Racing through her veins
Thursday, January 5th, 1967
Translations: Maica=Grandmother, Taicu=Grandfather, Bicu=Grandfather, Bica=Grandmother, Bunica=Grandmother, Bunicu=Grandfather,Mamă=Mother, Te iubesc=I love you,
I do not speak Romanian, but if any one reading this does, then please correct me!
(I know that kids probably don’t use every single one of these to call their grandparents, but in my mind the twins will use every variation they know just because they can. They are not often allowed to speak Romanian because of their father, so they ‘abuse’ it when they can.)
Domnita was waiting for their father to leave the room so that she could ask their mother a question, she had lost the game of rock, paper, scissors between herself and Severus so she was the one that had to ask. Severus had made his escape the moment he’d finished dinner and was waiting in their room for the verdict.
Their father finally stood from the dining room table, that was in their already cramped kitchen, and made his way to the fridge to grab a Double Diamond beer and headed to the living room where he slumped into his arm chair, pulled open the lid, took a sip and turned on the television, at a volume far louder than what was polite.
Nea stopped her mother from rising to clear the dishes with a gentle hand on her arm, she looked down at her and frowned, as if asking what she wanted.
“Mother, me and Severus have been saving our money from helping the neighbours and were wondering if we could... Go to Diagon Alley with you next time? It could be our birthday present! You wouldn't have to get us anything, I swear! We’ve got £2 pound between us we could get a new book? Please?” the twins had learned early on that if they didn't give their mother enough time to speak during one of their requests she would most likely agree, even if it was only to get them to shut up. “We want something new to read while we’re in Romania!” They went back home every year, usually for six months, they would go on the first of February. (They hadn't gone last year because their Maica had been ill, and she didn't want them to catch it.) Which had not been fun to tell Lily, though she got over it quite quick.
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Wednesday, 4th January
“What! You're going where?” Lily almost shouted as she looked at them both like she was waiting for them to go ‘Ha got you!’.
“We’re going home for six months. We leave February first, and we’ll come back on the first of August.” Severus repeated what Domnita had just said, “Me, Domnita and mother go to Romania to visit our Buni- I mean our grandparents every year.” he said looking at Lily like he was waiting for another outburst. Understandable as her initial shout had startled the both into flinching back, away from her.
“Wait, so you're not English? It doesn't sound like you have a different accent? And what even is Romania anyway? Where is it? Is the food different? What's your favourite?” she didn't sound as mad anymore, more curious than anything. She leaned forward, her eyebrows scrunching up in confusion.
“Well, it's a European country, umm I think it's near Poland? I know its neighbouring Hungary. I don't really know that much about it, it's just... home. You know? We sometimes have a bit of an accent but not that often, only when we're speaking Romanian or we’ve been speaking Romanian for a while, we’ll have one for a bit when we come back. Uh...Oh! We eat a lot of Pomana Porcului, it's like this pork... thing? I don't actually know what it's made of, but our Maica makes it a lot, it's our favourite.” Nea answered her numerous questions as well as she could, but she really didn't know much about it except for the manor they stayed at with their Maica and Taicu. She looked at Severus to see if he had anything to add.
Severus added, “I mean we are technically English, from our father, but we prefer to say we’re Romanian, I don't know why, I guess it's more fun?”
“oooh, my parents went on holiday to Poland once, before me and Petunia were born. It must be fun to have two homes! I've never heard a different accent from you two than the one you're using now?” lily tilted her head, looking a lot like a puppy who had heard a noise.
“You wouldn't have, we didn't go last year, our Maica was sick so we couldn't go.” Severus shrugged, looking unconcerned though Nea knew that he was terrified that their Bica was going to die last year. So was she, they didn't want to lose the only family they had that actually loved them. They knew that if Maica died that Taicu would follow soon after.
“Maica? What's that mean?” The look on her face was the same as when she learnt about magic, hungry. As if no amount of information would ever be enough.
Domnita answered, “It's how we call our grandmother. Taicu is grandfather. Theres a few ways we call them.”
