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Unleashed - Book 1	By : loola Category: Harry Potter > Het - Male/Female > Snape/Hermione Views: 5453 -:- Recommendations : 0 -:- Currently Reading : 0
Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter, nor any of the characters from the books or movies. I do not make any money from the writing of this story.

Chapter List
- 1-Unleashed
- 2-Part 2
- 3-Part 3
- 4-Part 4
- 5-Part 5
- 6-Part 6
- 4
- 5
- 6
Author�s Note: Sorry this chapter is so overdue, and sorry it�s a little shorter than the others. I just wanted to get something up to show you that I haven�t abandoned the story � I do intend to complete it. Please review, whether you enjoy it or not. Many thanks.

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Creak�

Sudden heavy breathing filled the otherwise silent room as Hermione Granger awoke with a start. Darkness encompassed her � the only light in the room was a faint glow reflected on the polished floor of her room at number 12, Grimmauld Place. It was the vague, shimmering light cast by the moon shining bleakly in through the window, the curtains of which had been left open the previous night.
Hermione sat up in bed in the shadowed room, her breath coming in terrified pants. The darkness seemed to heighten her other senses whilst it blocked out her vision � her ears were now hyper-sensitised to the almost imperceptible creaks coming from outside her door. She recognised the sound of a creaky floorboard on the stairs immediately and froze, the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end. She tried to convince herself it was just an Order member getting themselves a Midnight snack � Molly, perhaps � or Harry and Ron returning early and creeping upstairs as quietly as possible so as not to disturb anybody.
But somehow she knew instinctively that it was more than that. It was ridiculous, she knew, but there was something extremely sinister about the creaks that were still softly issuing from outside her room.
Hermione tired to keep herself calm as she realised there must be some kind of intruder in the house. Despite still trying to convince herself that she was being absurdly paranoid, her fears were confirmed in shocking rapidity as she heard a whispered voice almost directly outside her door.
�Find them,� came the barely discernible command.
Hermione froze, the sullen-sounding voice sending shivers down her spine. The intruders� footsteps (it was now clear that there was more than one of them in the house) had now become completely silent � she knew from experience that the creakiest set of floorboards was the one on the staircase leading up to the first floor of the house, where her bedroom was located. It was more worrying for Hermione, now, on the other hand, as she couldn�t tell if they had moved on from outside her room, or if they were still lurking there, as if lying in wait.
Her mind immediately fled to Death Eaters. And a small, disturbed part of her brain couldn�t help but suspect that the �them� the intruders had referred to was herself and Snape. Perhaps the man in Italy had been a Death Eater, after all�
Hermione sat entirely still for several long minutes, her ears still pricked for the creak of floorboards or more whispers. When none came after a few long, excruciating moments, she pushed the blanket covering her body off, and slipped silently out of bed.
She winced and bit her lip to stop herself from crying out a moment later as she put a hesitant foot softly against the cold floor. A chill swept through her body as the floorboard creaked ominously beneath her, sounding ridiculously loud in the otherwise still room. She couldn�t be sure that the intruders hadn�t been able to break through the silencing charms placed on the rooms by Dumbledore so they could hear if any of the house�s occupants were awake. She froze, waiting for the door to burst open and the intruders to come through, having heard the floorboard creaking and realised that she was awake.
After a few tense moments, Hermione let out a shaky breath she didn�t realise she had been holding. It seemed that the intruders had progressed through the house and luckily, hadn�t heard her movement. When silence had reigned for several minutes, Hermione gingerly got to her feet. As her other foot touched the floor, she closed her eyes in suspense, waiting for a companion creak to come.
Her eyes opened in relief when it never came, and she begun to tiptoe across the dark room to Severus� bed, where he was still sleeping.
As she approached the bed, she could make out the slow, gentle, up and down movement of Severus� bare chest in the moonlight. Standing over his dimly lit form, Hermione wondered how best to wake him as she bit her lip nervously. However she woke him, she feared that he would start shouting at her, thereby alerting the intruders to the fact that they were awake.
�Severus? Severus, wake up!� Hermione hissed through her teeth, as quietly as she could. She was hesitant to touch the slumbering man in the bed, in case this incited a violent awakening from him. She couldn�t imagine that he would take it kindly if he woke up to find her standing over his bed. She could just imagine the expression on his face � shock first, then anger. And then the shouting would undoubtedly start.
