Senses

Chapter 59

Severus checked the clock over the mantle for the fourth time. Granger had been in the shower for well over an hour by his calculations. It wasn't so completely unusual for her to take a long shower, however, her attitude before had left his heart filled with concern. He had tried to convince himself not to care. Tried to tell himself that it was none of his business. That she didn't want him, that his ultimate plan to push her away had finally worked.

His skill at lying did not work on himself. A thus—like the good little nursemaid he'd become, he pushed himself up from his chair and towards the door. His hand raised to knock when the faintest of sounds could be heard over the rushing sound of water. It was a heartbreaking sound, a most pitiful noise. His hand shifted to the handle, opening the door with caution.

A wave of steam pushed into his face nearly burning his own skin with its heat. "Ms-Hermione?" Wanting to try and put out any fires on the bridges he'd burned he forced himself to call her by name. When he didn't receive a response his worry grew. He made his way through the steam towards the shower, hi concern over the entire situation growing.

"Granger!" His voice was a barking warning. The in-flight phoenix scar on her back was as red a blood against the heat that pelted down against her. His own hand felt scalded when he ripped her from the floor and onto the tile. Her hands came up to try and push him away but the damage had already been done. She was much too weak to fight him off properly.

Pulling her wet form up was a bit of a challenge but his worry over the damage she'd done overrode his desire to be too gentle. Her skin felt like touching an open flame and when he rushed his way out of the bathroom her body let off a thick steam.

"Let me go..." Hermione pushed up against him, the pain that she'd felt was gone, numbed by the burn, "Let me go!"

Severus snarled as he forced her to roll over on the bed, "What happened?!"

"Get off me!" Hermione felt as though she were being pressed under a weight but Severus hadn't actually done anything but roll her over. Her body was weak from her time in the shower and the insurmountable pain her heart was under. "I don't want to do this anymore! I can't!"

Severus had been wondering when she'd finally break. It had taken him years to become what he was, it had been incredibly foolish of the both of them to think that a few months of training and conditioning could prepare one for the horrors of war. It was hard enough for him—as experienced in the world as he was—he couldn't even fathom what was going through her mind.

"What happened?" His tone lowered as he called one of his burn salves from his cabinet. Keeping her pressed down into the sheets with a hand on the back of her neck, the only part that seemed to have been shielded from the scalding water, no doubt thanks to her thick hair.

"I lost it okay! I had it and now it's gone!" Hermione's voice was muffled in the sheets, her fingers clawing weakly at the fabric beneath. Her back tensed when his large hand came down over the scalded skin, "Just let me be..."

"Not until you speak some sense." Severus kept one hand on the back of her neck while the other worked the burn salve into the ribbed skin of her back. He hoped that he'd gotten to her in time.

"You don't even want me here anyway." Hermione reached back blindly pushing against his thigh.

"Is that what this is all about?" Severus paused, tilting his head to try and see her through her mangled wet locks, as soon as her eyes locked with his he suddenly understood so much more than he ever wanted, "Marxan." His words were a vicious snarl, his hands leaving her body to come to his feet, "You cannot believe his lies."

"Yeah? What truths do you have to offer me?" Hermione hiccuped softly but didn't have the strength to move from the bed, the small bit of salve had brought the heat back into the scald on her back.