I lay beside Severus for a while, watching the gentle rise and fall of his chest beneath my palm. He'd begun to drift to sleep and I felt my own eyes grow heavier, and I wanted nothing more than to curl up in his arms and fall into a peaceful sleep that I remembered so well from the summer. The dreams I'd had more recently had been made up of images and scenes I hoped I'd never have to live; bodies surrounding the castle and Severus laying broken and bleeding at the bottom of the astronomy tower. Remus lay floating down in the lake and Dad's body hung limply from the big tree in the forbidden forest. I'd woken myself so many times the last few nights that I dreaded falling into my bed at night, and the temptation to stay here beside Severus was far too much.
Taking my hand from Severus chest, I ran my fingers over his cheek as I lay a gentle kiss on his lips. He took my wrist tightly and pulled me back down beside him, "Don't leave Lena, I want you." I sighed, when I needed him to have that stupid adult head on, I could find it nowhere, and when all I needed to hear was him telling me to leave, he lay there looking up at me so innocently and harmless, asking me to stay. "I shouldn't, if anyone notices if I've gone…" He reached up and laid a hungry kiss over my mouth, the need to stay here and feel his arms around me purring loudly in my stomach, much louder than the need to run up to my own bed that my brain kept throwing up with angry alarms. "I'll cover for you, say you had a nightmare and I caught you walking the castle. Just stay Lena," Any resonating stubbornness disappeared and I felt myself slid back down beneath the sheets, crawling in between his arms as he wrapped his legs around me. His chest was warm against my cheek and I nestled there quietly until sleep finally became me.
When I woke next I found myself lying in a tangle of sheets, Severus's breath playing gently across my cheek as he watched me sleep. I untangled myself from his legs and pulled myself up onto my elbows, looking down at the length of my body beneath his bed sheets. "I'm ready Lena, I need to feel you." My head snapped up, although his voice was nothing but a quiet whisper. "Really? We don't have to Severus." His fingers played gently across my back and a shiver trickled down my spine, "I was thinking we could try tomorrow; when you get back from Hogsmeade, just see how it goes." My chest felt tight and I reached up and kissed him gently, he tasted sweet against my tongue and I couldn't resist sliding my tongue between his lips, tasting every last inch of his mouth.
"Can I shower here? I won't make it upstairs in time." He nodded and I pulled myself up from the bed, wrapping the sheet around my naked body to shield myself from his eyes, but as I stood and walked to the bedroom door, I let the sheet slip, and sliding through the door Severus's groans filled my ears. I showered quickly and standing from the tub I noticed that the view outside the window had changed so that it was now sprinkled with September sunshine. I dried and dressed quickly, grabbing my bag from the floor by the door. "I'll see you later maybe?" I kissed him where he sat in the corner of the loveseat, drinking coffee and left quickly, hoping to make it upstairs without anyone seeing me. I walked up the stairs and ran the last few flights up to the tower. Tomorrow night, Severus and I would allow ourselves to be one completely, and nothing could stand in the way.
Yet little did I know that a little further down the corridor stood the only other person awake in the castle, and nothing could ever prepare me for what they planned to do.