Nightmare
Disclaimer: JK Rowling owns everyone in this story,
except of the incubus.
Ratings: NC-17, slash, sexual interaction between a man
and a male demon, non-con
Pairing: Severus Snape/an incubus
Summary: fear, pride, lust, shame
Author's note: quotes are taken from the The Cure song
Lullaby. When the song came out in 1989 I was twelve and
my English was only rudimentary: guess that explains that
I used to think it was about a man-eating spider, until I
heard it again a few weeks ago
Nightmare
By Ratwoman
[email protected]
>>on candystripe legs Spiderman comes
softly through the shadow of the evening sun
stealing past the windows of the blissfully dead
looking for the victim shivering in bed<<
Severus woke up feeling as if he had not slept at all. A
glance at his watch told him that it was already past
eleven. He had gone to bed before midnight, he should be
fit by now. Maybe he had just slept too long.
Sitting up, he noticed that the sheets were sticky.
Looked like semen. He dimly remembered having erotic
dreams that night. Not really details, just skin, flesh,
touches...
The house elves would take care of the sheets.
Severus shuffled into the living room. He gratefully
noticed that there was a tray with his breakfast on the
table, brought by the houseelves. Severus sat down,
chewing without much appetite of his toast. His trunks
were still unpacked in the middle of the room where he
had dropped them after arriving yesterday.
He had not been eager to get the position of Potions
Master. He had hated Hogwarts as an adolescent, and he
doubted that it would be different now. But where else
could he go? Granted, he had been acquitted thanks to
Dumbledore's testimony, but there still was this stigma
of suspicion on him. After all, he had been caught with
Death Eaters, even had been a Death Eater some time.
Severus closed his eyes, trying not to think of those who
were in Azkaban now. Some of them had almost been friends
to him. The closest he had ever come to having friends.
He felt as if he had betrayed them all, like the traitor
he was. Sure, he had done what he knew was the right
thing, because this lunatic of a Dark Lord had to be
stopped, still, he felt guilt towards his friends, and at
the same time guilt towards his victims, guilt towards
Dumbledore.
Dumbledore had offered him a job at Hogwarts after his
trial, and it not only was the only job Snape could get,
he also saw it as his chance to redeem. Redeem for his
sins against mankind in the name of the Dark Lord, redeem
for his betrayal of his friends in the name of Albus
Dumbledore. He'd take care of the Slytherin children,
make sure that none of them crossed the line to the dark
side, do the same mistakes he had done. Though he had no
clue yet how to prevent that.
This evening the children would be arriving by train, and
tomorrow would be his first day at work.
***
In the afternoon a stuff meeting was scheduled. Severus
noticed the suspicious glances the other teachers cast at
him. Most of them had been his own teachers at school.
Professor McGonagall had not liked him then and didn't
like him now, scrutinising him coldly. Professor Flitwick
again and again gazed sceptically at him. Professor
Sprout did her best to hide her distrust, but she didn't
succeed completely. Only Filch seemed to be glad to see
him. Maybe he saw a kindred spirit in his dark, sarcastic
manner.
The evening came, the children arrived and the sorting of
the first years started. It seemed odd to watch it from
the staff's table. Child after child running to the stool
putting on the hat, full of excitement and hope. Some
looked satisfied when the hat announced Slytherin, some
resigned.
Snape yawned and wondered why he was so tired even though
he had slept long enough last night.
***
Severus shrieked up when the alarm clock shrilled.
Yawning and stretching, he noticed that his sheets were
sticky again. Two nights in a row? Odd, he was 25, no
hormone-driven teenager anymore!
He was still tired when he reached the Great Hall for
breakfast. Almost he would have walked towards the
Slytherin table instead of the staff table. Snape smirked
and sat down at _his_ chair. It still felt odd to be one
of the teachers.
Snape almost dozed off at breakfast. That was... weird,
he usually did not need that much sleep (and he had
definitively had enough). Then all of a sudden he
remembered a DADA lesson ten years ago.
