Too Much Love Will Kill You

53 – Searching and finding

Lorena had her usual seat at the closest end of the Slytherin table, so that the staff at the high table could see her – especially the Potions Master. That meant that she would have to cross the whole place to go to the library. That meant that Professor Snape, as well as the other teachers, would see her go out before everyone else.

I don't care. I need to know. Lorena could not imagine going to Professor Snape directly and asking him questions about the very ring he had given her. He was surely aware of the power of the Love-Snakes but she would feel ready to confront him and get answers from him, if at least, she had a minimum information and knowledge in hand to do so. The urge to know was too strong. She had to move on.

The library was deserted as everyone was downstairs having dinner. She had spent so much time in the library over her five years at Hogwarts that she knew the way there and its layout by heart. Wand in hand, Lorena went to the shelf where she thought she could find information. After a few minutes spent searching, and finding nothing, she thought that this kind of knowledge was not to be stored in the free access part of the library. That left only one option for the next step.

The Restricted Section.

What if these Love-Snakes were… Dark magic ? Then information about them would be stored in the Restricted Section indeed – if any. Worth a try. Lorena stood in front of the door leading to the Restricted Section. She could feel it was warded. She paused a second or two. If she used magic to disable the wards, it would trigger off alarms. Non-magical stuff should do it, she thought. She lifted her hand in front of her and concentrated on her psychokinetic abilities.

It took her several minutes to summon and channel powerful energies, then send them off to the door to disable the wards without triggering off the alarms. When she heard the door open, she was on her knees, her other hand on her heart, trying to catch her breath. But she had succeeded, the door was open now. She scrambled to her feet and entered the Restricted Section.

Lorena used her extra sensorial perception to get a layout of that part of the library. She ran her wand on the books stored there. Yod Legimeo… Yod Legimeo…

She soon arrived to a part of the shelves where strange books were stored. Books about Dark magic and creatures of all sorts. Others about magical creatures to be used in potions. She remembered what Severus had said about the Love-Snakes, they could be used as ingredients for particular potions. She cringed at the idea : she could not imagine lovely, tiny, almost sentient creatures such as Love-Snakes being so crudely and cruelly used. She took the book and searched the index. There was an entry about 'Love-Snakes' indeed.

Excellent. It sent her back to the page dealing with Love-Snakes. The content was strictly potion-oriented. Not very useful from her point of view. However, there was a footnote that sent back to another book : The Interaction between the Mind and Magical Creatures : Love-Snakes : A Case Study. By Theodorus Van Gelder, Potions Master, from the Royal Academy of Witchcraft and Wizardry of The Netherlands, 1864.

Lorena smiled. She had the feeling that she had hit home somehow. Now she had to find the book, hoping it would be there at Hogwarts. At least, she had the name of the author and the title of his work. She ran her wand through the books. Another subject of relief : Love-Snakes did not seem to be part of Dark magic. Moreover, they had been studied by a Potions Master. Someone like Severus. She pocketed the book inside her school robe, hoping to note down everything of interest possible it contained about Love-Snakes.

Lorena had finished checking a big shelf when she felt a tickling on her finger. She stopped, listening with intensity, attentive to the tiniest sounds. He's there. She held her breath, a shiver along her spine. No, she would not panic. No way. Being blind, she did not need to have any lights on, not even at the tip of her wand. Maybe, she could just slip herself in the dark. Maybe he's just in the library, not in the Restricted Section. Yet, Professor Snape was no fool : he would notice that the wards on the Restricted Section had been disabled. If he noticed the wards had been off, he would come here immediately and check around why.

So far so bad if he met her there. She would confront him unprepared on the matter. The tickling on her finger intensified. Lorena realized that his ring must have surely produced the same effect on him. Therefore, he knows I'm here. Probably it's even the ring that has given me away. Damn ! She could not resolve herself to abandon the Love-Snakes here on a shelf either though that had been a logical assumption.

Her acute sense of hearing detected a very slight noise to her right. Beyond the shelf she was checking. Her hand held her wand tightly but she felt weirdly quiet. Maybe if he was behind the shelf, she could made a bee line towards the exit. Rubbish ! He knows that you are here. Yet he won't catch you with your both hands in the cookie jar.

