WHERE ARE YOU? I'M AWARE OF YOUR CAPTURE AND ESCAPE BUT NEED TO SEE YOU'RE ALL RIGHT WITH MY OWN EYES.

UM. YOU WON'T BE ABLE TO FIND US, BUT I CAN MEET YOU FOR A RUN.

It took her far longer to reply than he would have liked. As the hours ticked by after his initial message he'd started to grow worried that she'd escaped only to have some other evil fate befall her.

YES!

"She's alright?" Phineas Black asked from his portrait.

"Yes," Severus replied. "Well, she's responding to me anyway."

"That is good news, Headmaster."

"Thank you."

WE'RE IN TINWORTH.

ALL RIGHT. I KNOW OF A PLACE WE CAN MEET IN OUR OTHER FORMS.

He gave her directions.

I'LL BE THERE SHORTLY.

OKAY.

AND HERMIONE?

YES.

I'M VERY RELIEVED YOU ARE SAFE.

ME, TOO.

"Your mind can rest now, Severus," Albus said.

"That is not helping, Albus."

The Weasley wedding, the locket, Godric's Hollow, Xenophilius Lovegood's home, and now Malfoy Manor. He wasn't sure how much more his heart could take. He was growing more and more frustrated with Albus' casualness about the whole thing. He still had not told Severus about the horcruxes. He couldn't help but think that the man was somewhat enjoying prolonging the whole ordeal.

"Go see your witch, Severus," said the former headmaster.

"You couldn't stop me if you were capable of trying."

"Ah, true love," quipped the wizard in the portrait.

Severus focused on the area he wanted to go in Cornwall, shifting into his animagus form to make the rest of the trek from his apparition point.

He waited in his animagus form impatiently. His tail flicked and swished along the ground reflecting that.

She wasn't coming.

Her torture in his long-time friend's home was more than she could put behind her.

With Weasley back in the fold her crush on him had renewed itself.

These thoughts and more swirled through the hellhound's mind.

He knew this wasn't true. They'd seen one another at their home so she could do laundry. She'd sent him notes regularly. She didn't always say she loved him, but neither did he. Some mornings, though, he'd wake to the notebook warm and merely a heart drawn on the page to let him know she was thinking of him as she prepared for bed. He was aware she took the last watch of the night.

He whimpered, wanting to pounce when he spotted his wolf bounding gracefully through the small wooded area. He was elated, overjoyed, and humbled that she would return to him after being tortured by someone he called friend.

He growled when she began to act playfully toward him, shifting out of his animagus form.

"Hermione," he whispered. He had to see her. To know she was alright.

She didn't shift right away, and in fact appeared as if she was cowering.

"Hermione, I need to see you. Please, Witch."

And then she was there, standing before him. Looking thin, tired, and very much as if she'd been tortured.

He cupped her cheek and he frowned as she jerked back in response.

"Sorry," she whispered.

"You have nothing to apologize for. I just needed to see you're all right."

She shrugged, biting her lower lip, tears welling up in her eyes.

"Hermione?" he asked.

"I'm so sorry," she said, shuddering.

"We've already established you have nothing to apologize for."

She swiped at her eyes with the left cuff of her muggle sweatshirt advertising something he knew nothing about and pushed the sleeve up on the same arm once she'd finished.

He gasped at the carved letters on her forearm. He couldn't recall feeling such fury. The need to kill whoever had dared touch, mark, his mate was absolutely primal.

"Who did this to you?"

"Bellatrix," she said, sniffling.

He let one hand hover over the wounded area. She tried to pull her arm away, but he retained his grip on her wrist.

"I know it's hideous," she sobbed.

He said nothing, trying to ascertain what went into the wound so he could develop a salve for her to aid in healing.

"If you don't want… I mean, that is to say, I'd understand if this was too much for you."

His eyes shot up to meet hers. She was frightened, but it wasn't the fear of physical harm. There was a difference. He knew the look of expected rejection well.

"As if I have no scars."

"Yours aren't visible."

"Would you like me to go shirtless so they are?"

"I just. It will be seen. People will know. And I'm sure given your history with Harry's mum…"

"I've loved two witches in my life, Hermione. I've come to realize gradually over the years that my love for Lily was not the love one has for a romantic partner. I fooled myself for years into believing that it was, I won't deny that. Held onto an emotion, a glimmer of the acceptance she'd given me when no one else had. However, she was not my witch. That privilege belongs only to you. As it should be. You want me to display my Dark Mark to counter this? I shall do it."

"No," she said, sniffling. "I just know." She shrugged.

"Know what, my sweet."

"Wizards don't want…"

"Strong, intelligent, brave, capable, beautiful, and sexy witches? Pity, they don't know what they're missing."

"Are you sure?"

He scoffed, realizing how very serious she was he floundered for a moment to come up with the right words.

"I am positive. I will proudly walk beside you as you are with no hesitation."

She sniffled, wiping her cheeks and nose.

"I just…"

"You are lovely, Hermione. I know I've told you that, and perhaps you just thought I was placating you or giving you expected platitudes. You are different from other women, muggle or witch, and I'm sure that difference makes you feel as if you are lacking in things. You are not, it's just that others don't take the time to get to know what's lurking behind the books you are always holding."

"I think that's why I fell for you," she whispered.

"Why?"

