10: Unknown Curses

Chapter 10: Unknown Curses

The following Thursday Hermione was sitting in the Gryffindor common room, still tingling from the memory of her wedding night the previous weekend. She hadn't been able to get more than a few moments alone with Severus since, but she was looking forward to their appointment in his chambers that evening.

Arithmancy homework was keeping her mind occupied when she felt Severus's fury shooting through her, along with a healthy dose of fear. Since finding out where the extra emotions were coming from, she had managed to differentiate between their feelings, and keep her own from being too affected by his. She had even managed to use her Occlumency to block some of his more moderate emotions. No amount of Occlumency would block the raging emotion pouring into her now, however. She pulled her feet up beneath her in the chair and tucked her book more firmly in her lap, pretending to be absorbed in her studies while riding out the temper thrumming through her.

Harry burst into the common room a few minutes later, his shock and horror obvious. He asked Ron if he could borrow his Potions book. Hermione wondered if Severus's anger had something to do with whatever was eating at Harry.

When asked, Harry explained he had to stash his book in the Room of Requirement. Harry disappeared too quickly for Hermione to ask questions, however. What happened? Why was Severus so upset with Harry? And why the underlying fear from them both? Of course, the fear was beginning to fade a bit now, as though Severus had been reassured, but it still clung to him. He had never liked Harry, all but hated him now, Hermione knew. Severus had expressed his disdain for the teen's rash behavior and a large dose of lingering hate left over from Severus's own school days.

Giving up on her studying, Hermione focused on Severus, locating him on the far side of the school, away from his own quarters. He was suspiciously near the Hospital wing, from what she could tell, and realizing that only increased her worry. Biting back a sigh, Hermione shoved all her books and papers back in her rucksack and headed out the door, muttering something about the library for anyone who noticed her leave.

She made a beeline for Severus's private quarters, not forgetting to Disillusion herself when she had a moment of privacy in the hallway. He was still on the other side of the castle when she reached his private rooms. She made herself visible, then settled down in a comfortable armchair to try and focus on her studies. Her mind kept straying to what Harry was doing with Ron's Potions book, however. If he stashed his in the Room of Requirement, did that mean Severus knew about it? If so, did he know everything in the book, or had he only glanced at it? Why was he keeping it around, and how did he find out Harry had it?

She was still pursuing this circular line of thought when Severus entered his quarters, slamming the door behind him, and came to stand in front of her, glowering. Moving with deliberation, Hermione stuck a bookmark in her text and set it to the side of the chair, then turned her full attention on her furious husband.

He didn't let her stare at him for long. "Do you know what your idiot friend has done?" He didn't wait for her to answer, instead taking a step closer to her. "The bloody Boy Who Lived nearly killed the Malfoy brat today."

That brought a response from her. "What happened? I know he came tearing through the common room and ran out with his school books. And I could tell you were livid." She carefully constructed her Occlumency shield, protecting her memories of Harry and Ron's discussion.

"Livid hardly covers it. He used a dangerous curse...a little-known curse, I might add. Malfoy was cut down the whole front of his body. If I hadn't been nearby and able to close the wound so quickly, Malfoy could have bled out in minutes." By now he was all but hovering over her, wand in hand.

There was no warning. In the next moment he was casting Legilimens, and she could feel him burrowing into her mind, trying to find any evidence of Harry having the wrong textbook. Angry that he would invade her mind like this, she focused all of her energy on closing him out. Finally she gave him a physical push to complement the mental one she was pursuing. When she got her bearings again, he was sprawled across the floor, shock on his face.

She stood on weak legs and glared at him. "I don't care what our relationship is, it doesn't give you the right to invade my mind over every little thing. My mind still belongs to me, regardless of whatever the damned potion has done to twist it." It didn't register with her that she had actually sworn at him...something she never did.

"Every little thing?" He pulled himself up onto his feet, like a cat gracefully rises from a prone position, and glared down at her. "You call Potter nearly killing someone a little thing?"

"Wrong choice of words, but Harry wouldn't have cast that spell if he'd known what it did. I'm certain of that."

"Bloody stupid of him to cast a spell when he didn't know what it would do." He pushed the hair back from his face, all of the fight gone from him.

"Agreed." She crossed her arms in front of her chest, whether out of defiance or to protect herself from the hundred emotions that seemed to be thrumming through her, she didn't know.

"Potter has possession of a textbook that is not his own." It was half statement, half question as he stared her in the eye.

Hermione stared right back and remembered that Harry had stashed the book before returning to Severus's side. "Not to my knowledge." She put every ounce of confidence she owned into her words. They were technically true.

