22.
Something intimate exploding.
She felt frozen, each step she took, her limbs snapped painfully in hesitation. Her mind tried fearfully to grasp the idea that in three days she; Hermione Granger would be nothing more than a hollow shell of woman. She passed through the double doors into her section of Azkaban. An icy calm engulfed her body, as hysteria seeped in.
"No!" She spat breaking out of the grip of the Aurora's that escorted her. Clawing her way past the men to the doors three yards behind her.
Her mind was racing, her eye's focusing in and out of concentration. She wasn't going to be given death; no death would be preferable to what she was going to receive, she couldn't handle this. Terror heaved through her body. Her hands instinctively went into her pockets searching for a wand that had been broken weeks before at the hands of Fudge.
" No, god, no please." Her eyes looked up to the aurora's starring at her, amused.
She heard them speaking.
" They're all the same, thinking they're so powerful and they can get out of this place." The taller, younger one smirked at the other man pressed coolly against the wall.
" Let her tire herself out, it'll be less of a fight that way."
Her eye's narrowed as a window imploded high up the wall to her left, letting in a fierce wind that kicked out around her robes. The two aurora's fumbled for their wands before noticing that they resided in her hands.
" I will not waste away here!" Her voice was low and steely. She didn't know what had happen, she nothing aside from the fear and rage that boiled through her. With a flick of her wrist the two men were dangling high above her. Thoughts, and images bellowed into her mind. Davis the man she had killed; the first man she had killed… blood seeping from the wounds that Severus had dug into him a green flame engulfing him, veins and muscles baking inside his skin; she focused in on his skin so pale it glowed; the glowing doubled and she flicked her wrist again. Agony rustled through the air, as she raised the men higher in the air.
She wanted to kill them, feed from the death that would pour off of them, she focused again on the man's face, she knew him he had graduated the year she had started at Hogwarts. Her mind snapped in panic, she was disgusting, not fit to be a person let alone a witch. She turned the wand on herself.
" Avada-" Her lips trembled the words as she felt her body slam into something hard and warm; death.
His hands were framing her face in a frenzy. She was huddled against him in the night of the forest. Grief welling up in the bleakness of his eye's. She wasn't; couldn't be… He had crushed into her, blinking out of the room. He had saved her in time. His chest lugged in and out slowly. If she wasn't dead why wasn't she breathing.
He tasted hot, harsh and strong. He made her burn, his kisses and caresses where like lighting. Her mind overflowed with need. She needed him. Shifting under him her eyes fluttered open and he was gone, leaving her empty. Severus her mind called out. Why did he leave? It was their wedding night, she still had her ceremony robes on. A rush of thoughts filtered through the room and across her vision. She was dead, without a doubt this was her hell. To brood, to be unsatisfied. Tears streamed down her face as she pulled her legs up to her chest… she wasn't wearing her robes anymore…no now she was decaying, he skin moved deftly across her bones sliding down her body as she shifted, worms and maggots weaved in and out of her hands. She shrieked. No she didn't want to be dead.
" Severus!" She shouted.
Rain was drenching him with the sky's tears. He clutched to her, mind and body. Breathing into her mouth, giving her his strength.
" Severus!" Her voice echoed over the downpour and into his mouth. He flinched with disbelief.
"Hermione?" He heard his voice as he did when he was child, weak and humble.
She scrambled to free herself from suffocation. Rain emptied into her mouth as she wheezed in air. She was rolling in the dirt and mud, trying to inhale. Her throat was closed. He was over her holding her hair away from her face as she clawed into the ground digging for life.
Her heaves slowed and steadied as her muscles relaxed. Her mind buzzed, a hum resounded through her ears. She concentrated on the hum as it intensified. Severus…her heart recognized his voice before her mind. No, another trap…she wouldn't believe it was him, she was dead.
He watched as her body quivered under the rain drops. She had rolled into a ball, her hands over her ears. Shock his mind screamed…she's in shock. His body engulfed over her shielding her from the rain. He cooed into her ear, loving her with his voice.
Her eyes focused on the wet warmth that had blanketed her. Pepper waft through her nose. Pepper, and rum. Severus…he was near. He was all around her, shadowing her movements. Her hands moved off her face as she swayed into his presence. Her hands sought out for him, resting against his heart beat. Her eyes moved up to his face sodden and dirty with fear.
" You're not really here, as much as I want you to be." She moved quickly away from him against a tree.
His heart cracked with despair. Her voice seemed so breakable, fragile. He moved to his knees. His hands spread benignly before him.
" You blacked-out.' His voice was soft and thick. 'I port-keyed you to the forest. You're in shock." He could see her trembling against the tree.
" I can't do this…it hurts…Please…"
" What can I do to prove I'm here."
She stared at him, her eyes glazed and narrowed. She stood shakily to her feet, moving towards him. She stopped inches from him, her hand hovering above his shoulder. Her eye's closed, and opened, he was still there trembling. She buried her hand into his dripping hair. Her breath caught.
" Severus." Her voice was hopeful.
His face plunged against her stomach, his arms clasping around her. She sank to her knees. The huddled together, trembling in relief as the sky dripped.
A/n: Its winding down folks… an epilogue is the only things left to write.
