Summer of Enchantment
by Warviben
Summary: Harry is not dealing well with Sirius' death. Professor McGonagall is concerned enough about his mental health to approach the Headmaster. A surprising solution is proposed.
Disclaimer: I do not own these characters or the basic premise of this story. I am making no money from this endeavor.
Warnings: This story contains detailed heterosexual liaisons. If that disturbs you, please stop reading now.
##########
10 Discovery
Harry awoke on the sofa in the morning, aware immediately of two things, in this order: Snape was standing in the living room staring at him; and Sera was nowhere to be seen. He sat up quickly, put on his glasses, and searched surreptitiously around him for any sign that might reveal what had happened on this sofa last night. God, if Sera had left her underwear – wait, she hadn't been wearing underwear. He saw nothing, and it was only then that he began to breathe.
"Birthday celebration get out of hand?" Snape asked.
Harry's heartbeat quickened. Maybe he'd missed something. "What do you mean, sir?" he asked with all the innocence he could muster.
"You passed out on the sofa."
Harry collapsed back with relief. "Oh, yeah. I guess I did."
"Well, get up. The fun times are over. We're to begin occlumency lessons again today. And you will learn how to block others from accessing your thoughts if it's the last thing you do."
Harry's blood ran cold, the heat from last night's encounter now only a distant memory, and he thought that maybe it just might be.
##########
Harry had no opportunity to explain to Sera why he was so nervous he couldn't eat, as Snape was sitting at the table with them. He tried to smile reassuringly at her, but she could tell something was really wrong. By the time breakfast was over, she felt like crying, convinced he was having second thoughts about his declaration of love last night, and she was glad Harry didn't stick around to help with the cleanup.
Harry felt a dark cloud hovering over him as he walked down the basement stairs. If he was unsuccessful in blocking Snape's attempts to penetrate his thoughts, there was no way Snape would not learn about Harry's relationship with Sera, probably including graphic details of their encounter last night, still fresh on Harry's mind. Pleasant as those thoughts might be for Harry, he doubted that Snape would be anything but angry. More likely furious – the murderous rage type of furious. What was he going to do? He'd never really been able to keep Snape out of his head when he'd tried to get in in the past, and he had no real hope that he could do so now. He resolved to try, and if the effort failed, to run like hell before Snape could really grasp what he was seeing.
"Prepared, Potter?" Snape asked, his wand up and at the ready.
Harry closed his eyes, his wand in his hand but pointing at the floor, knowing it wasn't his wand he needed. He had to do this from inside his head. He pictured a black curtain, drawing down before his eyes, closing off his thoughts to all. He nodded and opened his eyes.
"Legillimens!" Snape said. Harry saw a corner of the black curtain flutter, as though someone were trying to lift it from the other side, but he focused everything he had on keeping the curtain down, and it stayed in place.
He could tell when Snape stopped trying, as though the force that was trying to enter the curtained off area had retreated. He realized Snape was grimacing, as though the effort had been more than a little painful for him, which Harry certainly hoped it had. He himself was only breathing a little harder than normal. The effort needed to keep the curtain in place was minimal. This was much better than finding himself on the floor on his hands and knees, as all other occlumency sessions with Snape had seemed to end.
"Impressive, Potter," Snape noted, and he really did appear to be impressed. When they'd last attempted this, Potter had had little to no ability to stop Snape from entering whatever pathway in the boy's mind he'd wanted to follow, apart from the rather insidious method of a shield charm. And now he was completely blocking access. What had changed?
Harry smiled weakly, more in relief than for any other reason. He'd done it! He'd kept Snape out of his thoughts! Maybe all he'd needed all along was the proper motivation in the form of the specter of his own imminent and painful death.
"Legillimens!" Snape tried to catch Harry unaware, but Harry had seen it coming and got the curtain up in time. This time, it wasn't even an effort to keep the curtain in place, and Harry realized that just the fact that it was there was all the protection he needed. When he also realized that if he just left the curtain there at all times that no one (presumably) would be able to enter his mind, the lessons were over before they'd really begun.
"But how?" Snape asked. "What are you doing differently?"
Harry shrugged. "I just pictured a curtain, drawing down before my eyes. It seemed to keep you out."
Now Snape was surprised. That was the very thing he'd done when he'd started learning occlumency. "Very good," he muttered. "That's step one. In order for occlumency to be really useful, one must learn to allow others into certain areas of the mind, but keep them out of others, without those who would wish to access your thoughts being aware that there are areas that are restricted. Do you understand?"
Harry nodded. "I think so. If Voldemort tried to access my thoughts and saw nothing, he would know he was being kept out. If he saw only the thoughts I allowed him to see, he would assume that that's all there were, and he wouldn't know there were others that I was blocking."
"Precisely."
"But how do I do that, Professor?"
"That is a lesson for another day, another time. For now, you apparently have mastered the skill of blocking his access completely, and that is enough. I am . . . impressed. Why did you not try that before?"
"I never thought of it," Harry admitted. He wanted to ask why Snape hadn't thought to teach him something like that before, but they'd reached a sort of detente that Harry was unwilling to disturb, so he kept his mouth shut.
##########
Harry didn't get a chance to explain to Sera until later that afternoon, while he helped her prepare dinner. "I'm sorry about this morning, at breakfast," he said quietly, and he explained what had terrified him so, and why, and told her about how he'd been successful at blocking Snape.
"Wow, I'm glad," she admitted with relief. "I thought . . . well, I don't know what I thought." She knew what she thought – she just didn't want to admit it. But he knew as well, and just to make sure she knew he didn't regret it, he risked a quick kiss and told her again. Sera smiled at him, a smile that was part shy little girl and part seductive woman, and it twisted Harry's insides up something fierce.
##########
Dumbledore came for Harry very early one Saturday morning in the first week of August to take him to meet his friends in Diagon Alley and gather his school supplies for the coming term. Ron and Hermione were surprised to see him, and they spent the day together, with Harry getting caught up on how they were spending their summers, but, having been warned by Dumbledore, not sharing anything about how he was spending his. They spent an entertaining part of the day in Fred and George's new shop, then followed Draco Malfoy on a mysterious errand.
Sera and Snape sat alone at the breakfast table. "It's a beautiful day," Sera noted. "What are your plans?
"More of the same, I expect," Snape offered.
"I was just wondering if you'd like to come into town with me," Sera said before she could reconsider, afraid that she'd make this offer and he would say no. She wasn't sure what that rejection would feel like. "I have to get some groceries, and I could show you around. You haven't seen much of this area since you got here. I thought maybe you'd like to get out, and we could spend some time together, just you and me, while Harry's gone." Sera forced herself to stop here. She'd already said too much.
Snape considered her with his dark eyes. "That would be . . . fine," he finally said. "However, I have a potion that needs monitoring, and I could not leave right away. Would ten o'clock be acceptable?"
Sera's smile lit up her face. "That would be great! Ten o'clock, then! I'll just get some housework done while I'm waiting."
Snape couldn't help but smile in return at her obvious happiness.
