A/N: Thank you so much for the reviews and adds. I truly appreciate it. Before you continue, let me just admit that I haven't the slightest idea about how therapy goes in real life, so it's not going to be all that realistic. Also, just in case this isn't clear, Aurora is going by the name Celes and Severus will be going by the name Toby while they're deaged. Enjoy.

Sweet Partings

Ravenclaw. The bloody damn hat had sorted him into Ravenclaw this time. Then again, he recalled before they regressed in age that his wife had asked the Headmaster to speak with the Sorting Hat so they'd be sorted into another House. He still wasn't certain what the point of that request of hers was, but he knew the hat had stated they'd be placed in their second House. Ravenclaw was his it'd seem. It could have always been worse he reminded himself. Ravenclaw was at least respectable.

In order to ensure her experiment was a success, they both had to act like they hadn't ever been to Hogwarts before. He was finding it difficult to ignore his learned habits of heading to his dungeons. Not to mention, it annoyed him greatly that he had to ask where the stupid hospital wing was. As if he hadn't practically lived in the blasted place for the past three months as he recovered, physically and mentally. He tugged on his sleeves once more. Everyone had to believe that he was Toby Brooks, a fifteen-year-old transfer student from Durmstrang. Well, except Pomfrey. She knew their real identities just so she could continue their therapy sessions. Pushing open the sturdy oak door, he walked into the main area, glancing around.

"Hello?" he called out. He caught the movement by a door instantly before the matron walked out of her office. He noticed the confusion on her face followed by the quick understanding.

"Ah, you must be our new transfer student. Follow me, young man." She led him towards one of the private rooms. Once they were both inside, she closed the door and smiled faintly as the privacy wards raised to keep out eavesdroppers and nosy people. "How are you, Severus?"

"As well as to be expected, Madam," he replied quietly, taking a seat in one of the chairs. He hated therapy. Talking about his feelings. His fears. His recollections. Opening himself up to another person. It was all beyond ridiculous in his mind. However, he knew he needed it.

"Anxious?" she asked, sitting across from him.

"No. The prospect of this scenario, of being fifteen again, does not unsettle me that greatly. It is more of a wonder of the unknown, I suppose," he admitted, folding his hands across his lap.

"Have you spoken with Aurora yet?"

"We saw each other briefly." He rubbed his forearm when the matron remained quiet. He hated the silence most of all. It forced him to continue. "She fell on top of me as she was exiting a carriage."

"On purpose or accidental?" Pomfrey asked with a soft laugh.

"I'm unsure." He shrugged, wincing when he felt the familiar pain in his neck again. "It wouldn't be out of her character for it to be accidental. She is known for her gracefulness," he answered dryly. She was one of the clumsiest women he knew, but there was a certain grace to her clumsiness.

"That she is. Did you see her earlier during the Sorting Ceremony? I thought I saw you looking for her then."

"No. I didn't find her. Though, I'd imagine she'd speak with others. Keep her mind preoccupied in other words."

"Do you know if she's spoken with anyone yet?"

He glanced at Madam Pomfrey before sighing and shaking his head. "No. I know she's spoken with McGonagall a few times, but she's been busy. With her class."

"Does it still upset you? That she was away because of that?"

His hand clenched into a fist. Did it still upset him? Honestly. What the hell did she think? That he was glad to be alone in the afternoons as Aurora worked on her class work?

"What are you thinking about right now?"

"How ridiculous this is," he snapped, digging his nails into his hand.

"No. There's something else. What is it? Tell me."

"She left me alone, Pomfrey," he snarled, clenching his jaw. "She'd come back from her class and give me a simple kiss to the cheek before working on that stupid class of hers. Oh, she'd stay in the room. In my line of sight of course, but she wasn't there mentally. She threw herself into that bloody class. Hell, even this is another attempt to avoid."

"Why does it make you upset?"

"Because I love her, Pomfrey!" he hissed, the words exploding out of him in silent fury. "I love her, and I'm too damn worried about upsetting her to get her to see what I do when I look at her."

"What do you see?"

"That she's in pain like I was. She's avoiding it. Pushing it away. She's trying to be strong because of me. Because she thinks I need her to act like everything's fine. And I don't."

