Chapter 21: Slumbering at Snape's

I followed him around the house, wineglass heartily in tow. I did have to survive this debacle after all. I was given a concise tour of the home, as only Snape could deliver.

"Certainly you have noticed that we have just left the living room," he threw out over his shoulder.

"Yes, you have lots of books, er, just like in your office." I felt like I had to say something. His living conditions off school property, well, there was just no comparison to Hogwarts. There were rats living here, I was sure of it!

"I have collected many over the years. Many that I do not use as often; I leave here. The highly useful ones remain at Hogwarts."

I nodded. "Erm. I see…"

"This is the kitchen." Eh, I just nodded again. It looked barely used. I could see no foodstuffs and very few dishes or kitchen gadgets on the counter. He could perform magic, I guess. Probably no need for certain items.

"Do you cook?" And then I felt like an imbecile and tried to hold in some laughter. I had a vision of the black robes with a white apron over them and Snape toiling over some cookbook as he did over a cauldron while making potions back in his office.

"On occasion…usually I go out." And the menacing, cold look I received made a shiver run through me. I guess he spied…met the Dark Lord, and then got take-out at a pub. What the hell kind of life was that? Would he just stay for once…Molly offered him food all of the time and he had, I had to admit, always declined with a quiet politeness. Well, just because he wished death upon her twin sons didn't mean he held it against her I would assume, though she did make a mean shepherd's pie that he was totally missing out on, in my opinion.

And this was coming from the Potions Master of Hogwarts.

"I enjoy brewing intricate potions, food not so much." He replied stoically.

Well, he barely ate at school so it made sense. He didn't like to prepare it either apparently.

"I do not need to show you the bathroom. Surely not riveting…" He drawled, and the smirk appeared.

"Well, you might later if I have to use it," I scoffed. The rest of the rooms were not so spectacular. In a way I was afraid to look.

"Fine." He swung open a door briskly. "I would use this one. The one upstairs is functional also. But there is a small sink and toilet near my parent's bedroom and it hasn't been used in ages. We are not at school so there is not telling what true condition it is in, for I never use it."

Did that mean you don't clean it? I almost said this aloud but then remembered myself.

Forget it. Maybe that was where the rats were hanging out.

He inclined his head towards a staircase and I noticed a closed door. He opened it. "This is my parent's bedroom. This is where you will be sleeping."

I prayed that they hadn't died in there. I knew nothing of him. Really, I would take the couch. I didn't want to be upstairs. It is strange enough sleeping over someone's house the first time. This was Snape. This was worse.

He showed me the other bathroom and then to gestured to another room down the hall with his hand. It was his.

It was very small, plain with an old brown wooden dresser and a nightstand, and a chair with a makeshift desk/table. The bed was much smaller than the one in his parents' room. There were a few heavy books up here as well.

"Why don't you use your parents' room? Much more room I would think…"

"This is quite enough for me, Vector. This was my bedroom since I was born. Obviously, before the bed there was a crib." He seemed solemn and unemotional. There was no pride in describing his old childhood home. It saddened me; very much so. When I went home I couldn't wait to visit my room. But I had doting, loving parents. They still had my stuffed animals and certain childhood things in my bedroom at home still. I didn't get the sense here that he had grown up in a similar situation. I thought of my parents and my brother and felt a surge of warmth and happiness, and excitement that I would be visiting them when I left Snape's. I had to cut out a few weekends here and there due to Order work. They were not told why. I just told them I had a lot of essays to grade. And I felt terrible doing so.

He stopped what he was saying and turned. "Let's go back downstairs. I will fetch you more wine if you would like. Are you hungry, Vector?" He must have seen my look of surprise when I examined his kitchen.

"No, not really. Molly pretty much forced two helpings down my throat before I left."

"I ate before too. Perhaps later I can throw something together."

I forced back a chuckle. He sounded so normal. It was a first.

He looked at my glass.

"More wine then?"

"Yes. And I feel a bit better." I figured I would throw that out there to lighten the dreary mood a bit.

He nodded slowly.

We went down to the living room. He poured me another glass of wine and did the same for himself. Elf-made wine is very heavy and you sometimes didn't realize how strong it was. I was sure I was so nervous, disoriented, that I didn't realize that it would make me sleepy. Also, I am sure I was still recovering a bit from the incident. I sat in a chair and it was the last thing I remember after dozing off as I rattled on about Hogwarts, the Order, and a few things that now escape me.

I had been dreaming a lovely dream of home, by the sea, the sun shining down on me. It was mid-summer and I had nothing to do on a lazy morning when your mood soared because possibilities of fun and happiness are endless.

And then I woke up.

To feel something warm and very much solid and I realized that I was not alone. I heard breathing. I felt it blow into my face quite softly. It was almost comforting, an herby smell comingled with something else.

I opened my eyes and just saw black fabric going down to the floor in folds. I saw hands resting on two dark clad knees. And I soon realized that I had somehow ended up resting my head on Snape's shoulder.