Severus carried on her sentence, “Yeah, there's Maica and Taicu, Bunica and Bunicu or Bica and Bicu. Father doesn't like us to use them all, he gets mad, but we’re allowed to call them Maica and Taicu.” Father hated it when they called them anything but grandmother and grandfather, hated it when they spoke anything but English really, but he mostly let them call them Taicu and Maica if he was in a good mood, if not... well their magic helps them heal so it's not that big of a deal.
“That's so cool! Not your dad being mean, but that you have so many words for them!” Lily looked as if she was vibrating in place in her effort to not bounce around to announce her excitement of this new knowledge.
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“Olivia...” her mother somehow looked even more tired than usual, Domnita didn’t know that was possible. Her mother was the only one who called her Olivia, one of her middle names, mostly because Domnita didn't let anyone actually call her Domnita, only Severus had that honour.
She jumped back in before her mother could continue, “Please mother! We’ve been saving for ages! We could go into the book shop on our own so we wouldn’t annoy you? We won't make any trouble, promise!” her mother stared at her for a few seconds, the longer it took for her to answer the surer Domnita was that she would say no. She could feel the swell of defeat almost drowning her. No, she wasn't being spoiled, getting upset for not getting her way. She just needed to get out, out of this smelly little town and out of her smelly little house with her cruel father. If she couldn't leave soon, she felt as if she would explode. She knew Severus was feeling the same. Their magic was wreaking havoc on them recently, too many times has it been needed to heal them, and it was getting sick of it, sick of them constantly being in danger. It just wanted to be free. And so did she.
Domnita had always thought that was why they went to Romania, she’d always thought that maybe mothers magic rebelled being here too long as well, six months here with father was almost too much for their magic to handle but father wouldn't let them stay with her mother's parents any longer than they already did. That argument between her parents is one the twins remember well, it being one of the only times mother had not given in to her husband after a stern look that promised punishment if she wasn't careful.
This place felt as if it sucked out every shard of joy and innocence, leaving her feeling as if she were going stir crazy, insane. She ignored the voice Harry that pointed out that hearing voices wasn't exactly signs of sanity. She did not want to deal with him right now. He had no place in this conversation. He didn't have to keep popping up and sharing his, unwanted, opinions.
Her mother still hadn't uttered a sound, no noise escaping her. She was just staring vacantly, not even looking at her daughter, no she was staring just past her shoulder. This wasn't new, the longer they stayed ‘home’, the worse off she got.
She hated it when her mother was like this, which was quite often. At least when she was ‘present’ she’d try half-heartedly to defend the siblings from their father, it never worked and she never tried very hard, but it made them feel like she loved them, at least a little bit. But when she was like this, she would just stand and watch, not even flinching when her husband would bring out his belt or the dog chain. Domnita wasn't sure why he had a dog chain, he’d never owned a dog, ‘too much work’ he’d always said.
“Mother?” she tried to get her attention, she doubted it would work but sometimes mother would surprise her. “Mum?” she got a blink for a reply. “Mamă, can you hear me?” Nothing. Of course. She wouldn't come back for a while, she never did. She grabbed her fork and put it on her plate, picked it up, paused to grab her glass and moved to put them in the sink. She’d just made it to the door that lead to the stairs to go on up to their room when she remembered Severus had left his on the table in his rush to their room. She sighed, louder than she should considering her father had been in a terrible mood all day, and turned to clear his things away too. She’d placed his dishes in the sink and had started to make her way back to the door when she saw something move in her peripheral, she turned her head to see her mother looking right at her, clarity in her dark eyes. That was new.
“Mother?” maybe she would answer this time, even if it wasn't a response to her original question.
“Mhm? Yes, Olivia?” her voice was scratchy as if she hadn't used it in days, regardless of the fact that she had been speaking fine all day. Her eyes were clearer, yes, but that didn't mean she would remember the last few minutes, nor would she stay this way for much longer, already Domnita could see her awareness dimming. It never lasted long. Except for when they went Home (Home being Nea’s Maicas and Taicas mansion), she would stay herself for most of it, only slipping into her mind occasionally. One of the reasons Nea and Severus loved going, they got their mother back, if only for a few months. It was enough.
