She winced as she trekked to his office slowly, stopping for a moment to suck a sharp breath in, lungs burning as she did so, wheezing loudly.
Released from the infirmary, he followed her closely, going at her pace instead of his. He could tell she was still in pain and that she would heal for quite a while. Despite the wounds being closed and healed on the outside, the muscle on the inside would take a hell of a lot longer.
"Are you ok?" He asked sincerely, rounding on her.
"I'm fine," she choked out, holding onto the wall to prop herself up shakily.
"Clearly you aren't, or you wouldn't be standing there holding onto the wall for support. Stop being so stubborn and let me help you," he tutted, watching her with interest.
"I don't need help." She pushed off the wall and walked towards his office once more. She hated being reliant on others, and she certainly hated asking for help. It was not in her nature to accept help easily or willingly. She liked to be independent and reliant on no one.
"Just let me help," He pleaded.
"No." She began walking faster, masking the pain that was now tearing through her entire body as if she were feeling nothing. She could also be quite stoic when she had to be.
She didn't want to be here with him. She couldn't shake the bitter taste and the distrust she felt after what he had admitted to her, but she needed the protection of some degree and he was the one to offer it right now.
She didn't know where Harry or Ron was, and she couldn't exactly just waltz out of here when Voldemort had eyes everywhere.
"For Merlin sakes woman, slow down!" He took three fast steps to catch up to her, only to slam right into her back when she stopped like she had been shot.
He noticed she was fumbling for her wand in her pocket, following her gaze he laid eyes on who it was. He should have known.
"Snape," Alecto nodded curtly as a small smile began tugging at the corner of her lips as she rested lazily against the wall beside the entrance to his office as if she were waiting for him.
"Mudblood," she addressed Hermione with a sharp sneer, watching as she fumbled for her wand
"Hermione," He warned sternly, eyeing her sideways apprehensively before stepping in front of her without a second thought as if to both protect her and stop her getting into a fight that she realistically shouldn't be in nor could win in her state.
"Alecto!" Severus snapped viciously, causing both women to recoil slightly as his raised voice. "I know you are only here to cause trouble and little more, so I will give you one chance to move along peacefully, or I will jostle you from my doorway and out of the tower."
"Dumbledore style?" She asked mockingly, throwing her head back and laughing heartily.
"Well. If that's what you want, I am sure I can do it a second time."
"You don't scare me, Severus."
"And you don't scare me, honestly." He exhaled sharply from his nose, rolling his eyes back hard.
Hermione by this stage had already unsheathed her wand and clenched it in her hand so tightly, knuckles whitening with the pressure in which she grasped it. Waiting for the moment she needed to use it, she sucked in a few deep, painful breaths, trying to remain as stoic as possible in the presence of the woman who tried to end her life out of spite and jealousy.
"I was merely passing by innocently." She held her palms up defensively in the air and scooted a few inches away from the doorway. "And I thought whilst I was here, I would see how the Mudblood was going. I am sincerely sorry for injuring you… And not killing you instead."
Hermione stepped in front of Severus forcefully. Holding her wand up, she shot a leg-locking curse at Alecto, causing her to fall hard onto the stone ground with a loud thud followed by an even louder groan.
Alecto countered with the same Sectemsempra spell she had already used on Hermione prior, only Severus stepped in front of her, taking the blow to his shoulder. Stumbling a few steps back and keeling over a touch. Palms lying flat on his thighs, he looked at the woman with a malicious glint in his eyes.
"Severus, you're hurt," Hermione shrieked in panic, letting any semblance of the level head she had upon her shoulders all but slip by the wayside.
A deep cut to his shoulder dripping scarlet blood upon the floor at a fast rate, his robes soaking up some as they stuck fast to the wound that now marred his flesh.
Bringing himself to full height, it was almost as if he didn't feel the searing pain that was now tearing through not only his shoulder but his entire body as he tried to focus on the issue at hand and protecting Hermione.
"Severus!" Hermione pled, her voice shaking with emotion as she tried to pull him away. Instead, he shoved her back behind him with relative ease considering the circumstances and lunged at Alecto who was now staggering to her feet, wand still in hand and aiming it once again towards Severus. Just as she was about to fire off another spell, Hermione disarmed her, wand skittering across the floor loudly.
Chest heaving and face sticky from tears, Hermione ran four steps and grabbed the woman's wand before she could get a chance to collect it once more.
Alecto pushed herself onto her knees and then to her feet quickly lunging at Hermione and pushing her hard into the stone wall behind her knocking the breath out of her.
