or you will lose your precious Death Eater!”

Impressive she didn't even stammer. Severus raised his eyebrows at her statement in a slightly mocking manner.

“Is that so?”

The Dark Lord pretended to think for a moment, then smiled.

“He may be my second in command but he didn't get there on a whim. I'm quite sure he can care for himself.”

The last part was meant both for Severus and the other Death Eaters. If he couldn't get away from a simple Mudblood, he didn't belong there.

“I'm serious!”

Her voice was shakier and he could almost feel his own wand tremble against his back. He sighed; he would have to fool her thoroughly to make the Dark Lord happy.

“Come now, Miss Granger, we both know you won't use that wand to hurt a fellow member of the light, especially not my own wand.”

“Professor!”

The stupid girl was apparently looking around at the Death Eaters to see if some of them had heard, judging by the erratic pokes from his wand. He took the opportunity to turn around and face her. His wand immediately pointed at his face.

“Stupid girl! Did you really think I started to spy for the light without the Dark Lord's knowledge? It was on his orders that I went to the old fool and confessed my feelings of ‘regret’.”

Severus said the last word with a mocking sneer in place. She started to tremble and he looked her over with a bored look.

“Pray tell, how were you planning to get out of here? With no one to help you, or even a wand of your own?”

He didn't wait for her answer.

“I'll tell you what you thought. You would take me with you as a fake hostage and then I would fix everything for you, isn't that right?”

“I...”

“Now that obviously didn't work out, so you can do two things right now: Strike down as many of us that you can, and I promise you it won’t be many, before you’re killed or you could give me my wand back.”

The girl got a look of resistance that practically screamed trouble. He waited half a minute before he said anything.

“Your Gryffindor bravery is marvelous but stupid. Now hand me my wand.”

She hesitated; maybe he still had a plan to get her out, and the onlookers drew a collective breath as she raised the wand... only to hand it over to Severus’s outstretched hand.

“Good, now as your punishment...”

He pushed her down on the ground and placed his boot on her back.

“Crucio!”

She screamed and twisted on the ground to get away from the pain but his boot held her firmly in place. He could hear the crowd breathe out every time it looked like he was going to let her have pause but he only intensified the curse every time. After a few minutes he could hear the Dark Lord give a cough behind him. He turned around but kept the wand aimed at the girl.

“Snape, leave some for the others.”

Snape kept the curse going for a few seconds more before he nodded in acceptance and stepped back to his place next to the Dark Lord, leaving the girl sobbing and twitching on the floor. The room was completely silent as he stepped back into the circle. He may not have given proof of his dueling talents but to actually make a victim hand his wand back to him like that... it was mesmerizing to say the least. While he enjoyed the girl's puny whimpers the Dark Lord hissed, “Rookwood, Bellatrix, since you were the ones who caught her you’ll get the honor to torture her.”

The infamous Death Eaters stepped forward, both with ugly grins plastered over their faces.

“Of course, my lord, anything special you’re wishing for?”

Bellatrix almost groveled in front of the Dark Lord as she was seeking to please her lord as much as possible.

“Why don’t you surprise me.”

Rookwood looked at Bellatrix and smiled. They seemed to have planned something. Snape felt bad for the girl but there was nothing he could do now. He watched as Rookwood sat down on the girl while Bellatrix held her arms in place. She tried to break free but could barely move as Rookwood slowly pulled down the zipper on her hoodie. He vanished it after opening it. The girl begged him to stop as he took out a nasty looking dagger, probably never properly cleaned, and cut open the tank top she had underneath.

~~~~~

A few hours later he looked at the girl lying as dead on the floor. She seemed to be breathing at least and he wondered what could possibly be done to her now. The girl had wounds and bruises everywhere and was soaked in sweat and blood and semen. As he watched Bella's preparations for a last bit of torture, before the girl was mercifully killed, realization dawned upon him. But that would be extreme even for a Death Eater, she couldn't possibly... Severus could only watch as she slowly pushed a red hot iron rod inside the girl's womb. He had thought she wasn't able to scream anymore but was thoroughly wrong. Her voice was still ringing in his ears when Bella was done with her and the Dark Lord called him forward again. That was new, but perhaps the Dark Lord wanted him to deal the finishing blow to the girl who miraculously was still alive although unconscious. He bowed to the Dark Lord and waited.

“Can she survive?”

Severus gave the girl a quick glance to make sure she was still breathing.

“If I work quickly enough she might survive.”

“You better work quickly then.”

The Dark Lord paused to see if he had any stupid questions, but, just as the Dark Lord had insinuated, he didn't get there by being stupid.

“You will take this Mudblood back to Hogwarts, heal her and make her your apprentice. You can do that, can't you?”

“Of course, my lord, but”

“No one will know this is the Mudblood once known as Hermione Granger, is that clear?”

The Dark Lord's eyes pierced into Severus's.

“Yes, my lord.”

“You may take your leave.”

Severus bent down and kissed the hem of the Dark Lord's robes to show his acceptance and then took the girl and Apparated.

“My lord, is it really wise...”

“CRUCIO!”

You could hear a needle fall in the silence that followed.

“Anyone else who wants to question my plans?”

No one was stupid enough to answer that and everyone seemed to hold their breath.

“Then LEAVE!”

They all vanished with a collective pop. Now he would finally find out where Snape's true loyalties were.