“Do you remember what I asked? About me and Severus?” she hoped she did, it would take too long to ask all over again, and by the time she finished her mother would be gone. Replaced by her father's dutiful wife. And that woman was not her mother, not really.
“Yes, Diagon Alley, you and your brother wish to join me on my next trip.” her voice had grown stronger after she’d cleared her throat a few times. And she didn't sound much more absent than she had a moment ago. She looked tired, still, but she also looked... alive for the first time in a while.
She tried not to let her relief show on her face, if she did it might just scare her mother back behind the walls of her mind. It was rare she got to have an actual conversation with her mother while they were in England, and while they were in Romania she was often too excited to see her Bunică and Bunicu to use the opportunity to talk with her. “Yeah, could we? We're all saved up! Two pounds! We want to see if we can find a book to read in Romania!” she was surprised to see her mother still present, still listening to her.
Her mother hummed, a note that sounded oddly musical from her usual near robotic voice. She swayed in place briefly, grasping hold of the table to keep her upright and on her chair. “I want to go Saturday morning after your father has left for the day.” Domnita translated that last bit, ‘Left for the day’ = ‘gone to the pub for the day’, she knew the weekend was the only time she would dare to go to the Alley, against her husband's strict instructions, they all knew that father would leave for the pub at about seven in the morning and would return home for around eleven, that's if he came home at all. She and Severus had been sent more times than she could count to the pub down the road, early morning, to wake him from atop the bar and drag him home, often with him making side quests into bushes and bins collecting bruises as he went, which would usually be blamed on them, ‘I am your father! You are supposed to look after me!’, resulting in a harsh beating with whatever was in his eyeline, and reach.
“So, we can come? Really?” she tried not to show her excitement, sometimes mother would act like father and take certain privileges away if they were too excited. Not often, but enough to make it a genuine fear to show too many emotions. Harry had plenty of practice at hiding his emotions, if he didn't, he would get a beating too.
Her mother smiled slightly, not even really a smile, more a brief lift of her top lip, “if you and your brother behave the rest of the week, yes. But only if you both behave, that means try not to get on your father's nerves too much, you hear me?” Like they actually did anything wrong, as if he didn't go after them for breathing wrong, standing wrong, looking wrong. Existing. She says that as if father doesn't punish her for not being a good enough wife, mother, woman on a daily basis. She knew they didn't have to do anything to be punished.
“Yes mother, I promise we’ll be good.” adults never want the truth, even when they know it already. They punish you for telling the truth and they punish you for lying. Not that she was, lying that is, they would be good, they always are. They don't have a choice in that if they want to live long enough to see the next day let alone Hogwarts or their teenage years.
“Mmhm, go on, go tell your brother. And get ready for bed, you've got school tomorrow.” She waved her hands in a shooing motion, already turning towards the sink to finish her duties.
“OK! Good night, Mother.” she waited to see if her mother would acknowledge her again or if that was it for today.
Her mother turned briefly to face her, eyes already vacant and sad, she was gone again. “Good night.” and turned back around to her task.
Nea smiled slightly at her back before making her way out of the door and starting her way through the living room, the volume was slightly lower now, father's hangover from last night most likely making the noise torturous. In her excitement, thinking about the Alley and telling Severus, she didn't change her course to avoid the creaky floorboard just behind her father's chair. Please be too drunk to care, please. She saw her father's head slowly turn to face her, face sagging in his intoxicated state. Or maybe a stroke. She should probably feel some amount of fear at the thought of her father having a stroke, she didn't. She couldn't quite find it in herself to care. He would be fine he always was.
“Where you goin’, girl?” he was slurring, not as bad as he was last night. Not that drunk then. He’s more dangerous like this, Uncle Vernon always was. Too drunk to care about the consequences, not too drunk for him to be too uncoordinated to hit her and not miss. she took a sharp breath in, hands already starting to tremble where they rested against her sides. Not helpful Harry.
“To bed, Father.” she didn't know how she kept her voice steady, not a stammer to be seen. She would have thought that after living with him her whole life that she wouldn't be scared of him anymore, and yet she found herself getting more frightened of him as she got older. She knew Severus was the same. The older they got, the harder he would hit. Not like that was saying anything considering he had never held back in his punishments. No matter how young they are.
