The heart of a Black (A Severus Snape love story)(Watty Awards 2012)

Chapter 25

            Severus lay on the bed holding Aria close. He had felt a bit better since Sirius knew about them; he now didn’t have to sneak around with her. Sirius had finally accepted that they were married and Dumbledore blessed the marriage himself. There was nothing to keep them apart anymore. She was laying her head on his chest as he ran a hand along her shoulder. She sighed contently as she snuggled as close as possible. He sighed to himself, a deep, thoughtful sigh. He needed to talk to her, get her to help him so he could figure out how to save her.

            “Aria” He said her name softly. She looked up at him, with her head still resting on his chest. “I need to take a blood sample.”

            “Why?” She sat up enough to lean on her elbows.

            “I don’t have the potion anymore, so I need to run some tests.” He looked up at her since she was up a bit higher then he was. “I need to know what’s in the potion, so I can start on the antidote”

            “Alright” Aria sat up. He reached over to the nightstand and grabbed his wand. He sat up on the bed as well. They were both sitting Indian style across from each other on the bed. He held out his hand.  Aria watched Severus moved closer to her and gave a small smile

"It'll be alright, I promise," he said softly. She rarely saw him smile; it made her believe in him even more.

"I know," she whispered and reached out for his hand, feeling a spark that only his touch could invoke.

She could tell he felt it too as he rolled up the sleeve of her shirt. Severus turned her hand so that it was palm up and hesitated, kissing the inside of her wrist gently. He could see the love and trust she felt for him in her eyes and despised what he had to do right now. He brought his wand to her wrist, sliding it across her skin as if it were a knife. A slit appeared along the line that his wand made and a streak of blood began to slide down her wrist. She made a small noise in the back of her throat that tore at his heart as the cut appeared but he could tell that she was still holding back. Severus slid his fingers against the side of her injured wrist reassuringly as he let few drops of blood slide into a small glass vial and quickly sealed the skin. She was still looking right at him when he looked up from his task and what he saw in her eyes sent a pleasant shiver down his spine. Everything about that look told him how much she wanted and needed to be with him and how important it was to her that it was him who was doing this to her instead of some strange Healer she didn't know

He couldn’t help but feel the way she was feeling as she leaned in closer to him. She pressed her lips to his and he was lost. He was lost in the way her lips felt against his, and the way her arms felt around his neck. He never knew something as simple as drawing blood could be so … intense. He leaned forward so that she leaned back on the bed and he was over her, his arms supporting his weight so he wasn’t laying on her. The next thing he knew, she cried out in pain and he understood why. He fell to his back as the pain surged up his arm as well.

“Damn it” He muttered under his breath.

“Go” Aria whispered. He turned his head to look at him. “You need to go, I hate to be selfish this once, but I’d rather not be tortured”

“I know” Severus kissed her before he disappeared out the door. Aria sighed as she leaned back on the bed.

It had been two days since Severus left and all Aria could do was to sit around. Her father and Dumbledore did their best to keep her occupied with either house or schoolwork; Dumbledore didn't want her to come back to school while she bore Voldemort's mark on her. She and her father were continuously getting rid of the old Black heirlooms and finally figured out the way to unstuck the portrait of her grandmother. Now Dumbledore was here to tutor her even though Aria suspected that he was here also to remind himself of his teaching days. The emphasis he put on Transfiguration was staggering; he might have been nicer than McGonagall's ever been but he required a lot more. They skipped practicing the Vanishing Spells on simple organisms and moved on to the bigger objects immediately. Instead of conjuring up small canary birds, Dumbledore asked for her to conjure up the latest copy of The Daily Prophet; something that was much trickier than anything that Hermione wrote to her was done in Hogwarts. Aria was slowly starting to lose patience, especially when Dumbledore stayed late on the second day and asked her to use the Refilling Charm to add on to the fire whiskey he and her father had been drinking that night. She wanted Severus to come back and be rid of this charade.