//Mr. Black, I'm glad you find my lesson so amusing,//
Professor Dacks, then DADA Teacher had said to a giggling
Sirius Black, //but I can assure you that a succubus or
incubus is more dangerous than it sounds, as he not only
haunts his victim for ... sexual pleasure, he also
withdraws them energy.//
A succubus? No, just because he was tired and had had wet
dreams twice didn't necessarily mean... The best way to
find out would be to stay awake that night.
***
>>searching out fear in the gathering gloom
and suddenly! a movement in the corner of the room!
and there is nothing I can do when I realise with fright
that the Spiderman is having me for dinner tonight<<
Severus was wide awake after the fourth cup of coffee
this evening. His first day as a teacher had been a
disaster; the kids didn't want to respect someone who was
only ten years older than them. He would have to find a
solution to that problem.
But first to his other problem.
It was past twelve now, Snape had turned off the lights
and lay in bed, wide awake.
His quarters were in the dungeon, there was only little
light in here from a small, barred window at the upper
edge of the wall. The shadows seemed to become alive,
taking on shapes creeping towards his bed. Severus
breathed in deeply, trying to calm down. There was
nothing to fear, nothing. He was just being hysterical,
taking tiredness and wet dreams as a sign for a succubus!
Severus let out a strangled noise when he felt a weight
lowering down on his bed. Sitting up, he could clearly
see in the silver stream of the moonlight the shape of a
man kneeling on his bedside.
If he wasn't mistaken, the male succubi were called
incubi. Strange, that his mind was occupied with such
unimportant details now.
The creature turned his head and looked at him, long
bluish hair framing a symmetrical face, eyes shining
with a sinister light. He seemed transparent and solid at
the same time.
He smiled, a superior smile, not a friendly one. Severus
was like mesmerised when the demon raised a pale, slender
hand and stroked his cheek. His touch felt strange,
lighter than a human's touch, somewhat unreal. The
incubus's hand moved down, his fingertips lightly
touching Snape's throat, then further down to open the
buttons of his pajamas.
"Stop!" Snape hissed, pulling himself out of the morbid
fascination that had caught him for a moment. He tried to
slap the demon's hand away, but his wrist was caught in a
surprisingly firm grip.
The incubus smirked at Snape's gasp of pain. Without
loosening the grasp on his wrist, he continued
unbuttoning Severus's shirt. Severus writhed and tried to
free himself, but the vice-like grip felt as if his bones
would break any second. Finally, Snape made a fist with
his left and hit the demon right into the face.
It passed right through his assaulter's head. The incubus
smirked at him, pulled off his opened shirt and pushed
him back down onto the sheets. Obviously he could choose
at will whether he wanted to be solid or transparent.
Unshed tears were burning in Severus's eyes. How could he
fight something he couldn't even hit?
Severus felt the creatures fingers moving lightly across
his chest. This couldn't be happening, he was only having
a nightmare! Then he giggled at the irony.
Etymologically, Night Mare was another term for demons
that haunted people in the sleep.
The creature lay down on him, his tongue licking a trail
down his chest beginning from the shoulder. Severus tried
to fight, writhing and struggling to get out from under
the demon, but suddenly the incubus seemed to weigh
a ton, his weight pressing down on him, almost crushing
him.
Severus heard himself uttering a whimper as his movements
stilled. The weight on him lifted slightly and the
incubus went on with his task, nibbling at one of his
nipples, then moved further down, lapping his stomach
with a wet tongue, pushing down his pajamas pants and
tugging with his teeth at his pubic hair.
Severus hands clawed into the sheets as the demon
swallowed his cock. It was different from any blowjob he
had ever experienced. The incubus greedily sucked in his
prick like a black hole, straining all the nerves in his
sensitive organ, pulling him to an erection within
seconds. Severus screamed and instinctively pushed up his
hips to meet the mouth, but the demon withdrew and sat
up, kneeling between his thighs.
