Chapter 21
”(Y/N), breakfast!” Your mother calls, her voice cheery and bright. You run down the stairs of your house, smiling as you face your parents in the kitchen. It’s warm in the house as snow falls outside. You sit between your parents at the table as your mother sets a steaming plate of food before you, kissing the top of your head and rustling your hair gently with her fingers before she takes her place beside you. Just as you move to take a bite of the food, the front door slams open.
“Avada kedavra!” A dark wizard exclaims, his wand emitting a blinding flash of green as it strikes your father down immediately.
“Avada kedavra!” He cries again, the second bolt hitting your mother beside you.
They slump over onto the table, their lifeless eyes staring into yours, their mouths frozen in a silent scream as they lay lifelessly on either side of you.
“Why didn’t you help them?” The wizard screams, suddenly on his knees in front of you, his dark expression turning into a twisted smile. “Why didn’t you save your parents? Why did you let them die?”
You cover your ears with your hands, screaming as loudly as you can, but he is louder. His voice echoes through your head, your body, into your very soul.
“WHY DID YOU LET THEM DIE?”
“Wake up!” Severus shouts, and your eyes finally snap open. You look up at him with wide eyes, your breath coming in jagged bursts as you fight to stabilize yourself.
He sits on your hips, holding you down on the bed. Your hands are held above your head by his, pinning your wrists to the pillows beneath you. Severus’ hair falls into his eyes as he looks down at you, breathing nearly as erratically as you are.
“What the hell was that?” He breathes, his voice weak, but steady as he looks at you in the dark room.
You shake your head, tears stinging in your eyes.
“I don’t know.” You reply, your voice shaking. “I–it was like I was there.”
Severus gently releases your wrists, but doesn’t move from his position on top of your body. He runs a hand through your hair, soothing you gently.
“Where?” He asks, his voice gentle and smooth.
You take a deep breath, squeezing your eyes shut for a moment.
“I saw my parents die.” You whisper. “It was like I was in the room–I watched them be struck with the killing curse, and I did nothing to stop it.”
Severus exhales slowly, brushing your hair again.
“You’re here with me.” He tells you gently. “You have been this whole time. Your mother is away but safe. Your father is gone, but you had absolutely no part in that.”
You nod, leaning into Severus’ touch as he wipes a tear that rolls down your cheek.
“What did I do?” You ask, referring to his position over you.
Severus slowly moves to sit beside you, pulling you up and into his lap.
“You were screaming and thrashing so hard I was afraid you’d fall off the bed at first,” He tells you. “But when you started to scream the curse… I didn’t know what would happen.”
You shiver, the thought of the words of the most forbidden curse coming from your lips sending your blood running cold.
“I’m so sorry.” You reply. “I don’t know what’s gotten into me.”
Severus kisses your brow, soothing your worries.
“It was just a nightmare.” He murmurs, his low voice rumbling through your body in the close proximity. “You are alright.”
You nod, snuggling in against his body as he holds you closer. Nova stirs a moment later, and you leave his embrace just long enough to pick her up, bringing her back to the bed and snuggling back against Severus.
After a while, Nova falls back to sleep, and you move her to the bed between you and Severus. He falls asleep moments later, and you lay in the bed, starring into the darkness, counting each beat of your heart in time to your daughter’s breaths.
The mirror you hid from McGonagall and Severus, stashed beneath your bed, seems to be humming, each resonating chord drawing you in, enticing you to look at it.
You slowly draw back the covers, sneaking out of the bed and grabbing the mirror before taking it into the bathroom. You shut the door behind you, sitting with your back pressed against it as you hold the mirror out in front of you.
Your fingers trace each rune slowly, relishing in the coolness of the metal as you gaze into the mirror. The humming turns to almost a purring as you trace your features on the glass, almost like the mirror missed you.
You hold it close to your chest, closing your eyes as you rest your head against the door, the cold mirror chilling your skin in a way that relaxes you. Finally, you get back up and walk to the bedroom, slipping the mirror beneath your pillow as you snuggle yourself back into the covers, closing your eyes and falling into a deep, dreamless sleep.
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
“The Wiggenwald potion,” You say, projecting your voice to your students before you, “is a healing potion with the power to sterilize and heal minor injuries.”
You stir the example potion in the cauldron beside you as you explain, pulling the spoon out and trickling a stream of the liquid back into the cauldron to show the consistency.
“It was originally created as the antidote to the Sleeping Draught and the Draught of Living Death.” You continue. “Please open your books to page 134, collect your supplies, and begin.”
The first-year students in your classroom dart from their chairs, gathering their supplies and beginning to brew their potions. You walk throughout the room, watching them as they work and correcting minor mistakes as they go.
Doing alright?
You hear in your mind, the gentle caress of Severus’ voice in your head sending a rush of endorphins through your body.
Yes, my love. You answer, your fingers raising to your throat absentmindedly and twirling the chain of your necklace as you walk around the room. I hope you were able to sleep more, I’m sorry again for last night.
“Careful with the Wiggentree bark.” You tell a student, guiding their hand as they pour the small portion into the cauldron.
Don’t worry about it my love, Severus whispers through the bond. I’ve made plans for us tonight, meet me in the hallway outside the classroom at six.
