Chapter Ten: Moving Forward:
January 2000, Stone City:
Severus looked in the mirror and frowned a bit as he saw yet another strand of gray in his hair. He was too young for this he was after all only forty years of age! He came up short and very nearly laughed as he realized what he had been thinking of, he Severus Snape worried about gray hairs! All his adult life he had either worried about students or Voldemort not how he looked! He had not even expected to live free as he did now. He had made it to a new century and millennium and was alive and well. Even the mass take down of the muggle communications system had not happened thanks to the world wide effort of the magical world.
The muggles called it Y2K and they believed that they alone had come up with the solution to the binary issue that their computer systems would have had a problem with. In fact it was the magical world that had found the problem and had warned the muggle world. Panic and fear had been spread worldwide and in the end the problem was resolved before an evil witch or wizard could hack the system and use magic to take it down. With the new upgrades and such it was now much easier to meld magic and muggle technology together and to protect it too. In fact Severus had learned the English ministry had just added a technomancy office and Arthur Weasley was now in charge of it.
The Weasleys needed some good news as they had just lost Charlie Weasley in a death eater attack that had made headlines around the world. Charlie was not just a dragon keeper, he was a champion for dragons and had helped keep two species of dragon from going extinct. He had even managed to get the largest dragon preserve set up in America in the vast wilderness areas of Alaska. He had been attacked by several minor death eaters along with several others, Pansy Parkinson had been visiting with Draco whom she was betrothed to when the attack had happened. She had fought bravely, probably trying to show she was not dark or evil and with Charlie she had been struck down and killed, though at least this time Grayback had not survived.
"Sir Miss Rookwood awaits you in the parlor." Randy said from the doorway.
"Good I will be down in just a moment." Severus replied.
"Very good sir, I will let her know and should I put breakfast in the dining room?"
"Yes please." Severus replied and Randy bowed disappearing with a pop.
Severus finished dressing in his robes and walked out of his master suite making his way down stairs. He had moved his lab into his large basement and his books into the two story library he had added onto the front of his house as he had made quite a bit of money in the last few years. He was a very wealthy man now and well liked here in Yarrow valley by the magical community. He walked down the stairs and into the parlor and saw Elizabeth "Beth" Rookwood sitting waiting for him. She was not wearing a glamour charm like she had the first time he had seen her and he found he liked her better without it. She had long near black hair with tanned skin, a strong shapely body and she had inherited her father's copper eyes, eyes that lit up when she saw Severus.
"Good morning handsome." Beth said rising and walking over to hug him.
"You must be addled, I am not handsome." Severus replied kissing her.
"I think you are, I have some good news." Beth said, "my father got a job with the American magical research department and is here!"
"That is good news, will he live in Washington?" Severus asked.
"No, Nevada, there is a small magical village just outside what the muggles call area 51. In fact area 51 is owned by the Rosewood family and they rented it to the government to use for testing aircraft."
"This is the place people believe aliens are visiting." Regulus said from the doorway.
"Do you not ever knock?" Severus snapped at his dearest friend.
"Why? You are family Severus, and I wanted to meet miss Rookwood." Regulus replied. "I met your father in school, he was six years ahead of me, I am sorry about what they did to him."
"Not your fault, how is your arm?"
"Great, the adjustments worked wonders this time." Regulus replied, "I wanted to thank you in person for your help."
"Well after all you have done I could not have had you go around with a broken prosthetic, I had to see who could help."
Severus remembered learning just how Regulus had managed to keep from being hunted down by Voldemort when he had come back. When Regulus had come to Stone City and had been taken under the care of Colton he knew that he had to get rid of his terrible mistake. He had not known Voldemort would come back, many death eaters did not and he had got rid of the thing that would have helped him come back or so he believe. Still he had wanted the mark gone and so he had cut off his left arm and burned it nearly dying of blood loss. Freemason had found him and had after scolding him had helped get him fitted with the best in prosthetics. It was permanently attached and worked very well but every once and a while it had to be fine tuned so it would continue to work smoothly.
"I heard what happened to your godson." Regulus said as they walked into the dining room.
