Chapter Four: Assuage my wrath

Severus woke far earlier than he should have. He felt…displaced. As though something had happened that was eluding him at that very moment, when he had just opened his eyes to the soft lemony light of daybreak. And then he felt her.

The warmth of her naked flesh pressed sweetly against his side, his chest.

Shit.

The memories flooded the dam having the effect to awaken him fully. They had made love last night. No, he corrected the stray thought; they had sex, though for the life of him he could not know the difference between the two. He had never been in love to make love.

Their relationship had quickly swept the path and crossed the partition from awkward to unstably complex. Surely she would recognize that last night was only an offer of seeking need and comfort. Surely she would know how these games were played, these games between a man and a woman.

Only she didn't. He knew she didn't. He had felt that barrier of innocence last night when he had so eagerly plunged into her depths. She would not know what to expect from him this morning.

Or would she? She had proven her wisdom far out stretched her years. Time and again she had displayed comprehension and keen intuition that had relayed she could cope with any amount of duress that should not have ever been placed on such a young child's mind.

Fuck. A child. She was little more than a girl and he had bedded her!

Severus would be the first to confess to any number of ill deeds he had participated in over the span of his lifetime, after all, the evidence was stacked and it was not in his favor. But he had honor, dammit! He had nobility and a sense of right and wrong that had maybe been diluted in younger years but was no longer!

And he had bedded Albus Dumbledore's granddaughter, a girl of just barely eighteen.

He sighed, silently cursing himself and his current circumstance. How had he forgotten who she was last night? But then the answer to that was easy and it was given.

It had been her eyes, a woman's eyes that told tale of too many wars. It had been her body, a woman's body that had responded to his caresses. And, Gods, it had been in her moans, her sighs. No child could make those sounds. No child could arouse his body so quickly, so thoroughly.

Gently and taking extra care, Severus unwrapped himself from Lilianna's soft limbs. He slid from the bed, using the stealth he had garnered from years of being a spy, careful not to wake her.

He stood there for, how many minutes? Just watching the steady rise and fall of her bare breasts as she breathed, the slight curve to her mouth that hinted at precious dreams, her long golden tendrils that were fanned out on the starch white of the pillow beneath her head.

Cursing again, he ran a hand through his hair in frustration. Just looking at her this way evoked emotions from him that he had long since lost the ability to decipher. Emotions and arousal.

A cold shower, most defiantly was in order.

Lilianna awoke not a few hours later, her limbs stretching to feel the warmth that was leaking in from the windows. In a second, her eyes flew open, wincing at the pain between her legs.

Oh Gods.

She knew she was alone in the bed. She could feel no additional warmth beneath the thin sheets, could hear no soft whisper of a chest exhaling breath. Severus was gone.

She felt…betrayed. Used.

Had he not realized what last night meant to her?

Perhaps they were not in love, but dammit! She had given him her innocence. The least he could have done was remain with her until she awoke. He could have faced her like a man instead of a little boy running from a situation he was too afraid to handle. He could have at least had the decency to rip the heart from her body face to face.

And now she felt…furious.

Lilianna had always preferred anger to any other emotion. It was easiest to cope with, it left you in control, instead of being forced into a corner having to defend yourself. If there was one feeling that Lilianna despised most it was feeling the loss of control. And she was suffocating in it now.

Forgetting the tears that were stinging the backs of her eyes, pleading to be let out, she shoved the covers off her bare body and planted two firm feet on the cold wood floor. Damn, but it hurt when she moved like that.

Walking to the wardrobe standing near the window, she pulled a luxuriously velvet dressing robe of navy off a hanger and wrapped it around her shivering form. Tying the belt absentmindedly, she allowed her eyes to wander the room, her thoughts lost and whirling.

She had meant nothing to him, of course she hadn't. Had he, ever, given her the slightest consideration? Had he ever offered her a kind word or tender touch? No. Never.

Last night…last night, he was distressed. He had awoken from revisiting horrors of his past. He had only reached out to her for comfort, for reassurance.

