His Sacred Dogma

By the Hippy Gypsy

Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns the good stuff. I just own the little sucky parts that get thrown in for good measure. Just a little note on this story, although you've already probably figured it out, I kinda jump back and forth between time periods. If you have trouble, just let me know and I'll do some editing to make it a little plainer, but so far everyone I've talked to says it's understandable. Anyways, on with the show! Thanks for reading and reviewing. :D

Chapter 4: Oh Really?

As I finished telling Nymphadora about my thoughts as I left Grimmauld Place that night quite a few years before, I adjusted the pillow behind my head. My back was starting to ache, the result of a potions accident gone completely awry back when I was working on an experiment with Remus. I was still suffering the repercussions of the results some time down the line.

Nymphadora, however, noticed only slightly. She had learned long before to not pay attention to any restless twitching on my part while she slept. But while she was awake, she did the best she could to help. "Is it acting up?" she asked, her eyebrows raised slightly.

"Urgh," I groaned deeply. I reached for my back, slightly rubbing where the throbbing was coming from. "It's feeling like it's twisting itself into little knots."

"Do you want to take something for it?"

"No," I answered wincing slightly as a sharp pain shot out from the lower part of my back. "It'll take care of the pain, but it keeps me up all night. I'll just let it be."

"Lay on your stomach then," she told me, and I did so readily and buried my face in my pillow. I muttered a few choice words aimed at the belated injury of my past.

She rose up behind me and I felt her hands reach under my shirt. She couldn't see it, but a great smile pulled across my face as I felt her touch to massage my back. She prodded and searched around for a moment, then asked, "Where's it hurting, Severus?"

"My lower back," I muffled into my pillow. "It's right next to my spine."

She felt around for another moment, then replied, "I can feel them. You have a couple of big knots. No wonder you're in pain." I then felt her dig her knuckles dig into the spots where the soreness was currently residing. Unable to help myself, the relief sweeping over me, I let out a great moan while my face was buried. Slightly amused, I heard her ask me, "Feels better?"

I lifted my head for a slight moment and replied deeply, "I knew I married you for a good reason." I let my head fall back, and I smiled and relaxed while she went to work.

"So," she said, continuing from where we had left off. "You didn't fall in love with me at the play?"

"Nooo," I moaned again in comfort.

"It was that very first night? On the roof?"

"Yesss…"

"Okay," she said with a matter of fact tone. "I'll buy it. But one thing still escapes me."

"What is that dear heart?"

I felt her lean closer to me, and I turned my head in order to look into her eyes.

"How in the hell did you know that white roses are my favorite flowers?"

I buried my face in my pillow once again, hiding my smile, and I replied in a muffled laugh, "I have my ways, and from a spy to an Auror, you will never know that secret."

"Oh really?" came her reply.

In her next movement, I felt her dig the knuckle of her right index finger very deeply and sharply into one of the knots in my lower back. Catching me totally off guard, I gripped the pillow hard, raised my head, and let out a great yelp of pain. Damned-ed Auror, I thought to myself. In a time of need, she knew exactly how to get what she wanted.

"Tell me and I'll stop," she said mischievously, holding her knuckle in place. "How did you know?"

"Okay," I growled, gritting my teeth, against the pain. "I'll tell you."

"Spill it," she said innocently.

"Remus told me."

And she instantly let go. I flopped back down once again and let out a barely audible "Ow."

Nymphadora, on the other hand, sat back with her arms crossed and a confused look in her eyes. "Remus told you? But…way back then, you two weren't as close as you are today. You wouldn't have had the guts to ask him something like that."

"Oh really?" I replied, my eyebrows raised ever so slightly. I turned onto my back and looked up at her with a mischievous grin. "Well, if you don't believe me, you can always go and ask him yourself. And he will tell you exactly this. I came to Grimmauld Place to see him that Thursday before the opening night performance, and I asked him just that: What is your favorite flower? And he will readily agree that's exactly what happened." I sat up and rubbed my back again, adjusting my position. "The day I came to visit him, he was sitting in his room, at a typewriter, toiling away at the very beginnings of those books he was writing. I had also asked him about his famous hangover."

"And Remus will agree this is all true?"

"Yes," I said my eyes twinkling. "I got the idea the first day I came to your office for lunch…"

Author's Notes: Okay. Getting underway again. Thanks for the reviews guys. For a while I wasn't getting any, and I was discouraged. But the ones I'm getting now are keeping me really upbeat! Thanks you guys! R&R! :D