To Hope For Nothing

To Hope for Nothing

~*~

Save Him

~*~*~*~

The Night

~*~*~

Severus stormed inside Dumbledore's office without even waiting for the invitation to come inside. "Headmaster!" he exclaimed as soon as he had stepped inside. "Headmaster, you have to -"

Then he froze, the words stuck in his throat. There was someone other in the office as well. Sirius Black was sitting there, seemingly having been in the middle of a conversation with the Headmaster of Hogwarts.

"What it is, Severus?" Dumbledore asked kindly, ignoring his sudden silence as well as the glares he and Black immediately began to exhange. "Tell us, please. Did something happen in the meeting?"

"I brought Lupin with me," he said breathlessly. "He's in the Infirmary, and -"

"WHAT?" Black roared, jumping on his feet. "Remus is there? Why? What has happened to him? Where did you find him?"

"Calm down, Black," he snarled. "I would tell you, should you only calm down a bit and listen."

Black crumbled his eyebrows at Severus's words, but sat back down.

"What on earth happened to Remus, Severus?" Dumbledore asked gently.

The Potions Master closed his eyes. "Voldemort gave him to Lucius Malfoy as a birthday present," he said through clenched teeth. "Malfoy, of course, raped him in front of us all. I couldn't stop him - they'd have killed both me and Lupin, should I have done anything."

"Oh," the Headmaster sighed. "Another sin on Voldemort's conscience."

"And another thing he'll pay of," Black swore fiercely. "I promise I'll kill that bastard, no matter what I have to do in order to complete that task."

"For the first time in my life I fully agree with you, Black," Severus said, looking at the ex-convict with his obsidian eyes.

Sirius calmly met his gaze, for the first time for long time not glaring at him. It was merely a simple gaze, with no hatred or despise behind it.

Severus was genuinely surprised.

"What exactly happened?" Dumbledore asked. "I'd like to hear your complete story before we go to see Remus, as I'm sure you're both eager to do."

Severus sighed. "A lot of things happened," he said with a blank voice. "And I'm sure that none of them were pretty. The part I'm aware of, however, begins when I went to the Death Eater meeting tonight..."

~*~

Severus stared in shock at what was presented to them. It was Lupin, in dirty clothes, thin and pale, his head bent down.

"This is my birthday present to you, Lucius," Voldemort hissed. "The werewolf friend of the Potter boy." He nodded at his right-hand man. "Have your way with him," he urged. "But don't kill him."

Malfoy gladly obeyed his Lord's orders. He walked over to their prisoner, violently ripping the robes off from Lupin's body. Then he simply threw the other man on the floor and raped him, several times. They could all easily hear his victim's screams of pain mixing with his own moans of pleasure as he thrusted inside the werewolf repeatedly. Lupin weakly tried to fight him at first, but couldn't do anything as some of the nearest Death Eathers helpfully fastened his hands on the floor with charms.

Lucius didn't seem to get enough of raping the helpless man. For the great amusement of most of the Death Eaters and the great disgust of Severus, he continued the rape even far after Lupin had passed out, ramming violently into the moveless body. Then somebody casted a waking spell, and everyone laughed as Lupin screamed when he woke up to realize he was being raped at the moment. Lucius only increased his speed, accompanying his rape with random hits of his fists to the body underneath him.

At last he withdrew from the man, leaving him laying on the floor, bloodied and bruisened. "Well, at least there was some use for him," Malfoy laughed, kicking hardly the man he had just taken his advantage on.

All the other Death Eaters laughed nastily as the werewolf curled on an even smaller ball, trying to cover himself from further attacks. This only provoked Malfoy to kick him again, harder this time. Lupin whined and tried to crawl away from him, but his hands were still charmed to the floor.

Everyone laughed even more.

"Stay behind, Severus," the Dark Lord said as he told them to leave. "I have a special task for you."

He waited until all the others had left. Then he bent down to kiss the hem of his "master's" robes like all the others had done before leaving. "What is your assignment for me, my Lord?" he asked, trying not to feel nervous. If Voldemort had really found out about his betrayal, he'd been punished in front of everyone, most probably like Lupin - although he wouldn't have been lucky enough to survive.

"Why were you so quiet, Severus?" the Dark Lord hissed. "Are you possibly pitying that miserable beast?" He motioned towards the moveless body of the werewolf.

Severus snorted behind his white mask. "Definitely not, my Lord," he said. "You know I've never been friendly towards the beast or his terrifying friends, Black and Potter. But I can't find watching a man raping an animal amusing." He did his best to hide his disgust. What he had just witnessed was just plain wrong. Wrong and horrible.

"Fine." Voldemort smirked maliciously. "Severus, you are far more intelligent than most of my followers. You understand that I didn't do this just to please Lucius." He pointed at the werewolf, who had passed out again.

