Songs for this chapter: On Top of the World by Imagine Dragons and Waiting on the Light to Change by Matthew Perryman Jones
A/N: later in the chapter you will meet a character with the initials T. Q. he is borrowed from my friend Jorja, he just fit so well that I had to use him.
HPOV
I was drifting in a state somewhere between sleeping and waking when I heard Severus calling out for me. He sounded garbled and airy to me, so despite my ever growing exhaustion I drug my head up so I could look for him. I was shocked to see him on his knees panting as he drug and unconscious Sirius across the grass.
It looked like it might be easier for him to pull him if he weren't also holding his hand in a tightly closed fist. I inferred immediately that the ring must be in his hand, and it made sense to me that he was trying to keep from touching the ring. Still I wished I could I reached out and pluck the ring from his hand to aid Severus though.
"What's wrong with him?" I called out, surprised by how breathy I sounded to my own ears.
"The box appears to have been a cursed music box," Severus breathed out shakily as he drug Sirius a bit closer. "I don't know why he listened to it for so long, and we won't be able to ask him unless we can wake him back up."
Severus pulled Sirius right up beside before he allowed his dead weight to fall back to the ground as gently as possible. He rolled to the side so clear up some space and then he looked to me with a pleading yet exhausted look on his face.
"I'm at a loss," he puffed. "I brought potions to deal with injures, but nothing for something like this."
"Does he have a pulse?" I asked as I forced myself to crawl over him and reach for his throat.
I fumbled awkwardly for a moment before I found a week thrum beneath the cooling skin of his neck. In just the span of a few seconds it was easy to see that each beat was just a little bit further away from the last one. Whatever curse had been released in the music of that box was still holding on to him, and it was going to kill him if we didn't find a way to break it.
"Do you have any solution for breaking this curse that doesn't involve a sacrifice?" I moaned, dropping my face into the grass where I lay beside Sirius in shame when I realized that my mind once again was only able to draw necromancy as a solution.
"I don't…" Severus admitted quietly, though he did sound as if his strength was coming back to him. "I'm not sure what this curse is."
"It's so frustrating because I know that you would have known it so many years from now," I groaned. "I need something… anything with a heartbeat. As quickly as you can find it Severus."
"Okay," he said, dragging himself up off the ground.
"Something that wouldn't be completely awful to kill if you can swing it," I called after him.
I could hardly hold my head up but I watched him go, and he did manage to pick up speed as he hurried back into the trees. It was nice to see that there was a point somewhere nearby where the horrible exhaustion might actually go away. I kept my hand on Sirius's throat, wondering if he would live to see a moment without exhaustion, while my eyes scanned the trees.
Severus did not disappoint. He came flying back out of the trees with the mangiest looking squirrel I had ever been confronted with. I couldn't tell for sure from a distance, but I looked like it might against be rabid. I attempted to soothe myself with the thought that it was practically a public service to put the poor animal down.
"Maybe don't look, this will be gross" I groaned as I took the squirrel from Severus, and took my hand off of his pulse point so I could draw my wand. "Could you keep track of his pulse."
"Of course," Severus said, his voice sounding louder now that he had his energy back.
I tried to focus on what I was doing as I used a quick stunning charm to keep the squirrel still without actually killing it, but out of the corner of my eye I could see Severus kneel down beside Sirius. My focus should have been on the precise line I was cutting down the chest of the unconscious squirrel but a fair share of my attention was on the way Severus face went from impassive to panicked in the span of a few seconds.
"He hardly has a pulse," Severus told me in a rush.
"I know," I told him somewhat tersely. "Let me knew if he goes too long without one."
My gut jumped a bit when I pulled the mangy flesh and muscles apart to reveal a sluggishly beating heart beneath thin rib cage. Part of the jump was disgust, I was sure of it, but a little piece of it was excitement and that worried me. I'd been doing so well lately to control the way these urges tried to control me but just seeing that heart told me I did not have as much control as I thought I did.
"There's about five seconds between each beat," Severus told me urgently as I was cracking the rib cage.
"That's okay, that's not too slow yet," I told him as calmly as I could manage while drawing a cross with the blood on Sirius's forehead. "Just keep track."
He nodded quietly and focused his attention avidly on Sirius's throat. I could not decide if he did that because he could not make himself watch what I was doing but I chose to believe it was the former due to my trust in him. Instead I kept my mind on the task quickly extracting the tiny little heart from the chest before me. I saw the very last shuddering beat of the heart as I withdrew it from the chest, and mentally the clock began ticking.
"I wish I had brought the dagger," I murmured to myself as I offered my free hand to Severus. "I need you to cut my palm open, the injury cannot be made with my magic or it will destroy the ritual."
"I'm sorry," Severus whispered quickly as he used his wand to cleave the skin of my hand open.
I bit down on the inside of my cheek to keep myself from hissing in pain. I couldn't really blame him, but in his distraction Severus had cut my hand very deeply and it was quite painful. I pushed all thoughts of that from my mind and squeezed my hand shut to keep the blood from spilling out onto the ground.
