AN: Many apologies for the delay. I hope you enjoy this chapter. Kind Regards-R
A deep moan left the back of Severus' throat. The image of an angel below him, her face twisted with pure pleasure. His body moved on its own, rocking in time with the rhythm that had created so many generations. He could feel her heat, her breath on his ear, his name whispered with slurred bliss.
It felt so real, like reliving a vivid memory. His entire body burned with pleasure he'd never felt before. Like his soul was being cradled in a soft embrace. It was impossible to describe but his heart beat stronger with every stroke. His eyes fell deep into golden flecked chocolate, his lips brushing against those that whispered his name.
His arms wrapped tighter around her frame as his body began to tighten near the precipice. The entire world around him feeling brighter yet tunneled all at the same time.
It was just as he was about to reach heavenly bliss that his world shifted in an instant. The dream turned cold and dark in a breath, his body growing impossibly heavy. His head turned down, his eyes growing wide as he looked into the glazed look of his previous lover.
Hermione's mouth moved, but the only sound that came forth was a deep choking sound, a noise taken from a memory. His arms cradled her to his chest, one wrapped around her back while the other cradled her head in his palm. Fire burned around them, muffled screams off in the distance. The reality of the dream hit his chest hard, like a bullet to the heart.
Her face looked so young, so innocent. Fear and regret laced the corners of her eyes. Yet what hurt the worst, was the bravery left in the center, glimmering like one last hope. Confusion began to twist her brows and though he could feel himself speaking to her, he couldn't hear his own words. Blood was starting to bubble up her throat, spilling over the corner of her lips as she still tried to speak to him.
"Am...Am I...?"
"No..." His words burned his lips, echoing in the silence that seemed to hone in on the moment. He knew he was lying to her, a devious endeavor. He didn't know to whom he was trying to console.
"I-I...I'm cold..." Her fingers that laid curled under her chin from his hold flexed, trying to reach out towards him. He only held her closer.
"I'm here...I'll keep you warm..."
"I know..."
A soft smile ticked at the corner of her blood-stained lips, her eyes growing softer as she lost her strength to keep him in focus. His heart was screaming for him to do something but his dream-self was locked in place. Frozen by the painful image before him.
He watched the last of the light leave her eyes, the only thing that had managed to pass her lips before her last breath was his name, whispered like a lover's caress. Her body grew heavier, and despite as hard as he tried, he couldn't raise her up, couldn't move. Frozen in the pain that had wrapped around his frame.
Severus woke with a sharp jolt. His eyes snapping open to darkness. A sharp sneer crawled over his lips as he felt the results of the beginning part of his dream. It had been decades since he'd found himself in such a misfortunate incident but his wandless magic instantly cleared away his sin.
A sharp push removed him from the bed where a soft groan and muted rustle of fabric told him that he'd not been alone. A spared glance reassured him that he'd not woken her before he moved towards the bathroom. His body was wound tighter than a drum, every muscle in his body screaming.
It had been two weeks since he'd relented to her request. Two weeks of numerous meetings, both at Hogwarts and during the night at Voldemort's new hideaway. The death toll had been steadily rising, though no one had attacked outright, both sides were beginning to move. Everyone could feel the air growing thick.
Granger had taken to monitoring the school, using the various scrying mirrors held in the loft. She'd taken to making notes of those going missing, as more than one of the professors in tenure had come to accuse him of sacrificing children to the giant snake. He'd held his tongue under their threats but he knew that leaving the relative safety of the office would surely leave him at a disadvantage.
Aside from a soft blush and a coy smile thrown his way when he'd catch her eye, she'd mostly kept to herself. Aside from a very brief conversation the following morning she'd not spoken anything more on the topic. It had left him on edge, as though waiting for the other boot to drop. For her request for more to come again.
She'd discovered where the 'stolen' students had gone. Hiding themselves away in the room of requirement. She'd kept a very extensive record of everyone that she'd observed going into the room. The list was steadily growing, students from nearly every house, even Slytherin—though only two—had taken to safely hiding themselves away.
She had expressed only once that she felt that something had been hidden away in the room but without being able to remove the students therein without putting their lives at great risk, she'd not pressed the issue. Nor had he. A tense lul had befallen their daily lives but they both knew that the time for war was upon them.
