Saving Ravenclaw (Severus x Rowena)

5- Problems of conscience and heart

The horse galloped across the meadow, avoiding obstacles along the way.

"Come on Rowena, hold on, please. You can't die now."

Severus guided the horse, pushing it to the limits of its endurance, hoping to find somewhere where he could tend to the woman. Rowena was in front of him, sitting with her legs to one side, and had been in a state of semi-consciousness for quite some time, while the blood escaped from her body, seeping between her legs, and staining her clothes and the horse's skin.

"Come on, hold on, don't give up. Don't die, please, don't die, hold on. Just a little more, a little more."

In the distance, he saw the silhouette of a castle, surrounded by farm fields and peasant huts, and he spurred his horse to run towards it.

The lord and lady of the castle welcomed Rowena without asking questions about her condition or her clothing, subjected to Severus's Imperius curse. To prevent them from fighting the control of the curse, the wizard told them that Rowena was his wife and that she had just lost their baby. He hoped that his lie would help calm the subconscious curiosity of the nobles and ease their minds.

They put Rowena in a room and called an old midwife who looked after the local women. She undressed Rowena and began to rub her belly with a kind of oil of her own invention until the woman expelled a bloody mass from her body, which they wrapped in a linen cloth and took to bury, as was the custom.

After that, Rowena began to be delirious and sweating, becoming weaker by the minute, until the lords of the castle, noticing that she was not getting better, sent for a doctor. He insisted on cutting Rowena's wrists, because he believed that the disease the woman was in her blood, and that she had to be purged so that she would improve.

When Severus found out about this, he imposed his will and unceremoniously expelled the doctor, claiming that he would take care of "his wife" himself. The only reason he had resigned himself to accepting the midwife's help was because he had never treated a miscarriage, but he was not willing to let the woman be tortured any further.

Rowena was his responsibility, and he would not allow anyone to interfere with the mission Dumbledore had assigned him. He would see to it that the woman reached Hosmeade safely, at any cost.

Severus rushed to heal the woman's wounds and covered her so she wouldn't get cold, which seemed impossible, because her fever was so high that Severus could feel her heat without having to touch her.

Rowena was very weak and pale, due to blood loss, and remained in a state of semi-consciousness from which she barely emerged. Severus tried to make her drink every few hours from one potion he had made for her, and he did not leave her side day or night, observing the woman and carefully analyzing her health. He even slept in the corner of the bed, so as not to be separated from her.

When Rowena regained some strength, she began to wake up more often, but Severus made her sleep with another of his potions, so she wouldn't exhaust herself. However, he could do nothing against the nightmares that plagued her. Rowena would wake up in the middle of the night, screaming, trying to get out of bed, unable to get her bearings, and would not calm down until Severus reached her and held her tightly, until she would fall asleep again, overcome by exhaustion and the effect of the potion.

On those occasions, Severus took a long time to release her, even when she was breathing calmly. He told himself that Rowena wouldn't have as many nightmares if he was around, although deep down he knew that this reluctance was due to the strange warmth that invaded him every time he hugged her.

He cursed himself for those moments of weakness and swore over and over again that he would never do it again, but his resistance crumbled every time he looked at Rowena and saw her so weak, like a shadow of herself, and he couldn't help but want to help her, then cursing himself for not being able to control his emotions.