The demon grabbed his already raised hips, pushed them up
a bit more and impaled his prick on Snape's arse.
Snape knew, being fucked dry should hurt like hell, but
it didn't. The incubus glided in and out as if naturally,
hitting his prostrate with each thrust, sending sparks of
fire through Snape's body.
A hand started moving on his cock and Severus came with a
scream of ecstasy and shame. The incubus came briefly
afterwards, his semen dispersing into Snape's body
feeling strangely cold.
***
The alarm-clock forcefully pulled Severus out of the
nervous sleep he had fallen into. The young teacher
shivered at the memory of the horrors of last night. The
incubus had not been satisfied with taking him once, or
twice. Severus had passed out the third time he'd been
ridden.
Feeling the need to clean himself, Severus shuffled to
the bathroom, taking a long, hot shower.
***
Severus was late for breakfast, had hardly time to drink
his coffee and eat his croissant before he had to teach
his first class this morning. He had to teach another
class before lunch and one more in the afternoon; between
he'd have enough time to do researches in the library on
incubi.
His first class were fourth year Slytherins and
Gryffindors. Severus wondered why on Earth the Arch-
rivals were always taught together; some Slytherins and
Gryffindors were shouting at each other, and they did not
even stop when Severus entered the classroom.
Maybe they were just testing how far they could go with
the new teacher; Severus strode past the students to his
desk and looked sharply at the rivals, who ignored him.
After a few seconds he yelled: "FIFTY POINTS OFF BOTH
GRYFFINDOR AND SLYTHERIN!"
The children looked surprised and sat down quietly. Snape
let his most scrutinising gaze travel over the students,
then started the lesson by taking the register. He had a
good memory, his mind automatically linked the names with
the faces; by the end of the lesson he would already have
surprised them by exactly remembering their names.
"You are here to learn the subtle science and exact art
of potion-making," he announced then. He had given the
same welcoming speech in his classes the day before; he
had carefully prepared it over last week. "As there is
little foolish wand-waving here, many of you will hardly
believe this is magic. I don't expect you will really
understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron
with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids
that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind,
ensnaring the senses... I can teach you how to bottle
fame, brew glory, even stopper death..." Severus was well
aware how seductive his voice was and that many students
listened like mesmerised. However, to his frustration
their attention faded during the lesson. Maybe they
really preferred foolish wand-waving.
His second class this morning, second year Ravenclaws and
Hufflepuffs, was similar; they first tested how far they
could provoke him, but due to his tiredness and bad mood
resulting from last nights... events, he was generous in
giving out detentions. That, however, sufficed to cower
them thoroughly.
Afterwards, Snape went straight towards the library, to
the section of the DADA books. With a huge staple he went
to his office, sat down at his desk and opened the
"Encyclopaedia of demons":
//Incubi: a male demon, who haunts women in their beds to
have sexual intercourse (compare succubus)//
Snape frowned and looked under succubus:
//Succubus: a female demon, who haunts men in their beds
for sexual intercourse//
Obviously he had attracted the one gay incubus! Snape
browsed back to the entry to incubus
//Latin, incubare: to lie on top. Incubi are very
dangerous demons as they withdraw energy from their
victims which makes them fade away slowly.//
So far, Snape did not feel much more than the normal
tiredness of sleepless nights.
//The exorcism of incubi is very difficult, as it needs
at least three powerful wizards// Snape frowned. He did
not want to ask anyone for help. //and a complicated
ritual. Descriptions of the exorcism ritual can be found
in...//
Snape sighed and lay the book aside. Three powerful
wizards? Whom could he ask? He didn't trust any of the
staff members; Dumbledore, to a certain extent, but...
Would they even want to help the distrusted ex-Death-
Eater?
