Chapter 42: Infringing Darkness
{A/N: Some connections cannot be severed...}
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Snape's Quarters, Slytherin Dungeons, Hogwarts...
Sweat continued to pour down Snape's pale lean frame as he continued to toss and turn in the center of his large black four poster bed. The soft whimpering that had come from the agonized dour wizard filled the vast darkness that surrounded him. He could see her. Her amber eyes and bushy hair unmistakable as she was pushed to the ground. He could see the blood trickling from her supple cheek as a random twig scraped against her soft flesh. He reached out desperate in his need to protect her as she was rounded up with her little friends. The tattered gray robes of his fellow death eaters had been evident as Hermione struggled to get to her feet but was forced back down by the hard raining blows of one of her captors. The Potions Master bolted out of his sleep leaping from his bed and into the cold blackness of his room.
Though they could hardly be seen, his obsidian eyes were wide with terror and burning with rage. His wandless magic radiated off him in an aura akin to black lightening. His heart beat thunderously in his pale chest as he made his way toward the door of his bedroom and yanked it open with a force that nearly took it off it's hinges. The sudden surge of magic and rage awoke the sleeping Albus Dumbledore as he sat up still groggy on the transfigured sofa.
"Severus?" he said confused as the enraged Snape made his way toward the floo.
"My witch...nobody touches my witch." muttered the angry Headmaster.
Dumbledore quickly got to his feet. He may not have been able to do much in the way of getting out of the wards Severus placed but he still could managed some magic even if his abilities had been limited by Snape's dampening spells. He wanted no chance of The Dark Lord sensing Dumbledore's magic should the old coot be foolish enough to initiate it. In this case he had been more than prepared to be foolish given Snape's current black mood.
"Severus, there is nothing you can do." said Dumbledore trying to reason with the furious younger wizard.
"KILL THEM ALL!" said Snape as though he were in the grips of madness.
"Severus we've been through this." said Dumbledore in a father-like tone. "Miss Granger must be allowed to choose her own path from here."
At the mention of his wife's maiden name Snape focused his rage upon the older wizard in his company. Dumbledore had been quite shocked to find that he had been cast into a nearby wall and bound to the floor as the maddened Snape loomed over him. In a blink of an eye Snape's pale hand reached down and clasped his aged throat. Dumbledore's blue eyes widened as Snape's long pale fingers tightened painfully cutting off his oxygen.
"SHE IS MY WIFE!" shouted Snape enraged. "YOU WILL ADDRESS HER AS SUCH IN MY PRESENCE...IS THAT UNDERSTOOD OLD MAN!?"
Dumbledore blinked rapidly for a few seconds as Snape lessened his grip on the older man's throat.
"Y-Yes." said Dumbledore clearly shaken. "I-I apologize...Severus."
Snape let him go and made his way to the floo. He called out his destination and was gone before Dumbledore reached his feet barely aware that the bindings had been gone.
Standing in the center of the darkened front room, the old wizard touched his aching throat.
"Severus." said Dumbledore saddened once again. "What has become of you?"
The Forbidden Forest, Wizarding World...
He had not known how close she had been. Her cries of pain as the death eaters took turns casting curses and kicking at the Golden Trio as they hit the ground again and again after every attempt to get on their feet. Harry Potter had been unconscious but largely left alone due to the orders from The Dark Lord. Ron Weasley was hurt pretty badly bleeding quite a bit and unable to move his body. His eyelids grew heavy and his breath shallow. It was Hermione Granger-Snape that had been the most lively.
Her screams echoed in the ears of her savage husband as he made his way toward her. The copper scent of blood had been heavy in the air as giddy laughter mixed in with the pain filled screams. Snape happened upon the first death eater. In a matter of seconds he snapped the unsuspecting idiot's neck not even bothering to watch as the limp body dropped like a sack of potatoes into the ground.
His movement was like lightening.
His purpose clear in each step. He had been almost graceful. The amber eyes of his bushy haired witch had been out of focus as she watched the mysterious stranger come to not only her aid but that of her friends as well. The sound of the death eaters that taunted and abused Hermione and her friends meeting their just ends had been all Hermione heard before she lost consciousness. She got the vague sense that she was being carried and the pain from her various wounds healed making it easier to breathe.
Snape looked down at the half-conscious witch in his arms. He had healed her and her friends as best he could given he had no wand and managed to transfigure them a large tent with added protective wards and separate cots for each of them to sleep. He placed the newly healed and sleeping Harry and Ron their respective cots and was attempting to lay Hermione in hers when her amber eyes half opened.
"S-Severus?" she said before a soft moan escaped her lips.
He wanted desperately to crush his pale ones into them but refrained. He had saved her life and the lives of her moronic friends and that was enough.
Hermione let out another soft moan as he layed her ever so gently into the cot. As if on instinct the bushy haired witch's wayward arm grazed against his now blatant and aching erection. He attempted to pull back as a low hiss escaped him.
"I-I miss you." babbled the sleepy witch as she shifted in her cot.
Snape said nothing but had been unable to move away from her as his eyes took in her shifting form. He arched an eyebrow at this new development now utterly convinced that she believed herself to have been dreaming.
"I-I wish I could touch you." she continued unashamed in her sleepiness. "No one understands how much it hurts."
Tears streamed down her supple cheeks.
"I know you killed him." she said. "I know I'm suppose to hate you...but..."
Snape wanted nothing more than to cast a silencing charm remove his worn trousers and her attire and show her just how much he had missed her as well but he steeled himself. She was no longer his no matter what her last name had been. Dumbledore had been right when he said she was able to choose her own path. He had no right to steal her affections any longer, she had given enough to the soulless death eater.
Hermione reached for him in desperation.
"Severus please..." she pleaded as the tears continued. "It hurts so much..."
Snape simply waved his hand and put the suffering witch to sleep. Allowing himself one moment of weakness to see him through the lonely nights in the dungeon he leaned down and kissed the sleeping young Gryffindor on the forehead.
"Sleep well, Mrs. Snape." he said softly in her ear.
When he turned away he did not see the fresh tears that trickled down her cheeks. The Potions Master disposed of the bodies of his fellow death eaters, a bunch of low levels that no one would miss. He left some rather obvious clues for Potter to find upon awakening to aid their search and ventured back to Hogwarts undetected just as he had left.
Snape's Quarters, Slytherin Dungeons, Hogwarts...
When Snape arrived, Dumbledore had been sitting up right on the sofa. He seemed to have been actually worried about him. The New Headmaster rolled his eyes and made his way toward his bedroom once again slamming the door. The memory of his wife's warm frame being pressed against him and the scent of jasmine in her bushy hair.
He needed no illusion.
He knew exactly who and what he was.
She was better off without him.
He would only cause her more pain.
This is what the logical part of his mind kept telling him.
His heart on the other hand knew all too well the agony she had to endure.
He longed to touch her.
To kiss her.
To hold her and never let her go.
He longed to be the man she wanted so desperately for him to be.
But he wasn't.
And he never would be.
Still that did not stop his treacherous heart from wanting her.