He had seen her in the bar. In fact he felt a pull towards her and a yearning for her soft skin. But he knew better. She was naïve and young. That was also probably why he was attracted to her. She was just the kind of woman he wanted and the kind he needed to avoid. She didn't belong in this grungy bar, surrounded by rats and dogs who preyed on girls like her. They could smell her a mile away.
And they did.
Like watching a train wreck, he stood there as he watched a man lure her into the alley. He saw the man's large and rough hand cover her scream. She was a weak one. He felt pity. After years of war and Death Eater revels he rarely felt anything anymore. Yet as the man continued to touch her, he felt the mild annoyance rise until it became ire.
Unconsciously he began to walk towards them. The sound of heavy boots against the pavement signaled the molester to stop.
"What're ya lookin' at, mate?" the man slurred.
Severus sneered at him. His sneer softened as he made eye contact with the girl.
The woman looked at him with pleading eyes and he could almost hear her silent prayers.
Oh please God…. Please…
He wasn't God. But he might as well be one compared to the muggles and on some days, when he was especially high off opiates, he liked to think of himself as one.
"Scram!" the disgusting man yelled at him again.
"No," he said with a humorless smile. Spells he had not used since the end of the war floated around in his head. Dark magic was addicting. He could do it, it would be so easy.
The man was obviously unsettled by Severus' demeanor. Obviously his attempts to scare off the man did not work.
"Argh…." The man sighed. "Take'er. She's nah worth a beatin'."
The man stepped back from the girl and she dropped to the ground like a sack of flour. Severus' eyes followed the man as he moved away. Before allowing the rat to pass him, he shoved him against the wall, his forearm pining him there.
"Listen well my friend," he whispered threateningly. "You are not invincible. You are not powerful. I am. A whisper from me and I can have your body inside out. A flick of my wrist and I could have you wishing for a thousand death. However, as I have no wish for the Ministry to find me, I suggest you run. Now."
The man looked scared. He was not entirely sure what the dark haired bastard had said but he understood the gist of it. And very wisely, he tucked his tail between his legs and scampered off.
Severus' gaze returned to the little girl on the ground. She was not unconscious as he had thought. Instead she was staring straight at him with unblinking eyes.
"Can you speak?" he asked her.
She could see those thin lips form the words and could hear the melodic sounds of it, but she could not understand anything. He was talking to her. But she was in pain and very confused.
Warm hands began to touch her body again and she cringed away from the feeling and whimpered. The hands moved away and the melodic sound returned to her ears. She felt a tingling sensation seep through her. And suddenly she could focus again, if only briefly. She forced herself to focus on the handsome man in front of her and more specifically to the words he was saying.
"You do not seem injured," he explained. "Can you stand?"
"No…" she replied tired. She could not even feel her body. She felt disconnected.
"Very well," he sighed. "Is there anyone I can call?"
"I…. no."
There was no one. She was new to town and had just started at a new hospital. She knew no one and had no one here. For the thousandths time today, she scowled herself for her stupidity. Why had she thought it was a good idea? Who ever met a decent man in a bar?
She closed her eyes in shame and also due to the fact that she really just wanted to sleep.
Severus swore. He couldn't very well leave her unconscious here. Someone else could find her and try to hurt her. He also did not know how much she had heard when he threatened the disgusting man. But mostly he just didn't want her out of his sight. It was an odd feeling but not a particularly bad one.
He apparated them quietly into his home. As he laid her down onto his bed he could not help but fantasize of a life with a soft and warm woman such as her. It was life's cruel joke. He would always yearn for the woman he cannot have. For now he had to focus on making sure she was okay.
He performs another more thorough assessment charm over her. As it turns out, she is not harmed at all. Simply tired from the events of the night.
"Well," he spoke to the unconscious woman. "As you are already here, you might as well make use of the bed."
He had been suffering from insomnia for a while now. Usually he cured it with a few glass of Firewhiskey. However with a muggle patient in his care, drinking was perhaps not the wisest of actions.
The sounds of a person walking about began sometimes after four in the morning. Severus got up and decided that maybe it would be best for him to orient the poor girl before she began to panic.
As he had predicted the poor thing was thinking herself into a tizzy.
"Oh!" she all but yelps in surprise. "I didn't see you there. I guess I should have. Could you, perhaps, tell me why I am here? We didn't…. you know… did we?"
Severus raised an expressive eyebrow at her. She was an awkward little thing. But seeing as she did have a terrible night last night, he decided not to make it worst for her.
"No," he replied simply.
"Oh," she replied, a little disappointed. He wondered if he imagined the disappointment. "So why am I here then?"
"You were attacked by a brute and I brought you here for observation," he realized that it sounded a little dodgy and added, "I am a medical professional."
The events of last night were blurry but she did remember a man trying to maul her. She supposed she should be thankful that this kind man had saved her then.
"Thank you then," she said gratefully. "I'm sorry, but I don't seem to know your name."
"Severus Snape," he introduced himself.
"Severus," she said as if trying out his name. He found that he quite liked the way she said it. "What an interesting name. I quite like it. I'm Laney Ashworth and also a medical professional, well a nurse."
"Pleasure," he said simply.
Seeing as he wasn't very talkative Laney decided that the only thing to do would be to talk twice as much until he chose to speak more. Severus decided that must have been her goal because she began talking and did not seem to want to stop.
He lead her downstairs while she continued to chatter away about why she was at the bar, he lack of family in town, her job and making comments about the quaint collections of things he had. She wasn't quite as annoying after a while.
He made them tea when it seemed like she would not stop chatting with him. He made slight comments at times. He was after all, a polite Englishman.
Suddenly she stopped talking. If only briefly.
He observed her closely and watched as she squinted at the bottles on the counter. Ah.
"Do you drink often?" she asks cautiously.
"Yes," he said unashamed. "It helps me sleep"
"It actually disrupts your REM sleep," she replied informatively.
Severus shrugged.
"So I've been thinking…" she told him.
"Is that in tandem to your incessant chatter?" he teased her with a smirk. She took it in good humour and grinned.
"Nope! I take time to think a little between the pauses when I have to take a breath," she carried on the joke lamely. Severus found that he liked her childlike demeanor. "Anyway, I was thinking, since you are so kind and I don't have many friends, we could be friends!"
It was such a shock to him that she would ask for his friendship, of all things, that he did not reply immediately.
"Well…. We don't have to," she added quietly and taken aback. "If you don't want to that's alright too!"
"That would be nice," he finally replied not willing to see that cheerful demeanor change because of his dourness. "I could always use a new friend. You seem harmless enough and probably are not a psychopath. I think a friendship would be amendable."
"Terrific!" she replied happily.
With that, she left his home. Maybe it was his prolonged self-isolation but Severus missed the young woman the moment she left. Perhaps some music would cover up the eerie silence. As The Clash began, he found himself a little more at ease.