Fighting for love - Severus Snape fanfiction (BOOK TWO of A Magical Muggle)

Chapter 12

Severus woke up panting and sweating. He had been dreaming, he realized that as soon as his eyes snapped open and his ears caught the silence of his home, though everything seemed real a few moments ago.

He was running through a long and dark corridor. The floor was slippery but he could not see why it felt that way. It was confusing to him because he could see the door at the end of the corridor, but nothing else seemed perceptible. Everything else was a blur. Cloudy. Someone was on the other side of the door, banging, asking for help. He recognized the voice, Ana's voice, hence the reason why he ignored the black walls closing behind him, the wet, slippery floor that kept him from running faster and the feeling of having a knot in his throat, for a reason not acknowledged by him.

He kicked the door several times. He punched it, screaming her name.

The pain on his throat made him wonder if it was just a dream.

Then, without expecting, the door was opened and Ana was there. Her beautiful dark eyes turned grey, lifeless. But she was looking at him. Her mouth was moving but there were no words coming out. Wearing a white dress, she looked almost angelic if it wasn't for the painful look in her face.

Severus didn't think twice, he rushed towards her, wanting to hold her and take the pain away, but as soon as he reached her, as soon as his slender fingers grazed her warm skin, she crumbled like sand at his touch. She was disappearing and there was nothing he could do to stop it. So he watched in horror, his beloved falling apart, flaking away into ash.

He reached her again just the moment she was no longer visible and he finally heard her sweet whisper "I love you today, tomorrow and forever."

Then, he woke up.

Severus breathed profoundly, gradually, taking in the calming breaths he'd perfected after the war, when he had nightmares and panick attacks. Ana taught him how to calm down, how to see past the dreams, embrace the pain and learn how to live better one day at a time. What she never realized was that, no matter how many breathing exercises she had taught him or any other techniques to calm down, she was the only thing that ever worked on him. Her touch. Her voice. Her presence.

His heart slowed down and his breathing was more controlled.

That is until he reached for the side where Ana was lying and found nothing but empty space where there should have been a beautiful woman.

He sat up, his mind racing as he looked around. Happenings from the night before and Ana's behavior for the past weeks made him feel petrified. The dream was no coincidence and he felt it at the bottom of his heart. Something was wrong. Something was definitely and darkly wrong. The mattress next to him was cold and that fed his fear.

"Ana!" He called, hopping out of bed, scanning every corner of their house. A feeling of deja vu took over him. He had done the same thing when Voldemort had her killed. He shook those memories from his mind and sought to find her. "Ana!"

Severus' mind started racing, considering scenarios, and discarding them as quickly as they came.

She was not in the bathroom, she was not in the kitchen, nor the living room, and she was not outside. The area around the river was as quiet and calm as it was the night before. There was no living being around.

He returned to his home, his heart racing more than ever.

Pulling his hair back in despair, not knowing what else to do but call her name in despair.

Perhaps, she might have gone for a walk or a run, as she likes to do early in the morning. It was that thought that calmed him just a notch. However, once his eyes fell on the small dining table near the window, his heart skipped a beat.