Chapter 6
A scream woke Severus Snape. His hand instinctively reached for his wand before he even opened his eyes. He was confused for a moment. Who was in his quarters in the middle of the night and was screaming? Only then did he remember the young woman one door down. ‘Fuck’ It had been less than a week since he had married Octavia Lestrange. Since then, he had tried to avoid the young woman as much as possible. Nevertheless, he stood up now and hurried with brisk steps to the door of his bride's room. Before he could open the door, another scream echoed through the night. It was a raw scream so full of fear and despair that Severus had to suppress a shudder. When he finally opened the door, he was greeted by a gruesome scene. Octavia was tossing and turning on the bed, her eyes closed and her face contorted in pain. The sheets were stained with blood and the young woman's arms were scratched up badly. Severus rushed to the bedside and tried to wake the young woman.
‘Octavia, wake up! Everything is alright! You're at Hogwarts! You're safe! Open your eyes!’ For a moment Octavia indeed opened her eyes, but her gaze was unfocussed and glazed and seemed to pass right through him, her eyes fell shut again and she only seemed to fall deeper into her dream. Meanwhile, sobs shook the woman's frail body. Shit. Shit. With a simple flick of his wrist, Severus summoned Potions Vials. ‘Okay, it'll be better soon. I promise!’ he murmured softly as he uncorked a vial. He gently lifted his young wife's head and poured dreamless sleep into her. A moment later, her body slumped and the whimpering stopped. The potions master carefully dripped diptam essence onto the open wounds and watched as the deep scratches gradually closed. With a wave of his wand, he cleaned the bed linen and covered the girl up.
Severus Snape did not leave the room immediately. He stood beside the bed and looked down at the sleeping form of his young wife. Her features were peaceful now and the stark opposite of the terror only minutes before. She was so damn young. Just 17, some of his students were older than her. Fuck. She was a kid. She was a bloody child.
It was only at that moment that Severus really realised what was happening. He had married a child. He saw Octavia clinging to her duvet like a lifeline. She was a fucking child and he had left her alone. He had let that happen. He knew exactly how the young pureblood daughters were brought up and he had agreed to marry a child.
Severus Snape couldn't stop himself from brushing an escaped strand of her dark curls from her face. ‘Sleep well, Octavia!’ he whispered into the silence of the room, which was only interrupted by the young woman's rhythmic and quiet breathing. He placed an alarm spell on the room that would wake him if Octavia became restless again, then he turned to leave and crawled back into his own, now cooled, bed. The dungeons were so damn cold.
He jumped up as if stung. His whole body was burning and tingling and if he listened carefully he could hear whimpering through his ajar bedroom door. A moment later, he was standing in front of his wife's bedroom door, preparing himself for what he was about to see. It had been like this for a little over a week now. Almost every night he was woken by his alarm spell or screaming. Whatever Octavia endured every night had to be cruel. Heart-rending screams, whimpering and tears were the least of it. Every night he was frightened anew when he opened the door. Only yesterday, the girl had pulled out tufts of her hair, leaving bloody wounds on her head. On the weekend, she had managed to beat her fists bloody on the wooden frame of her bed. But every time he spoke to her in the morning about what had happened during the night, she mumbled something about nightmares and always left the room almost in a hurry. She avoided him altogether, only spoke when spoken to and when he asked her a question, her answers were monosyllabic. It really couldn't go on like this. Deep dark circles lay under his wife's eyes and her nightmares were also sapping his strength. After all, he had to teach again the next morning.
When he opened the door this time, Octavia was lying next to her bed on the floorboards. Her body cramped in a fetal position, thick tears spilled from her closed eyes and she held her hands protectively over her head. As if waiting for a blow or a kick. A whimper came to him from the trembling heap of misery. He sat down on the floor next to her. He gently placed his hand on her shoulder and gently shook her awake: ‘Shh Octavia! Shhh! It's just a dream! Shh! You're safe here!’ Her dark green eyes opened uncertainly, Octavia blinked a few times, closed her eyes again and more tears ran down her cheeks. Severus wasn't sure if she had really noticed him. Carefully, the professor pulled his young wife closer to him, put his arms around her and massaged small, gentle circles on her back with his free right hand.
Her breathing became more frantic as Severus pulled her into his arms, her whole body tensed and for a moment Severus wasn't sure if he was doing the right thing. However, slowly but surely, her breathing relaxed.
He didn't know how much time had passed, but as his legs slowly went numb and the young woman fell asleep in his arms, he slowly rose, Octavia still in his arms. He hesitated for a moment, but then left the spare room and entered his own bedroom. He folded back the covers on the free side of the bed and gently laid the young woman down, careful not to wake her. The bed was big enough that it didn't seem too intrusive for him to take her in. The two parties were separated by over a metre of mattress. He covered her up, closed the door and went back to bed himself. With one last glance at the other side of the bed, he was reassured that Octavia was still sleeping peacefully and, reassured, he turned his back to her and stared at the chest of drawers opposite and the wall behind it. Sleep was out of the question. What was it that she dreamed about every night? What could give such a young woman such nightmares?