A/N: Welcome to my newest fic! This is a sequel to "Carry Me Away". I hope everyone enjoys it! Please forgive any errors I may make in future chapters. Learning British history has been a very new - but very interesting! - thing for me! :-) Also, please leave a review! Thanks!

CHAPTER ONE: Her Story

The restaurant was quiet and cozy, and Fawkes's mouth watered as she sunk her fork into the steaming chicken on her plate. It had been so long since she'd last been able to eat human food and enjoy it with all the tasting ability of her true form.

She closed her eyes as she bit into the morsel and began to chew, opening her eyes to smile and share her joy with her companion across the table. The lines on Severus Snape's face had relaxed a bit now that the war was over, but he had not yet taken a bite of his food. He seemed more interested in watching her.

"Good, then?" he asked with a hint of a smile.

"Exquisite." The bustle of Muggle conversation provided a comfortable, homey backdrop to their first true meal together. They had planned this moment long ago, but it was not to be. They'd had roles to fill in the war, and for the most part that had kept them separated from each other, save the few and far between moments when they had some alone time in Albus's office. But then, Fawkes had been unable to abandon her phoenix Animagus form.

"It's been too long coming."

Fawkes nodded, swallowing her second bite of chicken. "Shall we return to Hogwarts after this? Firenze is the only one who knows you survived Nagini's bite, isn't he?"

"Yes." Severus gave the barest hint of a nod. "As for returning, though, I haven't decided yet. They don't need us there. Perhaps after all of this we have every right to run away together. Disappear, if you will."

Fawkes felt a blush creep into her cheeks as she considered what such a thing might entail. She certainly could not deny what she felt about the man across from her. They both knew that they were meant to be, soul mates if you will, and had known for years. But the logistics of getting to know each other in their human forms, on their own terms... "I... well, you know I have no home to go to." She posed this statement thinking she knew what his response would be, but that didn't temper the nervous excitement rising in her chest.

Severus watched her for a moment, lowering his fork after taking a bite of his potatoes. It was so difficult to read those dark eyes from this distance, but she knew his thoughts were travelling along the same general line as hers. Finally he said, delicately, "You may stay with me in Spinner's End, at least while we decide what to do from now on." There was a pause, and he added, with a slight obliging tilt of his head, "That is, if it suits your wishes."

Fawkes swallowed, though she still had not taken another bite, and felt another smile twitching her lips. "I would be happy to accept your invitation. Thank you."

In response, Severus's features also curved into a knowing smile, but he merely gave a silent nod to the subject before moving on to other things. As he cut another piece of chicken, he asked her in a casual tone. "You have yet to tell me your story. Perhaps we could begin now?"

Oh. Yes. Her story. In the joys of her first human meal in more years than she could count, and the nervous excitement of her new 'home' this evening, Fawkes had nearly forgotten. "I, uh..." she chuckled. "I'm not sure where to begin."

"Your age, perhaps?"

"Severus, don't you know it's not polite to ask a woman her age?" she teased, mostly to distract herself from her nerves. She had been waiting nearly a thousand years to tell someone her whole story, and almost twenty to tell Severus. But now that the moment was here, things had changed. How would she explain... everything... all of the sadness, the tragedy... to the man she loved?

He raised an eyebrow, a familiar gesture from the years she had spent getting to know him at Hogwarts. From his childhood. "Are you stalling? Perhaps you don't want to tell me after all?" Dare she imagine she saw a bit of hurt hiding in his familiar snark?

Fawkes shook her head rapidly. "I do want to tell you. But it's... difficult. So much time has passed, and so much happened in my youth, leading to my phoenix curse..."

"You mentioned at our first meeting..." his eyes grew distant as he reflected on that special time, "that you had been trapped in the form of a phoenix for nearly a thousand years. I assume you weren't exaggerating for effect."

"No." She drew in a deep breath. "Severus, I grew up... in Britain, in the time of the Norman conquest. I was among the first generations of students to ever attend Hogwarts. It was in those days... that I was cursed."

Even though he had been the one to bring it up, Severus was clearly still shocked at her admission. His fork froze halfway between the plate and his mouth, his eyes digesting this information, and then softening. "Fawkes..."

She managed a wobbly smile. "It's all right. I know it's difficult to imagine. Not so much for me, though..."

"Had you always been at Hogwarts? From the time of your curse?"

"No, actually," she shook her head. "I... drifted for hundreds of years. Flew all over the world, without a permanent home. Trying to accept my lot as a phoenix, and forget what had happened to me..."

Severus reached across the table and brushed a thumb softly across her cheek. "I know you went through some severe trauma. That much has been clear from the beginning. So tell me. Tell me what happened to you."

She sighed. "It's a long story."

"I like long stories." His dark eyes were determined as they bored into hers, insistent hearing the tale. He was not using Legilimency, but even if he did it would not matter. Fawkes was a skilled Occlumens.

She smiled, placing her hand over his and twining their fingers together. It was the least she could do for the one who had finally carried her away. She would tell him everything. "Very well. I'll start at the beginning."

Severus, not one for showing much strong emotion in public places, squeezed her fingers tight for a moment before releasing her hand and returning to his chicken. "And where does your story begin?"

Fawkes's smile widened. The beginning of the story, at least, would not be difficult to tell. "Hogwarts."