Eternal Sunshine

Chapter 2: Here Comes The Sun

Samara sat on the windowsill of her office, and despite feeling haggard after the 24 hour shift she had just pulled, she found herself smiling as she stared out her window at the rising sun. There was just something about London at dawn that made peace swell within her breast and cleansed her of all her worries and stress. She loved to stare out from the vantage point of her window on the fourth floor and look out onto the sleeping street bellow as the occupants slowly rose to face a new day. Some rose with hope, others with resignation and most with reluctance, but it was a new day nonetheless, filled with many possibilities.

Getting up from the windowsill Samara walked over to her desk and closed the few files that lay on her desk and straightened them out. "Samara are you still here?" Samara looked up from her desk towards the door of her office and offered a friendly smile to the haggard and tired witch that stood in the doorway, curly blonde tendrils with streaks of silver fell into her blue eyes as she blew them away. "You should go home and get some rest, you've been here since before I got here."

"Yes I was just going home," Samara said with a smile at Healer Marie Wood. "Have new patients been interned into our ward?" Samara asked, motioning towards the files that Marie was carrying in her arms. The older witch merely nodded in response and gave Samara an apologetic look.

"I'm sorry Samara, I had thought that you had gone home hours ago and I was just going to drop them off in your office, there is nothing here that is very pressing. You really should have been home hours ago," Marie said, stepping into the room and closing the door behind herself. She handed over the files in her arms to the Head Healer of the Spell Damage ward. Sighing Samara quickly looked over each of the files before picking up her quil and signing off on the prescriptions for the patients and placing them atop her desk with the other files.

"Well I was needed and I hardly noticed the time pass by," Samara said as she separated the files into two separate piles, labeling one as the discharges and the others with notes from her as to which patients were approved for their prescriptions and signing off that all was well in the previous Healers orders.

"I don't know how you can stand it Samara, I'm already dead on my feet," Marie said with a smile towards Samara. Samara merely smiled at Marie as she handed her all the files.

"Before you get off can you please hand these back to all their Healers, they are organized and piled together according to Healer. And if anyone asks about their schedules, you can tell them that I have both the Healer and Medi-witch schedules posted outside the door and that if they have any questions that they can see me when I get back on duty later," Samara said with a gentle smile to Marie as she nodded and took all the files under her arms. Marie nodded fervently before smiling and marching out of Samara's office, closing the door behind herself. Walking over to the fireplace in her office, Samara grabbed a pinch of floo and threw it in the fireplace before reemerging in her living room.

Sighing, Samara made her way over to her bedroom and threw her Healer robes at the foot of her bed and picked up a short pair of shorts and threw on a spaghetti strap shirt as she climbed onto her bed and pulled her blue blanket with yellow ducks over herself. Her room was simply furnished, with her bed, a vanity and a nightstand. Most of her clothes were either stowed away in her Hogwarts trunk at the bottom of her closet, or hung up inside it. Either that, or stowed away in her bathroom hamper.

Pulling her hair out of its constraints, Samara lay her head on her fluffy pillow and closed her eyes with a contented sigh. She was quite tired and felt relieved to be able to get some sleep. However, before she could do anything, she heard a very loud thump from her living room that caused her to jump out of bed. Hurriedly pulling her wand from her Healer Robes, she rushed out into the living room and felt her heart race as she saw a black lump on her living room floor.

Severus groaned as he tried to raise himself off the floor, but his arms trembled with exhaustion. Samara immediately rushed to the his side and helped him lift himself onto the couch. Severus hardly had time to register the fact that the young witch's warmth was pressed against him as she laid him out on her leathery couch and knelt beside him and started to check his vitals.

Opening his eyes, which were shut tightly against the pain, he looked upon the serious expression on her face as he saw little wisps of lights flying between himself and Samara as she cast diagnostic spells. While the bags under her eyes spoke of the exhaustion she felt, Severus could find no indication of any such thing in her facial expression or the rapid way she was going about her work.