“Mh, hurry up then, you're making me miss..” he waved to the screen showing... she didn't even know what that was and didn't think she wanted to, “this. Be quiet about it, ya’ hear me?” he took a sip of his beer, she was surprised he hadn't finished it yet, he usually had by now. He would usually be ordering one of the three people that lived with him to fetch him another.
“Yes, father. Goodnight.” she waited a second to see if he would say anything else, if she tried to leave before he had finished speaking, she would be in for it. He didn't. She quickly span round and hurried from the room, toward the stairs. The first step was squeaky, not creaky, squeaky. It made such a horrid noise, it made her spine tingle in a disgusted way just thinking about it. She tried to shake off the feeling, shuddering, before she stretched her leg over it, placing a foot onto the second step. There were fifteen steps, she’d counted them when she was four after her father had pushed her down them while drunk. According to Severus she had passed out moments after her head had hit the floor at the bottom of the stairs, she hadn't woken up until three days later. She should have died, her magic being her saving grace. You wouldn't have died, we can't. Not really. I haven't been able to since I was seventeen, and you are me. We are The Master Of- No go away Harry. Her magic had saved her. It always had. She hoped it always would, concerning her father at least. She wouldn't give him the satisfaction of being the one to kill her. Not ever. She didn't care if she died, she wasn't scared of it not really. She just hated the fact that she would be leaving Severus behind. But that didn't mean she feared Death, that just meant she loves her brother. She wasn't scared, and neither was Severus. Because you know what Death is. You lived it. And you know that it wouldn't dare take your soul. Severus is your sou-
She blocked him out. She carried on up the stairs, having paused on the second step after He had popped in. The fourth, seventh, ninth and thirteenth stairs were all skipped, them being the noisiest, not that the others didn't make noise they just wouldn't be as loud.
When she got to their shared room, she paused to push open the door, a step away as the floorboards under the door were the loudest in the house and father always heard it, she didn't know how. The door open, she jumped over the entrance, landing on light feet in their room. None of the floorboards creaked in here, she had entertained the thought that mother had charmed them silent, but she didn't dare ask for confirmation. Their room was small, barely big enough for their beds (read; mattresses on the floor, father wouldn't let them have actual beds) to fit without being joined. Their rooms walls were a dreary sort of grey, well grey and an odd brown, Dried blood that had been smeared across the wall in an attempt to wash it off. There was also some sort of moss, covering most of the ceiling and the corners of their walls. They had a window, looking out onto the houses across the street, there was an old, dying tree and its branches often scratched against the glass, making horrific screeching noises, it cast odd shadows on their walls, made worse by the one candle they had for light- (mother had charmed that, it would never run out of wax or wick, it would be ever burning. She had also spelled it so that it would be brighter than a candle should be, almost as bright as an electric light) -father wouldn't let them have a light, too much money to spend on ‘useless brats’. they didn't have a desk, nor any other furniture apart from an old wardrobe father had found on the corner of the road. It was falling apart and already had no doors.
Severus had looked up at her from his book the moment she had jumped in the room, his face hopeful. “So? What did she say? Can we go with her?” She didn't answer, just walked over to him until she was standing above him, looking down. “Domnita, what did she say?” he whined, quite a childlike tone being used, which was unusual for him. Well, not really, not around her anyway. He often acted so mature, in front of their parents, lily. He didn't let anyone see him as a child, only her. She liked that, liked that he trusted her so much that he would actually act his age. It made her smile slightly, annoying him further if the wrinkle on his brow was any indication. She still didn't speak, merely looking down at him, darting her eyes to the bed he was laying on before returning her eyes to him, eyebrow raised. He stared at her for a moment before huffing and rolling his eyes at her antics, he sat up, placing a bookmark (just a scrap of fabric from her old dress, father had ripped it in one of his punishments) on his page and shutting it before placing it onto the floor, ‘To kill a mockingbird-Harper Lee’. She hadn't gotten to read it yet, He’d been reading it for a while, it was difficult book evident by the dictionary he had to use every time he read it. It wasn't their dictionary, they had stolen it from the school library at the start of term. They felt a bit guilty about that, but the school did have like 70 of them in the library so they didn't feel too bad.
