Sighing, Severus pulled away from her. It wouldn't do for her to be out much later. "I'll escort you back to your room, Allyna," he said softly, caressing her cheek one last time. She leaned into his fingers and nodded. She lifted her skirts and walked carefully down the Astronomy tower's steps and Severus followed behind her after vanishing his improvements to the tower. As Allyna made her way through the cold stone hallways, Severus watched her carefully, keeping an eye out for any other students out of bed. He watched as she shut the door behind her, stayed long enough to hear the click of the solid lock and the faint hum of the wards raising before he turned and stalked the corridors of Hogwarts, his blood still singing as his mind strayed to the thoughts of the night he'd shared with his Allyna.
Allyna, meanwhile, was humming to herself as she carefully removed the dress, hanging it in the wardrobe. She slid her feet out of the gorgeous shoes, glad of the cushioning charms that had been applied to it. Otherwise, she'd have had blisters the size of quarters on her heels from all the dancing. She unclasped the bra, placing it into a small mesh bag along with the garter belt and stockings. She left the panties on, and slid a long nightgown on overtop. She slid between the cool sheets of her bed, her mind replaying the night over and over again, especially Severus' kiss. She blushed as she snuggled deeper under the blankets. With a quick wave of her wand, the fire in the grate roared to life and she yawned.
She closed her eyes and was asleep in moments. Her dreams were filled with images of Severus: watching him move swiftly and gracefully with a blade in his hands, bent over a cauldron as he brewed, the sound of his voice as he lectured about a potion, and of course, the feel of his lips and body against hers.
Hours later, Severus was finally able to sleep, after drinking half a bottle of Ogden's finest. The fire whiskey dulled his senses enough that he couldn't think about Allyna, about anything, really. He slid into dreams of Lily, Allyna and the Dark Lord. But in his dreams, it was not Lily and her young son at the end of Voldemort's wand, it was his Allyna. His Allyna who screamed and begged, not for her life, but for the life of her and Severus' child. He heard the Dark Lord laugh, and then two flashes of green light. Allyna and the baby in the cradle were silenced forever.
Severus woke in a cold sweat, nearly shrieking for breath. He threw himself into the bathroom, leaning over the toilet as he gagged, vomiting up every ounce of firewhiskey, punch and food he'd drunk and eaten the night before. He swiped a hand over his mouth and glared down at the Dark Mark plain on his arm. He hefted himself off the floor and threw himself into the shower, letting the water run as hot as possible, nearly scalding himself as he scrubbed and scrubbed himself clean, feeling each and every scar on his body and hating them.
He dressed in his darkest black frock coat, trousers and robes, the only color being a touch of white at the edges where his shirt peeked through. He entered the Great Hall, his eyes automatically searching for her. He saw her perched on the edge of the Slytherin table, picking at the breakfast on her plate. She looked quite sad and lonely sitting there all by herself. Suddenly Severus had an idea of what to get Allyna for Christmas and smiled to himself as he began to eat his own breakfast.
Suddenly there were screams and Severus and the others looked down to see that Pansy Parkinson had grabbed Allyna by the hair and yanked her backwards off the bench. Severus saw Pansy kick out at Allyna, hoping to break her nose, it looked like. But Allyna was quicker than Pansy supposed and gripped the girl's foot, yanking it hard and sending Pansy flying to the floor as well. Allyna moved swiftly to stand, knowing she had precious little time before Pansy began attacking. And she was right, as soon as Pansy was barely on her feet, she was sending hexes, jinxes and curses at Allyna.
But Allyna was no slouch with a wand, either. She countered every spell thrown her way, though Severus saw her yelp slightly when a hair-pulling hex yanked a hank of hair from her head. Before the teachers could get to the girls, Severus noticed that Allyna was hesitant to use any truly harmful spells, though Pansy was throwing them out left and right. Pansy hit Allyna with a hard "Expelliarmus" which knocked Allyna's wand from her hand. He saw panic in Allyna's eyes as Pansy threw a spell designed to hit multiple targets with slashes, a spell similar to Severus' own Sectumsempra. As if she recognized it, and with barely a thought to herself, Allyna's eyes went wide and horrified seconds before she shouted out "Protego Totalum!"
Before the eyes of every teacher and student in the hall, a flash of blue-white light in the form of a shield encased everyone in the hall. Everyone, except for Allyna herself. The spell hit her hard, throwing her backwards onto the floor, a hundred cuts all over chest, arms and face. She hit the floor hard, and lay there, her shield spell shimmering to a stop. She was coughing up blood, before Severus or any other teacher could reach her. "Severus, get her to Poppy, now!" Albus shouted at him. Severus yanked the girl up into his arms and hurried to the infirmary while Albus and the others dealt with the Parkinson girl and the other students.