"Have you told her any of this?"

"Of course not." He shook his head, frowning. "It'd only remind her, and then she'd cry. I-I can't deal with her crying. I don't know how to handle it. I've never been able to handle a person crying."

"So you're frustrated then?"

"Obviously," he snapped, glaring at the matron. He looked away when she remained silent. He wouldn't let her make him talk anymore. Their session was over. He deemed it so.

As the silence stretched into minutes, he found his breathing return to normal. He didn't feel as angry as he had just moments before. He glanced down at his hand, sighing when he saw the drops of blood. He unclenched his hand immediately. He wordlessly took the cloth from Pomfrey when she offered and wrapped it around his hand. He had a habit of hurting himself accidentally now.

"Better?" she asked softly.

"Yes."

"Good. We'll move on."

He felt himself relax slightly at her declaration. He didn't like talking about that. Admitting that he was helpless and weak when it came to his wife—they might as well just commit him then.

"When was the last time you and Aurora were intimate?"

He grimaced at the question, moving slightly in his chair. Ignoring the slight redness to his face, he drew in a slow breath. He hated talking so thoroughly about his relationship with Aurora, but Pomfrey had told him at the start of their therapy sessions that it would come up and that nothing would be disclosed to others. It was just the two of them.

"A month ago," he answered quietly, brushing off his discomfort.

"All went well, I take it?"

He shifted again in his seat. Ever since Nagini's attack, he had found himself unable to hide his emotions as he had before. Due to the trauma inflicted upon him, Pomfrey had stated. He glanced down at the floor, feeling her eyes on him as she waited patiently. He refused to answer, though.

"Ah," Pomfrey said quietly. "I realize this is very uncomfortable for you to talk about, Severus. So, I'd like you just to nod yes or shake your head no to my questions, all right?"

He nodded slowly, his throat abnormally dry.

"Was it Aurora who had difficulties?" she asked.

He shook his head slowly, his hand rubbing his forearm nervously. No. It was him. She had been perfect throughout, as she usually was—patient and caring.

"Did you become aroused?"

He nodded slowly. His rubbing of his arm became furious then as he swallowed, his jaw clenched to keep back the words of frustration and anger. Uncomfortable didn't come close to what he was feeling right now. Shame. Embarrassment. Self-loathing.

"Did you experience premature ejaculation?"

He shook his head. If only it was that. It would have been better in his opinion if he had.

"Did you penetrate her?"

He nodded again. It was the only damn thing he did do that night. He kept his eyes transfixed on a spot on the floor as he waited for her next question.

"Were you unable to maintain your erection?"

Maintain one's erection. He scoffed bitterly. What a wretched way of stating it. He then nodded slightly. It wasn't from a lack of trying on their parts. Aurora had tried to help. He just couldn't stay aroused. A beautiful naked woman in his bed, pressed against him, wanting only him—and nothing.

"Severus," she started to say, waiting for him to glance at her before continuing. "It's normal after suffering through a traumatic event as you did to experience some form of erectile dysfunction. Just like the nightmares you've had, it'll likely get better with time."

"What if it's not psychological, Madam? Then what? Am I supposed to use some potion to stay aroused the rest of my life? If so, you might as well just let me die now."

"Severus," she admonished sharply. "I realize that you are frustrated currently. However, saying such things as that will not help you." She sighed. "Could it be a result of the venom? Yes. It's possible. However, the only way to know for certain is by testing."

"I'm already doing that, thank you."

"Then, you've already made an attempt at masturbating?"

He coughed instantly before opening and closing his mouth a few times. How in the hell could she just throw that out there and not blush like mad as he was? What the hell did matrons learn at medical school anyway?

"I take it that's a no then," she said calmly.

"You want me to wank off, Madam?"

"It is the most comfortable way to figure out if your problem is psychological or physical, Severus. And I'll be honest. It's my opinion that it is purely psychological in nature of why you cannot maintain an erection." She glanced up at the clock before looking back at him and standing. "In fact, I'm going to give you a bit of an unorthodox assignment to work on this week."

He frowned. Unorthodox assignments were starting to become a theme.

"Every night before going to bed, I would like you to look at this." Out of a stack of a dozen or so magazines, she pulled one from the very middle out and handed it to him.