"Your nerves are wrecked from extensive cruciatus damage, but its nothing a few very strong muscle relaxants can't help. Stay here and don't move, I'll be right back," Samara said in her stern Healer voice, one that no one would dare argue against or defy, as she rose on her bare feet and quickly padded her way into the kitchen. Severus could hear what sounded like a cabinet open and and the all too familiar clanking of vials, before he heard her return with a vial of potion which she helped him ingest.

Weeks had passed since their first encounter and more often than anywhere else, he had seen her in the Order meetings. However, he had never spoken to her in the meetings, appearing and departing as soon as he could. He'd noticed that in that time Samara had already become well-liked by most of the Order, however, he tried to not pay too much attention to such things. Just like he tried to ignore the pang in his chest every time that he caught sight of the engagement ring on her ring finger, or the way that he tried to ignore the shivers of pleasure that ran through his body every time she said his name when she greeted him. And she always made sure to greet him at every meeting with a warm smile in the least.

It made his realize that she did not seem at all fazed about the fact that he had once been a Death Eater and it made him wonder if some part of her had expected it of him. Since that meeting, every spare thought turned to her and wondered if she would have taken things the same when they were together. However, he tried to not think of these things too much as he didn't actually know how she actually thought about the fact that he had once been a Death Eater.

"How are you feeling," she asked as she looked him over, making sure that she had not missed anything else in her hasty check up on him. Severus watched her face all the while as she worked. Turning his gaze away he focused on his muscles, which had been in such tortuous pain only a few moments before that he'd felt like they had all turned to jelly and refused to function. However, he felt the numbing effects of the potion pulling through his body, tightening and freezing his muscles.

Stiffly rising with a small grunt Severus sat back on the couch and planted his feet on the floor. His face contorted with the pains that shot through him, however, he merely grit his teeth and shoved it all aside as he sat back. "Better," he grit out in response as he looked down at her and noticed that she was wearing a pair of very short shorts that revealed her long pale legs and a small cotton shirt that left her shoulders and long arms exposed. He could see the deep red strap of her bra, contrast sharply with her pearly-white skin and had to close his eyes as he looked up at the ceiling as the warmth of the potion started to wash over him and relax his muscles. He frowned at this and raised a suspicious brow as he looked down at her. "I thought that Healers weren't allowed to remove Potions from St. Mungo's."

Severus was vaguely aware of how St. Mungo's worked as early on in his career he had worked there himself. St. Mungo's had a large basement full of Potions labs were the best potions Masters created every medical potion imaginable. In the basement, there was also a very large Potions store were clerks consistently took stock of all the Potions and ingredient inside the vast and cavernous rooms, and he knew that it was not exactly easy to remove anything from those St. Mungo's Potions stores.

Samara smiled and cocked her head as she looked at him curiously, steel kneeling on the carpeted floor. "No, no one is allowed to remove Potions from St. Mungo's, unless of course when prescribed to a patient. What makes you think that its a St. Mungo's potion?" Samara said as she looked at him.

Severus rolled the stiffness from his shoulders and stretched his chest as his muscles returned to a more relaxed state. "That was a very strong muscle relaxant. The dosage is too powerful for any apothecary to sell legally," he replied in his velvety tone. Samara nodded, wondering how she could have ever thought that her brilliant Potions Master would not catch onto such a trivial thing. Smiling, she got to her feet once more and reached out a hand to grab his.

Immediately, Severus felt shocks run through his fingertips to the rest of his body, becoming stiff as she tugged him to the kitchen. Pulling his hand from hers as he followed her, he watched her curiously as she opened two cabinets full of vials and jars, ignoring the way his heart hurt and raced and how his fingers still tingled with her warmth.

"Since Dumbledore assigned me your health and well-being, I've been using all my spare time to brew these potions. Mostly blood-replenishing potions, muscle relaxants, different type of antidotes, revitalizers, sleeping serums, dittany and some other nastier ditties that hopefully we'll never have to use," Samara said as she looked over at him with a bright smile. "I take very good care of my patients," Samara said as she studied the expression on his usually stoic facade.