Severus leaned heavily against the sink, his heart still pulsing from his dream. It had felt so real, was it a premonition of things to come? Was it merely his innermost fears of all he'd done? Despite his best intentions, life had always seen fit to lash him with more pain, more sorrow. He'd done his utmost to stand honorably, but there was no honor for a man such as he.
A heavy sigh turned the tap and his hand brought up a warm handful of water to wipe away the tears that had come. He hadn't even known he was crying, it wasn't something that he'd taken to using to find relief. They were the silent tears of a soul so worn, so wary, that it was crying out for help. He paid them no mind.
"Sev...erus?"
A heavy sleep thick voice from the other room made his ear twitch and he turned off the tap and dried his face with a nearby towel. He turned back towards the bedroom to find the woman who had become such a staple in his bed with her sleep-heavy head raised from the pillow. Her eyes were still closed but it was clear she was somewhat lucid.
"I'm here..." He knew she was half-asleep though her voice didn't sound distressed, still he answered her; the words he chose striking once more at his core.
"Are you okay...?" Her eyes opened briefly as he moved towards the edge of the bed.
"Yes." His voice was still tight but the lie was enough to sate her dream-like state.
"Mm...You're warm..." Hermione moved closer as he laid down flat, her head coming up unheeded to his chest. More brazen in her touch when unhindered by her ever turning consciousness, she merely settled herself down.
Severus allowed her to find her comfort, his eyes turning up to the darkened canopy. His hand moved instinctually into her hair, lightly playing with the locks. Though he couldn't find rest, not yet but her mere presence was already releasing some of the tension that had wound him tight.
oOOo
"We've got to help him. Surely this room can give us something." Ginny had taken to pacing now, her brow furrowed tight. She and Neville had taken to collecting all those willing to fight, all those under threat from the Carrows into the Room of Requirement. She wasn't sure if they'd elicited suspicion but she was sure they were going to start.
She'd asked one of the newcomers about the state of the castle, as she'd only been moving about well after curfew to gain information. Thus far they'd been able to build up a rather impressive following. All they needed now was Harry to come to lead the charge. While Neville had been doing very well, he didn't want to take any of them to battle.
"Has he sent any more messages?"
"Yeah, said that he and Ron were going to get into Bellatrix's vault, try and find whatever she must have been hiding." Ginny rubbed her tired eyes, staying up nearly all night had left her face heavily shadowed, "He said he's going to try after they helped Luna get back to Hogwarts..."
"Did you tell him where he could take her?"
"Yeah, they're going to go tonight, near midnight."
"Good...I'll let him know." Neville ran his hands over his jeans, "It's so tense out there..."
"I know..."
oOo
"Why...why didn't you?"
"Didn't I?"
"Take your pleasure?"
"For the very reason you need to ask that question."
"Is it...because I'm...I've been..."
"No."
"I don't understand..."
"You will in time."
"What if...we don't have more time?"
"We will."
"Promise?"
"Yes."
Hermione let out a heavy sigh, recounting her conversation from the morning following her acquiesced request as she often done when she had time alone. It had been playing on repeat, begging for an answer that she simply couldn't provide. Why wouldn't he...he do what the other's had done? Surely he, just as she, enjoyed the pleasure?
Another heavy sigh left her chest as she shifted to look down over the grounds. She taken to sitting in the window ledge on many occasions when she'd found herself lost in thought. Severus had promised her that tonight they would seek out Marxon. While she wanted her revenge she knew there were so many more pressing matters at hand.
"It's done."
Hermione turned her head towards the deep baritone voice that constantly filled her thoughts and slowly uncurled her legs over the ledge of the window, "Are you sure it'll work?"
"I'm certain." Severus slid the inner chamber of the Duel Dragon into place with a heavy click, the eyes on the devilish device glowing a deep red, "Question is, are you ready?"
"Yes." Hermione came to her feet with a hard raised chin, her heart beating just a little bit faster, "You're still going to come with me? He said I needed to come alone."
"Do you want me to come?" The words were hard to press past his lips but this decision was not his own.
