Succumb (A Severus Snape Fanfiction)

|chapter six|

"You seem tired, professor," I grinned, earning a ghost of a smirk from Severus as he leaned against the counter behind him. We were now in his home, on Spinners End, spending our last few precious moments alone together. For today we returned to Hogwarts. Severus had intended on leaving out a week early, but I had convinced him to simply spend his days there  and return home at night in time for dinner. I felt a bit guilty for that, because he was busy after all, but he seemed quite content with my methods of making it up to him each night.

I also suspected he thought I would starve in his absence, as he was the certainly the cook in the relationship. It was no secret that I was a less than proficient in the kitchen. My several disastrous attempts to make dinner myself had more than proven that fact, so Severus usually made it a point to do it instead. I had once tried to argue the fact that I had survived on my own for months before, but his only reply to that statement had been, "I hardly call that surviving."

"Well, I did stay rather busy last night... and the night before that."

"Are you starting to have trouble keeping up?" I teased.

"Not at all," he replied, pulling me into his arms for a brief kiss.

"Today's the day," I said reluctantly.

"It is indeed. You shouldn't worry. Everything will be fine."

"Says the person in the room who doesn't spontaneously combust into a murderous rage when agitated," I sighed.

"You're doing great.. It's been nearly a week since your last assignment, and you seem well. Two month ago, you'd be falling apart from going so long without using your powers. You're getting better, my love," he assured me. I gave him a small smile before resting my head against his chest and wrapping my arms tightly around him.

"I'm going to miss this... just being with you. Must we go back?"

"I'm afraid so. I doubt the absence of the school's new headmaster will go unnoticed," Severus replied grimly. I knew he was less than thrilled with his new position. He didn't mention Dumbledore often, but I knew he was still carrying weight of the older wizard's death quite heavily on his shoulders. He had barely tolerated being the professor of one class for all those years, and now he was being forced to not only deal with all the students of Hogwarts, but his coworkers now as well.

I wished it could stay like that, just him and I. I wished we could run away from the shit storm coming our way, but I knew Severus was far too honorable to do such a thing.

"We could always just leave," I said suddenly. It couldn't hurt to try, could it?. Severus' expression grew somber as he pulled away from my embrace.

"We cannot run from this, love."

"And why not exactly? You have given more than enough to those people. You have spent the better part of your life sacrificing... aren't you tired of it? When is it going to be enough? Why are you so determined to die for these people?" I asked, my voice rising an octave higher. "We can go anywhere. Some island in the middle of nowhere.. We can go and just be happy together. No more Voldemort, no battles.. Just us."

"I didn't take you for a coward, Kathryn," Severus bit out.

"Not wanting to lose you hardly makes me a coward."

"We are in this fight as much as the rest of them whether you like it or not. I cannot walk away from this. Even if I wanted to, I cannot."

Even if I wanted to. His words seemed to bounce around in my head, fueling my quickly growing frustration. "Why are you so fucking determined to do this?" I exclaimed. "Wait, don't even answer that question. I already know," I scoffed, thinking of Lily Potter as I ran a hand over my face.