Bonded to her

Chapter 17

I expected him to be beside me when I woke up, but I was alone in the large bed. I took the chance to look around his rooms wondering how I could have missed it being his. It was exactly reminiscent of his Hogwarts rooms. They were warm and inviting in the best of ways. Opposite of the bed was large bookshelves filled with books that had to be hundreds of years old.

Their value had to be more than 100,000 gallons, but where he got this money was a mystery. He certainly didn't earn it from teaching, that was for sure. Not to mention the manor was in the millions of gallons, it was expansive and well cared for in a way that put Malfoy manor to shame.

I got up and put on his shirt since I couldn't find my dress and padded out of the room trying to find where he wandered off to. After a bit of exploring I found myself back in the dinning room where the party was.

The table was being cleared by no less than a dozen house elves, but their appearance surprised me. They were taller than the ones I had seen before and were wearing uniforms that matched each other. They were free. I smiled a bit to myself realizing the heartless man clearly wasn't so heartless after all. He cared for them and they were plump and healthy looking.

A few doors down I found the kitchens where Severus was cooking in just his sweatpants, looking more attractive than I would have liked to admit. When he saw me he immediately smiled carefree and relaxed.

"I thought you would never wake up." He said cooking what looked like French toast skillfully. The smell was delicious and made me realize I was absolutely starving.

"I didn't know you could cook." I said walking over nervously to see what he had made. Eggs and sausage were already done, he was just flipping some perfectly made French toast over. He looked at me skeptically with a raised eyebrow.

"I am a potions master. I'm fairly sure that qualifies me automatically as a good cook." I could have smacked myself in the head for my stupidity. Of course he could cook, it was all the same following directions. He picked me up easily and set me on the counter immediately feeling me a bite of eggs that were still piping hot. They were so fluffy and light it was heavenly.

"I need to fatten you up. You're nothing but skin and bones. You can't carry my baby like that." He said squeezing my side playfully. I choked a bit on my food remembering what Bellatrix said.

"I didn't realize you wanted me to. Pretty sure we have to do more than kiss for that." I said with a laugh. He smiled, kissed my cheek and went back to his cooking.

"Don't worry. I'm just kidding. If I thought for a second I would survive the war though...well you would already be quite knocked up." He confessed with a shrug thinking about it. It took me a bit to get my bearings realizing the magnitude of what he said. He had said he loved me, but I kind of figured it was the heat of the moment type thing. He was over here clearly wishing he could spend forever with me and I couldn't even say I loved him back. He didn't seem to care or need my confirmation.

The locket caught my attention and I cleared my throat ready to move onto less weighty matters.

"That locket, where did you get it?" I asked curiously. He glanced down at it surprised by the change in topic.

"The Dark Lord gave it to me the day my father died. Its not a locket though, it's a pocket watch." He said showing it to me, flipping over the silver cover to reveal a ticking clock inside. The carving around the edge of the pocket watch was unsuitable though. I reached out to touch it and immediately recoiled feeling the dark magic wafting off it.

"When your father died? And you always wear it?" I asked nervously. He fed me a bite of the french toast. It was absolutely divine and erased the icky feeling the watch gave me instantly.