The Princess and the Bloodstone

Hell & High Water

Severus

'I'm one of them. He said so,' Holly mumbled, gripping the teacup tighter.

'You lost me with the Parsletongue. I feel...' Severus flexed his hands, trying to name the most horrible feeling constricting his insides. Powerless. We pushed the Dark Lord over the brink. He will do anything to get her now. I was wrong. About everything.

'Angry. I'm angry,' Holly's voice still cracked with sleep.

'You should have never consented to the Mark,' he said, glancing at her arm wrapped in a Murtlap-soaked bandage. She cradled it protectively to her chest.

'Then why didn't you stop it?'

'I promised I wouldn't interfere,' he worried a hand through his overlong hair. 'I trust you.'

She gave him a side-eye and took a shaky sip of tea. 'Well. I didn't know what else to do, at least it bought us some information - I'm one of the Horcruxes, and I have to die for him to die.'

'A prophecy only means something if you allow it to, you would do well to not heed it,' Severus said.

'But HE thinks it's true. If one of us thinks it's true, it's enough for it to be.'

Severus hung his head. Dumbledore suspected she was a Horcrux, he thought, broiling with guilt as he remembered the horrifically enlightening Veritaserum interview. He had always known her to be somehow connected to the Dark Lord, but before Dumbledore shared his suspicions, it was mostly a gut feeling. He'd been guessing at the how of their connection for years. Now that it was out in the open... it was more dooming than before.

Traitor. I carried the prophecy to the Dark Lord. I caused this chaos. It's all my fault.

'I will make him kill me. If it means he dies too,' Holly continued.

'No.'

'It's the only option. You know it, Sev.'

'I forbid it.'

She snorted.

'We'll find another way,' he said, rising slowly fleeing the tent. He cast the wards about their tent for the second time that evening, making sure the protective cocktail of complex protective charms was strong enough to withstand the Dark Lord himself — even if just for a few minutes.

Severus watched the slumbering wilderness behind the tent, breathing deeply in an attempt to quell the horror caged inside. The wind stirred the leaves around the thickly carpeted forest floor and swaying branches created a stuttaco symphony of chattering and creaking. Faint moonlight sketched the trunks of ancient trees from the inky darkness. It smelled simultaneously of spring flowers, decaying leaves, and faint desperation.

Or is that just my imagination?

'There must be another way,' he gasped, laying his head in his hands. Darkness was the reply.

_______________________________________________________________________

Severus moved them a few kilometres eastward the following morning. They first set up camp in a glen near a Loch before they moved a second time — this move due to Holly's discovery of a shallow cave that would offer them superior shelter against the elements and unwelcome eyes.

He had her cast the wards, watching closely as she performed each. He found no reason not to have her repeat a spell he wasn't completely satisfied with. Luckily, she'd gotten used to his rigorous approach and simply indulged him by repeating the spells he deemed necessary. Her wand work was improving well, all considered. He told her this to cheer her up, but it did little to raise her dampened spirit.