Many of you had your theories about what happened with Ron at the end of the previous chapter.

Chapter 25

The spells that had been cast on Ron had completely wiped his mind of all the events just following his expulsion. A number of mind healers from St. Mungo's had checked it out quietly, but none of them could find a thing. Whoever had done this was very good at covering their tracks.

Holly was nervous about this, because this person also knew where her rooms were. So she kept out of them as much as she could. The good thing about all this was that she got to spend more time with Severus!

At the start of February, they still hadn't gotten very…physical yet, though there was plenty of flirting and kissing in privacy. They were still talking over limits, about things they wanted to try out.

There were times when she just wanted to snog him like crazy and let him have his way with her, right wherever they happened to be. But because of the precariousness of their relationship, Holly was in a bit of a quandary about Valentine's day. She'd never been a big fan of the holiday, and she knew for a fact that Severus wasn't either.

Holly and Severus shared a small smile as she sat next to him at the staff table. She then looked out to the Great Hall, noting many girl's delighted faces as they opened packages of flowers and chocolates from their beaus and crushes. There were also some distinctly nervous looking boys, and many, many gossipy girls. Hermione caught her eye and waved a bit.

Holly waved back. After the business with Ron, she'd cut her contact with the other students more. Hermione, Luna, and Neville were the exception, but it was limited. After all, everyone was busy with their NEWTS, and she had classes to teach on top of that.

While the staff was distracted by Flitwick and McGonagall retelling the travesty of Valentine's day when Lockhart was around, Severus leant over to Holly.

"Come to my rooms tonight."

Holly, who'd just been about to sip some tea, hid her smile behind her teacup. "Yes sir."

"Dress muggle, we'll be going out. Wear something casual."

Her grin spread wider. "Really?"

Severus nodded.

All morning, Holly had been distracted for her plans that evening, and was trying to figure out what to wear. At lunch, she asked him.

"How casual? Will we be trekking through snow, or will we be in London?"

"The first one." Severus said quickly, turning to McGonagall as the woman asked him a question.

Now Holly was confounded. What could they possibly be doing? Still, that helped her decide what to wear.

Holly wore her heavy winter coat, along with a sweater, a blouse, some jeans, and her boots. She honestly didn't know what to expect for that night, but she was sure it would be fun. As she walked to Severus' office, she bumped into Zabini and a few of the other Slytherins. She gave them a slight smile.

"What are you doing down here?"

"Just...uhm, patrols."

Zabini's eyes flickered down to Severus' office door, which was just a little further up the corridor. The Slytherins passed, and continued to walk down the corridor. Holly blushed, and walked to the man's office. He was going through some papers, standing at his desk. She grinned as she saw the muggle pants and jacket- he looked so good in muggle clothes.

He glanced her way. "We'll be on our way in just a moment."

She nodded, and he finished reading the papers, and set them aside. "We're going to take the floo, and then we'll be on our way."

"Are we going to your house again?"

Severus nodded. "Yes."

They flooed to Severus' brick row house- it was drafty and cold, and it looked so dreary. Severus went to another room, the study, and pulled some papers out of a muggle file folder that had been sitting on his desk. "I wanted to show you something." He said, with a rare smile. Holly looked at the papers he handed to her- it was a deed. To a house. There were several muggle photographs in the file as well.

"I've been looking for a new house for over a year, since the Dark Lord... and I've finally decided on that one. What do you think?" It looked more like a farm than a house- it was way out in the country, with lots of land. The house itself was two stories, with a cellar. The photos looked like they were taken during the summer, with long blades of grass and wildflowers filling the land, and a clear blue sky behind the house.

"I thought we'd go visit it today. I've only seen it once before, back during the fall. It won't obviously look like that in the pictures."

Holly handed the file back to him, a smile showing on her face. "You bought a house- I can't believe it. So...are you planning on leaving Hogwarts more often next year?"

Severus put the file away, and wrapped an arm around her shoulders. "I...was thinking about stepping down as Head of Slytherin. That way I could have a lot more free time, and I wouldn't be required to stay at the school every weekend."

Holly nodded. "That sounds reasonable."

"I hope Albus thinks so. I'm going to meet him next week about it. Eventually, I want to leave the school entirely, but not perhaps for a few years."

She looked at him in shock. "Really?"

He pulled her to him, hugging her. "Yes. Hold on."

They apparated away, and reappeared in a snowy field. Their feet were suddenly freezing, snow up halfway to their knees. Holly stumbled slightly, and looked around. Brilliant white snow, as far as the eye could see. There was a muggle road not too far away that had been plowed through.

"There is a village nearby. The closest house is about a mile away. It's all muggle here." He turned her around, and she looked up at the house for the first time. It was a rustic looking house, with a wide porch and narrow windows. It was painted white, but the paint was chipped and worn. He tugged her along behind him.

