Chapter 26

London wrapped his arms around Ana. "Ready?"

"Ready," she confirmed, closing her eyes tightly.

London concentrated, using all of his will to carry not only his own body across the city but that of his muggle friend as well. They reappeared in the bedroom of Severus' London flat.

"We're running away to Sev's flat?" Ana asked incredulously.

London rolled his eyes. "We're getting some money, then we're leaving. Sev let me keep my extra cash here," he said, reaching under the bed and coming back with a jar stuffed with cash and coins.

Ana's eyes widened at the sight of so much money. "All that is yours?"

"Ours," London said, straightening out the bills and slipping them into a wallet that he changed out of one of Sev's handkerchiefs. "It's my extra work money since I started dating Sev. I didn't need much while he was…well. I just didn't need to spend as much, so I saved it for when he tired of me. Which is now, I guess," he finished lamely.

"What happened to you two?" she asked gently, fully aware that he had not given her the full story before.

"It doesn't fucking matter. Sev made it clear that he doesn't want me. Couldn't even be bothered to fucking talk to me unless we were at meals."

"So the man was busy—"

"He's been using me all these years, Ana."

"What?" she asked, unable to believe it.

"He's been fucking using me."

"For sex? I'm sure it was great but—"

"No. He's been using me to further his career."

"How—"

"He knew that if he could get me to come to school with him that he would get all the credit for finding me, for bringing me back home."

"But why do these people care?" Ana asked, still incapable of understanding these people's fascination with London.

"It doesn't matter. All that matters is that once Sev got me there, he's been ignoring me ever since. He doesn't need me anymore. He sure as hell doesn't give a damn about me."

"And you're sure you haven't just misunderstood him? I'm sure he's really busy—"

"That's shite and you know it. It's like he doesn't even know I'm there most of the time."

"But—"

"I'm done talking about it, Ana. He's done with me. I'm moving on."

Ana sighed but nodded. "I'm going to the loo before we leave," she announced.

"Hurry. I don't know how long it will be before they notice I left."

She nodded and hurried into the bathroom. After carefully locking the door behind herself and turning on the shower she pulled the pencil and paper out of her pocket that she had filched from the dresser in the bedroom. Sev was being an idiot, and she intended to point that out to him.

Sev- she wrote carefully.

Stop being such a shit. What did you eckspect London to do when you didn give him a job? You kno he gets bored.

Siding with the rich boys was fucking stupid.

Hes going away and I'm going with him. He didn't say where. Find him and apol-appolo- say you're fucking sorry.

Hurt him again and I wont help you get him back. Asshole.

Ana

That should do it, she thought with a grim smile. She couldn't believe the turn her friends' relationship had gone in. She felt that she knew Sev pretty well, and she never would have thought him to be so completely thoughtless. Something else must be going on.

"You almost done in there?" London called out, his exasperation clear.

"Nearly," she called out, ripping her clothes off and jumping under the water for a moment. "You know I don't get to have warm showers that often."

"Well fucking finish it. I'll get us a hotel room when we get there. You can stay in that shower all day for all I care."

"Where are we going?"

"Dunno yet."

Ana's shoulders slumped. Well, she wouldn't be able to leave Sev any clues, that was for sure. Hopefully he would be better at tracking down London now than he had been before he met her brother.

"Get the fuck out of the shower!"

"Ok, ok," she yelled back, slipping out and drying herself on one of the fluffy towels that Sev always kept in the bathroom. She looked with regret at the shower before tossing the towel on the ground and dressing again. She had needed to write that letter, and she really couldn't regret giving up a longer shower to get it done.

She tucked the note under her wet towel and left it on the floor. She'd have to hope that Sev found it soon.

"Let's go," she said, wrapping her arms around London once more.

He hugged her close to himself and closed his eyes, gathering his powers once again.

CHANGERCHANGERCHANGERCHANGERCHANGER

Severus hurried down to his rooms. He did not have a good feeling about this. Something about the way that London had said that he was leaving had implied that the man was leaving for good, not that he was simply leaving a frustrating meeting.