"You're like me," she shrugged. "You get it. No one else does. They think I'm a freak. Oh, sure many fawned over me at the Yule Ball, but that was because of the picture I presented that evening. That wasn't me."

"It is you, Hermione. It's okay to stray away from books once in a while."

"You should talk."

"Yes, well, what is that old saying? Do as I say, not as I do?"

She smiled slightly.

"May I kiss you?"

She nodded, and he leaned in doing just that.

"I will come up with something that will help. It will likely not go away completely," he said sadly, but he was not going to lie to her. "With proper care and the salve, though, it will heal and fade some."

She bit her lip, nodding. "Thank you."

He cupped a cheek. "I take care of what is mine, Hermione."

"I know," she whispered.

"Were you going to appear to me only as your wolf?"

"I didn't want you to see. I was afraid."

He huffed, kissing her forehead before finding her cheek.

"You are not getting rid of me that easily. Your muggle wedding vows talk about until death do you part. Our accepted soul bond is much stronger than that. We are connected now, Hermione. It's not just physical, our very souls. In the magical world we are bound just as if we were married before your God. I am only sorry that I can't kill her myself."

She filled him in on the details of what happened at Malfoy Manor, including how they'd been caught. He'd heard they were, but hadn't been able to find out how before now.

"Is everyone else okay?"

"Yes! We even found Luna, Dean, Mr. Ollivander, and Griphook."

"A goblin?" Snape asked, confused. "You have a goblin with you now?"

"We couldn't leave him behind," she whispered.

"Ah," he said, nodding. Of course she couldn't. He understood. Well, not really, but he understood her so it was essentially the same thing. "I'm glad all are well."

"Dobby did not make it," she said.

"I am sorry," he whispered, kissing her cheek and nose. "He died, though, valiantly from the sounds of it."

"He did."

"I will ensure the other house elves know."

"Thank you," she said with a nod.

"Now what?" he asked.

She shrugged.

"We know where another one is," she said. "We'll come up with a plan to get it and destroy it."

He nodded, glad to know despite what had happened she still had her eye on the big picture. Not that he'd chastise her if she took time to collect herself and lick her wounds.

"Are you all right?" she asked.

He laughed, nodding. "Other than worrying for you, yes."

"I'm glad. I was so worried."

"You were worried?"

"Yes. I worry about you every day."

"The feeling is quite mutual, my witch."

She smiled, leaning against him.

They transfigured into their animagus forms then, deciding they needed the thrill of the run. While there was much to talk about theoretically, they both knew they had nothing new to say at the moment. He would not prod her for information on the other horcrux they'd gleaned information about. He did not want information in his head he had to hide from the Dark Lord that would endanger Hermione's efforts. They romped and hunted, things changing as Hermione's wolf's cleaning licks became something other to his hellhound. He thought back to the dream he'd had more than once and her seeming acceptance of it occurring. Is that what she wanted now? Did she need the physical connection?

He flipped her onto her back, tongue wagging as he stood over her and looked into her eyes.

Yes.

You are sure?

Yes. I said when there was no snow on the ground.

Indeed she had. And then she was there in front of him, peering at him through her beautiful wolf eyes before turning to offer herself to him.

Severus. Please.

Her pleading tone was his undoing, doubt flew out of his mind as he claimed his wolf as he'd wanted to do from the first time they'd run together.

Later, back in their human forms, they snuggled against one another. Her breathing fell into the pattern he recognized of restfulness and he was pleased he'd given that to her. He'd expected rebuff or something when they'd returned to their human forms and what they'd done took hold. She'd said nothing, merely pressed into him seeming content much as her wolf did.

"I will have no need of the excuse of laundry for the next little while," she said once it was clear their time together had to end.

"That is disappointing."

"That was why," she said, gesturing between them. "I needed that today and I'm not sure when we will be able to again."

"I should feel used."

"Are you crushed?"

"Devastated, can't you tell?"

"I see that."

He tucked some hair behind her ear. "We will find ways. Even if it's here again."

"Saturday?"

"Yes," he agreed.

"Okay," she said. "See you then."

"Indeed you will." He kissed her, deepening it before he had to let her go.

She shifted back into her wolf, bounding away from him in the opposite direction he needed to go.

He returned to Hogwarts, making his way to the Headmaster's office.

"Is everyone alright?" Albus asked.

"Yes. One of the house elves, Dobby, did not make it."

"That is sad to hear. He was fond of Harry," Albus said.

"Yes, evidently it is how they got rescued."

"And your witch?"

"She was scarred. I will be in my lab working on a healing salve for her for the rest of the night."

"Will it heal?"

"No, it was Bellatrix. I'm sure it was her cursed knife," he said grimly. "I can only ensure it heals to the point of not remaining an open wound."

"I am sorry," the old man said, sounding as if he may have meant it. "If anyone can come up with a solution it's you."

He nodded before going to his quarters to change into something suitable for a night of potions work. Hogwarts was an amazing entity, and yes he had no doubt after the many years he'd spent within her walls that she was one. No less alive than the trees and lake outside. His private lab was obtainable from the Headmaster's quarters because he needed it to be. He couldn't be seen stalking through the dungeons tonight. Questions would be asked.

So, evidently that meant he had two beings on his side. A sentient castle and Hermione Granger.

He considered himself a lucky man indeed as he set about creating a healing salve for his witch.

Story ©Susan Matthews/APCKRFAN/PhantomRoses.com