He studied her for a long moment, then lifted an eyebrow. "Why do I get the feeling that you're prevaricating? No matter." He reached out and pulled her to him, wrapping her in his arms and settling his cheek on her head. "I had all kinds of plans for tonight, and they didn't include arguments about that idiot boy."

A slight wave of irritation rose in her, she hated the way he spoke of her friends and was inclined to protest and protect them. Then she thought of the damage Harry had done and tamped back the irritation. This time the idiot deserved the derision. "So what did you have in mind then?" a smile slid onto her lips as she felt his fingers slide down her spine.

He kissed a line down the side of her face and hovered at her ear, his warm breath causing her to shiver. "Something requiring far less formal attire." His lips captured hers in a slow teasing caress, then slowly upped the power until she was clinging to him, desperate. He pulled away, leading her through the door to his bedroom.

*****

Harry had to miss the Quidditch match Saturday, his detention working for Filch taking precedence. Though Hermione hated for him to miss the big match, she could hardly blame Severus for imposing the punishment. Considering what could have happened, he'd gotten off easily.

The match had been exciting, and Ginny had caught the snitch in a magnificent maneuver, ensuring the Gryffindor win.

The entire house was in the common room celebrating when Harry came up from detention. Hermione watched with fascination as Ginny pushed through the crowd toward Harry and Harry swooped her into his arms, pressing his lips to hers. Hermione could almost hear the wash of energy around them as the potion was satisfied. She blinked in surprise and wondered again how the two of them had managed to keep so much distance between them when she and Severus had been so inexplicably drawn toward each other. Compelled.

She wondered if Harry and Ginny would finally have gotten together if he hadn't been forced to miss the match that day. That brought her back around to Severus's irate response to Harry's spell casting a few days earlier. It wasn't the entirely justified anger that bothered her, but his fear that had coursed through her. Why the fear? Then she recalled the conversation Harry had overheard between Severus and Draco back before Christmas. Severus had made an Unbreakable Vow that he would protect Draco. That meant he would have died if Harry had succeeded in killing Draco.

Now she thought perhaps Severus had been a little too kind to Harry. And the stupid idiot was planning on going back for the Half-Blood Prince's textbook.

Not if she could convince him otherwise.

*****

Several weeks passed before Hermione remembered to ask Severus about his theory on why the Amoriata potion had affected them differently, more strongly than other couples she had noted around them.

She lay in Severus's arms in his bed, feeling the rising and falling of his chest beneath her hand as her heartbeat returned to normal after a spectacular interlude. Neither of them spoke, both enjoying the moment of peace and comfort away from the rest of the world. Severus had visited the Dark Lord the previous night. Though he had gotten off lightly, he still had experienced a fleeting moment when he thought he would be hit with the Cruciatus Curse. He hadn't said so, but she sensed the dread from him, then the relief.

Hermione realized that before their bond, she had never considered the very real danger he faced every time he answered a summons. She sometimes caught glimpses of his meetings in his mind when she had turned the Legilimancy spell on him. He had been quick to shut her out of those memories, as she had when worried about the purloined textbook.

Severus seemed fully aware that Harry had possessed said textbook, though Hermione still wasn't sure how he had known for sure that the spell had come from there. The kid who owned it previously had been seriously messed up. Bordering on evil. Yet Harry had been so quick to defend the Half-Blood Prince.

She let her mind drift back to the potion again. "Severus, I have a question about Amoriata."

"You, questions?" His chest rumbled under her fingertips, and she smiled at the amused sarcasm in his voice.

"Shocking, I know." Her smiled widened when he chuckled low in his chest.

"Ask, Wife, before I lose my good humor."

"I noticed about the time we, um, got together, there were several other couples formed that appeared to be unexpected, or at least given a magical boost. But I didn't see that same desperation that flowed through my veins, the compulsion to be in each other's arms constantly. The attraction between them seemed fairly strong, but still . . . ."

"Why was it so much stronger with us, then?" His arms came around her, sliding over her back.

"Yes. Why us?"

"I've wondered that myself, even done some more research. One theory I've come up with is that the compulsion would have to have been stronger for us because we could not otherwise have come together. Potter and Miss Weasley were all but guaranteed to get together eventually even without the potion's effects. One or two of the bonds I've seen around us seem so strong those affected practically simmer in each other's presences." He tugged her closer to him and began running his fingers through her hair.

"Is that the prevailing theory, then?"

He tugged her hair, so she tipped her face back toward his. "It's one." He buzzed her forehead, eyelids and cheeks with his lips as he spoke. "The Headmaster also suggested it may be related to how much the couples need each other." His lips landed on hers, and she could feel the desire beginning to simmer inside her. "I need you again," he whispered, then drove all questions from her mind.