snape

It was a shock when they took me, I didn�t even have time to fight back. My Mum and Da died before my eyes and it was only by luck that I didn�t die with them. Well, maybe not luck so much as greed. 

Oh, I suppose I should tell you who it is I am talking about. Death Eaters, the servants of the Dark Lord. They orchestrated an attack on Diagon Alley during the height of the War. My parents and I were there when it happened. I was one of only six survivors, all of us being �spared� from death. 

The strike was sudden, not giving us any amount of time to even respond. Most of the Death Eaters were there, spread out in the crowd. I think the first place hit was the gateway into the Leaky Cauldron, but it all happened so fast that I�m not sure. Gringotts was demolished and there were death curses being flung at everyone. My parents shoved me to the ground before they got hit. They fell on top of me, shielding me even in death. 

I don�t know how long the strike lasted or what exactly happened after that, my mind was fairly numb from being buried under the corpses of my parents. But the next thing I knew, I was faced with a masked Death Eater, a wand at my throat. He, for I assumed it was a he, looked me up and down then gestured for me to get up. He placed me in what amounted to a magical coral with two other girls, then went back to searching the bodies. 

Occasionally there were flashes of green light and screams, but I huddled away into the recesses of my mind. I was in an almost catatonic state. Random things registered on me, like the scent of fudge from Florentine�s ice cream parlour. I�d like to say that I remember everything with perfect clarity, but I don�t.

The next thing that penetrated the fog in my mind was the feeling of someone�s rough fingers on my chin. I focussed my eyes and found myself confronted yet again by a masked Death Eater. I just looked at him, feeling dead inside. He tilted my face from side to side, as if evaluating me, and that he was. One thing that I do remember were his words: �With a bit of work, she has the potential to sell moderately well. We�ll keep her.� And that was the beginning of my life in slavery.

My time in the slave pens is too horrible to recount, and too patchy to bother with. But I do remember that I woke up enough to have a will to survive. So I will skip ahead to the day I was bought. I had been kept corralled with the other slaves for I don�t know how long, probably months. I hadn�t bathed since the day of the attack, or properly cared for my hygiene. But the day I was scheduled to go on the seller�s block I was allowed to wash up. I was taken away from the huge pen and given a bucket of lukewarm water and a washcloth. I had lived in nudity since I was taken, so I held no qualms for washing under guard. Once done, I was liberally sprayed with potions to get rid of any diseases I might have picked up, heal the bruises incurred from fighting for food, and sweeten up the ripe smell of me.

I was led onto a stage in the middle of a large room. There were a host of masked and unmasked people, all of them looking at me. A Death Eater stood beside me, announcing all my fine points to the crowd: my long chocolate brown hair, my adolescent curves, my fighting nature, my virginity. He tapped me with a wand and did something to show how much magical power I had. I was surrounded by a violet glow which quickly disappeared . They were told that I would be a fun one to break. Then the bidding began.

I expected to sell for a pittance, but was surprised by the amount of interest I got from the crowd. I had always thought myself possibly pretty, but plain. I was no raving beauty, but I wasn�t hideous or anything. I don�t know why they were all so interested in me, but they were. Most slaves had sold for around nine hundred galleons. Some of the very pretty girls had gone for up to twelve hundred. I was sold for three thousand seven hundred. Now you understand my confusion? And I was sold to none other than Severus Snape, Death Eater. Or so I thought.

He took me back to that excuse of a manor his father left him. After purchasing me, he didn�t say anything, just directing me to follow him. He was gruff and stiff and generally not nice, he didn�t even give me any clothes until we got to that pitiful manor. He gave me a short tunic that felt like it was made out of potato sacking. He told me that he was required to stay at Hogwarts, his place of employment, for a few more weeks, until the Christmas Break. I was to act as housekeeper until then, cleaning up and organising the household. 

He placed a magical tether on me, so that if I ever ventured outside of the house, I would immediately be transported back inside. Then he was gone. Let me tell you, I was more than a bit relieved to find out that he wasn�t going to tie me down and have his wicked way with me, at least not yet. So I set about being his housekeeper.

I spent weeks cleaning, organising, conferring with the house elves he sent me, and generally making the house presentable and livable. Then I began redecorating. The house was so bland when I got there, but I changed that. I added a bit of colour, a bit of light, some accessories, and voila. It was an elegant manor house belonging to a pureblooded family. It was beautiful really. I put in some extra effort on the kitchen so that the house elves would be more than comfortable there. Besides, that�s where I slept.

When he came back, it was December and there was snow outside. I was informed ahead of time of when he would be arriving. I had everything prepared. The house elves stood ready to tend to his cloak and hat, a warm drink standing by. I knelt on the marble floor of the entryway, on my knees. I may not have liked my new position in life, but I didn�t want to be beaten to death either.

He materialised with a popping sound. He looked around at the assembly, nodded and handed off his cloak. He looked at me and harshly told me to get up. I stood and waited with my eyes on the floor. He informed the house elves to serve us supper in his sitting room, then commanded me to follow him.

