Warning: Brief/mild instance of language.
(A/N) EDIT: A contradictory moment was fixed regarding Clara's age. Thanks to Rina-The-Fangirl-01 for pointing out the mistake.
Chapter 11. A Day at the Zoo
"Don't take her anywhere near the Chimera cage!" Lily said as Severus helped Clara put her coat on. "Or the Erumpent."
"I won't," Severus said, winking at Clara.
Lily sighed, and asked for the fiftieth time, "Couldn't you just take her to a Muggle zoo?"
"No," said Severus. "Then I'll have to drive, and that's twice as dangerous as a cross between a Chimera and an Erumpent."
Lily nodded in grudging agreement. She turned to her daughter. "Be good, Clara," she said, half-smiling as the yeah, right face she knew so well from James flashed across Clara's face. "Do as Severus tells you. And have a good time."
"Yes, Mummy," said Clara, taking her godfather's hand and tugging on it. "C'mon, Sev!"
Severus laughed and led her to the fireplace.
"You're sure it's safe to use the Floo Network?" Lily demanded.
"It is for me," Severus said patiently. "I'm supposed to be a Death Eater. Whoever's watching the Network at the Ministry for the Dark Lord won't look twice at me, even if I've got someone with me."
Lily gave him a dubious look and straightened the lapels of Clara's coat. "You will be careful, won't you, dear?"
"Mum," Clara said in a tone of almost teenager-worthy stop-treating-me-like-I'm-six.
Lily scoffed slightly at this. But she is six.
Severus pulled Clara close to his side. "I will take care of her, Lily," he promised, and threw a handful of Floo powder into the flames. "The Circe Zoo of London!"
Lily looked after them fondly. "She deserves a normal childhood," Lily decided. "And you can't hold on to them forever."
"Hard as you may try," commented Sirius from the doorway with a grin.
"Shut up."
"Whassat?" Clara demanded, turning one way and yanking on Severus' hand to pull him with her.
"A cockatrice," Severus answered, rubbing his shoulder. It would be dislocated by the end of the day, he decided.
"Whassat?" Clara turned her attention to the next animal.
"Mackled Malaclaw," Severus said. "Don't get too close, get pinched by one of those and you'll have bad luck for a week."
Clara stared in awe for a moment at the lobster-like animals before turning her attention to the next cage. "PONIES!" she cried happily, releasing Severus to race to the bars.
Severus jogged to keep up with her, finally reaching her with her face pressed up against the bars. "Abraxans," he corrected lightly, catching his breath.
The huge winged horses were regarding Clara solemnly as she stared at them adoringly. Satisfied that Clara wouldn't move for a while, Severus sank onto a nearby bench to wait for her.
The Circe Zoo had been put in place several years ago. Before it had been opened to the public, it had served as a research facility for the Department of Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. The Ministry had seen the Galleon-making possibilities and changed it to an attraction and named it after a witch in ancient history who was particularly adept at human-to-animal transfiguration.
As if I couldn't do that with a flick of my wand, Severus thought to himself. He fingered the ebony wood inside his pocket, rubbing it gently, on edge for no apparent reason. He glanced over at Clara and found her still trying to make friends with the Abraxans. He smiled.
"Clara!" he called. "Want to go see if you can un-riddle a Sphinx?" He pointed to the pavilion which was advertising just that.
Clara raced over. "Oh, yes, yes!" she cried.
They waited in the line for the Sphinx, Clara practically bouncing up and down in her excitement. "Hi!" she greeted the Sphinx breathlessly.
"So young," said the Sphinx, looking down at her and grating his lion-claws along the bottom of his cage.
"I'm six," Clara said, disgruntled, putting her hands on her hips.
The Sphinx smiled. "Ahh, of course, my mistake," he purred. "Practically a lady, then."
"Ge' on with it," said the surly guard next to them. "Give 'er a riddle."
The Sphinx shot him a nasty look, then said, "All things do I devour, be it beast or bird or tree or flower. I gnaw at iron, I bite at steel, and I grind all stones to meal. What am I?"
Clara paused and wrinkled her brow, thinking hard. "I know!" she said finally. "Padfoot, when he's hungry!"
Severus doubled up in laughter, laughing so hard he was practically crying.
The Sphinx regarded him coolly for a moment before turning back to Clara. "No," he said. "The answer was time. Try again."
