Mend Me

Twenty-Four

Danu finds herself in the large leather chair she sits in each night, waiting on Severus to show. Her knees clutched to her chest, eyes boring holes in to the solid door, willing it to open. To her knowledge, the door had not opened in six days. On the third day, she spent hours trying desperately to pry it open, with no use. It was sealed tight, and Severus had her wand. He had grabbed her from behind with his strong arms, thrown her to the bed, and pried the wand from her fist after she had tried to use it to open the door.

"Just like your father!" He spit, turning sharply away from her and striding towards the door. Danu jumped to her feet to follow him out, he turned towards her, put his hand against her chest, and pushed her roughly back towards the bed. "Arrogant, conceited, self-indulgent!" Severus opened the door, smirked down at her shocked face, and slammed it.

She did not know what she had done to make him so angry before their fight. The morning she kissed him for the first time, she hadn't planned it, it just happened. In her half-asleep state, she had felt him wrap his arms around her body, kiss her forehead, and hold her tightly against him. It just seemed like the right thing to do at the time. Of course, she had thought about him in that way over the course of several weeks, wondering what his lips would feel like against hers, what his hands would feel like caressing her naked body. Perhaps it was a form of Stockholm Syndrome, or the fact that he was the only living thing she had any connection to day after day for weeks on end. She had not intended for things to progress to the point that they had, but the feel of his lips on her neck sent shock waves throughout her entire body. His hands on her bare skin made her knees tremble, and before she knew it, he was inside of her, and she was clutching on to him for dear life as he rubbed her with his thumb and moaned against her neck. Then it was over, and he held her for a few moments before heaving himself from the bed. He gave her a contraceptive potion and left without a word while she showered. Severus stayed gone the rest of the day, he returned at midnight, and lie in bed facing away from her.

For weeks he avoided her, only coming to the room in the late hours of the night, and leaving before she even woke. Not even bothering to show his face at all on the weekends. When he was there, he was cold and distant, he wouldn't speak to her, wouldn't even look at her. He found her one evening, sobbing in the bathroom floor, he scoffed at her, left the room entirely, and didn't come back for three days. She was frightened and alone. She shouldn't have kissed him, shouldn't have allowed him to take her body. She had pushed him too far, or maybe it was that he was a disappointment. Perhaps he had been expecting more, something better.

Whether it be desperation or complete disregard for her sanity and well being that made her take these next steps, she did not know. One Wednesday afternoon in early June, shortly before midnight, Severus was in his favorite chair before the fire, reading that days edition of The Daily Prophet. He had only recently come in, and was doing his best to ignore her. She went to the bathroom, put on the silky, emerald green nightgown that she knew he liked, for he couldn't keep his eyes off of her whenever she had worn it, and it was what she had been wearing that fateful morning when everything changed. She stood before the mirror that Severus had finally rehung above the sink and took several deep breaths to calm her nerves. The first time may not have been planned, but this time was. She decided days before that she needed to make it up to him. Danu gulped hard and with a pounding heart, left the bathroom.

Severus did not look up from his paper, didn't even notice that she had reentered the room. Danu tip-toed over to him, and using her index finger, tipped the top portion of the paper down from his face. Severus looked up at her, one eyebrow cocked in what seemed to be surprise, and opened his mouth to say something. Before he could get a word out, she pulled the nightgown up her thighs and straddled his lap, crushing the paper between their bodies. Danu snaked her hand through his silky black hair to cup the base of his neck, and planted her lips to the sharp angle of his jaw, right next to his ear. Severus stiffened his body, and before she could land another kiss on his jaw, stood suddenly, dropping her body and the paper to the floor. He towered over her, eyes wide with fury, face contorted in rage.