As he sat in an overstuffed chair in front of a roaring fire, he asked me: �Why do you think I bought you?�

I looked at him, I imagine mutinously. And thought about my answer. I hadn�t spoken a single word since the day I was taken, but I thought about how I might have answered him. �Because you want an easy source of sex, or a toy to break, or some other such thing.�

�I bought you because when I saw you up on that stage, I couldn�t bare to let another innocent girl be bought by an evil man to be used as a toy. I am not as most Death Eaters. I am a spy for Dumbledore. I don�t want a toy or even a slave really. Sex would be nice, but I won�t force you to it. What I need most at the moment is a chatelaine, a woman to run this household, be hostess to guests, et cetera. This is what I ask of you. I cannot let you go, mostly because it would blow my cover, but also because I paid a hell of a lot for you.� I smiled a bit at this, glad I was able to lighten his pockets a bit. �If you agree to be such, I will clothe and feed you and make you comfortable here. Do you find such a state agreeable?� He looked at me, calmly waiting. It was rather unnerving.

I merely nodded. I was in a slight state of shock that he was a spy. I was ecstatic that he wasn�t going to rape me. I nodded my acceptance. Besides, it�s not like I had anything pressing to do elsewhere.

�Good. I will order some clothes for you. Some comfortable robes for everyday use, some attire suitable for working in, more formal dresses and such for entertaining, and the appropriate things for business.� He raised an eyebrow at me, inquiring if I understood his code for dealings with the Dark. I nodded again. 

I felt foolish standing in front of him like a penitent, so sat in the chair opposite him. If he were anyone else, I probably would have been whipped for sitting without leave, never mind in a chair. He merely nodded as if he should have thought of that himself. Our arrangement was strange to say the least, but I was content with it.

After the house elves had taken away our dirty dishes, he offered to play a game of chess with me. I had mastered the game at my grandfather�s knee, able to beat almost everyone I played against by the time I was ten. I nodded and he conjured up a chess board. I won the first two games before he figured out that I knew what I was doing. The third game took longer, but I won it again. The fourth game was a draw. He told me that he hadn�t played such a skilled game in a long time. He suggested that I might like playing against Albus Dumbledore. I just looked at him, wondering what he was thinking of. Me? A lowly slave play chess with the greatest living wizard? I knew then that he was truly mad.

After that, he took me to a suite of rooms down the hall from him, telling me that they would be my quarters. Then he went elsewhere, I assume to bed. The suit was glorious. I couldn�t believe what was happening to me. I had expected to be sold to a man who would rape and torture me. Instead I was a chatelaine to one of the most prominent men in the English Wizarding Community. I was relieved to say the least. 

I looked about the suite, examining what he had given me. There were no nicknacks or signs or personal belongings, but it was well decorated, just like the rest of the rooms I had done. The sitting room was a light spring green with white and gold furniture, the bedroom was done in a rich burgundy with dark wood wainscotting, and the bathroom was a decadent purple and black with all the fixtures in brushed chrome. I had so loved decorating the guest suits.

I sighed, threw off my potato sacking tunic, and flopped onto the bed. It had been ages since I had slept in a real bed, not since the night before the attack, safe and warm in my own bed at home. And now this huge feather down bed was a luxury beyond price for me. I cuddled down into the warm blankets and fell asleep naked as the day I was born. And that was the beginning of my life in slavery to Severus Snape. 

He wasn�t such a bad man to serve. In general, he left me alone to do the work of running the household. During that brief stay during December, we outlined what my responsibilities were, what I had to do, what I should do, behaviour and dress in different circumstances, and such things. I was connected to a pureblood family, though I was half-blooded myself. I had been raised to know all the protocol and etiquette inherent in pure-blooded society. That cut down on a lot of what he otherwise would have had to teach me. I actually found it rather fun. I like hostessing and such. 

After he left, I received a shipment of clothing. He had gone out and bought me and entire wardrobe! I was slightly skeptical about the whole thing, but there was nothing I could do about it. And for a man who only wears one shade of black and has greasy hair, he had impeccable taste in clothes. It made me wonder if he had many �lady friends� stashed away, not that it was any of my business.

He left me in the manor for quite a while and didn�t visit. I didn�t expect him to, with his employment and work as a spy. I was content to run the manor and tend to the everyday occurrences. One might think that it would be difficult for a mute woman to be head of a household and delegate chores, but one must remember that it was a magical household, and there are many ways to communicate in our world.

The next time I saw Severus was in the spring, at Easter I believe. He wrote ahead of time to tell me he would be bringing business acquaintances home with him in two days. I knew what he meant. There would be Death Eaters with him. In that small amount of time he gave me, I made sure that the manor was spotless, that the grounds were perfect, and that I resembled a slave. I vacated the quarters he had given me, hiding my wardrobe in the attic. I put up the semblance of a pallet at the foot of his bed in case a guest should wander through.

