Thanks to readingaddict24 for the review and thanks to ChelseaLouisePowell for the follow and favorite.
Juliana was playing absentmindedly with the arm Severus had draped across her middle, while he was kissing her neck softly.
They were on the Room of Requirement again, this time only a big bed and a few candles adorning the room.
"I've made some progress with my Patronus." She said after a while. He just hummed in response, signaling her to go on. "Now there is this kind of white mist coming out of my wand. Progress." She said and he laughed quietly. "I think there's something wrong with my wand." She said after a while.
"Why?" Severus asked.
"Because it just feels like a wooden stick." She said, turning to face him. "That's not how it's supposed to feel, right?"
"No, but your wand was provided by the school out of an existent stock. They skip all that the wand chooses the wizard thing. They just give you what they have." She scrunched up her face, unsatisfied with his answer. After a few seconds her expression changed and she sat up on the bed.
"Lend me yours." She said, with a mischievous smile.
"What?" He asked. "Do you think that would work?" She nodded excitedly, and he reached for his pants, that were currently on the floor. He took his wand out of his pocket and handed it to her gently. She took it carefully and tested how it felt on her hand.
"Try a basic spell first." She nodded and pointed it at the pillow.
"Wingardium Leviosa." She said and the pillow floated to the ceiling of the room. "It works." She said. She put on a shirt and walked to the middle of the room.
"Focus." He said and she took a deep breath. She closed her eyes and pointed the wand at the space in front of her.
"Expecto Patronum." She said, and out of the wand came a lot of white shiny mist. She slumped her shoulders and lowered it. "Forget it." She said and turned to give it back to him, but he stopped her.
"No, no. Wait." He said, putting his boxers on and walking to where she was. "You are definitely not going to get it you try it like that. Are you really thinking of your happiest memory?" He asked.
"Yes!" She said, frustrated. "I assure you it is. But judging by the cute mist that comes out of the wand, that's not the problem." He nodded.
"Do you think you can do this?" He asked, and she raised an eyebrow.
"Yes. Of course." She said and he looked at her. "Sure..." He raised his eyebrows. "Yes?" She said, unsure. "No. I don't."
"There you have it. If you don't think you can do it, you won't be able to. I think you're wrong. You can do this, I believe in you." He said and hugged her from behind, kissing her cheek. She smiled. "Try again." He said and walked back a few steps.
She took another deep breath and closed her eyes, focusing on the feeling of Severus' wand on her hand, something so important to him that he gave to her without a second thought, and on her happiest memory.
"I love you." Severus said, and his eyes widened like he knew he had said the wrong thing, and she couldn't help to think that he looked so cute and it was also the first time he said it and there were so many butterflies doing a mad dance on her stomach and she couldn't believe this was happening to her.
"I love you too." She replied, and they were kissing madly and they made love again and again and it felt so perfect and so wonderful and so right.
"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" She yelled after opening her eyes, and she had to took a few steps back because of the force of the bright light that was coming out of the wand. In a second the light turned into a gigantic grizzly bear, and she opened her eyes so wide she thought they were going to pop out of her skull.
"Fuck." She whispered at the same time Severus said bloody hell, behind her. The bear roared silently, while they just looked at it, dumbfounded.
"Makes sense." Severus said and she turned to look at him, getting distracted and breaking the spell.
"Whaa...?" She asked dumbly, her attention still on the Patronus that had just disappeared.
"In the end, one's Patronus is a reflection of your personality, state of mind and... soul. It makes sense a grizzly bear is yours." He was deep in thought for a second. "But it was so big... and powerful. What memory gave you that level of power?" He asked, curious. She was zoning out, looking at the wand on her hand, but she still answered. Probably without even realizing what she was saying.
"The first time you said you loved me." She said, and he looked at her, in silence. After a few seconds she came back to her senses and looked up to find him staring at her attentively.
"What's wrong?" She asked, frowning.
"Your happiest memory... the memory that made you conjure such an imposing Patronus... is of me saying that I loved you?" He asked, no emotion on his voice. Her frown deepened, if that was possible.
"I honestly don't care if you think it's stupid." She said and handed him his wand. He didn't take it, he just kept looking at her, his face emotionless.
"I'm starting to get scared here, Severus. What's wrong?" She said quietly and moved close to him, putting her hand on his cheek. His eyes watered the moment her skin made contact with his and he shut his eyes tightly. "Oh god." She said and threw his wand to the bed, so both of her hands were free. "Severus, love. What happened?" She asked, holding him tightly as he broke down, falling on his knees to the floor, and started to cry with his face buried on her shoulder. She whispered sweet nothings on his ear while she waited to for him to calm down, and after a while he finally did.
"I'm sorry." He whispered without looking up.
"What for?" She asked, stroking his hair.
"Being weak." He answered, his voice hoarse.
"Crying doesn't make a person weak. Especially when it's you. But what made you so sad?" She asked and he finally looked up.
