enchantement - SOULBOUND I̲̅ || SS/HG ✔️

43. Hell

"Now, why don't we start. You and crooked nose were in a relationship am I right?"

Rolling her eyes, Hermione snapped, "his name is Severus, and yes we were. He was my husband."

She could see that her answer didn't please the prince of hell as his eyes changed colours, silver now irradiating his face. "Husband?" He hissed, causing her to wince, the vein on her neck protruding fearfully. "You have wed him with the Anima Victum Vow, haven't you! Your soul is his!" He appeared disgusted, his teeth sharpening in front of her. "He died you said, when he gave you that time turner?"

Nodding back in response, he seemed to calm down, the shape of his teeth going back to normal - perfection really. "In that case he freed you."

"What do you mean?

His eyes returned to their natural red colour while he pushed the loose strand of silver-blond hair away from his face. "Thaddeus Ulrik was my most faithful servant. Too many betrayals, broken hearts. Father believed forgiveness was far more important than punishing humans for their reckless and heartless deeds. I thought differently, which is why he condemned me to command hell and torture lost souls. Thaddeus was my own creation, my very first human, if you wish. I gave him powers, my ideologies -"

"- Severus said he heard demonic voices," interjected the witch causing him to bend in response.

"And what am I, an angel? Well technically I am, I simply saw that father's creation weren't as pure as he had hoped them to be. What makes the Anima Victum so powerful is its unbreakable between two souls. 'Separate the two bonded souls physically from the other and they will slowly meet their death if they aren't reconnected in time.' Lust is a sin that every human desire more than anything, and I wanted to prove it to father through this vow. Many couldn't resist the temptations of the flesh while others stayed in love. Cupid hated me after that, not that he didn't before but playing match-maker upset him." Explained Lucifer, looking into nothingness, recalling how amused he had been when his father and brother fired harmless lightning bolts his way. "Severus released you from the bond the moment he died, as the only way to cease it is through death."

Hermione's eyes watered, feelings of hatred towards her deceased husband's decision taking a toll on her. "Why would he send my soul into another dimension with a time turner with the worst possible engraving then! I feel trapped rather than freed!"

The fire crackling beside them was the only sound in the room as Lucifer let the witch sob. He didn't know himself why someone would so easily give up their lives or send their loved one with a time turner with the most disdainful message.

"Cheeky urchin," he laughed when he realized what Severus had tried to tell Hermione all along. "'Soul lost in an eternal time of misery' wasn't it? You believed all along that it was about you when it wasn't. You see when a soul dies and has done ill in his life as a human, he is sent to me and lives eternally in hell, relieving the pain and sadness he inflicted on others."

"I'm not following Lucifer," she said, rubbing her tears away, "we married under the Anima Victum because he loved me and believed it was best for us to link ourselves to protect me as I'm a muggle born. Then the most notorious potion master let himself die when he had created the antidote to snake's venom and left me with a mission to save his long lost love, Dumbeldore."

Lifting a divert eyebrow at the witch's ranting, Lucifer responded, "it's strange, to say the least. As long as he was alive, you were not in danger, only if one is hurt does the vow become dangerous to the other. And of course, separation. But the point Mine is that your husband was playing a word game with you through this engraving. Trying to tell you something for only you to understand if you will."

"Enlighten me Lucifer because I obviously don't see it."

"Twist the order of each word and you get: 'an eternal soul lost in misery of time.' You see in hell time is different, it's endless. In other words, he is trying to say that he will forever be stuck in time. Quite romantic really."

"Romantic?" Mourned Hermione, hitting Lucifer's arm, "he is stuck in hell relieving his worst moments forever I don't see anything romantic about that! Why...why..."

Trying to control the witch's rath, he took hold of her hands and wrapped them around his waist and brought her to him. "You said it yourself, he needed you to travel back in time to save Dumbledore. If your souls were separated for too long, you both would have died from the distance. Death was inevitable. He sacrificed himself for you Mine, that in my dictionary means romantic."