"Pull open his shirt please," I said through clenched teeth.
Severus did not hesitate. He quickly tore the shirt open sending buttons flying every which way. As soon as I could see the bare skin of his chest, I slapped my hand down over Sirius's heart. I left a bloody red hand print on his chest that looked macabre but would protect him from being injured by what was to come.
I put the still warm heart of the squirrel in the center of the bloody print and I let my bleeding hand hover above it. I let the world around me go out of focus as I chanted in the ancient language and channeled my necromantic magic out of my body. I could feel the heat building between my hand and his body long before the first spark hit the air.
Severus sparks shot out of the small space between my hand and the heart, but then a flame flickered to life. From what seemed like a distance I heard Severus gasp in surprise but I ignored him. Instead I channeled all of my focus and magic on burning that heart out of existence without causing any harm to Sirius. The world grew very small around me as the flame burned itself out leaving a charred bloodstain on his chest.
"Oh, there it is," Severus said drawing my attention to his face. "His heart rate just took off… oh there… yeah it's slowing down to something more normal now."
Anything else Severus might have said was cut off by the gasp that came from Sirius. I breathed a sigh of relieve when I saw his eyes open, and then I allowed my very tired body to slump back to the ground. I could feel what little energy I'd had left drain out of me as I lay back in the grass and focused on just breathing.
"We'll probably have to explain that spell Severus," I whispered as I watched the light play through the leaves on the tree.
"Yeah, I think you'll have to," I heard Sirius say from what sounded like the end of the tunnel.
"I think maybe you should heal my hand," I sighed, no longer able to see the tree as my eyes drifted closed of their own accord.
"Can I heal it completely or will it cancel the spell out?" he asked me, sounding quiet over the sound of my heart thrumming in my ears.
"Mmm no my hand wasn't the sacrifice, we just… needed the blood to keep from burning h-him," I explained in a slur. "Cut too deep."
"What the hell is she talking about Snape?"
"Merlin look at her hand, what the hell happened."
"Shut up I need to focus."
I was vaguely aware of the fact that they were fighting, but everything was blurring together for me. I couldn't even tell for sure who was saying what after a while.
""She's getting awfully pale, maybe we should take her to St. Mungos."
"I've got a blood replenisher in my pocket, I will give it to her once I stop the bleeding."
"Why is her hand cut open like that anyway?"
"Just shut up for a minute Black."
In a very distant way I felt myself being shifted. I didn't quite feel connected with my body but I was dimly aware of the fact that I was being cradled against a warm body. There was a tickle of something against my face, but I was too tired to drag my eyes open and see what it was.
"Drink up," a deep voice that had to be Severus murmured in my ear as my mouth was pulled open. "You'll feel better once you do."
I swallowed the coppery liquid and somehow managed not to choke on it. Severus was right of course. I could feel my faculties coming back to me almost immediately. As the fog began to clear I put together that he had obviously given me a blood replenisher. I still felt rather sluggish but I did manage to draw my eyes back open.
"Hello again," Severus said quietly, staring intently into my eyes as I blinked the blurriness away. "You gave us a bit of a scare. Why didn't you say anything about how deeply I cut you?"
"It hurt, but I didn't think it was that bad," I sighed, snuggling more closely to his chest to try and steal some of his heat as I was feeling a bit cold.
"Hurt is probably putting it a little mildly," Severus chided me as he chaffed my arm with the hand that wasn't holding me to him to create some heat. "That cut went all the way to the bone."
"Now that Hermione isn't trying to bleed out on the forest floor do you mind explaining what the hell is going on here?"
"You're one to talk," I said, turning slightly so I could look at him over my shoulder. "Weren't you just the one laying on the ground dying? Why did you listen to that music box anyway?"
"It wasn't intentional," Sirius shrugged. "You know that's part of the curse don't you? It lulls you into complacency so that you will listen to it until it kills you. How did you manage to break that curse. I've never heard of anything that could, even blood magic."
"Well it was a very specific sort of blood magic," I said. "Why don't you take a seat this could take a while to explain?"
"I think we should destroy the horcrux before we get into any of that," Severus interjected.
"You're probably right," I said, running my fingers over the fresh pink scar cutting a path through the palm of my hand. "Would you like to do the honors?"
"I actually think that Black should do it," Severus sighed. "He hasn't done one yet, and he needs to understand the full extent of what he's gotten himself in to."
"It doesn't really sound like something I am going to enjoy," Sirius balked.
"It's going to be rough Sirius," I stressed looking pointedly at Severus. "But Severus is right, you need to understand each aspect of this."
"Fine, how do I do this," Sirius said somewhat belligerently.
"Go ahead and set the ring on the ground," I instructed. "It's safe for you to hold it with gloves on, but even those won't protect you from basilisk venom."
Severus dug out the vial of electric blue venom while Sirius followed my instructions and set the ring on a rough patch of ground where no grass was growing.