He raised an eyebrow when he saw the cover. She was giving him an adult magazine?

"I realize you'd rather the women were that of your wife, but we'll have to make do with this for now," she explained as if it wasn't out of the ordinary for her to hand out erotica to her patients. "I'd like you to spend five minutes becoming intimately familiar with this material if you know my meaning."

"You want me to wank off to an adult magazine," he replied dryly.

"Ravenclaw's dorms are a series of private rooms now, like Slytherin's. So, no worries of people walking in on you as you complete this assignment. In a week, we'll see how it went and then go from there." She gave him a faint smile, holding out a bottle of Dreamless Sleep. "I'm ordering you to take it tonight, Severus. This is the first night you two have slept apart in years. It'll be difficult. So, take it."

~Rising~

Having stuffed the magazine in his deep pockets, he headed towards the Ravenclaw dormitory with his potion in hand. He reached the bronze eagle-shaped knocker not long after, knocking it once. He frowned when the eagle's beak opened.

"Which creature walks on four legs in the morning, two legs in the afternoon, and three legs in the evening?" asked the eagle in a sing-song voice.

"Man," he answered. "Man crawls as an infant, walks in adulthood, and uses a cane when elderly." A moment later, he stepped inside as the door opened.

His eyes swept over the common room quickly, taking in the impressive architecture. Aurora would have loved it here. The starry ceiling and the dark blue carpet—she'd never leave. He shook his head and then proceeded to the fifth-years dorms. However, he paused when he found a familiar dishwater blond witch standing in front of the door, her silvery gray eyes watching him.

"Excuse me," he said with a forced smile, trying to move past her.

"Was it an accident or intentional?" Luna replied, half-smiling.

He paused instantly, his eyes darting to her.

"Was what an accident or intentional?" he repeated quietly. Judging by her look, he needed to throw her off. "Look. I'm merely trying to get to my bed to sleep. All right?"

"I know."

"Then let me pass. I don't have time for games." He felt a chill sweep over him when she rested a hand on his arm directly over where his Dark Mark used to be.

"Redemption is a hard road. Often times one finds himself alone. So, it's always good when you have someone by your side to lean on. Don't you agree, Toby?"

He glanced about the area before casting Muffliato around them. His frown deepened.

"What do you know?" he asked softly, holding her perceptive eyes.

"No person heals the same way, so we each take different paths." She then looked him up and down. "Some use spells. Others use potions."

"Dammit," he mumbled. He should've known that Luna would figure it out. She was always a sharp witch. She had even known before he truly had the difficult path he would have to take in the end. "This stays between us. Understood?"

"Of course." She then squeezed his arm sympathetically. "It was the scent of herbs by the way. Though, I doubt she'd much enjoy it if you removed it. It's rather calming, I think."

He nodded slowly. It was rather hard to remove the smell of one's profession after all. He then watched her turn her head to the side as she looked him over again. What was she going to say now?

"Don't worry. I'll keep an eye on her for you."

"Who?"

She gave him that familiar mysterious look of hers. It was something akin to Albus's, he mused.

"You shouldn't keep her waiting any longer," she replied before turning and leaving.

His brows knit together. How could she know that he was going to speak with Aurora? He hadn't even been thinking about it at the time. He frowned inwardly, locking it away in his mind that was designated for the mysteries of Luna Lovegood. He pushed open the door to the boys' dormitory then and headed for the only opened door left in the small alcove.

Closing the door behind him, he looked around the empty bedroom. With Ravenclaw-themed drapes hung, a four-poster bed rested against the wall. His trunk was at the foot of his bed, and a simple mirror above the nightstand resided on the bed's right side. He quickly moved to his trunk, unlocking it and pulling out a handheld mirror. He smirked inwardly when his reflection rippled before he saw her.

"About time," teased the seemingly young witch. Aurora. "What took you so long?"

"I was delayed by Miss Lovegood. I apologize." He caught her soft smile as she shook her head. To an outsider who didn't know her, she seemed happy. But he knew deep down that it was all an act, one that she likely had perfected over the years as they wore their individual masks to survive.

"So . . . Ravenclaw, hmm?" she said. "I suppose I can see it. You are a bit of a bibliomaniac."

