Kiss of the Dark Mark

Kiss of the Dark Mark

She was scared, so very scared. Tears traced their way from her eyes to her trembling lips, then into her warm mouth, threatening to drown her in a flood of salty wetness. With unsure fingers Hermione slowly covered the inky mark seared across her arm. A laugh vibrated through the room.

"Child. Do you think that will make it go away?" The man straightened off the pillar he was leaning on and strode toward her, a thin smile on his full mouth. Snakish fingers uncurled and snapped to her face.

"Such a pity, to see great talent go to waste," he mocked. Sneering, he caressed her face gently before turning and walking to a small table in the middle of the cave. He poured himself a glass of wine. "I can't believe you were fool enough to fall for such an obvious trap. Even I expected better from Miss Know-It-All Granger." He downed the liquid.

Hermione trembled where she sat on the damp floor, her back pressing into the wall behind her. She couldn't think past the dark shadow creeping inside her.

The man approached her again and tilted her head back roughly with his hand. His other one held the crystal goblet. Suddenly his eyes lit with a stray gleam of sympathy. "Here, drink. It will make this easier on you."

Hermione brought her trembling lips to the goblet's rim, then tore away with a shuddering cry. "No!" She gasped. The man swore at her and threw the goblet into the ground.

"You stupid child! Do you want to go mad? Go ahead then. You will not survive this, Hermione. You're a fool to try."

Hermione fought against the consuming darkness and found words with her mouth. "Am I, Professor Snape?"

The man started. Grabbing her slender throat, he slammed her into the wall behind her. "Do not call me that here," he hissed. Her pulse beat wildly under his thumb. Slowly he released her.

"I fought, once," he said quietly. "It destroyed me." His mouth twisted bitterly. "Great minds are something rare and desired, Hermione. Often more by others than those who have them. Our minds are hunted, captured, and ruined. If you fight this, it will ruin you. Succumb to it. Become its lover instead of its prisoner. That's the only way to survive."

Silence followed this, quiet and sad. It sat tiredly on the air that surrounded them, crying with a soft, voiceless moan. A tear weighed on Hermione's delicate eye and balanced, trembling, on her lower lid before slipping off and soaking her long lashes.

"Is there nothing, then, that can be done?"

Snape straightened slowly and turned his head away from her gaze. "I don't know."

A wave of despair mingled with the shadow. Hermione stiffened as it reached clammy fingers to her heart. "Get away!" She gasped. She fell forward onto her hands, helpless tears squeezing out of the corners of her eyes. "It hurts," she moaned. "Help me. Merlin, someone help me!"

Snape reached out a hand to her, then drew it back tremblingly. Hermione looked up at him through the molasses curls streamed across her face.

"Why are you doing this?" she asked painfully.

"Because I have no choice!" He looked down at her, his fingers grazing his left arm. "I'm a prisoner just as you are. That mark you have on your arm runs through me as well. I don't have the power to change that.

My mind is the only thing I have left not owned by the Mark. I fight constantly to keep it. Do you think it's easy to go through life always struggling? I taste evil daily but cannot drink. That is my reward for dabbling with the Dark Arts. But it's what I deserve." He knelt next to her and slowly stroked her hair off of her face, his mouth bitter and twisted. "I don't know how to help you, Hermione."

Hermione started at his touch. His manner was so...different from what she was accustomed to it being. She caught his black gaze. He wasn't her professor right now, and that was what made the difference in his demeanor. Released from the restraints of a teacher/student relationship, he had the freedom to act however he wished.

Hermione straightened up off the dirt floor into a sitting position and fought off another of the Mark's attacks. "It's like a poison, coursing through you," she gasped out. "And here's the bite." Her finger touched the mark. Another shudder coursed through her before she continued. "How typical of Voldemort. Everything resembles a snake." Suddenly her eyes widened. "A snake. A snakebite."

"What are you talking about?"

Hermione looked up at Snape. "Your loyalties lie with Dumbledore, correct?"

His eyes darkened. "Of course."

"How far are you willing to go to defeat Voldemort?"

"I've given my life to the cause."

Hermione wavered on the brink of indecision, then plunged in. "Then kiss me."

"What!" Snape rose.

"Kiss me." Her voice wavered slightly this time. Snape towered over her.

"You're going crazy already." He shook his head and walked back to the table for another glass of wine.

"I'm serious!" Hermione spoke to his formidable back. Snape turned to face her.

"Really, Miss Granger," he sneered.

"Yes." She tried to swallow past the dryness in her throat. "The only way to defeat this poison is by getting rid of it. With a real snakebite one keeps the poison from spreading by cutting around the wound and sucking out the infected blood. Since this is magic, it infects the spiritual. A kiss...a kiss may draw the poison out."

"Out, and into me." Snape looked down at her darkly. "Isn't that right?" He added with a sneer. His gaze pushed against her so hard her eyes involuntarily lowered to her hands.

"You're poisoned already. It wouldn't make a difference to you."

"Wouldn't make a difference." He walked to her and knelt down slowly. "So you want me to kiss you."

She nodded.

"Look at me," he demanded. She did so, her cheeks burning.

"Alright," he agreed slowly, "but this means that you owe me your life. Do you know what that means in the wizarding world?"

She nodded again, trembling as his warm breath brushed over her. "I do," she whispered. Snape grabbed her chin and pressed her mouth onto his.

Hermione stiffened as his warm lips touched hers, then slowly melted into them. Tingles ran up and down her spine, racing around in frenzied delight. The kiss deepened. Snape pushed against her mouth and forced it open with his tongue. Hermione felt it slide into her mouth, warm and experienced. She shivered against his hard body as it pressed into her.

Suddenly the shadow bore down, ravishing her with its darkness. Stiffening, Hermione cried out into Snape's mouth. He wrapped his arms around her and gentled the kiss, encouraging her with his tongue. The blackness raced through her. Then suddenly, it began to fade. Layer by layer stripped away and fled.

Snape gripped her body. His hands began moving over her, grabbing, caressing, smooth against her body as they slid under her robe. His tongue tore around her mouth, unrelenting and fierce, awakening passions in her she never knew existed. She wrapped her arms around him and pushed him against her with all the strength she could muster. He shuddered against her body. She explored his mouth, caressing with her tongue.

Suddenly she realized that he had stopped. Pulling away, she blushed uncontrollably as her eyes met his icy black ones.

"Enjoy that, Miss Granger?" He sneered. He took his hands out from her tangled robes and rolled off of her. Panting, Hermione tried to stop her shivering body. Her cheeks burned with embarrassment as she averted her eyes from his mocking gaze. What had come over her? She'd made a complete fool of herself.

Snape stood up and straightened his robes. "What are you laying there for?" he sneered. "It worked. Get up. I'm sending you back to Hogwarts. Once you're there go straight to the hospital wing for a check-up. I'll explain what happened to Dumbledore." He gripped her chin and forced her to meet his gaze. "One thing must be perfectly clear: You cannot tell anyone about today. Not Potter, not Weasely--no one. Do you understand?"

"I do."

Snape dropped his hand. "Good." He led her to a dragon perched on the cave's ledge and helped her on. Just before she left he grabbed her ankle. "Remember, you're mine now." His eyes gleamed. The dragon leapt into flight, rising into the deep blue sky, and then shot away to Hogwarts.

-finis-