Shoutouts to:
BeraniandSeverus4eva: THANK YOU for the shout out! Lol I'm very flattered to hear you enjoyed the previous chapter, and to hear good feedback about Severus' soft side.. (I didn't make him too OOC, did I? *sweat*)
I love the shipping names that you came out with! XD Jordrus and Lilrus sound cool! All hail for shipping names lol
I hope you enjoy this chapter as well. Not much action but more talking but it's VERY important. Enjoy reading, dearie! ;D
Senna Bluefire: Hi there! Thank you for dropping by and leave a comment! I'll be sure to find a Beta soon. Hope you enjoy this chapter as well :)
Chapter 7: Truce
"HERE we are. Please make yourself at home, Miss Smith." Severus lured her into his penthouse while he went and locked the front gate and door. Jordan had woken up a couple of hours ago from sleep in bless, one that she hadn't had for years.
When Severus had informed her about Lily and Thomas visiting her while she was asleep at the Campus' Health Centre. In addition to that, he had also mentioned how Lily would not be returning to the Residential Hall for a week at least - she had phoned him, and Thomas' message telling her to take it easy for a few days.
Upon hearing how her best friend would not be coming back, to Severus' unexpected surprise, Jordan sighed in relief.
"Did my ears just deceived me, Miss Smith? Or did I actually heard you sighed in relief at the mention of Miss Antolia's absent?"
Jordan sighed again. "Being a bodyguard for twenty-four seven is really tiresome. Whenever Lily's father returned home from work in the oversea, she would spend time with him before he needs to go back. Usually for a week. In the meantime while she's gone, during that whole week, I'll be on off-duty."
"Interesting." Severus walked toward the living room after he had done hanging his coat. He would offer to hang the muggle's coat, except that she didn't wear any.
Jordan wore a dark brown wool turtle-neck sweater to class today. Of course, there had been splattered of blood when she got beaten by Ken's goons, nevertheless, Severus had managed to get it clean with a poke of his wand.
Jordan followed him inside. It was her second time coming to his new home - her dream house. The first time when she came here, was the second time Jordan met Severus after he awoken from the hospital.
Back then, she had paid no attentions to the surroundings and was merely focused on getting rid of Severus who had suspiciously accepted to become Lily's Magic Instructor and for reasons still unknown to her, the fact that he had indirectly and unknowingly stole her dream house right under her very nose made her irked him more!
What was even more worse, she couldn't stay mad and condemned him forever because no one, not even Lily knew that she had a plan on buying the penthouse in the first place!
Sighed at the memory, Jordan looked around the house this time and gasped in awe.
The living room was painted in dark green walls with white trims. The floors were covered with dark wooden tiles, with a wide-sized carpet that matched perfectly well with the walls.
And, if Jordan had to guess what was Severus' favourite colour, she would have gotten it correctly without even batting her eyes-lashes.
The man was simply obsessed with the colour green! There was a dark Green couch with white stripes facing the wide screen television that was hanging on the wall. A couple of single sofa on each sides, and a wooden small rectangular glass table at the centre. There was a chimney on the opposite side of the wall.
Judging from the look at it, Severus hadn't made a lot of changes since he started living here. Except that he added book shelves here and there.
The man loved to read, no doubt.
"What type of tea do you prefer, Miss Smith?" Severus' baritone voice echoed in the otherwise empty room from the kitchen, snapped Jordan from her trail of thoughts.
"Any tea will do, Mr. Snape."
Jordan heard cups being taken out and put on the island in the kitchen. She heard the man moved swiftly to make the tea without even looking at him.
Jordan walked toward the balcony. She unlocked the door before turning the knob and opened it. Jordan stepped outside.
The view was magnificent. Night already fell by the time they reached to Severus' place. The view of the city at night was breathtaking. She could spot her college and even the Antolia's grand mansion at the end of the city. It was a perfect stalk-house. Which was why the Antolia had made it nearly impossible for anyone to buy.
