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Chapter Seven

Katherine slowly became conscious again but didn't open her eyes at first. She wasn't in the cold forest anymore. She was on a bed and there was someone beside her. Someone warm. Was he saying her name?

"Katherine. Katherine. Wake up. Please wake up." Katherine recognized the voice and opened her dazed eyes.

"Scabior," she said weakly. She was lying on his bed in the tent and he was sitting next to her.

"Shhh," he said softly, "You're hurt. Just lie still." He pulled off her jacket making her realize the pain she was in. She looked down at her scorched shirt.

"What happened to me?"

"Well Brooks let the dragon loose. The idiot forgot that dragons breathe fire and it burned you pretty bad," he pulled out his wand.

"I need to see the damage," he said looking at Katherine for consent and she nodded. He pulled the shirt and it tore apart easily revealing the burns all the way from her neck to her hip. He tossed the shirt away leaving her with her bra and her jeans. He rested his hand on the unburned side of her waist.

"Be very still," he said and began to gently trace her wounds with the tip of his wand while softly murmuring charms. An icy sensation lingered on her blistering burns starting at her neck. He repeated this until the fiery sting was replaced with a coolness. Katherine looked down and saw that the burns had totally faded away, not even leaving a scar. Scabior put his wand aside and cupped his warm hand around her neck.

"You should've left me. You should've gone after them," said Katherine. Scabior leaned in closer.

"But I didn't." She could feel his cool breath on her cheek.

"Why?" she asked. He closed the distance between them and kissed her softly on the lips, then looked into her eyes.

"Because I care about you," he said simply. Katherine's heart suddenly released all the feelings she had been trying so hard to suppress as Scabior pressed his lips against hers again. He could be so rough with everyone else, but yet he was so gentle with her. He started off slow, but as she kissed him back he became more passionate. Soon he was on top of her, wrapping one hand tighter around her neck and running the other along her bare waist. Katherine tangled her fingers in his hair as she practically melted under his touch. No one had ever kissed her like this before.

He had wanted to take her many times before but never had the chance. Her smell, her taste, the shape of her body next to his, it was irresistible. Her tiny waist gave her the most delicious curves and he couldn't keep his hands off. He left her mouth and kissed all down her neck, leaving lingering bite marks here and there. He liked how quickly she had responded to him, how fast her heart beat when he kissed her. He felt her shiver in his arms and realized how bare her skin was. He pulled his own shirt over his head and helped her put it on.

The warmth of his shirt stopped her shivers immediately. He laid back down on her and began to kiss her jaw line trailing up to her ear. But something had caught Katherine's eye when he took off his shirt. The weeks of snatching and running had been good to his toned body. But it was what she saw on his chest that caught her attention. She pushed him away to get a better look.

"What?" he asked not wanting to separate himself from her. But Katherine was intrigued. On his chest were several tattoos. There were a few lines written in a script she couldn't read and several symbols.

"What's this?" she asked now leaning over him. He looked down to where she was pointing.

"Tattoo," he said, "From Azkaban."

"What does it say?"

"Scabior. Twelve years," he said quietly, "They're ancient runes."

"And these?" she pointed to the other symbols.

"Alchemy signs and my ID number."

Katherine stared at them all for a moment, tracing them with her finger. But Scabior took her hand, softly stroking it as he pulled her back down onto him. She laid her head on his chest listening to his steady heart beat. He wrapped his arm tightly around her and tenderly kissed her head.

"Get some rest, love."

The next morning, Katherine woke up with Scabior still beside her. So it wasn't a dream. He was lying on his stomach with his bare back facing up. Katherine rolled onto her side and saw more tattoos on his back. Most of them were runes and other symbols but there was a small sparrow on his right shoulder blade. Its wings were spread like it was flying and was the only tattoo that wasn't a strange looking symbol. She looked farther down and noticed a scar stretched across his side near his ribs. There were three deep lines that looked like something had clawed him. Greyback.

She looked out towards the tent entrance and saw that it was getting a bit lighter outside. Being careful not to wake Scabior, she got up and went outside to make herself some hot tea. But just as she sat down to watch the sun rise, Brooks appeared from the woods.

"What are you doing up?" she asked.

"I was about to ask the same of you," he said a bit surprised.

"Oh well I feel much better," she said handing him a mug.

"Look I'm really sorry about the dragon," he said sitting across from her by the campfire, "It was Greyback's idea. He wanted to get back at the smugglers but I just had bad timing."

"Really, it's okay. Scabior healed me," Brooks looked up. Katherine could see the jealousy behind his eyes as he noticed the shirt she had on.

"Oh he did? What else did he do to you last night?" Katherine sensed someone walking up behind her.

"This," said Scabior who appeared from the tent, leaned down over Katherine's chair and gave her a deep kiss – right in front of Brooks. Brooks muttered something unintelligible and stomped off. Scabior watched him walk off with a satisfied grin on his face.

"You really shouldn't tease him like that," said Katherine looking up at Scabior still leaning over the chair.

"Sorry, it's in my nature," he said sarcastically.

"You can be sweet when you want to though."

"Or maybe it's just you rubbing off on me."

"Maybe so," Katherine brushed a strand of his wild hair out of his face, "But I do think you have a good heart, deep down."

"What makes you say that?"

"Because you rescued me."

"You think I'm good for you?" Katherine looked at him a bit puzzled by his question.

"I think so." And with that, Scabior threw her over his shoulder and carried her into the woods. She kicked and hit but he didn't even flinch. She wasn't really worried until he set her down and threw her against a tree crushing his body against hers and holding her wrists tightly. She didn't know what he was going to do next as his open mouth hovered above hers, teasing her. One of his hands had slipped under her shirt, his fingers dangerously close to the latch of her bra.

He tilted his head, biting her ear and whispered, "You still think I'm good for you?" Katherine didn't know what to say and stared at him with her mouth agape. But it didn't matter because he quickly smothered her with kisses getting to know every inch of her mouth with his tongue. Katherine's tension lessened and she un-tightened her fists. Scabior also loosened his grip letting her wrap her arms around him. A gust of wind blew through the trees and Scabior could feel the goose bumps on her arms. He wrapped her in closer. With one last bite to her lip, he pulled away and looked at her with his head cocked.

"I'll be wanting my shirt back, you know," he said provocatively. Katherine smirked.

"Well you're not getting it," she said stepping past him and walking back towards camp.

"What if I traded you," he said following her.

"Trade you? For what?" But he didn't have a chance to answer her.

"There you are!" said Fenrir, "We've gotta get going!"

"Fine! Let's go then!" shouted Scabior back. He turned to Katherine.

"You stay here at camp. You need to rest."

"But –" Katherine protested.

"We won't be gone long," he said reassuringly. He leaned down and whispered in her ear, "Go look under my bed." Then he winked and they all vanished with a pop.