Allyna continued to cough, small specks of blood spattering on her chin and onto his frock coat. "Hold on, Allyna, we're almost to the infirmary. Poppy will heal you right up," he said, soothingly. On the inside, his mind was going a thousand miles a minute. How had she thrown a shield that powerful? And wandless, no less! The strength of it had nearly thrown him back, as though nothing or no one was getting past it.
Severus was shouting for Poppy the second his feet hit the entrance of the infirmary. "Oh, Severus! What happened to the poor girl?" the Healer asked, as she moved to strip Allyna of her robes, vest and shirt. Severus looked away for a moment when he saw the slashes over Allyna's chest. "Got hit by a nasty hex, Poppy. And protected the entire student body from it. Everyone except herself. She took the full brunt of it." Severus watched as Poppy efficiently cleaned the cuts with her wand before she began dabbing essence of dittany over the cuts.
"Severus you do her other side," Poppy said, handing him another large bottle of dittany and a small cloth. He nodded and began to press the essence-covered cloth to Allyna's cuts on the right side of her body as Poppy did the left. The cuts smoked and hissed as the dittany touched them, but soon they began to fade. Now that what looked like the immediate danger was over, Poppy raised her wand over the unconscious girl and began to run a diagnostics spell. She hissed in anger when she saw the damage that had been done. "She's got a bit of internal bleeding, but nothing I can't fix, given some time. Inform Albus that Miss Wilson will be in the infirmary for a few days."
"Don't worry, Severus. Your new star pupil will be fine," she said, smiling at him. She'd always had a soft spot for Severus Snape, from the first time he'd limped into her infirmary after taking a particularly harsh beating from his father before school had even begun. The boy had barely made it through the sorting ceremony without collapsing. It was only after Lucius Malfoy had dragged him in that Severus realized that Poppy would never tell a soul what had happened.
He watched as Poppy poured blood-replenishing potion down Allyna's throat. The girl's color immediately went from chalky-grey to her normal pale, rose-tinted complexion. He breathed an internal sigh of relief at the sight. Exhausted, Severus pulled a chair next to Allyna's bedside. Under the blanket, where Poppy couldn't see, he took Allyna's hand, feeling all of about fifteen years old. How had he begun to care so quickly? He ran though their every meeting in his mind. And he realized that from the very first moment they touched, he had been drawn to her in some strange way. He wanted her, he wanted to protect her, and he wanted her to be his.
"Gods, woman. How do you manage to cause so much trouble without trying?" he whispered, squeezing her hand gently in his. He thought he saw her eyelids flutter and watched as her lips curved into a smile. She squeezed his hand gently before going limp again and he knew that she'd heard him and then fallen back into unconsciousness.
Within the hour, Albus had arrived, with news that Miss Parkinson was being sent to St. Mungo's for a mental evaluation and that Mad-Eye Moody himself was going to be speaking to her. "Though it seems to have been a case of extreme jealousy. Miss Parkinson saw Mister Malfoy dancing with our lovely Miss Wilson last night and considered Miss Wilson to be infringing on her territory."
Severus snorted. "That little twit has no hold over my godson, Albus. Draco despises the chit."
"Yes well, unfortunately Miss Parkinson decided to take her ire out on Allyna and in a spectacularly public way. Now tell me, Severus, what do you know about the shield Miss Wilson put up before being hit?" Albus asked the Potions Master.
"Truthfully, Headmaster, I've never seen anything like it. Not one that strong, anyways. I wonder if it comes back to her training from the grandmother she's mentioned to me."
Dumbledore nodded. "Well, the poor girl certainly seems to have quite a run of bad luck lately, especially in regards to Miss Parkinson. Maybe this isn't the first time she's needed to use a protection spell that strong. You should speak to her about it Severus. I do believe you've gained our Miss Wilson's trust." Albus patted Severus' shoulder before turning to leave the infirmary.
Severus rolled his eyes. If only the old man knew how he'd gained her trust. He was quite sure Dumbledore wouldn't be quite so happy if he knew his snarky Potions Master was in love with a student many years his junior. Severus jerked back in his chair for a moment. Wait...in love...with Allyna? He ran the thought through his head again and again...and every time it came back feeling right. Sweet Circe...he'd fallen in love with Allyna.