Adventurous Hearts Part 2: Nimue's Island

CHAPTER 4: Get the Girl







Lucius and Severus rode in silence across the water. They took the time to ready themselves for battle, removing cloaks and anything that could be grabbed and used against them, then shrinking them to store in their pockets. They moved to stand at the front of the boat, the moans of the creatures and the stench reaching them before they cleared the mist.







They both felt the surge of adrenaline when they caught sight of the beach covered in slow moving creatures. Both wore rather feral smiles on their faces as the boat neared land and the creatures began to gather near the water line, arms outstretched and waiting for them.







“There are so many of them.” Lucius said, his eyes scanning the coastline to try and gauge how many they faced. There were hundreds of them. “We are grossly outnumbered.”







“Been there before.” Severus said. “Get ready.”







“Back to back?” Lucius asked, one brow raised and a smile on his face. Severus smiled back and turned around, their backs to one another.







“Just like the old days.” Severus chuckled. “Let’s get the girl.”







As soon as they were close enough the two wizards began throwing spells. Stunners and hexes that sent corpses flying, some bursting into flames while others just fell apart completely. They stepped from the boat, back to back as they danced, turning in a slow circle as spell after spell flew from the ends of their wands.







The covered ground as quickly as they could manage, clearing their way. The reanimated bodies moved slowly so when they were stunned it allowed Severus and Lucius more time to move further along.







“A footpath…right there!” Lucius called, flinging another stunner.







“Go!” Severus shouted as he threw a fireball from the end of his wand, igniting another one. The footpath was easier to traverse, the creatures having trouble moving through the trees, tripping and falling, getting snagged on branches or their feet stuck in rabbit holes. It allowed the wizards to cover ground more quickly. They hurried down the path, various streams of light and bursts of color shooting from their wands as they went.







“Lucius, that’s Hermione’s pack, she came this way!” Severus said, running for the discarded bag lying on the ground. He looked up just in time to see a jet of light shoot over his head and send a slimy creature flying back into a tree with a crack and a squishing noise. “Nice hit…that’s disgusting.” He said as the creature sort of puddled at the base of the tree.







“Move it!” Lucius said, grabbing the back of Severus’s coat as he ran by. They ran as fast as they could, breaking through the dense forest into the open area, curses flying left and right. “The castle!” Severus turned and saw the small building atop the hill and the two men went racing towards it, easily flinging creature after creature out of their way as they went. Lucius began trying the door while Severus guarded his back.







“Hurry, Lucius, more of them are coming this way!” Severus shouted, his arm waving and extending, the air crackling with expelled magic.







“It’s heavy!” Lucius said, forcing his shoulder against it and finally pushing it open. He dragged Severus in behind him, the two men together managing to slam the heavy door closed with a loud bang.







“Good gods!” Severus gasped, leaning back against the door beside Lucius.







“I haven’t fought like that in ages!” Lucius said, his pulse pumping and his body alive with adrenaline.







“Neither have I, old friend.” Severus said. He looked down and saw the tracks made in the dirty floor. “She’s in here, those are her foot prints.”







“How do you know?” Lucius looked down at the tracks that led up the stairs.







“I had those boots custom made for her; the lion on the sole was taken from the Gryffindor coat of arms.” Severus said, taking the stairs two at a time until he was pushing the door open and standing in the large circular foyer. “Hermione!”







He listened, but heard nothing aside from Lucius moving from room to room calling her name. Severus rushed up the stairs calling her name as he opened each door, Lucius doing the same. He stepped into a small parlor and saw the window standing open.







“Hermione!” He called, looking around. She peeked over the back of a chair like a frightened child.







“Sev?” She whispered raggedly, pulling herself up by her uninjured arm and running around the chair. She threw her good arm around his neck and leapt into his arms. He wrapped his arms around her waist and held her close, her legs twined around his thighs. “Oh Gods, Sev, you came for me! What…how….oh I am so happy to see you.” She cried, her arm tightening around his throat.







“Of course I came for you, how could you think I wouldn’t?” He said, stroking her back gently. “Claire came for me when they tried to access the island and saw those things outside.” He said, loosening his hold so that she slid down the front of him so he could see her. “Minute, I need to tell you something…”







“There you are!” Lucius said, his shoulders slumping in relief as he came into the room.