He really couldn't help but be impressed by the quantity of Potions she kept stored and that she seemed to have made purely for his benefit. A part of him felt touched as he stared at her, seeing the way that the rising sun started to fall on her pale features and make the green in her eyes wink at him. "How do I know one of them won't poison me?" Severus asked as he took in the bags beneath her eyes and looked over at her cabinets and wondering just how overworked she was. Once more he felt that overwhelming desire to protect her rising inside him as he turned his gaze back to her face.

"Because I learned from the best," she replied as she looked at him with a a crooked smile. Severus felt his heart pang as he saw that beautiful smile that he'd always felt that she reserved especially for him. His heart started to race as he looked at her, wondering if it were possible that somewhere inside her heart that she still loved him. He wondered if something inside her still remembered him and loved him, because she had never smiled in such a way to anyone else. It was only to him that she had revealed that lopsided smile. It was his smile and it blossomed in her when she'd felt her love for him.

"You look very tired Samara. How long has it been since you last slept?" he asked sternly. Her smile slipped slightly and became something bashful. She was starting to feel once more like she had when he had caught her asleep in the common room on her fourteenth birthday.

"I pulled a twenty-four hour shift and I need to go back in 4 hours," Samara replied as she looked at him. She could see the anger clouding over his face and wondered if he was going to yell at her the way he had when she was his student. "I take a vitamin potion and revitalizer almost every day, Severus. Besides, I have a lot of energy as it is," Samara replied with a large smile on her face as she looked at him.

"Go to sleep Samara," Severus said irritatedly as he pulled out his wand and apparated on the spot, once more leaving Samara alone to wonder at his hasty departure.

--

"Very interesting Severus," Dumbledore said as he leaned back in his seat and stared at the exhausted spy, who other than that seemed perfectly fine. "I can see that you have gone to visit Samara," Dumbledore said with a smile as he looked at him. Severus sat stiffly in his chair and grimaced at this.

"Is it really necessary, Headmaster?" Severus said as he looked at Albus Dumbledore.

"Do you doubt the abilities of Samara, Severus?" Albus asked with a surprised look on his face as he looked at his spy. He could tell by the look on Severus' face that he was doubting the young witches capabilities, however, it surprised him a little. He had always thought that Severus had held Samara Green in high regards when she was hist student. After all, the girl was not Head Girl for nothing. She was always quite the capable young witch and in the time she had lived with Severus, Severus had seen how hard-working an devoted that she was in her studies.

"No, but I'm sure there are more... qualified Healers for this kind of work," Severus said as he looked at Albus, though that wasn't at all true. Severus was sure that Samara was qualified enough, however, as he'd gone over the events of that morning on his walk up to the castle, he felt himself pang in a way that he felt that he wouldn't be capable of dealing with. And he found that despite all the years that had passed since he had last seen her, to see her such intimately clothed, arose desired inside him that he thought he'd left long ago in the past.

"I assure you that Samara is more than qualified. She's even studied far enough to specialize in Healing the Dark Arts," Dumbledore said as he watched Severus who merely nodded. He would've sighed, however, he suspected that doing any such thing would make Dumbledore suspect why he didn't want to deal with Samara.

"Very well Headmaster," Severus said as he rose from the seat that he had been sitting in. "I will see you at the next meeting," he said before turning away and Marching out of the headmaster's office and heading down to his private quarters in the basement. While he usually spent his summers in Spinner's end, this summer he had made sure that his rooms in the castle where always ready for him to take residence in the, if he were ever so exhausted that he could no longer apparate.

Having apparated to Samara's flat and than to the castle after being in a Death Eaters meeting from late last night all the way to the early hours of the morning, he was sure he wouldn't manage to apparate once more without splinching. Therefore, as he entered his Private quarters and crawled into bed, Severus was greatful that he was so tired and fell right to sleep. Samara, his pain and everything else slipping away as he was wrapped in the deadly silence and darkness of the dungeons.

TBC...

Authors Note: Thank you to everyone that has reviewed so far. You are all great and I am glad that so far you like the sequel and hope that you liked this chapter as well. Please review!