Disclaimer: This work is based on the J.K. Rowling's World of Harry Potter. Everything you recognize belongs to her.

The title of this chapter is based on the title of J.R. R. Tolkien's book: A Hobbit: There and Back Again

The phrase "the one less traveled by" is in reference to Robert Frost, "The Road Not Taken"

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Maerna didn't want to admit it, but she missed Severus. She missed the company. She missed the conversations. She missed the way he viewed things. She even missed his unrelenting demands for her to push herself into even more advanced potions and herbology. He wrote to her at least twice a week. His letters often resembling a lesson plan with detailed questions for her to research and reply to. Occasionally, a glimmer of his life at Hogwarts would emerge. Occlumency lessons with some student were not going well and it was a race to see which teacher would figure out how to hex the new DADA professor first without the ministry knowing. It seemed no one liked her. From Severus's earlier descriptions, Maerna could understand why.

In early February, the weather became unseasonably warm albite wet, too. Maerna began to get cabin fever so much she thought she would scream. Dobby still came by every evening and she begged him to let her take a walk but no avail. The elf wouldn't budge from his promises to Snape. Maerna's magical powers were growing too. She could walk right up the edge of the wards in the backyard and almost feel them. They felt light and spongy to her touch. Once or twice, she almost felt like the wards move like they were a curtain she might be able to push aside but the moment she considered this, they turned right back into an invisible concrete wall. In late February, Severus sent her a magazine. This surprised Maerna greatly for it certainly didn't look like Severus's type of reading. It reminded her a lot of the magical version of muggle supermarket tabloids. There was a note attached in his slanted handwriting. "Most printed Quibbler ever-very popular at school at the moment." As Maerna read the article, she found it interesting that Severus had sent it to her. Not for the first time, she wondered which side he was on.

By mid-March, Maerna really was screaming with cabin fever. She paced along the edge of the wards and hit them with her fists in frustration. She pounded on them screaming at Severus, at Dobby, at her grandmother, at Brent and even at the walls themselves. Her knuckles were becoming bloody with so many punches until one time, her entire arm passed through. Maerna was so surprised that her entire body followed her arm. Before she knew it, she had passed beyond the wards. Her first thought was elation, of freedom. Her second was concern. Could she get back in? Slowly she placed her hand on the ward and pushed. It slide aside for her almost like walking through water. She immediately turned back around and move her fingers across the magical barrier again, but it seemed very happy to let her fingers pass through again.

Excitement flowed through her system like nomaj electricity. This was her chance. She gathered her cloak, tennis shoes and some food and ran out the door and through the wards without pausing. Once outside, she screamed in glee, danced around the meadow and ran through the trees of the forest. Finally, exhaustion took over and she dropped to the ground. She leaned back on the trunk of a old oak and studied the branches where new buds were desperately trying to push through. "It must be getting late," Maerna though. "If Dobby finds I'm not there, he'll alert Severus plus I don't want to be wandering lost after dark. I need to think this through and be rational." She slowly pushed herself off the ground and walked back toward the cottage. She paused before going back across the wards, she turned in a complete circle gazing across the landscape. Where should she go? She assumed that she was in Great Britain but beyond that no idea where she was or where the closest town was. She looked like she was in the middle of nowhere. She wasn't sure where to go but it was a chance that she'd have to take

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Two days later, Maerna was up before sunrise, packed and ready to go. With a deep breath, she said a little prayer and stepped away from the cottage for the last time. She looked carefully at the fields and the woods. Although no roads were visible, she decided that the woods appeared to be the one less traveled by and turned to the field taking her first step.

Unless she saw some signs of civilization, she reasoned, a straight path was best. She walked until the sun rose high in the sky stopping only for a quick lunch. By the time the sun was getting ready for bed, Maerna was getting worried. She had been walking all day and had yet to see a sign of civilization. Dobby would be arriving soon to the cottage. She didn't know how long it would take him to find her but she suspected not long. Ten minutes later, she breathed a sigh of relief when she saw a building in the distance. As she drew closer, her unease grew. This couldn't be possible but it obviously was. After only a few more minutes, her fears were confirmed, she was right back at the cottage. She didn't know whether to be furious at herself for believing that she was free or furious at Dobby and Severus for evoking such imaginative magic that she completely fell for. Pushing on the magical barrier, Maerna headed back into the house. She was unpacked and sitting on the couch when Dobby arrived just like he did every other evening.

Maerna desperately wanted to ask Dobby about the unusual magic that surrounded the house but could think of no way to bring it up without sounding suspicious. She was sure the wards were on Severus's verboten discussion list. Instead, she contemplated it throughout the evening. It wasn't until bedtime that she considered another being's "magic." In her haste for freedom, she had never asked God if this was the path He wanted her to take. The last time she had really listened to him was back on New Year's Day. This time she prayed and listened. The message was as clear as the walk she tried to take that day. This is where she needed to be. This is where she should stay.