It seems that when Severus agreed to a friendship with the young woman, he did not consider the implications thoroughly. He soon found her interrupting him at the oddest of times. And when he complained, she simply replied, "If you had a cellular phone I could text you before I arrived. But Severus, dear, you don't have one and refuse to get one. So really, not my fault."
He knew she was being unreasonable but he could not find it in himself to be annoyed. He actually rather liked it when she dropped by sometimes.
After a particularly exciting night at one of the louder clubs, Severus had brought home a willowy red head home. While the night before she seemed quite attractive and, as he was a man with needs, they had satisfied those needs. However, when the morning came, he cursed himself a million ways to Sunday for bringing such a woman into his home. Her perfume smelled so acrid that Severus wondered how he could have missed it. She was all bones and angles and he found that they dug into his own bony body. Perhaps it was the red hair or the alcohol, but something last night removed sound judgment from him.
So when he felt Laney enter his wards and at his door, he unlocked the door for her nonverbally. However she was too polite to simply turn the doorknob. So he had to also magically open the door for her before she sneaked into the house like a scared little rabbit. She would have made a terrible spy, he thought to himself.
He then proceeded to untangle himself from the willowy woman in the bed without waking her. He did not succeed.
"'Ello big daddy," she said in a raspy voice. Again, maybe with enough alcohol her voice could be considered seductive but right now, it sounded like she needed to quit smoking. And 'big daddy'? Had he really let her call him that?
"Morning," he replied unenthusiastically.
"Severus?!" he heard Laney call out.
She woman in his bed narrowed her eyes, "Who's that?"
Severus Snape was a Slytherin through and through. And when he saw an opportunity he grabbed it.
"Oh that? That's my wife. A right nasty woman. Best be off before she gets her hands on you," he told the woman in his bed conspiringly.
She scrambled to grab his clothes and avoiding eye contact with him. She scuttled away quickly from his bed room and minutes later, Laney came in. He lazily pulled his blankets up higher when she averted her eyes embarrassed.
"Why did a woman just apologize to me and called you a liar and a corrupter?" she asked not at all impressed.
"She thinks we're married. Needed her to leave," he explained. Then added as an afterthought, "thanks for your help."
"Does that mean you owe me one?" she asked eagerly.
And at that point, he should have known better. But she had him. For the rest of the day, she convinced him to take her on a tour of the city. Despite his constant complaining, he had quite a nice time with her.
That was also the day she informed him that they were actually neighbors. While he appeared to not care, in reality he was quite glad. The only relationship he had were the ones with the bartenders of the bars he frequented to pick up loose women. He also liked to think that he was doing the young woman a favor. After all, she was young and naïve and he could keep an eye on her.
But as it turned out, it was her that was keeping an eye on him.
On mornings when he did not have the physical or mental capacity to assess his own hangover, she could be there. She was, despite muggle inadequacies, a health worker and could make sure that he did not die.
It was as if he knew when would have terrible hangovers. Or maybe it was just that she visited often and he had hangovers often. He couldn't really tell. Nevertheless, her visits were not without fallbacks. She would chide him but his reckless behavior and told him that he owned her one. Usually that meant a day out with her, at the park, the zoo, the shopping center, and etc.
He found his moods bettering when she was around as well. It was difficult to remain dour and aloof when his partner was so lively. He found her personality quite contagious.
On one of those days when Severus was especially miserable and wallowing in self-pity and self-hatred, Laney decided to visit.
She had a day off work and had just slept grand total of 12hours. She walked over to Severus' house happily humming a tune. She found that his home, from the outside, reflected the man who resided in there very well. It had a gothic atmosphere to it and seemed a shade darker than all of the other houses. It was a tad run down, to put it nicely, yet it was alluring in an eerie manner. How suiting.
She knocked on the door. Not one came to answer of course. However, as the norm now, the door would be unlocked and she would simply push it open.
Keeping his door unlocked all the times; that man must be truly brave.
"Severus!" she called in a sing-song manner as she moved around the house searching for him.
That man better not be drunk or hangover. It was almost noon.
She heard a sound from small study and quickly ran towards the room.
Severus was sitting at his desk with a nasty frown on his face. He didn't seem to notice her there at first. When their eyes met, she let out a small gasp at the agony that shone through them.
"I…" she tried to explain her intrusion. But no words came. Her eyes fell onto the broken shards of glass on the floor. It must have been a glass or vase of some sort before it was the object of Severus' ire.
She bent down and began to pick up the shards.
"Please," Severus begged her. He walked towards her and stood towering over her. "There is no need for you to do that. There are easier ways."
She looked up at him from the floor shrugged before standing up to meet him.
Their height differences were bad enough when there were both standing. She barely came to his shoulder and from her previous position on the ground, she marveled at the stature of the man.
He was tall, slim but he had lean muscles. She knew he did after that Scary-Wifey business last week. His bone structure was as elegant as they come. Long and angular. That was what he was. She looked at his face for a moment and scorned herself for admiring his physique while he was suffering. The look of anguish on his face that he was trying very hard to wipe away many her heart ache.
"How are you?" she asked kindly.
Severus did not deem her question with a verbal reply. Had he been more his old self, he sharp tongue would have sent her away in tears. Instead he cocked an eyebrow at her sarcastically.
"Fine," she conceded. "Well, do you feel well enough to accompany me today?"
"Is this another one of those I-owe-you's that you are so keen on collecting?" he asked her with a tinge of humour.
"Of course!" she replied enthusiastically. "How else can I convince a dashing man to accompany me all day?"
"Dashing," he scoffed. "Lies do not become you."
"Whatever," she replied juvenilely. "Will you come along?"
"Yes, yes," he said as if it were obvious. "I shall come along. Give me a moment to get cleaned up then."
"Wonderful!" she exclaimed. And left the room. "I'll be in the sitting room."
As Severus splashed water on his face, he glimpsed at his own reflection.
"Dashing," he scoffed for a second time that day.
He couldn't believe her. No one thought him dashing. The woman in the bars would seek him out because he bought them drinks and flattered the dim things. Perhaps he did have a mysterious and macabre allure, but her was far from dashing. They never commented on his looks and usually kept their eyes closed. It was just about their bodies. Bodies and pleasures. He exhaled slowly, pushing away the thoughts of copulation and hedonistic pleasures. It would not do for him to think too much of it in the company of Laney. She was young and far too good for him.
Not that she would even consider him. Despite her kind words, he knew that she could not think of him in that manner. She had seen him drunk, considers him as bad most likely. She had also seen him cry. The name Snivellus haunted him. She could think the worst of him. Yet she didn't. Perhaps it was the life debt she owed him. Even muggles must understand the concept.
"Severus!" she called out from somewhere below. "I'd quite like us to be on our way before the sun sets."
Snapping himself out of the blackhole that is him mind, he quickly changed him clothing and cast a cleaning charm on himself. Tucking his wand back into his sleeve.
Time to humour his friend.