Suffering Part 2

The Morning After

Much to Y/N’s disappointment, the tension between her and Severus had not subsided because of the sex. The two barely spoke before he left for breakfast in the Great Hall. Y/N decided to distract herself with a sketch. She sat at the little table where Alfie was spread across. He was such a beautiful little boy and laid perfectly still as if he knew to do so. 

Finally, Severus brought Y/N’s breakfast to her. He huffed when he saw Alfie on the table and Y/N not moving her things for the tray. “If he moves, I can’t finish this. Put the tray somewhere else for now please,” she said looking down at her paper. 

Severus stood there waiting which annoyed Y/N to no end. “Merlin, I’ll stop now then,” she said, closing her things and moving Alfie onto her lap. He placed the tray down with a clink and sat across from her at the table. “Aren’t you in a pleasant mood this morning?” she said leaning back in her chair. “Indeed,” he said sarcastically in his classroom voice.

 “Were you actually upset last night or was that a ploy to have angry sex?” she asked, still not eating her breakfast. “What do you think?” he spat. Y/N inhaled and exhaled deeply trying to remain calm. “You know he isn’t like that. We are just friends,” she tried to reassure him.

“Why did you smell like him then?” he asked, raising an eyebrow. “I only hugged him, I guess his cologne transferred onto me or something. He isn’t interested in me,” she replied, shaking her head at this silly conversation. 

“You are that naive aren’t you?” he scoffed. “Are you going to do this everytime I go to visit him?” she questioned in an increasingly annoyed tone. “You will not be leaving anytime soon. Eat your breakfast,” he announced.

 “You’ve charmed the room again without telling me, I see,” she said as she went to start picking up the vitamins to take. “I have to keep an eye on you it seems. You couldn’t even come back when it was time. Now eat your breakfast before I lose my temper,” he sneered. 

“When aren’t you losing your temper?” she replied as she picked up her fork to move the food around on the plate. Severus got up and went to the sofa knowing she wouldn’t eat while he was staring at her. 

Y/N did her best to finish her breakfast, despite the horrid company in the room. “I’m done, thank you,” she said after several minutes. Severus got up with a huff to come get her tray. “Perhaps I should go to the cottage. That way you won’t have to wait on me like this,” she suggested. She honestly just wanted a break from his moods. 

“Stop,” he said as he took the tray out of the room again. She knew he would be gone for several minutes, she got up to go to the fireplace. Y/N looked all around for floo powder, but there was none to be found. She grabbed her bag and it had been taken out as well. 

She decided to go get dressed for the day and fix herself. Severus hadn’t been picking her outfits out lately since she was staying in pajamas most of the day. She chose an oversized olive green sweater and her favorite jeans. Y/N picked up the perfume that Severus liked but sat it back down, because fuck that man. 

After a bit, Severus came back to the room. He saw her visibly annoyed face along with her crossed arms. “Were you looking for something?” he asked with a sly smirk. “I feel like a captive right now,” she sneered at him.

“You obviously have trouble following my directions. I told you that you aren’t allowed to leave and you try to do so behind my back,” he said as he sat down on the other end of the sofa. 

“Why are you doing this? It has to be more than last night. You have been impossible for several days now,” she said as she crossed her legs and bounced her foot in annoyance. “You forget your place, I see,” he replied as he read the Daily Prophet. 

Y/N breathed in and out trying to release her obvious boiling anger at this point. “Let me go back to the cottage. I would rather be crucio’d than to sit here and have you be cruel to me. You can come see me when you decide you love me again,” she spat without even looking in his direction.

“How dare you say that to me. I do nothing but take care of you,” he sneered, folding his paper again and throwing it to the side. “I didn’t ask to be brought here. I certainly didn’t ask to be subjected to your ever changing moods. Perhaps if you would just talk to me instead of holding everything inside until it comes out like this,” Y/N said trying to hold the tears in.

Severus said nothing and just looked away from her. Y/N went and knelt down between his legs, placing a hand on his thigh, “Please just talk to me.” 

It seemed as if that broke his avoidance of the situation. He reached out pulling Y/N up into his lap, wrapping his arms around her. “I’m sorry. You don’t deserve this, Y/N. There will be an attack on the school in the next couple of months. I’m at a loss as to what to do. The only one who can defeat the Dark Lord, has disappeared. No one has seen Potter or his friends in months.”

Y/N was in shock. She knew something would happen eventually but she hadn’t anticipated this exactly. “You know this because of your secret meetings?” she asked hesitantly. “Indeed. I have tried to find Potter but I was unsuccessful. He believes I murdered Dumbledore,”  he replied shakily. 

“But you didn't, right? Why would he think that?” Y/N asked in utter confusion. “Of course not. He believes he saw me kill him. His eyes deceived him. He didn’t have the correct vantage point at that moment,” he recalled. 

Y/N went to move off of Severus’ lap, her head was spinning with new information. Severus allowed her to move without fighting it. Y/N sat next to him on the couch with her head in her hands. “You could have told me these things months ago,” she spoke in frustration. 

“I was trying to protect you,” he reasoned. “By keeping me clueless to everything? How is that fair? I don’t have any secrets from you, but yet you keep all this from me,” she said countering his argument. 

“I apologize. I believed I was doing what was right for you,” he confessed as he reached out for her hand. She allowed him to take it, but responded, “I’m done being lied to by omission. You are done hiding things from me.”

“I promise,” he replied softly. “I love you, Severus,” she responded. Severus almost smiled, moving in to kiss her. After a moment, he moved back slightly, whispering “I love you too, Princess.” The husband and wife embraced each other in a warm accepting embrace. 

“Thank you for talking to me. I couldn’t handle another argument right now. I did look for floo powder,” she confessed with a nervous laugh. “I’m aware,” he said, looking down at her with a raised eyebrow.

 “I think perhaps we need to work on our communication. This blowing up and splitting isn’t benefiting either of us,” she added. “You could just do what I tell you,” he said in his classroom voice, but added, “I agree though.”

After a bit, Severus relented and took the charm off the room, allowing Y/N to leave as she pleased. He even put the floo powder back by the fireplace for her to use. 

“I expect you to tell me where you are going and when you will return. If I’m not in here, you will leave a note,” he told her. “Yes Daddy,” she replied with a honeycoated smile. 

“I’m aware you use ‘Daddy’ to your advantage,” he added. “Same goes for you with 'Good girl’ for you,” she replied, looking him directly in the eyes. “Indeed,” he smirked.