Snape opened the next book and searched for a description
for the exorcism ritual. The victim had to lie as a bait
in the bed, a circle, that was open to intruders but
didn't let anyone out, had to be cast around it. Inside
the circle the wizards had to form a triangle, catch the
incubus with a holding charm and hex him into another
dimension.
All the other books described the same method. Was there
some way to do it alone? Well, he couldn't form a
triangle, but he could try to use the holding charm and
the hex that would throw the incubus into another
dimension.
***
Snape forgot lunch, but a house-elf brought him food. His
afternoon class was similarly easily cowered. Obviously,
it sufficed to be worried and in a bad mood to get the
respect he wanted.
Severus ate his dinner with the staff at the staff table.
Several times he thought about mentioning that he might
need help because his quarters were haunted, but he
couldn't get it over with. It was as if his throat was
tied up and no sound could escape.
Also this night Severus kept himself awake with coffee,
learning the spells he needed for the exorcism.
***
>>quietly he laughs and shaking his head
creeps closer now closer to the foot of the bed
and softer than shadow and quicker than flies
his arms are all around me and his tongue in my eyes
"Be still be calm be quiet now my precious boy
don't struggle like that or I will only love you more
it's much too late to get away or turn on the light
the spiderman is having you for dinner tonight"<<
Snape had cast said circle around his bed and lay awake
on his back, wand at hand. Again, the shadows seemed to
become alive, to surround him, turn on him. Then he felt
the familiar weight on the foot of his bed. Snape sat up,
pointing his wand at the pale man-shaped demon and
called: "FRIGOTE!"
For a second the incubus didn't move, and Severus thought
his spell to catch the demon had worked out, but then he
started chuckling.
With despair in his voice Snape repeated the spell, but
the incubus just shook it off and in a second was on top
of Severus, beating his wand out of his hand. Severus
watched it with despair flying through the room.
The demon grasped his wrists and pushed them onto the
sheets while straddling his hips.
"Stop fighting me!" the incubus hissed. Severus had not
even known that he was able to speak. "You can't win."
the incubus added. "You will only make it unnecessarily
hard for yourself."
Then the incubus leaned down and pressed his lips on
Snape's, forcing his mouth open with his tongue. Severus
screamed inwardly. This didn't feel like a human's kiss,
this didn't feel like a kiss at all. It felt as if all
his thoughts, memories and feelings were sucked out
through his mouth, his essence, his soul. He could only
watch when the demon sat up, licking his lips. He felt...
nothing, emptiness, a void.
Then the incubus leant down and kissed him again. This
time, he gave him his soul back, his life, his memories,
his feelings.
Severus stared in fright up at the incubus. "Don't do
that again." he whispered.
"If you behave." the incubus answered.
Severus nodded his head, close to tears. There was
nothing he could do; at least not alone.
With one movement, the incubus ripped off his pajamas
shirt, then removed his pants, stroking the inside of his
thighs while doing so. Severus passively let it happen.
Better the demon ravished his body than robbed his soul.
"I can be whoever you want to." The incubus whispered
seductively. Resignedly, Snape looked at him and saw him
changing shape. His eyes grew larger, his hair turned to
a beautiful mane of black... Sirius Black. The incubus in
Sirius shape lied down to cover Severus, looking down at
him. "Beautiful, strong Sirius." he whispered. "The real
one never wanted you, only made fun of you. He is rotting
in Azkaban now, but you can have him every night."
Severus whimpered as the incubus/Sirius was kissing his
throat, his strong hands caressing his sides. Without
knowing what he was doing, Severus moved his hands along
the strong back, feeling the muscles under the smooth
skin. Back at school, Sirius had known that Severus had
felt attracted to him, but had used that knowledge to
publicly ridicule him by luring him with false promises
to a secret place at the lake where the all the
Gryffindors of his year where hiding behind bushes to
laugh at his folly. That had been the beginning of their
enmity.
