Disclaimer: The characters here and the world they inhabit are the creation and property of JK Rowling and her assigns.

He was voracious. He sought the secret places of her body as though they might hold the reassurance he was looking for. She gave him all she could and hoped it was enough. She thought it might be when he fell asleep with his head between her breasts.

At some point he rolled away from her, exhausted by his long night. She was wakeful, however, and went to sit in his lounge. There were too many things to worry about. She feared Dumbledore's reaction once he realized she had disobeyed him, she feared Remus now that she knew what he was, and she feared Severus. His openness of the last night and reassurances notwithstanding, there was too much history to simply believe that he would accept her as part of his life now.

She made herself dizzy with all of the possibilities and dozed off. The numbers called to her, waking her and adding a new level of tension. She hated to use the numbers this way and feared what they would tell her. She tried to sleep again and found herself reaching for parchment and a quill.

As had long since become her custom, she first placed the rune for Renée on the parchment. According to the equations, the girl was safe, if not perfectly healthy. Septima grimaced at the assertion that her mythical child had received some minor injuries the night before. She tossed the parchment to the side. She had dozens with similar nonsense messages. It kept her humble, she supposed, that her art could be this flawed.

Next she tried working with Dumbledore and Remus. The results made her shrink away. Her next conversation with those two wizards was likely to be uncomfortable, to say the least. She squared her shoulders. She would never apologize for loving Severus. She would take the punishment for her actions if that happened.

She took one last parchment with a trembling hand. She felt as though she had to know about herself and Severus. She very carefully drew her runes and watched as the equations took shape. Then she slid it away before it finished. Suddenly, she didn't want to know. There were too many possibilities. It was likely that she was the last thing that could make Severus happy.

She heard a chuckle behind her and then his arms were around her. "I think that came out right."

"I can't—I shouldn't have checked it."

"Go ahead and look, love."

The answer showed Severus's rune and her own, with a third rune between. She shook her head and pointed at it. "I don't know that one."

"It looks rather like the one you made for Renée, doesn't it?"

"I don't understand."

"Don't you?" he sounded amused.

"You're making fun of me."

He chuckled. "Don't be so unsure of yourself. At any rate, it shows that I'll be happy with you."

"But with this other rune between us."

"Are you being deliberately obtuse, Septima?"

"I..." It couldn't mean anything. Even if it showed his happiness, it certainly didn't mean it wasgoing to happen.

"Come back to bed, witch," he said.

She allowed herself to be led away. He tugged the sleeves of her robe and her arms over her head as he kissed her and simultaneously pulled the robe up her arms and off. "I like doing this," he said.

His own robe disintegrated in thin air. He pulled her close and pressed their bodies together. "Mm, this is quite pleasant."

His hands dug into her hair as he kissed her some more. "This is bliss," he whispered.

She kneaded his shoulders and back as he kissed her, stroking and caressing. "Oh, yes, love..." he whispered.

He slid between her knees and made her gasp. "Sev—Severus..."

"Just tell me you think I don't enjoy this." He grunted in pleasure and moved closer. Her hands grasped his bum and massaged it, holding him close as she tried to move closer. His hands slid up her ribcage, fondling and gently touching until she moaned and sighed. She clung to him as she came apart, sighing and crying his name.

He kissed her as she trembled in his arms. Then he groaned and started to shudder over her, making her sigh again. He held her tightly, moving closer and closer until with one last groan it was over. She clung to him, still in a state of hopeless pleasure, while he took her face in his hands and kissed her eyes and forehead.

He leaned up on his elbows and continued caressing her face. "You're beautiful right now."

"I'm not like—"

"You're wearing the face of a woman in love, a woman who loves me,a woman who's just found bliss in my arms. I've never seen anything to compare to it."

She looked up at him, unsure what to think.

He shifted to her side, but he continued running a hand through her hair. "I'm happy," he whispered. "It doesn't matter what happens outside the walls of this room; you have made me happy right here and now. You made that scroll come true."

"But the other rune..."

"Ah, my brilliant witch, can't you guess?"

A/N: Thank you to Owlbait and Kyria of Delphi for beta reading!