Chapter 36

Once Mary left, most of the feast was gone, and the night had begun.

"What do you think of her?" she asked Severus.

"A muggle. What more is there to think?"

Aly smirked. "No, really. Muggle or not, you have to be thinking something."

"I'm wondering about those letters. You were planning to burn them?"

Letting the subject of Mary go, Aly stood up. "Yeah. Let's get started on that."

Shaking his head, he put his plate into the sink to be washed by magic later. Then he followed Aly into the living room, where she had already lit a fire and was feeding it wood from the pile.

Once the fire was good and strong, Aly sat cross-legged in front of the flames, Severus watching her every move from his armchair.

The room was toasty warm, even slightly hot, and the only part of the house lit by the soft orange glow. It flickered across her face, the dark wood floors, the matching bookshelves, the grey walls.

Aly smiled, cradling the letters against her chest. "It feels safe here. The kind of place where good things happen."

"Not the type of atmosphere I would expect for my home to have."

"You're wrong. I'll show you. Come here."

He raised one eyebrow, dubious.

"Come on. I won't bite. Probably."

"Humph."

He kneeled next to her, staring into the flames.

"Now, look. This is Beaubaxtons. All of the bad things that happened there, and before, and a little while after."

He looked at her, the fire reflected in his eyes. Aly caught her breath, leaning in for a kiss.

Once it was over, she continued. "Here goes my departure." she tossed in the first letter.

Flames danced along the parchment, words smoking and curling and darkening to ash.

She tossed in the next few letters. "Here goes Picidaly."

On and on. For each batch of letters set to flame, she named an aspect of her stay at the French academy. Hunger strike. Stopped reading. Stopped talking. Stopped caring. Sick. Cloned. Alone. Locked in room. Re-merging with her past self.

BEfore she knew it, her hands were empty, if not for long. Because then Severus reached out to take her hands in his.

"If you were wondering..." he murmured, looking her in the eyes as she moved closer. "I never stopped caring about you. I love you, Alianne Parton."

Aly grinned. "I love you too, Severus Snape."

He leaned forward, cupping her face with his hand, steadying their kisses.

During all those minutes, hours that they spent that night in front of the fire, Aly didn't once think of Lily Potter or Dumbledore or Harry or Mary Revis or Abigail and Daniel and Cass and Kevin. She just kissed him, and kept kissing him as he hoisted her up in his arms and carried her up the stairs.

It was the first time since the start of term that their night together had consisted of more than just sleep.

Aly lay in bed, watching him sleep as the sun started to rise behind her -for once, it wasn't cloudy- and brought real light to the gloomy little room.

It was kind of strange, if thought of from a different perspective. Her family wasn't that far away, only about an hour's drive by bus. And yet here she was, sleeping with her (much older) Professor, so much more left behind them than the muggles could even start to imagine.

After all, she had told them and Kevin the same story.

A story of a wonderful world of magic where no one could possibly die or get sick or heartbroken. A very safe world, even with Voldemort returned.

Sadly, it was just too good to be true.

As quietly as possible, she got up and slipped into the robe that had stayed here, folded up in the closet. Padding down the stairs, she looked around, bright-eyed. With actual, unclouded sunlight beaming in through the windows, the house looked entirely different. Especially if you compared it to last night, when the only light had been from the living room fireplace, a tiny garrison of brightness to fight against the inky black of the night.

Barefoot on the cold yellow tiles, Aly surveyed the cupboards. No way was she making cereal on a morning like this.

They had nothing. If, maybe, last night she had spied some meat, milk, salad and eggs, spelled to last, nothing was left of their dinner. She would have to go shopping.

Quickly, she brushed her teeth and did her makeup. Slipping into the dress she found by the balcony in their bedroom and putting on her shoes, Aly scrawled a quick "Gone fishing, back soon" on a piece of stationary and made her way out of the house. A grocery store had to be nearby.

The few coins and bills she'd pocketed from the mantle grew moist in her hands. People that she passed by were all so normal, wearing flip-flops and grubby T-shirts and cut-off jeans. She stood out, and it wasn't just her clothes. She could see it in the looks of the passerby- in the way they stared, then shifted their gaze when her eyes met theirs. Or maybe that was the norm. Maybe everyone stared, at muggles as well as her.

Finally, the street that Severus's house was on was crossed by a more public looking one. Tiny shops were slowly waking up, the owners opening the doors and drawing back the shades. The whole street was coming to life.

Suddenly, Spinner's End no longer seemed gloomy. It was just a small little neighborhood, if slightly devoid of color in the side-streets- at least it wasn't that way all the way through to the core.