"What you're going to do sounds simple enough, but the actual follow through can be difficult when the horcrux starts talking back," I told him. "The ring is small enough that it should only take a drop or two of the venom to destroy it."
"It's going to talk?" Sirius asked looking sheepish.
"Yes, but just ignore whatever it says and make sure it completely destroys it." I assured him.
"Here," Severus said shortly as he handed over the venom. "We don't have an antidote so do try not to get any on yourself."
"Right," Sirius said, moving delicately as he unscrewed the dropper top of the vial.
Perhaps it was just nerves, but the forest seemed to go unearthly quiet in the moment before he brought the stopper to hover over the ring. It was almost as if the creatures in the forest knew that something abnormal was about to happen. Sirius took a deep breath, and then he squeezed the dropper allowing two bright blue drops to fall onto the ring with a hiss.
The gold of the band immediately began to corrode as a raspy shriek filled the air and a dense black smoke spilled out of the ring. Strangely the smoke did not billow up into a cloud and form into something as it had when I had destroyed the locket. Instead it seemed too heavy to rise and it drooped to the ground and spread out like a fog. Tendrils of it formed into snakes that hissed and lashed out, but their attacks had no effect on whatever they hit.
You will never be good enough.
You will never breakaway from the darkness that bred you.
You will never—
Whatever else the bit of soul that had been trapped in the ring was about to say was cut off in an abrupt hiss as Sirius dropped one more drop of venom onto the ring and melted into a malformed lump of gold with the edge of the stone that had been sitting on top still attached.
"Should we destroy the stone as well," Sirius asked in a shaky voice.
"It's just a stone," I lied. "The ring itself was the horcrux. It's done now, and I think we should just burry the whole thing."
"Do we need to bury it?" Sirius asked. "Whose going to come out here looking for something like this?"
"Well in reality the Dark Lord could at some point, but he'd no it was gone even without finding it out here," I explained. "But more than that, a country road used to cut through here. It's obviously not a heavy traffic area anymore, but it's possible that some of the people from the village come through here, and we don't need to draw any unwanted attention to this area by anyone."
"So we bury it," Sirius nodded. "I'll work on that while you explain the blood magic shall I?"
"Alright," I nodded. "It's a long story…"
"Are you sure telling him that you are a necromancer was the right idea," Severus asked as we both looked at the spot Sirius had juts apparated away from.
"Yes I think so," I said as I leaned in to him. "This way he continues to trust us because he isn't being left out of anything, and it isn't like he can tell anyone about it without violating the unbreakable vow and killing himself."
"Maybe you're right, I just have a hard time with the concept of trusting Sirius Black," he sighed, wrapping his arm around me. "Why don't we set up in the tent again for tonight and go somewhere else in the morning."
"That sounds wonderful, but can we move a little further into the forest?" I pouted. "I know we are outside the wards of the house, but I would just feel better if we were further away."
"Are you still feeling drained?" he asked, tilting my face up so he could get a better look at me.
"Yes," I admitted. "I don't think it's anything lingering over from the wards though. I think it's a combination of blood loss and magical depletion after the surge of everything I released."
"Are you feeling any backlash?" he asked me delicately, tracing his fingers over my eyebrow and down to my jaw.
"No, I'm not feeling anything like that," I told him. "I just want to sleep, preferably for a very long time."
"Well let's move a little further into the woods, and I will set up the tent so that we can do just that," he said with a smile as he pulled me closer. "Hold on tight and close your eyes."
"You're going to apparate blindly through an unknown forest?" I asked with a squeak. "You'll splinch us."
"Trust me Hermione," he prodded softly.
"With my life," I whispered, tucking my head into his chest and closing my eyes like he had told me to.
I got a moment to draw his scent deep into my lungs before he pulled us to the left and all of my senses were momentarily blotted out by the sensation of apparition. When the pressure finally stopped I opened my eyes and I was shocked by what I saw. We couldn't possibly be in the same forest that we had been in earlier.
We were obviously deeper into the forest as we were surrounded by trees, yet it was brighter. The light had an obvious green quality to it, but I could not see the source. There was a brook cutting a winding path through the trees that was surrounded by beautiful flowers some of which I recognized some I didn't.
"Where are we?" I asked in awe as I looked around.
"Honestly I'm not sure," Severus said quietly as he looked around. "I heard the water when we were walking the first day, and I just focused on taking us somewhere downstream. I was worried about putting us in the middle of the river, but I guess I should have been wondering about us appearing in some other realm."
"We can't cross through realms," I assured him turning in his arms so I could get a better look at this new place. "We already know that requires a sacrifice. So this just must be a particularly nice section of the forest. We should consider ourselves luck to have found it."
"I already consider myself lucky," Severus whispered into my ear before placing a gentle kiss in the crook of my neck. "I can't believe how careless I was with the gift you've given me today."
"What?" I sighed, feeling lost in the sensation of his lips on my neck and his fingers trailing down my right arm.