"Your tea is getting cold." Severus watched with his arms crossed at the door.
How long had he been standing there? Jordan didn't bother to turn to look at him. Instead, she focused on gazing the beautiful view before her.
The wind softly blew her hair and she allowed it. Footsteps approached her and before long, the overgrown man was standing beside her.
"I love this penthouse." Jordan spoke all the sudden.
"So I notice."
"Which was the reason why I was so upset when Thomas had informed me they were giving out this penthouse to you that day, for free nonetheless!" Jordan hissed. She glared at him from the corner of her eyes.
Severus watched silently, unfazed by her gaze at him. Before long, Jordan let out a long sigh and focused her gaze back at the night view.
"I'm not upset with you any more, though. Not since that night..."
Severus looked away uncomfortably. He knew exactly what she was referring to. Severus knew he couldn't run away from the issue forever. One of these days she would hunt him down and eventually get him to talk about it.
"Why did you do it? Why didn't you let me-"
"Would it be helpful to you if I say I didn't wish you to bear such a heavy conscience at your young age?"
"What I did for the Antolia family aren't all sugar, spice and everything nice, Snape. I hurt people. My assignments hurt people."
"Exactly. But not enough to end their lives now, is it?" He fixed her with a piercing glare, a thin tight line on his lips and arms still crossed on his chest.
Jordan looked away.
"Take my words for it, Miss Smith, nothing good ever comes having your hands stained with blood." Severus turned and walked toward the door when he stopped halfway with one foot in and the other one still out.
"You've done it before, didn't you? Could you perhaps tell me about it?" Her voice and tone were soft and kind, very unlike the usual which she always used to him.
It'd actually made Severus stumbled back for a bit, but he quickly recovered. He wanted very much to tell her off - to mind her own damn business like she'd told him when he asked about her "assignments".
The way she looked at him, eyes filled with sincerely wanting to know about the people he had killed in the past and why. And no, there was no pity in her eyes, just curiosity.
"Your tea is getting cold, Miss Smith." And then, he went inside.
SEVERUS stirred the tea spoon inside his cup of tea before putting it aside on the saucer. He lifted the cup near to his mouth and took a sip. Sitting on the opposite side of him was his guest, mimicking his action.
It surprised her that Severus of all the people had served her a vanilla flavoured milk tea. Though she won't admit it aloud, vanilla was her favourite flavour.
For a while they sat in silence in the dining room. Severus was reheating their dinner - meatloaf.
"So," Jordan stared at her teacup, refused to meet with his eyes. "How many people had you... you know." Killed.
Severus took his own sweet time to answer that question. He stirred his cup a couple of times, sipped it thrice and finally opened his mouth to speak.
"Two. One was purely unintentional. And the other one... Well, the other one was a bit complicated." He'd expected her to gasp, to judge him the way everyone in Hogwarts had been judging him since that night when he had been forced to murder Albus Dumbledore.
Instead of being judgemental, the young Muggle's curiosity deepened. She sat with her back straight and eyes focused mainly on and only him.
"What'd happened?" Jordan asked softly.
Severus inhaled sharply.
"My, aren't you the curious one?" He chuckled darkly. "How could you be so calm when you're sitting at the same table with a cold-blooded murderer, Miss Smith?"
Jordan moved from looking at him, back to her teacup, and eventually to her laps.
"...When Marino Alfedo had taunted me, he'd made me pulled the trigger. It was a huge mistake on my part; I shouldn't have let his words got to me like that."
Severus raised an eyebrow. "About him calling you a bitch? Why would you-"
Realization suddenly hit him the reason why. Her mother was a mistress to a wealthy married man. "Oh."
"Yeah..." Jordan bit her lower lip and looked away in guilt. She no longer hated her birth mother for abandoned her. Because of she hadn't done so, Jordan wouldn't get to meet with Lily and became her bodyguard.