I met him in the front hall on my knees, just as last time. I had learned during his last visit that he didn�t want subservient behaviour from me, but I knew what was expected of me in the eyes of his associates. One must keep up appearances. With him were his friend and his godson, Lucius and Draco Malfoy. I pressed my forehead to the floor, following the protocol of a slave greeting her Master and Guests of High Rank. The light baritone voice of the senior Malfoy floated past over my head, �I see you have trained her properly. I approve old man. Tell me, is she skilled in the bedroom?�

I could tell by the tone of his voice that he intended to ask if he could borrow me. I prayed that it would never happen. Severus I might be able to deal with, but the Malfoys? Never. They were renowned for their... peculiar proclivities in the bedchamber and their cruelty to women not their own.

�Now Lucius, you know I don�t share anything but information. You keep your hands off of her. Go buy your own slave if you want to get laid that badly.� Severus kept a light tone in his voice but I was able to hear the light thread of threat inherent in his words. And if I could hear it, they could hear it. I prayed that my Master didn�t get into trouble over me.

�It was worth a try.� Lucius shrugged out of his cloak and let it fall onto a house elf. His son followed suit, with Severus keeping a blank and superior air about him. I knew what was expected of me. I crawled to him on my hands and knees, and lowered my face to kiss his shoe and the hem of his robes. I knew he hated seeing me as such, hated seeing anyone forced to act as a dog, but it had to be done. He and I were but poor players on a stage, soon to be heard no more if we made but the slightest slip and let our masks fall to the ruination of the act.

He gave my head a distracted pat, as if he did not care a thing about me. �Bring us tea and refreshments in the salon, slave. Be quick about it.� He led his guests away while I still knelt with forehead to the floor, never daring to look up. I projected my thoughts to the elves, requesting the food and drink. I followed after them, waiting outside the door for the elves to deliver the items. I walked into the room with my eyes downcast, carrying the tea service as if it were the most precious thing in the world, careful not to allow a single sound to shudder from it.

I went to my knees, lifting the tray to rest on my shoulders and acted as a human table for them, placing myself in easy reaching distance. When only a single slave is available, she acts as furniture. When there are multiples, the favourites of the Master act more as servants, a higher rank than that of those relegated to the role of furniture. But I was alone, and so I acted the part of an inanimate object, not allowing the strain of the position show in tiny vibrations.

The three of them sat for a long time, talking of this and that. When the time came for the conversation to turn to business, Severus sent me from the room, telling me to prepare guest quarters. It was customary to place favoured guests near to the host, but for higher ranking persons to have privacy. So I placed them in suits of rooms opposite each other, but down the hall in the same wing that housed Severus�s rooms. 

With that task done, I went back to the salon and scratched at the door, begging permission to enter as a dog might. It was granted. I crawled on hands and knees to kneel beside my Master. I sat on his right hand, poised to react to his slightest command. I kept my eyes on the carpet just in front of my knees, but I could feel the eyes of both the senior and junior Malfoy on me, though the conversation ranged back and forth.

Finally it came time for supper. They all seated themselves, and I began to pour the wine unbidden. I knew the procedures and wanted my Master to look good. It was in my best interests to remain in his possession, and if I seemed the littlest unslave-like, suspicion would fall on him. I carried out my tasks without flaw, executing the most simple movements with grace. With my tasks done, I knelt with perpetually downcast eyes near the wall, ready as ever to serve at the slightest need. 

During the course of the meal, it seemed to amuse Lucius and Draco to feed me scraps from their hands as they might a favoured dog. I took the food, and acted the bitch for them after looking to Serverus for consent. I got a barely perceivable nod of ascent.

I amused them through the salad and cheese courses, serving during the meat courses, and sat quietly during dessert. Swirling a glass of wine, Lucius asked the question I had been dreading: �Would you consider selling her? I know you payed a fair bit, but I�m willing to double it. You have trained her excellently and that would save me a bit of time.� Seeing Serverus already shaking his head, �Just consider it old man.� 

Serverus looked at me, then back to Lucius. �I will not sell her just yet. I find her amusing and useful. She has taken readily to her new life. I will be keeping her for some time yet.� His words sent waves of relief through me, but I didn�t allow it to show. A slave is not a human creature, she is a Thing to serve without emotion or dissent. It was my mask in this play, and I kept it firmly before my face.

They spent the night, those pureblooded men with shining hair. The situation terrified me. I would be forced to spend the night with Serverus. I trusted him, but a man was a man, and men had needs. We needed to keep up appearances, and I had to go to bed with him. Just outside his room, he pulled me to my feet, stopping me from crawling into the room as I had been before. �Your rooms are at the end of the hall. Goodnight old friend.� He pulled me into the room after him, and put up silencing spells.

The first thing Serverus did was collapse into his favourite chair by the fire. I sat at his feet and leant my head against his knee. He petted my hair in an unconscious gesture and I was soothed by it. We sat as such for quite a while, before he silently took me by the hand again and led me to his bedroom. At seeing the pallet on the floor, my Master balked. �Lucius has a habit for early morning visits and it would not do for him to find my sex slave asleep on the floor. You will sleep with me.� 

I did the only thing I could. I looked away from him and began to undress. I was wearing only a short tunic, so had little to remove. He took my by the shoulders, turning me to face him. �I will not do anything to you that you do not want. I swear it by my honour, my name, and my blood.� I nodded, accepting and looked at him. He knew that I did not speak, whether it was because I could not or would not neither of us knew. But I crawled into bed with him for the first time and fell asleep within an instant. It took him longer to succumb, his unruly cock keeping him up, no pun intended.

