A/N: Yay! Summer is here and so are three new chapters :) Reviews are glorious forms of encouragement!
Absolutely nothing made sense in Angelina's mind. Except that everything did. Severus's explanation fit perfectly. Sometimes she would approach Severus and for a split second he would react to her neutrally, with an almost unnatural lack of emotion until he realized that it was her. The one person that he loved. Not that he had explicitly expressed his love yet. But, Angelina knew that he did. It was in the way that he looked at her when he thought that she wasn't paying attention, a look filled with such intensity that Angelina always felt shaken by it. It was also in the way that he would embrace her. His embraces were always firm, possessive, and at times a tiny bit desperate. He would hold her as if he was afraid that she would disappear from him suddenly, or as if something or someone was always threatening to take her from him. And unlike most women, she did not begrudge his lack of verbalization. She had accepted that Severus was unlike other men.
That was at least, until now. Unable to stifle a painful cry Angelina forced her objecting body to move onto its back. She lay staring up at the enchanted ceiling of the Hospital Wing. Like the Great Hall, this room had been bewitched to mimic the conditions of the sky outside. Unbidden, Angelina recalled the day that Dumbledore had come to visit her in the Hospital Wing, months ago, back when Madame Pomfrey was still alive.
"Hello, my dear. How are things going along today?" Dumbledore had asked her softly as she visibly struggled to remember the cleaning charm that would sanitize each narrow hospital bed.
"Scourgify pur… purgere!" Angelina ineffectively swept her wand over the first bed and quickly started, embarrassed, when she noticed the Headmaster addressing her.
"Headmaster! I did not notice you come in… I'm doing fine, I guess." She looked dispiritedly down at her failed cleaning job. Her cheeks began to burn.
"You know? Cleaning spells have always seemed to be unnecessarily complicated to me. I assume you're attempting the Sanitizing Spell?" Dumbledore inquired kindly.
"Yes, yes. That's the one. I usually never have issues with spells; it's just the domestic ones that I haven't been able to ever master." Angelina knew that her justification sounded weak, but it was true. She had received top marks in every exam but had always found herself inept at even the most basic cleaning charms. She watched as Dumbledore brought out his own wand and performed the spell perfectly.
"Scourgify Purgare!" They both watched as the sheets rearranged themselves.
"All you need to remember is that cleaning spells usually require an extra flick at the end of the sweep of your wand. They just need a bit of specificity. And it's Purgare, not Purgere." Dumbledore's eyes twinkled as he watched her clean the next bed, effortlessly. He felt a particular fondness toward Angelina. She was young, but not reckless and innocent, but not naïve.
"I was just about to take a turn around the Greenhouses, if you'd like to join me. I find them particularly enchanting at this time of the day." Angelina voiced a regretful and polite refusal.
"I would love to Headmaster but I was planning on surprising Madame with a spotless Hospital Wing when she came back from her tea with Minerva. As you can probably tell, I'm a bit behind." Looking out of the window she glimpsed the golden sky and a sun that was just beginning its descent.
"I wish I could though, the sky looks lovely." She looked a bit saddened and a sudden thought crossed Dumbledore's mind.
"Well there's no reason that you can't enjoy it in here." He stated as he turned his head and his wand upward and started to recite a complex incantation. Angelina watched, fascinated as jets of yellow color continuously shot out of his wand and seemed to lodge themselves among the high beams of the ceiling. And then, they began to merge to form a blanket of golden hue.
"…Mimicus Caelum." Dumbledore watched Angelina smile as the sky finally finished itself. She turned to him, her face bright.
"Thank you so much, Headmaster! This is amazing! Is this the same enchantment that is cast on the Great Hall?" Dumbledore nodded his head and returned her smile. He twiddled his fingers at her as he exited the room to begin his walk. Turning back once more, he chuckled to himself when he saw Angelina with her face toward the sky, wonderment in her eyes.
