The Celtic Knot

A/N: This is a Severus Snape/Minerva McGonagall story. While there will be some other characters they will have very minimal parts. The story starts towards the end of The Order of the Phoenix and takes it through till the end of the Deathly Hallows. The story is rated M (for a reason ;). I am having a blast writing it (I have quite a few chapters outlined already) so I hope that you take some pleasure in reading it.

Chapter 1 – Fire Starter

Minerva was strolling the corridors of Hogwarts on her weekly night shift when she smelt an awful burning smell coming from the corridor in a mostly unused wing of the castle. She quickened her pace and as she turned the corner and she saw flames teasing there way under the door jamb of the room of requirement. Before she had time to act the tapestry that hung in front of the room of requirement went up in a great blaze.

Minerva grabbed her wand and began to cast spells on the tapestry to control the blaze. She yelled "Fire" and "Help" a few times as she realized that the fire had gotten very large, very quickly and she might not be able to put it out herself.

Severus was walking a few corridors away when he heard her scream. He broke into a run and was on the scene with his wand out just as Minerva had extinguished what was left of the tapestry but now the fire had spread to the roof of the corridor. Severus redirected his spells to the ceiling but before he could make any headway they both heard a crack and in a blink of an eye one of the ceiling beams came crashing down. Severus and Minerva each took a step back but as the beam hit the stone floor it fractured into a few pieces and the edge of one large splintered piece hit Minerva in the stomach and she fell immediately to the ground.

She screamed in agony when it hit her and Severus rushed to her side. When he looked down at her he saw that the splintered end had essentially stabbed Minerva in the abdomen and she was beginning to bleed heavily from her stomach. As he knelt down beside her the sprinkler charm was activated as enough heat and smoke had now filled the corridor. Snape tried to focus on his bleeding colleague at his feet while the fire continued to rage and the sprinklers were pelleting him with water.

He placed his wand near her stomach and muttered "Diffindo." Minerva's dress split open to allow him to access the wound. She seemed to barely noticed that the front of her dress and bra were now open exposing her naked chest to her colleague as she was focused on trying to not pass out.

Severus was also immune to the fact that she was half naked before him, mostly because the skin that was exposed was covered by blood, a beam, and water making for a slurry mess. He was also too focused on the task at hand to take notice. He knew removing the edge of the beam was going to hurt like hell and possibly make a larger incision on its way out of her stomach then on the way in but he needed to act fast to stop the terrible blood loss she was experiencing.

He muttered a series of incantations that abruptly jerked the beam free. Minerva screamed again but as soon as it was clear of her wound he muttered another incantation and sealed the wound. She lay weak and panting. Severus used his wand to conjure a shield over her so that he could assay the damage. The water had washed a lot of the blood away and when he looked at the wound, what his eyes were drawn to instead caused him to freeze. He stared at her in utter astonishment. On his rule-following, do-gooder, stern colleague's chest was a large, intricate, Celtic knot tattoo that ran from her breast, down her sternum, and beyond.

Minerva was conscious enough to realize what he was staring at and even though Severus Snape usually kept his emotions rather close to the vest she could see the look of shock and wonderment on his face. She had kept her mark hidden for so long that often times she would forget it was even there. She tried to grab for the ends of her dress to cover herself but she was too weak and her dress was too torn. At that moment you could hear a bunch of footsteps rounding the corner. Minerva looked at Severus with a pleading look in her eyes. He understood immediately that this was not something she wanted to share so he took off his robes and covered her up with them. She tried to form words to say thank you but she was so light-headed that all she had the strength to do was press the palm of her hand to his cheek as a silent thank you. It was a brief but intimate gesture. Their eyes met and when Severus nodded his head in acknowledgement she let her hand drop.

A group of Professors lead by Doloros Umbridge, the current head master of Hogwarts, rounded the corner and made quick work of the fire. Madam Pomfrey went immediately to Snape and McGonagall's side. She made a move to reach for Snape's robes to see the damage but Severus stopped her saying "the wound is stable, I will bring her to the infirmary for you." Madame Pomfrey was always a little intimidated by Snape so she let him take charge of the situation. Minerva moaned as he slide a hand behind her back and another under her legs. He lifted her off the ground and began carrying her towards the infirmary.

