Chapter Twenty-One: Beached

I woke up the next morning feeling quite ordinary, before I remembered that holy crap I'd just gotten married. I then proceeded to jump about the room squealing loudly, waking Severus up and making him yell at me. Oh, well. My moment was good while it lasted. It seemed like bare moments before I was frolicking on the beach, unfortunately I had to frolic alone because while Severus had reluctantly agreed to come down with me, he had refused point-blank to frolic. Instead he was sitting in a relatively shady area in an all-black outfit, though I'd convinced him to ditch the robes and wear proper clothes, since it was a Muggle resort and all. It was a little lonely by myself in the sun, but I was so excited for being on the beach and I was so happy with my new bathing suit that I just had to jump around and make my feelings known. Waving to Severus, I turned and ran into the water, which was pleasantly tepid. A perfect water temperature, I thought as I swam about joyfully. I even got to see the brightly coloured fishies. I would have swum about for hours, but I was disrupted by a large mass that I accidentally face-planted into. It turned out to be a man who looked barely old enough to be out of school, but with an intense tan and blonde hair so bright it almost hurt my eyes to look at.

"I'm awfully sorry," I said, still smiling. The fishies had put me in a good mood. "I was looking at the fishies and I must have been distracted. I will make all attempts not to swim into you in future."

"That's totally fine," he said, flashing a too-white smile. It reflected the sun in my eyes and I had to squint to look at him. Everything about him was bright and pretty, and it was somewhat mesmerizing. "What's a pretty girl like you doing all alone here anyway?" He put his hand on my upper arm as he said this and I got the distinct impression that he may have been trying to hit on me.

"Oh, thanks for saying I'm pretty," I said clumsily, tripping over my words. "I'm not alone, though. I just got married. He's over there, actually." I turned around and pointed to Severus, who looked quite far away. Damn this water and its unending shallowness. I must have been at least fifty or a hundred metres out. All I could see was a black mass with a bright white patch at the top that I assumed must have been Severus' face. The man looked where I was pointing, and raised an eyebrow.

"He shouldn't have let you come out here all alone," he said, not taking his hand off my arm. It was starting to creep me out, actually. "Someone like you, I'd have thought he'd want to be with you all the time."

"Actually, he's more of a… well, beaches aren't really his thing…" I couldn't really think of the right words, and it showed. "What do you mean, someone like me? We don't even know each other. I… I think I'm going to go back to the beach now. Good-bye."

"I hope to see you around…?" he called, as I was wading slowly back towards the shore. The way he'd left his question hanging made it clear that he wanted to know my name, but he wasn't going to get it. I waved a hand in his direction and kept moving. What made him think that he could continue to hit on me after he knew I was married? Holy crap, I was married. That still hadn't sunk in. Despite the distance I'd gone from the shore, it took me quite a short time to get back to Severus. I smiled as I approached him and flicked seawater at him playfully. He didn't look very amused, though.

"Who's your friend?" he asked, clearly making an attempt to appear nonchalant.

"No idea. I think he might have been hitting on me. It was weird."

"That's not weird. That's understandable." Well, now he was smiling. He looked moderately freakish with a smile on his face, so I just sat down next to him and let the water from my hair and body drip down onto the sand. "He's staring."

"Is he?" I turned to look, and it did indeed appear as though the man was angling his face in our direction, though he was very far away and I couldn't really tell. "Don't worry about him. He's just some guy."

"And what am I?" he asked, brow furrowed in pensive irritation. What kind of a question was that? The stupid-head.

"You're an idiot. I love you." I flicked more water at him and he frowned at me. "You know that."

"Quite. I believe that I've had quite enough of this beach," he said, standing up and brushing the sand off himself.

"But we just got here. It's not even lunchtime yet."

"You stay here, look at the… the fishies. I'll go and order something from room service and we can have lunch when you return to the room."

"Okay," I muttered sullenly. "But we're going to go down to the beachfront bar tonight, and we're going to get absolutely squiffy on delicious fruity beverages, okay?"

"As you wish," he said, though he'd already turned and started walking back towards the hotel. Well, what a complete buzzkill. I watched him leaving until he'd entered the hotel lobby and was no longer visible, then I moved to where it was sunny and lay down on my back, arms behind my head as a limb pillow. The sun was very pleasant on my still-wet skin, but I had to close my eyes because I'd forgotten to bring down my sunglasses. It didn't seem to matter though, as the sun on me felt like a warm blanket, and everything seemed absolutely lovely. That was, until the sun was blocked by something blonde, tan and ridiculously muscular. Urgh, that guy was back.

"Your husband doesn't seem too attentive," he said, looking down at me with a half-smile on his face. "I'm beginning to wonder if you're even married. Someone like him, someone like you, it doesn't seem right."

"You're in my sun," I said, gritting my teeth. He continued to half-smile down at me, which was quite irritating. I wished he'd go away and bother someone else.

"I'll leave you to your sun if you'll come for a swim," he said, gesturing towards the sparkling blue water.

"Married!" I said, annoyed. "Totally, completely, utterly married. And I love him. So go away."

"Sure doesn't seem like it," he said, though he complied with my request and left me alone. Well, that was good. And I didn't even care what some over-tanned, stupidly good-looking man thought of my marriage to Severus. We loved each other good and proper, and that was good enough for the both of us. It didn't matter what other people thought. Suddenly the beach seemed a wholly unappetizing place to be, and so cursing that stupid stranger, I stood up and stormed back towards the hotel. I nodded curtly to the man behind the desk as I tracked sand into the lobby, though I noticed that he looked horrified at the mess I was making. I didn't care, though. I just wanted to go up into the room and see Severus, I didn't care if we stayed holed up in there for the rest of the honeymoon. After what seemed like an age, the elevator stopped at our room, and I got out.

"Severus?" I called, but received no answer. How odd. He wasn't in the bathroom, or the bedroom. I went out onto the deck overlooking the beach and saw the hotel's notepad, flapping slightly in the breeze. The blue hotel pen was lying on top of the notepad, and I moved forward curiously to see what was written.

Raphaela,

It is difficult to articulate why I am doing this. Before I write anything further, I want you to know that I love you more than I ever thought possible, far beyond what I can say. That is why I am doing this. It is one of the most difficult things I have had to do, but it is to ensure the best for you. I am unsure of how to assemble the words to make it sound less terrible, so I will put it bluntly. By the time you read this I will have gone back to Britain. I must ask that you not seek me out. I implore you, remain at the hotel and then return to Hogwarts and become sole Potions Master. I will have removed all remnants of myself from the school by the time you return. I do this for your benefit, Raphaela. I am not the right man for you, and we are both aware of this fact. We should not carry on with this charade. I cannot carry on when I know that you and I cannot remain together. I know that you will find a man more suitable than I, and I wish you both the greatest of happiness.

Do not forget that I will love you always, Raphaela, until time itself ceases to be.

S.

Oh, bloody hell.

A/N: Sorry for not updating in a while, holiday season and all. Anyway, this is the second-from-last chapter, isn't that exciting? I'm excited, anyway. The next chapter is quite spiffy, in my opinion, so it would do you good to give it a read once it's up. :)