My Secret Heart for BlackHoud

A man clothed in all black stands by the windowsill at midnight. He's anxious, obviously. For what? He moves from the window and back to his desk. He nervously fumbles with a vial of an unknown liquid. His mind, however, is very far off. In his minds eye, he sees himself, but not alone as he is now, but accompanied by another man. Long, platinum blonde hair falls down his back and on his broad shoulders like a seductive silk waterfall. In comparison of physical features, he is much lighter than his seemingly shadowy friend, the black clothed man. The man in all black has black hair that hangs...

Innocently, Elsbet steps out from behind Malfoy and goes to the man she loves most in all the world, wraps her arms around him and hugs him tightly. He looks down at her, grateful someone--Lupin--covered her with his jacket, and hugs her to him. He notices the Yew wand behind her ear and wants to ask about it, but she lifts her gaze to him and reaches up a delicate hand to caress his face. "Renich i lú i erui govannem?" she asks, and it takes him several seconds to realize what she's asking. Oh yes, he remembers vividly the day they met. "Nauthannen i ned ôl reniannen," he tells her, and...

She doesn't know where or how to begin, really, and she's not sure she really wants to do this; she's not accustomed to sharing like this. But she knows she has to, for her own peace of mind. "I wish we had a penseive," she says softly, "because I'm not sure I can talk this out." Malfoy offers her his hand and she takes it; he looks at Snape and tells him he has an idea. Snape takes her other hand and tells her to relax and think about what she wishes to share and only that. As she calls up those memories and holds them in the fore of her mind, and feels her lovers slide themselves into her...

Ten thousand words pass between them, yet none of them are spoken.

Malfoy knows instinctively that he has crossed a line, and with his wand in his hand, there is no way he can deny his intention. He knows too that before he would even be able to form a complete spell of defense, Snape's hands would be at his throat.

Those powerful hands...

...which are now clenched into fists. He knows, oh yes he knows, just what the younger wizard is capable of; he remembers with vivid clarity what agony Snape inflicted upon Rastaban Lestrange last summer, when Rastaban had been foolish enough to cross him. Malfoy...

Elsbet crawls on her hands and knees through the bushes, with absolutely no idea where she's going. Well, her heart knows. Her heart tells her to keep going, no matter how prickly the ground is, no matter how thirsty or hungry she is, or how tired she is. There is time for drinking and eating and sleeping and healing after she has done what she has to do. As she crawls through the leaf-litter and sharp rocks, she puts her right hand down hard on something sharp, and it cuts her, cuts her deep. She cries out and jerks back, knocking her stick out from behind her ear where she'd put it for safekeeping....