The Potions Master and the Ravenclaw

"Madeline. It's I. It's Severus."

Madeline was sitting in a chair by the bedside of Alastor Moody. Harry Potter was asleep in a bed across the room.

She heard a creak and looked up to see the hospital wing doors slowly opening. She leapt to her feet and stood in the center aisle between the two rows of beds, half-way between Harry and Moody, drawing her wand and pointing it toward the door.

Snape entered the ward and saw her standing there, wand out, a fierce expression on her face.

God, she was beautiful.

"Madeline. It's I. It's Severus," he said softly, stepping into a ray of moonlight coming through the window so she could see him.

When she saw it was Snape, she breathed a sigh of relief and lowered her wand.

"Oh, Severus. Thank God it's you." A quiet, nervous laugh escaped her red lips and her face softened into the smile reserved only for him.

"I am sorry, my love. I didn't mean to frighten you." he whispered, so as not to wake Moody and Potter. "I just wanted to make sure you were alright."

"I'm glad you're here," she whispered back. She took his hand and he leaned down to kiss her lightly on the lips.

Moody stirred and she went to him, speaking softly to him and drawing up a dose of a potion from a large glass jar sitting on the bedside table next to his magical eye and wooden leg. She helped him sit up and handed him the vial and he drank it, then laid back down. He fell asleep again almost immediately.

"I can't believe he took that potion from you, considering how paranoid he is. I'm shocked he doesn't think you're trying to poison him." Snape said in a hushed tone.

"We have an understanding."

Snape chuckled. "Of course you do. Only you could win over a grizzled old auror like Moody."

She smiled. "Sit with me. Pull up a chair."

They sat together next to Moody's bed and he held her hand.

"Was Dumbledore pleased?"

"He was. There will be much to do now."

"Now that it's...war?"

"Yes. War. Are you frightened?"

"Only of losing you. Not of the war itself."

"War brings change, Madeline. I hope I've prepared you adequately for it."

"Tell me you love me."

"I love you. More than anything. That, my darling girl, will never change."

"And I love you. Forever."

He squeezed her hand.

"Severus, you must be exhausted. Don't you want to go home and sleep?"

"You know I can't sleep without you, but I will
go to our quarters and wait for you. We'll sleep when you get home. Together. I know you'll be tired after working all night. After all you've been through."

She tucked a piece of his long hair behind his ear, staring into his eyes. "That sounds perfect."

He leaned in to whisper against her ear, "While I'm waiting, I'll be thinking about you wearing nothing but my shirt."

She smiled shyly and he brushed a kiss against her lips, then swept out of the hospital wing, robes billowing behind him.

...

When Snape returned to his quarters, he took a very long, very hot shower. As he stood under the scalding water, he closed his eyes, letting it cleanse him from all he had seen and done that night. Then he dried himself, put on a dressing gown and went to wait for his wife.