But he should have stayed. He should have confronted his actions and taken responsibility. If not because it was the right thing to do then at least in guilt because he had taken her virginity!

But then she forgot herself. Severus had no conscience. No sense of right or wrong to compel any such emotion as guilt, or remorse. He thought only of himself, it was not so surprising after all that he had not waited her out this morning.

And that was when she saw it. Sitting there, on the bedside table was a small glass vial with an amber liquid that sparkled in the mid-morning light. And beside it, a spare bit of parchment, with only a short message imprinted upon its smooth surface.

Drink this fully. It should help with the pain.

Gods, she thought, he hadn't even signed his name!

And then the dam broke. Her fury became a thing of great adversarial force. Her energies contracting into a single, blind, function. Her eyesight began to cloud with the passion of her hurt.

Fuck you, Severus Snape! How dare you leave me like this! How dare you think you can use me then throw me to the wolves! How dare you Severus Snape!

She strode swiftly to the door, opening it and stepping out into the sixth floor landing. Just as she did, but who should round the staircase other than the object of her wrath?

Severus strode casually up the stairs, rounding the corner to come up short when his determined eyes settled on Lilianna's prose form. He watched as her eyes narrowed dangerously, her chest heaving with the exertion of her anger.

"What is this?" She demanded coldly, holding in her left hand the vial she had removed from the bedside table. She held it out, shaking it threateningly. "What is this!"

Severus sighed, his shoulders slumping in defeat. So much for thinking she would accept last night's affair with docile grace. He should have known better, really.

But he was as fierce of spirit as she was and would burn in seven hells before he displayed any signs of remorse or sympathy. "I left you a note. Can you not read?" His voice was terse, detached and cold. He took three threatening steps towards her and stopped. He raised a single eyebrow in mock inquiry. "It shall help ease any discomfort you may feel as a result of last night's activities."

Fuck. That had been a mistake. He clamped his jaw shut in irritation of his fumble. He should not have referred to last night in such demeaning terms. That had been his downfall.

"FEEL THIS YOU SHREWD ASS!" She yelled. She threw the glass potion vial towards his head with a might that belied her tender form. Severus' eyes widened in shock for a split second before he leant his body just out of the direct path of fire. The vial shattered against the wall behind him, having missed by only a few inches.

Instantly he was enraged. How dare this slip of a girl treat him with such utter hostility. She had walked into her own mess last night, he hadn't fucking molested her. In long angry foot falls, Severus brought himself before the trembling young woman.

In a swift, agile movement, he lifted his hand and brought it down across her left cheek. Lilianna cringed from the unanticipated pain that stung her soft flesh where he had hit her.

She gasped, holding a hand up to cover the violated skin. "You hurt me." She whispered, though she did not know if she was referring to the sting in her cheek or the stabbing in her heart.

He nodded tersely, his brow furrowed in some feeling akin to regret. He should not have hit her so hard. If she did not charm away the swelling soon, she would be left with a bruise he was sure of it.

Reaching a hand up to pull her own arm away from her face, he extracted his wand from the sleeve of his dark robes. "Here," He whispered, He gently touched the tip of his wand against her cheek, muttering a quick incantation under his breath.

In a matter of seconds, Lilianna felt the pain recede as well as the swelling. An expression of gratitude sprung habitually to her lips and she quenched it down. She would be fucked before she thanked this man for healing what he had damaged.

The irony of that thought was not lost on her befuddled mind.

"Go away, Severus Snape." She spoke softly instead.

He hesitated a moment, wanting to assuage her aching and then wondering at the unfamiliar yearning. How could he wish to comfort a woman who had just enraged him to the point that he had been provoked into hitting her?

How could he feel anything at all except a mild irritation at having to face the woman he had bedded last night and anger at her forceful dealings with him just then?

Then, his mind assessing that Lilianna would probably be better assuaged with him out of her sight for the next few hours, he curtly nodded his head in assent. Fine. He turned on his heel and stalked back down the stairs that he had, not five minutes ago, ascended.