Again, the incubus raised his head, but this time he had
the face of Remus Lupin. "Or do you prefer the gentle
werewolf?" The incubus/Remus licked a wet trace down
Severus chest. His interest in Lupin had started half a
year after being humiliated by Sirius; this time, Severus
had not even dared to tell Remus about his feelings,
being afraid of being hurt again.
The young teacher moaned in desire and confusion, passing
his hand through the demon's hair; but it was much
shorter than Remus Lupin's hair. Snape raised his head
and looked at the incubus who was lapping the sensitive
skin of his stomach now. The incubus gazed up at him with
James Potter's face.
"So, you didn't manage to save James Potter? If you want
to, I can make you pay for it each night." he whispered
and clawed his fingers painfully into Snape's side.
Snape gasped and tried to move away, but the incubus
moved quickly to press him down onto the sheets, wrists
in a firm grip. Severus saw silverblonde hair falling
into his face.
"Or if you want to continue your relationship with
Lucius, I can be that, too." he whispered. Severus'
affair with Lucius had been short, destructive, and very
intense. When Narcissa's jealousy had stopped their
relationship, Snape had not known whether to be relieved
or sad about that.
A movement of his head and the incubus caressed Severus'
face and neck with his silverblonde hair like Lucius had
done so often. He even smelled like Lucius.
Severus raised his hand to pass his fingers through the
incubus/Lucius' soft long hair. It felt like silk.
Severus sighed and hugged his lover close while he felt
him move his lips along his shoulder, forgetting for a
moment whom he was with.
Then the demon whispered: "I can be whatever you want me
to be. Your predecessor was very fond of me; we agreed
that I come to him in the shape of his lost love."
Suddenly Severus remembered that Dumbledore had mentioned
that the former Potions Master had died of a mysterious
sickness, getting thinner and paler over months.
Severus panicked and struggled to get away. A blow in the
face, burning pain on his cheek stopped his attempt.
"I told you to behave!" the incubus with Lucius' face
said. "Unless, you want me to punish you, then you could
just ask for it. I'm flexible." the incubus added and
changed into James Potter.
Snape let out a whine and gave up. For now. Tomorrow he'd
ask for help. Promise.
***
>>and I feel like I'm being eaten
by a thousand million shivering furry holes
and I know that in the morning
I will wake up in the shivering cold
and the spiderman is always hungry<<
***
"You look tired, Severus," Dumbledore said during
breakfast, "do the students give you a hard time?"
"I'm fine!" Severus hissed harsher than intended.
"He is rather giving the students a hard time." Mc
Gonagall said pointedly. "Some Gryffindors complained to
me that he's already giving detentions in the first
week."
Severus glared grimly at her. As if she had never given
detentions during the term's first week.
No, frustrating as the children's disinterest in potions
was, it was not them who were giving him a hard time.
Severus tried not to think of last night, but the
memories were pushing back every single second. The
incubus had been changing shape all night, taking him in
missionary position in Lucius Malfoy's form, turning him
around on all four and riding him in Sirius Black's body.
Arousing him with touches as Remus Lupin and taking him
again as James Potter.
Severus felt as if he really had been having sex with
four men. And he felt... dirtied.
Severus looked around the table. Maybe this was the right
moment to ask for help. A knot of fear tightened in his
stomach. What would they think if they knew... Maybe it
was better if Severus told Dumbledore his problem alone
in his office, later that day.
***
In the early evening Severus stood unmoving in front of
the Gargoyle that was the entrance to Dumbledore's
office. The problem was not that he did not know the
password - after all, he was one of the staff members
now, he was informed on it. But for some reason he did
not find the courage to form the word sugar-cane.
Dumbledore had just helped him out of the biggest trouble
of his life, had recruited him as a spy when he had
realised how stupid he had been to follow Voldemort, had
even given him that job here when no one else would
employ him. Could he #again# ask for his help? Did he
want to be indebted even more to him?
But who else could he ask? He did not know half of the
staff members, and the other half didn't trust him any
further than they could throw him, and vice versa.
