Rabidity

Weeks had passed since Severus had last spoken to Adrienne. He had tried to keep his thoughts free of her, but he found that they would creep back each time he fought them off. The amount of care he had for this girl was unacceptable for a student, let alone a young girl. He told himself that it meant nothing and that it didn’t feel the same as it had with Lily, when he knew that he was lying to himself completely.

He tried to consume himself with work. He was to be the new Headmaster, and everyone had been given tasks to complete and everyone was looking for Potter. Their attempt at his capture when the order moved him had failed. Leaving the Dark Lord furious, and leaving everyone with sleepless nights. Out of fear of being tortured they were all contacting anyone they knew trying to find out where Potter had been taken.

Severus had been looking for several ways to conceal Potter’s whereabouts. Those still left in the order did not trust him, they did not know what had actually occurred. Except for Adrienne. She was the only one that still looked at him as if he were a man, not a killer.

But again, here he was, surrounded by killers. Death Eaters from all over the world had come to aid, and serve the Dark Lord. All of them seemed to know something was coming, something big.

Severus sat with many others in the confines of the Malfoy Manor. His mind ached to waltz down the corridor and take a left to Adrienne’s bedroom. Everything he went through seemed to disappear around her, her carefree thoughts, her courage, it all eased his mind away from the dreadful confines of this dark word he had so eagerly wrapped himself up in long ago. For a moment he would be a man, just a man.

Instead he kept the confines of his mind tightly locked while he discussed possible hiding places Potter could be. Among many of the death eaters Severus noted familiar faces, some were simply parents of many students, others he had sat next to them in class when he had attended Hogwarts.

Then the entire room heard a thrashing. It came from down the hall, someone in pain. Severus knew within an instant who it was. But it was Narcissa who stepped out of the crowd and down the hall. She turned only slightly so that Severus could see her face, she was assuring him she had it under control.

It took every ounce of inner strength not to bound down the hall and protect her, and to help her. He knew that he cared for her too much, it wasn’t his responsibility, but Severus took it upon him anyway, after all it had be he who brought her here, it was his fault.

From the comfortable leather chair he heard most people return to their conversations, but one in particular caught his ear:

“Why does he waste time on this bratty little school girl? If you are to be ruler of all, why waste time on producing some silly heir?”

“Because his mothers line reins all the way back to Salazar Slytherin himself! Wouldn’t you take action to ensure that bloodline does not end? It would be a shame to end the him, and him alone.” Lucius said.

“Well I’m just saying I’m sure there are better candidates than that girl, do we even know where she really came from? She could be just like that traitor Daygona.”

“The Dark Lord does as he wishes, and we respect that.” Severus interjected. “You might hold your tongue when you know nothing of what you speak.”

The Death Eater, he was knew, obviously cocky, looking for power or looking for blood. Severus looked him up and down, he nearly recognized himself from all the youth and arrogance. He was interrupted by Narcissa, she needed him, and Severus couldn’t be more glad.

“Please accompany me Severus.” She softly spoke. She snaked her arm around his as she let him lead her to Adrienne’s room. The both of them seemed to have some sort of understanding about her, a certain protective instinct. Once they were far enough from the group of Death Eaters, Severus cast a silencing charm behind them, so words would be left unspoken.

“Her ribs, they’re broken.” She said.

“How?”

“I don’t know.”

“When was the last time he was here?”

“He hasn’t been here, but he summoned her last night, her mark, she said it was excruciating.”

“And?” Severus’s tone became heightened, and annoyed. He knew that the Dark Lord must’ve visited her while he was absent – but he had hoped he would’ve been distracted with Potter, and left her be long enough for Severus to return to protect her.

“I found her here this morning, sleeping.”

“She complained of no pain?” he asked irritated this time.

“Like I said before, she was sleeping.” She reacted coldly to his tone.

“Give her a vial of Amnisted.”

“He said no potions, remember?”