She still didn�t know if the intruders had ruptured the silencing charms on the rooms, but as she had always been the kind of person to fear the worst, she couldn�t help but suspect that they had. Even if the intruders were on one of the floors above them, they would no doubt hear if Severus yelled. From what she had experienced of him before, Hermione couldn�t help but think that his yelling would probably penetrate right up to the top floor of the house. She hovered over him, her bottom lip still caught between her teeth in indecision.
�Severus!� she hissed more insistently, hoping that it would be enough to wake him. Severus still didn�t wake, but rolled onto his back, emitting a soft snore as he did so. The moonlight glinted off his pale face as he moved, and Hermione noticed once again how much more relaxed he looked when he was asleep. The lines on his face had faded almost to nothing, and the permanent sneer had dropped off his face, although the corners of his mouth were still turned down slightly, as though his dreams were filled with displeasing thoughts.
Putting such thoughts out of her mind for the moment � this was neither the time nor the place for such frivolities � Hermione gritted her teeth, and in a sudden swoop of movement, she knelt down on the floor level with his pillow, and steeled herself for the wrath that would no doubt follow her actions. She clamped her left hand over Severus� mouth to muffle the exclamation that she felt sure would come when he awoke.
At the same time, she took a deep, fortifying breath, and used her other hand to shake Severus� shoulder violently.
After barely a moment�s pause, Severus� dark eyes flicked open and his gaze darted around. In the darkness of the room, Hermione could make out a glint of wildness in his black eyes, and his mouth began to move under her palm. She could feel his lips, his tongue, his teeth, grazing against the tender skin on the inside of her hand. However, instead of the anger Hermione had been expecting, the wildness in his eyes began to grow, and his body began to thrash in the bed, his shoulder shaking under her grip.
It was as though his whole body was wired up to an electric current � he was moving restlessly, staring up at the ceiling with unseeing eyes. He was making strange sounds, which were muffled under her hand. She feared that he would wake fully at any moment, and considering his present state, she didn�t even want to contemplate how he might behave.
In a haze of panic, Hermione pressed her hand tighter against his mouth and leant very close to him so she could whisper in his ear, hoping that if she woke him quickly and calmly with the sound of her familiar voice, he might not react too dramatically.
�Severus! Severus, it�s all right! It�s me � it�s Hermione,� she murmured to him softly, so close to him that her lips brushed momentarily against his earlobe. She froze as her lips made contact with his soft, warm skin, and she felt a jolt of feeling spread through her body. Despite the fact that it was late July, it was unfeasibly chilly in her room, and his skin felt deliciously warm and soothing against her own, chilled flesh.
It was then that she noticed that his blanket had slipped down his body whilst he had been thrashing in the bed, and his naked chest was shining in the moonlit room. Her eyes drifted slowly up his body, noting the numerous pink and white scars littering his chest. Her breathing sped up slightly as her eyes fell greedily upon his nipples � they were small, taut, brown peaks standing out through a few dark, wiry hairs. All of a sudden, Hermione had a completely unbidden image of herself bending down and taking one of those dusky pink nipples into her mouth, and the thought sent a shot of arousal through her.
Her gaze continued to slide up his body, until she finally reached his face. A shocked gasp escaped her lips, and she flew back from his body, clasping a hand over her own mouth as angry obsidian eyes stared back at her. Severus was completely awake now, and Hermione felt a wave of sickness flood through her as she became aware of the loathing in his eyes.
Her cheeks flushed brightly as she remembered the way she had been looking at his body, and she swallowed deeply, feeling like some kind of pervert for looking at him when he wasn�t in a state to realise what was going on around him.
They froze in a weird sort of tableau � she was hovering over him, her hand still clamped over her mouth, her eyes wide with horror and shock as he stared contemptuously at her, his black eyes flashing. They held each other�s gaze for several long moments, Hermione finding herself unable to look away from his penetrating eyes. A sudden noise from above, however, broke the moment and they both looked up sharply in shock and, in Severus� case, confusion.
The creaking of a floorboard from the room directly above them.
Hermione let out a barely audible gasp of horror, all her previous fear and anxiety returning to her in a flood of painful emotion. When she looked back at Severus, the anger and hatred had disappeared from his eyes, to be replaced with concern, confusion and a hint of something that Hermione thought was fear. He was looking at her so closely he was barely blinking, his eyes narrowed slightly, and when he spoke, his voice was low, sharp and accusatory.
