Ah the longly awaited sequel (so if you haven't read The Impurity, you should probably go back and read it...although if you tend to pick up on things fast it's not too needed)!
It's well over-due, and I'm just going to tell you now that the next chapters will have some considerably lengthy periods of time between them - but it's not because I don't want to update.
And I feel cruel for even publishing this now, knowing that my updates will be sporadic, but inspiration hit and blah blah blah.
Plus I kept getting emails from all of you lovely people favorite-ing the Impurity,or alerting me as an author and this is a gift for being so awesome.
Saying this for the lone time - I only own the plot and Rose.
P.S. The time period is a little off, I suppose. It's starts off in the December of the year that Voldie was defeated, Eleanor had only just died. So that means she lived a considerable amount after the last meeting between the two (Doctors are often wrong about life expectancy, two weeks turned into two months)....Just bare with me...
Severus Snape stood apathetically in a quaint apartment, why had Dumbledore brought him along? He realized that his leash was short, but acting as the wizard's shadow did not seem necessary.
There were no pictures on the walls in this living room, only a couch, coffee table and a hallway that undoubtly led to the kitchen and other rooms. There were no clues to who had lived here, but Severus was confident that Dumbledore would tell him later. He positioned himself in front of the couch, awkwardly standing with his hands behind his back. Dumbledore had disappeared down the hall ten minutes or so ago, and along with not knowing why they were there, Snape had no inkling of what he was doing for so long.
The small potted plant beside the couch had begun to rattle slightly and Severus took this as a sign that Dumbledore was coming back into the living room (although he wasn't quite sure how he was making it move). It was a surprise to see, instead of Dumbledore first, a girl.
It wasn't right to describe her as a kid, but even since Severus had turned a teenager; it was hard to view anyone younger than him in any other way. She couldn't be any less than fourteen, five years younger than him. He realized that they must've been in school at the same time, at one point, yet he didn't recall her face.
Even though she was clearly younger than him, and he saw everyone younger than him as naïve and childish, he couldn't deny her beauty. She was unnaturally tall for a fourteen year old, and her slenderness only added height to her body line. Her small face was incased by dark, chestnut hair – bangs slowly sweeping across her forehead. The expression on her face, though, and in her grey eyes was daunting. Inhumanly passive, Severus wasn't positive any more that Dumbledore was the one to cause the potted plant to move.
He was looking, not staring, at her for a period of time long enough to let Dumbledore walk into the room as well without his notice. Dumbledore's small "ahem" let Severus' eyes wander away from the girl, who wasn't phased by the stranger in her living room, to Dumbledore.
Dumbledore's own eyes were twinkling, albeit less brightly than Severus was used to.
"Severus, this is Rose Reeds. This, Rose, is Severus Snape" Dumbledore started, moving to between the odd pair in the living room. "You will be staying with him until the holiday is over."
This time Severus stared at Dumbledore. Whatever color that had been circulating in his face drained slowly, and he was very ready to hear the hearty laugh that Dumbledore usually had when he was joking.
It didn't come.
Instead, Dumbledore lightly touched Severus' arm and started leading him towards the door, calling back to the girl "We are just going to discuss how we're going to transport your things."
Once they had reached the door, a plain oak surface with a looking hole and a simple latch, Dumbledore had yet again beat Severus to speaking first.
"She just lost her mother, Severus."
With an attack that seemed more personal and below the belt than he expected, Severus didn't say anything, prompting Dumbledore to continue.
"And she's not exactly orphanage appropriate at the moment," As if to punctuate his statement, a loud clanging came from the living room only a few foot steps away.
"Then why not have her stay at the castle, like the rest of the students." Severus had finally found his voice and it was full of annoyance. He was not a babysitter, and he was not a comfort giver.
"I do not think that being around," Dumbledore paused to find the right words, his tongue slipping out of his wrinkled mouth a little. "high-spirited younglings would be the best for Rose."
They stared at each other for a few moments. Severus was not quite sure how he'd be punished for not taking up the girl into his personal space – he was not quite sure how Dumbledore could still manage to affirm his authority over someone who didn't belong to the school.
And yet, as they held a staring contest, Severus was very aware of the promise he had made. Very aware of everything he was willing to fight for, for the woman who had only recently been stuck 6 feet under; was he going to give that up just because of a seemingly lonely girl?
It was a moment of strange male pride, where even Severus wasn't convinced that he had any qualifications to welcoming this stray into his life, but in the long run that didn't factor into his decision.
Eerily, as if she had read it silent scene between the two men as her cue to make her way on stage, she entered into the line of sight.
"I don't have that many things needed to be transported." Her voice was husky, threatening to leave her body in a strange rebellion – but Severus looked at her eyes and they looked as dry as pavement during a drought. Almost to a point of blood-shot, but Rose blinked her eyes away from the latch on the door and into the face of Dumbledore, then slowly Severus.
Severus thought back to the woman who, strangely, was now pushing daisies, and wondered if there could be any more of polar of her than the stoic girl in front of him.