He rushed to the doorway and pushed it open, praying that London would be sprawled out on the sofa, as usual.

His shoulders slumped in defeat.

The room was empty.

He knew with an eerie certainty that the bedroom, bath, study and kitchen were likewise empty.

London had left him.

He collapsed into his armchair, his mind swimming as he waged an internal battle over what to do now.

Part of him screamed to go tell Dumbledore and the others that London was missing. Surely with their assistance, he could locate his lover quickly. After all, they all would recognize London's magical signature now, and he sincerely doubted that the man had figured out how to block his own signature from being detected. At least he hoped so.

Another part of him argued that doing such a thing would be an even graver betrayal of London. The man had left because he was no longer comfortable being surrounded by these people. Sending the very people after him who had hurt him so deeply would be a horrific act of insensitivity.

At the same time though, he knew rationally that he needed to find London, before the Death Eaters did.

He rubbed his forehead in exasperation.

Either choice was a bad one. There was no way to deal with this properly. No matter which choice he made, he knew he would regret it in some fashion.

Head pounding, Severus waffled between his two options repeatedly. Should he hurt London worse in order to get him back and possibly make up with him? Should he give him space, and just pray that no one found him in the interim? Which outcome would be worse—finding his lover and having the man be so angry over the breach of his personal space that London never forgave him, or having London wind up dead because he had foolishly given the man some space?

With a deep sigh, and a quick prayer that he was making the right decision, he walked to the fireplace and threw in a handful of floo powder.

CHANGERCHANGERCHANGERCHANGERCHANGER

"Where are we?" Ana asked, once she had regained her composure from the change.

"Berlin."

"Germany?" she asked, unable to believe her friend.

London shrugged.

"Why on earth did you pick Germany? Do you even speak German?"

"A bit," he hedged. "Enough people speak English for us to get by on. And how much talking do you actually do in clubs, anyway?"

"We're going clubbing?"

"Yes."

"Let's just go to the hotel, please Lonnie?"

"No. I want to dance. And I need a fucking drink."

"We can get something to drink at the hotel. We can stay up late and drink and gossip... It'll be great."

"No. I need to let go. I need to dance…and not the way I would with you."

"Have you two fully broken up?" she asked hesitantly. If London wanted to dance like that it could only really mean one thing.

London glared at her. "He doesn't want me."

"I think he does. Are you so certain that he wants someone else?"

London shrugged.

Ana sighed. "Don't do anything you might regret later."

"He knew what I was when he took me home that first night."

"Stop acting like this. You're not a prostitute, and you never were."

"You don't need to fucking pretend anymore. I know what I was. I know what I am. Its Sev who got us confused about that, giving us dreams we shouldn't have."

"Stop being an idiot," she snapped. "You deserved everything and more. And stop feeling sorry for yourself. Sev was an asshole. I agree with you completely. But it isn't the end of the world. Like you said, we still have each other, and the day that either of us lets our entire world become caught up in a good fuck…well, we both know it won't happen."

"I think I might have done that," London whispered.

"No, you didn't. You loved him, sure, but he wasn't everything. You got a lot good in your life. And you sure as hell don't need to go back to jumping in and out of beds just to keep warm. We have more than enough money to pay for a proper place for ourselves tonight."

"And then?"

"We'll deal with it when we have to. Let's just go to the hotel."

"I need this," he said, the desperation clear. "I need to let go and forget and…fuck," he said, his voice cracking. "I just need it."

Ana decided not to ask for clarification on the fuck, whether he actually intended to fuck someone or if it was a simple curse in desperation. She'd really rather not know. "Where are we going then, and when can we leave for the hotel?"

"Stop asking questions. You wanted to come with me, so come."

Ana nodded resolutely. She had never been much for the club scene, but she needed to go along and take care of her oldest friend. He was obviously not thinking straight right now. While she didn't think that he would go home with a stranger from the club, she wasn't certain that he was coherent enough to refuse.

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A/N: I know it's short. Sorry! I'll try to post again soon!