Spying an out-of-the-way Treasure Island, she suddenly felt the mental doorway open again. She shivered.

Cass opened the door of her car, grinning over at Aly in the passenger seat as she climbed out. Aly tapped her fingers against the window, and then Cass's face was up against the glass, laughing, white-blonde hair falling in her eyes and frizzing out in the wind. Perfect white teeth, perfect smile. Then they were out of the car, walking into the store. Cool air from the refrigerators. Aly hugged a gloriously cold bottle of Sprite to her chest and ran after her sister, who was already at one of the the registers, unloading a load of cookies and crackers and potato chips.

"Mom would freak." Aly giggled.

"It'll be our little secret."

Cass winked.

The man in front of them in line looked down at them, seeming displeased. Long black hair. Pallid skin. Black robes and a cape, even in this heat. He picked up his half-empty bag of food and walked out, cape billowing out behind him.

"Cool costume." Cass murmured distractedly, busily stuffing their change into her wallet.

Aly didn't reply. She was still wondering about the man, and not really his clothes. She wondered why he looked so unhappy, angry and grouchy on such a good day in London.

The flashback ended, and Aly took a while to realize that she was standing inside the store, about to take a bottle of Sprite from the fridge.

She gasped, stuffing the bottle back in. Wha?

Shaking her head, she walked over to where a sign proclaimed "Perishables", getting all the things she would need for an omelet with bacon and toast.

It seemed to her one should be aware of walking into a store and navigating towards the soda.

And what if she had been hit by a car? Or, less horribly, crashed into someone on her way in, or if the drinks had been relocated? She could have been hurt. Or busily explaining what she was doing, sleepwalking into a store. Or why the heck she was busily grabbing air and taking it to the cashiers.

Even once she set the what if's aside, there was a lot to think about. First, the obviously close-knit relationship she had with her sister. She remembered that time, on winter break. The Shake.

And it had been so perfect. A perfect older sister, a perfect summer day, a perfect breaking of rules as they stocked up on junk food.

And... they had seen Severus. He had looked different too, several years younger. No wonder he didn't remember her. But then she had to wonder about all the other possible times when they might have passed each other on the streets, or even talked.

What really bothered her was the way her old self had continued to dwell on the strange man while he simply frowned and walked away.

She smirked, realizing that, no matter what, he would have always been the one that people wondered about. Not the two teenaged girls buying popcorn. It was pure logic.

Paying the white-haired woman at the counter, she walked back home, her good mood still in place.

When breakfast was nearly ready, Severus came down the stairs.

"Gone fishing?"

"For eggs."

"I see you were successful?"

"Quite a plentiful catch. I used the hooks you left on the mantle, sorry."

He didn't reply, just stood behind her, hands on her waist. Aly looked up at him over her shoulder, and he surprised her with a kiss. No morning breath or anything.

"I had another flashback at Treasure Island. I was there with Cass, a few years ago. We bought junk food. And we stood behind you in line, how unlikely is that?"

"Really." he seemed mildly interested. "And Cass is..."

"Come on, I know you know her. My sister."

"Yes, right."

"What's wrong, Mr Sunshine? It's a beautiful day. Ever heard of stopping to smell the flowers?"

"The day is fine. You should go stay with your family."

Aly sputtered. "Someone promised to not send me away."

"What? I'm not sending you away. I would be rather satisfied to keep you here all summer, where I can be sure you won't do anything stupid."

"Buuut?"

"But you have to face them, eventually. One at a time is better, so as for it to not be so overwhelming. You could try starting with the sister."

"But I'm not going to, like, live with them. It would be so weird."

"I think it would be all the more weird for you to live with me. Suspicious, even."

She knew what he meant. "But I don't want to!"

The look in his eyes said it all. She didn't want to because they were still strangers to her. Once she remembered...

"At least try to talk to them."

"Why are you suddenly so interested in the relationship I have with my family?"

"I want to make it easier for you."

"Make what easier for me, if you don't plan on leaving me?"

He stared at her, daring her to say it.

"Oh. Oh, no. No. Noo! Never! You are not going anywhere without me for that long!"

"Not what I meant."

Aly didn't want this, but she knew what he was talking about. "Voldemort."

He nodded.

The good weather now seemed mocking. "But you said you're safe."

"I'm safe from Voldemort. But the other Death Eaters, or one of my... tasks..."

"They could kill you."

Little-teeny-tiny bit of drama, if only because it seems once you take the drama away, there is NOTHING left to write but fluff and stuff. I was stuck at 1000 words with nowhere to go.

-Val