"I'll have to fix it up, of course, but it shouldn't take much. I was thinking, once I leave the school, I could set up a greenhouse, and grow my own potions ingredients. They're getting more expensive every year, and it would save money to grow my own. I have enough room." He led her into the porch, and she looked around. The wood was rather worn looking, but the porch was spacious, there would be enough room for some chairs, maybe even a porch swing. She smiled to herself as they entered the house.

"The power isn't on, so I can't turn on the light switches and things, but everything has been wired for muggle electricity." Holly grinned at this. All the floors were wooden, and the house was a bit old fashioned looking, but...charming. It would clean up well. The wallpaper would need to be replaced, definitely. He took her around the first floor. The sitting room was a bit small, but the large study and kitchen more than made up for it. Holly stood in the doorway to the kitchen, feeling...something new.

Severus was fiddling with the sink- the plumbing was a bit wonky. As he stood there, she imagined the room lit up with a warm glow, dinner cooking at the stove, with a kitchen table that looked somewhat like Mrs. Weasley's- he turned around, and she shook herself out of it.

"Holly? Are you alright?"

"Just..thinking." Holly said with a small smile. She approached him, and kissed him gently. "Shall we continue?"

He showed her the cellar, which was downstairs from the kitchen. He explained he could brew his potions down here, so that there was no chance that the muggles could see his work. They then went upstairs- there was the loo, and three empty bedrooms. She looked around at one of the smaller ones, noting the faded pink flowery wallpaper- it had clearly been a girl's bedroom. A child's room.

She looked to Severus, who'd been standing in the doorway, watching her. "I...thought it might be a good idea to get a couple of extra bedrooms. Guest rooms. You know Albus will want to visit at least once."

"Of course." Holly's smile faded, and she looked around once more. She checked the closet, and grinned as she saw the loose floorboard. She pulled it up. Curious, Severus came behind her.

"What did you find?"

Holly laughed, pulling out a small bag. "Contraband. I had a similar loose board, growing up. Under my bed." She went through it, finding a small tube of lipstick, several pairs of cheap earrings, a few hair ribbons, and a faded picture of a pre-teen boy. She put it back with a sad smile, glancing over her shoulder at Severus. She couldn't read his expression. "Let's see the other rooms, shall we?"

The next bedroom was painted a cheerful yellow, although the walls were a bit dinged up from the furniture that had been there. Severus then led her to the last bedroom, which had been painted a pale blue. It was larger than the other two, clearly the master bedroom. Holly stood at the window, staring outside. She jumped as Severus wrapped his arms around her waist.

"Are you okay?" He asked quietly.

Holly just gave him a slight shrug, unable to speak. She felt like crying, for some reason.

"What's wrong?"

"Nothing, it's just...this house is great. I was just..." She turned slightly in his arms. "Why are you showing it to me?"

His eyes searched her face, as if he was trying to read it. "We've...talked before, about what we want from the future. You want to be in the muggle world, away from all the newspapers and things. Yet you still want to maintain a small connection to the magical world. So do I. I...I'm getting older. For the longest time, I thought I would never survive that war, and now that I did..." He looked down, joining their hands together. "Things are different. I can actually see myself having a future now."

Holly swallowed. She felt the same way.

"I...I know everything with us is so new. I'm not asking you to move in straight away, or anything, but...I could see you here. In the future." He spoke so quietly, hesitant about something. "I'm sure you have plans of your own, but... this is something I always wanted to do." He looked around the house. "Getting a new house- one that doesn't have all the bad memories. Getting away from Hogwarts, where there are worse memories. I love Hogwarts, I really do, but I never planned on spending the rest of my life there."

Holly kissed him gently, making him stop speaking. As she pulled away, she murmured. "I feel the same way. Severus...I know this is all new, but I've been attracted to you for so long-" She bit her lip. "I could see myself here too." Her eyes flicked to his. "Maybe this summer I can help you fix up the place?"

"I'd like that." Severus said, a slow smile spreading on his face. He looked so...happy. He hugged her tightly, burying his face in her hair. She hugged him back, feeling elated.

He finally pulled away from her, his smile easing. "I thought we could walk to town. I know I'll probably need to get a vehicle once I start living here full time, since the muggles would find it suspicious." He looked out the window. "But the weather doesn't look so good."

Holly kissed him again. "Or we could just stay here and eat." She pulled out a shrunken basket from her pocket. "I didn't know what we were doing tonight, so I prepared us a basket from the kitchens." She unshrunk the basket with a tap of her wand, and Severus conjured a blanket. They sat down on the floor, and began to eat. Holly thought it was the best Valentine's day ever.

Severus came back from his evening with Holly, mind still buzzing with excitement. He had seen the look on her face when she had looked at the house- he was so surprised that she wasn't scared off by what he'd said.

