Chapter 5

Fallen to the floor, all but forgotten, the amber book began to glow.

It glowed with an intensity that mirrored the passion of the couple whose attention had shifted solely to each other. Traversing skin kissed with amber light, Severus bathed Hermione's body with his warm breath, touching the soft contours of her figure with trembling hands, his eager mouth tasting her salty skin. Slowly he teased, caressing just enough to draw deep moans from her throat, leaving her gasping for more. As he leaned down to kiss her lips once again, she lifted herself to meet him and flipped both of them over – her straddling him, long hair falling to tickle his shoulders.

"My turn." She smiled wickedly at him, meeting his amused expression with a strategically placed stroke of her tongue. The amusement in his eyes vanished, replaced by a glazed look as his breath quickened.

"Do you like that?" she whispered seductively, running her lips and tongue around the shell of his ear and earning a long moan in response. "Where else would you like my tongue, Severus?" She was rewarded with a hiss of pleasure and the sensuous movement of his hands along her thighs.

"Hermione...." He licked his lips as he watched her move down his body, kissing and stroking, mapping the planes and textures of his skin. She glanced up at him, catching his fierce gaze as he watched her obvious enjoyment of his body and his pleasure. Hermione felt a surge of joy at his surrender to her, his grunts and moans of pleasure, his arching into her touch and his strong hands cradling her head as she moved over him, finally grasping her by the shoulders to bring her face to face with him again to devour her in a searing kiss.

As they began to move together with almost painful slowness, Hermione felt her excitement build in waves. Severus caught her face gently in his large hands and anointed her skin with whispered words of love and devotion. Her murmurs of agreement and cries of joy and pleasure mingled with his as they rocked into one another with growing intensity.

"Hermione, oh... Merlin, Hermione. " His voice strained with the intensity of his need. "Look at me... look at me." Severus' eyes were blazing, and as Hermione met his gaze with her own, entwined, body and soul, the amber light from the forgotten tome brightened and wrapped itself around them, filling them, holding them – mingling with the white hot light of their pleasure and connection.

"Oh, Severus... Oh my God, Severus..." Hermione gasped as the lights mingled and their pleasure mounted. And as the luminous beam of light surrounding them grew ever more intense, its amber tones shifted to a deep azure, shimmering with violet in the firelight, and Hermione felt a warmth and calm wash over her. Severus' face mirrored the joy and peace that she felt, and she laughed out loud.

Wrapped in light, buoyant with ecstasy, Hermione spoke, her words emerging from a place old and deep.

"I take thee to my hand, my heart, and my spirit, to be my chosen one." With those words, the light emanating from Hermione deepened to a rich silver colour, weaving its strands with the azure and violet strands flowing from the silk-bound book.

The radiance of Severus' smile rivalled that of the light wrapped around them. His voice was steady and textured with his longing. "To desire thee and be desired by thee, to possess thee and be possessed by thee, without sin or shame, for naught can exist in the purity of my love for thee." His gaze was reverent, and as his eyes held Hermione's, the light around him deepened to gold twining itself with the beams of silver and blue shimmering around them.

Hermione's eyes filled with tears. "I promise to love thee wholly and completely without restraint, in sickness and in health, in plenty and in poverty, in life and beyond," her voice shook, "where we shall meet, remember, and love again." Her voice broke and tears fell, mingling with the tears that ran, unnoticed, down Severus' cheeks.

"I shall not seek to change thee in any way." He stroked her cheek reverently with his long fingers. "I shall respect thee, thy beliefs, thy people, and thy ways as I respect myself." His voice was rough with emotion, and they paused together for a moment, breathing in synchrony, kissing away each other's tears.

And in one voice, "I pledge to thee that thine will be the name I cry aloud in the night and the eyes into which I smile in the morning."

Lost in each other's eyes and enveloped in light, they began to move together again, their crescendo building once more until with a harsh cry, the light of a thousand hopes exploded inside them, bathing them in radiant colour.

"I love you! Oh, how I love you...." His bass tones mingled with her higher cries, staccato words interrupted by frantic kisses. "Mine forever...." His eyes blazed. "I am yours... don't leave me..." tearful, grasping, "...my love...."

