"What are you doing for the holiday? I don't want you leaving the castle. It's the safest place there is now." Hazel kept replaying the moment in her head. She and Sev had been sitting in his office, taking a break from their work for a cup of tea. He'd set down the copy of the Daily Prophet he had been perusing, staring at her until he caught her attention. It wasn't like she had many other places to go. Xeno had invited her for the holidays, and so had Tonks and Remus, but it would be best if she stayed away. The Carrows still distrusted her, and she could easily be tracked. Besides, there was no way she could bring Sev along. And there was no way she was about to leave him alone, not on Christmas. Not when they'd finally agreed to start exchanging gifts and trying to make something special out of the day. It had taken them long enough.

He was the one who left her alone on Christmas. After gifts had been exchanged and the holiday feast had been put away, he had left her in his study, promising that he would be back soon. He took the Sword of Gryffindor with him - the real one, not the intricate copy that they had given Bellatrix Lestrange to hide in her vault at Gringotts - and vanished. She didn't ask for an explanation, not that he would have given her one until he was home. So she curled up in front of the fire with a mug of hot cocoa and a book, waiting for him to come back. A delicate silver necklace, a snake with emerald eyes eating its own tail, circled her neck, glimmering in the firelight. A gift befitting a Death Eater, perfect for the image she had to maintain. And beautiful in its own right. Even Narcissa Malfoy would be jealous.

Closing her eyes for a second, it almost felt like things were normal again, though they had never quite been normal. A crackling fire, a cozy, warm study on Christmas night, a stomach full of one of the best meals she had enjoyed in a while. If she pushed aside the thoughts of war and rebellion, and the Carrows and their minions, it was almost peaceful. If only Sev was sitting next to her. She sighed, wishing he would get home soon.

The door swung open, Sev stepping in as if on cue. He was nearly frozen solid, covered in snow and ice. "Merlin, Sev, what happened to you?" she asked, setting her book aside. "Where have you been? Here, go change and I'll find some blankets. Go put on something warm."

He came back in Muggle pajamas, still shivering. Hazel wrapped a blanket around him as he sat down, again asking where he had been. Clearly outside, and for a long time at that. "May I tell you something?"

"Of course." She took his hands in her own, trying to warm them up. "Sev, is something wrong? You're practically shaking. Where were you?"

The next time he spoke, his voice was close to cracking. "This entire year, I've been so alone. You're the only thing keeping me sane. I'm so sorry I'm not what you deserve, I'm sorry I'm not -"

"Sev, come here." She let him collapse onto her, Sev quietly starting to cry into her chest. The entire year had hit him at once as he led the Potter boy through the Forest of Dean, guiding him to where he had just hidden the Sword of Gryffindor. More than the entire year. His entire life, leading up to that very moment. It had all hit him - everything he had lost, the fact that he was running a school where he had to allow his professors to torture their students, that he had killed his mentor - the one man who had managed to save him from almost certain death - and seemingly betrayed the Order, the years of spying, thankless work, the years of being on the run, of killing, of lying to the person he cared about the most, of wishing beyond anything that he had made different choices but knowing that there was no way he could go back. The years of longing for a normal life. And now knowing that the boy he had protected for so long was destined to die, and in all likelihood, he would be dying too.

Watching Harry navigate through the forest, he had realized that all of this had been his fault. He had delivered the prophecy, and in his quest for greatness, for acceptance, he had unknowingly started all of this. He had been responsible for so much death, so much loss, even if he hadn't been the one to cast each and every Killing Curse. And for what? If he had looked around a little harder, he would have seen that he had found the acceptance that he craved already. If he had stayed, if he hadn't joined the Death Eaters, he could have held onto Hazel for much longer. They could have stood a chance at being happy. He had her now, but these were the most uncertain of times, and he had started it all.

She could tell he was reluctant to say anything, but the bitterness, the pain, the heartache had overtaken him. "You should have stayed with Remus."

"What?"

Sev looked up at her, his eyes glistening. "You deserve better. You should have stayed with Remus back in sixth year. You could've been with someone who… You could've been happy."

"Sev, I am happy," she insisted, gently brushing a strand of hair out of his eyes. "Especially now, when the second I set foot outside of our quarters… It's such a relief to come back here, to come back to you every day. When I look at you, I don't see all of the things James and Sirius made fun of you for back in school, or all of the things you'd done as a Death Eater. I see the person who never left my side when I was knocked out in the sixth year Dueling Club, the person who sat up in the library with me when I wasn't finished working, even when you had finished your homework hours before. I see the man who wrote me coded letters to tell me he was safe in hiding, and the one who would elbow past James and his gang to make sure we always got our usual table at the Three Broomsticks. I see the person I want to wake up next to for the rest of my life. I stay because I love you. I love you so much, Sev. And I'll remind you as many times as you want me to. I love you, my Half-Blood Prince. I don't care if it takes me our entire lives to convince you, but you are so worth loving. Besides, I'm sure Remus sheds too much."

A brief laugh escaped him, but Sev was still incredulous. "You haven't called me that in forever."

She'd discovered what he called a childish nickname scrawled in one of his textbooks when she'd helped him fish his bag out of the lake, put there by James Potter, who wanted to play catch with the giant squid. It wasn't something she brought up in front of anyone else, but it had made him smile in their troubled seventh year. So why not now? "It's true," she said. "I love you, my incredible prince from Cokeworth."

No matter how nice she was, it wouldn't assuage the guilt that crushed him. "I dragged you into all of this. I dragged the entire wizarding world into this."

"You-Know-Who would have found out about that prophecy one way or another. Wormtail would have found out from James. You know he would have told his friends. Or he would've kept killing until there was no one left to stop him." It wasn't a comforting thought, but she had to try. "As for me, I chose to be here, and I choose to stay. Everything I'm doing is my choice, Sev. I love you." She paused, holding on to him. For a moment, the only noise in their chambers was the steady crackling of the fire. "Have you ever done this before?"

"Cried?" he croaked. "Of course. Too much."

"Cried with anyone." She ran her hand through his hair, her other arm holding him close.

He laid his head on her lap, not wanting to have to look her in the eye. Vulnerability. He detested it. With her, much less so, but it was still off-putting. "No. You're the first - you've been a lot of firsts. Thank you… thank you for everything. I care about you so much, Hazel, no matter how it looks. Please don't ever forget that. I love you."

He was nearly hiccuping now, Hazel kissing the top of his head. "You're going to be alright. I know it's hard to have faith that a couple of teenagers will save us all, but we've got to. I'll be right here no matter what happens."

"Thank you."

"You're not alone, Sev," she said, continuing to run a hand through his hair. "You never have to be alone. I'll be here for you, no matter what."

"Promise?" It was a question a child would have asked, and he hated himself for asking it, but he needed the reassurance. Besides, it was her. If he could be like this in front of anyone, it was her.

"Always." She planted a kiss on his temple, the two of them sitting there until they were utterly exhausted. That night they fell asleep on the sofa together in front of the fire, wrapped in blankets and the comforting thought that they weren't completely alone no matter how much it felt like it.