Okay first I would like to say, I am very sorry it took this long too post a new chapter...but on the bright side, my mystery character will enter into this chapter and a whole new side to the story will be revealed (and still no one got the character). I have tried to keep it as close to the J.K. character's future's as possible, so that might give you a clue as to who it is before you read.

But without any further ado, enjoy!

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...drip...drip...drip...drip...drip...

drip...drip...drip...

drip...

urgh! Stupid tap! The last thing I need is incessant dripping when my head already hurts!

Two black brows furrowed against the sudden striking pain that shot through Severus' head as he opened his eyes against the dulling light of a candle that had been lit on his bedside table...Wait! The potions master suddenly thought, staring around at his surroundings with confusion. I could've sworn I passed out in the living room...how the hell did I end up in bed?

He looked down at himself and took in the long black silk night shirt and furrowed his brow further, the pain spreading throughout his head but refused to become weak to it, he'd felt much worse. It was the confusion, more then the pain, that had him gently pulling himself out of bed, grabbing his wand and moving slowly towards the drifting scent of...wait...was that coffee?

Severus glanced back to the clock on his wall which read 3:11am. There was only one person in the world he knew who consistently drank coffee at three in the morning and unconsciously Severus put down his wand and walked slowly through the living room and into the kitchenette where sure enough, none other then Charlie Weasley was sitting at his kitchen table, happily enjoying a rather large mug of steaming hot coffee.

Severus reared back as the red haired dragon tamer gleamed at him, genuinely happy to see him awake and walking around after that rather nasty bump to the head. But it didn't take long for Snape to force his wall back up, "Weasley? What on earth are you doing here?"

Charlie's face fell, the usually cheerful smile replaced by a slight frown full of concern for his old professor, "I saw Sirius, he came back rather frantic." Charlie paused for a moment, taking in the flicker of emotions that Snape thought he'd missed...he hadn't. Picking his next words carefully he continued, "Sirius was mumbling to himself, I asked him what was wrong and he just kept mumbling...but your name cropped up a few times, along with the phrases 'What have I done?' and 'Ruined everything'"

Charlie kept his tone as gentle as possible. He could see that at the current moment Snape was quite like a frightened and confused deer ling and the slightest off putting noise could send him one of two ways, running back to the safety of his room or becoming so angry as his magic lost control and he ended up hurt...again.

But Charlie knew how to handle this situation. Slowly he got up from his chair and moved to make Severus a mug of coffee the muggle way, fully aware of those bottomless onyx eyes following his every move.

When he finished he turned back to Severus, who was now very aware that he was wearing only a sleep shirt and that it must have been Charlie to put it on him, and he smiled that genuine warm smile that Severus could only ever associate with someone like Charlie. Whole and untainted.

"Sit down Severus, I won't bite...you should know that about me by now" the red haired man chuckled at his own poor joke, happy emotion dancing across his lightly freckled face which was morphed into a gentle grin that the potions master didn't quite meet those chocolate brown eyes so signature to the red-headed Weasley clan.

"Why are you here Weasley?" Snape asked, his voice rough from pain and disuse. The last thing he expected was for said man to burst into very un-manly fits of giggles which really didn't suit his bad boy dragon trainer persona, and made him look like a child that had just been told a simple minded joke. "What is so funny?" Severus asked, slightly angered by this reaction to his perfectly reasonable question.

Charlie just shook his head, bangs of lightly curled hair falling into his eyes, his voice becoming much more reprimanding but still in high spirits after his laughing fit. "After all of this time and everything that has happened, you still can't call me by my first name? Really Severus?"

Severus' eyes widened slightly, before he relaxed and dropped his gaze down to his coffee. He couldn't help but be impressed with how the other man remembered that this large black mug with it's intricate design of a wolf-dog in silver around the side was his favorite coffee mug, and what was even more impressive, after the potions master had taken a sip, was that the 23 year old had remembered exactly how he liked his coffee, black with a shot of hazelnut juice. "I have become set in my ways it seems..."

Charlie cut him off, "You are not old Severus, you're only 35 for goodness sake."

"I have become older then my years Mr Weasley." Severus said, his tone dropping into one of neutral conversation. He'd never truly understood how it had become so easy for him to talk to the red head facing him. He was not at all anything like him, with his shaggy, wavy bangs of shining red hair, a joyous face lightly littered with light brown freckles that matched his chocolate, almond shaped eyes. The slight, but muscular build that made him a great chaser in his youth and also made him a great dragon tamer in adulthood.