You smile to yourself, sending the gesture back to Severus as you continue your day. As you teach your final class, you take Nova to play with the house elves in the kitchen. They squeal with glee as you walk into the room, several of them reaching for her as you enter.
You stay and talk to them for awhile, grateful for their company to pass the time before your date. But some small part of you wishes that you were upstairs looking into the mirror. You push away the thought as you ask if you can leave Nova for a couple of hours, and are unsurprised when the elves nearly push you out of the door with glee in response.
Nova giggles and waves at you as you leave, blowing her a kiss as you walk down the hallways back to the dungeon. Severus waits in front of the classroom door, smiling at you as you walk towards him.
“Hello, darling.” Severus greets you warmly, wrapping his arms around you and kissing you gently.
He opens the door to the potions classroom, and your breath catches slightly in your throat as you find it entirely lined in candles. The fire roars in the fireplace, and a blanket is laid in front of it covered with food and drinks.
Severus stands behind you, his hands on your shoulders as he kisses your neck slowly.
“Remember these days?” He asks quietly. “Sneaking around in the potions classroom, stealing kisses in the dark?”
You laugh lowly, reaching around to twist your fingers into Severus’ hair as you turn to face him.
“Mm, Professor Snape, you are naughty.” You purr, brushing your lips against his as he rests his hands on your hips, pulling you closer.
“Oh, please.” Severus replies with a breathy laugh. “You are far worse than I am, Professor Snape.”
You laugh too, drawing Severus closer and kissing him deeply. He lifts you effortlessly, and you wrap your legs around his body as he steps onto the blanket, sitting and holding you close as he continues to kiss you.
Together, you talk and laugh over dinner, sharing smiles and kisses as you eat the food Severus brought.
“This is perfect.” You tell him, smiling at him warmly. “I do miss these days, the romance, the thrill of being caught.”
Severus laughs, his fingers tracing soft circles against your thigh.
“I know.” He replies. “But believe me, the romance is my primary focus from now on.”
Your eyebrows raise, and you lean closer, resting your hands on his thighs as you perch yourself up to look into his eyes.
“Oh, really?” You ask playfully.
“Really.” Severus replies, leaning forward to kiss you again, his fingers twisting into your hair and pulling your face to his own with passion.
***smut warning***
His kiss is passionate and deep, and your body melts against his as he slips his tongue between your lips. You sigh as you straddle his body with your legs, already feeling his hardness between your legs.
Your movements were frantic as you each stripped the clothes from the other, as if you had been starved from each other for years, as if you might die if you couldn’t be joined together again now.
Severus’ fingers slid against you before finally slipping inside of you, and you couldn’t help but moan his name as he pumped them in and out of you. Your name spilled from his lips when your hand wrapped around his length, moving up and down in time with his fingers in your body.
When at last he entered you, neither one could contain themselves for long. His motions in and out of your body as you grasped at his back with your nails sent you each shuddering into a release, collapsing together in front of the heat of the fireplace as you fought to catch your breath.
***smut over***
“I’ve missed you.” Severus breathed, his fingers trailing down your spine as you laid beside him on the blanket.
“I missed you too.” You whisper back, your face pressed against his bare chest, listening to the steady rhythm of his heart.
As you dressed shortly after, Severus kissed your forehead, extinguishing the fire in the fireplace.
“I’ll go collect Nova, you go get yourself ready to bed, draw a bath if you wish.” He smiled as he walked to the door, and you blew him a kiss as you stepped into the fireplace and dropped your handful of Floo Powder to get to the apartment above.
You sat on the edge of the bathtub as the water ran, steam swirling in the air above, when suddenly, the mirror popped back into your mind. You hurried into the bedroom, pulling it from under your pillow and bringing it into the bathroom with you.
As you sank into the tub full of bubbles, you pulled the mirror into the bath with you, turning its cool frame over and over in your hands. Your chest ached as you looked into it, as though you’d just now remembered how much you missed it throughout the day.
The steam swirled around the metal, but did not fog the glass like it would on a regular mirror. Your eyes stared back at you from the reflection, and you couldn’t help but be comforted by the weight of the mirror in your hands.
The handle on the bathroom door jiggled, and your heart stopped in your chest. You plunged the mirror into the water, hiding it with bubbles as Severus peeked into the bathroom.
“Just wanted you to know we’re in here.” He said with a small smile. “Enjoy your bath my love.”
You smile tightly as he closes the door, exhaling with relief as you pull the mirror back out of the water, shaking the wetness off of it.
“What is it about you that makes me so protective?” You whisper to the mirror, almost ashamed of your defensiveness over it.
The mirror purrs in response, and you smile as you begin your familiar tracing of the runes around its shape.
___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___ ___
You watched a man walk down the street, his head tucked away behind a dark hood. You followed him as he turned down a dark alleyway. A wand distended from his sleeve, and he pointed it at the breathless woman at the end of the alley, her back pressed against the wall as she breathed in jagged bursts.
She screamed as the man raised his wand, pointing it at her.
“You are a traitor.” The man told her, in a voice that was painfully familiar. “And for that, you must die.”
The woman screamed again, and was quickly silenced by the curse that struck her squarely in the chest. Her body crumpled to the floor, lifeless as it thudded against the cobblestone.
The man turned to face you, and your screams echoed down the alleyway as you came face to face with Severus.