A Potion For Everything (Severus Snape x Oc)

Lowering Defences

Severus woke to the ungodly amount of light streaming in through the enchanted windows. He had forgotten he did that when he first came to Hogwarts as a teacher. And didn't detest things like sunlight quite so much.

He never really noticed them. Since he was gone before they were noticable. And back much after they had switched to the nightime mode. As his eyes adjusted. He scanned the room. He was still on the couch. And his back told him that before he saw the green grey apolstery. He groaned. Shifting to sit up properly.

The fire that was magically charmed to never go out was still blazing. It gave a nice bit of warmth to the other wise drafty dungeon appartment. But something was missing. A different kind of warmth. The warmth he felt last night. The warmth that made him feel like he was a student again. Surrounded by familiarity. By friends. By comfort. By.. her..

He looked down to where his odd little wife should be. And a sudden rush of panic filled him. As she was not there. His first thought was that she had used some sort of jinx or hex on him to make him feel so at ease. Allowing her enough time to escape. He stood. Looking at all possible exit ways for evidence of his theory. When he found none. He stormed to his room. His second thought being she was searching through his belongings. Anything she could use to discredit him infront of the Dark Lord.

When he saw nothing out of the ordinary in his room, his panic turned into worry. Perhaps he was going about this all wrong. What if she was in danger? She was so small. So fragile. And in the state she was in... She wouldn't be able to put up much of a fight. He couldn't take another death of someone close to him. She really wasn't that much to him.. was she? Had what Lucius said would happen.. Happen? Did she really get into his head so quickly? Was this, magic, that made him care? Regardless.. He had to find her.

He had to..

His hand went straight to his wand. He heard something fall in the bathroom. He whipped around and rushed through the door. Wand raised. A disarming spell on his lips. And his eyes went wide at the sight before him. Viola was kneeling on the stone floor. Looking into the full length mirror. In not but a towel. To make matters worse. The towel was in her hair. Severus was frozen. He had never been in this position before. He wanted nothing more then to turn away and close the door. Be thankful she was safe and let it be that. They wouldn't talk about this. And just go on with their day.

But he couldn't move.

"Good morning, sir." Viola smiled. Looking back at him. She thought to herself that, were she raised normally. And lived in normal situations. This would be embarasing. And a normal girl would have rushed to cover herself. But. She wasn't as subject to embarasment as most girls. She couldn't be. St. Mungo's didn't allow that. There were far worse positions she could be in. This one, didn't matter.

Severus lowered his wand. And breathed sharply in. Unable to hide the fact that he was... Most definitely looking. She didn't seem to mind. And yet, he felt shame in letting his eyes wander. She was. So pale. Which only made the arcane tattoo's that covered her body stand out more. She was always so covered. He had never noticed them. The dark mark wasn't the only ink she bore.

Her upper arms were wrapped in the younger and elder Futhark. Her chest had a symbol on it he recognized from the order of Loki and his son Fenrir. Up her shoulders were sunflowers. But what stood out the most. Was the Alchemist Transmutation circle on her back.

He had heard of, magically done tattoos other than the dark mark and the Azkaban Rune Identification Number. But he had never seen them in person. They made her even more beautiful. And he found himself wanting to know everything about them. His mind wandered. Wondering what it would feel like to trace the intracate patters. Would the skin be raised? Or did the ink seep into her skin to make it smooth. As if she was born with the markings.