I SPY || 𝕝𝕦𝕔𝕚𝕦𝕤 𝕞𝕒𝕝𝕗𝕠𝕪

Chapter 47. Betrayal

Snow covered the castle and its grounds on Christmas Eve at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. All of the students had returned home for the holidays, not a single one staying behind in the castle, and why would they? It had fallen further into a place of misery. The Carrows had it out for Ginny, Neville and Luna, punishing them at every chance. The three had resorted to spending their nights in the room of requirement to escape being dragged from their beds at night and punished until morning.

Severus and Astrid had grown close, not in a romantic way... in a 'rely on each other to feel human way'. At least from Astrid's side that's how it was... Severus cared deeply for the girl, but he didn't want to label it as love... he felt it was a betrayal to Lily, and a betrayal to Lucius. He compressed his feelings down, pretended their relationship was purely survival based. The two had physical relationship... often. Filling their empty souls with sex relieved them from the horrors of their day to day, even if it was only a short-lived relief.

"The Dark Lord has requested us to a Christmas celebration tomorrow." Severus told Astrid monotonously as she lay her head on his bare chest.

"Us?" Astrid repeated, her brow furrowed. She sat up, wrapping the sheets around her naked body and turned to Severus with a quizzical look. "What do you mean us?"

"Yes, us... as in the two of us, do not ask me why, I can only imagine it's for something unpleasant, so... brace yourself for the worst." Severus sighed.

"Will Everly be there?" Astrid breathed, her heart jumping at the thought. It had been so long since she had seen her, she wondered how big she was, what words she was saying. She wondered if Everly even remembered her face.

"I do not know."

"Will... Lucius?" Astrid asked hesitantly, laying down she bit her thumb nervously.

            "Likely, yes." Severus nodded, swallowing hard. He had only seen Lucius once since his physical relationship with Astrid had begun, and that was to tell him of her phantom pregnancy, it practically broke the man. And they threatened breaking him further if he found out about them. Both of them felt sick with guilt as they lay in their bed of betrayal. "Get some sleep, you will need to be well rested tomorrow, who knows what the Dark Lord will spring on us next." Severus drawled as he turned over to face away from the young woman. Astrid did the same, rolling over, her back facing the man beside her.

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            "Do I look okay?" Astrid asked, smoothing out her black floor length dress. It was a simple jersey gown with no embellishment, it had a simple straight neckline that cut armpit to arm pit and was finished off with off-the-shoulder short slightly poofy sleeves. It wasn't at all her usual style, but then again, it wasn't mean to be.

            "You look fine." Severus nodded, his eyes glancing up and down her figure. She looked more than fine, beautiful, stunning even, but he would not say so. Astrid went to the bathroom mirror to touch up her makeup, applying a red lip at Severus' request, when she spied her emerald ring on the side. She picked it up and held it in her hands, feeling it between her fingers, it felt foreign to her it had been so long since she wore it... and it felt like a different lifetime when Lucius proposed with it, so much had transpired since. She wondered if he still even wanted to marry her, or if he would if he found out about her and Severus...

            "You cannot wear it, you're meant to be mine, remember?" Severus sighed from the doorway. She placed the ring back down quickly.

            "I know, I was just looking at it." Astrid sighed

            "Are you ready?" Severus asked, offering her his arm. She nodded taking it, and the two walked to the fireplace, where they disappeared in a puff of green smoke to Malfoy Manor.