The Burning Pen

"What Was I Thinking" Series
"#3 ~ You Shouldn't Walk About in the Dark"
by Ruth Solomon

The story content is adult in nature and can contain graphic sex and violence.  Those under the age of 18 are asked to leave this site immediately.  You are not welcome here.  The author is not responsible for those under-aged who view these works.

CHAPTER 1

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters belong to JKR. All situations are mine. No $$$ is being made from this fanfic.
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Chapter 1 ~ It Happened One Night on the Way Back to Hogwarts

“Goodbye Hagrid,” Hermione said to the still sobbing half-giant as she opened the door of his hut. “It will be all right.” She patted him on the arm sympathetically.

“Goodbye, ‘Ermione,” Hagrid sniffed, as tears rolled down and sunk into his already soaked beard, “preciate yeh comin’ by.”

“That’s what friends are for,” Hermione said, a fond light shining in her amber eyes as she looked at the huge hairy man.

Hagrid nodded, took out a large and dirty hankerchief and blew his nose loudly.

“Yer sure yeh don’t want me ter walk yeh back ter the castle?” he asked, attempting to compose himself.

“No, I’ll be fine,” she replied, and smiling at him, she exited the hut, closing the door behind her.

As she walked down the stairs and onto the Hogwarts grounds, Hermione shook her head. Hagrid was mourning the loss of his last Blast-ended Skrewt. He had found it stiff and dead behind his hut just that morning. The great thing was almost fifteen feet long, had no discernable head, and had been the bane of the Care of Magical Creatures class for several years now, through its propensity to suddenly, and without warning, blast fire out of one end, shooting forward and scorching everything within range. Actually, Hermione was surprised it had lasted this long. As far as she knew, it hadn’t eaten anything since its birth during her third year. It had been a great mystery how the creature survived this long.

Hermione trudged across the grounds, lost in thought. It was a new moon, and darkness settled over the land like a thick, black blanket. The terrain was flat and rolling, and she made her way using the familiar lights of the castle as a landmark. A damp mist hung low on the ground.

Severus was away on an ingredients gathering mission this weekend, and Hermione was left to herself. She put her time to good use, doing what she loved most, reading. Now that Voldemort was dead, she didn’t need to work on defensive spells as much, and could relax with a good thick tome. She had been planning on a nice quiet evening in her rooms, when she heard from Professor Flitwick at supper that evening about Hagrid’s loss. She decided to visit him and offer her condolences. She spent about two hours with the stricken giant. That was all she could take.

Hermione heard something rustle behind her, and quickly pulled out her wand, spinning. “Lumos!” she cried, holding the wand out before her, peering out into the night. She saw nothing. Spinning around slowly, she studied the darkness carefully, her stomach knotting up with apprehension. Still nothing. After spending a few minutes peering and listening, she started back towards the castle, at a quicker pace. She was scared, though she didn’t want to admit it to herself. Why hadn’t she let Hagrid accompany her? Or at least taken a lantern. The bright light would have be noticed from the castle, and someone would have known that someone was on the way there. The small light on the tip of her wand would hardly attract any notice.

She heard another rustle, this time to her left. “Who’s there?” she called out, heart pounding. This time a low, evil chuckle answered her. She tried to hurl a hex in the direction of the sound, but a stunner caught her before she could utter a word. She fell.

A hooded, black-robed, white-masked figure flowed out of the darkness, illuminated by the dim glow of Hermione’s wand. He stood over her, looking down, then looked about the grounds as if to check for witnesses to the red light of the stunning spell. The doors of the castle remained closed. No one had seen.

The Death Eater knelt down, picked the stunned witch up in his arms, then slung her over his shoulder like a sack of rock cakes. He then picked up her still glowing wand.

“Nox!’ he hissed, and the light went out. He deposited the wand in his pocket.

The robed figure walked away into the night, taking great strides, Hermione’s prone body bouncing on his shoulder. He could feel her softness shifting against him as he moved smoothly over the grounds. He ran a gloved hand over the stunned witch’s hip, and licked his lips. What an auspicious turn of fortune, finding the princess of Gryffindor roaming the grounds all alone. How careless of her. He would have thought she would have been more cautious, knowing not all Death Eaters had been taken after the Dark Lord’s death. Knowing what a target she was as the lover of Severus Snape. A lover he hadn't shared. Well, it was her mistake, and mistakes had to be paid for.

He leered, turned, and headed in the direction of the Whomping Willow.


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A/N: Hermione in the clutches of an apparently randy Death Eater, with no wand and no Severus...this looks bad, folks.

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