Clara looked slightly put out. "Sev, you okay?" she asked as they walked away.
"Fine," Severus gasped out, carefully getting himself under control. "Black when he's hungry," he said, shaking his head. "So true."
"Where now?" Clara asked cheerfully, peering around.
"How about the aquarium?" Severus suggested with carefully regained composure. How does she do that to me? he wondered, marveling at Clara. Nobody else can make me laugh like that. "See some Ramoras and Grindylows?"
"Ooh, yes," Clara said, glancing at a signpost and heading off.
"Clara," Severus said. The little girl whirled around. He pointed. "This way."
Clara headed back towards him and led him in the correct direction. "What a Ramora?" she asked.
"It's a silver fish, magical, and very rare," Severus explained. "Sailors call them guardians of the deep."
Clara began to skip. "Come on, then, slowpoke!" she said happily.
Severus jogged to keep up with her but quickly fell behind. Why did I volunteer my Saturday for this, again? he thought to himself.
A crack of Apparition sounded in his ears. But you're not supposed to be able to Apparate in the park—unless—
A scream sounded in his ears and he whirled. More cracks of Apparition filled the air, popping in rapid succession like popcorn. "CLARA!" he shouted.
Spells began firing as men in dark cloaks attacked the many families that filled the pathways. Animals screamed in terror. Severus' wand was in his hand without him quite knowing how it got there. "CLARA!" he screamed again, pushing his way through the chaotic crowd toward the aquarium, a panic in his chest like he'd only felt one time before—the night Voldemort decided to attack Lily.
Suddenly, Clara was at his side, having slipped back through the crowd in the frenzy.
"Sev, what happening?" she asked, clutching his robes with fear in her eyes.
"Death Eaters," he said shortly, pulling her close. He refrained from firing off a Shield Charm to save the families that were falling around him. He began to run for the exit.
"OI!" shouted one Death Eater. "ONE'S GETTING AWAY!"
Four streams of light flew past him and a brick wall filled the archway of the exit. Severus hesitated over a moment's decision and whirled to face the Death Eaters in his pursuit.
"Travers," he greeted coldly. "Let me out."
"Snape?" said the man in the lead. "What are you doing here?"
"Gaining the trust of the Order," Severus responded, indicating Clara. "Let my charge and me go."
"You, yes, but the girl..." Travers trailed off suggestively. "I'm sure the werewolves would appreciate a morsel like her."
Severus willed his hand not to bring his wand up and curse Travers into oblivion for even suggesting such a thing. "And that will somehow lead the Order to place more trust in me?" he demanded smoothly. "No, I must get the girl home and tell everyone how I saved her from a Death Eater attack."
"Fine," Travers said shortly, waving his wand to Vanish the brick wall in their way. "I have to get back to the fight."
Severus waved him off and, yanking Clara by the hand, raced through the exit. He spared only a glance over his shoulder as they left. A roar and a puff of smoke flew up from the distance. Severus prayed hard that the Death Eaters had not seen fit to release the Chimaeras.
"You're home early," Lily said, pulling open the front door and beaming. "I wasn't expected you until dinner! Why didn't you use the Floo Net—oof!"
Clara had flown to her mother's arms and impacted hard, hugging her tightly. "Scary," she whimpered.
The smile slid quickly off Lily's face. "Severus Tobias Snape, you better not have frightened my daughter," she said darkly. She led Clara inside without offering to let Severus in, but he followed anyways.
"Tell Mummy what happened," Lily said soothingly, once Clara was seated on one of the couches in the parlor.
"Nasty men in cloaks," Clara muttered, burying her face in Lily's sweater.
"Death Eaters?" Lily asked briefly of Severus, who nodded. "How did you get away?"
Severus shrugged and collapsed into an armchair. "Got lucky enough to run into a Death Eater that was important enough to recognize me for who I am but unimportant enough to not challenge my orders. Much."
"Another massacre, then?" Lily asked, more resigned than shocked. "They're getting more frequent, and more unpredictable. The last was on known Order members; this one was on completely innocent families and children. Doesn't he ever tell you about these attacks?"
"The Dark Lord?" Severus clarified unnecessarily. "Occasionally. He told me about the last one only minutes before it occurred. I only just got the news to Dumbledore."
"He didn't tell you about this one?" Lily queried.
