When the Stars Fall

THIRTEEN: What Dreams May Come

He awoke in darkness, his breathing harsh and ragged. He paused as he sensed someone else in the room. He concentrated on slowing his breathing and his breath caught in his throat when he heard a soft, cool, familiar, feminine voice say, "Lumos," as the tip of a wand lit up and illuminated the dark room. He sat up in his bed and looked at the fair skinned woman with the long platinum blond hair and bright blue eyes. He pushed his tangled black hair out of his face, and felt his heart beat quicken.

"Severus," she whispered, and he closed his eyes savoring the sound of her voice saying his name. "It has been a long time since I have come to you so openly."

His mouth went dry as he tried to speak. "Narcissa..."

"Shhh..." she pressed her fingertips to his lips. "Now is not the time for reminisces. I must tell you to leave Minerva alone. The time is not right for the truth. He isn't ready, and neither are you. The time will come when he will have questions, he already has suspicions..."

"There is something you don't know," Snape spoke hastily.

This caught her attention, he took a deep breath and continued, "Draco no longer belongs to the Slytherin house, and he was a part of a Lunari Ceremony that was performed over the summer."

"Whom did he marry, and what house does he belong to now. He is far braver than we were, defying his parents and eloping. The foolish boy," she said whimsically.

"He married Hermione Granger, and he's now the newest Gryffindor..."

Narcissa looked up startled and spoke before he could continue. "The muggle-born witch? Draco always spoke as though he detested her. Lucius will kill them both when he finds out. He's a Gryffindor? I suppose that leaves him at the mercy of James Potter's son."

"Your son is under my protection. Nothing will happen to him or his wife. I promised you that I'd keep him safe. Please, Narcissa, for my own sake, tell me..."

She looked down at him with a wistful smile. "You already know the answer to your question."

Then her tone darkened as she continued, "Lucius is getting suspicious. He has found out about the new account in Draco's name, he's noticed that most of Draco's clothes and schoolbooks are missing, and he knows that Draco has returned to Hogwarts. He's planning a visit soon."

"Do you know when?"

She shook her head. "He's not pleased with Draco. He will come soon. I will tell you more when I can... Severus, I must go. Stay safe, and..." She couldn't finish.

The light at the tip of her wand began to fade. He called her name, several times, in the growing darkness. When the room was completely pitch black, Snape's eyes snapped open. He sat up in a rush, his breathing labored. She'd come to him in another dream. He knew that sleep wouldn't return to him. He got out of bed and muttered a charm that filled his room with soft light.

He began to pace and then ran a hand through his dark greasy hair. Finally he groaned and took a seat in the winged black velvet chair that was set before his fireplace and stared into the empty fireplace. When he could stand it no more he got up, gathered clean robes from his wardrobe, went into his bathroom, set his clothes on the black marble counter, and then got into the shower.

He let the water hit his head and run down the rest of his body, then took a washcloth and began lathering up his body. When came to his left arm he looked at the dark mark and gave a dry bite of laughter. Then Snape took extra care to wash his hair, he used the lavender shampoo; she had always loved the smell of lavender. When he got out of the shower he toweled himself off, got dressed, and decided to let his hair air dry without the help of magic or his hair care potions that usually resulted in making his hair look rather greasy and uncared for.

Snape found himself back in his chair by the empty fireplace. He sighed and then began to recall his school years at Hogwarts as he slowly drifted off to sleep. The loneliness, how everyone despised him, and then he saw her. She was absolute perfection with long platinum hair, vibrant bright blue eyes, and her fair skin. She'd been in Gryffindor, and despite her relation to Sirius Black, Snape had adored her. Many had tried and failed to get her affection.

All Snape had done was get detention with her during their fifth year. He'd seen her in the corridor sneaking down to the kitchens with James Potter, Remus Lupin, and Sirius Black, and had followed them. On the way back up to Gryffindor Tower, Narcissa got caught in the trick step. They heard footsteps in the hall. Narcissa told them all to use James' invisibility cloak and get back to the tower before they were all discovered. When he was certain that Potter, Lupin, and Black were gone, Snape came out of the shadows and tried to help Narcissa out of the trick step, that was how McGonagall found them. She gave them both detentions for wandering the corridors after hours.

They ended up serving that detention with the gamekeeper, Hagrid. He had them clean out the stables, where he had an injured centaur he was nursing back to help. Hagrid had been so intent on helping the centaur that he ignored the two students who were supposed to be serving detention. Snape did most of the cleaning in the stalls Hagrid had told them to tend to, and when he'd finished he'd noticed Narcissa had fallen asleep in the hay of the stall he'd just finished cleaning. He knelt down beside her, and brushed her platinum hair out of her face. She'd stirred and her eyes fluttered open.

She looked at him curiously and asked, "Why did you help me out of the stair that night? You could have gotten away before McGonagall caught me."

"I didn't want to leave you there if I could have helped. I... I..." Snape stuttered to a halt.

"What is it?"