�What is it? You know what�s happening. Tell me.�
Hermione shook her head hesitantly, glancing up at the ceiling and backing away from him and the bed, overcome by a surfeit of emotion once again. Before she could get more than a few steps away, however, Severus reared up from the bed, and threw the covers off him to reveal his half naked body. Suddenly, he was in front of her, his face harsh and unforgiving as he grasped her wrist tightly, his fingers digging into the thin skin covering the veins and fragile ligaments on the inside of her wrist. He roughly pulled her to him until her chest was pressed against his.
�Hermione, listen to me,� he said, his voice so low she could barely hear what he was saying. �You know what�s happening. Tell me.�
�There�s someone in the house,� she whispered, her voice shaky. �Someone�s broken in. I ��
�Shit,� he interrupted her, pulling away abruptly and picking up his clothes from the floor. He shoved on the shorts and t-shirt he had worn the previous day, and as he did so, the moonlight fell over his body. Hermione couldn�t stop the faint gasp that fell from her lips as she saw the Dark Mark visible on his forearm. The glamour he had undoubtedly cast must have worn off, and it now seemed to blaze like a beacon in the dark room.
Severus must have heard her gasp, for he spun on his heel to face her, his expression clouded with anger. When he saw where her gaze was focused, Severus could barely hold back his own exhalation of horror as he realised that the Dark Mark was showing once again on his pale forearm. He gritted his teeth against the fury welling up inside of him and forced himself to meet Hermione�s eye.
She was staring at him as though petrified, her eyes glassy with unshed tears. She was once again biting her bottom lip, a habit that was becoming increasingly endearing to Severus. As he looked at her scared and forlorn expression, Severus felt his anger quickly dissipating, and he found himself entertaining thoughts of sympathy for the girl. She had lost her parents at such a young age, she was basically living in a permanent war zone, she was saddled with him as a partner for the time being by the looks of it, and she was clearly scared out of her mind.
In a sudden movement, he strode towards her purposefully. Thinking that he was going to hit her or chastise her, Hermione seemed to cower in on herself, but Severus grabbed her hands and brought them up against his chest. He could feel how cold she was, and rubbed his hands against hers in an attempt to pass on some of his body warmth. Then he did something that was completely un-premeditated, and shocked Hermione so much she barely believed that he was the same man. Very gently, and slowly, he caught her eyes and gently raised their entwined hands to his mouth. Turning her hand over, he pressed a small kiss on the top of her hand, their eyes remaining locked for the whole time. His lips were warm and tender and sent tiny jolts of unbelievable pleasure shooting down her arm.
When he withdrew his lips, he whispered to her,
�It�s going to be all right, Hermione. But you must be brave. We are going to go out there and fight them. I will be there for you, Hermione. Do not be scared.�
Severus shocked even himself with the gentleness in his voice, and raised a pale hand to brush away a few locks of hair that had fallen into her face, obscuring her vision. As he did so, Hermione felt something within herself snap, and she flung suddenly herself into his arms, tears coursing down her cheeks as she buried her face into the crook of his neck.
After a moment of shock that incapacitated him, Severus slowly lifted his arms and wrapped them around the silently sobbing girl. He could feel her tears wetting his own flesh and her warm breath sending shivers of feeling down his neck and spine. It made him feel more alive than he had done in years. Forgetting about everything for one long moment, Severus clasped Hermione to him, drinking in the flowery scent of her hair and the soft, comforting curves of her now-familiar body.
When they finally pulled apart, Hermione�s eyes were red and raw-looking, but her tears had dried and there was a slightly awed smile on her face as she looked up at him. He nervously returned the smile and at that, Hermione allowed a true smile to creep across her face. They held each other�s gaze sweetly for several minutes before Severus softly broke the silence.
�Are you ready, Hermione?�
She nodded, finding her strength and confidence once again. She pulled out her wand as Severus reached under his pillow and retrieved his own. Then he held out his hand for her to take. She regarded it silently and Severus began to grow uncomfortable, fearing that she didn�t wish for him to try and comfort her in such a way. However, just as he was about to pull his hand back, she caught his eye with a shy smile and grabbed it, his skin warm and soft against hers.
He used their link to pull her to him so she was mere inches away from his strong chest.
�We�ll stay together for as long as possible. We have to try to reach the Third Floor � Tonks, Moody and Arthur will all be asleep up there,� he whispered to her and she nodded. He started to move towards the door of the room, pulling Hermione with him.
�Severus, wait!� Hermione hissed, grabbing his arm and spinning him back to face her. �I heard them say that they�re looking for some people here. I think it might be us.�
Severus nodded grimly at her words and Hermione clutched his hand tighter in response.
