A Second Chance
DISCLAIMER: I OWN NOTHING; I JUST MESS AROUND IN J.K. ROWLING'S WORLD.
A/N: I'm terribly, sorry this one is late. My Doctor Who seems to be taking all of my writing time. However, I've set up a new system, and hopefully, I'll post every other week. If you're lucky, I might even start doing updates once a week, but that depends on how motivated I am.
Chapter Fourteen
Severus woke to the sound of Isi crying softly beside him. Her tears, drops of crystallized moonlight, slid slowly down her pale cheeks to the hands clasped in her lap. He sat up, scooting closer as he did so, until their shoulders touch. His palm opened in silent offering, and when she took it, her small hand shook unmistakably in his.
"I thought the nightmares had stopped," Severus said quietly.
Isi nodded, turning to rest her head on his shoulder. "They did, and they have. I wasn't having a nightmare."
Severus frowned, forgetting for a moment that in the darkness she wouldn't see. "If not a nightmare, then what?"
"A dream," she whispered. "A lovely, beautiful dream."
Severus blinked in sudden understanding. He knew the feeling well. Often, that which was unattainable was the most heartbreaking of all. His various relationships with Isi were living proof.
"I dreamed that I..." She paused, suddenly unsure, but at the squeeze of his hand she continued. "I was pregnant. With your child. The war was over, or perhaps it had never happened, and my mother was there. She was happy again."
"Your mother has always been happy," Severus pointed out with confusion. He couldn't even picture Coleeta Jackson as unhappy. He tried to focus on that, but the underlying feeling was one of pleasure and surprise. Did Isi want to have his children?
"Oh, she is," Isi was quick to reply. "But... there's a part of her no one ever sees, a part that is lost and so incredibly sad. It's because of my father."
His curiosity was immediately piqued. Isi had never known her father. He disappeared, or perhaps he left, before she was born. From what Isi had told him, it was very possible her father never even knew she existed. It had been something Isi had wondered about her entire life. She had confided in Lily and Severus everything she knew about her father, and had told them whenever she discovered something new. After graduation, she had always wanted to try and find him. Severus now wondered if maybe she had.
"Did you ever find out who he was?" Severus asked cautiously. Isi would not appreciate a lengthy conversation on the matter, whatever the outcome had been.
She stiffened against him, and her voice was clearly hesitant as she spoke. "I did, at least somewhat. Enough to know, his is not the man he once was. He is not my father anymore."
Severus wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tightly despite her reluctance. That was all the more she would tell him, and he knew better than to push the issue. When at last she softened against him, he pressed a kiss to her hair.
"I'm sorry, Isi," he whispered gently. "You know I don't mean to pry."
Isi nodded, choosing to remain silent, but her hands moved to rest on his, letting him know he had been forgiven. They sat like that for what could have been two minutes or two hours, holding onto one another, each lost in their own thoughts.
When Isi squirmed her way into Severus' lap, her eyes half closed, and nuzzled into the crook of his neck, he knew they had sat long enough. Sliding her off, he lay back, tugging her with him. She readjusted herself to fit perfectly against his side, and his arms found their new positions straightaway. He listened to her soft breathing and slow heart beat until his own eyes drifted shut, and he followed her to sleep.
Albus sat at his desk, his fingers drumming absently as he stared intently at the Pensieve in front of him. His spectacles sat off to the side, long forgotten, and his wand as well. Something was wrong, very, very wrong. Just what though, he didn't know. By all accounts, things should have been going nicely. Everything was in it's place, moving towards that final end for which he had been planning for years and years. But at the very back of his mind something was tugging at his instincts, begging for his attention. There was some tiny little piece that he had forgotten about. A seemingly harmless loose end, never taken care of, suddenly threatening his life's work. But what was it?
"Albus?" Minerva called as she touched his shoulder lightly. "Do you know where Severus is?"
"Hmm... What?" Albus said, startled. When had she come in? "Oh, right, Severus. No doubt he's off with..." he trailed off, paling just slightly. "Isabelle," he whispered in shock. "She's the missing piece."
Severus stood on the front step of a home he had never thought to visit again. His own... house... was not very far away, and he could just see the Evan's old home from here. He raised a hand to knock, pausing just before his hand could fall. What was he doing here? Isi would probably kill him if she knew. Still, in the end she would be grateful, and his heart would not sit quietly if he didn't. He knocked. It was several moments before the door opened to reveal an older woman with raven colored hair, shot through with silver and kind hazel eyes. She was shorter, and had a rounder face, but other than that she looked exactly like her daughter.