Anger flared in Severus' face. "Do you really think I would have taken my goddaughter there if I had known about the attack? For Merlin's sake, Lily, she was almost werewolf food!"
Lily was aghast. "Of course not, Severus!" she said. "I shouldn't have suggested—I was just so—" she paused and gathered her breath. "I'm sorry."
Severus nodded to accept her apology.
"Mummy?" Clara asked. "Why those men so mean?"
Green eyes met hazel and Lily knew she had to tell her daughter the truth. The war wasn't going anywhere for a long time. She took a deep breath and glanced at Severus, who was watching with an impassive expression on his face. "Clara," she started. "Sometimes, people are really bad to one another."
"Bad like me stealing your wand?" Clara mumbled, ashamed.
"Worse than that," Lily answered with a small smile. "They want to hurt or kill people to get what they want."
Clara's mouth formed a small 'O' as she listened, unable to fathom such an atrocity.
"When good people, like Moony, Padfoot, Sev, or me, stand up to them and fight against them, it becomes something called a war," Lily went on, struggling to find the right words. "Wars can go on for a long time."
"An' that's what's happening righ' now?" Clara surmised. "Bad people in cloaks?"
"Right," Lily confirmed.
"Why don' the bad people jus' ask for what they want?" Clara wanted to know. "Or do puppy-dog eyes, like Padfoot taught me?"
Lily was overcome by a brief image of Voldemort doing puppy-dog eyes and fought down a laugh with some effort. "That won't work," Lily said carefully. "The people want things that would be bad. They don't like Muggles, or Muggleborns, like me."
"Why not?"
She would have to ask the hard one. "I don't know," Lily answered truthfully. "Probably just because they're different."
"That's silly," Clara decided.
"Mm-hmm," Lily agreed. "Don't you ever be mean to someone because they're different from you."
"I won't," Clara promised, sliding off the couch. "Where Padfoot 'n Moony? I wanna play wolfy again."
"Yes, where are the mutts?" Severus asked, leaning back in his chair. "I would have expected to see their muzzles down here before now."
"They took Emmeline to the Tonks flat," Lily answered, swatting Severus slightly for his insult. "Andromeda has an extra room since Nymphadora's off at Hogwarts."
Clara padded from the room in search of them anyway, and Lily sank backwards into the couch and buried her face in her hands.
"Lil?" Severus asked, coming over and putting a comforting arm around her shoulders. "You okay?"
Lily shook her head. "I just had to tell my daughter that bad things don't just happen in nightmares," she said into her hands. "I had to tell her that people won't always be nice to you just because it's right. How could I possibly be all right after telling her that? Ruining her innocence?"
"You didn't," Severus said. "You can't, Lily. Clara is practically the definition of innocence. All you did was clear up a question that she's probably had for a while."
"You think?" Lily asked, seeking reassurance.
"I do," Severus said, hugging her briefly before standing. "I have to go, Lily, I have papers to grade."
Lily laughed. "You sound so excited," she said dryly.
"Far from it, my dear, far from it. You'll be all right until the mutts get home?"
"I'll be fine," Lily said with amusement in her voice. "Must you call them that?"
"Yes, I really must," Severus said. "If only to keep my own sanity."
Lily shook her head slightly, smiling, and got up to see him to the door.
For the first time in years, Lily dreamed again of Harry.
Her eyes drifted open at the sound of a school bell. She found herself in a Muggle school classroom, bigger than the one she herself had learned in as a child.
She searched the desks for Harry but couldn't find him.
"All right, class, settle down," the teacher called, as the class—seven or eight-year-olds, Lily decided—took their seats.
Thundering feet from the hallway approached. Two boys, one short and skinny with black hair—Harry—and the other large and fat, entered at a run, the heavier one panting a great deal.
"Sorry we're late, Miss Morgan!" Harry said breathlessly. His clothes were overlarge and baggy. Lily narrowed her eyes at the shabbiness of his attire compared to the clothes of who was undoubtedly Petunia's son, Dudley. "Dudley wouldn't get out of—"
"Don't pin this on me, Potter," Dudley snapped. "It was his fault, Miss Morgan, I swear. You can ask my mother, she'll tell you."
The teacher pursed her lips. Petunia Dursley always backed up her son's words and had led her to believe that Harry was nothing but a hoodlum. "Mr. Potter," she finally said, "You may spend the morning in the time-out chair." She pointed at the hard wooden chair in the front corner of the room, well in staring view of the other children.