"This," he whispered in his deep baritone as he turned my hand up and held it in front of our faces. "I could have lost you today."
I heard what he said, but I could not think of a response as he cupped my hand in his left, and trailed the fingers of his right over the brand new scar on my hand. The moment was sweet, if a little heated by how his breath was still sweeping over the sensitive spot just behind my ear.
"I consider myself luck as well," I whispered back, not wanting to speak loudly and break the spell of the moment. "Lucky to be alive and lucky to have you."
"I'm so sorry that I hurt you," he whispered mournfully as he folded my own arms around me in his effort to hug me. "I'm sorry that I cut so deeply."
"It was an accident," I assured him softly. "You wouldn't have cut so deeply if you hadn't been drained by that strange ward, just like I would have been more aware of my wound if I hadn't been so exhausted I could hardly keep my eyes open. It's the only reason I even got close to bleeding out."
"When will we have a normal day?" Severus asked wistfully. "Just one day with no injuries or threats of violence, or worries that somehow we will be found out by the wrong person."
"Well I suppose today is a loss for that," I sighed. "But tomorrow can be a day like that. It will be a perfect day, our perfect day."
"That sounds nice," Severus said, squeezing me tightly before releasing me from his hug. "Why don't you sit for a minute while I get the tent set up?"
"Okay," I said, digging the shrunken down tent out of my pocket and handed it over before going to sit on the edge of the brook.
I was already fairly relaxed, but there was something extremely soothing about sitting amongst a bunch of lavender while trailing my hands in a crystal clear brook that soothed calmed something deep within me. The water was cool, and it looked so clean and clear that I didn't see any issue in in drinking just a bit of it.
As soon as the crisp cool water touched my lips I felt energized. I splashed the water onto my face and into my hair. It felt nice to wash away the grime from the forest, and sweating. I was seriously considering just pulling off my clothes and climbing into the brook when Severus appeared beside me.
"It's cooling off out here," he said as he produced a handkerchief and began patting my face dry. "You'll catch a cold out here."
"I just wanted to clean up a bit," I sighed quietly as I leaned into his touch.
"We can clean up in the morning when it's warm again," Severus offered as a compromise. "For now I'd like to bundle up under a blanket and get some sleep."
Waking up the next morning in our peaceful little hideout was quite peaceful. As the sun rose, the strangely green light filtered through the canvas of the tent and the occasionally chirping of a nearby bird served as a gentle alarm clock. It was even more pleasing to wake up snuggled close to the naked and well-muscled chest of Severus Snape.
"Are you awake?" Severus asked quietly as he began running his fingers gently through my hair and carefully drawing out the tangles that had set in from going to bed with my hair went.
"Mmm yes I am," I sighed before placing a chaste kiss on his chest above his heart.
"How would you like to start our perfect day?" he asked.
"I do believe you promised me a bath in the morning," I said sleepily as I snuggled closer to him.
"I think we could manage that," Severus whispered before placing a gentle kiss on the top of my head.
"You'll join me?" I asked him softly, suddenly feeling very unsure of myself.
"It's only a bath right?" he asked just as softly.
"Yes of course," I whispered.
"Then yes, I will." He said with a smile as he tilted my head up so he could look me in the eye. "I know that you won't bite."
"Well… not very hard at least," I chuckled.
"Come on you," he laughed as he carefully pushed me away and sat up in bed. "Let's get washed up."
Our little Eden looked just as peaceful and welcoming as it had the night before. There was a squirrel nearby chattering away in a tree, and there was a cloud of bright blue butterflies fluttering near the brook that hadn't been there the night before. I tried to not make a point of staring, but Severus looked quiet appealing in the morning light with only a pair of slacks covering his alabaster skin.
"You don't think anyone will come along out here do you?" I asked Severus as I pulled my t-shirt off.
"We're fairly deep into the woods so it is unlikely," he answered. "But I will cast a muggle repelling charm just to be safe."
I felt a slight tingle as his ward went up, but I paid it little mind as I shucked pants as well. It should have felt strange to be standing barefoot in the forest clad only in a bra and panties but I felt at home. There was something magical that I couldn't quite explain about this place that made me feel connected with the elements.
"You look like a wood nymph," Severus whispered, and I was surprised to hear that his voice was issuing from directly behind me. "It may be a bit forward to say it out loud, but I wish I could take a picture of how you look just now. There is something very ethereal about the way the light hits your back and that only adds to the appeal of the image of you stand before a stream of water with your hair in a wild mess of curls nearly naked."
"A girl could never be self-conscious about their body with you saying things like that," I told him as I peeked over my shoulder to look at him.
He had done away with his pants and was standing a foot or so away from me in just his boxers, but I reminded myself not to touch him. I was resolved keep a safe distance between us so as not to spook him when he was so willingly pushing his boundaries for me. I gave him a cheeky grin before turning my face back towards the brook and removing my bra.
"You have nothing to be self-conscious about anyway Hermione," he said quietly, and then I heard the gentle sound of fabric hitting the ground and I knew if I turned around right this second I would see him in all his naked glory but I waited.
