A/N: I know this is really short, but I promise to get something out really fast after this. I finally got a way to end this scene like I had hoped and so I had to get this out now. Thanks so much to all who have reviewed, it really brightens my day, you have no idea. Oh and if you like the portrait I'm painting of Sev, you might want to check out "Pawn to Queen" by Riley, which is more than incredible, and we seem to have pictured him in a much similar way. Anyhow, enough of my rambling, I hope you enjoy, and please review I'm a little worried about how this one will go over. Sorry again about the length, next chapter will be awesome, I swear. (If not the chapter after....)

Disclaimer: I'm allowed visitation and exploitation rights to Sev and 'Mione through J.K. alone, talk to her if you have any problems. Depeche Mode is great, they wrote the wonderful lyrics.

***

He reached for the clasp on my robes, and automatically my hands flew to his. That's when I noticed he was shaking almost violently, and so was I. Our hands were unsteady and neither of us, no matter how hard we tried, could bring ourselves to undress the other. I had felt closer to him at that moment than any other in my life, he moved his hands back to my face and traced the lines with his fingers like a blind man. I closed my eyes, reveling in the sensation of his warm, talented hands on my face.

"Hermione..." his voice caught in his throat and he looked at me with desperate eyes. I couldn't bring myself to speak.

His fingers brushed against my lips and I kissed each one, never feeling that I truly could convey to him the enormity of my feelings at that moment. I reached up and took his hands, pressing his palm to my lips and placing a most tender kiss there, one I hoped would make him realize that love, kindness, warmth, all these things, that they could too be pleasurable, perhaps more pleasurable than the pain he was so addicted to.

I think he knew what I was trying to do, and again the fact that it seemed he was able to read my mind threw me off. He pulled me to him and wrapped his arms around me, protectively, lovingly, no trace of his need for control, or his thirst for pain. I loved him then, and there was no question in my mind as to what kind of love it was. Looking back I wish I had told him then what I felt, and perhaps it would have convinced him that it was possible for love to fill him with a contentment that the sado-masochistic torture he came to love would never be able to.

We fell asleep there after a while, weeping, sighing, touching, exhausting each other, mind, body, and soul.

***

"World in my Eyes"

Let me take you on a trip
Around the world and back
And you won't have to move
You just sit still

Now let your mind do the walking
And let my body do the talking
Let me show you the world in my eyes

I'll take you to the highest mountain
To the depths of the deepest sea
We won't need a map, believe me

Now let my body do the moving
And let my hands do the soothing
Let me show you the world in my eyes

That's all there is
Nothing more than you can feel now
That's all there is

Let me put you on a ship
On a long, long trip
Your lips close to my lips


All the islands in the ocean
All the heaven's in the motion
Let me show you the world in my eyes

That's all there is
Nothing more than you can touch now
That's all there is

Let me show you the world in my eyes

(Depeche Mode, "World in My Eyes")

***

I was shaking, and it made me sick to think that I couldn't even bear to touch her without the most profound reaction. She had me in the palm of her hand at that moment, and if she had known that I'm not sure I would have been able to live with myself. I knew it wasn't possible for her to love me then, not yet, at least, if ever she would. It was enough however, enough to make me crumble for her. It was just supposed to be a game, but she was so much better at it than I, and she wasn't worried that if she lost control I wouldn't be able to stop her from taking me with her.

My hands moved to her face, her skin beneath my bloodstained hands. When I touched her it seemed for moments that purity was a part of us both. I traced the lines and contours, taking in everything, every part of her. I closed my eyes, just wanting to experience the feel of it, wanting to engrave her in my mind in case it was the last time she would allow me to do this.

"Hermione..." I choked it out just barely. My throat closed after that and she looked contented not to hear me speak or do so herself. I resumed the survey of her face and my fingers managed to brush her lips, and with each kiss she made me feel love in a way new and strange to me. I have to wonder now if it was the first time I had experienced I real brand of love, no one had touched me like her before. Such simple actions that expressed so completely the depth of her emotions took my breath away. She took my hand and kissed my palm then, a searing kiss that washed away so many things in me.

Pain, fear, blood, sex, agony, torture, all the things that had sustained me ever since I could remember seemed so dead and empty. This was too much, I couldn't change everything in a moment, and the way she looked at me, the way her hands felt on my skin made me feel I could forget them without the use of a blade. I enfolded her in my arms and for now didn't want to use her for my own pleasure, I wanted to show her just what she was doing to me, and pray that she kept doing it.

We stayed there together for some time, finally falling asleep. I remember weeping, and I remember the feel of her, but most of all I remember the overwhelming sense that she wasn't judging me, but loving me, and I think I should have admitted that regardless of her true feelings, I could have stayed like that forever.

***

"Only When I Lose Myself"

It's only when I lose myself in someone else
That I find myself
I find myself


It's only when I lose myself in someone else
That I find myself
I find myself

Something beautiful is happening inside for me
Something sensual, it's full of fire and mystery
I feel hypnotized, I feel paralized
I have found heaven


There's a thousand reasons
Why I shouldn't spend my time with you
For every reason not to be here I can think of two
Keep me hanging on
Feeling nothing's wrong
Inside your heaven

It's only when I lose myself in someone else
That I find myself
I find myself
It's only when I lose myself in someone else
That I find myself
I find myself

I can feel the emptiness inside me fade and disappear
There's a feeling of contentment now that you are here
I feel satisfied
I belong inside
Your velvet heaven

Did I need to sell my soul
For pleasure like this
Did I have to lose control
To treasure your kiss
Did I need to place my heart
In the palm of your hand
Before I could even start
To understand

It's only when I lose myself in someone else
That I find myself
I find myself
It's only when I lose myself in someone else
That I find myself
I find myself

(Depeche Mode, "Only When I Lose Myself")

***