Severus moved his hands back through his head, and then let his finger tips rest on the side of his nose while he contemplated on what to do. Severus knew what the Dark Lord had said and he really didn’t care. He took a moment before he opened the door. Narcissa followed him inside, shutting the door behind them.

Severus could see the moonlight dancing across the room illuminating almost every object. The full moon was bright – and then Severus realized it all within seconds. She was part werewolf, and that vial that she drank daily… was keeping her from shifting. Her mind wouldn’t let it happen, but her body kept trying, leaving broken bones, bruising, and pain everywhere.

He remembered that the Dark Lord had been specific about the brewing properties of the potion, probably for this very reason. If Adrienne became pregnant, and shifted every month on the full moon, the child would be like her – and of course he didn’t want that. The first time she was strong enough to change, despite the potion, but now her body had weeks without a change and weeks for the potion to settle in, she was getting weaker.

Severus looked down at Adrienne. He touched her arm and she flinched at the pain, Severus didn’t even think Adrienne could tell he was there, the pain was probably blinding.

He wasted no more time and pulled out his wand, he muttered many spells, some healing, and some numbing. He spent the next hour mending breaks and fractures, while Narcissa kept her body cool with a de-fevering spell. His hand started to shake because he was realizing that he was gripping the wand so tightly. He had to wait before casting the last spell. He debated casting the sleeping spell at all now that Adrienne seemed to no longer be in pain, color had returned to her face, her bones had been mended, and he had cast several spells to make her body stay calm and not keep trying to change.

Everything had healed except for the bruises across her body. Severus had assumed they were from the change, but it seemed she had received them earlier, they were old, and had already started to heal before tonight.

“Does she always come back this color?”

“If you mean the bruises, yes." Narcissa sighed. "I don’t think he’s a particularly kind lover.”

“Don’t call him that, he’s brutal, and evil. He is not capable of love.” Severus paused, “She deserves better than this you know.”

He felt the cold stab of embarrassment when he thought of himself. She even deserved better than him, he had no idea why he thought that.

“What? You mean like someone who cares for her?” she let a small snicker leave her lips. “Seems you have that covered. Just know, that if keeping this a secret comes between keeping Draco safe, I will choose my son.”

“Narcissa you have no idea what you’re talking about.” Snape coldly said to her.

“Sure I don’t. But I recognize a lot more than you think. I am a married woman Severus.”

“Keep quiet witch! You know nothing!” Severus let his anger seethe through his teeth.

She stood and smirked at him once more. “I’ll bring a pot of tea in the morning, I assume I’ll find you asleep in that chair like I usually do.” she said directing her attention to the brown leather chair next to Adrienne’s bedside.

“Why do you even care for her?” Severus just muttered, he expected no answer. But he received chills when Narcissa replied:

“She saved my son.” And left without an explanation. It had been too long since he'd seen Adrienne - and she hadn't been able to keep out of trouble.
_____________________________________________

Severus didn’t sleep that night, and he found his thoughts ever so haunting, Thoughts of this girl, they never left him. He felt so responsible, and he felt so inclined to protect her, to keep her safe. Even though his eye lids were heavy his black eyes became wide when he saw hers looking at him, wondering…

“You should be sleeping.” He said in a low tone.

“But it hurts.” She murmured while wiping a small tear from her eye.

For some strange reason he reached his hand out and gently touched her cheek with the back of his hand, she closed her eyes one more while she thought of a question she had always wondered about.

“Did you ever think less of me? You know… when you found me that evening? When you found me like tonight?”

Severus remembered back to that slightly chilling evening where Albus had asked for his accompaniment to a friends house, he said. He vaguely remembered Dumbledore explaining the fragility of the situation. Severus realized how much Albus obviously trusted him. It was easy for Severus to miss his old friend, it was even harder to realize that it had been at the end of his own wand… but he had been growing weaker, the curse had taken a hold of his body and there was nothing that could be done.

“Less of you? No. But my admiration for you has grown since we crossed your pathway of death. You are a talented witch – and not to mention brave. You wouldn’t be here if you weren’t.”