“Lucius?” Hermione whimpered, she hadn’t seen him since she left his house a month prior. Her stomach flipped when he approached her. “What are you doing here?”







“I told you it wasn’t goodbye, sweets.” He said softly, cupping her shoulders. She cried out and flinched, pulling away from him. “You’re hurt!” He said, staring at the bloody scratches on her arms and neck and the way her left arm hung limp at her side.







Severus turned her towards him and unfastened the tattered button down shirt she wore. She cried out and her knees nearly buckled with the pain when he pushed it back to bare her shoulder.







“Damn it!” He swore, his fingertips brushing over the purpling skin and distorted joint. “Minute, your shoulder is dislocated.” He said. “I have to reset it.”







“It hurts so badly.” She cried, nearly screaming when he pulled the shirt completely from her, leaving her standing there in her flesh colored bra, her injured shoulder visible.







“My gods.” Lucius hissed. His stomach churning in anger at the thought of her being in so much pain.







“Lucius, go and make certain that this place is secure. I’m going to give her a potion to relax her and one for pain, by the time you get back she should be ready for me to set the shoulder and I will need you to help me.” Severus said, pulling his satchel from his pocket and enlarging it.







Lucius bent his head and brushed a kiss against her temple before he left to secure the building. When Hermione looked back Severus was setting several potions on the table and withdrawing several lengths of linen.







“Severus, why is Lucius here?” She asked.







“He was visiting with me when Claire showed up.” He would not tell her why. He pulled the cork from a small phial and held it to her lips. “He insisted on coming. Drink.” He said, pouring the brown liquid into her mouth. “This will relax you.” He said.







“You should have stopped him, he’s on probation, and if he violates it he will go back to prison.” She could feel the slight buzz as the potion began to ease her.







“It is good that he was here, I needed his help, I wouldn’t have gotten here without him.” Severus said, offering her the pain potion next. He could see she was starting to feel the effects of the soother, her pupils dilating and her cheeks flushing as became essentially stoned. “He cares for you, very much, enough to take the risk to come for you.”







“He just wants to fuck me again.” She snorted, laughing slightly. Severus looked over and couldn’t help but smile. He had never seen her drunk, much less stoned.







“Who wouldn’t?”







“You are a naughty boy, Sev. Why didn’t you come back last night?” She asked, her eyes half closed as she swayed back and forth.







“I didn’t finish up until late and I knew you would be sleeping.” He said. Lucius entered the room and stopped when he saw Hermione standing in the center of the room swaying and singing to herself.







“Hello, beautiful.” She said, smiling rather comically. “I wish you weren’t here.” She sighed.







“She’s completely stoned, isn’t she?” Lucius said. “Why do you wish that, Sweets?”







“Because I miss you…and I don’t want you to know that and if you are here then I’m going to want to tell you that.” She said, swaying precariously. Lucius reached out to grab her but she danced away. “Oh no you don’t! You want to fuck me again and last time I could barely walk when you were through with me.” She was waggling her finger at him and he started to laugh.







“The house is secure. There are no windows on the bottom floor, only storage and dungeons and those things seem unable to open the door but I placed wards on them regardless.” He said walking towards Severus. As soon as he stepped forward she ran to Severus and clutched his sleeve with her good hand.







“Don’t let him near my arse, he’s obsessed with it.” She whispered. Lucius shook his head, laughing softly.







“What did you give her?” Lucius asked.







“A soother and a pain potion, the combination makes her a tad loopy….and she has no filter anyhow but the meds make her a little more likely than usual to blurt things out.” Severus said. “Come on, Minute, I need you to lie on the floor so Lucius can help me reset your arm.”







“NO! If I lay down he will try to fuck my arse again.” She said.







“Again?” Severus looked over at Lucius with a slightly crooked smile. Lucius simply shrugged his shoulders; he wasn’t going to deny it. “Lucius has no designs on your backside right now, Minute; we need to set that shoulder.”







Hermione snorted in disbelief and stared at Lucius. He was smiling at her, chuckling softly as he watched her bite her lip.







“I promise to be good.” He said, stepping closer. She sighed and rolled her eyes in resignation.







“Fine.” She said, allowing Severus to lower her to the floor in front of the fire. He settled her onto her back and leaned over her.







