“Take it,” he commanded softly.
“Please, Severus, no…” she quietly begged him. She was still feeling a bit shaken after the way she had panicked earlier in the evening. Her stomach was churning, she knew she couldn’t stomach anything at the moment.
“Just take it, before you start drawing attention to yourself,” Snape told her sternly.
Morgan looked up to find Lucius Malfoy’s eyes on her. She quickly took the goblet from Severus’ hand, but didn’t attempt to drink any of its contents. Please, let this end quickly, I just want to go home. She clung desperately to Severus’ arm. As much as he terrified her and seemed to scorn her, he was a thousand times more caring and gentle than every other person in the room. Her grip on his arm tightened as she watched Lucius make his way toward them, several of his minions falling into step behind him.
“Severus, how delightful to see you again old friend. I’m glad to see that the joys of marriage have not kept you away from our little functions,” Lucius said smoothly as he let his eyes roam over Morgan.
“Of course, there is nothing more important to me than the rise of the dark lord, you know that Lucius” Snape replied just as smoothly. “I would never dream as allowing something as trivial as my personal life interfere with my service to our lord.”
“She’s rather young isn’t she…” Lucius ran a hand through Morgan’s hair, laughing softly at the way she tried to pull away from him, “and a Gryffindor…” he let his hand slide down farther to cup one of her breasts, “it makes me wonder what you were thinking. True, she is a fine little ornament, but surely her youth and the spirit that is so obviously lurking there in her eyes make her quite the handful. She must require a firm hand. ”
“She is, as you pointed out, very young,” Snape mused as he looked down at his wife, who had so quickly become the center of attention. He was well aware of how all the eyes in the room were now focused on them, “but that is more of a benefit than a hindrance.”
“Really?” Lucius looked skeptical as he allowed his hands to further inspect Morgan, “and why is that?”
Snape allowed a hint of a smirk to cross his face, “She is young enough that training her should not prove too difficult a task, but spirited enough that it will still be enough of a challenge to suit me.”
“It sounds as though it is a most pleasant task,” another death eater commented from the crowd.
Morgan was trying her hardest not to cry. Everyone was watching as Lucius continued to touch her. She swore she would never be able to erase the feel of his hands from her body. It only increased the feeling of nausea that she had been trying to suppress all evening. She took a small step closer to Severus, silently begging him to decide it was time to leave. She recoiled as Lucius’ hand moved below her waist.
“Obviously she hasn’t been trained well enough to know that is prudent to respect her betters,” Lucius spat as Morgan pulled away from him.
Snape shrugged, “I have not yet been able to break her completely, it is just a matter of time. She will be dealt with for her insubordination.”
“That would be most entertaining to see,” Lucius commented, a sinister smile falling into place.
Morgan felt her blood run cold. Would her husband acquiesce to Lucius’ desire and make a public display of punishing her for trying to avoid Lucius’ wandering hands?
Snape schooled his features, “I think perhaps I best take her home now to deal with her. As you have noticed, she still has to learn her place. I would hate for things to get… messy… and ruin your party Lucius.”
Morgan couldn’t hear the exchange between Lucius and her husband, the rushing in her ears had completely drowned it out and she felt as though her entire world was spinning. She was only vaguely aware of Severus’ arm around her waist as they flooed back to their quarters at Hogwarts.
Severus kept his arm firmly around Morgan’s waist as he walked her across the room and eased her down into a chair, “are you alright?” he asked as he looked her over, making sure Lucius hadn’t been to eager in his explorations.
“I’m…” however Morgan couldn’t finish whatever she had been planning on saying, she bolted instead for the bathroom as she retched.
Severus, not quite sure what to do, followed her, thinking that it was good that she had worn her hair up for the evening. “Here,” he knelt down next to his wife and conjured a glass of water which he tried to hand to her.
Morgan miserable shook her head no, desperately wanting to rinse her mouth, but afraid that if she moved at all she would be sick again.
“You don’t have to swallow it,” Severus said, as though he had read her mind, “but you’ll feel better if you rinse your mouth out.”
Morgan took the glass with trembling hands and did as he told her. She remained sitting on the tile floor for several minutes, not sure if she would be able to stand up without toppling right back over.
Severus reached out hesitantly, not sure how his touch would be received, to brush a curl off of Morgan’s forehead, “you’re warm,” he said, a frown falling into place, as his fingers brushed her face, “very warm.”
“I don’t feel well,” Morgan confessed.
Severus had to fight not to smirk, with the way you just lost your dinner I don’t doubt it. “How long have you been fighting this? And why didn’t you go see Poppy?”
“I don’t know… a few days… and we were busy moving into the rooms here the last couple of days, I didn’t want to bother Madam Pomphrey.”
Severus used all of his self control not to yell at her, he knew he wasn’t a patient man, but the last thing he wanted was to send his wife into tears. He had already done that