"It wasn't sadness." He said looking into her eyes, communicating without words. And she knew that even if she had showed him a thousand ways that she loved him, he still didn't believe it completely. Until now. "I love you so much." He said and she smiled and her eyes filled with tears too, and in a second she was crying and the next they were kissing. It was messy and wet, and they both had trouble breathing because of Juliana's sobs, but it was the one that sealed their bond and brought them closer than ever before.
"It's so late." Juliana said, getting dressed quickly, Severus looking at her. "I go first today. Wait at least half an hour before going yourself." She said and walked to him as he nodded, kissing him hard. "I'll see you tomorrow. I love you." She said and pulled him closer.
"I love you too." He said and they kissed one more time, for at least ten minutes before the door appeared on the wall and she exited the room.
Severus took his time to get dressed, the memories of the last hours still fresh on his mind, making him have a smile on his face he couldn't suppress.
When he was about to put his shoes on, he saw a shiny object on the floor close to him. When he walked to pick it up he discovered it was Juliana's necklace, that was actually a locket, with the inscription Only love will set you free carved on it on Portuguese. As far as he was concerned she was the only one who could open it, and he confirmed that fact after trying for five minutes to open it without succeeding. He finally put his shoes on, and put her necklace on his pocket to return it later.
When the time was up he left the room and made his way to the Slytherin dormitories. He didn't see anything out of place on his way there.
Juliana walked at least five minutes before noticing she was being followed. She began to turn around every twenty seconds, and to get too aware of her surroundings. She finally heard a loud noise behind her that made her stop and turn her whole body, only to find nothing. When she turned again, she collided to a hard chest, seeing a flash of green fabric in front of her.
"You shouldn't be here. What are you doing out of bed?" She sighed. It's just a prefect, she thought and looked up. He wasn't. Mulciber. Run. Her mind shouted.
"Yeah... what are you doing out of bed?" She heard a voice say behind her and she felt a chill run down her spine. She knew that voice, and she knew she should be scared. She couldn't make a run for it, Mulciber could stop her in an instant. So she just turned around to face Avery's cold and evil look.
"Call the others." He said to Mulciber, who nodded and left. Juliana's mind was running wild, thinking of ways to get out of that place or make Avery harmless so she could scape. Apparently, his mind was faster than hers, and with a simple move of his wand her body went limp and she could only stay there standing without moving.
"Don't worry, I won't do too much damage until the others are here." He said in a fake reassuring tone. "You know... I really don't know how could you think someone like you could try to be with someone like us and get away with it." Her eyes, the only thing she had control of, widened and he laughed. "Oh, yes. I know. I know all about your escapades, and how in love you both are. Don't worry, though. The other's don't know you're dating. Only I know." He said and walked to her, touching her face with his free hand. "I won't tell them... because everyone would consider him a blood traitor and he would be no use to me. I can't let that happen, can I?" He asked, his voice soft. She wanted to scream, but settled for burning the hand he had on her face. He removed it quickly and looked at her with pure hatred and disgust. "How dare you, you disgusting bitch!" He said holding his burned hand into his chest. "CRUCIO!" He screamed at her as he pointed his wand to her face, and she felt like her insides were being torn apart and acid was flowing through her veins. She couldn't do anything, and she felt the tears on her cheeks and the sweat forming in her entire body.
But he wasn't satisfied.
He lifted the spell that didn't let her move and she instantly fell to the floor, but when she tried to scream she discovered that she still couldn't. She heard footsteps getting closer and let herself be hopeful for a second, before hearing the laughter of the others.
"That's a good start. Allow me." She heard an unknown male voice say before feeling like her back was being burned. She writhed in pain and they laughed.
"I'm not done yet." She thought she heard Avery say, because at this point her mind was getting fuzzy and she definitely could not control her magic enough to fight back. "Crucio."
And the initial pain was there again, only this time it was stronger and she knew she was about to faint. There was a big gash on her back and it was bleeding a lot. If she didn't get help soon she was surely going to die of blood loss. She tried to concentrate enough to break the spell that keeping her from screaming but it was too hard and she was feeling more and more tired by the second.
"I didn't bring you here to enjoy the view." Avery said and she opened her eyes just enough to see about six blurry figures looking down with their wands pointing at her. And she knew that if she wanted to live the moment to act was now. So the second before Avery said now and six people used the Cruciatus Curse on her, she was able to broke the silencing spell, and when the curses hit her, she let out an ear shattering scream that made all of them stop and run away, except for Avery, who crouched and brought his face close to hers.
She was shaking hard, her skin was grey and pale, there was a puddle of blood surrounding her and her eyes were completely bloodshot.
"If you say anything about who attacked you or I found out that you are asking anyone for help, prepare yourself to see him die before your eyes." He threatened and stood up to kick her hard on the stomach before leaving.
He didn't need to say who he was talking about. She knew. Like she knew he wasn't lying, and that they had tried to kill her. She was was making a big effort to stay awake, but every second it was getting harder. She couldn't see anything but blurred shapes, and finally went unconscious with the sound of hurried steps and the feeling of being lifted up from the floor.
So... it happened. If you'd like to review what you think of the last scene... you are totally welcome.
Yeah... ok bye.