Elizabeth Kane and the Deathly Hallows

Chapter 9

𝕴 𝖘𝖙𝖆𝖗𝖙𝖊𝖉 𝖔𝖓 the Felix Felicis potion the next day. Severus had brought me all of the ingredients I could possibly need and he was helping me make it, though there was always a look of frustrated curiosity in his eyes. He never asked. Maybe he didn't want to know. 

I knew I had to tell him soon. After all, the runes that I was going to save his life grew stronger with time. So the sooner I carved them into his skin to protect him, the better. 

But it was hard. How are you supposed to sit your husband down and tell him that in a few short months time, he's going to die? How can you tell him that you're not even brewing the Felix Felicis for him, because you need him to still be bitten so Voldemort believes him to be dead? 

Because if you tell him that. . . because if I tell him that. . . then it shows that I'm willing to let him die for the rest of the world. And maybe that seems like good morals and selflessness, but I was afraid he would think I didn't love him. And that couldn't be farther from the truth. 

I was so caught up with my thoughts, that I didn't even notice the mistake I was going to make with the potion until Severus caught my wrist, jerking it away. I blinked, then put the cilantro leaves down and sighed. 

"Elizabeth?" Severus sighed as well, picking up  the parsley and added it before starting the stirring. "Something you want to tell me? Like maybe who we're making this for?" 

I stiffened a little as I stared into the boiling cauldron. Then I closed my eyes, leaning my head back so it rested against the end of the bed. "Dad." I whispered. "And Tonks. Fred too." 

Severus was quiet for a long time, before  I heard shuffling. I opened my eyes as arms pulled me into them. I turned into him so that my cheek rested against his chest. 

I breathed out and then said, "You." 

I felt Severus' body jolt a little and could hear his heart start to beat a little faster in his chest. I wondered if he was scared. 

"I see." Severus murmured. 

"It's all over in June." I whispered. "The battle. Dad, Fred, and Tonks should be easy. A little liquid luck. You're much harder." 

"Why?" Severus asked, running his hand up and down my arm. Already, his heart had settled back into its' normal pace. 

"Because The Dark Lord is the one that kills you and for everything to work, he must think you're dead. Which means you can't take the liquid luck. I have to save you on skill, he won't stay around to watch you die." 

"So he doesn't use the curse?" Severus asked incredulously. 

"No. He actually cares to much about you to kill you directly" I said, huffing a small laugh to myself at the irony. Both Dumbledore and Voldemort had used Severus as a direct confidant. Had trusted him with their lives in a way. And their secrets. But he belonged to neither of them and he killed the one he liked better. 

"How then?" Severus asked. 

"Nagini." I murmured. Severus flinched a little against me. 

I sat up so that I could turn and look into his face as I said this. He pulled me into his lap so that I was straddling him. "So, here's the plan. I want to carve protection runes into the skin above your heart and around your  neck, where Nagini originally bit you. It means that the bite will be farther away, which means it will take more time for the poison to spread. Then, I'll use a dose of what the healers at St. Mungo's used for Mr. Weasley, before slipping liquid luck down your throat. I- I know it took Mr. Weasley twelves doses but-"