Final Memory
Her heart was pounding, her breathing was so heavy, it hurt her laboured lungs to keep going on. Her legs were straining to keep running at such a speed, her skin carrying scattered cuts and gashes from either spells, or merciless branched as they whipped at her from the trees. It was dark; her vision was impaired from one eye being covered as well, and the tears that misted up her eyes didn't help her either.
She had done it.
Voldemort had held a Death Eater party in his garden, well, he didn't call it that. But Procella did. The garden was vast, with water features in the shape of dancing swans (she noticed that and wanted to cry), next to a large forest with plenty of shadows and ark places to get lost in…
There were long white tables with elegant beverages and a buffet spread for a small country. No one wore hooded cloaks today, all the finest velvets and silken robes. Procella herself wore a pair of black flat knee boots, long black Arabian trousers that hung low, just around her hips, a long baggy sleeved black top, which hung off her shoulders and did look like a gypsy top at first. But this top had the baggy sleeves, and was tight around her breasts. They finished right underneath them, showing off her full stomach down to her navel, and her entire back other than between her shoulder blades briefly. This also allowed the Dark Lord so show off his ownership of her, with her large dark mark bright green and black, dominating the small of her back as a painful reminder of what she would never forget.
Procella waited until he walked over to talk to someone called Bellatrix, or Bella or something like that. She was very dark looking, and wondered if she could persuade her to marry Tom instead.
No, she couldn't waste her thoughts like that. She then hooked arms with long blonde hair, blue eyes and young baby in a silk green baby all in one and the dark mark stitched over his chest in her arms. She looked Procella over once, and smiled.
"Ah! At last! My husband has spoken a lot about you. He says you are the future Lady Voldemort. Is that true?" Procella just nodded, looking around them nervously. No one seemed to be concerned they were together, so she thought she made a good choice. "I am honoured." She tried to bow, but Procella stopped her. She then looked down at the baby, and her stiff nervous face softened into a smile. "Oh, would you like to hold him my Lady?" Procella looked from the gorgeous sleeping babe to his mother, and frowned. I can't. I have to get out of here. "Please, I would be honoured it you did." She just about begged, and thrust the baby into her arms. Procella quickly shifted him to support his head against her left breast, and he cuddled up to her. She cradled him, and her soft heart melted further. A bright smile grew on her face, and she rubbed noses with him. A happy gurgle erupted from his throat, and he opened his eyes. The brightest, bluest eyes she had ever seen shone up at her, pure untainted and innocent. It made a tear of joy fall down her cheek, and she kissed his forehead. "Oh Merlin! That is the first time he has opened his eyes!"
"Then young Malfoy is fortunate for his first sight, to be the most divine apparition in the world. To be enchanted at such a young age, is a great honour I think for him." Procella looked up, still wearing her warm soft smile, to see the blood red eyes of Voldemort. For a moment, he was stunned by her smile. "It has been too long since I have seen you smile like that." He smile too, and she almost forgot he wasn't Tom Riddle. A normal, kind man who saved her. However, her back still stung and reminded her painfully just who this was. But she wouldn't snarl, scowl, or even frown. Instead, she forced the smile to stay, easily, by looking back to the only pure thing there. Little Malfoy. I pray to Merlin himself that you do not follow the same footsteps as your father. I beg you not to. She kissed his forehead again, and he giggled a gurgle. One tiny pale hand fisted a lock of her hair, and she chuckled genuinely. "I see I now know how to make you happy Procella." He said softly to her, and kissed her cheek. This send a shudder through her so great, she had to fight hard not to let it out. "I will make you a mother, and give you this same joy as you feel now, for all of your life." He promised her, and she was shoved back onto her mind track of 'I have to escape now!' "Come Lucius. I think Avery has some news for me of our new branch at Hogwarts."
"Yes My Lord." The white blonde man followed his master with the same air of prestige around him, and never once looked like the lackey he truly was.
