Senses

Chapter 68

A/N: Take heart we're almost finished. Please enjoy, I hope you've enjoyed reading this story as much as I've enjoyed writing it. Kind Regards, R

Aurora smiled softly as she climbed onto the large antique couch. Her deep chocolate eyes shining with mischief as she crawled her way closer to the man seemingly unaware of her presence. The tiny toddler took great care, using her tiny frame to disturb as little as possible before pouncing with a soft squeak onto the book in her victim's lap.

The man under attack retaliated with claws of his own, eliciting a joyous near silent giggle. Aurora squirmed in their hold before she was pulled right way up in his lap. When she was able to catch her breath she raised her hands to lightly trace over her father's features before turning her brightly shining eyes into his own.

As she settled back, she couldn't help but notice the deep sadness crossing over her Father's features. A dark, almost haunted look, making her little heart flutter with worry that wasn't entirely her own. Her Father had called her once an empathetic legilimens but she was much too young to understand either of those words. All she knew is that when Papa was sad, she was sad.

'Sad, Papa. Why?'

The man she lovingly called Father gave her a whispering smile that did not reach his eyes. Instead, his long fingers brushed back the mass of deep chestnut curls from her face, taking her cherub-like cheek into his large palm. She gave him another smile when his thumb brushed over her lashes, closing her lightly freckled eyes. They were an odd mixture of bright golden brown and deep near black, a cosmos all their own.

'You look so much like your mother.'

Aurora smiled to the compliment, feeling the love in her father's heart. He never spoke to her, not with his mouth but to her, it was all the same as she didn't know anything different, 'Am, pretty? Mama pretty.'

'No, beautiful.' Her father leaned forward placing a gentle kiss to her tiny scrunched brow before accepting her into his arms to rest against his chest. He never denied her affection.

'Mama, see? See, today?'

'Yes.'

oO 15 Months Prior Oo

"I need you to hold her hand, talk to her. Keep her as calm as you can."

"Why must she be awake at all? Surely the amount of pain she's in will stress the baby?" Minerva didn't need to be a mind reader to interpret Severus' glare. His voice was still weak even though it had been repaired months prior, though he never really was the loquacious sort.

"We need to flush out the eternal sleep in order to make sure we can perform any needed medical treatment on the infant. While our protections seemed to have held, we won't know for sure until they are here with us. It's truly a wonder either of them has survived this far at all." The healer in charge, an elderly man, understood both of the educators before him but he had taken an oath to save lives and sometimes difficult decisions needed to be made, "We've had put off all other necessary treatments thus far in fear for the child. On your wishes no less but the longer we wait the chance of Miss Granger's full recovery goes down. We have to do this today."

Severus turned his head away from the man, his throat ached with the emotion he forced down it. Would her torture ever end? He had thought he had been trying to help her but now all it seemed was that he was bringing her more pain. That all he'd done was take her from one hell to another. How had his good intentions gone so wrong? Was there any good that he could possibly bring into the world? Why not him? Why couldn't it have been him?

"Severus?" Minerva's hand lightly rested over his arm, fearing that she had lost him to the hopelessness of the situation, "Hermione is right here, waiting for you. It's you she wants at this moment, I know you're strong enough to do this and I know deep down you know she is as well. Neither one of us could have foreseen this but that doesn't mean we stop trying." She paused long enough to catch the flicker of determination in his eye, "You have fought so hard, don't let a moment of doubt take it all away from you."