Severus Snape - Refuge

Chapter 3 - Night of the Curse

Darkness fell quickly, and the cool breeze from the lake turned into a formidable wind that whipped at Severus. He felt the sudden need for urgency, driven by more than his body's desperate demands, as if the winds carried a warning of a threat to subvert the realization of their union. He reached down between them, throbbing with hard desire, moving with single minded focus, determined to defy the omen on the air.

"Severus," he heard her plead, her body trembling underneath him now, as if she too felt the need for immediacy. He locked eyes with hers, which were open wildly with the uncertainty of the moment.

Severus hurriedly guided himself to her, breathing in ragged breaths, feeling time slipping through his fingers, as even his haste seemed to flow in slow motion.

He hesitated, feeling an unfamiliar jolt of fear from Sirana. Her eyes were no longer fixed to his, but to something past him, and he turned his head in time to see the lake rising up and the dark form of a wave moving rapidly towards them.

Severus covered Sirana's body with his, having no time to retrieve his wand or to even move from their place on the bank.

The force of the wave that crashed into him tore at him, pushing and pulling him, and he grasped at her, trying to maintain his hold on her.

Sirana's hands dug into his back, her legs wrapped with his, clinging to him as he felt them violently pummeled by the turbulent deluge.

Severus wrenched his eyes open when he suddenly felt what seemed like hands clawing at him, trying to tear them apart. He could only discern streaks of gray through the raging water, and he held on tighter, unwilling to release his grip to defend against the thrashing of his bare skin.

A flash of light abruptly forced his eyes closed again, and as he felt himself blasted away, Sirana in tow, he caught a brief glimpse of the scene behind him. It was as if shoals of dark, serpentlike shapes were waging a war against ghostly ranks of contorted forms, which were being driven back with the burst of light.

Severus felt himself blacking out, and he held on to consciousness as long as he could, afraid that the inescapable vortex of water would pull him and Sirana apart.

His lungs were burning, the need to breathe taking forefront in his thoughts. He suddenly felt himself propelled through the water, finally breaching the surface, and even as he felt the air fill his lungs, he knew it was too late for him to hold on to consciousness. He gave into the darkness, thinking only as he did so that, if only death awaited them, they would cross to the other side together.

Sorry this is such a short chapter. I've been so busy this week.