The first few months of the school year went by with little to no excitement. Veronica's stress levels went down after a letter from the publisher came stating that they had no intention as of yet to drop their contract but urged her to find a way to keep public interest in the books.

However one evening was particularly hard to get through after receiving not one, but four rejection letters from different publisher for her manuscript.

"Just got to keep trying, that's all." She swallowed, leaning against the stone wall in a shadowy corridor after dark. Severus knew she wasn't showing everything she felt, he knew from the tears fighting behind her lashes that she forced back but twinkled in the dim light and from the strain in her voice

She would spend hours upon hours at her desk, the large typewriter before her with its toothy metal smile leering out mockingly. She would churn out a page or two, read it over, edit, re-read, then throw it all out and start over again. She would often skip meals, fearing that if she moved, the second she was too far from her typewriter inspiration would strike then leave again.

By October she had seventy five pages of a novel going, using Remus, Severus, and Irma as peer reviewers. Remus backed out after the first two chapters, noting that he wasn't much of a horror fan, and Irma read it mostly out of disinterested politeness, but Severus seemed truly invested in the story.

By November it was 125 pages.

"I never marked you as a fiction fan, let alone horror." Veronica said at her typewriter as the hook nosed man sat at the end of her bed with his long legs crossed tightly and chapter ten in his hands.

"Since I was ten." He muttered, deeply absorbed in the work, occasionally marking a misspelling or a grammar error with red ink. "How do you come up with this anyways?"

"It just sort of happens. Don't you ever make up stories in your head?"

"Not really, I'm a left brain person. Not a right brain one."

"What does that mean?"

"The left brain handles analytical and mathematical thinking, like potions or calculus. The right brain handles emotions and personal connections and creativity." He spoke as if reciting a text book.

The steady clacking on the keys never ceased, pausing periodically to let out a click and a ching when the end of the line was reached. Once Veronica stopped a moment to stretch her aching fingers and pull her hair up into a scrunchie to get it out of her eyes as she read over her work.

"Lazy" she muttered in a tone thick with disdain. "Lazy, lazy, lazy writing." She jerked open a desk drawer and fumbled about vainly.

"Looking for something?"

"My white out. I may as well remove this entire paragraph." She growled and Severus shifted off the bed and leaned over her shoulder, scanning the writing with meticulous eyes.

"Hm, it's not awful. But you could do better. I'd say leave it in but make comments along the side so you can fix it in the rewrite." He suggested and Veronica eyed the paper with a certain amount of distrust, ask if the words would jump off the page and bite her.

Her hands were aching, her back and shoulders were bent and sore, her eyes were blurry and strained and her feet were totally numb.

"I'm tapped out." She sighed and rubbed her eyes. "How long have I been doing this?"

"Uh, let's see." Severus eyes the clock and winced. "Five hours. Thank God I finished grading before supper."

Veronica sighed and opened the large window by the desk, letting in a cool autumn that was laced with winter cold. The night outside was dark, and it was nearly impossible to decipher the black outlines of shapes in the moonless, starless night.

"There's supposed to be a snow storm coming." Severus remarked as he stared at her back. Veronica's eyes scanned the grey sky and the land below, her grip tightening then loosening on the brass handles of the window shuttered. The breeze fluttered her fly-away hairs and sent gooses skin up her arms and neck.

"That will be nice." She leaned a little to one side. "I miss the snow." A small smile spread across her lips. "Did I ever tell you about the cabin my family has in the country, way up north?"

"No," Severus's hand gripped the back of the desk chair. The wind blew back the loose fabric of her light blouse.

"I haven't been there for so long. It's deep in the woods, just a little place. Quiet, calm, not a person or a city for hours." Veronica thought that if she imagined hard enough she could see the tiny wood cabin on the horizon on the top of the hill across the lake, a tiny light shining from the window from a roaring fire. "I think I'd like to go back there soon."

"It sounds perfect. The perfect place to write." Severus said softly.

"It would be. But I couldn't go alone."

Severus stiffened. "No?"

"No. I would get too lonely by myself. Besides, I suppose I would need someone there to keep me from running myself into the ground." She smirked. "You know how I get."

Severus smiled a little bit, "I suppose."

Veronica took into a final breath of cold, fresh air and shut the windows with a small click. "Come on" she turned to him. "I need to get out of this room."

Severus blinked, slowly slipping out of the stupor her soothing daydreaming had indirectly put him in. His hand slipped to the stack of white type paper that was slowly dwindling as the hours passed and he swallowed.

"You're…running out of paper. There's a stationary shop in Hogsmead that sells the type you'll want." He quickly changed the subject.

"Oh?" Veronica blinked. "I've never been to Hogsmead I don't think"

That's right, Severus thought, you didn't go to Hogwarts. You don't know much of anything about this place.

"I could take you there." He spoke suddenly, the words burst forth like a cannon without warning or forethought. "I mean…if you'd like." He added softly. "There's a scheduled trip tomorrow for the students and staff who chaperone. I usually don't but if you…if you need paper that is I could…"

"I'd be happy to, thank you." She smiled with a laughed. "I've heard wonderful things about Hogsmead. It'd be nice to have a guide."

Severus swallowed. "Right, tomorrow then. Around ten."

"Alright. I look forward to it." She looked at the clock with a sigh. Ten o'clock. "It's late, I ought to try and sleep."

Severus wordlessly nodded and made for the door as she followed him close and stopped in the doorway, holding the edge of the wooden panel as if reluctant to shut the door.

"Until tomorrow then?"

Veronica nodded. "Until tomorrow."

The door was shut with a final click of the lock but Severus paused before retreating, thinking on what he just unintentionally did.

He hadn't even thought about it.

It just popped out.

But it happened and now he was here, arguable better off than he was ten minutes ago.

Veronica on the other side of the door was equally shocked.

She hadn't expected such an invitation even in light of their night out in the summer. But she was sure that she would have a splendid time none the less. Maybe she could even coax him into showing her the whole village and not just the stationary shop.

With a grin she stripped herself of her day clothes and made for the bathroom which she partially shared with Irma. As she entered the bathroom and pulled the tie on her bathrobe the opposing door that led into Irma's room flung open to reveal the dark haired woman looking at her wide eyes.

"What are you so smiley about?" Veronica asked her as Irma pursed her lips into a knowing smirked and reached for a spare comb.

"Nothing?"

"Irma…" Veronica wet her tooth brush and leaned on the brass sink. "Were you listening in on Severus and me?"

"How could you even ask me such a question" Irma gasped, scandalized. "I'm hurt, to think you don't think I have any respect for your privacy and personal conversations!"

"Alright, alright, I'm sorry" Veronica rolled her eyes with her tooth brush in her mouth.

Irma combed out her hair and sniffed. "Anyway I suggest your lavender perfume for tomorrow." She stated before slipping out of the bathroom and Veronica rolled her eyes again and spit.