This is my first Snape story so I would appreciate any input. As you can imagine Snape and any of the HP characters do not belong to me, but Kio does. This is rated R in case future chapters get too hot to handle for normal PG. So enjoy and don't forget to review, because if you like it, then I'll write more. Special thanks to Morning Fey for inspiring me and encouraging me!
Kionora Verales stood in front of Gringotts Wizarding Bank, her moneybag hanging from the sash tied around her robes. She would begin working at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in a few days. She was to be the new Muggle Studies professor due to having extensive knowledge of Muggles and their practices, for her own family was half Muggle and she had worked in Muggle Relations back home in Spain. This was not her first time in London. She had come here as a young girl to work at the British Ministry as a paper-pusher for the Muggle Relations Department and to improve on her English. She had met with her mother's old friend, Minerva McGonagall, Deputy Headmistress, and Transfiguration Professor at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry in Scotland. Minerva had helped her find a place to live while she had been studying here, and now, thankfully to her and Professor Dumbledore, her associate, she had a job at the prestigious school. After working at the Ministry she had studied at a Muggle university majoring in teaching and taking minors in psychology, astronomy, communications, and history. She wanted to be a well-rounded student as well as a well-rounded professor. She would leave for Hogwarts on the Express in a few days. Right now, however she wondered what to do. She had just taken some more money from her new vault as she had to transfer all her funds from the Gringotts in Spain, and she was a bit undecided as to where to go next. "Maybe some ice cream, or perhaps go and get those new robes I was thinking about," she thought to herself as she started descending the steps of the bank. She had her head down as she walked thoughtfully, skillfully weaving through the shoppers, when someone bumped into her from the right side, sending her stumbling onto the cobblestones.
"Excuse me!" she looked up angrily as she took in the black robes, greasy hair, hawk nose and dark, piercing eyes of the man who slammed into her and she gasped, eyes widening and she spoke the name of a man she hadn't spoken in seventeen years, "Severus Snape." He was a man she hoped not to see, nor hear from ever again, not after what had transpired between them, not after what was said and what was done. He looked down at her, seemingly with no recognition, but then again she hadn't expected any, and his voice was a bit shaky when he held out his hand to help her up.
"Excuse me. Let me help you up, madam," his eyes looking about as he spoke to her. She ignored his hand and stood up, brushing off her robes. She glared at him, and, without a by your leave, headed off to Madam Malkin's Robes for All Occasions.
Severus watched her go off. Rather than that awful display he had wanted to take her into his arms and ask her forgiveness. Instead he shrugged her off as another stranger, knowing that the Dark Lord's spies were everywhere and that he could not show any kind of weakness. He had been in Knockturn Alley, buying some hard-to-find ingredients for his NEWT Potions classes at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. These ingredients are not for inexperienced handlers, which is why they were not for the normal bunch of dungbrains he had as students, but for a more gifted group. He shook his head, wondering what she was doing back in London. The last he had heard she was in Spain, working for their Ministry of Magic. He had given up trying to contact her to apologize for his past mistakes, and for wishing to make relations better between the two of them. "I never should have let her go, but there was no way that she would be safe," he thought to himself as he watched her retreating form. He shook his head and headed into the Leaky Cauldron, ordering a simple gin and tonic as he sat down, remembering this woman, this lost love….
He had met her when she was interning at the Ministry of Magic in 1982, practicing her English, and he had fallen for her at first sight. Her olive-colored skin, and large, clear green eyes, a sharp contrast to his palor and dark beetle eyes. He had seen her eating outside Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor, her nose in a book called Obras de Miguel Cervantes Saavedra. He didn't know what it meant. All he knew was that he needed to meet her. He walked over to Fortescue's and took a seat at a table nearby, his greasy hair falling over his eyes and he pushed it back impatiently, watching her from behind the menu. He ordered a scoop of ice cream, not really paying much attention to the flavor, only watching the beautiful girl before him. She read silently, her eyes moving over the pages as her hot fudge sundae was forgotten and pooled into a thick, congealed soup in its bowl. He smirked as he noticed this, and taking a large breath for courage, he called over to her,
"Excuse me, miss. Your ice cream is melting." She raised her glorious green eyes in his direction They were large, luminous, framed by long, dark eyelashes, her thinly arched, graceful eyebrows raising in confusion as she looked first at him, then at the bowl and she let out a golden peal of laughter. "Yes, I guess it is," she spoke in a husky, slightly accented voice, "gracias." She smiled at him and he thought his heart would burst from his chest. He smiled back a bit crookedly, not used to actually smiling to anyone, and thanked Fortescue as he placed his dish of mint macadamia chocolate chip on the table before him, before looking back at her. She smiled and with a slight swish of her royal blue robes, stood, closed her book and made her way over to his table.
Hello. My name is Kionora Verales." She held out a small, olive-colored, slender-fingered hand to him for shaking. A wave of chivalry swept over him and, instead of merely shaking it, he stood, took her hand, and kissed the back of it.
"Severus Snape, it is nice to make your acquaintance," he replied softly before letting her hand go and sitting back down. She smiled at him, then looked at her watch and gasped,
"Oh my goodness, I need to get back to work! It was very nice to meet you, Severus Snape. I hope to see you around sometime" That said she placed some money on the table for Fortescue and headed off in the direction of the Ministry of Magic. He had watched her go, long, black hair streaming behind her as she weaved her way through the crowd…..
With a sigh he brought himself back to the present as he sipped his gin and tonic, his small, black eyes wandering about the Leaky Cauldron's patrons, observing them without interest, lost in his own thoughts.
Kionora shook with anger as she looked at the robes on the hangers. "How could he just brush me off like some stranger? What else did I expect? I had hoped not to see him, but that was wishful thinking," she thought to herself as she picked out some camouflage-green robes and held the color up against her skin, nodding in satisfaction, draping them over her arm, and continuing her perusal. "At least I will be done in London in a few days. If I'm lucky I will not see him again." With that small comfort in mind she continued looking, and ended up buying those camouflage-green robes along with some midnight blue ones, some dark gray ones, and some deep violet ones. Her money bag considerably lighter, and in a better mood she headed back to her room to do some reading, and pack her new robes into her trunk.