Rating: M for safety’s sake due to some dark events.

Characters: Hermione Granger, Severus Snape, Lord Voldemort, Lucius Malfoy

Pairing: HG/SS alluded

Warnings: Dark!Hermione, vague sexual references, sado-masochism

Author’s Note: Okay, so for better or worse, this is the end. My deepest apologies that this has taken two years, but life happens. Hopefully the completed story will make up for the time it’s taken to get it written and published. Thanks to all my readers. You are awesome.

“You bitch!” He yells as the silence curse is lifted.

Red eyes narrow as the expletive rings through the ballroom, echoing from distant corners.

Hermione ignores Severus’s insult as she levitates him the rest of the way to Lord Voldemort. She cancels the levitation spell and lowers his still frozen body to the ground at Voldemort’s feet. “My Lord,” she begins, “Severus is the traitor you have been looking for. He has passed me information from Potter, just as we thought he would. There are not many clues as to the location of the resistance movement, but perhaps enough to get a group there to wipe them out.” She kneels beside Severus, head bowed and arms outstretched, his wand lying across her open palms. “I have done as you asked, my Lord.”

“Indeed you have, Mudblood. Come and sit beside me again.” She stands and moves back to her previous position beside the throne, handing him Snape’s wand on the way. Settling in, she arranges her skirt again and raises her head to watch the proceedings. Voldemort rolls Snape’s wand in his hand and begins twirling it in his fingers like a baton. “Severus. You have displeased me. Have you anything to say in your own defense?” His face is impassive, but to those who know where to look, it is obvious that he is seething on the inside.

“My Lord,” Snape spits out the title, “I have no defense. I am on the side of right and light and you are not. We will win this and you will be forgotten, relegated to annals of history as a madman. Do with me what you will, but we will win this.” His normally placid eyes are stormy and filled with hatred for the one he calls Lord. “You are going to lose.” His focus shifts from Voldemort to Hermione. “And you. We thought we could count on you to help take him down, and this is how our trust and Harry’s friendship is repaid? Some friend you are. You will go down with him.”

“Silencio!” Voldemort yells. “Mudblood, what is the information he passed to you?” Hermione pulls the bit of parchment from the cleft in the top of her corset and reads its message aloud. Using the bits of information given in the brief missive, he knows where to start looking. “Crucio.” Snape opens his mouth in a silent scream, still under the effects of the silence and petrifaction spells. After a few moments under torture, something inside breaks and his eyes go slack as he loses consciousness. Voldemort takes advantage of his condition and whispers his next spell. “Legilimens.” Voldemort soars through Snape’s mind, unblocked in his condition by Occlumency. The information he seeks is readily presented to him, outlining exactly how many are in the resistance and where they are all hiding. All spells on Snape are cancelled and he continues to lie there, his eyes open but unseeing.

Now he turns to his left to face Hermione. “Mudblood, stand.” She rises, keeping her eyes downcast. “Turn and face me.” She stands, her eyes rising to his face, trying to get some sense of what was coming next. “You have done well tonight. To secure your new role in our society, there is a task I require of you.”

“Of course, My Lord, what will you have of me?” She is eager to see what comes next. He holds out Snape’s wand, handle out first, and nods for her to take it. She reaches, and as her hand grips the smooth black wood, she feels a warm energy coming from it. Voldemort, still holding the other end, catches her eyes in a red gaze and begins to speak. “To rise, someone else must fall. Take this wand as your own and kill its previous owner. There is no place here for a traitor.”

She had somehow known this was coming. His fingers would never be nimble again, never chop and slice and brew, never make her body sing the way they once had. And it was all her fault. But she had to survive in the world she had, and after so long, she could not believe that Harry would save them all anymore. So, she steels up her resolve and pulls the wand from Voldemort’s hand. Her eyes close for a moment as she turns to face Snape, lying there with blank, empty eyes and a slack mouth. He is already dead inside and it is her job to put him out of his misery. “Avada Kedavra!” She speaks the words and the energy transfer takes place. A green flash of light makes its way to Snape and a surge of dark, black energy races up her arm, taking the shape of the Dark Mark on her forearm. She screams and falls to her knees, but manages to hold her grip on the wand somehow. And then the pain is over.

“Arise, Hermione, and take your place as one of my Death Eaters.” He smiles and offers her a hand up. “Welcome to your new life.” She stands and turns to face the room as an equal. Using her reacquired magic, she transfigures the clothes on her body to an extravagant ball gown of maroon velvet. It is strapless and still shows an impressive amount of cleavage over the tight bodice, falling to a full skirt that tumbles around her ankles. For the first time in four years, she has shoes on her feet, light slippers made of the same material as her dress, and she sighs in relief at not having to brave stone floors with bare feet anymore.