However, my Master was right, and in the wee hours of the morning, we received an early visit from our guests. They walked in as if they owned the place and surveyed us where we slept...well, where I slept. Serverus had awakened at the sound of their footsteps in the hallway. He and I had moved to each other during the night, and he awoke to find my nude form in his arms, my back pressed to his chest. He was content as such and allowed his friend to find us so.

�She is a delicious looking thing. The more is the pity. Keep me in mind if you decide to sell her? I think she would make a nice toy for Draco. By the way, Are you going to do the �Vestigium Proprietas�?� The carefully casual way in which Lucius asked the question alerted Serverus to the importance of it. He had been hoping to avoid the issue entirely. I knew only a little bit about the ritual. It was ancient and very Dark, a ritual forced onto slaves. It had not been practised since approximately 1270, after the end of the Eighth Crusade. 

�I might, if she proves to be particularly difficult about certain bedroom activities, though I doubt she will.� He stretched his arms over his head and gave me a shove. I fell out of it and landed on the floor with a sharp thump and a gasp of pain. I don�t think he meant for me to get hurt, but I did. �Go clean yourself and prepare our breakfast, slave.� He sat up and walked out of the room at Lucius�s side, Draco casting a considering look at me over his shoulder, the three of them stark naked.

I quickly got up off of the floor and snuck up to the attic to retrieve some clothing, informing the elves of my Master�s desire for food. I put on a tunic identical to the one I wore yesterday and snuck onto the veranda where I knew the three men would be. I took my position at Severus�s knee and awaited the arrival of the food so that I could act as furniture again. I was slowly getting used to having their eyes on me all the time, but it was still unnerving. I didn�t understand why everyone was so interested in me. I would find out in time, when my Master got around to telling me. But that is neither here, nor there, so I will move on.

It turned out that the Malfoys would spend the weekend with my Master. Lucius ceased asking if Severus would sell me, and began making slight overtures to myself personally. He would say something with a double meaning and watch me to see if I would react. It took more will power than was pretty, but I managed to refrain from hitting him. It would have seemed suspicious for a slave to hit her Master�s guest and not be immediately punished. 

It took me awhile to figure it out, but I eventually recalled that if I had lashed out, my punishment would have been to be given to Lucius, to make up for the pain I inflicted by using my body to bring him pleasure. I think Severus knew the plot long before I did, but I am unsure. But no matter, for the plan failed. 

The most disturbing thing came on Sunday morning, just before the father and son duo where about to leave. Draco cornered me in the hallway as I was returning from an errand. He got physical. He pushed me into a corner and pressed me into the wall with his body. I could feel his moist, fetid breath on my cheek, and nearly cringed. �You never speak. Is that because you can�t? I hope so. Mute slaves are the most entertaining. No matter how much you punish them, they never make a sound.� He ran his disgusting, sweaty hands over my waist, palming my breast with one while the other tried to sneak under my tunic. �Sooner or later, you will be mine. Severus may want you for the moment, but he always gives me what I want.� I shoved his hands off of me, but otherwise remained docile as a slave should be. I protected my body from invasion, as I must protect all my Master�s property, but did not offend his guest with violence.

Draco merely laughed, both at my defensive gestures and politeness. Then he turned and walked away, meeting his father and Severus for their final goodbyes. I collapsed where I was, crying with terror and anger. I could still feel his hands on me. He hadn�t raped me, but I still felt violated. I was terrified of becoming his, and enraged that the callow youth had the power to instil such fear in me. 

It was like this that Severus found me, crouched in a ball in the hallway, rocking back and forth while I cried. He picked me up in his arms as if I were a child and carried me to my room. He summoned house elves for food and drink, soothing me with nonsense words and gentle touches, treating me as a father would. When the food was delivered, Newtweed the house elf tentatively explained what had happened to me to my Master. He was enraged on my behalf, but was powerless to do anything. He simply held me until I cried myself to sleep. 

When I woke up in the morning, I found a note on my pillow explaining that Severus had gone back to Hogwarts and that I was to expect multiple shipments of books and various paraphernalia in the following weeks. I was to continue my duties and make room for the new things in a specific room on the third floor, one that was curiously close to my own room. 

I learned later on that this was when Severus began plotting with Dumbledore. They eventually concocted a plan for Voldemort�s downfall. But again, I am getting ahead of myself. That will be explained later. For now, I will continue.

My life was simple after that. Severus stayed at the school mostly. I cared for the manor and ensured its smooth operation. My life was as good as it could be, given my station. It was better than the vast majority of slaves got. I was fairly happy. Until the day Lucius came back. 