Severus wondered momentarily when Charlie had acquired the newest tattoo that was showed off on his left arm by the short sleeve muggle shirt he wore. Charlie followed the raven haired man's line of vision and smiled, "I got it in Argentina. There was a rather nasty Horntail incident, some idiot had smuggled it into the country and it was wreaking havoc with the locals, it's a water snake."

Severus nodded his understanding, taking in the slightly swaying, curled up gray and black snake that was inked on the other man's lightly tanned skin. "You have been away from Romania for too long, your tan is beginning to fade."

This time Charlie's laugh was a slight bellow, and Severus allowed him self a few seconds of hidden laughter before returning behind his mental wall.

Charlie just loved that the older man still remembered how much he would complain about losing his suntan in his younger years and found it funny that Severus would remember something so trivial after everything the man had been through in his obscenely repressive life. But he remembered the situation surrounding the memories and his laughing softened into a small wistful smile.

"You're right, I have been away far too long." Charlie said, his voice unusually strained and saddend. "We all must make sacrifices in the wage of war."

Severus dropped his gaze back too his now cold coffee and nodded gently, he understood only too well how much sacrifice was needed for the sake of this war. Probably because most everything he had he sacrificed a long time ago, and everything he had left was slowly slipping away.

Severus didn't know what made him do it, and he didn't think he would ever know, but one moment he was gripping his coffee mug in one hand with the other resting on his lap and in the next the mug was abandoned on the table and one bony, pale hand was rested lightly on Charlie's forearm which as rested across the table. Charlie looked at the alien appendage and smiled almost serenely, before taking the bony hand into his own wider one, gently rubbing one calloused finger across the back of the other man's hand.

Severus sighed softly, wondering why he felt comfortable enough to hold hands with his former student after everything that had happened.

And it was long before that little tittering voice in his head was shouting at him again...

Take your hand away!

why?

Because he's going to hurt you!

...why would he hurt me? He never has before.

None of them ever hurt you before, but it always happened eventually!

No, Charlie's not like that!

Charlie?...I though he was Mr. Weasley?...

He...he is...

You like him, don't you?

NO! Of course not!...I just...appreciate that he was trying to help me.

Yeah yeah, tell yourself whatever you want...but I wonder what Sirius would say if he found out...

...GO AWAY!

Charlie watched that combating emotions in the older wizards pained black eyes, knowing that the internal struggle within the man would forever be present and it hurt him that he wasn't able to help the ravenette through his own mental battle, but he knew that bringing the situation up would only do to upset the man further and so he decided it was time he take his leave.

"I think you should get some rest...you received a rather nasty bump to the head and I practically had to forced the potions down your throat so that it wouldn't leave you with concussion." The younger man said, watching calmly as Severus was startled out of his internal battle, but he smiled when the dark man stood up and pulled his hand away from Charlie's, moving carefully back towards his bedroom.

He stopped at the fireplace, noticing that Charlie had stopped to pick up a handful of floo powder before throwing it in the grate and saying '12 Grimmauld Place, London."

And as the red flames turned a bright shade of green, Charlie turned around to see Severus smoothing one hand down his silk nightshirt, trying to stop it from riding up past his thighs and Charlie grinned mischievously, "Don't worry Severus...it's nothing I haven't seen before" and with a cheeky wink, the red head stepped into the green flames, leaving Severus to wonder back to his bedroom, trying to force down the embarrassed blush on his cheeks.

The raven haired man laid back down in bed and wrapped the warm covers around his chilled frame before extinguishing the light and resting his head on the soft pillow, thinking to himself, Okay, Charlie, if that's the way you want to play it. Before he fell into the most peaceful sleep he'd had in years, subconsciously knowing that Charlie had the whole rooms warded to alert him if anything bad happening to Severus, and for reasons unknown to him, the older man took comfort in the fact that for once, someone actually cared enough to be looking out for him.

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Again, sorry this took so long to post, but I hope you all enjoyed it. It has been one of my favorite chapters to write and I'm actually very happy with the way I've brought Charlie into this fic. Bet none of you saw that coming though, did you?

Anyway, as always I love every review I get so please do review cause they make me and Snape muse smile (though he won't admit it).