"Good Afternoon, Ms. Jackson," Severus said with a polite dip of his head.
"How many times do I have to tell you," she said, her face splitting into a wide grin. "My name is Coleeta."
She threw her arms around him in a warm hug, and he awkwardly returned the embrace. Still though, he didn't find the hug unpleasant by any means. In fact, he felt very happy indeed as her soft lemon scent brought back memories of love and comfort. As a child he had found a home and a mother in those arms. As an adult, the feeling was still there.
"Welcome home, sweetheart," she whispered, confirming what he, himself had felt. He was home, wasn't he?
Severus followed Coleeta into the front room, smiling to see everything as he remembered. Here and there a new trinket sat on the shelf, but everything else was as familiar as his own face. He had missed this place.
"So, what brings you back here after so many years?" Coleeta asked, settling into the hideous pink armchair.
"Isi," he said simply. He had a feeling that one word, that name so precious to them both, would set her off more than anything.
"Isi?" she asked, her voice hopeful, worried, surprised, sad, and joyful all at once. She would make a horrible spy; her voice withheld nothing. "You've seen my Isi? Is she safe?"
"For now," Severus answered. The look of relief crossing her face lifted his heart. It wasn't often he delivered good news to others. "She's staying on at Hogwarts. Teaches History of Magic instead of Binns. Everyone adores her."
"Yourself, included," Coleeta observed, with a glint of mischief in her eyes. She continued before he even had time to respond. "I haven't heard from her months, not since the Death Eaters started after her."
"She was right not to," Severus said. "They would have come after you too."
"Is that why you left her?" She asked, keeping her gaze locked on his. He nearly gasped aloud in shock. How could she possibly be figuring all this out when most people never had a clue, and those who did took months and months to work things out? He was the best spy there was, but she seemed to read him like a book.
She must have sense his alarm, for she laughed aloud. "Severus, she's my daughter, and you might as well be my son. I know you two better than I know anyone, and I know people in general better than you know your potions. Don't worry, your secret is safe with me."
Severus refused to acknowledge the telltale blush creeping up his cheeks. This was one facet of his relationship with Coleeta he had forgotten about. She did have an uncanny sense of what was going on all the time.
"She and I..." he stopped not quite sure how to say what he was sure she all ready knew. "I'm not leaving her this time."
Coleeta smiled, but her brow furrowed. "That's good, wonderful even, but doesn't the reason still remain? Why protect her then, only to expose her now?"
Severus let out a sigh and ran a hand through his hair. "There are circumstances offering us protection, at least for the time being. I would rather have kept Isi out of it completely, but the decision was hers in the end. She chose to stay with me; she chose love. Just like you did years and years ago."
Coleeta didn't flinch at his words, but her eyes lost a bit of brightness and seemed to dim with sadness. "I lost mine. You can't promise me she won't lose hers. We're in a war, Severus, and you're caught in the middle of it. Her father was too, in a different way, but it's hard no matter how it plays out."
"What do you want me to say?" Severus asked suddenly frustrated. One minute she seemed very much in favor of the two of them, the next she was chastising him. Well, except her voice had lacked reproof of any kind. In fact, now that he thought about it, she had seemed to hardly be speaking to him at all. If she hadn't used his name, he would have thought she was talking to herself.
"Nothing," she said, a bit surprised. "You didn't let me finish. I was going to finish by saying it was worth it. Losing him, was one of the hardest things, but to not have had him in the first place... Don't you ever give up on love, Severus, no matter what the cost. Because in the end, love is worth it all."
Coleeta stared him straight in the eye, her hazel eyes blazing. Suddenly, Severus understood the driving force behind this powerful woman. Everything she had ever done was in the name of love. Isi was just like her.
"Your daughter is of a like mind," Severus said. "I actually came here because of that. First, I wanted to tell you that Isi is safe and taken care of. I would die before letting anyone hurt her, and I mean that quite literally. And secondly I came because she worries for you. She loves you very much and wants you to be happy."
"Oh, I know." Coleeta smiled. "I know people."
A/N You know, I think this might be one of my favorite chapters so far. I do hope you enjoyed it despite the delay. I expect you're used to that, though. :-) As always, debjunk deserves many thanks for all of her help.