Still undecided, Severus heard the noises of footsteps
nearing. As if caught at doing something forbidden,
Severus turned around and run into the opposite
direction.
***
Severus spent the rest of the evening cursing himself for
his cowardice and dreading the night. Sooner or later his
demon lover would come again - in a twofold sense.
And there was nothing he could do except roll over and
offer his ass.
Severus tried to distract his mind from the unavoidable
by reading a book until he fell asleep on the couch.
He was waken from his unquiet sleep by the feeling of
lips kissing his neck, hands on his skin. Severus opened
his eyes to see that the incubus, lying on top of him,
had already opened his robes while Severus had been
asleep. Severus groaned as the incubus' fingers moved
down over his stomach to encircle his cock.
"Aren't you confined to the bedroom?" he asked.
"No." The demon answered, his lips curled in a mocking
smile. "You can't escape me by sleeping on the couch."
Severus gasped as the demon's fingers played lightly over
the sensitive skin of his cock, sending jolts of fire up
his spine.
"I hate you." Snape hissed.
"Do you?" the incubus replied, licking his lips. "I think
you're exquisite." In an almost inaudible whisper he
added: "I hope you'll last longer than the others."
The demon's fingers closed around Snape's prick in a
strong grip and he started pumping hard and fast.
Gasping, Severus tried hard not to thrust up his hips to
meet the demon's hand, but in vain.
To his shame he came after a short while, spilling his
semen all over his stomach. Severus saw the demon's eyes
lighten up, before he knelt between his legs and bent to
lick off the cum on his belly. Severus tried to ignore
the tickling sensations of a tongue licking in sensuous
strokes over his abdomen. Finally the incubus sat up,
looking as satisfied as a cat after stealing the cream.
"So, who do you want me to be when I take you?" he asked.
"Go to hell!" Severus hissed.
"I don't think so." the incubus said and rolled him onto
his stomach.
Severus winced in slight pain as fingernails raked down
his back, tried to ignore the fingers kneading his
buttocks. He did not even want to know whose shape the
demon had taken, so he just stared at the pillow as the
he was mounted and ridden.
***
Severus woke up when someone knocked repeatedly at his
door. A glance at his watch told him that it was already
noon. Damn, he had missed his classes!
Severus slipped into his bathrobe and opened the door.
Albus Dumbledore was standing in front of it, looking
worried. "Is everything all right, Severus?"
Severus bit back the desperate tears burning in his eyes.
"No," he said, then stepped aside to let Dumbledore in.
While the old wizard looked worriedly at the messy living
room, Severus quickly walked past him and picked up the
Encyclopaedia of Demons.
"You said, the former Potions Master died of a mysterious
sickness?" Severus asked, forcefully controlling his
voice.
"Yes," Dumbledore said, looking at Severus in a scrutinising
way. "Over the months he grew paler and thinner, but he did
not want to consult a mediwitch."
Severus nodded his head and gave Dumbledore the book,
opened at the entry to Incubus. "I found the cause."
Dumbledore's eyes grew wide as he read it. "When did you
find out?"
"A few days ago." Severus replied.
"Why did you not go straight to me?" Dumbledore asked.
Why? Because he did not trust anyone. Because he was too
proud to ask for help. Instead of answering thus, Severus
just shrugged his shoulders.
Dumbledore sighed. "I'm going to ask Minerva and Thor to
assist us in banishing the incubus." Thor McClohr was the
new DADA teacher, not much older than Severus. "By
tomorrow you'll be free of him."
***
"An Incubus!" Professor McClohr called in anticipation.
"That's so exciting, I never exorcised an incubus
before!"
McGonagall, Dumbledore and Snape looked sceptically at
the young DADA teacher.
"But you do know how to banish an incubus?" Dumbledore
asked.
"Yes, yes, theoretically I know it all." Thor McClohr
said, cleaning his classes and smiling brightly. "But
unfortunately at university they did not have an incubus
to practise on..."