Instead I stepped out of my own panties and I walked forward leaving them on the ground between us. I held onto the surge of boldness I was feeling and I walked right into the brook. I drew in a breath in shock when I felt the crisp coldness of the water rushing over my skin and sending goose bumps on the skin above my hips that was not submerged in the water.
"It's a bit cold," I warned him.
I turned just in time to see that his legs were as well muscled as the rest of him as well as catching a glimpse of his manhood before he stepped into the water beside me. He released a hiss of his own as he adjusted to the cold temperature of the water and turned to face me full on. He at least did not appear to be covered in goose bumps.
"Duly noted," he said quietly.
"I could wash your back," I said quietly, wondering if I was pushing him too far. "The sand we're standing in should work well to exfoliate."
"Okay," he said quietly, stepping back from me and lowering himself down into the water to wet his hair as well as the rest of his skin.
I could better appreciate his comment about how I looked in this place when I was presented with his form as he stood up out of the water. There was something striking and beautiful about the way the water ran in rivulets from his hair cutting tracks down his chest before it disappeared into the stream once more. His raven hair was still appealing when slicked back against his skull and the lightness in his eyes drew me in though I manage to keep myself from coming closer.
"I'm ready," he told me quietly as he turned his back on me once more.
I scooped a handful of sand up and smoothed it carefully across his shoulders. My worries fell away as I felt a distinct lack of tension in his shoulders, and I allowed myself to enjoy rubbing the sand in small circles across his back. The dark brown sand created a striking contrast when compared with his pale skin and it was almost hypnotic to watch it as I created swirls beneath my fingers.
When I finished his back I gathered more sand and began to tentatively wash his shoulders. I was not sure if he would allow me to wash his arms, so I was pleasantly surprised when he leaned back and into me ever so slightly to allow me access to his forearms. I fought not to show any sort of reaction to his proximity. I did the best I could but I was sure he felt the way my nipples tightened in response to the feeling of his sand covered back brushing against them.
"All done," I breathed quietly. "You could rinse now or wait until you've finished."
I stepped away from him to give him a bit of room and I lowered myself down into the water to rinse of the bit of sand that had transferred onto me off. I could feel his eyes on me as I leaned back to wet my hair as well but he said nothing. Instead he began to rinse himself and my body surprised me with the way it heated up as I watched his gentle undulations under the water as he cleaned his back off.
In an effort to hide that I was having any reaction I focused my mind on the task of scrubbing my legs clean. I listened to the sound of the water splashing around Severus as I quickly worked my way up both legs with my hands full of sand before rinsing them off. He was watching me with a soft look of interest in his eyes as I stood up once more holding sand in my hands.
His gaze drew me in, and I held it as I began to scrub my torso from the hips up. He did not look away from me as he began to do the same and I wondered if such an act should feel as intimate as this one did. Severus continued to look into my eyes, seemingly undistracted by what I was doing. I was wondering if I had any effect on him while doing this until my hands reached my breasts and his gaze fell. My heart rate spiked when I saw the hungry look on his face while he watched me gently massage the sand over the sensitive skin of my breasts. He followed the path of my hands avidly as I scrubbed the way up to my neck and then let my hands fall back into the water.
"Shall I wash your back?" he asked me in a deep rumble that went straight to my loins though I doubted he was outwardly trying to be erotic.
"Yes," I said softly as I turned my back on him.
I twisted my hair up and pulled it off to the side to give him full access to my back, and then I listened to the gentle sloshing of the water as Severus closed the gap between us. I stood still as he began to gently smooth the sand over my back and I couldn't help but admit that it felt nice. It felt even nicer when he began to dig in just a bit, massaging my back as he worked the sand in. A low groan escaped without my permission when he reached the base of my spine and massaged the somewhat tight muscles there.
I held my breath when he slid up against my back and took my left arm in his hands. I could feel the length of him pressed against me and it set all of my synapses firing and I didn't trust myself not to do something that would push this further than either of us was ready to go. I chose to instead remain entirely still as he stared at my shoulder and slowly but surely moved down my arm in slow circles until he was massaging the sand into my hand.
"Breathe Hermione," he instructed softly, his breath tickling the shell of my ear and causing me to shiver just slightly as I drew in a deep and slightly shaky breath.
I allowed him to pull the arm he had just scrubbed up, and did not question it when he directed my arm so my hand was cupping the back of his head. It pulled him just slight closer to me and left my front all the more exposed but he did not seem to care as he set to work on my right arm. I reminded myself to breathe this time as he repeated the same circuit down my right arm.
He drew my right arm up and positioned it behind his head as he had with the last one, and it was not lost on me that the action caused my back to bow just slightly, arching my chest up toward the sky as well as his view. I could hear the way his breathing got slightly louder as he allowed his hands to trail down each of my arms. He started and my wrist and worked slowly but surely down past my elbows and over the inside of my biceps.
