Love For Too Many

Chapter 8

He stepped away from you when the conflict in your eyes was noticeable. "I didn't mean to over step. Feel free to get ready for bed in here and sleep in the bed. I'll  use the bathroom in the hallway and I'll sleep on the couch." Before you could respond he had turned on his heel and left you alone in the bathroom.

You had done as told and hopped into the shower letting the burning hot water soak into your skin. After an hour of enjoying the heat you turned off the water and wrapped a towel around your middle and placed your hair on top of your head wrapped carefully in the towel. Checking in the mirror to make sure you weren't too awful looking without your cover up spells you stepped out of the bathroom and bedroom into the living room.

You quickly went to fetch your suitcase that had been left by the door but his eyes trailed up and down your figure giving you goosebumps. You wouldn't face him without your charms to cover up the deep circles under your eyes and the scar that went across your face. You were embarrassed by them and they brought too much of the past up. A lot of things lately were "too much".

Not realizing it, you had dropped your barriers while in the shower and Severus took that as an opportunity to get you back after earlier. but he heard your thoughts and briskly came to you. You froze at his sudden presence at your back.

"Can I help you Severus?" You asked cautiously.

"Your barriers are down Y/n." Your breathing stopped. How much had he heard? "Look at me." You disobeyed and stayed still. You began trembling afraid of what he would say or do. You reached for your wand. It was on the table nearby. But he grabbed your wrist and used it to turn you towards him.

Your eyes were no longer bright. They were dimmed from all you have seen. The circles under your eyes looked swollen and puffy. Not from crying, just from pure exhaustion built up over the years. Them he saw it. Then huge gash going from the bottom of your jaw in a diagonal cut up to the right to your nose. It was a relatively new scar. Only a year or two old at most. But it was deep and looked awfully painful.

His right hand slowly came up to your jaw and you winced. He paused before running his thumb gently over the wound. "What happened?" He asked softly. Just barely louder than a whisper. You shook your head at him. You weren't ready to talk about it. You kept your gaze low focusing on the neck line of his dress shirt. His eyes traveled downward to the small cuts on your shoulders. He slowly pulled your towel down showing the rest of the marks on your body.

Their were deep lash marks across your back, anywhere from twenty to thirty. Burn marks on your forearms and gashes where stretch marks should be. He did not care that you were naked. He cared that you had been hurt. No matter how long ago it was. He knew you did not have these marks back during your years here. You hadn't the magic to cover them up.

Your gaze stayed glued anywhere but his eyes. You had reached up and taken the towel from your hair feeling it unnecessary with the rest of your body exposed. You stood before his gaze silently. Waiting for some type of lecture or punishment or beratement. For that was all you ever received when telling someone. Only one other person besides Dane had ever known and it was a hospital worker. She had made you feel ashamed for making your husband mad enough to do it. So you had never told another soul. Then Minerva came along but she didn't know the half of it.

His hand on your jaw forced your gaze upward but you still wouldn't look at him. "Y/n... look at me please." Finally you obeyed with water dancing in your eyes. With you looking at him he asked for permission to look through your thoughts.

May I? You shook your head at him. You weren't ready to talk about it and you definitely weren't ready for someone to live in your shoes even if it was only for a moment. He understood. He had cigarette burns of his own along his back and he never told anyone about them. He picked up your suitcase and lead you back to the bedroom. He left you alone with a nightgown on the bed for you to change into. You changed swiftly and found your wand. Running back to the bathroom mirror you said the charms and all your abuse vanished leaving gorgeous rosey skin behind.

You crawled into his bed and breathed in his calming scent before drifting to sleep. Severus sat in front of the fire on the couch thinking deeply about what had just occurred. He didn't know how to talk about it and didn't know if she was ever going to want to talk about it. All he knew was that somehow, he liked her even more now.