Dazed by the intensity of what they had just experienced, Hermione clung to Severus as he wrapped himself around her, holding on as if she anchored him to life. Shaking and overwhelmed with joy and fear and hope, soft kisses and whispered reassurances calmed them. Finally, wrapped securely in each other's arms, they turned to look at the amber book lying open across the room, glowing with a soft, steady light. Rising from the pages of the book were ghostly images of a map, a cauldron and a key.

***

Cushioned by feather blankets that had materialised during some unmeasured moment, Severus and Hermione watched the images hover over the silk-bound book. Curled in front of the blazing fire, exhausted from the physical, magical and emotional ritual that they had instinctively enacted, the figures projecting from the Adfinitas Animarum seemed to be plucked from a dream.

Lifting the hand that was not languidly stroking Hermione's curls, Severus muttered, "Accio," and the book slid towards them.

"What do you think it means?" she murmured, barely able to keep her eyes open.

Turning the book in his hand, Severus considered the shimmering images projected from its pages. "I think," he said slowly, "that these are our instructions."

"Instructions?" Hermione's head shot up, eyes darting between Severus and the floating icons. "What sort of instructions?"

"I believe," Severus repeated, voice tight, "that these are the instructions for finding my body and reanimating it with my soul."

Heart racing, Hermione reached for the book, nodding sombrely as Severus handed it to her. The images hanging innocently over the pages of the Adfinitas Animarum were each tethered to the book with a coloured beam of light. Reaching out tentatively, Hermione prodded the map with a finger and startled when it became solid in her hand. With a glance at Severus, she opened it and laid it out for them both to see.

The contours of the familiar landscape flowed in strokes of black and brown. A slender line of shimmering gold threaded its way from the Highlands of Scotland, southward, ending at a point in the Northwestern part of London. Hermione reached out a finger and touched the glowing point of gold, and the map shifted. Like a train speeding towards them, the image grew larger until the outline of a large, white building took shape; and all at once they could see a figure through one of the large windows that peered onto the city like eyes. Sitting alone in a Spartan room, immobile, staring blankly at the wall opposite – but clearly alive--- was Severus Snape.

***

He looks like a shadow of himself. Gaunt and pale, the body of Severus Snape sat stiffly in the bleak room. His eyes held none of the spark that she had come to recognise, and his usually mobile expression was blank. This isn't really... Severus.... It's his body and nothing more.... I wonder how he feels seeing himself like this.... She looked up, concerned, and caught his eye. He smiled wanly and reached out a hand to grasp hers.

"It's hard to believe, is it not?" he asked softly. "Everyone believes me dead, and yet there I sit."

"It's not really you though, is it?" Hermione's voice was low and sad. "You – the parts of you that make you who you are anyway – are here with me. And that," she gestured to the image of Severus on the map, "is just the body that will allow you to be released from here... to be free again." She paused. "I wonder, though, how you survived, and how you got to be there." She clenched his hand harder. "Healer Shalva said that I must find your body and find out if it would be able to house your soul again." Her breath caught. "How will I know if your body can safely hold your soul? What if I make a mistake?"

"Hermione," his voice was low and calming, "you will have some questions, undoubtedly, for the Healers at that place, but look..." He drew her eye to the image again. "... I appear to be conscious, if not... animated, and am sitting and breathing independently. Unless there is some other infirmity that we cannot see, the main impairment in my overall health appears to be the absence of my soul in my body." His brow furrowed as he thought. "I would, however, like to know how I survived that snake bite." He paused. "I had been taking an anti-venin specific to Nagini for months... but I was not prepared for a bite to the neck."

"I'm not surprised that you dosed yourself with protection against Nagini's venom," Hermione said. "It would make sense since you had to be so close to that snake. But that bite...." She shuddered in memory. "I would like to thank whoever it was who treated you and transported you to... wherever that place is." She squinted, trying to make out the wording on the wall of the small room. Running her finger over the parchment, Hermione pulled her hand back.

"I was right, I can make the image move," she said triumphantly. Indeed, as she moved her hand further from the parchment, the image receded from view until only the edifice was visible. In clear lettering on the front of the building were the words, 'The Wellington Hospital'."

"London," she said breathlessly, "your body is in London."

***

Stunned and silent they sat, fingers entwined, lost in thought, staring at the photo of The Wellington Hospital in London. Now I know where to find him, but how do I get to him? And what do I do next? Hermione furrowed her brow anxiously. "What do I do once I get to you?" she said aloud.

