Part IV: OCTOBER
Because the Ministry of Magic had almost nothing to do with Voldemort capture and fact that they probably hindered more than they helped resulted in what people call kissing ass. Of all the ass kissing they did no one's ass was kissed quite as often as Severus Snape. Besides giving him a shinny new position that reflected his ability the Ministry of Magic bestowed upon him an obscenely large manor with acres of land that once belonged to a muggle Lord. Tonks wasn't quite certain why they decided to give him this and not Harry but she guessed had to do with the fact that Harry already was the owner of three different houses while Snape's only house was "unsuitable for a man of his stature." She wasn't sure if she herself would have accepted it but Severus Snape was a man who enjoyed praise and compliments, so he took it with open arms and christened it his own with a sign on every side of the of the property that read "Keep Out."
She beginning to wish she had thought this through. What would it be like to be locked up in a big old house with Severus Snape for six months? The interior of his house reflected his personality. Everything was black or a dark green; there were no bright colors, no decorations and not a single piece of furniture that wasn't absolutely necessary.
She sat in the drawing area with her three trunks by her side and a glass of elf- made wine in her hands. The house elf that ran the manor had brought her drinks and refreshments but had refused to show her to her room or any other part of the house. Pince said that he was given orders by his master to keep her in the drawing room until he was home. If this was an indication of how he was planning on treating her then she wanted out.
She sighed and leaned against the black sofa covered in what looked like dragon skin. She had a weird feeling that this place would not be a happy place and her own apartment would have been more comfortable. She meant for him to be a distraction, so she wouldn't have to think about Remus so much but if he was going to be gone most of the time, leaving her alone in his dreary mansion then there was really no point.
She closed her eyes and leaned against the arm of the chair. She was so tired, she hadn't slept at all the night before. She kept thinking about Remus and the night they got married, it was such a good night but just like that it would interrupted by something vicious, something she wanted to forget.
CRACK
Her eyes darted open at the sound and she sat up. He was finally home.
"Nymphadora, I should tell you that we don't sleep in drawing room, that is reserved for the bedrooms." He gave off an air that said he had just returned from a rather unpleasant meeting and was frustrated, it was the same air he would have every time Octavius Fudge came to see him. "How long have you been here?"
"Three hours," she said standing up. "Your elf kept giving me wine, I was starting to feel a little groggy."
"Well just because you are offered something doesn't mean you have to take it." He looked away form her. "I shall have to restock my stores now."
She wasn't taken back by his attitude. He was more moody than a teenager and his anger was seldom directed at the person who caused it, so she took no offence.
"I suppose I should show you around." He said glancing over his shoulder, like her presence annoyed him. "Leave your things, I'll have Pince take it to your room." He began to walk and she guessed she was meant to follow him. They walked out of the drawing room into another room that was just as large and almost identical to drawing room except for several tables in the room. "This is meant to be game room; I haven't had time to change it. Muggles are very wasteful with space."
The next room he showed her was a dining room. There was a long table that could seat twelve and a few alcohol bars at the side that were empty.
He followed it by showing her the kitchen. "You have no need to be in here since Pince prepares the all the meals." He shot the door and took her to another room. This one was clearly a study. He actually waved his wand over it to unlock the door. "This is your main business here. This is my study, where I plan to pen my book. I will be spending a great deal of time here."
"If you lock it how am I supposed to get in?"
He frowned at the question and then dug in his pocket and took out a ring of keys and handed it to her. "You will find a key to almost every room in this house, don't loose them. They are the only copies I have." She took the keys and looked down at it. There were about twenty keys on the ring.
"I think that should do, there's nothing else of interest in this house. If I need you get anything in the library, it's upstairs."
"Upstairs where?" she asked.
"It is the upstairs. The whole of upstairs is my library."
She nodded even though there was slight confusion; she couldn't understand how many books he actually had that he needed to have an entire floor for a library. "That's a lot of books."
"Yes," he said simply. He started to walk off and she followed him. He stopped. "Didn't I say that would do, why are you still following me?"
Her cheeks glowed slightly red. "I haven't seen my room yet?"
He sighed. "Ask the elf."
-o-o-o-
Nymphadora wanted to go home. She hated being in his house, he was in a foul mood all the time. She had spent the first week organizing all his books according to topic and alphabetical order. There were thousands of books. Some were so old that they were housing some of the very things that they spoke about. She had been bitten in every place possible by some nasty creatures and they were leaving marks all over her skin. She had to ask Snape for something for the marks and he only made her an ointment after hours of complaining that she was too careless.
He had given her a week to finish organizing his library and she managed to finish it in four days with the help of his house elf. She wondered why he didn't have the elf do it in the first place; she didn't know that he was going to basically make her a servant.
She twisted and turned between the sheets and the mound of pillows. She still couldn't sleep at all, if it wasn't because of her dreams that were still plaguing her, it was because she was always feeling cold. No matter how many blankets she wrapped around herself she would always feel very cold, especially at nights.
The morning came and she still hadn't slept a wink.
-o-
Tonks sat in the kitchen looking at the house elf prepare lunch, which she was certain she wouldn't be able to eat since she lost her appetite about a two weeks ago. She sighed and closed hey eyes.