Now sat up, he shuffled a bit to make room for her, looking up at her and doing an odd sort of bow towards the free space. She snorted, stood up straighter and sneered down at him for a moment before chuckling at his annoyed face and sitting down beside him.
He didn't let her get comfortable before speaking again, “So? What did she say? Come on, Nea!” his tone annoyed and his lip jutting out into a small pout as he crossed his arms.
She smirked before replying, innocently “Hmm? What did who say?”, she wanted to laugh at his annoyed face but managed to hold it back.
“Domnita” he whined again, his face scrunching in displeasure, “What did mother say about us going to the alley with her?” she still somehow managed to hold her face straight, eyes lit up in mischief.
“I really have no idea what you're talking about, Sev.” he didn't bother with responding, he simply dug his finger into her side, expertly avoiding the bruise father had left her from her last punishment, she bent over with the force of her laughter, though she was quiet so as not to invite fathers wrath upon them
“Meanie, just tell me!” he continued with the poking to her side, though not as hard anymore.
“Ok, ok fine,” chuckling under her breath. She breathed in deeply, trying to calm down. The look on his face had been funny and the tickling certainly hadn't helped with her burst of amusement. She sat up, still chuckling, “She’s going Saturday morning, she said we could go with her if we keep away from father and ‘behave’” well, that wasn't exactly what she had said, but it was what she had meant. “I told her we’d go in the book shop on our own and stay away from her until she’s finished her shopping and we go home.” that wouldn't be difficult, the two of them often forgot the world even existed while they were reading or just focused in general, and mother would only be going to the apothecary to get ingredients for the healing balms she brewed after work, while father was at the pub.
Severus nodded, not surprised in the least of the terms that had been set. “OK, well we should manage not to annoy him too much, there's only a day for us to wait. She'll let us go to the bank with her?” the twins liked going to Gringotts, they enjoyed seeing (and sometimes getting to talk to) the Goblins, they were interesting. Mother didn't agree with them, but she rarely did so they paid no mind to her opinions on the creatures running the bank.
“Yeah, but he’s been angrier a lot more lately,” he had been, little things that wouldn't have annoyed him too much a few months ago suddenly made him a lot angrier than they should have, it was scary. Severus nodded, looking rather worried. She continued, “And I didn't ask her, but she should let us, she usually does.” Mainly because they wouldn't let her say no.
“Yeah, but that's only because we don't listen to her and go in anyway.” Exactly. Why change a solution if it works?
“Well, we’ll just go in anyway if she says no. I actually prefer it that way, it's more fun!” it was, it was one of the few times their mother actually acted like the mothers they saw out and about, exasperated but loving. She knew Severus liked it too, his face would always go all soft when she treated them like other parents would treat their misbehaving children.
He chuckled at her, “Of course you would find mother being mad at us fun.” Hypocrite. And he knew it, as he was grinning at her as he said it, dimples and all. Which was unfair, she didn't get to have dimples but he did.
“Oh, as if you don’t! And She’s not really mad, she just pretends she is. I've seen her smiling when she’s telling us off.” Quite a few times now, it made her look younger, happier. Made her look like something other than the empty shell she is while at ‘home’.
He laughed at her again, he must be in a good mood, he doesn't usually laugh this much. “Oh, shut up Domnita!” his laughter turned into more of a giggle, he’d kill her for thinking that but it was true, and he looked cute. Not that she would tell him that, he really would kill her for that.
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Severus had carried on with his book after she’d moved off his bed and onto her own, leaning against the wall, grabbing her book bag to get her homework and pencil out, it was old and chewed and the lead would fall out as she was writing, she’d gotten it from school and the thought of how many people had, had it in their mouth would make her feel sick if she thought about it for too long. She only had two pages on maths to do, mostly adding which she did easily and without much thought. They were adding three small numbers together this week, 2+6+3=11 and so on.
