Neville stood and looked around the hothouse with despair. The plants were dying in every direction he turned. Their leaves shrivelling up and turning brown. He didn't have any explanation as to why. The only plants not affected were the ones in pots. He stood looking at them as he tried to find something that linked them all. The only thing he could think of was that there was a problem with the water supply. The pots were fed by rainwater. He checked the well, and all seemed fine.

"Neville?" Came a cry and he spun around, cursing when the searing pain returned across his back. Zabini rushed into the greenhouse, his robes billowing out behind him.

"Neville. The Princess!" He shouted between pants. "To be executed in two hours."

"What?" Neville shouted in response. "Why?"

"The lords have blamed her for the sickness in the plants. Blamed her curse."

"But she's not cursed,"

"No, but people here are superstitious."

"What can we do?"

"Those vials you gave me, I tested them. They contain Vitapulvis,"

"Vitapulvis. It's a weak acid, but to plants, it would burn the plants inside out."

"That would explain this," Neville answered as he pointed at the dying plants.

"We need to tell the King. But he refuses to see me."

"We need to save the Princess. We can explain to the King later." Zabini nodded.

"How can we save the Princess? I've been trying to see the King since she was arrested yesterday. The King will see no one."

"I don't know, but we must do something." He urged as she began to pace.

The thought of losing Pansy was beyond imagining.

"If we go there where the execution will be, maybe we can disrupt it and get her out?"

"That is probably the only way we're going to be able to do it. She will be heavily guarded." Zabini warned.

Neville took a deep breath before hissing as the skin on his back stretched. He gritted his teeth as he ignored the pain. He needed to think.

"You try and speak with the King again, and I'll go and see what I can do," Neville explained. Zabini nodded as they left the greenhouse together.

Neville pushed his sheers into his pocket as he tried to rush off to the courtyard.

His heart raced, and his pulse throbbed in his veins as he forced through the stinging at his back. He refused to think of what could happen if he didn't do everything he could now.

It seemed to take forever for him to get to the square where the stake sat. He took a deep breath, and it dawned on him what he was about to do.

A crowd had already gathered around the base, and most looked eager and interested. It made him sick at the thought of these people wanting to see harm come to Pansy.

Neville pushed through the crowd on his mission to the front. The logs were still being positioned as he broke through the front row of people. He could hear nervous chattering around him as he waited.

It didn't take long before the King took up his throne. Neville didn't care as he watched for Pansy. The crowd noise increased until movement was seen at the edge of the courtyard. Neville lifted his head and watched as a woman was led towards the stake. Her hair was as inky as a writers quill, but her eyes were unmistakable. Neville felt his breath leave him in a whoosh as she came into view.

She was stunning as she walked with her chin jutting out and head held high. He heard a gasp pass through the crowd as her face was bare. Neville could see the mark as it fell across her eyebrow and down passed her chin and neck. He shook his head as his mind thought to the mark on his own chest.

They had so many things in common, so much time had been wasted hiding from each other. He looked upon her exquisite face and kept her gaze as she closed in. She saw him and her steps faltered. The guards forced her forward, and he could see that he had distracted her. Her eyes filled with tears as she stared at him. He smiled as the tears welled up in his own. He watched as she searched his face for something, sighs of rejection? Revulsion?

He held his own head high and jutted his own chin out, determined to show her that he refused to look away from her. He watched as she fought to keep her face from crumbling as the guard walked her up the steps to the stake. He heard her hiccup as the guards started to tie her to the wood. He couldn't bear it as she began to cry.

He wanted to grab her and hold her and protect her from the world. He let his own tears fall without wiping them away. He turned to try and find Zabini in the crowd. If he didn't act soon, it would be too late to save her. Zabini was nowhere to be found. Neville turned back to Pansy and watched as she stared around terrified as one of the guards lit the logs.

Nevilles bounced on his feet as he looked around again. He needed Zabini now.

The flames started to take hold of the kindling with frightening speed as the smoke began t billow out into the air. He could hear his heart thundering in his ears as he watched the wood start to catch. Pansy's robes floated and ruffled in the air currents as he sobs because audible. He felt sick with urgency as his soul pushed him forward. Guards surged between them to stop him, but he managed to dodge them as he tumbled forward towards the log pile. He hissed in pain but pressed on as his back screamed in complaint. He looked up and saw the flames starting to spread. The guards began to pile around him when a voice called out over the din.

"Stop" It was Zabini. Neville managed to use the distraction to scoot between two guards are their attentions were caught.

"The Princess is innocent. The wells were poisoned."