My world boiled down to the sensation of his hands on my skin and the sound of his breathing in my ear as his hands moved in slightly and slid down my chest until he was cupping my breasts. I wondered what it felt like to him when my chest heaved slightly with my labored breathing while he was holding my beasts like that. It felt fantastic to have his large hands encompass each breast like that, but it was another thing entirely when he brushed his thumbs over my nipples. Shocks of pleasure were shooting through me while my mind tried to process the smoothness of his hands and the slight bite of the sand.
I honestly tried not to, but I could not hold back a moan of pleasure when he brushed my nipples once more. The heated almost dizzy feeling that was passing through my head was only exacerbated by the shaking breath he released into my ear as he nuzzled against me and ever so slightly pinched my nipples between his forefingers and thumbs.
"Gods you shouldn't do that if you expect me to behave," I moaned not quite successfully fighting off the urge to grind back against him and feeling the slight brush of his erection against my backside before I regained control of myself.
"You're right," he said shakily, his breath sounding almost like panting at this point. "We should get you rinsed off."
And then, though his movements felt regretful, he stepped away from me. I kneeled down into the water with the intention of rinsing myself off, but then the water was disturbed around me once more and I found Severus kneeling behind me. His hands were roaming over my skin once more as he washed the sand from my skin. His breath was heavy in my ear still, but I could feel that he had gain control over his baser urges once more.
"Do you remember when you said to me that you wished our marriage was real?" he asked me quietly as he began to splash water into my hair.
"Yes I do," I told him honestly.
"I'd like that too," he told me, and I turned my head to the side to see him smiling at me.
"Do you mean it?" I gushed turning around in his arms.
"I do," he said taking my chin in his hands and looking into my eyes. "On this trip even I'd like to do it. I'd like to officially make you my wife if you are so agreeable."
"Yes, yes, yes," I chirped, and I was going to kiss him
Just as I leaned in however there was a flash of light and a crack that could only be someone apparating. Severus pulled me against his body, and wrapped his arms around me to keep my body hidden as he pulled us both into a standing position so we could see who had joined us. I don't know what I had been expecting but nothing could have really prepared me for the very strange sight I was presented with.
The man who was standing on the bank of the brook was clearly as wizard, but he was unlike any wizard I had ever seen before. Sitting cockeyed on his head was one of the shabbiest green wizarding hats that put even the sorting hat to shame with its patches and little holes. It seemed to have some sort of greenery growing out of it as well, and I wasn't sure, but it was possible that there was a small bird's nest buried in some of the vegetation. His bottle green robes were just as careworn though they at least didn't seem to have plants growing out of them. For how dilapidated his appearance was I would have expected his attitude to reflect it, but instead his elderly face was lit up from within by an incredible happy smile. A smile that was out of place for the situation we were in, and yet did not fade in the face of Severus's glare. All of this was completed with a very out of place little carpet bag slung over his shoulder.
"Do you mind," Severus asked tersely.
"I wonder how the two of you found yourselves here," he said cheerfully, still not turning away from us out of modesty. "It;s been a long time since there were other human beings in this little grove of wonders."
"We were attempting to camp here, though I can assure you that will be rectified immediately," Severus bit out. "Now if you don't mind, we were in the middle of bathing and we would appreciate a bit of privacy."
"Oh, jolly good place for a bath," he chirped, undeterred. "But that's not all you were up to was it?"
"Who are you?" Severus scathed while pulling us further away from the man who would not be deterred.
Meanwhile I was turning five different shades of red at the implication that this man had seen what we were doing.
"Oh well lad, my name is Thaddeus Quilliam," he said, sticking his hand out toward us as if one of us was going to shake it. "It's certainly a pleasure to have met you. Would you like me to give you a tour of my property."
"No, we'd like it very much if you would return there and bugger off!" Severus snapped.
"Ah, but you're on my property aren't you?" Thaddeus said without even a hint of the shine disappearing from his smile. "I can't imagine why you're so embarrassed by this situation. Everything present here at the moment is completely natural. Why are you embarrassed of the human form?"
"We are not exactly exhibitionists," I said, surprised by how shaky my voice sounded.
"Well of course you aren't," he said kneeling down on the edge of the brook for some reason I was not quite sure of. "You were just taking a bath, and of course you'll have to forgive the intrusion of my accidental eavesdropping, but I believe you were discussing the idea of marriage."
"How could you possibly know that?" Severus asked, some of the anger in his voice being replaced with shock.
"Ah yes… when I travel across the lands, sometimes bits of me arrive before the rest of me. It's perfectly natural of course," he said as if he we're trying to assure us of a common fact rather than this insanity. "It appears that my ears were the first to arrive this afternoon."
"Well regardless," Severus said distractedly clearly s unable to follow this man's logic as I was. "Whether or not we were talking of marriage is not any of your business."
"I understand that you find this situation embarrassing," Thaddeus said calmly. "I am trying to be a gracious host, but you are making it a bit difficult."