�It�ll be all right, Hermione. I promise.�
For one blissful moment, Hermione believed him and took comfort in his words. Then she realised that he could not make such a promise � death could cheat anyone out of life, no matter what promises had been made.
Swallowing her tears and the memories of her parents, Hermione followed Severus as he reached the door and pushed Hermione behind him. She allowed him to do this, despite the part of her that protested about equal rights, knowing that he was only trying to protect her. She leaned slightly against his back as he pressed his ear against the gap between the door and its frame and listened for any hint of a movement outside.
They remained like that for several minutes. Hermione could sense the heavy beating of Severus� heart and took comfort in the fact that he was clearly as scared as she was, although he was trying to hide it so as not to alarm her. His scent invaded her senses as she stayed pressed up against him, and she couldn�t help but close her eyes and revel in it for a few short moments.
The moment was broken as Severus moved and very slowly twisted the door handle around to open the door. It eased open silently, except for an almost imperceptible click as the lock was freed from the frame. Severus only opened the door halfway, and they slid out, Severus tugging insistently on Hermione�s increasingly clammy hand. He shut the door behind them so as not to alert anyone to the fact that they were out of bed.
The beating of her blood in her head filled Hermione�s ears as she and Severus crept along the first floor corridor, sliding against the wall and keeping to the most shadowed parts of the corridor. They reached the staircase that led up to the Second floor relatively quickly, and they were just about to mount the first step when Severus heard whispering at the top of the stairs.
�Check downstairs,� came a gruff voice.
�Right,� replied a voice that sounded as though the man�s throat was filled with nails, and Severus froze as he recognised the voice of�
The floorboards on the stairs creaked as the man began to descend the staircase to come down to the first floor corridor. Severus suddenly realised that they were standing directly where the man would see him and Hermione. Pulling on Hermione�s hand, he tugged her backwards until his back collided soundlessly with the wall. The area was deeply shadowed, and Severus pulled Hermione against his chest and wrapped his arms around her middle to keep her back pressed tightly against his front.
However, Hermione turned in his grasp and wrapped her own arms around his neck, snuggling her face into his chest. His hands moved up to caress her shoulder blades and he breathed out a shaky exhalation.
�It can�t be�� he murmured to himself, not realising he had spoken aloud until Hermione looked curiously up at him.
�What, Severus?� she questioned him gently, one of her hands slipping into the silky strands of his hair that dangled around his neck and shoulders. He shook his head, as though trying to clear his thoughts.
�That voice � it sounded like�� he stopped short as the footsteps reached the floor near were they were standing. As he stopped speaking, Hermione looked behind her and turned in his arms once again to see what was happening. The moon cast an eerie shadow over the man�s form � he was wearing tatty grey robes that were ripped and shredded around the ankles, sleeves and shoulders. He had his back to them, but Severus and Hermione could see greasy strands of dull black hair straggling down his back and curling repulsively around his shoulder blades. He slowly raised a hand to scratch his head, and Hermione gasped in horror at the sight.
His hand was tinted grey with an underlying tinge of a greenish-yellow stain that had the appearance of decay spreading across his flesh. The skin was stretched across the prominent ligaments and looked almost transparent in its texture. There were thick, crusty scabs covering large, pus-coloured areas of his hand.
The sight repulsed Hermione and her hand flew up to clutch at Severus� hands. However, the sight of his apparently rotting, and disgusting hand did little to prepare them for the shock that Hermione and Severus suffered when the man turned around and looked almost directly into the shadows where they were hiding.
His tattered robes swung around him as he turned, coming to rest against black leather boots that were smeared with blood and a substance that looked disturbingly like blood. His dark-brown trousers were tucked into his knee-high boots, the knees threadbare and stained with more mud. Under his open robes, he wore a yellowing shirt that had sweat stains around the collar and cuffs. The shirt was missing nearly half its buttons, and it gaped open, revealing a horrifically emaciated chest that was a similar shade of greyish-green to his hands.
Near the middle of his chest, where his heart was, there was a huge scar that had been crudely stitched � the central line was red and glistening as if it had only barely healed before scaring over. It stood out in stark contrast to the grey tinge of his skin, and Hermione couldn�t help thinking that it looked like someone had ripped his heart out. But that was, of course, impossible.
The tendons in the man�s neck stood out as though they were painfully distended, and there were deep gashed around his neck, some of which were weeping yellow pus, which dripped onto the collar of his shirt and robes. His face was the worst shock of all however. It was grey and sunken-looking, the cheeks plastered to the fragile bones beneath. More of his straggly hair was hanging across his furrowed forehead. There was a disgusting grimace on his face; the thin lips stretched across his yellowed, broken teeth, the brown gums shrunk almost to nothing.