##########
Sera had the pickup truck running in the front yard when Snape emerged from the house. He looked at the truck dubiously, studied the door as though trying to figure out how to work the handle, then opened the door and slid into the truck. He sat stiffly as Sera backed out into the road.
Sera looked over at him. "Relax," she said. "You look like you're headed for the proctologist."
Snape remained just as rigid and reached a hand out to grasp the seat, his knuckles white as he held on tightly. Sera looked at him, confused. They were traveling no more than twenty miles an hour on the dirt road. What was he afraid of?
"Have you never ridden in a vehicle before?" she asked in a teasing tone.
"Actually, no, I have not," he answered.
"Are you joking?" she asked, incredulous.
Snape looked over at her. "You may have noticed that I do not often make jokes."
This was true. "Never?"
"Not once," he confirmed. "I've ridden on trains and broomsticks. I've traveled by floo and by portkey. But I have never once, I will proudly admit, ridden in any type of motor vehicle."
"Wow," Sera breathed. "Well, I assure you, it's perfectly safe. You have nothing to worry about. You may wish to fasten your seatbelt."
Strangely enough, this statement did not help to convince Snape that this was a perfectly safe way to travel. At his look of accusation, she said, "Not because I think you'll need it," she explained. "Because it's the law. And you might feel better." She stopped the truck in the middle of the road and showed her uncle how to fasten the belt. "Better?" she asked.
"Decidedly not," he said firmly.
Sera chuckled and continued them on their way, making small talk as they went. Whenever she looked over at him, Snape admonished her to keep her eyes on the road.
When they finally pulled into the grocery store parking lot, Snape said, "Maybe I should stay here."
"Ashamed to be seen with me?" Sera asked, trying to appear serious but given away by the twinkle in her eyes.
"Of course not," Snape said with a huff.
"Then come with me," she said. "It's just a grocery store. Don't tell me you've never been in a grocery store either!"
"Not a Muggle one," he admitted.
"Well, it's high time you did, then," she said. "Come on."
It was hot and humid outside, and most people were dressed in shorts and t-shirts or tank tops. Snape and his outfit attracted many curious glances as he whisked up and down the aisles of the grocery store behind Sera. Despite the fact that the store was filled with Muggles, Snape had an overpowering urge to take out his wand, the unfamiliarity of this place grating on his nerves and making him edgy. He was distracted somewhat by the scanner at the cash register, rendered curious about how it worked, which attracted more inquisitive glances from those around them. He was immensely relieved when they finally exited into the sunshine and the heat of the parking lot.
"That wasn't so bad, was it?" Sera asked.
Snape's suffering glance told her all she needed to know about what he thought of the experience. "Are we going home now?" he asked, desperately needing the quiet of the house and a strong cup of tea.
"Actually, there's one other place I wanted to show you first." A plan had been forming in her mind since he'd agreed to accompany her. She hoped he didn't kill her once he figured out what she was up to.
Reluctantly, Snape climbed back into the truck, buckled himself in, and stared out the windshield as though he were staring down death itself. Sera hid her snort of laughter in a cough. "Ready?"
She parked as close as she could to Madame Mrvichin's shop. "The lady who runs this shop is a witch," she told Snape.
Snape studied Sera, then turned his eyes to the storefront. "And you know this how?"
"This is where Harry and I bought your birthday present. Harry could tell from some of the stuff in the shop that she was a real witch. Then we met her." She thought mentioning how Madame Mrvichin had saved them both from Travis was probably not a good idea. "Come on. I think you'll like it in here."
Grudgingly, Snape got out of the truck, then waited for Sera to lead the way into the dark shop. Immediately, Snape could also tell that this was a magical place, and despite his hesitation, he began looking around at the many items on display. Sera stood at the counter, watching her uncle make a circuit of the room. She was startled by someone suddenly speaking directly behind her. "Ah, Miss Mallory. You have returned."
Sera whipped around to face Madame Mrvichin, surprised again by how tall this woman was. "Yes," she said, her breath coming a little too fast.
"And did your uncle like his present?"
"You can ask him yourself," Sera said with a smile. "He's here with me." Upon hearing their exchange, Snape approached them through the gloom. "Madame Mrvichin, this is my uncle, Severus Snape. Uncle Severus, Madame Mrvichin."
As almost everyone else was, Snape was struck by this woman's regal beauty. He offered her his hand. "I am very pleased to make your acquaintance."
Madame Mrvichin accepted his hand and bowed slightly over it. "And I yours," she said. "And it's actually Karen Crawford."
At Sera's questioning look, Madame Mrvichin explained. "Madame Mrvichin is much more mysterious sounding, don't you think?"
Sera smiled in acknowledgment.
"I was asking your niece how you liked the mortar and pestle," Karen said, turning to Snape.
"It was incomparable," Snape said. "Elegant, yet imminently useful."
"Uncle is the potions master at Hogwarts. That's a magical school in Scotland," Sera explained.
Karen raised an eyebrow, obviously impressed with this. "I've actually heard of Hogwarts. Had a distant cousin who attended years ago. You teach potions?"
Sera moved away from them, ostensibly to browse the merchandise, but actually to give them a chance to talk alone. She made her circuit around the shop a very slow one, keeping an ear on the conversation occurring beside the front door. The adults seemed comfortable talking to one another, and the conversation hadn't ebbed when Sera made her way back to them. They stopped talking when she appeared, both of them seeming to have forgotten she was there. She smiled up at them.
"We were just about to get some lunch," Sera said. "Would you care to join us?"
"Now, Serafina, I'm sure Mrs. Crawford has other plans," Snape said quickly.
"Actually, it's Miss Crawford," she corrected with a pointed look at Snape. Although Snape didn't smile at this news, he did look immensely pleased. "And I have no other plans."
"But surely you can't just leave," Snape pointed out. "The shop . . ." He waved his hand at the interior of the shop.
"The shop is just a front," she informed them. "It provides the Council with an opportunity to have a local presence with a legitimate business concern. I can leave it whenever I wish."
"Great, then," Sera said, almost clapping her hands in her glee. "Let's go."
As the town's only sit-down restaurant was only a block down the street, the three of them walked, Snape and Karen leading the way and Sera trailing along behind, pleased so far with how her plan was going. The dangerous part was coming up, though, and she hoped her uncle didn't react badly.
They entered the cheery restaurant and stood just inside the door, waiting to be seated. The waitress approached them, with a wary glance at Snape and a smile for the locals, and asked, "Will there be three today?"
Before anyone else could speak, Sera interjected. "Shoot! I forgot I needed to run another errand. You two go ahead and get started without me. I'll be back as soon as I can." And before they could argue or Snape could whack her for what she was about to do, Sera quickly backed out the door and into the heat of the day.
Sera walked to the nearby gas station, where she purchased a sandwich and a drink. She was hungry, but she had no intention of going back to the restaurant. She took her sandwich to the truck, grabbed the book she'd stuffed under the front seat, and settled in to eat and read to help the time pass while she waited.
