Alors, a short chapter, I know. But I wanted to get this info out before I start with the lemons. ;)
X. Les liens qu'accrochent
Once they did finally get around to blending the potion and setting it to brew, Vivienne found herself coming to Severus' study every evening thereafter to check its progress. Severus, likewise, always met her there either opening the door upon her arrival or by showing up shortly after herself. They shared many conversations over the simmering cauldron and many smoldering kisses. Their conversations wound through any number of subjects, from the things she observed in the hallways watching students and teachers, to the catastrophes he'd averted in the Dark Arts classroom, and from shady potions they had learned to brew because of their jobs, to the things they had seen and done on assignments. Severus was amazed to find such a confidante, for here was the first person he felt could accept the things he had been forced to do under duress.
On one such night, he had even brought her into his quarters and let her take a lingering look at his Dark Mark and robes, while she brought down her beret with the French Auror symbol--a wand emitting seven sparks on a background of two triangles, one red and one green (red for sacrifice, green for hope) as well as her own tattoo, a sword surrounded by feathers on her back right shoulder. She explained that the symbols were indicative of her occupation and title.
"As Aurors, we are volunteers serving France faithfully and with honor. Every Auror you stand alongside is your brother at arms, and as such you regard each other with unwavering and straight-forward solidarity which must always bind together members of the same family, because that is what we are. We must be respectful of the order's traditions, honoring our superiors. Our discipline and camaraderie are our strengths, courage and loyalty are our virtues. We should be proud of our status as that of an Auror, as we are la crme de la crme. We are taught to display this pride, by always having exemplary turnout, always impeccable in manner and dress. Our behavior, ever worthy, though modest, and our living-quarters, always tidy."
"We are, in a word, elite soldiers. We have trained vigorously, maintaining our wands as weapons, as if it were our most precious possession. We are instructed to keep our bodies in the peak of condition, always fit. And a mission, we were taught, once given to us becomes sacred to us, and we will accomplish it to the end at all cost. That is our pledge, almost word-for-word. Does that sound familiar?" she finished, smiling.
"I don't know which it sounds more like, the Order or the Death Eaters," Severus said dryly, a glass of wine in hand.
"Um, the Order I think," she said, pausing for another sip of wine. "We use a bird symbol too. A Falcon. On all our parchments, it is seated on its perch, a symbol of a bearer who is ready and serviceable for high affairs. The feathers on our tattoos and cloaks are for cunning, bravery, pride, and intelligence. Just like the animal. Regal, yet trained to kill. In combat, we act without relish of our task, or hatred. We will give respect to the vanquished enemy and will never abandon neither our wounded nor our dead, nor will we under any circumstance surrender our wands or our selves. Respect, or war without relish, I think is something your Death Eaters would not abide."
"Quite the opposite really. Killing and destruction are acts of revelry." He stared contemplatively into his empty glass.
"I know," she said cocking her head to the side at she gaze at him. "There were dark wizards enough at home. It was posing as their cohorts and comrades that taught me how vile they can be truly." He looked back at her, as if disbelieving his own ears. She nodded, assuring him of her veracity. "Oh yes, I too have had my fill of doing any number of dark deeds to get close to bringing someone down. I have done things I never would have expected, all in the name of currying favor with those who would gain power only to abuse it. Voldemort is not the first, he is simply the worst and the best backed. But that is why I am here, and why you are here, why we both work so hard for what we know we must accomplish. Because it cannot be allowed. That is why I know you are such a good man, and a brave one."
"How do you know what I am? Or that I am really who I claim to be?" he asked, cupping the back of her head and bringing her forehead down to touch his.
"Because I know here," she said, pressing a fist to her chest. "I have met dark wizards, sociopaths, and those greedy for power. I have sent any number of them to prisons just like Azkaban. You are not like them, Severus." She tipped his chin up with her hand and touched her lips to his. "You are so much more."
*les liens qu'accrochent = the ties that bind