He looked at her and then something happened. He lifted his hand to her cheek and let out a slow breath as he leaned toward her until their lips met in a soft kiss. When he drew back he noticed her expression, her eyes were closed, and a look of pleasant surprise was on her lovely face.

"I've watched you since our first year. I know how your friends and your cousin see me, but I don't care. I'm finally brave enough to tell you..." he paused and took a deep breath, "I love you, and I would do anything for you. Anything..."

Her eyes widened at his confession. "You can't mean that. You just think I'm beautiful. You're like the others who've brought me presents and asked me to formal occasions..." She stopped when she noticed the pained expression that crossed his face.

"I couldn't afford to give you presents, my father would die rather than squander a single knut on his rather worthless son, and I was never brave enough to even speak a word to you. I've tried for years to get your friends in trouble, and look at me. I could never deserve your affection, but I can't help wanting it..." his voice had an edge of resignation to it, "It's enough to simply admire you from afar."

"No it's not," she whispered and then leaned up, wrapped her arms around his neck, and kissed him. The kiss deepened as he opened his mouth to her commanding tongue. Soon they were tasting each other. They suddenly pulled apart, though, at the sound of Hagrid's approach.

Hagrid dismissed them from their detention and the pair walked back toward the school together. Snape kept glancing toward her and finally he paused, she stopped and looked at him in puzzlement as he asked, "Is this real?"

"Yes," she smiled softly, "And I don't care about the others. The ones that gave me presents and asked me to dances. I don't care about your past, or your parents, just as long as I am your future. You've shown me something tonight..."

"What was that?" He asked.

"You've shown me what it means to be truly adored. I can love you, Severus, in fact...I think I already do. Now if I can only tell that to Sirius, Beatrix, and Andromeda," She sighed.

He ran his tongue nervously over his lips, "You don't have to. This could be our secret."

"Yes, for a while I suppose. We'll see each other in secret until we've left this school behind and then we'll elope. I'm certain to be disowned, considering my parents, but that won't matter, because I'll have you, and besides Sirius is destined to be the worst disappointment of the Black family. He doesn't have a single interest in the dark arts. His mother absolutely abhors him," she said with a laugh and then sobered, "To be honest, I don't want to follow in my parents footsteps. They would want me to follow their path and devote myself to the dark arts. I find too much beauty in light to ever truly belong to the darkness though. You are destined for the dark arts, yes, I see it in you, but that doesn't matter. I'll be the light for both of us. I promise, I'll always be your light."

With that they went into the school and parted at the door. Narcissa heading toward Gryffindor Tower and Snape went to Slytherin Tower. Suddenly his surroundings began to fade and darkness fell over his vision, and once again Snape found himself jumping awake, only this time he was in his chair by the empty fireplace...

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Hermione was in an elaborate room she'd never been in before. Three walls were made of glass, the fourth wall looked like a wall of a library covered with shelves of various books, the floor was white marble, and there was a large black chaise and two black velvet winged chairs set before a lit fireplace. Someone occupied one of the chairs. A pale slender hand beckoned Hermione to sit in the vacant chair.

Hermione slowly approached the chair, took a seat, and then faced the other chair's occupant, a woman she'd seen only once before. The woman had long platinum blond hair and as Hermione got a close look at the woman she noticed how much Draco looked like her. In fact, Draco didn't look a thing like Lucius, Hermione realized.

The woman spoke in a cool soft voice. "So, you're the one my son has taken as his wife. I must say, this comes as a bit of a surprise. You are a pretty girl. I can understand why my son would choose you. I always hoped he would find someone to turn him away from the path Lucius wanted him to take. Thank you for saving my son from the darkness."

"I don't know what to say," Hermione said, surprised that she was having a conversation with Draco's mother in what was obviously a dream.

"Don't say anything yet, just listen. Lucius will be visiting Hogwarts soon. I do not know when. Be careful. When he discovers what has happened he will go for you first, to make a point to Draco. You are a smart girl, I know that you will prepare yourself now. Don't tell my son that I came to you, and please don't look further into Severus' son. All will present itself in good time..." Draco's mother spoke.

"Mrs. Malfoy..."

"Call me Narcissa if you please. I am not proud of my married name..."

"Narcissa, Lucius isn't Draco's father, is he?" Hermione asked.

Narcissa smiled and shook her head. "My, but you are a clever girl. Severus is right about you. He believes that you and Draco were meant for each other. I no longer doubt him. Do you love my son?"

Hermione drew in her bottom lip and nibbled it, an old nervous habit, before answering. "Yes, for a long time, I only recently recognized the emotion for what it was."

That answer seemed to please Narcissa. She smiled at the girl, leaned forward, and took the girl's hand.

"Take care of my son. He has been bound for the dark arts for a long time. Be his other half, his light. He needs someone to look after him," Narcissa said, her voice shaky with unshed tears.

Hermione nodded and then Narcissa said, "This meeting is our secret. Tell no one, that I came to you. Now go to him. He's waiting for you. It's time to wake up..."