"But—"
"If you complain, Mr. Potter, we'll have to make it the afternoon, as well."
Lily fumed.
"But what about Dud—"
"Now," said Miss Morgan, propelling him to the chair. Dudley started a chorus of snickers to run through the room. The teacher did nothing to stop them.
Harry watched the teacher with a death glare, his eyes practically spitting fire as she began the lesson. Lily went over and knelt beside him.
"I hate you," she heard him whisper, out of earshot of his teacher.
Lily glanced at the teacher, and did a double take. Her grey hair was rapidly turning color. As she watched, it became bluer and bluer until it was a dazzling bright azure.
The class was silent. Then, one girl in the back began to giggle softly. Another child snickered. Chuckles spread. Soon the entire class was roaring with laughter, the Miss Morgan crying, "What? What? What is it?"
The class roared on. Harry was watching the teacher with mortification. He stared down at his hands and looked back up at her. The look on his face clearly said, 'Did I do that?'
Lily bit her lip to keep from laughing so that she could hear what was going on.
"Miss Smith!" shrieked the teacher. "What is happening?"
The blonde girl in the front removed her hand from her mouth and choked out, "Hair..."
"Yes? Yes?"
"It's...it's blue," the girl said before giving in to laughter once more.
Miss Morgan shrieked and reached up. To everyone's surprise, she wrenched on her hair to yank it into her vision and—the entire thing came off.
"A wig," said one boy through his laughter. The children redoubled into their mirth, a few falling on the floor from the hilarity of it all.
Miss Morgan let the blue wig fall to the floor and sprinted from the room.
Harry was grinning slightly now, still a bit shocked-looking.
Lily reached out a hand to touch him, to comfort him, to tell him that it was just a little accidental magic, nothing to worry about.
The scene faded to black before her hand was all the way raised.
Lily woke with her hand stretched out in front of her as if to touch a boy that wasn't there.
"Hi, Mrs. Silsbury, is Phillipa home?" Clara asked.
"Clara!" The blonde flew past her mother and hugged Clara tightly. "C'n I go play, Mum, please?"
"Is your mum in the park, Clara?" Genevieve asked.
Clara nodded earnestly. "She's reading in that patch of trees, there," she lied, pointing. "She said I could come." A huge black dog sat watching them at the edge of the trees.
"Then go," Genevieve said. "Be home for supper, though."
Phillipa and Clara linked arms and raced toward the park to play.
"Want to play witch and princess?" Phillipa asked. It was their usual game.
"Yeah," Clara answered. "C'n I be the witch?"
"How come you always wanna be the witch?" Phillpa asked, curious, as they headed for the circle of rocks that was always the castle.
Clara shrugged. "It's fun, I guess. You wanna be the princess, right?"
"Well, yeah."
Clara bent to the ground at picked up a stick, breaking off a relatively straight part. "This can be my magic wand," she said.
"Don't be stupid," Phillipa said haughtily. "Witches don't use wands. They just use their hands and lots of potions."
"They use wands," Clara argued.
"How would you know?"
Clara opened her mouth to retort, but closed it. "How was your birthday?" she asked instead.
"Really good," Phillipa answered, accepting the change of subject easily. "I got lots of presents. Do you know what you're getting for yours?"
"A broomstick from Padfoot," said Clara without thinking about it. "He always gives me one."
"What are you going to do with a broomstick?" Phillipa asked, curious.
Clara bit her lip. "Oh, you know, pretend it can fly like a witch's...play house...stuff like that," she said, trying to sound dismissive. Hastily, she added, "Let's play, okay?"
"Okay," Phillipa agreed. She clambered up onto one of the rocks in the park and shouted, "Stop there, witch!"
Clara bent practically double like a hunchbacked hag and responded, "Why should I?"
"Because I am the princess and you have to do what I say!"
"Do not!"
"Do too!"
"Do not!"
"Do too!"
"We'll see about that!" Clara said, cackling like a fairy-tale witch. "I will bring a storm that will knock you off your castle wall! Abracadabra, alakazam! Send her a storm like a battering ram!"
"Pshh," Phillipa scoffed. "That's a lame spell!"
"Can't you just pretend it worked?" Clara demanded.
"No," Phillipa sniffed. "Because it didn't!"