Almost two hours later, Sera noticed two familiar figures approaching in the rearview mirror. They walked without haste up the street, still conversing, and Sera smiled. They'd obviously found a lot to talk about. She stayed in the truck until they came even with her. They continued to speak for a bit until finally, with a wave at Sera, Karen returned to her shop and Snape got into the truck.
Sera tried to gauge Snape's mood. She replaced the bookmark in her book and placed it on the seat. When Snape didn't say anything, she started up the truck, waited until Snape had buckled up, and pulled out onto the street. She pulled up to the stoplight, which was red, and stopped to wait.
Still Snape didn't speak, which Sera was beginning to think was a bad omen, and she began to get a little nervous that Snape was not happy with her attempt at matchmaking. When the light turned green, she began to pull into the intersection. Suddenly, from her right, a red sports car came at them, going so fast it was almost a blur. Sera stomped on the brake and laid on the horn, and the red car managed to swerve to avoid them, going around them and continuing down the street at a high rate of speed.
"Merlin's beard!" Snape exclaimed. It had happened so quickly, there had been no time to react or speak or even feel fear until it was all over.
"Where's a cop when you need one?" Sera muttered. Checking to be sure that there wasn't someone else with a desire to run them down, Sera continued through the intersection.
"You said this was safe!" Snape accused.
"Well, it is when everyone obeys the rules of the road," Sera snapped back, her own adrenalin diminishing but still present. "Jerk went through a red light. We didn't crash, did we?"
"Only by the most amazing of miracles," Snape pointed out.
Sera noticed that Snape's grip on the seat was even tighter now, but he didn't say another word until they pulled into the driveway at the house, for which Sera was grateful since she had a feeling he had been just about to tell her off for what she'd done. She pressed the button for the automatic garage door opener and waited for the door to open.
Snape gaped as the door pulled up into the garage, apparently of its own accord. "What is this magic?"
"It's not magic," Sera said. "It's a garage door opener. Runs on electricity and batteries."
"Hmm," Snape said, but Sera thought he seemed a little impressed.
She pulled into the garage and stopped. She hopped out of the truck, but it seemed to take Snape a little longer to unfold himself from the frozen position he'd been sitting in since the near miss. Sera grabbed the grocery bags and headed into the house, hoping to avoid or at least delay the explosion she feared was coming.
Snape, however, seemed incapable of anything but crossing through the kitchen and vanishing into his basement haven, and Sera heaved a sigh of relief.
##########
Harry returned shortly after Sera finished putting the groceries away. After a quick kiss, Harry went into his room for a nap before supper. It had been nighttime when he'd left Diagon Alley, and he felt like he'd put in a whole day already. He'd be asleep for the night by suppertime if he didn't get a little rest.
Snape didn't emerge from the basement until Sera called down that supper was ready. He seemed a little surprised to see Harry there, but recovered to ask how the trip to Diagon Alley had gone. Harry filled them in on all he had seen and heard while back at home, including his visit to Fred and George's shop and the mysterious errand that they'd followed Draco Malfoy on. He didn't mention that he'd caught himself many times wishing Sera had been able to accompany him. He'd been surprised at how much he'd missed her while he was away. "So what did you two do today?" he asked them innocently when he'd finished his tale.
An uncomfortable silence settled in the room, confusing Harry.
Supper was finished, and Snape asked, his voice deceptively calm, "Miss Mallory, do you wish me to ask Mr. Potter to leave the room?"
"Uh oh," Sera thought to herself. He was angry. Really angry from the sound of it. Harry looked from one to the other of them, wondering what had happened in his absence.
"Harry can stay," Sera said, her voice low and fearful.
After a moment of awkward silence, Snape said, "Would you care to explain what you were thinking?"
Sera wasn't quite sure how to answer that one, so she sat for a time formulating a response. All of the reasons she had done what she'd done would carry no weight with her uncle, she was sure of that. It had seemed like such a good idea this morning. She'd been even more sure of that when she'd seen how the two of them got along. But now, in the face of his apparent anger, none of her reasons seemed valid or particularly intelligent.
"Can I ask what happened?" Harry asked quietly, fairly certain that his interference would not be welcomed by Snape. He recognized his teacher's outward calm that hid seething anger just below the surface – he'd had it directed at himself enough times – and if he could diffuse it or redirect some of it towards himself and away from Sera, he would do that willingly.
Sera was happy for the opportunity to delay trying to answer he uncle's question, though. "We went into town today, and –"
Harry thought he now knew what the trouble was, and he jumped in before she could finish. "Is this about the truck? Because, really, Professor, Sera is a good driver, and the fact that she doesn't have a license shouldn't matter all that much!"
Snape now looked at Sera with a new reason to be upset. Sera turned her dark eyes angrily on Harry, with a look that said, "Thanks a lot!" Harry realized instantly that he'd said the wrong thing, and he sank a little lower in his seat. So much for diffusing or redirecting – he'd probably just doubled Snape's anger!
"We'll deal with that later," Snape growled. "I'm still waiting for an answer to my question. Whatever possessed you?"
Sera stared down at the table and ran a thumbnail along one of the lines in the plaid cloth covering it. "I don't know. It just seemed like a good idea at the time."
"I cannot hear you when you mumble into the tablecloth," Snape noted. "Look at me when you speak to me."
Sera raised her eyes to his. "I don't know," she repeated loudly. "It seemed like a good idea at the time."
Harry was curious enough to burst, wondering what she possibly could have done that would have angered Snape this much, but he knew better now than to ask.
"And now?" Snape challenged.
"Not so much," she admitted. "But she was nice, though, right? You seemed to be having a really nice conversation, and I thought . . ."
"You thought?" Snape repeated with a bit of the familiar sneer that Harry hadn't seen for a while. "I have to question that assertion, because there doesn't seem to be any basis for it. I cannot imagine any train of thought that would have led you to the station you apparently arrived at."
"What's the big deal?" Sera asked, her fear trying to turn to self-righteous anger. "So the two of you had lunch?! Was it so awful? Because it didn't look to me like you were having a miserable time!"
"That is entirely beside the point," Snape said.
"So what, then, is the point?" Sera asked.
"The point is the devious and underhanded way in which you went about this . . . setup."
"Well, would you have gone if I had suggested it in advance?" Sera challenged.
"No."
Sera sat back, her point made. "You see?"
"What I see is you mucking about in places you have no right to be. I will not tolerate it."
"So I shouldn't invite her here to dinner some night, then?" Sera asked, unable to stop herself. That had been the next step in her plan.
Snape threw up his hands in frustration. "No, you should not invite her here to dinner! Honestly, child, I don't know how to get through to you. Let me make myself plain." He leaned toward her, his manner sinister. Sera fought the urge to lean back away from him. "You will stay out of my love life," he said. Harry's eyes widened at this revelation.
Though the tone of his voice left no room for backtalk, Sera managed to find it anyway. "Or lack thereof," she said.
"Sera!" Snape shouted, finally losing his temper and making Harry jump inches out of his chair.