"Pansy was always there for Draco, if he allowed it." Severus said, "He has been through too much, joining Voldemort to save his family, watching me kill the headmaster, becoming a spy against Voldemort, loosing me and now this."
"If he knew you were alive could he keep the secret?" Beth asked him.
"Yes he could and would I know him I helped raise him along with Narcissa, Lucius just spoiled him." Severus replied, "He would tell his parents though, and I would not mind Narcissa knowing I was alive, but Lucius could drown in the ocean for all I care."
"What did he do to you exactly?" Regulus asked looking worried.
"He never seems to learn, oh he helped bring down the dark lord but he still spouts the same views that got me and a lot of others into trouble in the first place!" Severus said darkly.
"Write the letter, they will know you are alive but not how to find you, not that they could you know the protect you are under." Beth said.
Severus did and was grateful for all that was done for him. He still did not fully feel he deserved the good things happening to him and felt guilty at times he was alive and well while so many others were not. He tucked into his breakfast giving a very pregnant Sapphire a bit of his bacon. She took it daintily and swallowed it licking her lips as she did so. Severus smiled and looked over at Beth and realized with a jolt he was falling for this wonderful kind caring witch and he hoped she felt the same way.
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Marietta was nervous and hoped she was doing the right thing. She had left England just as soon as she could after she had finished school as there was nothing left for her to stay for. She knew that jobs for her were limited in England and she was still viewed as dark and evil and so as soon as she had finished her schooling she packed up her things and moved to America. Here she had studied hard and earned her potions mastery and a good job with an old potions master who gave her room and board and a good salary. When the letter from Yarrow had come offering her the potions professor job she knew she had to jump at this opportunity.
She had helped in the battle of Hogwarts and had fought hard alongside her classmates. Yet her one mistake still haunted her even after all she had done to atone for that mistake. So she had left taking what little money she had and came to America to work and live. Now just a few short years later she had beat out several other candidates for the post of potions professor of Yarrow Academy. She would apprentice under Robert Sauer and it seemed her life was looking up for her now. Still she was nervous as she took the floo from Denver to the offices of Yarrow. She stepped out and brushed off her purple robes and cloak and saw the headmaster standing before her with an old thin man who looked as if a strong wind would blow him over. He was clad in heavy brown robes and like Colton had a cap over his bald head. He had watery gray eyes and smiled warmly at seeing Marietta.
"Good to finally meet you in person Miss Edgecombe." Robert Sauer said taking her hand, "very good of you to come to our humble school."
"I am the one who is honored you choose me." Marietta replied.
"I will give you the tour of the school and then we can go over what your duties and such will be." Sauer replied.
"Of course sir." Marietta replied.
She went with Sauer and liked the fort-like school at once. It was different than Hogwarts, newer but then so was the nation she was living in. The classrooms were bright and clean and she was surprised to learn there were no houses here like Hogwarts. Instead there were four dorms, two for the girls and two for the boys. The library was large and the potions lab was impressive. What was most impressive was the fact that there was muggle technology in the school, the library had computers as did the study areas for the students. Of course torches and candles still provided the major source of lighting for the school and Marietta liked that as she still had a hard time with muggle lighting methods.
"So what do you think of the school?" Sauer asked her.
"It's brilliant." Marietta replied.
"Good, shall we go to lunch?" Sauer said, "if you have any questions we can go over them at lunch."
"Yes sir." Marietta replied.
"Please call me Robert."
Marietta knew she was going to enjoy working here and finally it looked as if her life was looking up. In a few years those in England who had scorned her would learn the mistake they had made as she would have the power and honor she so richly deserved . Not that she planned on going back to England, not after all she had been through there.
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I am keeping canon parings where JKR stated them as they are. Killing off Pansy and Charlie was harsh of me I know but Pansy went down fighting and could bring honor to the Slytherins. Severus deserves to be happy and of course him dating an Auror is ironic but works. As for a magical village near area 51, could not help it, there are so many rumors about that place it's not funny. All it is really is a testing site for planes.
As for Edgecombe, well she is going to have a part in this story but what kind of part will come out later.
Please review to let me know you were here!