“I always thought of dying being the peaceful easy way out. I think I saw it that way because of my mother.” Adrienne admitted. “But I’ve soon realized you will find much more peace if you die with bravery, and honor.”

“You’re starting to sound like a Gryffindor.” He gave her a disappointed look, and a little sly smile. “Like your father.”

Another mention of her father.

Something Adrienne didn’t like – but perhaps she should humor him. “You knew him didn’t you?”

“I did him a few favors, yes.”

“So he was nice to you?” she asked, referring to her fathers utter meanness towards her mother.

“He was quite the nice fellow, though he obviously suffered from a few personal problems like controlling his anger, dabbling with bad people.”

“That’s how he got bitten, ‘dabbling with bad people’?”

“I’d assume so, after school he became lost, became unknown, eventually dead.”

“Wherever he is he’s probably laughing at my mother’s willingness to kill herself. Probably laughing at me. Actually, considering where I’m at – he’d probably be proud of me, some makeshift mistress of the Dark Lord himself. Sounds menacing.” She said.

Severus nearly laughed at her nonchalant view towards her position. But before he could Adrienne suddenly gripped is sleeve, the pain had returned – and Severus was beside her once more. His wand was at the ready as he repeated the spells from earlier, he leaned over while he worked the magic he could. He was a very powerful wizard, many times had he healed wounds worse than this – many times had he stopped pain more intense than this, but never since Lily had he cared like this.

A sweet almond smell tickled his nostrils while he loomed over her like a dark figure checking for bumps and bruises. It was strangely intimate, and they both knew it Adrienne couldn’t help but think about kissing him again – and at that moment Severus dipped into her unguarded thoughts and saw the same thing. The quick return of the memories distracted him, the spell was stopped, and he was left to gaze into her eyes where for some reason he couldn’t tear himself away.

Maybe… just maybe if he kissed her he’d understand why he felt this way, why he couldn’t stop thinking about her. This was something he never expected to feel.

He dipped his head lower, he stopped just before her fragile face, ’What am I doing?’ he thought. The tension between them heightened, he had leaned so close and stopped just too short. Adrienne lifted her chin, which ended up lightly grazing his where soft stubble resided from a day without a shaving spell.

He didn’t think it was okay doing this.

No, he knew it wasn’t okay to do this.

But still their eyes were locked until Adrienne shut her eyelids, he heard her inhale deeply and the softest of noises could be heard from behind her ready lips. Making him only hope he’d be able to stop before it went too far.

He deeply kissed her. Her small body arched to his as he tried to remember how to even hold someone he cared about. He had loveless partners before that required no caress, no teasing, nothing extra – but this time he wanted to hold her, like he wanted to do every night he was beside her.

She was so small in his arms, and so delicate – he felt her flinch beneath him and he pulled away quickly, afraid of hurting her. Adrienne looked at him as though she were hurt, not physically, but emotionally.

“Please…” she begged him as he pulled his face from hers. More tears were added to her eye lids, letting them pour over onto her cheeks. Her hands held onto his face while he pulled away from her completely.

“I… I shouldn’t-“ he started. He sat next to her still, and before his sentence was complete he felt her curl against him, she held him tightly not wanting to let go. She missed him, she missed his scent and she wanted to feel loved, she needed that reminder that she mattered somewhere – and that she wasn’t just a warm body. The small chats and evenings with Severus had made her feel safe – and after he’d been gone so long she had begun to feel empty. But that made her yearn even more for the man that she missed.

She so desperately wanted to love...

She kissed him again, but received nothing in return, except that he held her tighter, and whispered. “I shouldn’t have.”

She cried into his chest, letting all the anger and sadness out from the last few weeks.

"Severus..." she called him by his first name, he strangely liked it. "I think... I think it's happened." she admitted.

Severus let his heart sink into his stomach to be rotted away by acid. This poor girl shouldn't be going through this, she shouldn't be with child.