FLASHBACK
"NO Tonks Run," Remus shouted
END FLASH BACK
She opened her eyes quickly, they were burning, she was so tired and she hadn't slept in days. She wanted nothing more than to just clothes her eyes and sleep but she couldn't. She held her head as she felt a piercing pain shot through her brain. It was a white hot and blinding pain. She released a small whimper.
"Is Miss Tonks okay." Pince asked walking over to her.
"I'm okay," she said getting off the chair she was on. She needed to rest, if only she could get back to her room. But she didn't get back to her room instead she found herself falling to the ground, like she had lost control of her body.
-o-
FLASHBACK
"I'm sorry Miss Tonks but it's gone."
"What's gone?" she asked from her bed.
"Didn't you know?" asked the woman in a healer's uniform. "You were…"
ENDFLASH BACK
Tonks opened her eyes with a start. She couldn't see anything except for the soft glow of the candle. She could tell from the little bit of light that she was in her room even though she had no memory of going there. The last thing she remembered was being in the kitchen when she started to feel sick. She sat up in the bed, her head still felt light and woozy. She made an attempt to come out of the bed but she found she had no energy. She closed her eyes and slumped back down on the pillow.
She could hear footsteps coming close to her bedroom. She looked over to the door. Severus appeared in the door way a few moments later carrying a small grey bottle. He said nothing. He just waked in the room and lit a few more candles. She looked at him questioningly.
"You fainted," he said, like he knew what she was thinking. "Any idea why?"
She turned away form him. "I wasn't feeling well."
He was quiet for a moment before he spoke. "Pince tells me that you have been refusing meals. Are you afraid that I am trying to poison you?"
"No," she said softly. "I have no appetite." She felt her throat begin to close up and get tight. She wanted to cry.
"You haven't eaten since you've been here and I can hear you all hours of the night so I don't think you have slept much either."
"I can't sleep" she whispered. She didn't have the courage to turn around and see his scolding looks. However he seemed determined to show her that he was disappointed by the weakness. He took her by the shoulder and turned her around. She looked at him and she saw he had an unreadable expression. A tear rolled out of her eyes. But just like all those years ago he had no reaction to it.
"I'll have Pince bring you something to eat, after which you will drink this potion," he said holding up the bottle he came in with.
"What is it?" she asked wiping the tear away.
"A dream less potion."
He turned around and left the room without saying another word.
-o-
Tonks felt a cold gust of wind tickle her feet. She opened her eyes slowly. The room was pitch black but she could still see the wind blowing the heavy black drapes apart. She pulled the sheets off and rolled out of the bed. Even the carpet on the floor felt cold to her skin. She pulled herself up on the feet and went to the window and pulled it shut. She tried to adjust her eyes to the darkness as she searched for her night robes. She felt her hands brush over something feeling light and silky. She picked it up and actually managed to put it on correctly with little effort.
-o-
After taking a bath she walked down the corridor and paused outside his door. She knocked and after about five seconds she was told to enter. She walked in the study and took a seat in a wooden armchair that was in the room. "Is there anything you need me to do?" she asked.
He looked up at her from behind a large book. "No, I'm all set for now." He put down the book and looked at her as if trying to read her. "How was your sleep?" he asked. She could already tell that he was in one of his better moods.
"It was dreamless."
He nodded. "And have you eaten anything since you've been awake."
She shrugged. "No, I'm not really hungry."
"I suppose that is obvioulsy one of the effects of loosing your appetite, but you actually haven't eaten in two days."
"Two days?"
"Yes you've been asleep for two days."
It seemed like less than an hour. "Why didn't you wake me?"
"You seemed tired." He picked up his quill and wrote a new sentence on his piece of parchment. "Get something to eat then you can tell me what you think about this first chapter I've written."
-o-
"How does it compare to other books you've used, does it reflect great knowledge?" he asked, leaning over her as she read the last line on the paper.
She handed it back to him. "It's okay," she said.
This seemed to offend him. "Just okay, I spent two weeks working on this chapter and I have cited more than a fifty different references."
"What's that you said?" she asked looking up at him as he looked over the scroll to see where he could have gone wrong.
"I spent two weeks on it," he said in frustration.
"No, after that."
He went back behind his desk and picked up his quill. "I cited more than fifty different references, which is why I am confused that you would say that it's just okay."
"There you have it; you cited more than fifty different references."
"Do you think there should be more?"
She shook he head and smiled at him. "I don't think there should be any references at all."
He frowned and mumbled something inaudible under his breath.
She got up from her chair and walked over to him. "Why are you writing what has been written before?"
"Miss Tonks you are making no sense."
"I'm just saying you should write something new, something that has never been written before."
"Like what?" he asked glaring at her like. "I don't' know how I can possibly write an entire book of new defensive spells."
"That's just it," she said. "Don't write a defence against the dark arts book. There are millions of those but there are no books about you."
"What?" He looked at her like she said something obscene. "Why would I write a book about myself?"
"Because people want know. I want to know."
He snorted. "I am not going to write a book solely for your amusement." She could see a smile creeping at the corner of his lips which meant he must have been mildly flattered.
NOTE: Okay so I had two days to write this chapter so I'm sorry if it's not up to scratch. Next update will be Monday.
If you are confused about anything don't worry, just tell me and I will try to clear it up in the next chapter one way or the other.
But if you are confused about how Snape is acting: I can't tell ou because it's part of the story
If you are confused about the flashbacks: It will become clear as the story goes on.
So be nice and Leave a review please.