Severus snorted, gesturing to the two remaining images bouncing slightly over the amber book. "I would imagine that the answers to your question are patiently waiting their turn."

She smiled and reached for the image of the key. But instead of becoming solid like the map, her hand passed right through it. She looked at Severus, startled. "Why didn't that work?" she mused.

"I wonder," he muttered and reached out to grasp the large brass key, which cooperatively solidified in his hand. He held it in the palm of one hand, turning and examining it with the other. Hermione could see the tendons of his jaw working as he ground his teeth. He pursed his lips and looked up, knowing the question that Hermione was dying to ask. "The key is mine," he began, shortly. "Coupled with the correct password, it opens the door to my... house... and to the potions lab and storeroom in its basement."

"Your house?" she breathed. "I guess I always thought of Hogwarts as your home.... I should have realised that you would have a place outside of the school..." she mused. "Why do you think we've been given your key?"

Severus shook his head. "I can only imagine that whatever we must do, there is something that we will need that we can only find there." He did not look pleased at the prospect. I suppose that items found only at Spinner's End are not necessarily ones that he would like to revisit.

Hermione nodded slowly, her thoughts racing. Looking again at the image of the cauldron bouncing almost imperceptibly in front of them, she smiled. "I don't imagine that we will be able to determine what we need to do until we examine this." She gestured to the shimmering cauldron and reached for it with one hand. As with the key, her hand passed through.

"This appears to be your department, Severus," she said with a smirk. But when he reached his hand to the cauldron, it too passed through.

"Perhaps together," he murmured suggestively, and she blushed, remembering her proposal from earlier that evening.

As one, they reached for the projected image of the cauldron, which grew solid and heavy in their hands – solid silver and filled with an iridescent amethyst potion. Struggling to catch it as it landed, nearly splashing some of the liquid between them, Hermione cried out in surprise. "Oh! There's an actual potion in here!"

"Indeed," said Severus, peering into the cauldron with a frown. "Though I am at a loss to say exactly which draught this is." He leaned down to smell the vapours that were rising in undulating, intertwining waves from the surface of the potion. Hermione leaned over as well and caught a whiff of what smelled like fresh cut grass and... cinnamon.

"Hm." He shook his head. "Its colour resembles the Draught of Living Death at the midpoint of its brewing." He grunted softly, swirling the cauldron carefully as he examined the surface of the potion. "And its sheen and consistency suggests a Veritas potion. But the movement of the steam rising from the surface is distinctive... very few potions in existence have that characteristic steam pattern.... It always suggests..." He stopped short.

"What does it suggest, Severus?" Hermione asked, anxiously scanning his face for clues.

He shook his head absently, still absorbed in examining the potion. "I don't know for certain, but I believe that, whatever this potion does, it has at least two functions and they are inextricably intertwined. In order for one element of the potion to work, the other must as well."

She nodded. "Well, that doesn't sound so bad... but you look worried. What is it?"

He shook his head and peered into the cauldron once more. "It is too early for me to say," he said brusquely and, with a wave of his arm, Summoned the key. "I believe I know now why we need this." His voice was tight. "There are some volumes on my shelves at Spinner's End that cannot be found anywhere else in wizarding Britain." He Summoned some parchment and a quill. "I will give you a list; you must find them and read enough of them so that they will appear here for my use. Use the key to enter my potions lab and gather my research equipment together. Your touch and intent should be sufficient to bring them here as well. I have a great deal of research to do if I am to determine what this potion does and how to use it."

She nodded, confused by his clipped tone. "Of course, I can do that." She hesitated, biting her lip, reluctant to voice her next thought.

"What is it, Hermione?" he asked impatiently.

"I think... I think that I should also go to you – to your body." Her voice barely wavered. "I think that I should go and take you out of that hospital... and bring you home... to my home."

Severus' expression was flat, his eyes fixed on a point that Hermione could not see. A long moment passed before he bowed his head in agreement. Sensing his disquiet, Hermione silently moved into the circle of his arms and laid her head on his chest.

"It will be all right... we can do this," she whispered. She felt him nod, but he did not speak.

And so they sat together on a bed of blankets, quietly talking about what was to come, warmed by the fire and each other until, finally, they fell into a restless sleep. And if Hermione noticed that Severus was trembling as he held her, she never said a word.