He came without invitation, without being accompanied by my Master. He was an intruder, and I attempted to treat him as such, but to no avail. How was I, a lowly, witch-slave to deal with a full grown, powerful, and most importantly free, Dark wizard? And do not forget the fact that I had no wand, while he did. 

I was terrified. Not only of Lucius himself, but of Severus�s reaction when he learned that I had failed him. Though I did not see him much, my Master was good to me, and I was loyal to him for that fact alone. I did not want to disappoint him. 

The magical alarms sounded as soon as Lucius Apparated onto the property. He was in the house before I could so much as spring to my feet. My first instinct was to violently force him to leave, but I attempted to be reasonable. I pointed to the window and gestured for him to go, somewhat violently I admit. But my bowed head was the only sign of respect I showed him, that of a slave to a pure-blood.

�I am here now, your Master is not, and I will take what he obviously will not. That morning that I walked in on you two, though you were both naked, there was no scent of sex in the air. You are not truly his slave. He is unworthy of you. You will be mine, and when I am done with you, I will give you to my son.� He advanced on me quickly, and I stumbled backwards down the hallway, my mind frantically trying to come up with a plan of some kind.

What happened next is hard to tell. I think that in my terror and panic, my magic lashed out for me, a primitive mixture of wandless and survival magic. He flew away from me as if some force looped around his middle and dragged him off. 

I ran. I ran through the house as far and as fast as I could. I ran to Severus�s bedroom, where he had shown me there was an emergency signal I could set off if I needed him. I reached it just in time. It was a small clay pot of liquid. I smashed it on the ground, alerting him. I won�t pretend to know the advanced potion, for it was one of his own concoctions, but somehow or other, it would summon him to my side.

Just as the clay shattered though, Lucius came through the doorway, looking rather rumpled and less than his normally perfect self. His clothing was dishevelled and his face pink with anger and exertion. From across the room I could feel his raw anger beating at me, the thread of sexual tension sending fear like lightning through my system. Without thought, I jumped through an open window.

It was probably the thing that saved me. In an instant, I was standing in the front entrance of the manor. Severus appeared at my side with a pop, and I was finally able to succumb to hysteria. His arms made me feel safe from the world, the pulse of his magic soothing my nerves, his vitality assuring me that everything would be alright. It was the only time I had felt truly safe since before that awful day in Diagon Alley. Strangely, the hardening erection digging into my stomach didn�t take away that feeling of safety.

I could hear Lucius screaming and running about like a madman. Severus just held me with one arm and waited for his �college� to find us. Lucius was a horrible sight to see when he got around to us; red in the face, hair flying about, clothing torn and rumpled. He looked like a male veela about to go on rampage. I hid my face in Severus�s chest.

�Lucius, I do not appreciate you inviting yourself into my home. You know how private I am. Not only have you defied several conventions of polite society, but you have made a fool of yourself lusting after my slave, terrifying her out of her wits. Leave now.� He was utterly calm. I was ashamed of myself for falling apart as I had. I wiped the tears from my face and tried to calm myself, with mixed results.

�She has the potential to be devastatingly powerful. You do not deserve her! She should be mine! She would have been mine if the Dark Lord had not sent me on an assignment. She will be mine damn you.� And then he was gone with a lightning-like crack.

�I�m so sorry that this has happened, but all I can do at the moment is place more safeguards on you and return to school. I shall be back tonight; today is the last day of classes. I need you to do something however. The books I had shipped here? They are for you, to learn from. I will be getting you a wand soon. Begin reading and studying. Until I return, that is your only duty. Understand? I don�t want a repeat of today if I can help it.�

And he too, was gone. And so began my tutelage under Severus Snape. It was sweet of him really, but I was much further advanced in magics than he suspected. If I had had a wand, Lucius wouldn�t have been able to utter a word before I had him hexed six ways to Sunday.

The reason I was so good was that my parents had sent me over seas to the Fenrir Institute of Magick, in Denmark. The school was renowned for turning out the most knowledgeable and sometimes most powerful witches and wizards in Europe and Asia. My education was about five years further ahead than other English students my age, which put me at about fourth year university level. But I did as instructed and read the books, brushing up on things I already knew.

I went through the books surprisingly quickly. I had over a dozen thick volumes finished by the time he came back that evening. And when he did arrive, we sat and talked, or he talked and I listened. Mostly he talked about how worried he was about Lucius, and pondering where to begin my lessons. Eventually I got fed up with him. He spoke as if I had no mind, as if speaking his thoughts out loud. I had come to expect more from him. 

I snapped my fingers under his nose to get his attention. He blinked at me before nodding. I mimed using a quill and parchment, asking to write. Strangely, he smacked his palm into his forehead before getting me the things. I don�t know why he hit himself. I sat for some minutes writing, explaining my education and abilities to him. Near the end, my hand cramped. So instead of continuing, I wrote one thing: Legilimens.

