Beauty and the Beast

Beauty and the Beast

*

Blood and Tears

*

Severus did not hurry as he strode through the corridors after the last class of the day. Still, due to his usual long stride and determined pace, he soon left his classmates behind. His mind deep in thought about his Gryffindor friend's problem, his usually so sharp ears didn't catch the approaching sounds before it was too late.

Suddenly, a hand grasped his arm, pulling him into a side corridor. Startled, he reached for his wand, but a quick spell murmured by somebody behind him pulled it out of his hand. Another spell had a barrier appear in the end of the corridor, blocking both sight and sound.

"Well, well, traitor," drawled a cold voice from his left. "Decided to go to the wrong side, eh?"

Severus kept quiet, knowing that whatever he said would only serve to enrage them even more. They had some kind of hiding charm on them so that he couldn't make out their faces. He knew, however, that they were for sure members of his own House.

"Chose to be quiet, then?" another voice said coolly. "Let's see how long you can keep that up." And with that, several hands grasped on Severus and threw him to the floor. Before he could even try anything, he had a painful hex casted on him. However, he made no sound.

After that, his tormentors had a lot of fun with various charms and hexes, keeping him too occupied with withering in pain to even attempt escape. Seemingly they liked cutting charms most, as underneath his robes his skin was soon covered with cuts and wounds. The blood pouring from the wounds soaked his robes, making the textile cling onto the raw wounds, increasing the pain. At last, unable to bear any more of the excruciating pain, he groaned aloud despite himself.

Seemingly the Slytherins had decided that they would not risk anybody hearing him, as the next charm he heard was, "Silencio." It hit him at the same time as the next cutting charm.

Suddenly, a horrible pain shot through his throat. It was like he'd just swallowed some molten lava. Now, he was ready to scream, in fact, he tried to scream, but no sound came out despite the air his lungs released. Instead, he coughed up blood, his throat feeling as if it was on fire.

"It seems that we did a pretty good job at silencing the bastard," chuckled somebody. "Very well. Let's go on with the plan, then." And after those words, Severus found to his great horror himself magically bound to the floor and his robes torn off. That did not promise anything good.

And truly, the next thing he knew the pain in his throat and the cuts was accompanied with another, even more horrifying pain. Trying to close it out of his mind, Severus ignored the pain of the several rapes he had to endure. Instead, he concentrated on trying to make a sound, even the tiniest whimper. But despite all his efforts, his desperation, and the pain, not a sound could be heard from his mouth. Nothing but air ever came out.

At last, his housemates stopped their "fun". With a couple of cruel loughs and some kicks on his bloodied sides, they left, although not before leaving his wand on the floor in front of him, just out of reach. Oh, let it never be doubted whether a Slytherin knows how to be cruel.

The broken teen wanted nothing as much as to just curl up and cry. However, the binding spells kept him firmly at place, and the sobs bursting from him carried no sound.

*

"Hey, Prongs, look at this." Peter frowned at the Marauder's Map. "I don't like this one bit."

James went to his friend's side and peered over his shoulder. There, with the help of Peter's pointing finger, he saw the suspicious scene. A bunch of moving dots, all representing sixth and seventh year Slytherin boys, surrounded one, unmoving mark. The oddly immobile dot was labelled, "Severus Snape." Then, the other Slytherins left, but Snape still didn't move.

"I think we should go to check on him," Peter said. At James's disbelieving glance, he said defensively, "Hey, even though neither of us like Snape, Moony obviously does. And if those Slytherins hurt Snape for getting those other bastards imprisoned and we don't do anything, Moony will be mad at us." He gave his friend a serious gaze.

For a moment, James thought about it. Then, he sighed. "Fine," he grumbled. "Although I bet Snape was just giving orders to his evil minions. Well, soon we'll see."

So, they went through their secret passageways and hidden staircases to reach their destination as soon as possible. James kept all the time grumbling to himself. However, as they stepped into the corridor where Snape should still have been staying, he froze. So did Peter.

In the other end of the corridor they saw a magical barrier, which most probably served as a way to hide the gruesome sight from any observer in the main corridor. And the sight itself, well, it was nauseating. The two Marauders both felt a strong urge to throw up, but resisted. Instead, they just looked. They looked at the blood on the floor, and the pale, badly abused form of a human in the middle of it. At the message on the wall, "Traitors will pay."

"Well," Peter said weakly, "it looks like Snape truly is on Moony's side." At this, he saw the pale, bloodied body tremble a bit as if it had tried to move, but couldn't. Quickly he pointed a wand at the Slytherin and whispered, "Finite Incantantum."

Now, Snape slowly stirred, then weakly pushed himself up to his knees. His black eyes gazed up at them, a horrified look in their dark depths. He opened his mouth, but nothing came out.

"Snape?" asked James warily, taking a step towards the Slytherin. However, the other teen flinched and tried to get away, crawling over the floor that was slick with his own blood.

"Snape, it's me. James Potter. I'm not going to hurt you. Do you understand?" The Slytherin nodded fearfully. So, James continued, "Say something to me. Just, anything. Talk to me."

This time, the Slytherin just shook his head. Then he hugged himself, flinching as his fingers met an open wound. Whether his gesture was meant to warm him up or to even partly cover his nakedness, the Marauders could not tell. The onyx eyes were now fixed at James, but he still didn't make a sound. He hadn't even groaned once, even though it was obvious he was in pain.

"Did they use some kind of a muting charm on you?" asked Peter. "A silencing spell?"

At first Snape nodded, then, after some hesitation, shook his head. He raised one forefinger to his lips, indicating silence, while another pointed at one of his numerous wounds. Then, he pointed both fingers at his throat, then spat. Except that it was not spit coming out; it was blood.

"Sweet Merlin," whispered Peter. "I -- James, I think they accidentally cut his vocal cords."

"Merlin," muttered James. "Well, for once I can't claim this is just one of your plots, Snape." However, there was not the usual malice behind his words. Gathering what was left of Snape's robes, he continued, "Now, we'll at first get you covered, and then we'll take you to the Hospital Wing. Madam Pomfrey will have you fixed in no time. You'll see."

Snape, however, just shook his head, a desperate look on his face. Then, he finally fainted from pain and loss of blood, the milky white lines of his body and the nauseating scarlet glint of blood standing out on the dark stone floor of the corridor.

However, even more frightening than the form of the collapsed teen did James and Peter find the traces of tears on his face. Snape never cried. If he did, something was seriously wrong. Something else than just cuts, wounds, and the -- hopefully temporary -- muteness.

They soon discovered just what was wrong, as Peter's eyes caught a trail of blood mixed with something else going down the Slytherin's thigh. With a shaking hand he pointed it out at James.

James didn't say anything. Instead, he just carefully wrapped Snape in the shreds of his robes, then covered the badly injured teen with his precious Invisibility Cloak. He suspected that Snape would not appreciate being seen in such a bad condition. Then, lifting the now invisible load to the air with a hovering charm and heading towards the Hospital Wing with a quick pace, he decided that maybe Snape wasn't really the most rotten of Slytherins.

Maybe.

*