“Thank you, My Lord. It is my pleasure to continue to serve you to the best of my abilities.” She lowers into an elegant curtsy before him, holding the position for several minutes while Voldemort stands to make a proclamation to his Death Eaters.

“My followers and citizens of my Wizarding World, welcome our newest citizen, Hermione Granger. She has proven herself to me and therefore to you as well. You will no longer treat her as the slave she has been, but as someone of the same social rank as yourselves. The punishment will be severe for any who think to mistreat her, and it is because of her that we have the information necessary to finish this war and arise as the ultimate victor.” A hand rises and he calls for Wormtail. “Get rid of Snape’s body, Wormtail, and retrieve Hermione’s possessions from the slave quarters and move them all to his rooms. They now belong to her.” Wormtail squeaks out “Yes My Lord” and scampers away to do his Master’s bidding. Voldemort turns and takes the steps back to his throne, settling back in his seat. “You may go for now, Hermione. Go and reintroduce yourself in your new identity to your new colleagues. First, send young Malfoy to me, however. There are things I find I must discuss with him.”

She straightens from the curtsy and takes the few steps back to her Master, kissing his hand and then turning to do as he has asked. Hermione slowly makes her way through the room, nodding and saying hello as she maneuvers toward a platinum head in the back of the room. “Draco.”

He turns and smiles tersely at her with a brief nod of his head. “Hermione.”

“Our Master has requested to speak with you right away.”

“Of course.” He turns back to the people with whom he was speaking and makes his excuses, heading off toward Voldemort, not knowing that it is to his death he is walking so nonchalantly. In the information Voldemort pulled from Snape’s head, he had found that the young aristocrat had abandoned their principles and was also involved in the resistance. As Draco approaches the throne, Voldemort stands and ushers him back to the chamber reserved for the Dark Lord, planning on stretching this torture session out much longer than he had done with Snape and requiring more privacy to extract whatever information Draco might have.

She sees their departure from the other side of the room, where she is getting a drink from the bar, and wonders what requires such privacy to take place, but a cool hand on her upper arm removes the situation from the forefront of her mind.

“So it is done?” A voice whispers into her ear, a warm breath caressing the tender area surrounding it. The hand glides down to her forearm, feeling the raised area where her Dark Mark is imprinted in her skin.

“Yes. I am free now; free to do what I want so long as it does not displease him. I am equal in status to you finally.” Her eyes close and she takes a slow sip from her glass of rich red wine. Another cool hand on her other arm pulls her back and she leans back into his chest, enjoying the feeling of freely being able to do this and not having to worry about whether or not he is the one she is given to for the night. She will never have to worry about that again. Lips press against the top of her head and she is happy.

“He has given me Severus’s quarters and belongings. Care to help me break them in?” Her eyes are still closed, her right hand covering his on her arm, and the left still gripping the wine glass.

“I thought you would never ask.” He pulls away from her back and they regain their composure, her eyes fluttering open. She takes one last sip from her glass and sets it down to be taken and cleaned. “Lead the way, sweet,” he says, reaching for her now empty hand. She returns the gesture, their hands meeting and gripping tightly to each other. They begin to move toward the same door she used earlier on her way to the Potions lab, knowing Severus’s quarters had been close by for convenience in brewing.

A scream from Voldemort’s chamber breaks through the din of the bustling party, but is unheard by the two as they seem to glide through toward the door. They pay no attention to any of their surroundings in their hurry to get to her room. The trip down the hall is blessedly short, and as the door closes behind them, she reaches up and pulls him down for a hungry kiss, lips and tongues meeting until they more resemble one person than two, hands traveling through hair and down backs, trying to get ever closer to one another. They break apart for air, chests heaving and eyes glittering, mouths swollen from their ardor.

“I love you, Hermione,” he says breathlessly.

Her breath hitches in her throat again and then the words tumble out of her mouth, “I love you too, Lucius.”

They both grab for each other again and as they lose themselves in each other, nothing else matters but the touches and sighs and gasps they make. Not Draco being flayed alive for his betrayal, not knowing that soon a party would assemble to take out Harry and the rest of the resistance. It all fades away to two people, two bodies, surging together to become one.

THE END

A/N: Well, there it is. After two and a half years, two years idle, and many moves and changes, there it is. It’s finished. I’d like to know what you all think of it… if you have a minute and a few words to spare, I’d appreciate reviews. Thanks for reading.

-Cherrii