He spent a while reading over the parchment, his eyebrows slowly creeping further into his hairline, until he was nearly bug eyed at the end. I had trouble keeping the grin off of my face, but I think I succeeded. He took out his wand and performed the spell on me. It was slightly disorienting at first, images of the attack flashing past my eyes, then the slave corrals before I managed to focus my mind. I directed it to my school years, showing him the things I was capable of, and then I gave him one last thing before I pushed him out, my name. Morrigan.

His mouth was hanging open, in shock I think. Eventual he closed it. And then we sat like that, staring at each other. I fell asleep in my chair, with my eyes open and glazed. He figured it out from the drool creeping down my chin, and put me in his bed. I don�t know what he did after that, except that I woke up in the morning and he was gone. I found his wand under my pillow. There was no sign of struggle.

At first, I thought he had gone out on an errand of some type. But I was wrong. Oh how I was wrong. Newtweed, the most outgoing of the elves came to me. They had heard the confusion and distress in my mind, and sent him to me. He told me this: �Mistress Morrigan, our Master had to leave during the night.� He wrung his hands, as if afraid of my reaction to what would come next. He spoke in a barely audible whisper, �He had to go on Dark Business. Death Eaters came here and told him to go with them.�

I sat at first, trying to think of what to do. He had been escorted under guard by Death Eaters, for if it was otherwise, his simply would have been summoned through the Mark, and he had not taken his wand. I could think of only two things, Lucius had petitioned the Dark Lord to force him to give me up, or he had been discovered as a spy. Either way, I was unsafe and so was he. But before I could do a thing, Severus was there. I was surprised. I had thought he would be chained up and tortured somewhere, but he was back already.

He had Apparated straight into his bedroom. I gasped. I couldn�t help myself. His shirt and pants were torn to shreds, blood staining his skin and the cloth. His face was pale with loss of blood and pain. He fell to his knees, moaning quietly. I had never seen him so vulnerable. He collapsed onto his face, unconscious

Many slaves would have made a break for freedom if their Master was in such a weakened state, but I did not. He had been more kind to me than most would have been. I had lived with him for almost a year and he had not touched me as was his right. I could not leave him as such. Do not make me out as a martyr, for I thought long and hard about running, but I just couldn�t. I was half way out the door before I turned back.

I grabbed his wand from the bed, and had him stripped and lying on it before he could so much as groan. I tried to ignore his manly bits, and I was fairly successful. I poked and prodded at the wounds. The worst was a gash on his thigh, going straight to the bone. Somehow it had missed the femoral aorta, so he wasn�t dead, but he would forever have a scar.

I laboured for hours, cleansing and closing the more lethal wounds, leaving the smaller cuts and scratches for another time. I exhausted most of my power trying to keep him alive while I worked. Eventually I was forced to use Dark Magic to keep his heart beating. The spell was usually used in torture to keep someone alive, and I suppose what I was doing to him was physically torturous, but it had to be done. I made a small cut over his heart and a larger one at the base of my thumb. I let my blood drip onto his newest wound, muttering in Latin, and then placed a kiss over it, my lips slipping in the red liquid. So long as my heart beats, so would his.

And then I slept. I don�t know how long it was, but he slept longer. I awoke to find the great and famous Albus Dumbledore sitting in the chair across from me. Let me tell you, it was a shock. I knew that my Master worked for the man, but waking up to find him twinkling at me is an entirely different thing.

�Hello there. I don�t believe we have been introduced. My name is Albus Dumbledore. Severus had just enough time to alert me when he arrived here. I am sorry that I could not come sooner to allay your fears. But I see that you have everything well in hand here. I healed the remaining minor wounds. You did excellent work. Tea?� He offered me a cup and saucer filled to the brim with hot liquid. I took it, in a slight daze. �I am aware of your special arrangement with Severus. I did not expect any less from him. He has not woken yet. Would you care to play a game of chess? He has told me that you are an excellent player.�

He conjured a chess board and set it up. I continued to look at him over the rim of my teacup. How in the world had my life changed to be thus? Fate had made me the survivor of a Death Eater raid, a survivor of the slave pens, granted me a Death Eater spy for a Master, and now I sat across from one of the Greatest Wizards in the world and he was asking me to play chess?

I couldn�t believe it, but then there was no way to deny it. And so I played chess with him. I purposefully lost the first round. It allowed me time to learn his playing strategy. And then I played in earnest. I won the next round. And then game after game was a draw. He eventually told me that he had been attempting to do the same thing to me the first round, lose to figure me out. But in the end, it appeared that we were evenly matched. The last game we played was close, very close. I had his queen, a rook, and both castles, he had both my bishops and a castle. We had both lost pawns. However, I had control of the board. It was with a touch of hast and relief that he got up when my Master moaned as he awoke.

I was at his side in an instant, checking his wounds, looking at his eyeballs, checking his pupils with light from his wand. He was fine. All he would need was rest and recuperation. I sighed to myself, content that I had done all I could. I sat next to him on the bed, and dragged him into a sitting position, pulling him up to rest his shoulders against my chest, his head lying next to my neck.

My Master spoke with Master Dumbledore for sometime, while I soothed the muscle cramping in his thigh. After such an traumatic wound and even more intense healing, the muscle was in shock, and so cramped frequently. I massaged it while he lay against me. It was awkward, both physically trying to reach his leg and emotionally, neither of us having been intimate beforehand. But we managed. 

