Disclaimer: Not mine


Severus' Wife

Chapter 2


Severus was sorely disappointed in the calibre of the new First Years. Potter was not prepared at all. He did not seem to grasp the smallest concepts. He even lacked in his abilities to take notes. Instead of writing down key words as he listened, he would scribble each word that the Professors uttered, only to miss the point.

Longbottom was proving to be less like his parents each day. He was a meek and nervous boy. Severus wanted to rage at him and drag him up to St Mungos. He wanted to shove him in front of his parents and show him what they had sacrificed for him. He wanted the boy to grow and to harden. Instead, he found himself sneering at the boy, and bellowing at his simple mistakes.

The days dragged by all the slower, it seemed because of the dampness that settled over the castle. The rain kept the students inside and the noise grated on Severus nerves.

Tonight Bonnie was coming. She was to arrive at 9:00 pm. Severus was watching the clock already at lunch. By dinnertime, he wanted to drink the rest of his bottle and hide in his chambers. He walked the hallways and shouted out at students, he deducted points and he scowled.

At 9:00 pm, he headed to the main door to collect his wife.

She was waiting for him just inside the doors. She stood quietly, unmoving as he approached her. The only indication that she saw him was a slight twitch at the corner of her mouth.

The hair he remembered as dirty blond, he now saw as a splattering of different browns and gold. Her hair was no colour yet he thought it looked like ginger. She wore it up, pulled severely at the temples and held back with combs the same dusty shade of blue as her robes. She offered him a smile as he neared. He saw that it did not reach her still brown eyes. He had remembered the eyes correctly.

"Mrs Snape." He gave her a small polite bow, more a bend of the waist and a nod.

"Mr Snape," She replied, sounding slightly amused at his formality.

"I assume we should go some place more private to talk?" He turned to go to the Dungeons.

"I think not Mr. Snape." She had not moved from the door.

He turned back and glowered at her, then took four strides and spoke to her in a hiss, "I am sure you do not plan to have a discussion in the hall way."

"I am sure you do not plan on taking me to your private rooms," she answered him calmly.

"This was your idea. Do you think if I wanted you I would wait fifteen years to take you to my rooms?" His anger was rolling off him in waves.

"No, Mr Snape." She raised her chin and looked coldly at him. "I however do not seek out Death Eaters in their private chambers without an oath of no harm."

"You would take an oath from me?" he thundered at her.

"Yes," she smirked, "Why should that surprise you? If you mean me no harm the oath is meaningless."

"Are you that frightened of me witch?" he asked, stepping even closer to intimate her more.

"Yes," she smirked at him again.

He stepped back and nodded to her, taken with her honesty.

"Fine, I offer you my oath, as a wizard, that I will cause you no harm." He felt the oath settle with a crackle of magic and then looked at her with a quirked eyebrow.

"I have taken rooms in town. At a place called The Three Broomsticks. Is your floo connected to theirs?" she asked, without moving.

"Do you also need an oath that I will allow you to floo out?" he asked with a smirk.

"Yes." She looked at him and then added, "Whenever I want."

He added another oath to the first at once curious that she would feel the need. He did not question her motives, or ask which Death Eaters she had been alone with before. He just gave the oath then turned to the Dungeons. He was relieved when she put no further demands on him and followed.

When they reached his chambers, he ordered up a tea service from the kitchen. She refused the offer of a late dinner and sat in one of the two chairs that faced one another across the small coffee table.

"Now that we are comfortable, tell me why you are here." He took the matching chair, and leaned back, crossing his arms.

Bonnie pulled out her wand and cast silencing spells and two additional wards for the floo and the door. Tucking her wand back into her sleeve she looked at Severus.

"Habit," she said, as she poured them each a cup of tea. Sipping hers, she made a grimace and replaced the cup on the tray.

"Are you quite ready?" Severus sneered, wondering if these were her tactics for delay.

"Yes, dear husband I am," she said, looking at him coldly. "Bella and Lucius want you dead. They have convinced Crabbe and Goyle to join them, and are even now seeking permission from the Dark Lord."

"Is that all?" Severus said calmly, belying his sudden increase in heart rate.

"Almost." She stared at him. "Bella is complaining to the Dark Lord that you are not grateful to her and by extension to the Dark Lord himself. She points to our marriage as an example. She is telling him that since his disappearance you have done nothing noble for him."

"Indeed. The Dark Lord you say?" Severus asked quietly. "Exactly how does one communicate with the Dark Lord?"

"I have not seen him myself. I was only told that he would present himself in stages," she told him uncertainly.

