A/N: Thank you to all who have already left feedback. It is your helpful words that inspire me to continue with this work. This is another of my favorite chapters. Please review and let me know if you agree!
All Good Things
Severus awoke the next morning. His body ached in places he forgot he had, as did his head. He moaned loudly as he stretched his limbs beneath the sheets. From beside him came a soft sound of complaint.
Severus froze as the memories from the night before washed over him suddenly. Was it real or had he dreamed it? He turned to look at the witch in bed beside him; in his bed; beside him. He felt ill. How could she have done this to him? How could he have allowed it to happen?
He then felt an intense need to escape. She had proven her point. He had been seduced, but was that point really worth proving? She surely would regret her actions, and he refused to be here when she did. He felt his anger begin to boil, and yet his eyes were still locked on the smooth curve of her bare back peaking out from beneath the pale linen.
He shook his head and gritted his teeth as he pulled his gaze away. He did not deserve to find any pleasure from this moment; he had sacrificed such luxuries long ago. He was not worthy of the pleasant imagery of a different sort of life that the sleeping woman conjured in his head. And that sleeping woman was worthy of so much more than he could ever offer. He almost laughed. He was not even suitable enough for a dead woman.
"Don't even think about it," Emmeline whispered as he moved to step free from the bed. She turned her head to look at him. Surprisingly, a small smile appeared on her face.
"I..um…well," was the best response Severus could manage. He turned away from her, embarrassed by his sudden loss of composure.
"Severus, please don't ruin a wonderful thing by making me wake up to an empty bed." She patted the space he had recently vacated as she studied him carefully. After a long awkward moment she added, "Please?"
It was amazing the power her begging had over him, because Severus found himself returning to her side as his previous anger seemed forgotten. He held his breath as Emmeline snuggled against his body. His emotions swirled as he tried to convince himself that there was nothing wrong with this situation. But if that were true, why did he feel so terrible?
Then, just as he was starting to enjoy the feel of her against him, his previous anger reemerged. "Alright, enough," he hissed as he pulled away from her suddenly. "You are verified your point. You have seduced me. I am just like all the others,"
Emmeline sat up pulling a sheet with her to cover herself and stared at him intensely. She looked hurt. "No, I was wrong, Severus. You are different."
"How so?" He spat as he prepared to leave the bed. He had already decided there was nothing she could say to improve this situation.
Emmeline sighed heavily. "Usually I am the one doing the leaving." She pulled her eyes away from him to look down at her hands in her lap.
He struggled to comprehend the deeper meaning behind her words but came up with nothing convincing. "What does that matter?"
"The guilty one always leaves…" she mumbled.
"So I am different because I feel guilty? Brilliant! That is such a relief, I must say." He stepped from the bed with his back turned from her. He headed towards the door. "Hell, you make absolutely no sense sometimes." He looked back at her as he spoke.
"No, Severus, you are missing my point," she whispered so softly he could barely hear her. Her volume increased as she added, "You are different because I don't feel guilty." Her steely blue eyes locked upon his as she clearly attempted to hold back her tears.
Severus felt as though he had been trampled by a heard of wild hippogriff. He had been mistaken; those words were the only words she could have said to make him reconsider his frustration. In that moment, free of alcohol, free of magic, even free of threat to life, it was as though Emmeline had stripped free of all her walls. He envied her for that freedom, and he knew how precious those words were.
She once again patted the bed beside her and begged him desperately with her eyes. "Don't make me beg…"
He started to protest. There was absolutely no point to taking this any further. She would be gone soon, and they would likely never meet again. However, he still felt himself drawn in by those pleading eyes, and once again he was beside her.
"This doesn't have to be awkward or complicated, you know." She lifted her head to look down on him as her hair tumbled loosely about her face. "It is what it is."
He reached up to touch her cheek. 'It is what it is,' he repeated in his mind. Those were words with which they could agree upon. He sighed deeply as he let those words wash away his unexplained guilt.
Hours later, Severus, open his eyes again to find the woman curled up beside him still sound asleep. For an instant, her golden locks were replaced with fiery red ones, and he felt his pulse quicken. In another blink of an eye, however, the illusion was gone. He mentally chastised himself for such thoughts. It wasn't fair.
He stroked Emmeline's hair gently as his mind wandered. He had never even considered developing feelings for another woman, but if he were ever to change his mind, Emmeline would be the type of woman to convince him. Unfortunately, that also made her the type of woman unlikely to reciprocate his feelings.
She opened her eyes and sat up against the headboard. Then she turned towards him as she stretched lazily and smiled. "Do you know you talk in your sleep?"
Severus's mind took off in a thousand directions as he tried to recall if anyone had ever shared this information with him before. He could recall no one. Then it occurred to him, no one else had ever been in the position to tell him such information. "I doubt that," he replied curtly, but deep down he found the concept rather disheartening. What sort of spy talks in his sleep?
"Wormwood…asphodel…valerian root…potion ingredients, are they not?"
He nodded. They weren't just any potion ingredients; they belonged to a potion to which they were both quite familiar. "Your point?"
She smiled. "That is what you dream about? Potions?!" She laughed.
His brow furled. He did not recall dreaming at all, but if he did in fact dream, it would seem logical that he would dream about one of the few things which still brought him joy. "What, may I ask, is it that you dream about that makes Potions seems so mundane?" He purposefully was overly acerbic, even compared to his usual preferred tone.
As sure as he was that Emmeline had a witty, sarcastic remark of her own, he never heard it. At that moment, his body tensed, and he drew away from her as his arm stung with the call of his Dark Master. The dream quickly ended and reality set in.
Severus climbed from the bed silently and pulled on fresh robes from his wardrobe across the room. He felt her eyes on him but could not bring himself to meet them. He knew they contained fear and disappointment, and he could handle neither at the moment.
He felt her approach him. "It was nice while it lasted…" she sighed as she began to pull on her own robes.
As he looked over at her, she was smiling softly. He nodded in agreement as he fastened the final button and pulled his collar into proper alignment. Then he turned swiftly and wordlessly to leave.
'…but now it must end…' He thought as he disapparated.