He snorted, noticing her House colors behind her. Hufflepuff. It fit her exactly. Better than Slytherin ever had at least.

"I suppose I should be grateful that you're not a dreaded Gryffindor," he drawled. "Had you been placed there, I might have had to find myself a new wife when all this was over."

"Oh, shut it, you arse." Her usual playful tone was there, but it was mixed with another emotion of some kind. He wasn't certain what, however. She had become rather good at hiding herself from him. She had a strong protective mechanism he recognized from his sessions with Pomfrey.

His eyes took in her background. Lit copper lamp on the wall, a yellow-and-black quilt on her bed. There was a clear comfort feeling with all of it. Homey in other words. He then noticed the potion bottle on the nightstand behind her.

"You received Dreamless Sleep, too?" he inquired.

"Yeah." She shrugged. "She thinks that it'll be a difficult night."

He nodded slowly. It likely would be. They hadn't slept separately for three years now. He glanced at his bottle of Dreamless Sleep and frowned, knowing what he had to do.

"We'll take it together, then, Celes."

"What?"

"We'll take it simultaneously. That way we can trick ourselves into thinking we slept beside one another, all right?" He caught her hesitant nod before she reached back to grab her bottle. He uncorked his and waited. "On three?" She nodded again. "One. Two. Three." With his hand wrapped around the bottle to cover it, he brought it to his lips, watching her do the same. His tongue quickly acted like a stopper to hold the potion back as he feigned drinking it as he watched her drain her bottle. After a moment later, he brought the supposedly empty bottle from his lips.

They had a few moments before the potion would kick in. He took the moment to remove his robes, trousers, shirt, and tie to strip down to his boxers. He could hear her changing in the background, smiling inwardly as he thought for a stray moment of watching her undress. However, he didn't.

Instead, he thought about how this time around, being fifteen again, would be different. He didn't have James Potter and his gang of idiots to deal with this time. No Death Eaters either. Hell, no Dark Lord. No graying underwear either. Nothing but him pretending to be a normal fifteen-year-old Ravenclaw student. It'd be practically paradise with no worries but getting his schoolwork done. He could start over. Entirely. Well, pretend to at least. They'd only be fifteen for the school year he reminded himself quickly, so it'd be temporary as well. He could have that life he had secretly dreamed of having when he was a student himself decades ago: the girlfriend, the friends, the happiness that came with it, the sense of belonging and love.

"What are you smiling about?" she asked softly, now wearing a pair of shorts and tank top.

Looking at the two-way mirror, he shook his head with a laugh. "Nothing of importance." He slid between the sheets, watching her do the same. In a way, it did feel like she was there with him. He held the mirror in his hand, holding it in front of his face.

"Good night, Severus," she yawned, closing her eyes as the Dreamless Sleep took effect.

"Sweet dreams, Celes," he whispered back. He watched her sleep for several minutes in his two-way mirror. She looked so peaceful, so relaxed, as if she wasn't tortured by the dark events of last May anymore. His fingers brushed the glass, tracing her reflection before he set the mirror aside. She'd be asleep until tomorrow morning he estimated. Not even a troll could wake her right now.

He slowly got back up out of bed then, heading to a small window in his room and opening it. He whistled loudly and waited. Not long after, a tawny owl glided into the room. He frowned when it stared at him, expecting its treat. He may have changed its appearance for this to work, but it was still her owl.

"Damn bird," he mumbled, holding the treat out. He clenched his teeth when it nipped his finger. The blasted thing never had liked him. Hell, the only reason he had bought it was because Aurora and the damn bird took a liking to one another for some reason. "Copernicus, I need you to deliver this package to her tomorrow in the Great Hall." He didn't need to state that the intended recipient was Aurora. The damn thing knew he meant her just by the pronoun use. He grabbed the wrapped package from his trunk, tying it to the bird's foot. It was light enough not to cause the bird any problems. He then sent it off, knowing from experience that the owl would do as instructed. He slipped back into bed, glancing at the mirror to watch her sleep for a few moments. Tonight, he was Severus, watching over Aurora. Tomorrow, they'd be Celes and Toby, fifth-years. He soon drifted off himself.