"Okay!" she shouted back. "Whatever you say!"
"Thank you!" he said, falsely grateful, and he stood up and stalked out of the room and down the stairs.
"You're welcome," she said after he'd gone, unable to let him have the last word.
Harry stared across at her. "What did you do?"he asked, keeping his voice low in case Snape had stopped to listen.
Sera huffed and crossed her arms, sitting back in her chair. "I set him up to go to lunch with Madame Mrvichin. Whose name is actually Karen Crawford, by the way. Alone."
"You did what?! Are you mad?!"
"Apparently," Sera conceded bitterly. "I don't get why he's so upset. They really seemed to hit it off. They couldn't stop talking in the store, and when I suggested that she go to lunch with us, she seemed really interested. They talked all the way to the restaurant, and then I left them there. I made up an errand that I needed to run. I waited in the truck for them, and they were in there almost two hours! It couldn't have been that miserable, or they would have come looking for me much sooner!"
Harry shook his head. "You're brave, I'll give you that. How is it that he was able to hold off on confronting you until now? You're lucky he didn't take your head off as soon as he had you alone."
"I think he was going to. We had a near miss with another car on the way home, and that seemed to freak him out a little. Or a lot. He'd never ridden in a car before, can you believe it? You wizardy people are really weird in a freaky sort of way. You weren't freaked out by the truck."
"I grew up with Muggles, remember? I'd been in a car plenty of times. Sorry about telling him you don't have a license," Harry added.
"Well, he didn't mention that, at least."
"Probably saving it for later," Harry guessed.
"Great. Thanks, Harry," she said sarcastically.
##########
Two days had passed. Sera tried to stay out of her uncle's way, in case he was still mad, but his anger seemed to have dissipated after making his point with her. She was able to guess why when that morning he mentioned, in as off-hand a manner as possible, hoping his announcement would pass without any undue commotion, "Miss Crawford is coming to dinner this evening."
But there was no way Sera was going to let that pass that easily. "I'm sorry. What did you say?" she asked, fighting the urge to crow. "I must have misheard you because it sounded like you said Miss Crawford was coming to dinner tonight."
Snape drew himself up proudly. "That is what I said," he confirmed.
"You invited her to dinner!" Sera nearly shouted in her glee.
"I did." Snape had felt compelled to do so. At the end of their very nice luncheon on Saturday, Snape had been very dismayed to discover that he had no money with which to pay for said lunch. He hadn't brought any with him, not figuring he would need it. He'd been more than a little embarrassed, and that had been the cause for most of his anger with Sera. Karen had been very gracious about the whole thing and had paid for their lunch. In exchange, Snape had invited her to dine with them at the farmhouse, which invitation she had accepted immediately.
"Ha! I knew it!" Sera said, unable to contain herself. "You like her," she sang.
"That is irrelevant," Snape said haughtily. "And I don't wish to discuss this any further. You may choose the menu for this evening's dinner. And you WILL NOT disappear. I will expect both of you at the dinner table for the entire meal."
"Yes, sir!" Sera said with a smile and a snappy salute. She was going to start searching through her cookbooks right away for just the right meal. She avoided looking at Harry, because she knew if she did, she'd start laughing at her uncle, which would probably not improve his mood any.
##########
"Miss Crawford!" Sera said, meeting their guest at the door. "Please come in."
"Thank you, Sera. And please call me Karen. This was your grandmother's house?"
"Yes. She lived here all her life. Why don't you come into the kitchen while I finish dinner."
"Is there anything I can do to help you?" Karen offered.
"No, thanks. I'm all set. Have a seat."
Karen sat at the dining room table. "Severus told me what a good cook you are. You're very young to have developed such skills."
"I cooked for my grandmother," Sera explained. "And I like doing it."
Harry, hearing that their guest had arrived, came out of his bedroom. "Hello, Madame Mrvichin."
"Harry," she said with a beautiful smile. "How nice to see you again. And it's Karen, please. How are you enjoying your summer here?"
"It's been great," Harry said truthfully, his eyes straying to Sera, who smiled at him in return.
Karen studied the two of them, seeing at once that there was something between them. She smiled to herself at the memory of her own first young love.
"Why don't I get Snape?" Harry offered.
Harry bounded down the basement steps and came to a stop before Snape's door. He peered inside, but could not see anyone. "Professor?" he called into the empty room.
Snape emerged from his sleeping chamber. "Potter."
"Your date is here," Harry said with a mischievous smile. If anyone had told him months ago that he would be uttering those words to Professor Snape, he would have told them they'd spent too much time in the presence of the Whomping Willow. "Oi! I think that's number three on the top ten list of things I never thought I'd say to you."
"Do I want to hear numbers one and two on that list?" Snape asked.
"Definitely not, sir."
With a small "tsk" of annoyance at Harry, Snape passed him and mounted the steps.
"Karen," he said. "How very nice to see you again."
Karen rose from her chair to greet him, a smile lighting her beautiful face. "Severus."
"Have you been here long? Has Sera offered you a refreshment?"
"I've been here only a few minutes. And Sera has been a perfectly charming hostess," she said, accepting a glass of lemonade from Sera as she spoke.
"Dinner will be a few more minutes, if you'd like to retire to the living room," Sera suggested, her attempt at sounding mature marred by the giggle that snuck out after her offer.
Harry helped Sera to put the few remaining touches on dinner while the adults sat in the living room, talking. Sera kept shooting meaningful glances at Harry, and he smiled in return, but he wasn't sure what she was expecting. Karen and Snape did seem to be having no trouble conversing, but in the end, what did it really matter? Snape would surely be leaving here in a few weeks' time, which wasn't nearly enough time to get serious enough about someone to consider uprooting your life. Was it?
Dinner was very nice. In deference to the heat and humidity, Sera had kept the menu as cool as possible. Lime shrimp wrapped in lettuce, a Waldorf salad to which Sera had added craisins, and strawberry soup, which Harry thought sounded disgusting but actually turned out to taste like liquid heaven in a bowl. Lemonade from scratch and chocolate cake with ice cream rounded out the perfect meal.
The conversation was lively and almost uninterrupted. Karen had many questions for Harry once she figured out who he really was, which he tried to deflect back to the others as much as possible. Karen and Snape continued a conversation regarding the differences in European and American magical education which they had apparently begun at lunch last weekend. Sera didn't speak much, but was happy to sit and take everything in, pretending, at least for tonight, that she knew what it felt like to have a real family that sat around the table like this every night. They sat and talked long after dessert had been eaten. Finally realizing how late it was, Sera stood up and started clearing the table, which became a cue for everyone else to do likewise.
Karen insisted on helping with clean-up. When they were finished, Snape walked Karen to her car. When Snape returned many minutes later, Sera asked slyly, "Sooo – did you kiss her goodnight?"
Snape gave her a look that would have intimidated just about anyone else. Sera laughed, but let the subject drop.