"We didn't mean to intrude," I said carefully, turning slight in Severus's arms so I could meet Thaddeus's gaze without exposing myself. "We didn't even know this was someone's land. We just thought we were camping in the forest."
"It's really no bother," he said, brightening up once more. "I love to meet new people, just don't tell my birds or they will get jealous. Marybeth, my bluebird flew off the moment she saw the two of you."
"Did we startle her?" I asked, instinctually drawing nearer, and inadvertently pulling Severus along to his chagrin.
"Oh, I don't think so," he chuckled. "If I know my Marybeth she heard you talking about marriage as well and she went off in search of a bit of rosemary."
"Why would a bird do that?" Severus asked, and I could literally feel him resisting the urge to ask something much snider because he could sense my interest in the subject.
"Well, this spot has a certain lure to it," he explained leaning forward just a bit. "I wager it would surprise you how many wedding ceremonies I have performed right here in the brook."
"Really?" I gasped.
"Somehow souls like the pair of you always seem to end up finding themselves here," he laughed. "Strangely enough that always seems to happen around the time I have the sudden urge to visit the grove."
"How many couples have you find bathing naked in the brook?" Severus asked shrewdly.
"Oh almost all of them," he said, and then he laughed a full belly laugh. "I have no qualms about the human form though. In fact each couple that I have married has been naked at the time. It's much easier to connect with the earth when the trappings of humanity are taken out of the question."
"Okay honestly who are you?" Severus asked, though the question was much calmer the second time around.
"I'm Thaddeus but I told you that already," he said cheerfully. "I live here in the forest, and I split my time evenly between roaming with my animal friends and writing."
"You write?" I asked, intrigued. "What do you write?"
"Oh everything!" he trilled, and though I wouldn't have thought it was possible his face lit up even more. "I've written books with facts about plants, and of course about animals. I have several stories about fairies in the works. Oh and of course there is my book about the water nymph I think might inhabit this grove."
He dropped his bag onto the ground and was excitedly pulling one stack of parchment after another out of the bag and setting it in the grass. It became clear pretty quickly that the bag had an undetectable extension charm on it as he pulled a veritable library from within it.
"I'm getting distracted though," he said when the ground all around him was covered with different stacks of parchment. "What I meant to do when approaching you was ask if you did in fact wish to be married."
"Yes we do," I sighed squeezing Severus tightly. "Don't we Severus."
"I'm not sure an unknown ritual in the woods with someone we just met was quite what I was thinking," Severus said quietly as he focused entirely on me and pushed my hair behind my ear.
"But it's kind of perfect isn't it?" I asked him quietly. "We can't really have a normal wedding with the life we're leading. And even a secret wedding couldn't really involve any of our friends or even acquaintances because of the circumstances and all of the secrets."
I paused to let what I said sink in, and watched the thoughts as they flitted through his eyes.
"And we were already planning on spending some time away as a couple," I prodded gently. "Why not spend that time on our honeymoon."
"We don't even know this man," he whispered quietly as he nuzzled my forehead.
"How well does the average couple know the person marrying them?" I shrugged.
"Do you really want to do this?" he asked, and I was sure I wasn't imagining the tiny pearl of hope in his voice.
"I really do." I nodded.
"So how do we do this?" Severus asked, looking over my shoulder at Thaddeus once more. "Do we come up there? Do you join us in the water?"
"The water is perfect," he said, and with a snap of his fingers all of this bits of parchment organized themselves and flew back into his bag. "But first we need the materials for the hand fasting."
As if summoned by his very sentence a bluebird flew up and landed on his hat with a few sprigs of rosemary clutched in its beak.
"Very good Marybeth," Thaddeus said with a smile as he took the rosemary in hand. "Rosemary for remembrance, and…. Yes lavender for luck, devotions and to make wishes come true."
He smiled as he plucked two handfuls of lavender and set it to the side along with the rosemary. Then with an air of determination he delved back into his bag. His arm disappeared inside all the way up to his shoulder, and he closed his eyes in concentration as he dug around.
"Ah yes," he said as he pulled his arm back out with a handful of ribbon. "And blue ribbon to tie it all together with tranquility and peace."
His gaze focused on us but his hands were moving swiftly without his attention focused on them to braid the plants together around the ribbon. With my attention focused on his hands I suddenly realized they were covered in ink stains. It was an unpleasant time to think of it, but his hands reminded me quite a bit of how Dumbledore's hands had looked before he died… in a future that hopefully would not happen.
"It would ground the ceremony to the two of you if I included a bit of hair from each of you," he said as his fingers worked away. "Only a hair or two apiece."
"Alright," Severus said begrudgingly as he reached up to pluck a few of his hairs before smirking crookedly at me. "What's a few more."
I couldn't help but laugh at that as I plucked a few of my own. Severus handed me his hair, and I turned around to hand the lot of it to Thaddeus. It occurred to me that I should perhaps feel embarrassed that I had just fully exposed myself in front of a strange, but I wasn't. This place still felt magical, and I still felt completely calm and relaxed, so it somehow seemed natural to be naked here.
