The werewolf incident was just one of the things that plagued his nightmares as he got older, but it remained one of the worst. It plagued him whenever he went on Death Eater missions with the werewolves. It was a near constant dream when Lupin came back to teach, even though the Wolfsbane Potion kept him calm. Even though Lupin had his wits about him, Sev still wished that Dumbledore would force him into the Shrieking Shack. But instead Sev was the one who would lock himself away every full moon. He trusted the Wolfsbane Potions he brewed - he'd helped invent them, after all - but he could never bring himself to fully trust Remus Lupin.

Even now, when he was supposedly the most qualified person to deal with the Dark Arts and dangerous creatures, he still had the same dreams he'd been having since he was fifteen. But this time he wasn't dealing with them on his own.

Particularly late one evening he dropped into bed, not noticing the full moon outside. What he noticed first was Hazel sleeping peacefully, bathed in the moonlight. She reached out for him as he lay down, mumbling something that sounded like, "G'night Sev." He kissed her cheek and pulled her into his arms like he did every night. They'd long since stopped caring about what the students would say if they saw both of them heading to breakfast from the dungeons every morning. As the Head of House, it made more sense for him to stay there and her to move down from Ravenclaw Tower, though she still found herself there grading papers on occasion. Even Sev had to admit that he liked the Ravenclaw common room better than his own. It was warmer, it was friendlier, and more importantly, his own students couldn't come in and bother him.

As soon as he closed his eyes, the sense of peace was gone. He was running through the Forbidden Forest, his cloak catching on the trees. His heartbeat rang in his ears as he fell, a pair of claws sinking into his back. The beast howled shrilly, flipping him over with a growl. Its razor-sharp teeth were already dripping with blood. There was no reasoning with the creature. He reached for his wand, but found that it was gone, lost somewhere in the darkness. No wandless magic was going to save him now. The wolf growled, raising its head and lunging. The last thing he saw was the matted fur of its snout, teeth already dripping with blood as they dug into him.

"Sev. Sev, wake up." Hazel was shaking him awake, hardly awake herself. "C'mon, wake up."

He practically jumped at her touch, but took a deep breath when he realized where he was, who she was, and that nothing was wrong. "I... sorry."

"It's alright." She held onto him tightly, running a hand through his hair and asking, "Which one was it this time?"

"Werewolves," he mumbled, trying to steady his breathing.

Hazel frowned, knowing the werewolf dreams were some of the worst. "Well you're perfectly safe here. We both are. It's just a dream. A horrible dream, but it's just a dream." She was silent for a moment, both of them just sitting there in the moonlight. Slowly he was losing the fear he'd woken up with, listening to her breathing calmly. "I love you, Sev."

"Hazel, I..." He looked up at her for a second, trying to bring himself to say it back. "I..."

It wasn't like he didn't feel it. He'd known for a while now. He'd told her before. The feeling that stirred in his chest when she walked into a room, how she always made him feel better, even when he thought nothing could. How, even when nothing really could make him feel better, she would still be there, gently reminding him to eat something and drink water and sleep when he needed to. He'd catch a smile playing at his lips while he watched her working. He wanted her to be happy, and no matter how many times he doubted himself, he sought her out. Good day or bad day, he wanted to find her. She was the first person he thought of when he got news, good or bad, and the only person he wanted to see when he would come back completely drained from Death Eater meetings. And yet it felt odd putting words to it. Part of him was afraid that whenever he said it, he'd be opening himself up to a whole new weakness, but really, he didn't have to name it to know it already existed. Part of him didn't want to say it because he'd never said it to anyone before and he didn't know if that was what this feeling was. It had to be, right? He cared about Lily deeply, he must have loved her, but this, this felt different. And everyone who knew had said he'd loved Lily, and this felt different, so which one was it? He didn't understand it, and it made him afraid. So he waited. Even when Hazel started saying it on occasion, he had waited. He didn't want to get it wrong.

But he knew. He knew this had to be what love was, not how he'd felt about Lily. He knew it when he felt the blood rushing to his face when she'd smile at him in the hall. He knew it when his heart sped up a bit when she would reach for his hand, even though it also felt like settling into the most natural thing in the world. He'd asked Minerva about it once, an offhand remark, really, but she had given him a knowing smile and a, "Severus, I've watched many, many students fall for each other in my time here. And I watched my husband and I fall in love. I think it's safe to say I've been watching the two of you fall for each other since fifth year Transfiguration."

When he finally did say it for the first time, if felt right. Like it was the most natural thing in the world. But even now he hesitated, still afraid of what it meant.

"You don't have to say it," she told him, still twirling his hair between her fingers. "Don't worry, I can see it. I see it in every good morning and goodnight kiss. I see it in the flowers I find on my desk every Friday morning. I see it in the way you reach for my hand in the library, in staff meetings, whenever Dumbledore is making a worrisome announcement... I see it in the way we instinctively find each other, in the way we can curl up next to each other like it's how we're supposed to be. I can see it every time you bring me a book you think I'd like, or point out a particularly bright star for me to look at in the middle of the night, or shove your way through the crowd at the Three Broomsticks so we can have our old table. I see it every time you wake me up from a nightmare about my Auror days and sit up with me even though you know you'll be exhausted in the morning. I see it all the time, Sev, so even if you're not exactly comfortable with saying it all the time, I know."

"Thank you," he managed, still holding onto her tightly. "I don't know what I'd do without you. I don't know what I ever did without you. You... you have made every day immeasurably better, and for that I can never thank you enough."

"That's the magical thing. You don't have to. Just keep being you, Sev."

It took them a while to fall asleep again, as it usually did when one or both of them woke up from a nightmare. But they fell asleep holding onto each other, as always, and it was some comfort. Despite all of the horrors that plagued their dreams, they would always wake to find the other one there, and that was enough.