##########
Harry had been quiet of late, the approaching end of summer forcing him to confront some of the uncertainty he'd be facing shortly. He'd come to realize that coming here was just the thing he needed, and he hoped he remembered to thank Professor McGonagall for suggesting it the next time he saw her. He was more at peace than he could ever remember being. He'd had only a handful of nightmares since coming here, and the scar on his forehead had remained pain-free.
After the first couple of weeks, when the instinct to check around every corner and to wonder what was behind every tree had passed, he'd become used to the fact that no one here wished him ill, and he'd been able to relax like never before. Even with the Dursleys he'd always had to be on guard against Dudley's physical attacks and Uncle Vernon's mental strikes and even Aunt Petunia's just plain meanness. He needed no further evidence of this than the fact that half the time, he went about his day without his wand. Because of the reduced need for that heightened vigilance, he found it restful enough that he'd had time to think about Sirius and about Cedric, and to talk about them with Sera, and he'd come to terms with what had happened to them and his role in it. There would always be guilt, but he could live with it now.
Returning to school was very much on his mind, and the thought brought him only half of the pleasure that it usually did. Returning to Hogwart's had always felt like returning home, mostly because he'd never had a real home to leave. And although this old one-story secluded farmhouse in a foreign country wasn't really his home, the people in it had very much begun to feel like a family. Yes, even Snape. His turbulent relationship with Snape had changed to one of almost mutual respect. Gone were the snide remarks and the cutting insults. Harry guessed that neither of them was capable of real affection for the other, but they'd come to tolerate and accept, and that was enough.
And then there was Sera. Harry knew like he knew his own name that he loved her. The time for leaving was less than two weeks away, and he still didn't know what would happen to Sera when term started up again and Snape had to return to Hogwarts. Sera had been reluctant to bring the subject up with her uncle because she feared that she'd hear that he was leaving her behind. If she didn't ask, she could continue to pretend that he had other plans for her. The thought of being separated from her soon left an ache in the center of Harry's heart and a hole in his stomach. How could he leave her after all they'd been to each other this summer?
And he couldn't forget Lenni, his new kitten. They'd searched for a name that meant brave, and Sera had found Leonard on the internet and discovered it meant "brave as a lion" which Harry thought was a perfect name for a Gryffindor. A girl couldn't be called Leonard, of course, so they'd shortened it and feminized it to Lenni. Harry had become quite attached to the kitten, and he looked forward to bringing her back to school with him. Sera had become fond of her as well, and Harry felt a little guilt at the thought that if she had to stay here, he'd be taking Lenni away from her as well. He kept meaning to ask Snape if animals could disapparate. If they couldn't, he may be forced to leave her here, but if Sera stayed behind, that wouldn't be so bad. He'd miss her, though. She slept on his bed each night and curled up with him when he sat down to read or watch television. She was happy and sweet tempered and seemed to love everyone (even Snape).
The distraction of Sera's future was the only thing that worried him now, and for the most part, he was happy, really content, for maybe the first time in his life. He should have known that wouldn't last forever.
##########
Harry awoke with the realization that he wasn't alone, and instinct told him to be afraid. It only took a couple of seconds to realize, however, that whoever was in the bed with him wasn't there to kill him, at least not in the way he was accustomed to.
"Sera!" he whispered. "What are you doing?!"
From under the blankets came Sera's muffled voice. "I should think that was obvious."
It was, really, but the tiny part of Harry that was capable of rational thought wasn't sure this was a good idea. The rest of him, the part that responded to Sera's hands and mouth, quickly overruled his objections, and he succumbed to her without further argument.
Afterward, Harry lay on his back, looking at the ceiling, trying to get his breath back. "Do I want to know where you learned that?" he asked her.
"I read a lot," she told him simply, smacking her lips at the foreign taste in the back of her mouth.
"Well, it was rather nice for me," he noted. "But it couldn't have done much for you."
"Don't be so sure. Anyway, I'll give you the chance to reciprocate."
Harry felt himself blushing to a deep red. "Well you . . . but I don't think . . . what do you mean?"
"You know what I mean," she said softly, surely. "You need to lose some of your inhibitions, Harry. We're two consenting . . . well, not adults exactly, but close enough." She could tell the idea was very discomfiting to Harry, and she let him off the hook, for now anyway. "Don't worry. I wasn't talking about tonight. Just maybe . . . some time?"
Harry breathed a sigh of relief and accepted her willingly into his arms when she insinuated herself there. Lenni jumped onto the bed and curled up on Harry's chest. Sera stroked the kitten's ears, content to lay here with the two of them and never leave.
"I suppose you should go," Harry said with a sigh, his thoughts echoing her own.
"I don't want to."
"And I don't want you to. But if your uncle finds you here . . ." He didn't want to finish that thought.
"How about we set the alarm for four-thirty? I'll go then."
"That should work," Harry agreed. Sera sat up and fixed the alarm clock by Harry's bed. She settled herself back in next to him and fell asleep with the thought that there was no reason they couldn't do this every night. Uncle Severus slept downstairs. He didn't need to know that Sera snuck in here after the house was still and slept with Harry. If they were up in the morning before Uncle, he'd never know.
And isn't it always the smallest things that bring down the greatest plans?
Some time later in the night, Lenni had meowed at the bedroom door. Harry heard her, and fearing she needed to use her litter box, got up to let her out. He left the door ajar so that when she was ready to come back up, she'd be able to get in without waking him again. He climbed back into his bed, into Sera's warmth, and immediately fell back asleep.
But Lenni hadn't come back. She'd prowled the house, searching dark corners for mice and spiders, chasing a house fly from one end of the kitchen to another, staring out the windows at the darkness. And shortly before four-thirty, she'd ventured down the basement stairs and into Snape's workshop. There were lots of interesting things to smell in here, and she jumped onto the table, her little nose twitching.
When she'd explored everything on the table, she jumped to the nearest shelf. When she did, she knocked over an empty glass vial, which hit the floor with a crash.
In his sleeping chamber, Snape awoke with a start at the sound of glass breaking. He got quickly out of bed, grabbed his wand, and soon discovered the source of the noise that had interrupted his sleep. "Nuisance," he muttered as he pointed his wand at the broken glass to get rid of the mess.
He then heard the sound of an alarm clock blaring from somewhere upstairs. That was curious, he thought. It was four-thirty in the morning. Which one of the two layabout teenagers felt the need to make themselves get out of bed this early? He finished cleaning up, then started slowly up the stairs to investigate.
Harry reached over Sera to slap the alarm clock to shut it up. His hand landed on his glasses, and he picked them up and put them on. "Sera," he whispered, nudging her. "Time to get up."
"Mmhmmph," she said, snuggling deeper into the blankets.
"Sera!" Harry said, more insistently this time. Still she didn't move. "Don't make me do something drastic," he warned her. Still nothing. "All right, don't say I didn't warn you."
He began to tickle her ribs, and she started to squirm beneath his hands. He instantly realized that she was still completely unclothed, and that realization made him want to do something other than tickle her. They had a few minutes, and that was all he really needed.