Angelina came back to reality and found her eyes wet. Those days were over. The simple days, where her biggest worry was the inability to perform a cleaning charm were gone, perhaps never to return. Tonight, the stars were completely obscured by a murky fog that swirled with the wind that had picked up not soon after dark. Angelina attempted to set her fear aside and analyze the situation as logically as she could, for she inherently knew that the universe was granting her this night only to make her decision. Would she disassociate herself from Severus and rely on Dumbledore's protection against the dark inquiries that would inevitably come to collect her or would she stay with Severus and concoct a plan to appease the Dark Lord while retaining her true loyalties? Surprisingly, the former option seemed to not be an option at all. Angelina found herself unable to even begin to convince herself that she would be able to abandon Severus and leave him at the mercy of the Dark Lord. After all, it was her fault. She had ignored his commands to avoid the forest. She had fancied herself independent and headstrong. She had heard the whisperings of the unspoken plea in his voice and chosen to ignore it. Please don't go into the forest Angelina. It is dangerous. You have no idea. I love you, I need you to stay safe. Please, please Angie. She had chosen to get angry with him as opposed to actually considering why he would propose such a thing. It was stupid, childish and because of that, it was her life that Severus had to save. Whether she liked it or not, she was now implicated in this situation as she had caused it. Regret and guilt overwhelmed her being. Placing a cold hand against her burning eyes, Angelina sobbed in frustration and fear.
It was now midnight. Gritting her teeth against the remnants of pain that still wracked her body, Angelina clutched the stiff white sheets beneath her and lifted herself out of the hospital bed. Sliding her wand off of the tiny metal bedside table, she tucked it behind her ear. The tangles and dirt that filled her hair were then made aware to her. Ignoring the horrible state which she knew she looked she started to move forward. Stopping every so often to rest against the cool stone, she made her way down to the dungeons. Finally making it to Severus's office door, Angelina knocked lightly. No response. Grabbing her wand, Angelina produced her silver Patronus with the same memory that she had recalled earlier while in the Hospital Wing. Almost instantaneously, the door in front of her was thrown open by a worried looking Severus. His arms went around her immediately, inspecting for damage. Angelina winced in pain as she attempted to explain herself.
"Sev! Sev, I'm fine. I'm fine! Please!" Instantly, he released her and looked at her with haunted eyes.
"You're fine?" His voice was hoarse. Angelina felt tears threaten again but ignored them.
"I am. I just came to talk and apologize." Dammit. The tears mocked her and coursed down her cheeks.
"I also want to take a bath. I need a bloody bath." Through her tears, she laughed a bit hysterically that such ordinary things as baths could exist in such a broken world.
Angelina sat on the end of Severus's bed as he paced around the room.
"Firstly, I want to apologize so much, for everything that I accused you of. I realize that you were just trying to save me. I'm so sorry Sev, I acted so inappropriately." Severus jerked his head noncommittally and muttered,
"No matter, you were upset. And I… I deserved it." The sincerity with which he spoke broke her heart. How dare he think that he deserved those ignorant accusations that she had thrown at him. She was the one who deserved to be accused. She was the one who hadn't trusted him enough to listen.
"No, Severus Snape. I am the one who didn't listen to you. I am the one who went foolishly to Madame Pomfrey's grave last night. If you hadn't of come, I would surely be dead now. I'm so so so sorry… I'm naught but a silly girl, and you're such a good man, Severus." Angelina trailed off sadly. Severus came to her then, lifted her up, and held her in his arms.
"Angelina, I'm so sorry. I was just so… afraid in that moment. That I would lose you. I said the first thing that I thought of. I couldn't… I can't lose you." He looked down at her and lifted her chin with a finger and wiped her tears with a thumb.
"We will figure this out. I know the Dark Lord, I know how he operates. Don't worry." Severus suddenly found himself unable to say more because of a shooting pain that suddenly manifested itself on his left forearm. Angelina looked down at where she was embracing him in horror as his Dark Mark burned and writhed underneath her fingers.