Part of him felt like they were moving too fast. Another part of him felt like they weren't moving fast enough. He took off his coat, draping it over the sofa. Holly kept surprising him at every turn, and he liked that.

He went to the kitchenette, and opened up the cabinet for his usual drink before bed. As he was pouring the glass, he paused, staring at the bottle in his hand.

He looked at the glass, and then at all the bottles in the cupboard. Before, he'd never really cared about drinking so much. Who cared anyways, as long as he was able to work, right? He frowned at the glass, and took the bottle, and upended it in the sink. When that was empty, he grabbed the next, and did it again.

His Father had been an alcoholic. Sometimes Severus did drink excessively, but he didn't do it often enough to be unhealthy. Now that he was looking at the future, he knew that he didn't need to drink anymore, and he shouldn't.

He upended another bottle. Then another. Finally, he was just left with one bottle, and the single glass. He hesitated only a moment, and thought of Holly. He upended the last bottle into the sink, watching the wine pour down the drain.

"You're worth it, Holly." He murmured, and poured what alcohol that was in his glass down the sink too. "No more."

Winter slowly turned into Spring, and Holly couldn't be happier. Severus had spoken to the Headmaster about stepping down, who'd only gave him a twinkling smile and sent him on his way with his blessings. It was decided that next year, Severus would only be the Potions Master, and would not be required to live at the school in the evenings or weekends. Professor Vector was offered the position as Head of the Slytherins next year, which he took.

They obviously hadn't made this news open to the students yet, although Holly was tempted to tell the others- at least Hermione. She hadn't told anyone about the visit to Severus' new house, or that he'd even gotten a new house.

One evening, in late March, the two of them were grading papers in Severus' office when Minerva burst into the room. "She's having the baby!"

Holly gasped, and the two of them got to their feet. "But it's early!"

"Children never follow directions- you should know that by now, Holly." The woman said, and the three of them flooed to the hospital wing. Tonks was already in labor when they arrived. Remus was pacing nervously back and forth, looking rather distressed. The other staff members were already there- Hooch and Flitwick were already passing around the drinks.

Holly abstained, and approached Remus. "Remus...everything will be fine- you'll see."

"Merlin, I hope so." Remus said quietly, looking distressed. The Headmaster arrrived, and took Remus aside, to talk to him. The other staff members got out the alcohol, jubilant at any excuse to drink.

It took eight hours and twenty minutes for the baby to arrive- Tonks was asleep, understandably, and Remus was overjoyed as he held his son for the first time.

"He's beautiful." Holly said with a smile. "He's got his Mother's hair." The baby's hair was bright pink when he'd come out of his mother, and it'd changed from blue to green to purple, to the bright orange that it was now. Remus chuckled, holding the baby so carefully to him. It was so tiny.

"Teddy is going to be a handful, I'm sure- a metamorph that's the son of a maurauder." Remus grinned at this, and Holly squeezed his arm. "Congratulations, Moony."

"I just feel sorry for his teachers in the future." Minerva groaned at this, and the others laughed. Holly blushed, as Remus had been looking right at her as he said this.

"Well...actually, I don't think I'm going to stay on as a teacher. Not for very long, anyways." Holly said casually.

"But you love teaching! Whyever not?" Hooch exclaimed.

Holly just smiled, looking down at the baby. "I love Hogwarts, but there are other things I want to do too."

"Remus, this is all your fault, threatening her with a metamorph student." The Headmaster teased playfully.

"You want kids?" Hooch asked, offering a drink to Holly, but she shook her head, passing it.

"One day."

"But...you can't...er...you don't have the right plumbing."

Holly blushed, looking away. "Actually, the potions Hermione brewed for me er...gave me the right plumbing. So...potentially, yes, I could. I wouldn't want kids now, of course, but...one day." She looked to Remus, smiling. "Enough about me, let's talk about how cute Teddy is some more."

She did not notice Albus pulling Severus aside to have a rather serious conversation.

"Severus...did you know this?"

Severus frowned. "I...I knew she wanted a family- she's mentioned that much before, but I didn't know about...I thought we'd have to ado-" He cut himself off, internally chastising himself. Albus' eyes grew bright.

"It's got to that point, has it?"

Severus couldn't look the man in the eye. "I've quit drinking." It was...tough, putting it lightly. At first, the temptation had been so great. But he'd yet to take a sip, no matter how much he wanted a drink.

Albus' eyes widened. "You really care for her, don't you? This is...serious."

"Of course it is!" Severus hissed, glancing around. No one was listening to them.

"Do you love her?"

Severus looked away, and didn't answer.

"I suppose that's why you're stepping down as Slytherin Head of House. I thought that might have been it, but..."

