Severus moved slowly around the castle. He was still injured, still in a major amount of pain, but he felt as if he deserved it. It even seemed as if he overexerted himself, to feel the pain, to punish himself for still being alive.
He walked to Sophia's rooms, knowing that was the only place she would, or could, go. His own rooms were flooded when the Death Eaters blew up the lake. Because hers were further away from the outside, he knew her rooms would be almost untouched.
He slid through the portrait hole and sat on the coffee table in front of the chair, and watched as Sophia slept. She slept uneasily. He had watched her before and saw she rarely slept soundly, rarely stopped frowning or twitching in her sleep.
He wondered if he also slept like that. He didn't know what sort of horrors lay in her dreams, but he knew he had them too. Too many times he'd woken up, flying out of his bed with his wand out, sweating, hair askew, blinking away the sleep as he realised he was alone, in his room, in his underwear.
He reached out and put his hand on her head and ran his thumb along her creased forehead. She instantly calmed down. He thought he even saw a shadow of a smile on her lips.
He loved her. He knew that now. Even when he was fighting against the Death Eaters, all he could think about was her. Just before the war became extreme, before the Death Eaters began winning, he pulled Remus aside.
"Look after her." He had said. He held onto Remus's arm, hard, probably leaving a bruise. "She is everything to me." He had glared deep into the werewolf's eyes, needing to see that he would. Remus had nodded.
"Yes." Remus had said, clearly, almost as if he knew Severus needed to hear that.
Now that the danger was over, Severus mused, he supposed he could ask her to marry him. They could be together. He would never leave Albus's side, of course. Now with Minerva gone, Albus really had no one. Sure, Remus would be there. But Albus, Minerva and himself had been somewhat of a team. Leaders of the school.
Sophia stirred in her sleep and opened her eyes. She saw Severus sitting there, gazing off into the distance.
"Are you ok?" She asked, dryly, coughing when she couldn't speak properly. Severus conjured a glass of water and handed it to her.
"Are you ok?" She repeated, and stood up, moving him to the chair and sitting on his lap, mindful of the pain he must feel on the side of his body.
"Never better." He replied and pulled her into him, wrapping his arms around her.
--
A/n: Not the end. It's coming though. IT'S ALMOST HERE! Ohh.. –sigh-