My poor face…it had to have been hours…

It was morning. Where the hell did the time go? But then I gasped in relief that I had made it through my Snape, er, slumber party.

"Ah, you are awake," Vector. His face was inches from mine and he inquired of me.

"Barely…Er, do you have coffee?"

"I can make some appear if you wish," he said softly.

"Severus, uh, how did I end up here?"

He offered a grave sigh and replied, "You were trying to make a point, he paused to demonstrate that he was still waiting for it to appear, "and babbling on so, I rather think you exhausted yourself until you just feel asleep." He appeared slightly annoyed.

"How did I get from the chair?" Damn it….please Merlin…please say he didn't carry me when I was asleep…at my most vulnerable…and to my surprise, he , er, hadn't tried anything apparently. I mean, everyone knew he was lonely and wasn't with anyone, well, as much as we knew anyway.

But why…why was there a quick intrusion in my mind of…wondering why? What was it of interest that he was a lonely sonofabitch that brought it all upon himself?

"You walked over and sat down next to me on the couch after trying to make some points in an erratically verbal way." He huffed, clearly annoyed at present.

"Did you sleep with my head in the way and all? You were like sitting up." Dear Merlin, please tell me we did not snuggle…

"Yes…a little. I don't usually require vast amounts of sleep."

He did seem to be wide awake and always alert in an electric way, that all around him felt as well.

"By the way, Vector, has it ever occurred to you that you snore?" He deadpanned out of seemingly nowhere.

"I do not," I snorted in mortification. And I would guess that he probably did with that nose.

" Or that you talk in your sleep…" He added softly.

"No, I do not. You have no idea what you're talking about." This conversation sounded too intimate to me. Okay, maybe my mum mentioned it to me once, but that was none of his damn business…there was no way I was having this conversation with him.

" I do not snore nor do I talk to myself. And, if I did happen to do so, why didn't you stop me if I was sleepy? I would have just slept on the couch and you could have gone upstairs."

"I offered you my parent's room…" he replied languidly.

"The couch was fine by me. And why not just nudge me or wake me if I was snoring or babbling allegedly?"

"I didn't want to wake you, Vector."

"Did it deter your own sleep? Is that why you are grumpy and obnoxious and making inane assumptions about my sleep patterns?"

He rolled his dark eyes. "I told you I don't need a lot of sleep and I did close my eyes for a few hours. I didn't bother me much."

"So the issue isn't as bad as you made it out to be." Oh, Merlin, he was backtracking. I supposedly did snore and what in Merlin's name could I have said in an elf-made wine induced sleep which he surely had a hand in, on purpose. Probably trying to drill me for information or convince me to leave the Order.

"I never said that."

"Well, now that I can only imagine that I snore like a troll or a muggle machine…" I waved my arms around in a dramatic effect, hoping he would feel guilty for mentioning it or even remotely uncomfortable and in the hopes that we could move past this.

"No, it is soft and it wasn't loud. And I really couldn't gather what you were saying all too well."

"So you tried?"

"I thought you were trying to communicate something to me, though in a very uncommunicative way."

"Well, what did you hear?"

"You talked of your home…Wales, isn't it…and mentioned some names…and really it doesn't take a legilimans, which I am, to figure out that the Order is getting to you."

"Mind your own damned business…what else?" I folded my arms in fury. I refused to look at him.

"I just so happened to be up and you called for me," he said quite simply.

"What…to beg you to leave me alone?" I called out sarcastically. "That would add up."

"No, you said….Severus…and that was all."

"How quaint. Well, let me inform you…that was the part that was the nightmare.

"Ah, when I appeared… it so happens?

Right. Exactly… And let me also tell you that nobody has ever told me that I snore, just so you know…I have reason to believe that you are making that part up, oh, but I will give you that I talk in my sleep…" I wouldn't lie about mum.

"And just what do you mean by that?" And the room changed. And I noticed that he had a pale hand tightening around the armrest of the sofa we were now currently on.

Oh.

"Who would be able to conclusively state whether you snore or not?' He sneered and I could see he was yet again in interrogation mode.

"My…my mum"

"Now? Really? You live away from her…someone else, perhaps? I heard that fool Nymphadora carrying on about an old, ah, acquaintance of yours…some unseemly babble that I managed to pick up at an Order meeting before we started once."

"My old boyfriend, yes, he showed up in Hogsmeade. Well, he is a wizard…and he was my boyfriend…a few years now…and it is the United Kingdom after all…he has the right to go about his business one would think." I threw out smarmily.

"So, if asked…would he know if you snored or not?" He looked strangely at me, a very new, yet still unpleasant expression on his face.

"I think it highly unlikely…I have had no contact with him for years…the Order keeps me so busy…"

He was silent and just studied my face carefully.

"It is time to go. I need to apparate to my parents." I was out of here. Fast.

"When you are ready…use the back door. I will see you when you return to school."

I was dismissed. Slumber Party over. I had made it.

Barely.