I was paying no attention to the conversation between the two men, until Severus whispered my name, nearly right in my ear. I could feel his breath ghost by on my cheek. I shivered before I looked up. �By all rights, I should have died last night. I don�t understand... How did you keep me alive?�

It was Dumbledore who answered him. �I can see it on you, on the both of you. She did Viscus Spiritus Vinculum. She used her life force to keep your heart beating. Your life is hers. By rights, you should have died. From now long, your life depends on hers. If she dies, you die. If you die, she still lives, because you were meant to die anyway. How could such a young girl know of such an ancient and Dark spell?� The old man sat there, staring at me. 

I was embarrassed, and a little bit scared. I hid my face in Severus�s hair. I didn�t know if he would be pleased or furious. I didn�t think Dumbledore would sit idly while my Master killed me, but then again... I felt my Master�s hand in my hair. He was softly petting me. I cuddled into the touch, ecstatic that his wasn�t about to murder me. 

�You saved my life. Most people of my acquaintance would have watched while I died. Some did, in fact.� He laughed bitterly. �And all because Lucius wants something he can�t have.� He continued petting my hair, looking at nothing. I don�t think he realised what he had said, that He was possessive enough of me to risk his life to keep me. �When this is over, when this War is over, I will free you.� Neither of us noticed when Dumbledore left the room.

�You are very strange man, Severus.� I spoke without thinking. We were both unprepared. I had not spoken since the day of my capture. He looked at me, tilting his head at what looked to be a painful angle to see my eyes. I looked back at him, shock no doubt in my own.

�You have a beautiful voice.� And then he smiled. It was one of those rare smiles, a full out, snaggle-toothed grin. He smiled at me and I thought I saw something in his eyes, something like love, but how was that possible? I had to be mistaken. But I wasn�t. He kissed me then. 

It was actually my first kiss. I was sixteen when I was taken, remember. I had never had a boyfriend, I had never dated. I had never been kissed. I think he could tell. He was gentle with me. That first kiss was barely a brushing of lips, the touch of butterfly wings at my mouth. His hand crept up into my hair to pull me closer to him. My arms tightened around his chest. I wanted this, wanted to be with him. I tried to tell him with my mouth, tried to kiss him into understanding. Would I be bragging to said I succeeded?

The kiss morphed into something else, something more. One hand caressed my arms where they hugged him to me, while the other lay tangled in my hair, keeping me a willing prisoner. He shifted in my arms, twisted his body so that his chest was pressed against my own, so that we where face to face. Previously, I had spread my legs to either side of his hips, so that his back was spooned against me. In this new position, his already swollen cock was pressed against my core. It was more than intimate. It made the both of us pause and come up for air. He was a breath away from being inside me, only the thin material of my nightgown keeping us separated.

He asked me, �Are you sure? Do you want his?� As if I would say no. I arched my body against his, showing him the wetness soaking into the thin material, rubbing against his manhood. �Morrigan... I need you to say it. Please.�

I said it. �I�m sure. I want you. I want this. Please Severus, stop being such a gentleman.� And I kissed him. He slid his tongue against my bottom lip and teased his way into my mouth. He groaned when I teased him back. Our tongues slid against one another and did battle for dominance. I gave it my all, making him fight for it, but in the end, he was inevitably the victor.

He came up for air again, and began kissing and sucking my neck. He found a spot just under my ear that drove me wild. His lips grazed the hinge of my jaw, his teeth nibbled on my ear. I gasped at each new sensation, moaned when he touched me. It seemed that each sound I made drove him further. Further to what I didn�t know.

He slowly pressed me into the bed, his hips resting in the cradle of my own. His was able to grind against me while he kissed and nibbled on my flesh. He sent shock waves through my body. It felt so good, like nothing I had ever experienced. I wanted to make him feel good too.

I arched my hips into his, rubbing my pelvis in circles against his rock hard erection. He moaned, and I smiled. I had success. My hands began exploring the contours of his back, feeling the muscles in his shoulders and flanks flexing under my fingers. He was slim, but wiry, corded muscles packed onto his frame. 

Eventually, my questing fingers found their way to his arse. And what a nice arse he had. A perfect bubble butt. I had noticed it about him before, but suppressed the thought. Now I relished the feeling of his flesh under my hands, I dug my nails in and pulled him against me. It made him moan and call my name, both the closer contact, and the slight pain. I grinned. Another success.

He distracted me then, his mouth having worked its way down and across my collar bone, down my chest to suck on my nipple through the thin gown. I gasped, my fingers moving to his hair. It felt so good, his hot mouth on my flesh, his tongue swirling and licking, his teeth gently nibbling and biting. He used one hand to slowly slide my gown up to my waist, his fingers brushing through the hair concealing my dripping sex. He sat up then, a rather sudden movement. He knelt between my thighs and ripped my gown from me, tossing it to the floor. I lay still, completely exposed to him. I won�t tell you I wasn�t nervous, for I was. I had never been seen naked. 