The crowd began to stir, and chatter as Zabini continued to talk. Neville paid him no heed as his sole focus was on Pansy and the flames. He shied away from the fire as he tried to pass the steps up to the stake. He could hear her broken cries as he neared. How she was able to stand the heat without screaming, he didn't know. He tore at his tunic to wrap it around his face so that he could breathe. He pushed on and winced as the fire increased the temperature around him.

He finally reached the stake and tried to loosen the ropes, but they were solid. He looked around for something to cut them with. He began to panic as Pansy's screams started to rise.

Inspiration flashed through his mind as he remembered the sheers in his back pocket. He grabbed for the and began to cut at the ropes. The smoke was starting to fill the air as he worked away at the thick strands.

He was so close to cutting through the ropes when he was pulled away. He looked around to find Zacharias before him trying to pry the sheers from his hands. Neville saw red. He pulled the sheers from him and dropped them to the floor behind him.

"She needs to burn." He cried as Neville looked at him.

"If she burns then so do we." He growled as he pushed the horse-faced man.

"I'll not burn for a mutant!" He cried back as he pushed Neville. He stumbled and fell onto one of the logs. He cursed as his hand pressed to the embers. He managed to push himself off as Zacharia lunged again. Neville, Expecting the attack raised his legs and kicked out, pushing the Lord back onto the flames.

The man's screams, eclipsed the Princesses as Neville got up and continued to work at the ropes. He almost cried when they were free. He scooped up Pansy who had gone limp in his arms. He rushed forward for the steps and began to climb down, the Princess wrapped up in his arms.

"Bring her back, She's the sacrifice," Zacharias called from the pyre.

"Guards!" Came the King's voice. "Seize him!" Neville felt his heart fall as he looked up at the smug look on the other man's face.

The guards grabbed Zacharias and hauled him towards the King. Neville looked around in surprise before he looked down at the Princess.

In his arms a beauty with skin the colour of fine porcelain lay, dark crescents of eyelashes pressed against the surface of her reddened cheeks. It took him a moment to gain his breath. He reached out and stroked her inky curls as the woman stirred. He smiled down at her as those sparkling grey eyes looked up at him.

"Neville?" She croaked as she looked around. She raised her hands to her face and panic danced across her features. "Please. Don't look at me. I am marked" She covered her face with her hands as she began to sob.

"Princess." He whispered. "look at me." She shook her head. "Please, I need to show you something," She opened her fingers to peek out. He smiled down at her as he pulled at his shirt. He watched as her eyes followed the lines of his neck down towards where the red splodge sat on his chest. Her eyes widened as her hands fell away from her face to pull at his clothes.

"Why didn't you tell me?" She asked as the looked at the mark.

"the same reason you never told me." He smiled as he pulled her head to his chest as he had wanted to do almost from the first moment he had laid eyes on her.

He looked down at her, wanting to savour every sight of her. Their eyes met, and Neville felt the draw of those mercurial orbs pull him in. He saw her pink lips and knew what he wanted. He pushed his face forward and pressed his against hers.

The world moved as their lips locked. Something like a resounding click seemed to sound somewhere deep within his heart as his soulmate clicked into place. He threaded his fingers into her hair as he pulled her towards him.

A quick flick of tongue touched his lips and had him dying for more. They pulled away slowly before opening their eyes. Neville gazed at her face and then did a double-take. The mark was gone, leaving the left side of her face as blemish-free as her right.

"Amazing." He smiled as she looked up at him dreamily.

"What?" She asked cautiously as he pulled back a moment.

"Your mark, It's gone."

"What?" She said in alarm. She felt her face and shook her head. "That's not possible." She looked down and looked at his chest. "So has your's."

"What? Really?" Neville asked as he pulled at his tunic. Pansy chuckled

"Do you think we've broken the curse?"

"It was never a curse." Came Zabinis reply as he neared them, his robes billowing out behind him. They both looked around and blushed, remembering that they weren't alone.

"If not a curse, what was it?"

"Let's just say the vengeful god didn't spread you two far enough apart." He laughed, his perfect teeth grinning like a cat. "You've found your counterparts, and you've claimed each other, essentially healing the wound. Take a look at your hands." They both looked at their hands where their fingers were intertwined. At the base of their little fingers, a matching red ring surrounded the flesh, tethering them together. They laughed as they looked at their intertwined fingers. They hugged again, luxuriating in the feeling of each other.

"Daughter." The King's voice called. Neville watched as she looked up, her face becoming cold and blank. She tried to get up, and Neville helped her. The King began to walk away as Pansy followed him. She turned and held her hand out to Neville. He smiled and followed, feeling the soft, pale hands in his calloused green tinted ones. The left the courtyard as the people watched on in silence.