"Thank you," he said, immediately weaving the hair in amongst the flowers. "We should use your right hands when we do the hand fasting. The ritual won't make it disappear completely, but it will help with healing your hand with the love the two of you share."
I felt Severus stiffen slightly behind me and I knew he was feeling guilty about my hand. I turned my back on Thaddeus braiding and caressed Severus's face instead. I tried to show him with my eyes that I still did not blame him and I did feel him relax slightly and lean in to my touch.
"We're getting married," I whispered with a smile.
"Yes we are," he smiled, and then he leaned in to steal a kiss.
"Ah, ah, ah, that doesn't come until the end," Thaddeus said with a laugh. "Don't worry, we're almost there."
Theddeus, moving spryly for an older man, slid off the bank and down into the water beside us. He kept the floral ribbon held above the water and waded over so he was standing right next to us. Suddenly the silly hat, and the ink stained hands didn't matter to me. This was the man that was going to marry me to the man of my dream today.
"It's perfectly alright if you do not, many of the couples I have married were not prepared in such a way," Thaddeus said seemingly out of the blue. "Do you have rings?"
"We do actually," Severus said quickly, demonstrating a fine feat of wandless magic as he summoned the two rings from within the pile of our clothing. "Here you go."
"Oh that's okay, you should hold onto them." Thaddeus instructed. "You keep hold of hers and she will do the same for you."
Severus nodded, and handed me the ring that he would soon be wearing.
"I'll will direct you in saying your vows, and then you will place the ring on your partner's hands," he said.
This time I nodded.
"Ladies first shall we?" Thaddeus said with a smile. "What are your names?"
"Severus and Hermione," I answered.
"Very good," he beamed. "Do you, Hermione, take Severus, as your partner and mate? Shall he be to you a person that you will never seek to harm? Will you strive for his happiness and welfare, and let your love serve as a treasure in times when other riches fail to serve?"
"I do," I swore, my heart swelling with love at the look of adoration Severus held in his eyes when he looked at me as I slid the ring into place on his finger.
"And do you, Severus, take Hermione, as your partner and mate? Shall he be to you a person that you will never seek to harm? Will you strive for his happiness and welfare, and let your love serve as a treasure in times when other riches fail to serve?" Thaddeus asked.
"I do," Severus promised in that smooth baritone voice that never failed to please me, and then he slid that ring that had grown so special to me into place on my left hand.
"So the wish is in your heart," Thaddeus said. "Then so mote it be."
He paused for a moment and offered us another of his beaming smiles.
"And now for the binding." He said as he brought my right hand and Severus's left hand together and draped his floral ribbon over it. "As this knot is tied, so are your lives now bound. Woven into this cord, imbued into its very fibers, are all of your hopes for your new life together. With the fashioning of this knot do I tie all the desires, dreams, love, and happiness wished here in this place to your lives for as long as love shall last."
He wrapped the floral ribbon around our hands tightly enough to make it snug without being uncomfortable and began creating a complex knotting system that spiraled around our hands.
"In the joining of hands and the fashion of a knot, so are your lives now bound, one to another. By this cord you are thus bound to your vow. May this knot remain tied for as long as love shall last. May this cord draw your hands together in love, never to be used in anger. May the vows you have spoken never grow bitter in your mouths."
He said as he wound each end of the ribbon back into the intricate knot he had created.
"As any child discovers when they are learning to tie their own shoes, the first move is to cross the ends. The cross creates the Rune Gebo , which is the Rune of partnership and union. As your hands are bound by this cord, so is your partnership held by the symbol of this knot. May it be granted that what is done before the gods be not undone by man. Two entwined in love, bound by commitment and fear, sadness and joy, by hardship and victory, anger and reconciliation, all of which brings strength to this union. Hold tight to one another through both good times and bad, and watch as your strength grows."
He released our hands but directed us to keep them hovering before us as they had been when he tied the knot. He began to scoop water up in the palms of his hands and drizzled it liberally over our joined hands.
"As the water is poured and the two become one, the halves become invisible, indefinable, a true whole. Take up now your vessels which represent your own persons. The water within them is as your own lives, similar yet separate. In the mixing of these fluids in the singular vessel of your union are your lives thus blended. See how the two, once separate, are a complete whole. So now are your lives." He recited. "Water to water, and soul to soul. Love binds and blends us all."
He clapped his hands together over the tops of ours and smoke began to seep out of the floral ribbon. I felt no heat against our skin, and yet I could see that the flowers were clearly burning and creating a rather pleasant smoke. It burned away until it was just our hands once more, and yet I could still sort of feel the weight of where our hands hand been bound together.
"And no my new friend you may kiss your bride," Thaddeus smiled.
Severus did not hesitate to claim my lips, and I surrendered easily to his powerful and all-consuming kiss.
"A very happy wedded life to the pair of you," I heard in the distance, and then with a flash of light and another crack we were alone in the forest grove once more.