Triing!
The microwave called them. Severus didn't even bother to stand up. With a wave of his wand, two plates of meatloaf were served before them.
Jordan began to dig in the meatloaf like no one's business. She had only ate breakfast in the morning and was forced to skip lunch.
Severus watched the muggle dug the meatloaf in less ladylike manner and cringed a bit. He said nothing and continued to eat his with more manners. That was until Jordan opened her mouth again.
"So you see, Mr. Snape, who am I actually to judge you when I have my own flaws as well? I did pulled the trigger on him that night. The only difference is that he was already dead when I shot him."
Severut shot her a glare as he munched on his meatloaf. How could she stayed calm being with him, while eating her bloody meatloaf like he's just an ordinary person she shared a table with? Normal people won't be want to be anywhere him, let alone shared a table with him after knowing he'd killed people.
To save others. Severus reminded himself. A sacrifice is needed in order to save others.
Wiping his mouth with a clean cloak, Severus cleared his throat.
"How persistence you are, Miss Smith. So you think I would simply opened up to you after your little speech? Guess again."
Again, he expected her to shout like a banshee at him for not telling her after she had opened up to him.
And again, Jordan had proven herself more than he'd assumed her to be.
"You don't have to force yourself to tell me about it, if it still hurts you to tell." She whispered quietly and finished her meal.
Usually very demanding when it comes to her client's concerns and safety, Jordan was surprisingly calm regarding matters related to only her.
It shocked and shook him down to his very core.
Severus pushed the unfinished meatloaf to aside. His eyes never left her face.
"There was a little witch, a half-blood witch named Lily Evans..."
And so he told her. Told her everything about Lily Evans, the fallout of their friendship, and the regrets that he was forced to bear when she died. Severus Snape had told her even the deepest kept secret he bore for Lily Evans. Because once he started talking about it, words seemed to have flown out of his mouth. Because no one except for Albus Dumbledore had bothered to ask him what was wrong.
By the time Severus was done pouring everything to her, Jordan kept extremely quiet. Didn't know what to do or what to think.
She felt extremely sorry and pity for him; for all the things he had been through. But knew well enough that he didn't want any pity from her. Especially from her.
We're practically on the same rocking boat. Waiting for the other to dive into the sea first. She thought in silent.
"Say something." Severus clenched his teeth.
"What do you wish for me to say?"
"That I'm a pathetic old fool who has spent two decades trying to pay my sins only to be rebuke by the public in the end?"
"That's not true! You've spent two decades protecting the scion between the woman whom you'd claimed was the love of your life and the man whom you hated with pure passion and had made your life a living hell in Hogwarts. Any man would not gave a damn about whatever happens to the child, but you, Mr. Snape. Because of the guilt that you'd felt for letting Lily died. You didn't know... You didn't know someone from the Order was going to be a traitor and reported it back to the Dark Lord. The very fact that you'd even asked the Dark Lord to spare her from death must have meant something."
Severus scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Indeed. A lot of pain and scars on my back."
Jordan looked at him with saddened eyes but said nothing.
Severus inhaled sharply.
"Miss Smith, it's getting late. I suggest you go and freshen up and go to bed soon." With a wave of his hand, he sent the dirty plates and empty cups to the sink and rose from his seat.
"Mr. Snape? I have a proposal to make."
"And that is?"
Jordan rose from her seat and looked directly into his eyes.
"I would like for us to start over."
That caught his attention from staring at the empty space. Severus looked at her. Really looked her.
It made her feel nervous when he looked at her like that, as if he was trying to read what was on her bloody mind and what possessed her to propose such proposal in the first place?
Before he asked, Jordan spoke first.
"Mr. Snape, you and I obviously started on a wrong foot, but we do have a lot common grounds, especially our main interest: that is protecting Lily. Do not try to deny that fact, Snape. I have seen the way you look at her."
Snape closed his mouth. Again he crossed his arms and looked at her.