He rolled on top of her, his hands still wandering about in the general vicinity of her ribs, as she tried to get at his hands to make him stop. "Stop!" she gasped through her giggles. Harry kissed her soundly, trying to keep her quiet and also because he really wanted to. "Quiet!" he hissed. "Do you want your uncle to hear?"
"It's a little late for that," said a voice from the doorway. "And I'd thank you to GET OFF MY NIECE!"
Harry rolled off Sera quickly and sat staring at a furious Severus Snape. "Bloody hell!" he thought to himself, pulling the sheet up to his chest, desperately trying to cover his condition. His erection wilted at what would have been an alarming rate under other circumstances.
Snape almost totally misinterpreted what he'd seen. When he'd peered through the partially-ajar bedroom door, he'd seen Harry Potter on top of his struggling niece, and he'd heard one word: "Stop."
"Serafina," Snape said, not taking his eyes from Harry, "are you all right?"
Sera sat up, clutching at the sheet to keep herself covered, pulling it away from Harry, who grabbed frantically at it. "I'm fine, Uncle. This isn't what it looks like."
"I can see exactly what this looks like. Up, boy!"
As Snape had his wand clutched in his hand and pointing at him, Harry figured he'd better do as he'd been told. He could tell from the look in Snape's eyes that he was beyond reasoning with, so he said nothing. Keeping an eye warily on Snape's wand, he disentangled himself from the sheet and stood beside the bed, feeling all the more vulnerable for the fact that he was naked. His boxers lay crumpled on the floor by this feet, and Harry bent down and quickly put them on.
"Away from the bed," Snape ordered with a wave of his wand.
Harry was reluctant to move so far away from Sera. Once he had them separated, there was nothing to keep Snape from killing Harry on the spot.
"I said, away from the bed!"
Harry moved to the wall. At least when he blasted Harry, Sera wouldn't be caught in the vortex. Instead of using his wand, Snape advanced on Harry until he towered over him, his rage making him appear to Harry taller than he was. "Give me one reason why I shouldn't kill you right now," Snape said, his voice deadly calm.
"I . . ." Harry started, but Snape didn't give him a chance to finish. Before Harry could react, Snape had him pinned to the wall, an arm at his throat, slowly but surely cutting off his air supply.
Sera scrambled off the bed, clutching at the sheet to keep herself covered. "Uncle!" she cried in alarm.
Snape either didn't hear her or disregarded her cry. He finally had the delinquent Harry Potter exactly where he wanted him, physically, certainly, but also with a reason to do him bodily harm that no one could argue with, and he increased the pressure on Harry's windpipe.
Harry knew he should struggle, kick out maybe, but the edges of his vision were already starting to gray, and he knew he was only moments from passing out. After that, he guessed, death would soon follow. After all these years of avoiding Voldemort's attempts to kill him, Harry was going to die here, in his pants, at the hands of Severus Snape.
"Uncle, stop, or I'll use this!" Sera cried, which finally made Snape look up.
She had picked up Harry's wand and thought she was pointing it at her uncle. Unfortunately, the business end of the wand was pointing directly at her own heart. If she'd received even a tiny amount of magical ability from her mother's predecessors, given her heightened emotional state, who knew what magic she might be capable of producing?
"Let him go," she ordered.
Harry had enough brain cells still firing to be afraid for her as well, but he could not speak in his present condition. His befuddled brain requested that he make a mental note to himself to show Sera how to hold a wand if he survived this mess.
Fortunately, the uncertainty of Sera's power and concern for his niece pierced the veil of hatred that surrounded Snape, and he let go of Harry so suddenly that Harry slid down the wall until he was sitting slumped on the floor, holding his throat and gasping to fill his lungs with much-needed air.
"Put that down before you hurt yourself!" Snape ordered.
"Not until you back away from him."
Snape looked down at Harry, still struggling to breathe on the floor. He knew he could disarm Sera in an instant and finish the job, finally, with Potter, but enough of the anger had evaporated so that he could think clearly again. And she was still pointing the boy's wand at her own chest. He took one step backward
"Now put your wand down," Sera ordered.
"Serafina . . ." he began.
"Just do it!"
Snape sighed. He could point out to her that even without his wand, he could neutralize whatever threat she posed with little effort and dispose of Potter, but he didn't. He just wanted her to put the wand down before she hurt herself, and he dropped his wand to the floor.
"Harry, are you all right?" Sera asked.
"I'm fine," Harry croaked, rising awkwardly to his feet, his back to the wall for support, still a little light-headed. "Would you put that down, please?"
"Not until he agrees not to touch you again."
Snape was confused. "I don't understand why you're defending him after he tried to force himself on you."
"He wasn't forcing himself on me!" Sera cried. "I was in his bed, wasn't I?! I wanted it!"
Harry now wished that the wand Sera was holding would turn on him and end this misery.
Snape looked from one to the other, his anger growing again as he realized exactly what was going on here, what they'd been hiding from him. "How long has this been going on?"
"We weren't doing anything!" Sera said.
"Not for lack of trying," Snape noted. "You're strangely quiet, Potter. Nothing to say? No eloquent words in defense of your behavior? Then again, I don't expect the truth from you in any event. History has taught that the word of a Potter is meaningless."
Harry's fear from moments ago was transforming quickly into anger. "Don't you drag my father into this!" he squawked, his voice hoarse from the near-strangling.
"Why not? It's obvious where you got your scruples from. But there is one way of getting the truth from you, isn't there? What about it, Potter? Willing to drink a little veritaserum?"
Harry really didn't want to. Under the influence of the truth serum, he'd be at Snape's mercy. Snape could ask him about anything, and Harry would be powerless to do anything but tell him the truth. But if he refused, he'd look even more guilty than circumstances now made him out to be. At the very least, the truth of his relationship with Sera was going to come out. He only hoped nothing more would follow.
Harry looked Snape in the eye and said, "Get it."
"After you," Snape said, sweeping his arm at the door. He wasn't going to give Potter a chance to disapparate away.
Harry looked at him and moved toward the door. He grabbed his t-shirt from the floor and put it on with as much dignity as he could muster, then headed for the basement door.
They had both forgotten Sera. She finally put Harry's wand back where she'd found it and followed them to the basement, still wrapped in Harry's sheet. She wanted to get dressed, but she wasn't going to leave Uncle alone with Harry, not even for a minute.
Snape pushed Harry into a chair and went into the store room to retrieve his bottle of truth serum. He handed it to Harry. "Drink it."
Harry took the bottle. With one last, apologetic, look at Sera, he took the tiniest sip of the liquid, then set the bottle on the table.
"Let's start with something basic, just to be sure it's working. Have you ever brewed and/or consumed polyjuice potion?"
"Consumed, yes."
Snape smirked triumphantly. He'd been sure it was Harry and his friends that had raided his store cupboard of lacewing flies and boomslang skin, even after they'd found out that Barty Crouch, Jr. had been posing as Alastor Moody all term.
"When?" he continued.
"Second year," Harry told him.
"Second year?" Snape repeated, surprised. "Fourth year, also?"
"No. Just second year."
