Snape In Love

Chapter 12

Clad in a dark green silk dressing gown, Severus Snape sat up in bed looking pale and drawn. Around the bed sat the Headmaster, Professors Black, Lupin and McGonagall, and me. He took a deep breath, and began to tell us what had happened to him since leaving me at the Leaky Cauldron. Every so often he would pause and look at me, and I would clasp his hand in encouragement.

He had discovered Voldemort´s whereabouts, he said, and had gone to him professing his allegiance. He had been certain that he had won Voldemort´s trust, but Wormtail had injected him with Veritaserum and tried to question him. Voldemort had punished Wormtail, but then something Severus had said while under the influence of the Veritaserum, along with an owl intercepted on its way from Hagrid to Madam Maxime, had planted a seed of doubt in Voldemort´s mind. He had increased the dosage himself. Had it not been for the cumulative effect of the large amount of antidote that Severus had been taking for weeks, the effect could have been fatal. As it was, Voldemort got Severus to confess to certain things. Severus looked at me meaningfully at this point, and reached out for my hand once more.

"So, what exactly was it that tipped Voldemort off?" asked Sirius.

Severus looked at him sourly.

"It was my own weakness, Black! That and Hagrid´s stupidity."

"Severus?" I said, puzzled at his tone. He glanced at me quickly and squeezed my hand.

"I was...unable to fully conceal what had happened between me and Ella. He knew I was hiding something, and Hagrid´s owl message was so indiscreet, mentioning us both by name- well, as soon as Voldemort found that little nugget of information, he knew what to work on. My interrogation at his hands was...thorough...and, ultimately, fruitful." He fell silent, brooding. I felt sick to my stomach, imagining the torture he must have suffered.

"So, ah, he knows you are loyal to his enemies, and not to him?" asked Dumbledore.

"Yes," answered Severus, grimly.

"So why didn´t he just kill you?" asked Sirius.

"Yes, you´d have liked that, wouldn´t you, Black!" snapped Severus angrily.

"Severus, I think Sirius is only -"

"Oh shut up, Lupin!"

"Severus!" I admonished, and earned a surly "Well..." in return. He sighed, and continued,

"He thought it would be...amusing...to send me back to Hogwarts to die in front my- friends- who would know there was nothing they could do. He used- he used an enhanced version of the same potion I had used to make- to distance myself from Ella. He injected it directly into my Dark Mark to increase its potency. He found a certain symmetry in it; I used the potion to try to save Ella and myself, so he would use the same thing to destroy us. He found it most diverting," he finished, bitterly.

"And now I must speak privately with the Headmaster."

I stood up, reluctantly, and he put my hand to his lips, never taking his eyes from mine. I turned to go, and Remus put his arm around my shoulders companionably.

"Lupin!" Severus called after us in a dangerous tone, "Is there something I should know?"

Lupin stopped, rolled his eyes, and turned back, saying,

"Yes, Severus, there is. You should know better than to be jealous!"

The three Professors had lessons to teach, so I was left alone. I wandered around the hall, looking at the tapestries and chatting to a friendly Dutch nurse in one of the larger paintings. After a while, the Headmaster came out of the infirmary looking grave.

"He´s sleeping now, Ella. He has told me much, and little of it good. Voldemort´s power is growing, and I must speak with the Minister about what I have learned, as will Severus in due course." Shaking his head sadly, he took his leave.

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I went back into the infirmary with a heavy heart. I didn´t want the world to go back to what it had been sixteen years before, when we all lived in fear. But my mood lifted when I saw Severus sleeping. I felt selfish, but how could I worry about the world, when my entire world was lying in the bed in front of me? I drew the screens around his bed, then, curling up beside him in my usual position, I nestled against him and was more at peace than I had ever been.

I must have dozed off, because I awoke with a tickling sensation in the small of my back. Severus was stroking me there, so gently, and a wave of tenderness for him washed over me. I looked up at him, and saw that his eyes were closed and he was trying not to smile.

"Severus, I do believe this is only the second time I´ve ever seen you smile!" I said, laughing.

"Ah, well, I was having the most wonderful dream."

"Of me?"

"No, I dreamt that Lupin and Black were being forced to drink one of Longbottom´s potions," he smirked, crying out "Ow, that hurt!" as I punched him.

"Professor Snape with a sense of humour," I mused. "What would your students say?"

He raised his head and looked down at me.

"They´d better never find out!" he admonished, then leaned back on to his pillow. "Besides, what makes you think I´m joking? And - what are you doing?" he asked as I stroked his chest and planted kisses all over his ribcage.

"Oh, I´m sorry, do you want me to stop?" I asked innocently, trailing my hand lower and unfastening his dressing gown slowly. His black eyes half closed, he murmured, "No, don´t stop...."

So I began to do what I had longed for, dreamed of, for over a year. I leant over him, licking and sucking at his nipples while my hand reached under the bed sheet and ran lightly over his left hip, down his thigh. I scratched his inner thigh gently and felt the moan rise from deep in his chest before it issued from his mouth. My hand found him, making him gasp and lace his fingers in my hair, pulling back my head until I was looking deeply into his eyes.

"What are you doing to me?" he said, hoarsely.

"Unfinished business," I whispered, finally reaching my goal.

"Aaah!" he groaned, and I took that as my cue to move down the bed, my own desire brooking no further delay. As I looked up at him, I saw his eyes closed, and his hands gripping each side of the bed. As soon as he began to arch his back and cry out, I let him go, and sat up on the bed, gazing down at him.

"Aaah, you´ve stopped!" he gasped, plaintively. I grinned.

"I think that´s enough excitement for one day, don´t you?"

"No! Oh Ella, you witch, don´t do this to me!"

"Beg me!" I told him, enjoying the power I had over him. "I want you to beg me. And be polite!"

"Oh, please don´t stop. Please, I can´t hold it in. Please, touch me again, I´ll do anything!"

Exulting in my triumph I did as he asked once more. He reached down to me and held my head in his hands with a guttural cry, shuddering with the force of his orgasm. I did not relinquish my hold on him until it was over, and he lay prone on the bed, his breathing coming in ragged gasps. I felt a molten need for him but this was not the time or the place to consummate our passion, so I put it out of my head and crawled back up the bed, kissing my way up his sweat-sheened body until I reached his soft, warm lips.

"Oh, Ella," he murmured as we kissed, "I love you."

My heart lurched as I heard him say those words for only the second time, and I drew him to me so that he could rest his head on my chest, and sleep once more.

"For someone who finds it hard to share his feelings, you´re doing remarkably well," I said softly as I kissed the top of his head.