"Yes... if only to succeed where I fail..." Hermione crossed the space between them, her fingers lightly grazing over the device. The pain it had brought her shining in the corner of her eyes.
"Do not prepare for failure. Besides, it'll be your success that will carry the burden." Severus watched her closely, she had harmed yes—killed—but this felt completely new. He didn't want to believe he had corrupted her pure heart so fully. That her innocence hadn't completely been stolen.
Hermione tilted her head up to his warning, her eyes searching his face for answers she knew he would never speak, "It must be done. For the greater good..."
"The devil's road is paved with good intentions."
"Then I must be faster than the devil." A strong breath filled her chest as she took the dragon fully into her hands. It felt so heavy in her palms, as though it didn't carry just her own pain but countless others.
"I know...you told me that...I wasn't ready...that...that was why you didn't..." Hermione's face began to flush while her eyes lowered down to the floor. How could she possibly be ready for something if she couldn't say it? Her heart beat just a few ticks faster as she gathered her courage, "I...I don't want to die..." Her chin raised, turning her deepening eyes towards his own, "Without knowing what you feel like...inside..." Her face pinched at her poorly minced words.
Severus' face twitched, to anyone else it would have looked like disgust but to her, she knew his look of pain. Her eyes flicked for only a second to the side before returning. Her hands took a tighter hold of the dragon as she watched the muscle in his jaw twitch. She could almost feel his brain turning, calculating, examining her words. It had only been two weeks but it felt like many lifetimes.
"You won't die...not tonight..." He tried to push confidence into his words, but his dream was still ever-present in his mind. The sight of her eyes losing that subtle shine of life. The warmth of her blood on his hands, how macabre her death had been. Not a simple spell or killing curse, no...her death had been much more...physical.
Hermione curled in her bottom lip and nodded despite herself, "Alright...I believe you..." A slow breath turned her towards the darkening window, her eyes looking far beyond the glass.
Severus' hands twitched before coming up to take hold of her shoulders, a comforting squeeze before he allowed her to step back into him. The feeling of her breaths pressing against his chest as they shared in a moment. What he was asking her to do and what he was denying plagued him in every moment of silence. It was like looking into his own past, watching someone so much better than he fall down the same dark staircase hitting every step along the way.
"If you're not ready..."
"There isn't time for me to be ready. The war is moving forward...if I don't do this now...I may never have another opportunity. No matter what the outcome...as long as he remains he will bring suffering."
"I shall call the raven..." With that, Severus released her to her thoughts, moving towards the door to the office. He could only pray that his wish to be by her side would go to plan.
Hermione hastily wiped a stray tear from the corner of her eye before turning her head back down to look at the dragon. So much pain inside something so small, it was impossible to conceive. How many others had not seen her fate? Had not been saved? Had been led to madness? A cruel twisted death? Yet there she was about to give the very device back into the hands of a man who would seek to defile the world.
Severus had only told her that he'd put the device back together, he hadn't told her of his other 'modifcations' to it. He knew she would sooner seek death than to find it back inside herself and he was sure that she would either destroy it before Marxon could run off with it or die trying. Either way, it was too risky for her to know of his plan. He suspected that Marxon had some gift of legilimens given the way he moved about in the world. He couldn't risk him seeing through his ruse.
If they should fail, and Marxon escape the device would poison anyone who would dare to use it. Their death would be painful but quick. No chance to try and find an antidote—not that there was one. Many years ago, when Potter had opened the chamber Severus had gone down to survey the damage and it was at that time that he collected a few vials of basilisk venom. Enough to fell an entire army if dosed properly. An insurance, should his own life need taking. It was cowards way out for sure, but it was better than dying at the hands of another.
"This is a dangerous side adventure."
Severus tilted his head just so towards the portrait, "You asked me to keep her here, to aid her, to heal her."
"Do you really see this as any of those?" Albus' tone was wary, tired and sad.
"It does not matter how I see things." Severus paused to open the window, "I am not her keeper, she is her own woman."
"Quite" Albus let out a heavy soul-worn sigh, leaning back into the chair in his painting.
Severus turned his head away, summoning an elf, "Bring me a raven. The strongest you can find."
"Yes, sir."
oOOo
"About time."