The Beauty Of A Broken Man

Fighting For What's Mine

My hearing took place before my vision. Severus angrily screaming at me to wake up made my ears ring. I felt pressure around my body as I was being squeezed against his chest. Suddenly, tears dripped on my face as I was being slightly shaken and he was frantically whispering, "not again, please. You need to wake up, now!"

I twitched as my body was regaining control and my clouded vision was clearing. Severus looked down at me with a relieved, but shocked, expression. Before I could say a word, his lips crashed into mine with such a rageful passion, I still felt them quiver from the thought of me dead.

"It is time to return home." He whispered as we apparated.

I still couldn't manage to speak, or really move for that matter, so he ended up taking me to his quarters, where I would be attended to privately.

"Oh, Dear. What happened to you?" Pomfrey asked sympathetically as she shoved an IV into the top of my hand. I flinched a bit as a cold substance began pumping into my veins.

"I am sure there is a potion-" Severus started before pomfrey glared at him.

"If you hadn't noticed, the poor girl can't swallow a thing. Now, unless you want to force something down her throat and make her choke, I suggest you stop telling me how to attend to my patients." She retorted and walked out of the room.

I managed a snort from her comment before Severus whipped his head toward me and smirked, "even in such a condition, you still manage to think inappropriately." He sat next to me and held my hand.

" I do not have slightest clue on how you survived, but I won't dare question it. I do not know what I would do if I had gotten, yet, another woman killed." He squeezed my hand.

"Lily," I croaked, making him look up with confusion on his face. Instead I opened my mind, 'legilimency.'

He nodded and, as tiring as it was, I allowed him to see everything that had happened in the short time I was supposedly dead.

"Lily..." He whispered as more tears started to form. He took a deep breath and softly said, "she is right."

I tilted my head, "when she said it makes sense. The reason why after everything, she chose him. The reason why even though I still risk my life to protect her son, I would still choose you if I had a choice. Never would I have thought that I could love anyone but her, but you showed me why things turned out the way they did. You gave me a reason to be glad she chose Potter." He kissed my hand several times before crawling in bed next to me.

'If you could be this soft all the time... That'd be great.' I grinned as he kissed my forehead and replied before I dozed off, "I would not count on that, Sweetheart."

I would've slept all day had Severus remembered to close the curtains. I looked around and saw Dumbledore and Severus having, what looked like, a deep discussion. Dumbledore glanced at me and walked over, Severus heading out the door.

"Don't worry, Aria. I told him I would like a moment alone with you." I nodded as he waved a chair over for him to sit on. "Now, I am a bit curious as to what you were thinking when you held the wand to yourself."

I looked down with guilt and quietly said, half losing my voice, "I felt it was the best option at the time. Not only was I tired of losing him, but I was tired of adding to his pain. I thought it would have made his life easier... happier."

"Of course you did, which is the very reason you survived." He smiled and continued, "you see, your brother also survived because of the sacrifice Lily made for him, rather like you for Severus."

"But wouldn't it have rebounded against me, as I was the one to cast it, killing me anyway?"

"You certainly are a bright witch, but as it would seem, that is not the case. I like to believe magic is a living entity. I say that because it can be tricky and seem as if it has a mind of its own at times. The reason you lived is because the curse chose to kill the darker part of you, the part that was taking over your body, and the part which allowed you to cast the curse. Have you ever wondered why you were placed in Slytherin when you have the heart of a Gryffindor and the brain of a Ravenclaw?"