She’d finished both pages within ten minutes, and moved on to practising. They'd made it a habit last year to practise magic at night before bed so that when using it would make them tired they wouldn't get in trouble for being tired, it had taken them a few tries before they had realised using their magic would make them exhausted, they used to practise during the day but after they had both fallen asleep at around 1, on one of the rare times father was home during the day, and had got a beating for being lazy they had decided to practise at night instead. They didn't practise every night, and would usually take it in turns especially because of the time father had punished them, they were worried they would wake up still exhausted and they didn't want to both get in trouble again. So, they would take it in turns and stop the other if they could tell they were getting too tired. Tonight, she would practise making lights because Severus had practised last night and he would practise again tomorrow.
She put her homework and pencil back into her book bag and moved it onto the floor, near where she would put her head to sleep and crossed her legs, back straight. She closed her eyes and tried to slow her breathing, after sitting there for a few minutes, the only sounds were her breathing, Severus flipping pages, the television her father was watching or sleeping in front of and the distant sound of their neighbours arguing across the street, she tried to focus her mind inward towards the pulsing of energy she could feel just under her skin.
She focused on it moving through her blood, on it moving in-between her muscles and skin, through and over her bones (strengthening them as had become the norm after father had started breaking bones), she followed it as it pulsed through her towards her heart and back through, in constant motion. It was never still, always vibrating through her at a speed that made her dizzy if she thought about it too much. She forced her mind to keep up with the fast pace, immersing herself in the magic that completed her. She kept going until all she could feel was the rushing feeling of pure magic, until she could hear it as it flew through her blood streams. She didn't know how long she’d been sat there like that, breathing deeply and completely silent. She couldn't make out anything but her magic, no sound, no nothing. it was another reason why they took it in turns, someone needed to be a lookout for their father. One of them needed to be aware of their surroundings. Their accidental magic wasn't like this, that just happened when it happened, with nearly no control of what would actually happen. But when they did it on purpose, when they chose what would happen, that took concentration. And a lot of it. When they first started, they were near catatonic (a word they had learned after they had read through their dictionary), once they were immersed, they couldn't get out, they were trapped until their magic would force them out. But now, it wasn't as bad, they could decide when to stop, they could decide if they wanted to get out and when. They had a bit more control. Not much, but enough to keep themselves safe.
Her magic stilled, and she stilled with it. Focusing on her breathing, she slowly opened her eyes, trying not to blind herself on their candle. The brightness took her breath for a moment, which she struggled for control with before she had it back into its rhythm. She could see Severus, no longer reading, head back against the wall and watching her from under his lashes.
She smiled at him reassuringly, which was returned before she lifted her left hand up In front of her, pointing towards him and looking at her hand. she’d practically mastered calling a light to her right hand, and only practised with that one a few times a month just so she wouldn't lose the ability. It was harder with her left, her non dominate hand, than it was with her right, she had to get used to directing her magic into her left which felt different to directing it through her right. Severus had the opposite struggle, he was left-handed and had practised with his left first, and had moved onto his right, he had the same problem of struggling to direct it through his non dominant hand.
She started with her finger tips, for some reason it was easier for her to fill her whole hand than just her palm or just her finger tips. She felt her magic make its way through, her directed magic joining with the magic already there and trailing up to her hand and through her palm into her fingers, it tingled but not like pins and needles, this was a pleasant tingle, warming her and making her feel safe.
She felt a heat in her finger tips, and saw them get a soft glow, barely there but noticeable if you were looking for it. And she was, because the glow meant she had enough magic there to summon a light to them. Now she had to decide on whether she wanted just a bright glow like a ‘Lumos’ or if she wanted to summon flames.
She looked up at Severus, who was still watching, and asked, “glow or flame?” speaking was difficult, it felt like her mouth was filled with cotton so she tried to keep it short.
He thought for a moment, “Hmm, glow. It's easier and you're already tired so a flame will be more difficult to keep up.” he was right, she was already tired, she’d had one of Harry's dreams and it had woken her a few times last night, only for her to fall right back to where she’d left of, when she fell back asleep.