He smiled at me. �You are so beautiful. Lucius is right, I don�t deserve you.� He kissed me before I could say a thing. He kept his body hovering over mine, his body propped up on his hands and knees while he kissed me. I wrapped my arms around his neck I drew him closer. He gave up and collapsed on top of me. I was delicious to feel his nude body pressed completely to my own.

It was a dream come true. I cared deeply about this man in my arms, as did he for me. Though our time together was brief, we had grown incredibly close, our thoughts obsessed with the other. And now we were in a bed together and nude. What teenage girl does not dream about the time when she will lose her virginity? True, it was not how I had typically imagined it to be, but it was all I could ask for. Severus was an experienced and sexually talented man. He knew where to touch me and how to touch me to drive me to the heights of pleasure.

His hands stroked my sides, grazing the underside of my breasts before smoothly moving down the curve of my waist and hips. His hands stroked across my lower stomach, just above my curls, before his long elegant fingers made there way to my core. A finger softly stroked up and down my wet slit. I could feel my juices dripping down my thighs and the crack of my bum. He touched me with feather light caresses, drawing moans and gasps from me. My body clenched around that digit when he slowly thrust it into me. 

I could feel that one finger inside of me, softly circling, loosening my cunt a bit at a time. He slowly continued pushing his finger in, knuckle by knuckle. And then he curled it inside my body and drew it back out, grazing something that made me shudder. My fingers bit into his shoulders while he still fed at my breast. And then he began it all over again, slowly pushing in and pulling out, adding fingers as my body loosened up. I was moaning and begging him for more. He wasn�t listening to me, too intent on what he was doing to me. I had to drag his face up to mine by his hair. 

�Severus... Please, I need you. Just fuck me right now, please.� 

He grinned. �As my lady wishes... but in a moment.� And then he pushed three fingers into me, hard and fast as his thumb circled my clit. I arched against him, nearly bucking his body off of mine as the wave of pleasure broke over me. I screamed out his name in the midst of my orgasm, while I was incoherent with physical ecstasy. 

When I came back to earth, he was ginning at me like the cat that ate the canary. I smiled back at him and kissed him silly, my tongue showing him how much I liked the attention I was getting. And then his hands were on my hips, carefully positioning me while he slowly moved his body into mine. It was a tight fit, even with my orgasm and the preparations he had done. The natural juices of my body helped, but it was with careful slowness that he eased himself into me. He stopped when he reached the barrier of my virginity. He knew when he bought me that I was untouched. He looked into my eyes, searching for something. He must have found it, for he kissed me tenderly, then thrust his cock into me, his sword fully sheathed in me. I cried out, biting my lip. 

He held still in me then, though I could imagine how desperately he wanted to move. As soon as the burning had faded, I placed smell kisses on his neck, moving my hips sinuously against him. He moaned my name and began moving in and out of me. The sensations were delicious, a heat building in my groin from the friction. I wrapped my legs around his lower back, my ankles locked. He groaned at this new angle and thrust into me harder. I bit his neck to keep the screams in. He kept moaning my name, uttering words of endearment and encouragement, groaning out instructions and dirty compliments that simply made me spasm around him.

I finally lost it when his fingers brushed against my clit, the barest touch sending me over the edge. He followed after me as we soared through the heights of physical ecstasy before falling back into ourselves. It was glorious. 

Though we were both sated, he was not satisfied. He pulled himself from me, both of us expressing sounds of regret, and smiled ferally at me before his mouth descended on my dripping cunt. My own juices and his release slowly dripped out on me and onto the sheet, but he didn�t care. He simply lapped it up, licking and sucking on my flesh. I couldn�t resist from burying my fingers in his hair. He nibbled on my clit, sending shock waves through my still tingling body. My hands pressed his face closer to me, and he bit me harder. That one shoot of pain was enough to send me again into orgasm, over the edge, and he was there to catch me.

He grinned at me and drew me to him, pulling the blankets over us. Before we fell asleep, I said one more thing to him. �Next time, I get to go down on you, too.� He was laughing as we drifted off. And that was when I ceased to be a slave to Severus Snape.

I stayed with him all through the war. The side of the Light won. Harry Potter killed Voldemort before being struck down by Draco Malfoy. He in turn was kill by me. I could not let him live after he had touched me like he had. Severus killed Lucius himself. After that Final Battle, he wept. Despite everything, Lucius had been his friend and Draco his godson. I held him until he cried himself to sleep. The very next day, he lifted the spells that kept me a slave. 

It was weeks before he left the house, refusing all calls and letters sent to him for interviews by newspapers and Ministry officials. I took him out to the edge of the apple orchard. A single grave stone sat in the shade of the trees. It was for the Malfoys. I had retrieved their bodies for him. It said this: Father and Son. They strayed from the path of the Light and never found their way back.

We two stood there over their graves, and watched the sun set, mourning for those who were lost and rejoicing for those who had survived. A moth later, my life as Mrs. Severus Snape began. But that friends, is another story