Lorena moved swiftly towards the exit. She left the dark abode of the shelf. She was a few yards away from the exit when she felt two strong hands gripping her arms tightly. She could not but let out a scream quickly stuffed in her mouth by what she supposed to be a spell. Her tongue stuck to her palate in her mouth.

"So, Miss Nottingham, what are you doing here ? Out for a little walk in the Restricted Section of the library ?" whispered a deep, silky voice, dripping like honey into her ears. A honey that could turn into a dangerous poison though. He had cast a silencing spell on her tongue, so he did not expect her to reply.

Lorena braced herself. She had not planned to find herself between Professor Snape's arms at all. She began to move, her body protesting his embrace. Severus was too strong for her though. Now his arms were around her body. He dragged her towards the far end of the Restricted Section, opposite the exit.

"Don't compel me to bind you !" he said to her, still with his sensual yet dangerous tone.

Lorena panicked. She was afraid that he could do again to her what he had already done.

"No, I won't rape you, Miss Nottingham," he murmured to her ear, picking up her thought from her mind. This time, the dangerous tone had disappeared, replaced by a hint of amused sarcasm in his voice.

Do you think I'm going to believe you, after what you did to me ?

"You may believe whatever you wish," he replied to her aloud. Either he used Legilimency or his new contact telepathy abilities. Lorena could not tell. "I know what I'm doing with you."

Once they were at the other end of the Restricted Section, in what Lorena supposed to be a very dark corner, he released her a bit. Suddenly, she felt being pushed against a wall. Her wand escaped her hand magically – Severus had cast the Expelliarmus spell on her non-verbally. The wood made an almost musical sound when falling on the floor. Then, she felt two powerful hands searching her.

"Ah, ah, trying to smuggle books out of the Restricted Section ?" he said with a scornful tone. At the same time, he must have lifted the Langlock spell cast on her as Lorena felt her tongue set free. "Let's see what we have here," he went on, getting the book from under her school robes. "Let's see… 'The Use of Magical Creatures in Potions'. How interesting."

"I don't smuggle books out !"

"So why did you hide it under your robes then ?"

"Because… because I may need my two hands to defend myself against… against…"

"Against what ? Go on !"

"You know what I mean !" She was angry.

She felt the touch of Legilimency in her mind this time. "Against rapists ? Is this how you consider me to be, Miss Nottingham ?" His voice had lowered down to a growling murmur.

Lorena did not reply. She just turned her head away from him – her usual sign she did not wish to answer. "I preferred when you qualified me as your 'almost lover', or your 'hopeless dream', or your 'luckless romance'," he finished with a cruel, wicked tone.

Lorena remained silent, her head still turned away from him. She could feel his warm breath on her cheek. He was coming closer to her. She was surprised that he remembered the few lyrics of that song she had sung once or twice in front of him only. Somehow, it must have touched him a lot that he still remembered the words.

Little Alan chose that moment to manifest himself in his mother's womb. She flinched, a hand on her side, a loud breathing sound escaping her mouth.

Severus' attitude changed dramatically. From wicked to concerned. "Lorena ! Are you alright ?" His free hand slid behind her back to support her.

Through their physical contact, she could feel he was sincere. She turned her head towards him. "Yes… Alan's just… playing, I guess," she whispered.

Their mouths were only a few inches apart. They were alone, in the dark, except for the faint light provided by the moonlight filtering through the windows. The Potions Master closed the distance between them and took possession of her lips. Their kiss intensified quickly, under the rush of their respective feelings for each other. His wand fell to the floor, as well as the book, before he grabbed her by the waist, dragging her against him for a closer embrace.

For long, long seconds, they kept on kissing, sensually, amorously, plundering each other's mouth with passion, tasting each other's tongue with delight, as if their very lives depended on that kiss. A kiss that they had missed to give to each other for too long a time. Lorena's arms rounded his waist, her hands creeping up his back under his black school robe, her belly touching his body so closely that he could feel the baby's movements in the womb too, despite the several layers of of their respective garments.

They parted, in need of air. All the pent-up desire had been there. Was still there. Unquenched despite the outpouring of passion. Severus pushed her against the wall. He wanted to access her body, entirely, to fill her, to feel her. She could feel his arousal grinding against her own body.

"I want you, Lorena. Now !" he said with a raspy voice in which urgency could be heard. Urgency, longing, lust, desire, need. "You can't imagine how much I've missed you holding you like that, feeling your body against mine, kissing you and possessing you like mad !"