"Perhaps now would be a good time for you to use the floo Mrs Snape," he said evenly.

"No, you must believe me. He is back. I tell you it is not a rumour. You must be cautious." She suddenly became frantic. Jumping up she began pacing.

"Things are beginning. I can feel it," she said, turning back to him. "I didn't know who to tell. I did not trust you, I still do not. However, if anything happens to you I lose my protection."

"What protection?" he said, standing as well.

"Surely you know?" She stopped pacing and turned to look at him incredulously. "I have not been killed or raped because I belong to Snape. Surely you understood this?"

"I am afraid I do not know what you are talking about," he told her truthfully.

She slowly rolled up her left sleeve to show him her mark, and then looked up at him, her eyes filling with tears.

"They did this to me the night of our wedding. You left me alone." She hastily brought her sleeve back down and turned away from him. "I thought all these years you knew. It claims me to the Dark Lord, but as your wife, I cannot be touched. It was Narcissa's wedding gift to you."

"I did not know." He ran his hand though his hair, thinking of something more he should say.

"I never blamed you," she said, standing in front of the fire. "Not that it really matters, but I never blamed you."

She returned to the chair and picked up her cloak. Tossing it over her shoulders, she turned to leave.

"Bonnie," he said softly, "I never thought about it."

She stepped into the floo. Before throwing the powder down, she looked at him sadly.

"That's funny Severus, I could not forget it. I think of how this has ruined my life every day." Throwing the floo powder down and calling out, "Three Broomsticks", she was gone.

Severus walked to the liquor cabinet and grabbed his last bottle of whiskey and a glass. He thought he would need to visit Hogsmeade to refill his stock. He needed to think elsewhere, away from the memory of her and the white dress.

He sat and looked at the fireplace where she had stood only a couple of moments ago. He had not once considered her fate. Not once in fifteen years had he thought of what had become of her.

They had marked her. A withering black snake forced on her arm while he and Lucius lay in a whorehouse. He could not find an excuse. His own young age seemed ancient even to his own ears. He had been twenty-three, she but fourteen. He closed his eyes and hung on to the fact that she was a full fourteen.

He picked up his glass and flung it into the fireplace. Leaning forward, he rested his arms on his legs, and then dropped his head to his hands. She did not blame him, she had said. She did not trust him, but she found no blame. He did not remember her, but she saw her un-chosen mark every day.

Severus stood up and lifted the wards, impressed by the difficultly he had removing hers. He needed to see Albus. He knew she spoke the truth of Riddle's return. This was the closest to visible confirmation he had found.

The Headmaster was in his office reading reports on the school's financial situation, or rather looking at it and feigning interest. Severus had never known him in nineteen years to concern himself with school budgets and Ministry directives.

"Ah, Severus, I was expecting you to bring up the young Mrs Snape for me to meet," he said as he smiled at Severus.

Severus did not miss the intended emphasis on the word young. He chose to ignore the barb and just get to the conversation.

"It seems Mrs Snape has confirmed to me that the Dark Lord has indeed returned," Severus said, enjoying the look on Albus's face. "It would also seem that the leagues are vying for position in the new inner circle, and I am to be eliminated as a contender."

"What else did she tell you?" Albus's demeanour changed from Headmaster to Inquisitor.

"That is all." Severus leaned back in his chair and smirked at Albus. "Is that not enough?"

"Does she know where he is, or what any of his plans are?" Albus sternly drilled out his questions.

"Listen old man, I can not trust her," Severus snapped at the older wizard. "She said only that he is returning in stages. Her words not mine."

"Stages?" Albus leaned back in his chair as well. "Stages would mean perhaps a new becoming, a growing into, not a possession of a body as we assumed."

"So it would seem," Severus said, rising from his chair. "That in its self should save you some time. Perhaps it was wise to move the stone to a safer location. It will now be of more use to him than we had thought."

"Severus, you must keep in contact with her," Albus said.

"I will keep the same distance I have always kept." He looked at Albus, challenging him to make this an order.

"I will let this go for now, but when the time comes, if we have need of her…"

"No, Albus. I will not drag her further into this," Severus insisted.

"It would seem she is dragging you." Albus knitted his brows together. "What else did she tell you?"

"Nothing new. I am a target of those that want to better their position." He shrugged easily not showing that this chilled him.

"It was this that brought her here?" Albus probed.

"She is staying at the Three Broomsticks. Perhaps you can happen by and ask her," Severus said smoothly.

Standing he gave Albus a mock bow and walked out, flicking his wand under his robes to make the billow even more pronounced.