"You dare disarm a follower of The Dark Lord?" She spat forcefully in Hermione's face, causing her to wince beneath her. The pain radiating from her chest brought tears to her eyes. Chest felt as if a steel band had wound itself around her chest and was tightening against her lungs so severely she could no longer force in oxygen.
Severus, despite being injured and bleeding heavily, carried on as if it were a mere scratch to his chest. Of course, stoicism was his strong point never wanting others to know how he felt. He would rather die on the spot than show weakness to others.
He knew he could not kill the woman. Killing another Death Eater rarely bode well within their ranks, let alone if he killed one over a girl who was meant to be his prisoner.
Snaking an arm tightly around her waist, he pulled her roughly away from Hermione with force. Dragging her several feet away, he threw her unceremoniously into a heap on the cold stone floor.
"Let it go, Alecto. Next time I will kill you and that is a promise," he snarled ferociously before grabbing Hermione roughly around her wrist and pulling her alongside him.
Hermione shoved both wands into her pocket quickly, allowing herself to be tugged along by Severus and up to his office. Everything happened so quickly she had almost forgotten the curse had hit him and was bleeding out at a steady rate.
Up the stairs and through his office door he dropped her wrist as if it were molten hot and tore at his robes feverishly, exposing the sliced flesh to the air. Pain searing through his shoulder and chest, he sat upon his chair looking down at his bloodied shoulder critically.
"We need to get you down to the hospital wing," she admonished, rounding on him only to be met with a steely glare and a shake of his head.
"I'm the only one that can fix this, Hermione," he bit forcefully through gritted teeth as the pain tore red-hot through his body, almost crippling him on the spot. He had to hand it to himself, he could really create a useful and debilitating cure.
Crimson blood trickled freely out of the wound and down pectoral muscle before slowly dribbling down his now bare stomach as he held his wand high, touching the lit tip to the open wound searing with pain and began muttering to himself.
Hermione watched on in awe as the light from the end of his wand snaked and weaved its way through his flesh, pulling the edges taught binding them together tightly before the light dissipated as quickly as it had begun.
He sat, blinking slowly with his wand hand now limply by his side, fingers loosening grip on the polished wood as his eyes locked with Hermione's for but a moment. He wondered if she could ever truly forgive him for what he had done, or if there would always be some semblance of doubt gnawing in the back of her mind.
"Are you ok?" Her voice was hushed as she walked over to him, fingers gently reaching out to touch the wound she saw heal right before her eyes. It felt hot to the touch and humming with magic.
"Is that what you did for me?" She questioned, blinking slowly as her fingers came to rest on his pectoral muscle. She felt it flinch beneath her fingers gently.
"Yes," solemn words fell from his lips as eyes half-closed at the warm fingers now resting upon his chest. Breathing slowed, and it almost felt as if time itself did as well as he basked at the skin-on-skin interaction they were now sharing. He needed to rest, but he also wanted to feel her closer to him. He needed her in a way he had needed no one before in his life. To taste her lips, to feel her body against his own. To feel her writhe beneath him as he made love to her.
Grabbing her around the wrist he pulled her close to him, dropping her down in his lap, lustful eyes meeting she found herself drawn into him. Lips grazing lips in a moment of affection between the two, she sunk low in his lap, arms snaking around his neck to get closer to him.
They had kissed before, but it was nothing like this. This time something was different, and she wasn't sure why. It was as if time itself was standing still and nothing else in the world existed or mattered except this moment right now between them. She felt all the resentment towards him slowly wash away with every moment they stayed like this.
The once forbidden fruit no longer forbidden as he relished in the kiss they were sharing. It felt empowering and for once, for once in his life, he was glad he allowed himself the small pleasure of dropping his walls and allowing a small semblance of happiness.
Who knew, maybe, just maybe, it was time for him to be happy in life. Perhaps it was his turn to settle down with someone he cared about deeply and have a family of his own instead of being chewed up and spit out by everyone he had ever met, used and abused, thrown aside like he meant little. It was his turn to be happy.
And just as the kiss deepened, and he held her tight against his body, he broke the kiss just as quickly as it had started and rested his head against the shoulder.
"I have to go," he murmured bitterly, clutching his arm tightly.
"Your mark?" She questioned softly.
"Go to my chambers and don't leave. I shouldn't be too long. Chances are if he has summoned me so have the others, so you will be fine here without me."
She got to her feet and only nodded. Would they ever get to kiss without an interruption?
A/N: I have FOUR endings for this story and I don't know which path to take. One is HEA, the others, not so much. Either way, whatever I choose, there won't be too many chapters left I don't think.
-Aliasmel1