The Dark, Empty Place
Title: The Dark, Empty Place
Team Name: The Order!
Word Count: (100 x 7 = 700)
Rating:PG (in this section)
Challenge: broken memory charm
Characters: Hermione/Severus
I am trying really hard to finish this by tomorrow. It's all actually written except for the last paragraph, but I'm too tired to format any more tonight. A full explanation and beta acknowledgement will appear on my LJ soon.
This is a sequel to "A Life of Secret Light" that I posted back in September. (http://writermerrin.livejournal.com/2959.html#cutid1)
Hermione knocked, then listened.
She knew Severus hadn’t lived in the Muggle dwelling for almost three years and that she might be interrupting Death Eater activity, but she was frantic. Four hours ago, a red glow of danger had lit her stone and then faded. The reassuring blue glow that was his way of letting her know he was safe and thinking of her hadn’t followed. She could have used her ring to guide her Apparation straight to him but had refrained. Knocking on a Death Eater’s door was one thing… Apparating straight into the room with him was another.
+
When he didn’t answer, she pressed her wand to the knob and gave the password.
Relieved when she heard a click, she opened the door to find a room lit by a single candle.
Lumos. Hermione’s wand glowed, revealing a single chair beside the table with the candle. The chair was, like the shelves, empty. The tingle emanating from her ring told her he was watching her in the dark.
“Severus?” she whispered.
In answer, Hermione felt herself being immobilized and her wand ripped from her hand.
The door slammed. A lamp flare to life. Severus filled her vision.
“Granger.”
+
Even as his student, she’d never heard such loathing in his voice.
In moments, she was levitated to the chair and bound tightly, but not painfully, to it.
Hermione’s stare followed Severus as he slinked toward her. She searched for a glimpse of tenderness in his eyes, but found only cold darkness.
“Now, Miss Granger, we are going to do something that I know you’re good at.” The tone of his voice aroused fear and a hint of desire within her. “I’ll ask the questions, and you will provide me with the correct answers. You need not raise your hand.”
+
When he placed a finger over her lips, she felt partial control over her body return, yet she remained silent until he posed his first question.
“How did you find me here?”
“Severus, you-”
“Mr. Snape to you, Miss Granger.”
“Mr. Snape.” The title felt heavy on her tongue. “This was your refuge.”
“And why would I share this secret with you?”
She tried to form an answer, but had too many questions of her own. “Don’t you remember? I think something-”
Suddenly, he loomed over her. “You do not ask questions and you do not think. This is tedious.”
+
As Severus entered Hermione’s mind, he found little resistance.
He sees a kitchen he doesn’t remember, though somehow he knows it to be on Grimmauld Place. McGonagall is talking to Granger.
The younger woman doesn’t believe what she’s hearing. “He killed Dumbledore.”
“Albus trusted him.”
He sees himself weak with pain, Granger soothing him with potions she‘d brewed.
He is kneeling before her, presenting the rings; then he draws her to her feet and into his arms for a kiss.
Then, he took control.
He sees her approach his house, her wand touches the doorknob. She passes through his wards.
+
He fixed his gaze and his wand in her direction, and she felt him enter her mind.
Severus’ touch in her memory was hard and probing, not the lover’s caress she was used to.
Why don’t you remember us?
He had taught her both Legilimency and Occlumency. Knowing he wouldn’t actually hear her thoughts, she brought specific memories of their time together to the fore of her mind.
Lower the blocks!
His eyes hardened even more. Hermione saw the glimmer of her Disillusioned self approaching Spinner’s End, her wand on the doorknob, herself reappearing as she passed through the wards.
+
Abruptly, he pulled out.
“What magic allowed you through my wards?” Severus demanded.
Hermione waved her left hand. “Yours. Ours. Someone has modified your memory. You stopped before I could show you the binding, but you saw our betrothal.”
As he took her hand, he felt the unfamiliar tingling erupt in pervading heat. His eyes flashed to his own hand, and he compared the rings -- the crest of his grandfather’s house.
“This is deception. The protection of the house of Prince would never be given to a mudblood.”
Hermione felt as though she had been slapped. “That’s not true.”
