Chapter 26

Harm

He was running, running away from the black shadow that pounced ever closer. The harder he ran the quicker the thing drove. Drove out from the darkness, something slick and black and the more he fought it the more it hurt him.

Heart pumping, blood coursing, his stomach muscles tightened as a thick wave of nausea nearly swallowed him up, but he couldn't stop, to rest would endanger his life further. But he couldn't help it. A dense coating of morose fear clouded his mind.

Severus stopped, he was exhausted, he could no longer keep up the fast pace. The thing would always get him in the end. It would always claim it's prize.

He knocked against something hard and rough. Steadying himself he reached out a hand and lay his palm flat against the wall. He couldn't see anything only pitch blackness, but he knew it was there, and for the time being it was enough to support his body. And as long as he was hidden by the wall and didn't let his eyelids flicker close he was safe. The thing couldn't get him. But he heard it. An ugly screech sound.

Severus slumped forward when he felt another wave of vertigo and queasiness course through his body. He cradled his abdomen and groaned then slunk down towards the floor.

For a long time he just crouched there leaning, and listening to the churning of his stomach and the howl of the thing circling near by. If he could just shut his eyes for one moment and relax he would feel better, but he knew he couldn't. The creature would sense his vulnerability and strike. But he was so exhausted and powerless he could hold out no longer.

The second he closed his eyes it pounced.

Far off barely discernible there was a tiny voice, a strange slither of silk passed though him. Then it was gone.

Professor Snape screamed, or for a better world a death cry. The shaggy black dog shook itself and slowly padded toward him. To terrified to move he remained paralysed at the spot. Was he going to die? Would death finally take him into it's black embrace and he could finally rest forever.

No such luck. He knew he was dreaming, but even in dreams where he himself was conscious of his being he was too weak to bring them to a cessation. His tormented mind was too exposed to dark stimuli to put an end to the inner torments that still butchered him.

For a while they had almost faded away, until recently. Only a few months ago Lorsekruker had broken into his inner sanctum and nearly raped him again. That was enough to bring back his inner demons and they had come back in prodigality.

He had thought about the black dog dreams a lot in the past. Dissected them into the most minuscule pieces and studied them with the uttermost intensity. They had haunted him for years, long ago he had dismissed them for the dog of death, the hell hound or grim.

It was Lorsekruker.

He squeezed his eyes closed and fell on his side. When he opened them again the dog's jaws were inches away from his face. A desperate struggle to move away was halted when the things jaws snapped out at him. He fell on hands and knees. He could feel the things hot dank breath on his bare body.

Then he heard a voice. It was a woman's voice. Her tone desperate and high pitched.

"Wake up," she was pleeding. "Severus come out of this." Her words rang in his ears summing something from deep down inside his soul and bringing it up to the surface. Her desperate pleadings continued muffled, from an external source. "Let go, Severus." He struggled to follow her voice, but the dog was pulling him further and further away. "You must come out of this!"

Something hard and stinging slapped his face.

"Wake up," she screeched.

He bolted half upright, eyes snapped open. His vision came to fix upon a sobbing woman's face.

"S...sorry." His voice gagged into a spasm as an outright desperate sob wracked his body. He pressed his face into the pillow biting down into the fabric.

"Sush now."

Severus shuddered. The dungeons were freezing.

"It's all right," she soothed, cuddling him gently.

"I'm sorry," he moaned againwhile pressing his face against her throat. "I'm sorry."

"I know you are. I promise you this, it is going to be okay. You'll see. In the end it'll be okay. You will be free from all this pain and suffering."

"I hope so."

"Will be. No more nightmares," she said. "Not tonight." Her left hand brushed against his forehead and brought his consciousness into hers. The nightmare he had experienced, he had resisted her. This time already being inside him she could protect him, make bad dreams fade before they could get a grip and tear him.