“Lucius, I need you to hold her, I have to pull her arm from the wrist to pop it back into the socket and it’s going to hurt, even with the meds.” Severus said, watching as Lucius sat down and pulled Hermione between his splayed legs to lean against him.







“Don’t go near my arse.” She muttered, her good hand stroking his thigh gently.







“I won’t, I promise, just let me hold you.” He said, wrapping one arm tight around her torso, the other gripping her other arm. He wrapped his legs over her thighs, completely surrounding her with his body.







“You are good with the cuddling, Lucius.” She sighed, turning her face into his neck and inhaling his scent. “One of the best parts about being with you is the cuddling.”







“Ok, on the count of three I’m going to start pulling, it’s going to hurt, Minute.” Severus said.







“You would never hurt me, Severus.” She smiled sweetly. “I always know I’m safe with you.” Severus brushed a curl from her cheek and furrowed his brow.







“Never on purpose, Minute, never on purpose.” He said, wrapping his fingers around her tiny wrist. “One….Two…Three!” He began top pull and Hermione began to scream, writhing in Lucius’s arms as the tearing, burning pain ripped through her. He continued to pull keeping the pressure steady until he heard and felt the joint move back into place with a sickening pop and Hermione fell unconscious.







“Is she….” Lucius relaxed his hold while Severus checked her pulse.







“She passed out. It’s a good thing.” He said, running his fingers through his hair.







“You alright?” Lucius asked, he had never seen the dark wizard look so worried, so upset.







“I hate that I had to hurt her.” He said, pushing to his feet and heading back to the table to collect his things. “But there was no choice. I’m going to bind her arm to her chest then give her a healing potion and more pain potion, she should be fine in the morning.”







“We can’t get her out tonight?” Lucius asked, looking out the window at the night sky.







“We can’t move her safely. We barely made it through ourselves; there isn’t any way we can do it carrying an unconscious witch.” Severus said. “You can go if you like, Lucius, I will stay here and care for her.”







“No…I will stay also.” He said, watching Severus kneel beside her and begin binding her arm with the linen bandages, tying her bent elbow to her ribs.









“I won’t just give her up, Lucius. Only if she asks me to walk away.” He said, finally addressing the elephant in the room.









“I will not give up my pursuit of her. Where does that leave us?” Lucius asked, tilting her head back and massaging her throat as Severus poured healing and pain potions down her.









“It is her choice. If she wants you I will respect that, I always told her that if she fell in love I would back up, but know this, even if she does choose you I will always be in her life, I will always be her friend.” He said, scooting down to her feet to unlace her boots and remove them.







“Do you love her?” Lucius asked.







“I care for her, very much. But I don’t think I know how to love, not in the true sense of the word.” He said, pulling off her socks and tucking them into her boots. “Do you love her?”







“I don’t know.” Lucius said softly, staring down at the woman sleeping in his arms. But I think I could he thought.







“May the best wizard for her win.” Severus said. “Now, did you see any bedchambers?”







“A few doors down, it appeared to be the master suite but I didn’t get a good look.”









“Can you lift her?” Severus asked as he stood and gathered their things.









“Of course I can.” Lucius snapped as he shifted her into his arms so he could stand then lifted and cradled her against his chest. “Lead the way.”







Severus wanted to laugh, Lucius was a vain creature and it seemed that had not changed. He led the way into the hall and around the curving mezzanine until he found the room with a giant bed in the center and an attached bathing chamber. Lucius carried her in and laid her on the center of the bed, gently tugging the blankets from beneath her to cover her.







“I suggest we get some sleep.” Severus said, closing the bedroom door and warding it securely. “Tomorrow we need to figure out what the hell is wrong with this blasted island and why those things are crawling about everywhere.”







“Where should we sleep?” Lucius asked looking around.







“I think that the three of us should stay together, for safety reasons. You take the left and I will take the right.” Severus said, removing his coat and shoes and climbing into bed to the right of Hermione. Lucius sat on the left side and removed his waistcoat and shoes, undoing the top several buttons on his shirt before swinging his legs into the bed and lying down.







“This is the strangest sleeping arrangement I have ever been part of.” Lucius said into the darkness. Severus chuckled and closed his eyes, his back to Hermione and Lucius. He didn’t see the blond wizard roll to his side and kiss her lips softly before he laid his head on the pillow to seek some much needed rest.