"I bought a house." Severus murmured, and Albus smiled.

"Oh?"

"I showed it to her already. She's offered to help me fix it up. Albus...what if I mess this up?"

"You won't. She cares a great deal for you, you know."

"I know. That's what I'm worried about."

Holly looked worriedly at Severus, who was scowling at his dinner plate. He'd been in a bad mood all day- she'd heard that the potions classroom had to be evacuated that morning when a second year had blown something up. Holly laid her hand on his knee, underneath the table, jerking him out of his thoughts. He looked over at her, visibly surprised, and Holly smiled.

"Everything alright?"

The man frowned, and looked down at his plate. "I didn't have a very good day today."

"Can I do anything? To help?" She asked quietly.

Severus sighed. "The potions classroom is a mess- all of my classes had to be at the library today, writing papers for me- I'll need to clean it up. Unfortunately, it's rather toxic and I don't want a second year to clean it up. So I'm going to have to do it."

"I can help." Holly said. "I've got plenty of experience cleaning your classroom." She said teasingly.

"Fine." He threw his napkin onto the table. "Let's go."

"Now?" Holly asked, as he stood up. He gave her a curt nod and started walking. Holly sighed, looked down at her half eaten dessert, and stood as well. She followed him through the back entrance, down the corridor. Perhaps she could kip to the kitchens later on tonight. She smiled to herself as she thought about convincing Severus of getting dessert with her and maybe eating it in his quarters.

The two of them started to clean the classroom, wearing bubblehead charms and gloves to protect them from the mess. It had to be done by hand, because using cleaning spells could irritate the mess and make it worse. They got to work quickly, and there was a knock on the door when they were halfway through.

"Enter." Severus said, lowering his bubble charm for the moment. Most of the fumes had been gotten rid of at that point. It was Hermione. She looked rather surprised to see Holly there. Hermione had a stack of papers in her arms.

"Oh...hello Professor. I...just um, wanted to give you those notes you wanted."

"Put them on the desk in my office." Severus said, and went back to cleaning. Holly waved slightly to Hermione, and her friend smiled. Hermione went to put the papers in his office, and came back out. Hermione glanced at Severus, and then nodded to herself, before closing the door behind her.

Severus and Holly shared a look.

"Does she know?" Severus asked after a moment.

Holly shook her head. "She knows that I'm attracted to you...but nothing more than that." She murmured.

"You haven't told anyone? Not even Lupin or Tonks?" He asked in surprise.

Holly shook her head, eyes dropping to the floor. "Albus knows, of course, because he knows everything." She gave him a shy smile. "I...I thought you might want to keep this...to ourselves, for now. And maybe...in the future, we could let everyone know."

They worked for a bit longer in silence.

"I'm just...surprised, that's all." Severus finally said.

Holly wiped her sleeve over her face- she'd worked up a bit of a sweat. "I can keep a secret, you know. I just..." She sighed. "What are we exactly, Severus?" She asked quietly, looking over at him. They hadn't Played together yet, and she really, really wanted to. Also, she couldn't quite call him her boyfriend, because it just didn't seem suitable enough.

He paused in his cleaning, frowning. He turned slightly to face her, scrutinizing her.

"What do you want to be?"

Holly ran her gloved hand over the scrub brush. "Yours?" Her eyes flicked to his, feeling his stare upon her. He dropped his scrub brush to the floor, making her jump. He stalked over to her, and pulled her up roughly, and kissed her hard.

He held her away from him, hands holding her tightly on her upper arms. His eyes were dark and penetrating, looking straight through her. She felt her breath hitch, her mouth go dry.

"For lack of a better explanation- we are together. You are mine...and I am yours." He said this last part a bit quieter. Then, his voice grew stronger again. " I shan't ever share you with anyone else. You offer yourself to me willingly, correct?"

"...yes. Of course." She breathed, eyes bright. He looked her up and down, looking as though he wanted to devour her where they stood. He shoved her away roughly, making her bang into the desk behind her, shifting it slightly. She held on to the edge, and looked up at him, heart racing like mad. Her hip throbbed from where she'd hit it, but she barely noticed it.

"Go to my rooms. I'll finish up here. You get yourself cleaned up and wait for me in the sitting room." He murmured, and picked up his scrub brush.

"Sir, I..." She began, but stopped as he looked at her over his shoulder. Her words died in her throat. She swallowed thickly, and finally straightened up. "Yes sir." She went to the stairs that led down to his quarters, and paused, glancing over her shoulder. Severus was watching her. Her eyes dropped to the floor, and she made the ascent.

Check out my drawing of Holly on my deviantart page- I have the username there. I'd the post the link, but ffnet is weird about links.

Thanks for reading guys, and please review!

I bet you guys are looking forward to the next chapter, aren't you? XD