So it had been Crouch only during the tri-wizard tournament. Apparently he'd never noticed when they'd taken the ingredients earlier. Now he was curious. "Why?"
"Because we were trying to discover who the heir of Slytherin was. We thought it was Malfoy. Ron and I transformed ourselves into Crabbe and Goyle to get close to him. But it wasn't Malfoy."
No, it hadn't been Malfoy. "Have you ever cheated on an exam?"
"That's not fair!" Sera cried before Harry could answer. "That's not what this is about!"
But Harry couldn't stop himself from answering. "Not on an exam, no. I've copied Hermione's homework."
Snape knew that already – he hadn't needed truth serum for that.
"Have you ever slept with my niece?" he asked quickly, now wanting this to be over with as much as Harry did.
"In the literal sense, or the Biblical sense?"
"Let's go with the Biblical," Snape suggested drily.
"Actually, the answer to both is the same. Yes."
"How many times?"
Harry had to think about this one. As he thought, he counted out loud on his fingers. "Let's see, there was the first time, in the truck, the other time in the back of the truck, there have been one . . . two . . . three . . . four times by the lake, once in her bed, once in the shower," this memory was accompanied by a lecherous smile and a low chuckle that Harry couldn't repress, "once on the sofa, one . . . two. . ."
"Enough!" Snape interrupted. This was more information than he'd bargained for.
"Twelve, I think," Harry said, because he was unable not to. "But not this morning."
Snape ignored this. All he really wanted to know was, "Have you ever forced her?"
"No! She's always been perfectly willing. In fact, most times, she instigated it."
Sera blushed and was glad no one was looking at her.
What to do now? Snape wondered. He had the truth, he was sure of it. But how had it helped? He was still angry, though not quite as angry as he'd been when he thought he'd seen Potter raping his niece. And he couldn't help the feeling of betrayal that stole over him upon learning that Sera had chosen to be with Potter. She was supposed to have been able to resist the Potter magnetism, but she'd fallen under its spell just like almost everyone else had. What was he going to do now?
"We're done here," he muttered. He thought about giving Harry an antidote to the truth serum, but decided against it. Let him live with it until the effects wore off. "I'll be speaking with Dumbledore directly about this. Get out of my sight. Both of you."
Harry followed Sera up the stairs. He squeezed her hand, said "I love you," quietly to her, and they went into their separate rooms to dress. And as bad as the situation was, Sera was comforted by the fact that he'd said he loved her when he was unable to lie.
##########
Unwilling to go to him and leave the miscreants alone in the house and give them an opportunity to repeat their misdeeds, Snape had asked for Dumbledore's immediate presence, and within thirty minutes, the headmaster stood in his basement workshop.
"Severus," he said, "I came as soon as I could. Has something happened to Harry?"
Harry. It was always about Harry. "No, nothing has happened to Potter. This is more about what Potter has been doing. Specifically, with my niece."
Dumbledore caught on immediately, and raised an eyebrow at Snape. "You're certain?"
"He's admitted to it."
"With some assistance?" Dumbledore asked with a piercing stare at Snape.
Snape nodded in acknowledgment. "I wanted to be sure. Not that I needed it, after catching them . . . in the act."
Dumbledore winced. That had to have been uncomfortable for all concerned. "I don't see Harry here, Severus. I'm assuming that he's alive and well somewhere in this house?"
"He is," Snape affirmed with regret.
"And your niece?"
"She, as well."
Dumbledore sighed. "What is it you wish me to do, Severus?"
"What I wish you to do, Headmaster, is give me back this summer to do over again!"
"But, Severus, all of your reports have been so positive. You've caught Harry up on his school work, you've taught him to apparate, and you couldn't have been more pleased about his new-found ability at occlumency."
"And I guess we now know why he developed such a highly advanced ability to block access to his thoughts so suddenly!"
Dumbledore ignored this. It truly didn't matter to him why Harry had learned to block unwanted access to his thoughts, only that he had done so. His very life might depend on that ability one day.
"Not to mention the relationship you've forged with your niece during your time here. That has to be worth something," said Dumbledore.
"I thought it was," Snape admitted. "It turns out I was wrong."
"Severus, she is not Lily," Dumbledore pointed out gently. "And Harry is not James. They've done nothing to you."
Snape didn't want to go down that road. "I cannot stay here with them now. I cannot look at them and not see . . ."
Dumbledore sighed. This had lasted longer than he'd thought it would and had gone much better than he'd ever imagined. If it had to end now, with only a few days left until term, he couldn't argue. "How long will it take you to pack up here?"
"I had already begun. I'll need only a day or so to finish packing, but I'll probably need a week to figure out what to do about Serafina and make those arrangements."
Dumbledore's piercing blue eyes searched Snape's black ones. "Severus, don't make decisions hastily. Think about what's best for the girl. I'd like to meet her while I'm here. But I would like to speak with Harry first."
"Up the stairs, to your left. His bedroom's on the right."
Dumbledore climbed the stairs and stopped at the top, where Lenni sat waiting to make his acquaintance. He scooped the kitten up, and Lenni snuggled into his beard beneath his chin. Dumbledore tapped on Harry's door and pushed it open. "Who's your new friend?" he asked.
Harry had been sitting on his bed, staring idly out the window, wondering what was going to happen now. At the sound of the familiar voice, he jumped up and whirled to face the headmaster.
"Professor Dumbledore!"
"Hello, Harry. You look well." And he did. Harry had put on some weight this summer, thanks to Serafina's cooking, and the time he'd spent outdoors had left him tan and healthy looking. Best yet, his eyes had lost that haunted look, and there was peace there behind the immediate turmoil that raged now. "Your little friend here is quite charming."
Harry smiled. "That's Lenni. Sera gave her to me for my birthday."
"Ah, Sera. The reason I'm here."
Harry blushed and looked away.
"Harry Potter, the normal, unmagical teenaged boy," Dumbledore said, repeating what he'd told Harry at the beginning of the summer. "Professor Snape is rather upset with you."
"I noticed, sir," Harry said, rubbing his neck in remembrance.
"Have you nothing to say for yourself?"
"What can I say, Professor? It happened. I can't undo it now. Nor do I want to!"
"Do you love her, Harry?"
"Yes, sir, I do. Very much."
Dumbledore smiled behind his beard. Teenagers were always so convinced that they were in love, that what they felt had never been felt by anyone anywhere ever. And trying to convince them that what they thought they felt might not be all that they imagined it to be was pointless, so Dumbledore didn't try.
"I'm sorry, sir. About your having to come here. About messing things up."
"Ah Harry, you haven't 'messed' anything up. You're a young man. She's a young woman. If there wasn't some attraction there, our species would die out, and where would we be then? No, what happened is what is supposed to happen. The consequences, though, are what we must be careful about. Might I assume that you have been . . . careful?"
Harry didn't immediately understand what Dumbledore was talking about, but when it dawned on him that Dumbledore was wondering if they'd used protection, he turned bright red. "Um, well . . . we . . . there wasn't . . . I didn't have . . ."