Jordan sighed. "Lily is a beautiful and attractive young woman. She could have any men that she wants and it doesn't shocked me when she managed to capture everyone's attention, including a bitter,cynical, cranky old man like you. However, what had surprised me until now is that she may also took interest in you." Her eyes looked at the changing expression on Severus' face.
"You're mad." He said softly, mostly to himself.
Jordan mutely shook her head.
"You're pulling my legs, aren't you? Aren't you?" He raised his voice.
"Whether you believe it or not, , you are not that bad-looking. Victoria had even given you a seven out of ten in her book. Coming that from her was rare, I tell you."
"I don't care what she thinks!" Severus went to the living room. Jordan followed.
Severus paced back and forth in the room, pulling his hair and mumbling about something underneath his breath.
Jordan watched as she leaned her back against the wall with her arms crossed. The dinner was delicious enough to fill in her empty tummy. All she needed now was to take a bath and then go back to sleep.. Of course only if the man himself stopped pacing around the living room and pulling his hair.
Jordan rolled her eyes. "Will you just stop it? So Lily is fond of you - has a crush on you even. You should be flying up to the moon. Not paced like a caged lion and pulling out your bloody hair! What's the big deal here?"
"Why does she even likes me?"
Jordan groaned at the question. "Does it really matter why?"
"Yes." Severus answered sharply.
"Maybe because you are the only man who ever treated her like a person and not some kind of a trophy. Lily is wealthy, as you can very well see. Most men want her for her wealth, obviously, and Lily's not naive about it. That is why she kept a distance away from them. That is, until you came in, Mr. Snape."
"Me?"
Jordan nodded.
"When we first met, clearly you did not know who she was, otherwise you would be on your knees at the hospital. From Lily's perspective, she viewed you as a new fresh of air - someone whom she could easily befriended with without having to constantly keep her guards up at all the time. Someone she could talk to. A companion."
"I'm not following you, Miss Smith. She clearly has you, her best friend, didn't she?"
"Yes." Jordan bit her lips. "However, my duty as her bodyguards has its limitations. As her friend and adoptive sister, she confined to me her personal problems, and as her bodyguard, she trusted me to protect her and to keep her safe. But there are certain things that none of us are not allowed to discuss about. Confidential matters such as her family's business. Instead of talking about it to me, she could talk it to you. Do you understand?"
"Why aren't you two allowed to discuss about it? She is the Head of her Company, isn't she?"
The conversation was getting deepened with every questions and answers. Jordan knew she had to be careful not to let anything slipped. All she needed to do was to make sure he would say 'yes' to the matter and all would be solved.
Taking a deep breath, Jordan calmed down her nerves before answering him.
"Put it this way, Mr. Snape. A kind and pure-hearted person such as Lily, couldn't bear to listen or see what I had done for the Antolia family to assure that her safety is being reserved at all times. I'd told you about my assignments earlier, didn't I?"
Severus said nothing. The muggle had a point. Severus understood perfectly well what she was referring to as he had once been a double agent for the Dark Lord and Dumbledore, thus, knew how gravely dangerous it was should any of those confidential matters leaked to the enemy's ears.
And Lily, should they ever lay their hands on her and demand her to spill informations, Severus doubt as much that she could not possibly be able to take the pressure of being tortures, unlike himself or Jordan. Both of them had already been trained body and mind against the pressure of being tortured.
Still, there was something that she wasn't telling him directly.
"What are you suggestion then?" Severus crossed and uncrossed his arms uncomfortably.
Jackpot! She managed got him asking.
Jordan smirked a little bit. She sat back down and gestured Severus to do the same. Once he had seated, Jordan sat closer to him, much to Severus' own surprise; as if they were sharing a deep secret.
"What I suggesting may or may not to your liking, Mr. Snape, but just hear me out, ya. Assume you and Lily got together, do not give me that glare, Snape, I just say, assume you two were together, it'll be beneficial for all the three of us."