"Professor… please… let me go…" Lorena whispered. She had felt her own passion about to take her over. She did not want to give in to him.

Severus did not seem to listen to her. "I need you, Lorena… you're mine… be mine… again !" he growled into her ear. His mouth then kissed her neck, leaving a trail of fire there.

Lorena felt dizzy. He could make her dizzy, like on the very first days of their relationship, at Spinner's End. She let him do for a short moment, her mind a complete mess. This man had the means to bewitch her mind and ensnare her senses. If only he could have been always like that, both gentle and sensual. But he had been brutal and selfish. He had not always been like that though, Lorena had to admit. She had to reckon too that despite how Alastor was with her, gentle, tender, caring, only Severus could appeal to her senses like he was doing now. Truly. Madly. Deeply. Sensually.

Her strong resolve not to give in to him make her come back quickly to reality. They were alone in the far end of the Restricted Section of the library. Nobody around to check on them there for the time being. Most likely nobody to show up to come to her rescue. He was stronger than her, in full possession of his physical and magical abilities. She was disabled, pregnant and weaker. But not without resources.

"Let me go, Professor," Lorena said firmly. "Let me go or…"

"Or what, Lorena ?" There was a hint of mockery in his voice.

"You know what I'm capable of, Professor. Just let me go." Her tone was cold, dead serious. She was alluding to her ability to ignite fires without resorting to magic, with her fingertips only.

"Threatening me, Lorena ? I know what you're capable of, yet I do not take this kind of blackmail from you too gently." He moved away from her, imprisoning her wrists between his nervous hands.

"Nor do I your behavior from you. I know you're not a kind man anyway, sir. You taught me that the hard way just before the term started. Now let me go !" She referred to his raping her.

A dangerous gleam passed in his eyes, which she could not detect of course. However, she felt his anger through their physical contact. His emotion had bubbled inside his mind like a giant wave but Lorena had raised her mental shields and was ready to take the brunt of it. Not that she would be able to deal with the physical aspect of his anger. At least she knew what was at hand and was ready to fight.

Severus knew suddenly what he would do, how all this could fit into his master plan to get her back to him. However tempting that prospect looked like, abusing the young woman he felt something strong for was not the best way to win her back. Besides, she may report him to the Headmaster and that would become serious an issue. "I think you earned yourself a few detentions, Miss Nottingham." The pressure on her wrists increased, to the point she let out a whimper. "You're going to follow me to my office, so that I can see how to fit your detentions into my already very busy schedule."

Lorena better knew than to argue with him. "Just release me, Professor. You're hurting me," she said coldly.

Her cold tone, her defiant stance, the power she could hold over him, all this increased his anger. "Now you come with me !" he barked while picking up their wands and the book that had fallen earlier, with an Accio spell cast silently. He dragged her along the Restricted Section till the exit in a harsh fashion. Lorena knew she was in for a rough ride till the dungeons. She did not resist his pull and tried to follow his stride.

Once out of the Restricted Section, Severus stopped. He reset the wards. "How did you do that ?"

"Do what ?"

"The wards. How did you remove the wards guarding the Restricted Section ?"

"You're hurting me. Release me and I'll tell you. Sir."

"After threats, now blackmail, Miss Nottingham ? Your list of mischiefs for tonight is getting dangerously lengthy."

"My mischiefs, as you put it, are nothing compared to what you intended to do to me in the library, a few minutes ago, Professor. Something you already committed against me by the way." Still referring to his raping her.

"We'll see that once in my office. I'm sure you'll add some other offenses before we arrive there."

Lorena was surprised – he had backed off. Not that his physical pressure on her wrists had lessened. But he had relented about the question he had asked. She knew out of experience that the price to pay for that would be higher in the end. He still had her wrists clasped in his strong hands. He dragged her like this all the way down to the office. They met nobody. Unlike what he had said earlier, there was no other reason for her to aggravate her case. Not that she had wished to, but she could feel through their physical contact, how much angry and lustful he was at the same time. A rather volatile, dangerous combination, especially in a man like Severus Snape.


When Lorena searches, Severus finds !

I hope he's still pretty much in character, doling out detentions that way, even to the mother of his child. Tsk tsk tsk...

Please rate and review ! Thanks in anticipation !