Smiling at Severus, he asked: "How did you find out that
there was an incubus?"
"I stayed awake." Severus replied evasively.
"And what happened then?" Thor asked eagerly.
Severus felt the sudden urge to strangle him.
"What do you think usually happens when an incubus haunts
people?" McGonagall replied sharply on his part.
"Well, I think they usually..." Thor stopped, obviously
noticing Severus' furious and Minerva's warning gaze.
Snape sighed and rolled his eyes. If Thor was always
chattering away like that, then soon the whole school
would know about his troubles with an incubus.
***
Hours later, Severus was lying in his bed, waiting. The
three other wizards had cast a circle and were now
standing in a triangle around his bed, Minerva on his
right, Albus at the foot of the bed, and Thor at his
left. Before, they had taken an invisibility potion, so
that the demon would not notice that he was not alone.
Soon he felt the familiar weight pressing down onto the
sheets, when the incubus crawled onto the bed, quickly
moving onto him.
"FRIGOTE!" the three wizards called. The potions effect
faded as soon as a spell was cast, but it anyway was not
needed anymore.
The incubus screamed in a shrill voice as three greenish
lights hit and held him. Severus was a bit worried that
Thor might not be strong enough to cast a good spell, but
obviously he was more than just theoretical knowledge: no
matter how much the incubus struggled against the green
light holding him, he couldn't free himself.
Then the three wizards started to chant in unison:
"Daemon nocturnus
Fuge hic loco
Obite infernam
Numquam redite"
They repeated the chant again and again while above the
bed a whirl opened in the air that would transport the
demon into another dimension.
Severus watched with fascination as the wizards lifted
the incubus closer and closer to the whirl, still
chanting.
"Please!" the incubus called with a desperate face and
stretched his hand towards Severus. "Save me!" the
incubus begged.
Severus grinned. No way he would save the demon that had
forcefully taken him each night and was feeding from his
life energy.
The incubus' face changed, his hair lightened up to a
silverblonde. "PLEASE!" he pleaded with Lucius' face.
Severus' grin faded as he had to remind himself that this
was not Lucius Malfoy, not his ex-lover, but an incubus.
Then the long silver hair grew black and shrunk to short
messy curls. His face turned thinner, his eyes brown:
"Save me!" James Potter called. "I saved your life, now
you have to save mine!"
Instinctively, Severus raised his hand to reach the
incubus, but received a hard blow into his face from his
right side.
Severus gazed in consternation at Minerva McGonagall, who
had slapped him with her left while with her right hand
she was still pointing her wand at the incubus. Incubus,
of course. Severus buried his head between his knees so
that he did not have to see whose shape the incubus would
take while pleading him to save him.
He heard him begging a few minutes longer, felt his hair
being tangled by a strong wind, then a sucking sound,
then silence.
Severus looked up. The three wizards were standing around
his bed, with dishevelled hair and exhausted faces. Thor
was wiping the sweat off his face. "That was...
difficult." he said.
"Are you alright, dear?" McGonagall asked in a mild
voice.
Severus just now noticed that tears were running down his
cheeks. Embarrassed he wiped them off; he never cried,
not even when he was alone. But more tears seemed to well
up in him like in an overflowing cask, constricting his
throat and pushing to the surface.
"It's alright, Severus," McGonagall said, "let it go."
As if her words had broken some barriers, Severus started
weeping quietly, tears after tears washing out of him.
***
Dumbledore had asked, or actually ordered, Severus to
take a few days off. The morning Severus would take off
his classes again, he looked around in the Great Hall,
waiting for signs that Thor McClohr had been talking
about his liaison with the incubus. But no one looked
oddly at him or talked behind his back. Maybe, Thor
McClohr had against all odds kept his mouth shut.
Minerva was rather friendly, she actually smiled at
Severus and tried to engage him into Smalltalk.
Severus reluctantly smiled back. Maybe, after all, there
were some people he could trust.
***
Finis