"His name is Draco." The woman she now knew to be Narcissia, giggled and tucked some of her blonde hair behind her ear. "I wanted to name him after my father, Cygnus. But Lucius wouldn't have it." She sighed, and smiled down at her baby. "I will bring him up to be the best pureblood wizard there will ever be. He is a leader, I can see it." Procella however, couldn't see anything more than a small baby, oblivious thankfully to what his parents did and supported in their every day lives. Poor kid. She thought, and looked to the mother. She gave a big smile, and offered her her arm. "Why I would love to go for a walk." She giggled like they were school girls, and Procella led her around the party twice slowly, listening to Narcissia babble about her 'perfect husband', all the time looking out for Voldemort. He never took his eyes off her, and when their eyes met, he winked at her. For effect, she winked back, and he beamed. He looked very pleased with this result, and moved his attention to his followers. She almost stopped breathing when this happened. He…he isn't looking! She then dragged Narcissia off track, and into the woods. Before she could complain, she handed her back her baby, and kissed his face lovingly. "You will make a great mother one day." They connected eyes, and they shared a mutual smile. "I am still a woman. I love my husband, and I do not regret anything I have done. I never will. But…I am still a woman." She bounced her baby in her arms to keep him quiet. "And I am about to fall down with my baby safely, once you have run deep enough into the woods." Procella grabbed her shoulders and gave her the biggest hug she could muster. "I have one motto in live Procella. Live for today, and make sure you have no regrets. Don't let me regret this." She then nodded, and Procella broke out into a flat out sprint.
It was a good 15 to 20 minuets before she heard an earth shattering scream. Narcissia, she knew, had just given her a signal that her vanishing act was discovered and to pick up the pace even more. Be like you mother Draco. Please by like your mother.
And this is why her lungs ached, her legs hurt, her eyes were filled with tears and she couldn't stop.
If she stopped now, she would never have this chance again.
Procella didn't know where she was, where she was going, how to get there, or how far 'there' was. She just knew she was here, and needed to get there. Her life now depended on it. Her breath turned into mists of hot breath on cold air, like steam leaking from a steam train at its full speed, and her legs ran like the wheels of a locomotive. She couldn't stop, she wouldn't stop.
She jumped over another log, darting behind another tree, ducked under another branch. This wood seemed endless, forever keeping her from her destination in darkness.
She couldn't stop, she wouldn't stop.
She heard voices shouting in the distance behind her.
She couldn't stop, she wouldn't stop.
She felt her own blood seeping from her minor wounds and trickling down her skin.
She couldn't stop, she wouldn't stop.
Rain started to beat down through the trees and drenched her.
She couldn't stop, she wouldn't stop.
Light! Oh glorious light could be seen in her path ahead of her.
She couldn't stop, she wouldn't stop.
She was so close now, so close. There were shadows of people in the light, and they beckoned her towards them encouragingly.
She couldn't stop! She wouldn't stop!
Her heart felt like it was going to erupt through her chest and her brain explode from the pounding pressure of her pulse.
SHE COULDN'T STOP!
SHE WOULDN'T STOP!
NOT! NOW!
"IMPERIO!" Procella ducked behind a tree, but didn't stop. She pressed onward, hearing multiple voices casting spells and barking orders behind her now. But she saw the figures from the light running to the fight, to her aid? That simple thought, that hope, was all she needed to drive her onward. She ran harder, faster, until she thought she would just buckle from the pain. But she didn't. she didn't think now, she focused all her body on getting to the light, the people from the light. She knew then she would be safe, she knew she could stop then. Then, she could stop.
But she wasn't out of the woods just yet.
"Petrificus totalus!" she knew that voice. Oh Merlin! It's him! He's found me! She screamed to herself, fear pumping more adrenaline through her, her need to escape growing even more. Her golden hair swept back, and she felt oddly light footed…
Procella looked down, and saw her feet weren't actually on the ground. She looked to her hands, and they were ivory pale, her nails thick black claws, and bit her own lip with sharp fangs, that weren't there before. Suddenly, she saw a blue of white over her right eye, and knew it was her hair. She clenched her eyes, and willed herself forward. She shot through the air like she was flying, like a bullet for the light at the edge of the trees and didn't slow down once. "NO!" She heard him shout darkly, as she finally felt he light upon her.
