Chapter 2

It was a long night. Valerie spent hours thinking about this new reality that had been thrown on her face. She trusted Hermione, she knew how serious and responsible she was since she was a toddler, and really believed that, if she said that there was danger around, so there was. One good reason to lose sleep. What if those crazy, bad people decided to go and take her sooner than planned? What if this contact they had was wrong about the timing? And if they did it, would the lone man sitting in her apartment be enough to protect her? She didn't know him, and Hermione had called him 'professor'. Would a school teacher be enough to fight dark wizards?

And well, there was a strange man on the other side of the door. Hermione had trusted him to be there with her, but she knew nothing about him. The apartment was dead silent, as if he wasn't even there. Around three in the morning she gave up on falling asleep, deciding that she would try to make the man talk. It would not be unpleasant at all to listen a little more of that delicious voice.

The living room was dark except for the lights of the street below. Severus Snape was standing by the window, hands behind his back, and Valerie couldn't help but thinking that he looked like a vampire stalking in the dark. 'Mental note to ask him if vampires actually exist'. She stood at her doorframe, hands up trying to hold her unruly hair in a pin. The man turned his head slightly to look at her just for a second, and looked back at the window.

"Hey", she said entering the room, receiving only a grunt as a response. Rolling her eyes she passed behind him and entered the kitchen, where she filled and turned on the coffee machine before sitting in a bench by the kitchen counter. The book she was reading was resting there and she opened it, but didn't start to read. She saw the pillow and sheet she had brought him still folded where she had left them on the couch.

"So you really meant it when you said you wouldn't sleep".

"I mean everything I say".

"Is it really necessary? Do you expect someone to attack me in the middle of the night?"

"My duty here is to be prepared for any circumstance. This is what is expected from me."

"You guys said they won't come for at least another three weeks. I am grateful for the protection you're providing me, don't take me wrong, I appreciate it, but I don't think you have to either be awake all night or to be all quiet and frowning."

She got up from the bench, leaving her book, and entered the kitchen again to turn off the machine.

"I take you cousin did not say anything about me, then. I happen to be the same person around anyone. I'm not acting differently around you for any reason, I assure you."

"I remember your name", Valerie said resting two mugs on the counter top "She said her Potions teacher was brilliant"

The sulky man turned to look at her, a tiny trace of surprise on his face

"Didn't see that coming?" she asked smiling "Here, have a coffee".

"No, thank you", he said looking again outside the window

"Oh, come on now", she took a mug and moved towards him "If you're gonna be up, at least have some caffeine."

"And what are you doing up, may I ask?", the man said not denying the coffee mug

"Eh, I never really sleep much anyway. Especially tonight"

She sat at the counter with her coffee and started reading her book. Minutes passed in complete silence before she finally heard some movement.

"Pedagogy of the Oppressed", he read the book title moving closer to her on the other side of the counter. "Why would you be interested in pedagogy?"

"Because I'm a teacher", she answered still gazing at the book

"You're a teacher". It was more an affirmation than a question.

"Yes", she looked at him, "You didn't know? You came to stay with me for a few weeks without knowing anything about me. Well, that puts us in the same place, doesn't it?"

"Whatever you mean?"

"You know nothing about me, I know nothing about you".

Passing by her and entering the kitchen, he filled his mug with more coffee. Looking at him sideways, she smirked and returned to her book before he could notice.

"What is your specialty?", he asked returning to the living room and sitting across Valerie. She understood that entering subtly a topic of his interest was just the right way to get to him.

"Well, I don't really have one", she answered and he raised an eyebrow. "I work at a social project, where children and teenagers go to have other classes and recreation after school. Keeps them out of the streets. Adults have professional training courses as well, so I teach a variety of classes. You teach Potions, right?"

"Not anymore. I'm no longer a professor".

"Hermione called-"

"-Miss Granger has been warned not to address me as 'professor' anymore. Apparently old habits do die hard"

"I see. What happened?"

"I nearly died from a snake bite after convincing the whole wizarding world that I was a sadistic lunatic", he said at once "and I do not wish to talk about that".

"Oh. All right. And what do you do now?"

"Now I babysit on muggles in danger".

"Ha-ha", she said forcing herself not to be offended "That can't be all."

"It actually is. Our healer insists and convinced the Order that I am not yet in my full health and that I should not be assigned to any difficult or dangerous task".

"Ah, so you see, this mission is not difficult or dangerous, then. You can sleep."

"And for the same reason, so can you. And yet we're both awake".

"Well, it's not that simple for me. I have to leave my whole life behind and create an excuse to disappear without raising any suspicion. I don't know what I'm gonna do", she said resting an elbow on the counter and her forehead in her hand, "The organization, the classes…I coordinate the project, I'm responsible for its operation, I'm not sure what they're gonna do when I leave. I have to choose someone to take my place and my classes, and make them believe whatever reason I'm gonna give to just scram".

"Have you thought on the reason yet?"