Hermione had to restrain a gasp as her eyes fell on his � they were empty, emotionless black holes that seemed to express nothing more than a sense of unhappiness, disillusion and death. He had the general look of a lump of rotting flesh, and his bloodshot eyes darted around unnaturally fast. Both Severus and Hermione found themselves holding their breath as the unearthly stench of the man reached them � he stank of decaying animal flesh and an odour that seemed to encapsulate the very reek of death and destruction.
�No,� Severus whispered, pulling Hermione�s gaze back to his face with his words. He was staring at the skeletal man with an expression of confused horror upon his features. �It can�t be.�
�Severus, what is it?� Hermione asked him in an urgent whisper. His gaze fell back to her and he looked haunted, as though he had seen a ghost from his past.
�That�s��
Severus gulped.
�That�s Evan Rosier.�
Hermione stared at him in shock for a second.
�But,� she started softly. �But he�s ��
�Dead. Yes. I know.�
Hermione stared up at him disbelievingly, a frown creasing her features.
�It can�t be! Severus, the dead can�t come back to life!�
�I know!� he hissed at her, his voice as low as he could keep it.
Their conversation was interrupted moments later, however, by the chilling sound of the man � if he could be called a man � emitting a bestial growl that resounded in the otherwise silent corridor. The floor creaked as he took a step closer to where they were hiding.
In the dim light of the moon, Hermione and Severus could see his nostrils flare as though he were trying to sniff them out. He took a long, deep breath through his nose and a small, self-satisfied smile crept onto his face as he continued to progress towards them.
Hermione was frozen against Severus, unable to move, her eyes wide with horror as all she could do was watch as Rosier came closer and closer towards them. Hermione was now positive that there were Death Eaters in the house, and a tingling deep in her gut told her that her guess had been right � they were looking for her and Severus. She stared at him, the moonlight reflecting in his eyes and making them seem all the more bottomless and soulless.
�Come out, come out, wherever you are!� Rosier whispered in a voice that was so sickly sweet it made Hermione shiver. He was getting nearer and nearer to them, and Hermione could feel Severus� breathing speeding up.
�I can smell you, children!�
He was so close now he would be able to discern any movement they made. Severus� hand was trapped between his stomach and Hermione�s back from where he had been stroking her hair to try and calm her down, and he gently, slowly, moved his hand downwards until he could reach the pocket of the shorts he was wearing. Hermione felt his movement and, realising that he was trying to reach his wand, tried to move imperceptibly to her right to give him better access.
However, as she shifted her weight onto her right foot, a floorboard below her creaked ominously and Severus and Hermione froze, their eyes glued onto the man stalking predatorily towards them. His head shot up at the sound of the creak, and a grin spread across his thin cheeks.
�Ah,� he said so softly Hermione could barely hear him. �There you are, my lovelies.�
Hermione was clutching Severus� hand so tightly he could feel her short nails biting into his skin and he would have winced, had he not been so concentrated on the task before him. Rosier was growing ever closer to them, his eyes now fixed determinedly on the exact spot where they were cowered against the wall.
Severus grimaced. He had to get them out of this situation � it would only be a couple more seconds before Rosier reached their hiding place, and Severus didn�t want to contemplate how a dead man might kill and mutilate a young girl and his ex-school cohort.
He didn�t even want to think about what the Death Eaters would undoubtedly do to Hermione if they got their hands on her. He had seen and been an unwilling part of too many rapes to even want to entertain the idea in his head. It made him feel physically sick, and the mere memory of the last rape he had had to perform years ago made bile soar up his throat as if to choke him. He unconsciously tightened his hold on Hermione, and, unable to watch Rosier�s imminent approach any longer, she turned in his arms once again and buried her face against him. Once again that night Severus felt her silent tears on his skin, and he couldn�t help but wonder if he would ever feel such closeness with a woman again.
Just as Rosier took a final step towards them, Severus bottled up his fears and pushed Hermione to his right, out of the way, and pulled his wand out of his pocket in a movement that shocked Black � he had clearly not been expecting such a display. In a flurry of movement that was too quick even for Rosier to keep track of, Severus grabbed Hermione, pulled her flush to him, suddenly and shouted an incantation.
They disappeared with a small, barely discernible pop, a howl of rage from Rosier the last thing they heard.
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Unleashed - Book 1