Tired…so…very…very tired… and that was it. Procella crashed down like a meteorite in the open field, twisting and breaking most of her bones, one arm and both legs included, and late the sun bathe her pain and worries into the darkness now seeping at her mind…
"Albus! They're here! Like he said they would be!"
"Yes Cornelius, now duel!" she briefly heard voices of two men near her, and many more droning on in the background…but she slowly lost that sense too. The last thing she remembered, was feeling the soft grass beneath her hands. Only one could move to stroke it shakily, but she took this as a sign, a good omen.
She had escaped, she had survived and persevered.
She was out the woods, away from Voldemort and safe…
Now she could stop.
Now she would stop.
And stop she did.
Finally she gave in to the darkness of her unconsciousness, and slipped away from reality…
End memory
Back to the present, her room…
Gasping for breath, Procella snapped her eyes open and looked up into dark eyes. She shrank back into the bed and grabbed onto his arms for support at first, afraid of who it was. Until she saw the fathomless black pits of his eyes, his long curtains of black hair, his dark black robes, his pale skin…
Severus. Her eyes were wide open, and she looked up to see that Snape was still sat by her side and leaning over her, like he was before the memories had started. She whimpered, his face housing a look of utter shock and horror. She sobbed, and closed her eyes. I knew it. I knew you would be disgusted. She cried in his mind, and he sat up straight, releasing her. As he looked down at her, he didn't know what to think. So many emotions ran through his mind.
Pity, she had almost been raped?
Shock, the Dark Lord had saved her?
Outrage, he had touched her and man handled her!
Anger, he was going to rape her himself to have children with her!
Livid rage, he had even tried to cast her down before she escaped! An unforgivable on his own 'supposed' wife to be!
He wanted to strangle something, he wanted to scream, he wanted to cry hard, he wanted to brood and plot revenge.
He wanted justice, and he wanted solace. He wanted all these things, all at the same time.
Is this what she felt?
So many raw emotions spinning in his head, he felt slightly dizzy, and forced himself up to her feet.
After he made this sudden movement, Procella looked to him, sat up and sobbed softly. Please…please don't hate me.
Hate you! He spat, a lot harsher than he intended. That rage was still floating around in his mind.
Please… she whimpered through the link. Please don't tell anyone. Suddenly, he turned on his heels and barged out the room. Procella whimpered harder, and buried her face in her pillow, needing yet another long cry.
But she was interrupted when her doors banged open again. She sniffled, and looked up.
Snape was stood in her room again, looking very uncomfortable about it. He had seen into a very personal part of her life, her struggle, her emotions, her very soul. No one had ever been that close to her, ever. He could sense that through the link they shared during the experience.
"I have a lot of stock in my store cupboard. I…have ample amounts of calming potions and dreamless sleep vials." He didn't look to her, but the floor. He couldn't look at her. He composed himself as if nothing was wrong, and added dryly. "If you are so unfortunate to need them, I suggest you do not go to the infirmary for them. Poppy is a Medi witch, but never trust a potions remedy if she has brewed it. She is only barely competent." He cleared his throat uncomfortably. "I have a personal stock of stronger, unofficial healing salves and such potions, as we both will know why, in my rooms. My private rooms." He then cleared his throat again. "I shall alter the wards on my room to allow you access. You do not need an invitation so do not bother me or anyone else about the matter further and good day." He bowed his head quickly. "Consensio."
Procella! She called to him, before he could even get through the door. Please call me Procella. He slowly turned to look at her. Her golden hair was a mess, her alluring clothing still as alluring, her eyes still misty from tears…but her scarlet lips were in a soft smile. Snape couldn't help but think, I see why the Dark lord was ensnared by her…he must have seen her smile…
Very well, Procella. And you will call me Severus…in private. He added sternly, and turned his back to her. Good day, Procella.
Thank you for being so wonderful. He stopped again, but didn't let himself turn to look at her.
…good day. He couldn't leave quick enough, and stormed straight to his rooms. After that, he needed a drink. Good thing he had a few free hours before lessons…
AN:
I am sorry if this is a little short, but I had to end it here so the next chapter is a decent size.
Well, if you review, I will update! And update faster the more I get!
Lol,
Well, I hope you enjoyed it!
From
Draguna
