Bewitching the Mind and Ensnaring the Senses

CHAPTER TWELVE: Detached from Both Sides

Severus:

"Severus" she says turning to me just as the the room finally had fallen silent. Her voice is barely above a whisper.

"Yes dear?" I ask stroking her hair. Her locks flow fluidly in and out of my fingers.

"Please don't get mad" my breath hitches and suddenly my heart rate quickens "but you can't hide it from me forever so you may as well tell me, what's going on? Please."

"Ariana I've told you-." She props herself up on her arm and looks down at me, caressing my face and staring into my eyes.

"Sev all you've told me is that you can't tell me. It isn't fair. I'm strong. Whatever you tell me won't change that."

"Ana it's going to change everything."

"And I'm not going to leave. I feel safe with you." I watch as her face does not change. I know that she's content on figuring it out. I want to trust her. I slowly I slip into her mind. As I listen her head is full of stress, but not the stress I was expecting. It's stress over the fear of me leaving again, of never knowing the answer, of being hurt. I study her eyes. Her caring eyes. Lilys eyes.

"I'm going to tell you but, Ariana, this goes to our graves. No. One. Can. Know." She thrust out her pinky and I gingerly attach mine. I can feel my breath become ragged. She will never be safe again.

Ariana:

Slowly he unhooks his pinky and grabs his wand off the side table.

"What are you doing?" I ask as he takes my hand.

"It's for your safety and the only way I'll tell you" he says looking at me with deep concern.

"The Unbreakable Vow?" I ask feeling him slid his hand up my wrist and grip it firmly. I grip his in return.

"Ariana, are you sure?" He asks, his wand still nestled in the silk sheets.

"Yes" I say without hesitation looking into his eyes. Gently he lifts his wand and small silver strands snake out and tie our arms together.

"Do you, Ariana Matsdoter, promise to never say a word of what I tell you to a soul, save Albus Dumbledore."

"I do."

"Will you promise if it is found that you have this information you will not break and tell.. even if tortured?"

"I will." Suddenly the silvery rope vanishes however our arms stay locked in place.

"Severus please tell me."

Severus:

She's eager. Urgency laces her voice.

"As you know after school I went on to choose a rather" I pause for a moment "unsavory lifestyle. While in this lifestyle it was discovered that I have certain abilities. Those abilities include occlumency and creating spells. I had become sort of a 'right hand man' to the Dark Lord. I'm a tool to him, one he uses to get whatever he wants. However, certain things that I wish wouldn't have happened did and I realized the error of my choices. I've begun reporting to Albus and the Order to aid the fall of the Dark Lord."

"Severus you're speaking as if the Dark Lord didn't just fall?"

"The Dark Lord will return, and when he does he will attempt to kill Harry Potter again. I've been tasked with keeping the boy safe after he comes to Hogwarts. That is my first and only priority. That is until I met you. Now that you know all of this, when the Dark Lord returns you may become a target. I will be gone often and I don't think that is something you will be able to deal with-"