Clara fumed. "Then I'll make it work!" she said angrily and raised her hands. The wind picked up. Clouds came close together. A wall of wind and rain hit Phillipa and knocked her backwards off the rock.
"Phillipa!" Clara said, alarmed, widening her narrowed eyes. The wall of wind dissipated as quickly as it had been wrought.
Phillipa was rubbing her backside and crying by the time Clara had raced around the rock to see her. "How di' you do that?" she demanded, sobbing. "How di' you know that was gonna happen?"
"I didn't!" Clara cried, much too loudly.
"Yes, you did!"
"No!" Clara said, wide-eyed. "I'm sorry, I didn't know that would happen!"
Phillipa got up and shot her a nasty look. "I'm going home," she said tearfully, and left Clara standing by the rocks, staring after her.
"Mummy!" Clara cried and raced through the door of number twelve.
"Easy, tiger," Remus said, catching her flying hug. "What's up?"
"I did magic!" Clara exclaimed happily. "Padfoot saw!" She indicated the bear-like dog that followed her into the house and slipped past her to the kitchen.
"What did you do?" Remus asked, grinning.
Clara stopped looking happy and put on an appropriately shameful face. She turned beet red and mumbled something inaudible.
"Sorry, didn't catch that," Remus said lightly.
"I knocked Phillipa down," Clara admitted.
Remus considered this information. "Was she hurt?"
"Not really."
"Does she know it was magic?"
"I dunno."
Remus nodded, once, twice. A broad grin spread over his face as he said, "Come on, then, let's tell your mother."
Clara nodded and led him up the stairs to the drawing room, where Lily was sprawled on the new, comfortable furniture, reading.
"Mum!" Clara said, leaping up onto the sofa next to her mother, bouncing. "I did magic!"
Lily closed her book and hugged Clara tightly, smiling happily. "That's wonderful, love," she said warmly. "Were you alone?"
"No," Clara admitted. "With Phillipa."
Lily pursed her lips. "Did she see you?"
Clara nodded.
"Clara, you have to be careful," Lily admonished, pushing her red hair away from her face in exasperation. "You could get us all in trouble if Phillipa finds out about it."
"How?" Clara demanded.
Lily released her and tapped Clara's nose with a finger. "If she finds out about us, we'd have to move. We'd have to get rid of Headquarters, too."
"No!" Clara said in a hushed voice. She loved the comings and goings of various members of the Order.
"Worse, you could lose Phillipa's friendship for good," Lily said. "That's how your Aunt Petunia and I started to grow apart."
"Really?" Clara asked, wide-eyed.
Lily nodded. "So be careful, sweetheart. Did Phillipa go home?"
"Yeah. She was crying."
Lily stood. "You'll have to apologize to her. And I'll have to listen to Genevieve's rantings about how I need to control my daughter, again."
"Sorry," Clara said again in a small voice.
Lily hugged her. "It's okay, Clara," she said. "I know you can't control it, and I know it's exciting."
Clara brightened considerably and nodded.
"Now clean up for dinner," Lily said. "Padfoot's cooking, so be careful not to eat too much of it."
Clara stuck her tongue out. "Yech."
Lily took a bite of...whatever it was Sirius had cooked...and nearly choked. She chewed, trying not to let her expression of disgust go through to her face.
Sirius was watching her eagerly. "Is it good?" he asked.
Lily made a noise that might generously been accepted as an affirmative answer. She shook her head at Remus, and he, about to take a bite, put his fork back down on his plate. Clara was still staring at the brownish gooey mess disgustedly.
"What recipe did you use?" Lily asked around her mouthful of the slightly chewy substance.
"Recipe?" Sirius repeated. "Who needs those?"
Lily swallowed hard and felt the mess slide down her throat. She coughed slightly and raised her hand in a 'me!' motion.
"It's awful, isn't it?" Sirius said dejectedly.
Lily glanced appealingly at Remus, who valiantly took up the task. "She doesn't want to tell you, Padfoot," he said seriously, "but this really is disgusting."
"It is not," Sirius protested. He took a large bite to prove his point. His defiant expression slid off his face as he chewed, replaced by a look of sheer disgust. He swallowed.
"Cereal, anyone?" Lily asked, getting up and going to the pantry as Sirius gulped down his water.