"Explain."
"Now that Lily has become the Head of the Antolia's Company, there will be many enemies would much prefer to have her killed and the company destroyed. Thomas had mentioned to me once there will be a time when my assignments will take me days to complete, or even months. The longest would be a year. When that time comes, I won't able to be there to protect her. That is why I'm entrusting you to keep her safe while I'm away."
Jordan met with Severus' sharp gaze. Her gaze matching his.
"I need someone whom I could trust to keep her safe, Severus." It was her own way of saying 'are you in or out?'
Severus pondered on the new information for a bit. True when he had first seen Miss Antolia that reminded him a lot like Lily, Severus had thought it was a second chance for him to find love again. He knew he wasn't a heartless bastard like most people thought of him to be. Severus knew he was capable of loving someone just as much as he had loved Lily. His only wish was that the next person who managed to steal his heart again, loved him this time.
Now that he knew that little spark of his dream could become a reality with the young woman whom he was getting fond of every time they met nevertheless, Severus felt his heart pumped in his ears.
Lifted his head, he looked at Jordan who was waiting for his answer.
"What is it for you, Miss Smith? Surely this kind of bargain can't be for free?"
"Agreed. I want you to teach me everything you know about the Magical World."
"What?" This time he didn't bother to control his volume. Surely, she must be kidding? "So you want me to teach you magic? You do aware that it is impossible for a muggle such as yourself to perform magic, do you not, Miss Smith?"
"I'm not asking you to teach me magic. I'm asking you to educate me about the magical world so that I may be an assist in the future, in case something magical-related happened to the Antolia family and you are not there to help us out. In exchange, I will be gladly to teach you everything you need to know about becoming Lily's bodyguard, and everything you need to know about Lily herself so that you may... You know, woo her? Court her? whatever." Jordan crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. "But hurt her, Snape, and I'll make sure you won't see daylight ever again. Are we clear?"
Severus pondered more about her request and offer. So there was more than meet with her eyes after all. He smirked.
"Deal." He offered his hand.
Jordan looked at his offered hand and raised an eyebrow. She had assumed it would take more than just words to convince him to agree on the matter. Jordan was even ready to turn the table around and take the situation to Phase Two: seduce him, should the man still refused to take the deal.
She took the offered hand and shook it firmly.
The pact was sealed and a truce was made between them.
"From here onwards, Lily shall be our top priority."
"Agreed." Severus nodded.
They stayed like that for a while before each decided to call it a night.
THE Ministry of Magic in the Wizarding World filled with wizards and witches who were busily working to reform the ministry after the destruction Lord Voldemort and the end of the Second Wizarding War. One Death Eater in particular, was being escorted by three Aurors to the Auror Office where the current Prime Minister of Magic,Kingsley Shacklebolt, await.
"Welcome," Shacklebolt greeted with a neutral smile at his guests. "First and foremost, I would like to thank all of you for agreeing to this mission. I know it is a very hard mission; one it takes us a month and half to track our high-profile target."
A loud snort was heard in the silence, coming from one of the three Aurors.
Shacklebolt ignored the snort and continued speaking in a calm and neutral tone. "One of you managed to track him down and able to find his hiding location - the Muggle World. Well done, Harry."
Harry Potter nodded. Beside him to his right, his best friend Ronald Weasley gave him a nudge on the shoulder and grinned proudly. Standing on his left was Neville Longbottom, also offered the young lad a proud smile.
"Find him and bring him back." Shacklebolt ordered. He then looked at the ex-Death Eater standing in front of his table. "Take him along. As the two of you were once Death-Eaters, I'm sure you are able to find a way to convince him to come back quietly. We do not wish to cause any trouble with the Muggles. Do you understand this, Lucius Malfoy?"
Lucius Malfoy dressed in Death Eater garb, nodded. "Find Severus Snape and bring him back."
