CHAPTER FOURTEEN.
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It was nearing midnight and the couple had fallen asleep a little over two hours ago when Hermione was woken by a familiar feeling in her bladder. The magical fire was still burning brightly and she could see and hear the blizzard still raging. She sighed and rolled over, shaking Theo's shoulder to wake him him. His eyes opened immediately in concern.
"What? What's wrong?" He asked moving his eyes over her face.
"I really really need to pee." Hermione told him and he sat up, groaning.
"Uh, Alright," he muttered, dragging his hand down his face, "Use a shield charm to protect yourself and don't go more than 10 steps away from the cave, ok?"
Hermione nodded and pecked him on the lips before stepping to the mouth of the cave, flicking her wand to form a bubble of protected space around herself. She counted ten steps, battling against the strong winds, and quickly pulled down her jeans, squatting to empty her bladder as she held her wand between her teeth.
When she had finished her business, she stood and pulled up her jeans, shivering at the bitter temperature as it hit her skin. In the dark, she couldn't see a foot in front of her and found herself frighteningly disorientated. She gazed around her, trying to figure out in which direction the cave was.
Starting to panic, she closed her eyes and tried to remember which way the wind had been blowing when she had left the tent but the roar of the wind was distracting, and she couldn't remember.
"Theo?!" She screamed out, hoping she would hear his voice but nothing came back to her.
Her breathing and heart rates increasing at a terrifying rate, she decided that moving was better than standing still and turned around to walk back the way she hoped she had come. She took two steps before her foot couldn't find the ground any more and she shrieked as she fell to the ground, feeling her head make contact with something hard before the world went black.
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Theo was sitting, worried, and gazing into the fire when he heard her voice calling her name and his head snapped up, turning to the mouth of the cave. Her voice was clear and, assuming her to be upwind, He gazed out into the night but the snow made it impossible to see anything.
"Maya!" He bellowed, knowing that if she was in fact upwind, it would be useless. "HERMIONE!"
Swearing to himself, He cast a shield charm and stepped out of the cave, heading against the wind for the ten steps he had told her to go, glancing as best he could as he went, but he caught no glimpse of her anywhere. He was beginning to panic, he needed to find her.
Suddenly, he heard something that made his blood run cold and his stomach clench from straight in front of him. The sound of her scream sent him surging forward and there, about four meters before him was a slumped mass, lying motionless on the ground.
He sprinted the final distance, dropping to his knees in the snow next to her and rolled her over, bringing her head onto his lap. He wanted to vomit when he saw that the snow was stained red and she had blood trickling from a wound on the side of her head. He put his wand between his teeth and carefully scooped her up in his arms, turning exactly half the way around, knowing that it was at least the vague direction of the cave.
He took the ten steps and squinted, trying to see something, anything. He took another step forward and almost dropped to his knees with relief when he saw the bright light of magical fire. Sending silent prayers of thanks to whatever gods were watching over them that night and lurched forward.
He stumbled around the fire and kneeled at the back of the cave, as far away from the opening to the outside as possible and gently laid her down on the stone floor, wincing when blood began to pool upon it. Pulling his wand from his mouth and cancelling his previous charm, he touched it to her head and muttered the only healing charm he knew. Sighing with relief when the skin began to knit together slowly.
"Fuck." He muttered aloud when he heard a moan leave her lips, letting himself fall sideways and leaning against the back wall of the cave, holding her hand to his chest as she woke up. He closed his eyes and dropped his head back against the cave wall.
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Hermione blinked slowly, letting the sudden light and warmth of the fire seep into her body as she awoke. Her head felt like it was about to explode and she could feel weight in her hair that had not been there. Raising a hand slowly to touch her hair, she gasped as it came away sticky and red.
"Honey?" Came a voice, and she slowly turned her head in it's direction, coming face to face with a pale and panic stricken Theo.
He leaned forward and brushed his fingers down her cheek, his eyes flitting rapidly around her face. She could feel that his hand was shaking against her skin.
"Theo…" she sighed, grimacing as she tried to push herself upright and the pain in her head doubled. "What happened?"
"No idea," he sighed, shaking his head and moving to sit behind her for support, "You shouted my name so I came looking for you. I found you unconscious and bleeding and carried you back."
His voice was hoarse and she felt his arms pull her tightly against him. He whimpered suddenly and she turned her body to look at him, finding this eyes shut tightly and his entire face contorted with pain.
"Theo?" She whispered and his eyes flickered open and met hers, "Are you hurt?"
He shook his head and she suddenly felt his lips on hers like they had never been before. It was lips and tongues and teeth and he moaned into her mouth as he ravaged it.
He pulled away some moments later, pressing his forehead to hers. Their heavy, fevered breath mixed between them and his hands cupped either side of her neck.
"Fuck, Maya," he gasped, "I thought I'd lost you. What if I'd not found you? You could have…"
"Theo…" she sighed and his fingers tightened on her neck. "Theo it's ok. I'm here. I'm ok."
He shook his head against hers and suddenly threw his arms around her neck, pulling her tightly against him. She buried her face in the crook of his neck, frowning at this emotion that was coming from him. It seemed so… Desperate.
"I've only had you for a week, Maya," he whispered into her ear and she rubbed his back in comfort, "And I already find that I don't ever want to let you go."
She nodded against him and felt tears well up in her eyes as he pulled back and held her gently by her jaw. His eyes were glazed and she knew that he meant every word he was saying.
"I'm not going anywhere. I'm not leaving, Theo."