“Mmhm” she focused on making a light, imagining it on her finger, not bright enough to blind them, but enough to see most of the room without difficulty. She imagined and she pushed her magic to create it.
It did. It was bright, but not too bright. It was warm, but not enough to burn. It was magic.Your will.
She watched it for a moment, transfixed no matter how many times she saw it. No matter how many times he saw it, had done it himself. she looked up at Severus, he was smiling softly at her, proud.
“That didn't take as long as it usually did, only an hour.” he tilted his head to the old clock they’d saved from the tip, it was cracked and didn't tick audibly but it still worked good enough. That was faster than usual, by an hour and a half. That was good progress.
She smiled, proud of herself.
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She sat there for another hour, watching the glow, playing with the brightness, before she realised her eyes were drooping and she was tilting where she sat. She extinguished the glow, feeling her magic return to racing through her body. The moment she let it go, she felt exhaustion wash over her, forcing her eyes closed, looking through her lashes to continue to see. They felt heavy, actually all of her felt heavy. She felt like she couldn't move. Didn't want to move.
She heard Severus sigh, the rustling of his mattress sheet loud in the otherwise quiet room as he got up, she could her the quiet shuffling of his feet as he made the few steps separating their beds. She felt herself tip further as her bed dipped, Severus kneeling on it before she felt his hands on her shoulders, firm so she wouldn't fall but not tight enough to hurt. “You’re not wearing your pyjamas, do you want to change or just leave it tonight?” his voice was low, comforting. She was still wearing her school uniform, so was he, that they’d got through the school, mother had to fill out some forms to get them for them.
Her sleep clothes, were just her day clothes that were too damaged to be worn out, they were comfortable, well until one of her fingers got caught in the holes and threads and left marks on her fingers from where she tried to pull them free in her sleep. But she was tired, too tired to find her pyjamas and get into them. “ju-just leave it, ‘m tired...” she mumbled out, not entirely sure he’d be able to hear her.
Severus huffed out a breathy laugh and nodded, “okay.” He gripped her a bit tighter as he tugged her to lay down, slowly so she wouldn't get dizzy. He got her down, she was already getting comfortable, rubbing her head on the pillow to get her hair off her face as she didn't want to use her hands, she was too tired to try and coordinate that so she wouldn't whack herself in the face. He chuckled at her antics, and she felt his hand come and brush it out of her eyes. That finished, he sat up from where he was leaning over her and she could feel it as he leant to grab her thin blanked off of the end of the bed where she had left it folded that morning. She felt him lift it and shake it out a bit, before he leant down over her again and laid it over her, tucking in the edges so she wouldn't get cold when she shifted in her sleep.
After, he reached for her face again, using one arm on the mattress to steady him, he tucked her hair behind her ear, secure so it wouldn't move in her sleep. She grabbed for his hand on the mattress, he knelt a bit more to stay steady so he could lace their fingers together, his hands were warm, hers were always cold.
“Thank you...” her voice was quiet, almost too quiet as Severus had to lean forward a bit to hear her, he smiled.
“Mhmm, go to sleep,” he pushed his other hand, still on her face, down a bit, pushing her head deeper into her pillow, “Noapte buna, visuri placute..” good night, sweet dreams. She felt her eyes close completely, safe in the knowledge he was there, his hand still warm in hers and her face still arm under his other hand.
She felt herself slip away, hopefully not into Harry's memories, mind blank before her dreams would whisk her away. Just before she fell completely under, she felt his hand move, stroking her cheek and felt his chest briefly press into hers as he leant and placed a light kiss against her forehead. She felt her lips lifting. Soon she was under, drifting in magic and light and warmth. In the distance she heard a whispered, “Te iubesc, Domnita...”
I love you too, Severus
SOHASSOHASSOHASSOHASSOHASSOHASSOHASSOHASSOHASSOHASSOHASSOHA
Thats it for this chapter,I don't knowwhen ill nextupdate any of my works, busy with college and life in general, but i hope you enjoyed.
Im sorry if ive got the Romanian wrong, the only language i know is English and i struggle with that on its own lol
Hope you enjoyed lovelies :)