The Bond

Auntbecky- My take on Severus, from reading the Princes Tale in book 7, was that his father obviously was an ass LOL, so I would like to believe, even if it is my own personal opinion, that his mother would have swept him away and raised him in the magic realm, away from an abusive and neglectful father, therefore his exposure to Muggle candies would have been limited.
I also got in touch with a friend in Dover, who said that a lot of “American” candies aren’t common in England, though M&Ms are fairly popular LOL so it was simply me and my vision for the story.


CHAPTER NINE


Amazingly enough, Severus made more of an attempt to actually socialize with his wife. It wasn’t easy, he was a lone creature by nature, and having been forced most of his life to simply enjoy his own company. They were much alike in their love of reading, though for Hermione it was her relentless quest for knowledge that drove her to see solace within the pages of a book. For Severus, it was a need for some peace, to immerse himself in a world different from his own. A place where he could forget, at least for s little while, the past that haunted him.


Hermione found him sitting in the window well of his study, the first snow of the year falling softly outside. She watched him for a moment, reclining there on the cushioned seat, bent over a leather bound book. If the window had been real, he would have been freezing, but it was merely a spell that allowed them a view of the black lake, letting them see what happening outside, much like the ceiling in the great hall. It was something she had insisted upon when she moved into the dungeon apartments with him, she would have gone insane without it.


He looked up, slipping his finger into the seam and marking his page.
“Hello.” He said, resting his head back against the stones. “How long have you been back?” He asked her.
“Not long, Ginny tires easily these days.” She walked into the room and crossed the carpeted floor on bare feet. She was wearing her jeans, and a simple cashmere turtleneck the color of a pumpkin, her curls twisted into a bun at the back of her head. She climbed into the long window seat, for it was more than deep enough for the two of them, and curled against him.
“Should I even inquire as to how much damage you did to my….our, Gringotts account?” He asked, shifting his arm around her shoulders and letting her rest against his chest.
“I wasn’t too bad, though poor Harry really should take Ginny’s access away until after she has the baby. She’s an emotional shopper.” Hermione lifted her lips for a kiss, surprising Severus somewhat. It was unusual for her to seek out intimacy without the bond forcing her to.
“Are you okay? Is the elixir not lasting long enough?” He asked.
“I’m fine. I missed you today.” She said.
“I’ll work on making it stronger….” She laid her hand against the side of his face.
“No, the elixir works wonderfully Severus, I missed you.” She kissed him again briefly before settling herself comfortably into his arms and against his chest. “What are you reading?” She asked.
“Poetry.” He said, turning the cover of the book so she could see the title, Great Poems of the Masters.
“I did not know you had a love of poetry.” She said softly, opening the book to the page he had marked.
“My mother use to read me poems as a child, on the nights when my father did not bother to return home.” Hermione said nothing, for it was rare that Severus even mentioned his parents, or his childhood. She accepted it for what it was, one more stone removed from the wall that he had built inside himself.
“Read to me.” She whispered. He lifted the book, and in his soft, sultry baritone, he began to recite from the page:

It was many and many a year ago,
In a kingdom by the sea,
That a maiden there lived whom you may know
By the name of Annabel Lee;
And this maiden she lived with no other thought
Than to love and be loved by me.

I was a child and she was a child,
In this kingdom by the sea;
But we loved with a love that was more than love-
I and my Annabel Lee;
With a love that the winged seraphs of heaven
Coveted her and me.
And this was the reason that, long ago,
In this kingdom by the sea,
A wind blew out of a cloud, chilling
My beautiful Annabel Lee;
So that her highborn kinsman came
And bore her away from me,
To shut her up in a sepulcher
In this kingdom by the sea.
The angels, not half so happy in heaven,
Went envying her and me
Yes! that was the reason
(as all men know, In this kingdom by the sea)
That the wind came out of the cloud by night,
Chilling and killing my Annabel Lee.

But our love it was stronger by far than the love
Of those who were older than we
Of many far wiser than we
And neither the angels in heaven above,
Nor the demons down under the sea,
Can ever dissever my soul from the soul
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee.
For the moon never beams without bringing me dreams
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And the stars never rise but I feel the bright eyes
Of the beautiful Annabel Lee;
And so, all the night-tide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling, my darling, my life and my bride,
In the sepulcher there by the sea,
In her tomb by the sounding sea.


“Oh, Severus, that was just lovely.” She said, wiping a tear from her eye. She smiled up at him, and he could not resist the lips that beckoned so sweetly. He set his book aside, and lowered his head, capturing her lips with his own. It was sweet, slow and tender. Their lips softly touching, tongues sliding slowly against each other. He had never experienced anything as powerful as that simple exchange. He felt his stomach clench and his heart began to pound. What was this? Was this the bond, or something else?

He ended the kiss slowly, returning again and again to place the softest of pecks against her cheeks, the end of her nose, and the swollen pink petals of her mouth. Her eyes told the story of her confusion, for she too was lost and confused in the tide of emotions that were beginning to overtake them. When had things begun to change? He rubbed his nose against hers, then lifted the book laying in his lap, and began to read again.