"Yes. I'll probably just say it's my health. I'll take a sabbatical to go through a treatment. It won't give room for too many questions".

"You have to be more believable. People do ask about health conditions, if you don't have any-"

"Oh, I do have it."

"You do", he affirmed again, "And what is it, may I ask?"

"Well, if you had asked my cousin some basic information about me previously, you'd know that I have a neurological disorder and I suffer from some severe symptoms". When the man in front of her remained silent and took another sip of coffee, she concluded "So I'll tell them that it's gotten worse and that I need to depart for a while".

She took the book again and resumed reading. She knew that talking about her medical condition was slightly uncomfortable to people who didn't understand it, so she preferred not to talk about it. It was good to have made him just talk for a while, she didn't need to force him to any awkward situation now.

"And no," he started suddenly "I did not come to stay with out for a few weeks. I take the night rounds. Somebody else will come in the morning to accompany you during the day".

"Wait up, what's that? Accompany me?"

"Obviously", she said slowly, "You're going to have to go on with your day to resolve your issues and the Order won't leave you unattended".

"I know that. I just hadn't really thought about it. I'm gonna have to take someone with-"

"-You won't take someone, Miss Cooper", he said faintly patient pinching the bridge of this nose, eyes closed "You, or anybody else, won't even see or notice your guard. He can't be seen, in case someone is watching you. You don't have to worry about that, let the order take care of those issues".

"Let the grownups take care of it, little child", she said closing her book and standing up "You don't have to be condescending. I know I have no knowledge in magic, but I do have brains. You have to agree that you guys just came here, dropped the bomb and didn't really explain a lot to me about the plans, so I do have doubts and I won't hide them".

"You are already doing your part in this, Miss Cooper, by giving a reason to leave and avoid suspicions. You think it's not important? When the Death Eaters come and find out you're not here anymore, they will investigate, they will ask questions, and people are going to have to give them believable information. If they distrust it, they might consider the possibility that the Order was here and took you, and that would bring down our spy, therefore our best chance to win this one more damn battle. It that condescending to you? You have enough to think about and to sort out, so yes, Miss Cooper, let the Order take care of other business."

She sat down again when he got up and went back to the window. He had snapped at her for the tiniest misplaced comment, but she could see reason in what he'd said. She just wished her work would be in good hands and that everything would be over soon so she could come back. But then, she knew there was no way of knowing for how long she'd have to be gone. Edward… Valerie had been dating this guy for about two months now, after a long time being single, and he was an amazingly great guy. She couldn't believe her luck, but then life had turned around and bit her in the ass. She would leave and couldn't possibly expect that Edward would wait for her for God knows how long.

The rest of the night was complete silent. Snape sat down again and resumed his reading, while Valerie finished her book. When the morning came, she prepared more plain coffee and silently gave a mug to Severus before returning to the kitchen and starting preparing breakfast. They sat together at the small table near the window in the living room and companionably ate eggs with bacon and pancakes. Severus kept taking his pocket watch out to check the hours, and by the time he did it for the fourth time, she adventured to ask is there was anything wrong.

"He is late." He answered harshly, "It's seven o´clock".

"And who is 'he'?"

"The same Weasley you've met yesterday."

"Is there more than one?" She asked smiling

"There are a million of them."

Before she could ask anything else, a loud bang came from the window beside her and she got up so quickly she was standing by the door within a second, hand in her hearth. Severus thought he could have laughed at her, but seeing the owl standing on the other side of the window with a note attached to its leg guaranteed him something was not right. He got up and opened the window, took the parchment and gave the owl a piece of bacon before it flew again.

"Good Lord!", Valerie said coming closer again. "If Dark Wizards don't kill me, owls knocking on my window will!"

He wasn't listening. His frowning got even deeper and he looked dangerously angry when he threw the parchment to her. The note said that something had come up and Bill Wesley would not be available to take his round guarding Valerie and that if Severus didn't mind or had any other appointments, he was being requested to stay full-time with Valerie until the time they could leave to London. It was signed by Minerva McGonagall. She looked up from the parchment and saw him pacing in the living room, mumbling something under his breath.

"Not very kind of her to ask this in such a short notice." She paused. "Or no notice at all".

"Obviously it has become common sense that I won't have anything else do to other than follow their orders. I have probably allowed them to think like that, being available too many times in the past." He stopped pacing apparently realizing what he was saying. "That is it then, Miss Cooper; if you don't mind I'll be staying with you and accompanying you." He said bitterly moving back to the table and dropping in his chair

"As if I had any choice in this. Anybody could come and go and make rounds and accompany me, I'd have to be fine with it. Order business, right, I have nothing to do with it."

"You might as well just cope with it. Now get on with your day and let me do my job".

"It's Sunday, I don't have to work today. I'll just clean the apartment. You can just stay out of the way", she said entering the kitchen

"Excuse me?", he said in a louder voice, "What is that supposed to mean?"