TBC
Team Name: The Order!
Word Count: (100 x 7 = 700)
Rating:PG (in this section)
Challenge: broken memory charm
Characters: Hermione/Severus
I am trying really hard to finish this by tomorrow. It's all actually written except for the last paragraph, but I'm too tired to format any more tonight. A full explanation and beta acknowledgement will appear on my LJ soon.
This is a sequel to "A Life of Secret Light" that I posted back in September. (http://writermerrin.livejournal.com/2959.html#cutid1)
Hermione knocked, then listened.
She knew Severus hadn’t lived in the Muggle dwelling for almost three years and that she might be interrupting Death Eater activity, but she was frantic. Four hours ago, a red glow of danger had lit her stone and then faded. The reassuring blue glow that was his way of letting her know he was safe and thinking of her hadn’t followed. She could have used her ring to guide her Apparation straight to him but had refrained. Knocking on a Death Eater’s door was one thing… Apparating straight into the room with him was another.
+
When he didn’t answer, she pressed her wand to the knob and gave the password.
Relieved when she heard a click, she opened the door to find a room lit by a single candle.
Lumos. Hermione’s wand glowed, revealing a single chair beside the table with the candle. The chair was, like the shelves, empty. The tingle emanating from her ring told her he was watching her in the dark.
“Severus?” she whispered.
In answer, Hermione felt herself being immobilized and her wand ripped from her hand.
The door slammed. A lamp flare to life. Severus filled her vision.
“Granger.”
+
Even as his student, she’d never heard such loathing in his voice.
In moments, she was levitated to the chair and bound tightly, but not painfully, to it.
Hermione’s stare followed Severus as he slinked toward her. She searched for a glimpse of tenderness in his eyes, but found only cold darkness.
“Now, Miss Granger, we are going to do something that I know you’re good at.” The tone of his voice aroused fear and a hint of desire within her. “I’ll ask the questions, and you will provide me with the correct answers. You need not raise your hand.”
+
When he placed a finger over her lips, she felt partial control over her body return, yet she remained silent until he posed his first question.
“How did you find me here?”
“Severus, you-”
“Mr. Snape to you, Miss Granger.”
“Mr. Snape.” The title felt heavy on her tongue. “This was your refuge.”
“And why would I share this secret with you?”
She tried to form an answer, but had too many questions of her own. “Don’t you remember? I think something-”
Suddenly, he loomed over her. “You do not ask questions and you do not think. This is tedious.”
+
As Severus entered Hermione’s mind, he found little resistance.
He sees a kitchen he doesn’t remember, though somehow he knows it to be on Grimmauld Place. McGonagall is talking to Granger.
The younger woman doesn’t believe what she’s hearing. “He killed Dumbledore.”
“Albus trusted him.”
He sees himself weak with pain, Granger soothing him with potions she‘d brewed.
He is kneeling before her, presenting the rings; then he draws her to her feet and into his arms for a kiss.
Then, he took control.
He sees her approach his house, her wand touches the doorknob. She passes through his wards.
+
He fixed his gaze and his wand in her direction, and she felt him enter her mind.
Severus’ touch in her memory was hard and probing, not the lover’s caress she was used to.
Why don’t you remember us?
He had taught her both Legilimency and Occlumency. Knowing he wouldn’t actually hear her thoughts, she brought specific memories of their time together to the fore of her mind.
Lower the blocks!
His eyes hardened even more. Hermione saw the glimmer of her Disillusioned self approaching Spinner’s End, her wand on the doorknob, herself reappearing as she passed through the wards.
+
Abruptly, he pulled out.
“What magic allowed you through my wards?” Severus demanded.
Hermione waved her left hand. “Yours. Ours. Someone has modified your memory. You stopped before I could show you the binding, but you saw our betrothal.”
As he took her hand, he felt the unfamiliar tingling erupt in pervading heat. His eyes flashed to his own hand, and he compared the rings -- the crest of his grandfather’s house.
“This is deception. The protection of the house of Prince would never be given to a mudblood.”
Hermione felt as though she had been slapped. “That’s not true.”
TBC