"I understand, my Lord," he said. He definitely did. Lucius was Voldemort's right-hand man, yes, but Voldemort would never had had all this trouble only to give him a twisted present. And although Lupin was one of Dumbledore's known supporters, he wasn't important enough to be punished this way for nothing.

"You see, I have some further plans for him." Voldemort leaned backwards on his seat. "What Lucius did is part of these plans."

"May I ask what is your plan, my Lord?" Severus asked, trying to keep his voice even. He could only guess what the bastard had planned to do to the already humiliated man. "And what is my part in them?"

"You'll understand soon why I let Lucius do what he did," the red-eyed man hissed as a response. "And about your part, I now want you to take him to Hogwarts."

"My Lord?" the younger wizard breathed. He couldn't believe what he had just heard.

"I have here a Portkey to bring you both just outside their childish wards. You are to tell them you found him from the edge of the Forbidden Forest. Take him to Dumbledore, and - whatever happens - keep near him."

"I - I don't understand."

"I'd be surprised if you did, Severus, as clever as you are," Voldemort laughed. "But you'll understand soon enough. Now it's only important that you stay near the beast - try to get him under your care, if only possible. Dumbledore, the old fool he is, trusts you. Use this on your advantage. Beg him, threaten him, confess your undying love to the beast - do whatever you have to get him near you and keep him there."

"Your wish, my Lord," he said, doing his best not to throw up. Whatever Voldemort was going to do to the former DADA professor, it had to be something time-taking. And something important, if he had to stay near on any cost.

"Of course." The Dark Lord glanced at the miserable form laying on the floor. "Take the beast, and I'll give you the Portkey."

"I will, my Lord." He bent down to yet again kiss that filthy hem. Then he walked to the unconscious man and lifted him up to his arms. The werewolf was light, much lighter than he had imagined. And far lighter than could ever be healthy.

"Opara Collida," Voldemort hissed, pointing his wand at the raped man. Then Voldemort tossed something to him. He caught it, and suddenly there was the familiar tug behind his navel and the unnerving feeling of being pulled somewhere, and then he landed just outside the grounds of Hogwarts.

As usually, he ended up on his feet - no one could say Severus Snape moved ungracefully, not even after Portkeying. He took a quick glance at Lupin and decided he should get him to Poppy's care as quickly as possible.

He practically ran through the grounds. At some point Lupin halfly woke up, and he tried to murmur soothingly while carrying him forward. The werewolf's whimpers increased. There was a soft, golden glow around his midsection - most probably the Dark Lord's curse.

Severus was worried, he couldn't deny that. He wasn't Lupin's friend, no, but he didn't hate him half as deeply as he despised Black. He had always seen the werewolf a little bit better than his friends. And now the werewolf was here, lying on his arms, in desperate need of healing and comfort. And he didn't even know what spell had been casted on the victim of Malfoy's rape; the incantatum had been wholly unrecognizable to him.

"Hush, it's okay, you'll be alright," he whispered to the werewolf's ear. He placed a tiny, light kiss on the messy brown hair; like a mother comforting her crying child.

For a moment the golden glow seemed to strenghten, then it vanished. Severus didn't know whether he should be worried or relieved. He decided on relieved, because it made it a lot easier to him. Also, the werewolf's whimpers lessened and then stopped, but as he could still feel his breath and pulse, he assumed it only meaned that he had blacked out again.

He stormed inside the castle, running through the deserted corridors. There were no people around in the dead hours of the night, and he ran straight to the Infirmary.

"Poppy!" he called before the door of the Infirmary had been opened wholly by his kicking foot. "Poppy, come here! Fast!"

The mediwitch appeared in his sight, yawning. "What it is Severus?" she asked, seemingly not yet noticing the unmoving figure on his arms. "Are you hurt? Or -" Her speech stopped and eyes widened as she saw his load. "Is it - is it -" She seemingly couldn't speak.

"It's Lupin," he told her. "Take care of him, now - I'll go and fetch Dumbledore."

She nodded, still seemingly speechless. Severus knew that she recognized the situation at the same moment as she saw the hurt werewolf wholly as Severus laid him down on the nearest bed. The ripped clothes and dried fluids told better than well what had been done to him. He heard her asking something, her voice full of horror, but he chose to ignore the mediwitch, turning around on his heels and running away to get Dumbledore.

~*~

He heard his own voice telling the events to the two other men with a blank tone he didn't think he'd used for ages. It was completely free of all emotions, and he didn't seem to have wholly control over his voice - like he had been observing from the side as someone else possessed his body.

He told it all, although he didn't feel the need to go to details describing the events, and, according to Black's expression, nor felt the Gryffindor either. Dumbledore's eyes weren't twinkling for once, and instead he was grave serious.

At last he finished and snapped his mouth closed, eyeing the two other men. Black was stone-faced, but there was a boiling fury in his eyes, and the Headmaster looked oddly determined. After a moment, Dumbledore made a little gesture, beckoning them to follow himself.

None of them spoke a single word as they walked to the Infirmary.