Bonded to her

Chapter 21

I dreaded explaining to the Headmaster what was going on with his master plan. She had somehow gone from not competent at all with commanding magic to perfection in minutes. We thought we had months still to prepare for an eventual all out war, but with him using her as a tool if we didn't destroy him soon he would be too powerful to kill even with all the horcruxes gone. Potter was the one who was supposed to kill him and he was hardly the strongest wizard anyways.

I tried to see him as soon as I got back but he wasn't there so I had to wait until the next morning much to my annoyance.

When I walked in his office the next day he wasn't alone, a very peeved Minerva was at his desk angrily explaining something to the headmaster who wore his usual empty smile. Lupin was just hanging out in the corner lurking seemingly drug in here not out of his own free will.

"Ah Severus! How wonderful. We were just talking about you!" The Headmaster said drawing Minerva's attention to me. I sneered and was annoyed. They always seem to talk about me when I was away. I didn't have time to ask what the conversation was about . Minerva rolled up the newspaper and started smacking me with it harshly, chasing me when I tried to dodge her.

"What the fuck Minerva!" I yelled trying to get away from her. She chased me around the headmaster's desk, her old features overrun with anger.

"HOW DARE YOU DEFILE SUCH A BEAUTIFUL, INNOCENT SOUL YOU DISGUSTING LEECH." She yelled full of a fire I didn't even know she possessed.

"What the fuck are you talking about? Will someone tell me what's going on" I asked my own anger flaring at her outburst.

"THIS!" She said throwing the paper at me. Part of the daily prophet tumbled to the floor, but the other part I managed to grab just to see my picture in the first page.

HOGWARTS SCANDAL

I glanced over the article, but got the main gist of the scandalous article quickly. The picture itself was pretty self explanatory. It was of Granger and I staring into each other's eyes. My fingers were tipping her chin up to look in her eyes to read her mind.

We were barely touching, yet the intimacy of the moment was vividly apparent. The small smile she had was simply divine. Lost in love. Even my expression was calm and happy. I had just saved her from dying, it was a moment of weakness, but that picture managed to capture my heart on my sleeve. I felt the air in my throat catch remembering how I felt in that moment.

The picture wasn't moving as much as most did in the Wizarding world, but she tucked her hair behind her ear, her smile faltering just ever so slightly. It was the moment she realized I was going through her memories and betrayed her trust.

I sat down in the chair lost in thought, just absorbed with watching the trusting way she looked at me.

"So do you have anything to say for yourself? You should be ashamed! I can't believe you would have an affair with a student!" Minerva said harshly, drawing my attention back into the world of the living.

"I was performing legitimacy on her. I assure you, her innocence is intact." I explained quietly.

"I told you Minerva, see. Can we go now?" Lupin said relieved, obviously having assumed we were sleeping together but having been trying to convince her otherwise.

"I don't believe that for a moment. Do you see how she's looking at you?" Minerva said accusingly hitting the paper I was still holding for emphasis, her lips drawn into a thin disproving line. I looked at the picture again , her small smile that of angels, and I had been assuming she was the devil. I was so blind in so many ways. Seeing how she looked at me from the point of view of someone else was so surprising I didn't even know how to process.