"Oh, I'm sorry, was I rude? I was thinking you were the clumsy one."

"Miss Cooper-"

"-I just want you to understand, Mr. Snape, that you're being extremely coarse with me and I do not care for that. I see no reason for that whatsoever, and I won't just listen to it quietly. As I told you before, I understand that it is important that you're here; I know you're here to help me and I do appreciate it, but you know very well that I did not ask for that. I didn't ask for any of this to be happening, and I certainly did not ask for you to stay. If you're so displeased, answer to McGonagall saying you can't stay. I'm not asking you to do this, I'm very ok with you staying, but I do not wish to be spited on like this".

She didn't wait for an answer, and for the little she had learned from that man, it would not be pleasant anyway. She started her duties in the kitchen and didn't care to see what he was doing. When the kitchen was thoroughly clean, she moved to the small bathroom and later to her bedroom. When she was in there with the noisy vacuum cleaner on, she started to feel a delicious smell of food and damned her neighbor for that. She was already hungry and the smell was not helping her a lot. Minutes later when she finished that part of the apartment, she noticed that the smell came from her own kitchen. Snape was there and when he turned to place a bowl on the counter, he saw her. It was not nearly a pleasant view as it had been the day before. She was throughout sweating; her hair was as mess, still tied in a pin but now with a massive amount of locks falling around her face, her t-shirt had a big stain of some sort of product; she was wearing a white short and was barefoot.

"If you want to go wash up, lunch is ready", he said after taking a good look at her

Baffled, she turned around and entered the bathroom, her stomach growling in anticipation. She left in her bathrobes and entered her room after a quick shower, dressed hurriedly and returned to the kitchen. Lunch was served on the counter and smelled incredible.

"How did you do this?", she asked sitting on a bench

"Amazingly it does not require magic to prepare some food, Miss Cooper, I think you are aware of that".

"Of course, I can cook as well. I just didn't know I had all of this at home!"

"I just had to be creative. You actually had enough to work on".

"It smells great. Thank you, I'm starving".

He didn't answer, but Valerie could notice a faint smile on his lips before he started eating. They ate in silence and she refilled her plate after finishing. If he was going to cook the meals while he was there, that stay would not be unpleasant at all.

In the afternoon she finished cleaning the living room and Snape did the dishes and placed the rest of the food in the refrigerator. A low music started playing in the apartment and Valerie took a few moments to understand it, and then ran to her purse to take the cell phone, a blue Nokia. Severus looked curiously at her as she pressed a button and started speaking. He had heard about this somewhat new muggle technology, but hadn't seen anybody using it before. He tried not to eavesdrop and went back to the kitchen. When he returned to the living room, Valerie was sitting on the couch, looking intensely at the turned off tv.

"Is there anything wrong?" he asked

"It… It was Edward," she said and looked at him "my boyfriend. He wants to see me today."

"What was your answer to that?" he said as he sat down in 'his' chair

"I told him to come. He'll be here in an hour".

He glared at her for a few moments. "And how is that supposed to work? You expect me to introduce myself and then keep quiet in the living room while you-"

"-I'm breaking up with him."

Snape didn't say anything; he just kept looking at her. Valerie fixed her eyes again on the tv, her mind miles away. This decision was sudden. When he called her, sweet and loving as usual, she knew that it would be a very hard thing to do, but she had no other choice. Perhaps when she moved back, if he was still available, they could have another chance. The timing couldn't be more wrong. Now, if she really had to do this, she might as well do it soon. Pull off the band aid; break their both hearts so it could maybe heal faster. Valerie told Snape that she would meet Edward downstairs, in the patio, where he could see her – and the surrounding area – from the window.

From above, he saw Valerie, now wearing something decent and not housecleaning garments, pace in front of a bench for a few minutes until a man walked towards her. He held his wand tightly, cursing himself for not asking how did this Edward looked like. In a second he could tell it was him, though: Valerie reached up and hugged him tightly. He was a tall, strong, purposely bald, black man. They kissed for a long moment under Snape's distant gaze, and a strange and strong instinct nearly took his actions. He was there to protect her, and this man was way too close. Nobody was supposed to touch her.

Valerie took his hand and they sat on the bench. For long minutes they just talked and Snape couldn't guess what was happening, they both barely moved. Suddenly the man got up, looking nervous, gesturing at her and Snape could tell he was yelling. Valerie didn't get up. She looked up at him, and by her body language, she as pleading. It took only a few more moments for Edward to storm out, walking fast away from her, not looking back. Valerie hid her face in her hands. She stood there, alone, the image of desolation, before she got up and walked slowly towards the building. 'It's for the best, and she knows it.', he thought, but the strange feeling he had before remained, now a little confused with some relief.

Before he could think and analyze it, Valerie entered the apartment and he turned around to look at her. Red puffed eyes told him everything he needed to know. She dried her eyes with the back of her hands. "It's done. One last thing to worry about", she said with trembling voice and entered her bedroom, closing the door behind her.