"I'm sorry," Sirius said as Remus Vanished the remains of his attempt at cooking.
Lily handed out bowls and poured cereal for herself and Clara.
"It's okay," Clara said, digging into her corn flakes.
Once everyone had decent food in front of them, Lily asked, "Did you get what I needed at Diagon Alley, Remus?"
"The potion ingredients?" Remus responded. "Yes. Except the lacewing flies, they only had a few and what they did have were rotted. I can get some free, next time, though." Lily nodded in acceptance.
"Anything else interesting happen?" Sirius asked after silence wore on for a moment.
"Oh, not really," Remus said easily, taking a bite and chewing. "Ran into Kingsley outside Quality Quidditch Supplies, had a nice chat with him. Stopped by Florean's to get some ice cream for Clara—it's in the icebox, you can have it after supper. Oh, and I survived an attempted murder by the werewolves."
Lily's spoon clattered to the table and she stared at him.
"Don't look like that, Lily," Remus said. "It was a sad excuse for a plan, anyways."
"What happened?" demanded Sirus.
Remus shrugged. "One of them asked for a word and led me down a side alley. The dark alley was my first tip off. The others came and surrounded me."
"Why?" Lily asked, shocked.
"Because I stole their fresh-kill," Remus answered. "Emmeline," he clarified at the others' blank looks.
"But that was over a year ago!" Lily protested.
"And werewolves have long memories," Remus said. "I surmised that food has been a bit short for them these days. Anyway, there was a huge gap in their plan. They forgot I had a wand."
Sirius snickered. "You probably took them out with one spell, huh, Moony?"
"Three, but yes, it was rather easy."
Lily went back to her cereal. "And you just decided to wait until supper to tell us this?" she asked.
Remus lifted and raised a shoulder in a so-what motion. "I didn't get hurt."
"Did you kick their butts, Moony?" was Clara's question (ignoring Lily's admonishing "Clara!")
Remus laughed. "You bet I did."
"Oh, come in, Yaxley, come in," Millicent Bagnold, Minister of Magic, said in a harried voice. "Did you get the files I sent you?"
"Yes, Minister," answered Yaxley smoothly.
"I don't know how much longer I can keep the mass breakout silent, Yaxley," Bagnold said tiredly, fixing her spectacles on her nose. "I don't even know if I should."
"You should most certainly keep it quiet, Minister," Yaxley said. "The panic an Azkaban breakout would cause—"
"People are already panicking," Bagnold snapped.
Yaxley was quiet for a moment. Then, "Your secretary tells me you haven't left the office in weeks."
"There's too much to do," Bagnold responded.
"Well, you must take care of yourself," Yaxley said slickly, smiling slightly. "A witch of your age, and the amount of stress you're under, it's a wonder you haven't collapsed by now."
"Your concern is touching, Yaxley, but I haven't the time."
Yaxley's slightly sinister grin spread a bit. "At least let me get you a cup of tea."
Bagnold waved her hand. "Fine," she said, running a hand through her graying hair. "A cup of tea would be nice."
Yaxley got up and left the room, re-entering a moment later with two cups of tea. He gently placed one in front of the Minister and sat down again.
"Your secretary had just made a pot," he said. "Imagine that."
Bagnold took a sip. "Thank you, Yaxley."
"Don't thank me," Yaxley said, smiling.
Bagnold raised a hand and placed it against her chest, frowning. "What's in this, Yaxley?"
Yaxley smirked. "A very rare poison with absolutely no antidote. So don't bother calling for help."
The Minister opened her mouth to do just that, but found, with the constriction in her chest, that anything more than a whisper was beyond her. "Why?" she demanded hoarsely.
"The Dark Lord commanded it," Yaxley answered with a shrug.
Bagnold gasped for breath as her airway closed. "Damn you to eternity of hell, Yaxley," she choked out. "You-Know-Who will never win."
"Unfortunately, he already has as far as you are concerned," Yaxley said pleasantly. "Have a good day, Minister. Or rather, another few minutes."
He got up and left the office, closing the door behind him.
(A/N) So we jumped another couple of years into the future at the beginning of this chapter. Hope it wasn't too jarring. It should be relatively steady going from here on out, at least the way I'm planning it now.
Thanks for reading and reviewing so far, everyone! I sincerely hope that you are all enjoying the story. I would love to hear your thoughts on this chapter or in general!