And so they spent their afternoon, curled together in the window seat as he recited poetry to his bride, and the snow fell outside.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Later that evening, as Hermione roamed about the apartment and tidied up, a letter slid beneath the door. She smiled when she saw the Malfoy seal pressed into the wax. Severus was in his lab, so she stopped to fix him a drink on her way to deliver the letter. Odd that Lucius would send a letter, he sat beside her in the great hall everyday at lunch, much to Severus’s dismay. She couldn’t, for the life of her figure out why he was so jealous when it came to her friendship with Lucius. He didn’t act that way about Harry or Ron. Maybe it had to do more with their antics with women when they were young. Did he actually fear that she might prefer Lucius over him?
Well, that wasn’t going to happen. She couldn’t deny the obvious, Lucius was a wonderfully sexy, powerful wizard, and he did smell nice, and was quite pretty, she smiled at the thought. He was quite funny, and despite her birth, he was kind and indulgent towards her. But she could never desire, or love him. He wasn’t Severus. Severus was the opposite of Lucius in every way, and she often wondered how they had become such close friends.

Severus was tall, dark and brooding. But he was also sexy as hell, powerful and intense. He didn’t smell so bad either; always the scent of Bayberry and smoke clung to him. Funny he was not, sardonic maybe, his sense of humor tending to be slightly droll and dark. But this afternoon, as she had lain in his arms and listened to him read, his voice wrapping around her like smooth velvet, she had found something. She had thought it odd that she had missed him as she shopped with Ginny. Not missing him within the effects of the bond, but missing him as in just hearing his voice and knowing he was there. Was she beginning to care for her husband? Feel more for him than just what the bond brought about?

She knocked lightly on the door to the lab, peeking inside. He was standing over a medium sized cauldron, carefully measuring ingredients and adding them to the concoction that was bubbling away.
“I brought you a drink.” She said, approaching the table and lifting one of the glass vials sitting on the rack. It was the elixir he had brewed to help her when he was away.
“Thank you, I was just finishing up.” He said, taking the snifter of brandy and the letter in her hand. “Let’s go to the living room, it takes three days for this to brew.” He cast a spell that kept a pewter rod stirring the cauldron constantly, and then laid his hand on the small of her back as he escorted her from the room. The simple touch felt as though electricity were running through his fingers and rippling across her skin.
She startled, turning to look at him. He had felt it too, she was certain, for he had that same look of awe in his eyes. They made their way into the living room where Severus laid a fire in the hearth. Hermione set her I-pod into the speaker cradle on a table across the room, letting the room fill with soft, bluesy music before coming to sit beside him, a glass of red wine in her hand.
Severus opened Lucius’s note, a small gold key with a silver and green ribbon tied in a little bow, fell out into his lap.
Severus-
This is a portkey, it will become active tomorrow night at eleven, and will take you into the little room off of my chambers at Malfoy Manor, you know the room. If your little bride is still interested, I promise to be good, no games.
Fondly,
Lucius Malfoy

“What is it?” She asked. Severus lifted the key and showed her.
“A portkey. We have been invited to a special viewing tomorrow evening at Malfoy Manor.” Severus told her, watching her face for any indication of what she might be thinking.
“Oh.” She said softly. “I thought maybe he forgot.”
“Do you still intend to watch Hermione?” He asked. She closed her eyes and leaned against his shoulder. “I think It would be interesting to watch, if you are with me.”
“I wouldn’t think of letting you go alone, if you are certain it is something you want to see.” He reached for her hand, twining his fingers with hers and pulling their entwined hands into his lap.
“I want to see, but not because it’s Lucius. I’m curious, and I’m comfortable with him, and you have already seen it before.”
“He has a room off of his chambers, its private, and has a one way viewing wall. From his side, it looks like an ordinary wall, yet we can see through. He and his partner will not be able to see us.” He dangled the little key from its ribbon. “This will take us straight there.”
“I should be surprised that he has such an elaborate set up, but somehow, I’m not.” She said with a laugh.
“You should see his dungeon.” Severus said with a soft chuckle. “Lucius does like his games.”
“I don’t think I would care to see his dungeon, not without you at any rate.” She said before yawning. Severus glanced down to where her head rested on his shoulder. Hearing her say that made him feel warm inside, something he had not known in many years, not since his friendship with Lilly.
“Time for bed.” He told her, taking her glass and setting it on the table. He put out the fire with a wave of his hand, and pulled her along behind him to their room. They didn’t bother to get undressed, simply crawled atop the coverlet, and nestled together, falling asleep wrapped up in each other.

**The poem is Annabelle Lee by Edgar Allen Poe, I know that this was a rather fluffy piece, but I want them to begin to feel the first stirrings of love and desire that is not soley about the bond.

**Sorry, no smut LOL, I think I’m feeling a bit melancholy, I miss my husband already. Maybe after grandma picks up the little ones and I’ve had a nice glass of wine, Ill be able to do the next chapter justice with a little heat.