New kink
He sits in his favorite chair-high-backed, brown leather, deeply cushioned-and he swirls a small crystal decanter of whisky. Unsteadily, he traces the outline of his Dark Mark, eternally black on his forearm.
He exhales loudly and swallows the last of the whisky, glowing amber in the firelight. Sometimes, even now, he hates himself.
The rattle of the doorknob interrupts his melancholy, and his wife, elegant in a tight, knitted black negligee, enters his study.
“Rowan is in bed. Finally.” She lets out an exhausted sigh. “Come on, Severus. Go kiss your son goodnight.”
He scratches his nails across his Dark Mark, etching red marks into his pale skin.
“No,” he says. “Leave, Hermione. Please.”
She shakes her head and walks to him, and she places her hand atop his, their fingers entwined above the indelible skull and the flickering tongue.
“Severus,” she whispers. “I promised you something once. Do you remember?”
He shuts his eyes. “‘Whatever you ask for, that’s what I’ll be.’ That’s… that’s what you told me. The night after I awoke in St. Mungo’s,” he replies.
A slight tremor of his hands infuriates him. He shakes himself, leaning back into the comfort of his chair.
“Yes.” She slides onto his lap, wrapping her arms about his neck. “I still mean it, you know. Now, ask me, Severus. Just ask me.”
He loosens her grip and pushes her away until he can see her eyes.
“Rowan is in bed?” he asks her disbelievingly.
He smiles. His son is stubborn, proud, intelligent, kind-much as he imagines he would have been, if given a loving father. He swallows at the thick feeling steadily building in his throat. His son, he knows, will never take a Mark.
Severus kisses Hermione and stands, swaying slightly from the whisky. In three purposeful strides, he crosses the room. Pausing, he turns back to his wife. She is curled contentedly in his armchair, watching him.
“I’ll go kiss him goodnight, then,” he finally says.
She gestures at him with a graceful flick of her wrist. “I’ll be here when you get back, Severus.”
Drumming his fingers along the doorframe, he turns towards Rowan’s bedroom. Severus glances at his Dark Mark. It has faded, he believes, in Hermione’s presence.
He knows it will disappear at his son’s bedside.
I also wrote one for the GS100:
“I don’t… I just don’t think I can do this, Hermione.” Severus ran a shaky hand through his hair.
He paced across the room.
“I’m sorry, Hermione. I’m sorry.”
He was surprised when she didn’t cry, didn’t rage, didn’t hex him. She simply touched his cheek.
“Why, Severus?
He struggled for the words. “Marriages… they never work, Hermione. It’ll ruin us. I know it will.”
She kissed him then. “Ours will be different, Severus. Different from the rest.”
“How can you be sure?” he asked in a whisper.
Another kiss, light on the tip of his nose. “I just know.”
“No,” he stated flatly with a determined shake of his head. “No.”
Hermione smiled as she patted her belly, her sapphire wedding ring glinting in the morning light streaming through the windows. “Yes,” she replied.
Severus walked towards the fireplace, wishing he could disappear from this mess in a flash of green.
“I can’t be a father, Hermione.”
She nodded. “Yes, you can.”
He turned away from her. He would ruin her life, and the life of their child.
“I hate children. Hate them.”
She took his hand and placed it on her stomach. “Your son will be different, Severus.”
Severus carefully crawled into bed, curling his arms around his wife. He smoothed back her grey hair to whisper in her ear.
“I love you, Hermione.”
She mumbled something, and he strained to hear it.
“I’m tired, Severus.”
“Yes,” he agreed.
“We’ve had a good life together, haven’t we? The wedding, our children…”
“Unusually good, I’ll admit.”
He felt the curve of her smile against the palm of his hand.
“Better than all the rest,” she finally said. “Severus?”
“Hmmm?”
“Goodnight.”
He kissed her shoulder before leaning against his pillow and closing his eyes. He was certainly tired.
“Goodnight, Hermione.”
Finally, we received our assignments for the
snuna_exchange , and I am so excited! I was really worried I wouldn't be able to write snuna, but my prompts are so wonderful, and I have an idea that WANTS to be written, as opposed to forcing it out of myself. Am so excited!
Have a lovely Sunday, everyone!