There are times in life when passion surpasses one's dread, yet the stronger the love grows, the greater the fear of losing it becomes. Some would say that love is the most powerful emotion ever felt, hindering our senses and leaving space for the heart to speak - the mind long suppressed by the thrilling sensation of a loved one's touch. Nonetheless, such beautiful magic between two souls can only come with challenges that they need to surpass, braving the impossible for the simplest of embrace.

Severus Snape had never thought that he will ever come across love, jump unconsciously inside its interminable maze of wonders and become smitten by the intoxicating sensation of feeling cherished.

Since his mother's death, he had grown into a solitary man, finding solace in silence and comfort in his own presence. Not long after accepting his fate and his place in this life, he had met a beautiful red-head girl, weeping beside an impressive old tree. She had become his hope for a better future, yet life's twisted turns shifted it into one of a soldier of darkness. The resentment and terror towards the light had billowed inside his wounded heart, his love for the cold and eerie sensation of the night turning him into the well-known dungeon bat.

He owned this name, embraced it with his long and magnetising walks down the hallways of Hogwarts - his endless black cloak swinging beside him, like a shadow - while his face braced the sharpest of scowls. What soon became the potion master quickly turned into the masquerade prince. He might go under the half-blood prince, yet deep down he knew that the dejected face and piercing black eyes hid a brooding yet tender man, whose life's decisions condemned him into a life of misery and loss.

Like a blind bat, he travelled through the years, batting his long ripped wings in the hope that he will find a branch to rest upon. Years passed and gloom took over him, chilling his blood and searing his heart, yet when he less expected it, his feeble eyes were blinded by the most powerful of lights. Before he knew it, he was battling against the strongest of winds, trying to go back to the darkness he once called home. Yet the blows were strong, swinging him into the unknown he promptly knew he couldn't live without.

Hermione.

The effect she had on him was immediate, frightful, yet empowering. He long believed that what mattered to him the most was living through the years - following orders - in the hope that one day he could recluse himself into his secluded home in Spinner's end. However, the unexpected as expected stroke right through his heart and awoke the man that hid - like a frightened child - waiting to be loved. She had held her hand to him, beckoning him into a life of love and desire, and although he had been horrified of the undiscovered, the taste of life had been stronger than power.

He could feel his own body responding to her trembling hands circling his, pulling her even closer to his chest while his face hid in the nape of her neck. The smell of lavender reached his nostrils, projecting him in spring - blooming flowers and rays of sun caressing his pale skin while he walked barefooted in an endless field of peace and calmness. Sighing in content, Severus kissed her shoulder before slowly turning his witch around, his loving eyes boring into hers.

"You are beautiful," was all he managed to say as her amber orbs shimmered with the remainder of tears, "so bloody beautiful."

His lips crushed against her hungrily, battling into a frenzied dance of amour and endless affection. Leaning on her tiptoes, Hermione circled one hand around his neck - holding tightly onto the love of her life - while her other hand tenderly rested on his cheek. Chest to chest, both could feel their heart skip beats until they pounded at the same rhythm, as one. The feeling of security and protection overwhelmed them. Their magic surged through their blood up to their skin, before merging into the other by the touch, forever entangled in an unstoppable and unmeasurable love. If soulmates existed, they knew deep down they had found their match and were willing to search heaven and earth until those that wish ill upon them are unearthed and eliminated.

Giggling at the sloppy kisses he was peppering all over her face, Hermione tried to free herself from his iron grasp, yet his response was immediate. Growling like a wounded feline, Severus leaned against her forehead, pouting his lips and through hooded eyes mumbled, "who is he?"

Hermione bit her lip trying to hold a chuckle - knowing all too well how sensitive he was when it came to someone laughing at him - and answered, "I don't know what you're talking about."

Nudging playfully her head - reminding her of Crookshank when she refused to give him an extra treat - Hermione tickled his side trying to lighten up the mood, yet it only made him madder.

"You are avoiding my question, trying to distract me with those delectable fingers that should only function for my own, and only for my own and pleasure."

Her lip had swelled with the increasing pressure from her teeth, causing her to moan in displeasure. "Severus, my love, the only man in my life is you and you only. I promise I won't go anywhere, even when you wish for me to vacant your personal space, my insufferable presence would be right there, beside you, until death does us part."

Gasping at her words, Severus marvelled at how impactful such little words had on him. He always needed longer phrases and a broader selection of words to express his sentiments, yet with only a few, Hermione could reassure him and excite his heart like a children's spirit on Christmas morning.

"Good witch," he grumbled teasingly, lowering his hands and resting them on her bottom, squeezing and fondling it at his liking, "I quite like dominating you like this, in the corridors, risking exposure from prying teenage eyes. Now tell me, before I lost myself in your presence, my majesty, why did your request my presence?"

His baritone voice and the twinkle of mischief in his eyes only added to his charm. Hermione smiled, he really sounded and looked like a prince charming - git and with a superiority complex - but charming.

"Well my humble servant," her chest wavered - containing her giggling at the contorted face he had given her at the mention of his 'status', "last night while trying to await Morpheus to sweep me off my feet and into the dream world I was kept awake by two curious lights in the Forbidden Forest."

Noticing the changes in his face, Hermione dropped the play and continued, "I managed to eavesdrop on their conversation and Sev, it's not good. At first, I thought they were death eaters circling the perimeter to plot Dumbledore's death, but then I realised their focus was on someone else. It was a male and female voice. The female was frightened, defiant even and the man seemed to have it all planned out. He said 'she isn't dead yet and he's fighting it' talking about some nonsense about dark magic protecting the man's soul or whatnot."

"Death eaters you said?"

"That's the thing," she continued, pulling him into an empty classroom not far from where they stood, locking and charming the door, "when he referred to Voldemort, he was crude." Scratching her head to remember the words vividly, she repeated, "he said, 'once I can hang both their heads beside our lovely Riddle will I be satisfied with your work.' That doesn't sound 'death eater', baboon following a noseless self-proclaimed Dark Lord to me."

Noticing her mistake, Hermione added shyly, "of course you are an exception love, you look nothing like a baboon, on the contrary, your butt cheeks are perfectly symmetrical to your body and your pale colour is harmonious throughout your...," scowling at herself for rambling in an uncomfortable situation, she stopped in her track, letting her words trail off into the void while waiting for the now expressionless man to show signs of life.

"In other words, you heard from your room, in the castle, a man and a woman talking in the Forbidden Forest, plotting about the death of another man and woman plus the Dark Lord?" His voice was dubious, his brows furrowed and his lips twitching aggressively as if suppressing something.

"He revealed quite a lot, but that's the most important yes," she replied, "the woman must be working in Hogwarts to allow him entry, she said something about setting herself free from a demon and granting him access to the castle's ground."

Walking past her, his strides long and aggressive, Severus reached the handle of the door while his other hand waved his wand around, lifting the locking and silencing charm. "Anything else?"

"Yes actually, he said something about eternity and mentioned a family heirloom he gave her. The voice sounded particularly familiar, but they were too far away for me to see their faces." She openly admitted, not realising what she had stirred within her lover.

"Yet with such distance, you still managed to cast the darkest and hardest spell in existence, long questioned for its efficiency - as no one managed to cast it - other than, of course, the Devil himself following the battle between good and evil long before humans and wizards roamed earth!"