A sudden thought struck Dumbledore. "Harry, your aunt and uncle, did they ever talk to you about . . .?" He made a rolling gesture with his left hand, indicating "this" with that vague motion.
Harry was looking at anything but Dumbledore, more embarrassed than he'd ever been in his life. He did not want to be having this conversation with the headmaster! "My aunt and uncle? They don't talk to me about the weather, certainly not about anything this . . . important. But you needn't be concerned, sir. I know enough about . . . stuff . . . and I'll be . . ."
Dumbledore took pity on Harry and held up his hand to stop him. "It's too late to worry about that now. But I need you to do me a favor, Harry. I need you not to do it again."
"Are you asking me to stay away from Sera?"
"You'll only be here another week, at most, Harry. Plans are underway as we speak to return you to school. But it will take some time, and I'm assuming I can convince Severus to let you stay here. I'm also going to assume you have enough self-control to last that long."
Harry swallowed the knot that had appeared in the back of his throat. "Do you know what's going to happen to Serafina, Professor?"
"No, Harry, I do not. Her future is in the hands of her uncle, and I don't think he knows himself. Can I count on you to toe the line for a few days?"
Harry looked at Dumbledore, his eyes full of despair. His perfect summer was disintegrating before his eyes. "If you think it's best."
"I do, Harry. I do. Thank you. Now, I'd like to meet the young lady in question. Might I assume that the room next to yours belongs to her?"
Harry nodded. "Yes, sir. Would you like me to introduce you?"
"That won't be necessary. I will see you soon, Harry. Take care of yourself until then."
"Good-bye, sir."
Dumbledore placed Lenni on the bed, then left the room, shutting the door behind him.
##########
The knock on Serafina's door was not a surprise. She'd been expecting her uncle, telling her that he was heading back to England and that he'd informed the social services people that she was their problem now. It was a surprise, though, when she opened the door to find an old dude with really long white hair and a very long beard standing there.
"Er, hello," she said.
"Hello, Serafina. My name is Albus Dumbledore. I am pleased to make your acquaintance finally." He offered his hand to her.
"Dumbledore!" she said with a large smile, grasping his hand and pumping it. "Harry's told me so much about you! I feel like I should bow or something."
"That won't be necessary, I assure you," Dumbledore said, his eyes twinkling. "Might I come in?"
"Oh, sure. Of course. Come on in."
Dumbledore released her hand and entered her room. "Would you like to sit down?" she invited.
"That's very kind of you, thank you, but I'll only be a moment. I just wanted to meet the charmer who's captured young Harry's heart."
Sera smiled shyly. "He worships the ground you walk on, you know."
"I feel the same way about him," Dumbledore assured her. "Your uncle, on the other hand, is a bit put out with both of you at the moment."
Sera's smiled faded. "I know. And things were going so well, too. I had hoped that he was going to . . . Never mind. It doesn't matter any more. He'll do what he's going to do and there's nothing I can do about it now. I don't regret what we did. Not for a minute. I love Harry!"
Dumbledore smiled again. "That's what he said about you. I'm going to go back downstairs now and try to convince your uncle to not make hasty decisions, to stay here for another week and sort things through. I have asked Harry, and I'm going to ask you, to refrain from any further physical contact during this time. I don't know what your uncle is going to decide to do about you, Miss Mallory, but whatever that might be, it would be unfortunate if your dalliance with Harry led to . . . shall we say, permanent consequences? I trust you see the wisdom of this statement, even if your heart is rebelling against it?"
Sera's eyes had filled with tears. They were going to break her and Harry up. She could see it coming. But she nodded, unable to speak, wanting now only to be alone. Besides, what could she say? She was a simple, non-magical girl, and Harry was . . . well Harry was special. He hadn't come right out and told her that, of course, but she could read between the lines. She belonged in this world, and he belonged in the Magic Kingdom, as she'd come to refer to it. Had she ever really had a chance?
"I'm sorry that we've met under such circumstances," Dumbledore continued when she didn't speak, "and I do hope to see you again some time. Please take care of yourself, Miss Mallory."
With that, Dumbledore let himself out of her room. He returned to the basement, where he found Snape in the midst of packing boxes of potion ingredients. Bottles flew in organized patterns across the room and into their respective boxes.
"Packing begun I see."
"Yes, Headmaster."
"Decisions being made as well?" Dumbeldore inquired.
"I believe so."
"And?"
"And I'm going back to Hogwarts, where I belong," Snape told him.
"And your niece?"
"She belongs here."
"Because you feel that is what's best for her, or because she has betrayed you, as you feel Lily betrayed you so many years ago?"
"This isn't about that!" Snape snapped. The bottles all stopped in mid-air.
"Isn't it, Severus?"
"I've made up my mind," said Snape stubbornly.
"Then I won't try and change it. But I must ask you one more thing."
"What is it?"
"I need a few days to make arrangements for Harry's safe return to school. I must ask you to remain here, with him, until I give the word that it is safe for him to come back. I have spoken with him, and he has given his word that he will stay away from your niece during this time. You need not bother with lessons any longer, obviously. I only ask that you and he coexist and not do permanent damage to one another until I bring you both home."
The bottles once again started on their journeys to their respective destinations. "I will do this on one condition," Snape finally said.
"Name it."
"You perform a memory charm to erase what happened between them this summer. On both of them. Today."
"Severus, it was a simple teenage love affair. Children of their age have been having them since the beginning of time and will continue to do so until the end of it. They fall in love, they fall out of love, they move on. There's no need to erase what they had from their memories. We cannot grow and learn from our experiences if we cannot remember them."
Stubbornly, Snape said, "Those are my conditions."
"Let's examine what happened here," Dumbledore continued, trying to reason with Snape. "Harry is a reasonably attractive young man. Your niece is quite a beauty. They were confined here, together, for months. Knowing you as I do, Severus, I would hazard a guess that you left them largely to their own devices. It doesn't take any divination skill to predict what might happen when two teenagers of the opposite sex are left alone for any length of time."
"Are you blaming me for this?" Snape asked, incredulous. "Are you implying that had I paid them more attention this never would have happened?"
"No, of course not," Dumbledore assured him. "They and they alone are responsible for their actions. I only ask that you consider that what they've done isn't the terrible thing you're making it out to be. They're young. Young people are impetuous, their judgment not fully formed. They sometimes leap into situations that older, more cautious people would not."
Snape would not be swayed. "Memory charms, or I leave here in the next day or so, Potter be damned."
Dumbledore sighed. He really needed Harry to stay here while he finalized plans for his safe return to school, plans which were already under way. He'd thought he had another week to complete then, and he wasn't sure how much he could advance the timetable. "All right, Severus. But not today. I will return when the time is right, and I will do it then. Let them say good-bye."
Snape grunted his assent.
At the top of the stairs, Sera, who had been eavesdropping, wanting desperately to know what her uncle's plans were for her, buried her face in her hands and ran outside, toward the lake that had always been her sanctuary, tears streaming from between her fingers.