Severus lowered her on a cot behind a privacy screen in the infirmary and as her body made contact with the bed she opened her eyes slowly. Severus just stared at her and it was unnerving. She wanted to stress to him the need to keep her secret but she wasn't exactly in a position to demand anything. Also, she knew Madam Pomfrey would now be made aware of her situation as well. She found the strength to lift a finger and place it over her lips in a gesture that said "Shh" to indicate that she wanted him to remain mute on the topic. He nodded his ascent and then got up to meet Madam Pomfrey as she entered the infirmary.

Snape grabbed Poppy's arm and dragged her to the corner away from any listening ears. "you must only examine the wound when you are alone" he said in a stern voice. "Of course" she muttered and tried to break free to attend to her friend. "I am serious, Poppy, for Minerva's sake please heed my warning"

She nodded her consent and quickly moved to Minerva's side. To Madam Pomfrey's surprise, Snape immediately exited the infirmary. Minerva's eyes were closed and she was about to pull the sheet down that covered her when a few other Professors entered the scene. "How is she, Poppy?" Flitwick asked.

Taking Severus's warning to heart she sent them all away letting them know she would update them all shortly but she and Minerva needed peace and quiet. When she was alone with Minerva she lifted the sheet and she immediately understood.

What she saw was a tattoo about two inches wide that ran the length of her torso. It that started at her left breast near her heart and undulated down the valley between her breasts, past her navel where it was interrupted by the three inch gash that was haphazardly sealed by Severus in the corridor. She could tell the mark ran past the incision but Minerva's clothes were still intact on her lower half thus obscuring the view. What she could see was beautiful. It was made up of tiny Celtic knots that intersected in a sensual way. She didn't have a chance to ponder who might have given that mark to Minerva when she heard Umbridge's footsteps and she quickly replaced the sheet and covered Minerva up with a blanket. Her questions and treatment would have to wait.

Severus made his way to his dungeons. Part of him wanted to investigate what dunderhead was responsible for the fire and expel the brat (he was hoping it was the Weasley twins) but most of his mind was occupied with the exquisite mark on Minerva's breast. What did it mean? Who put it there? When? Why?

He had been colleagues with Minerva for a decade and he considered her one of his closest acquaintances. Probably friends but Severus didn't dole that word around easily. He realized that in all those years, he still knew very little about her. He admired and respected her but that was based on the person she was now forgetting that she, like everyone else, had a past. A past she never openly discussed.

Hours later the Castle was still in a flurry about the fire. Umbridge was on the rampage and she had her inquisitor squad interviewing ever possible culprit or for anyone who had any knowledge about the incident. Severus was helping her in every possible way. He defended himself that he was doing it so that he could serve as a double agent between her and the staff, after all that is what he was good at. However, deep down he knew he was doing it for Minerva. He wanted the person responsible to pay. Unfortunately, he wasn't making any progress either. Umbridge was trying to pin everything on Hagrid and Snape knew that he was the least likely candidate. As the days dragged on there were plenty of other things to distract Umbridge. Between the stink bombs and the Niffler being released in her office, she had moved on from finding the fire starters.

Minerva was healing in the infirmary and Severus made a conscious decision to not visit her. Yes, he had a lot of questions but he knew the infirmary was not the time or the place. The side effect of the wait was that his questions on the origins of her tattoo started to obsess him.

When he laid his head on the pillow at night he tried to imagine what the tattoo looked like on her full naked body. He imagined a man tracing his wand up and down her body, over her breast, down her stomach, and beyond. He could feel his body reacting to the thought of her naked body. He felt drawn to her body, to her unknown story, to her past.

No one could ever replace the part of his heart and soul that was devoted to Lily but that still didn't prevent him from being attracted to other women. However, he found very few woman over the years that he was attracted too. Some would attract him physical and he had a few brief liaisons but no woman had attracted him mentally. Minerva was one of the few woman that came close to that but she was always strutting around in her high neck dresses and tight buns that he never took a moment to consider what lay beneath the robes. His mind spent the last few days focused solely on that he could no longer deny that he was very much attracted, both mentally and physically, to Minerva McGonagall.