It was dark, and her voice was quiet as it floated up to be swallowed by the darkness. "Harry? Are you awake?"
"No," he replied in a sleepy voice.
"Harry," she said a little more insistently.
"Fine, I'm awake, but I'd rather not be." He scooted over, closing the small gap that lay between them and rolled onto his side, her form a darker blob next to him. She scrunched down until her head was under his chin, pushing her back against his chest, entangling their legs and feet together. He settled an arm around her and waited, hoping he wouldn't fall asleep before she got off her chest what was bothering her. He didn't have to wait long.
"You know the shields?"
He made an encouraging noise.
"Do you, do you worry that, well, that they might make things worse?"
He could feel under his hand and against his chest the tension that had entered her. The slight hunching of her shoulders as she said the words, and it made him pause and think, measuring his reply. She'd been stewing on this for a couple of days, she'd not said anything, but he'd seen the glances at the small dish on his desk containing the jewellery he'd made. She'd said nothing when he'd asked what was wrong and he'd decided to let her tell him when she was ready. It seemed now she was.
"Worse how?" he asked softly.
"If we give them to everyone now, won't we just make the Death Eater's try harder?"
"Try harder?"
"To hurt people, to inflict fear. The shields will protect people, but once the shock wears off, then they'll have something to aim for, to break. There's no way of knowing what they might do to break them, and if someone isn't wearing one, are they at risk of being hurt more because they might be?"
"Ah," Harry said. "I had thought of that."
"Oh?" she said twisting her head to look at him in the darkness. Her shoulders followed the movement, and she resettled herself facing him
"If we hand them out indiscriminately then yes, we're going to force them to try harder to hurt people. If we don't hand out them at all, then we leave people open to being hurt when we could help prevent it. If we give the Death Eaters an opportunity to get hold of one, by whatever means, then they'll get the chance to counter them. I am not quite big headed enough to think someone wouldn't be able to unravel the spells and find a way around them. Or make their own. Death Eaters and Aurors all wearing shielding jewellery going at it hammer and tongues? It's a recipe for disaster. I think we're going to have to keep them a sort of secret. There's an argument that handing them around the higher risk Order members is a good idea, as long as they don't stand and make a fight of it, and only use them while they get out of Dodge. That way it looks like bad luck on the Death Eaters part, but it's not a decision I think we can make, it's something that only Snape or Dumbledore, or maybe Kingsley can. We're only going to get one or maybe two opportunities, I think, to use them to the utmost effectiveness. The fight that's coming? Yeah, we need everyone going out there to be wearing one. The general public day to day?" He shook his head.
"You're ok with that?" she asked. "You got them working because of what happened to Bill. You wanted to get them working to protect kids."
"They can still protect kids from school bullies, just not yet. As for the other, it's not my call."
She settled against him once more, and he waited for her to speak again. She didn't, and he felt her body relax as she fell asleep, mentally shrugging, he let himself follow her into sleep.
"Harry? Have you got a minute?"
Harry looked up from his books at John stood in the doorway. "Sure."
"Come down to the library," John said and waited for Harry to stand before turning and leading the way.
Once in the library they took their familiar seats and Harry waited in puzzled silence as John seemed to marshal his thoughts. "Is there something wrong?" he asked finally when it seemed that John hadn't decided whatever it was he was struggling with.
"No," John replied a comforting smile flashing over his face. "It's just this isn't something I ever saw myself doing. But Helen won the coin toss so here I am."
Harry relaxed letting the unconscious tension that had been creeping into his neck and shoulders dissipate. If this had involved a coin toss, it was likely going to be embarrassing and uncomfortable rather than life threatening and world ending. "Oh, OK," he said aloud. "So what's up?"
John looked at Harry. "What are your intentions towards my daughter?"
Harry gaped at him in surprise. "I, um, well we're together, and I thought you both were OK with that?"
John waved a hand. "We are, there's no problem there. Are you planning on marrying her?"
"I've asked," Harry confessed sheepishly. "Well, sort of. When we went to the Bahamas. She said no, sort of."
John looked both puzzled and amused. "Care to elaborate?"
Harry rolled his eyes. "I gathered it boiled down to the problem isn't me, or our relationship, only that the law had soured the idea for her. She wasn't going to be forced into anything and that she wasn't going to be some sort of child bride. She said she wanted to be thirty, live her life before getting married. That sort of thing."
"And you?"
Harry sat in quiet thought before speaking. "It's her. It's always going to be her, today, tomorrow, it doesn't matter. I've got no problem waiting for her to decide she's ready."
"But you'd get married earlier?"
Harry shrugged. "Probably, yeah. Why?"
"Because she can't return without being married and she won't stay behind when you go. Being arrested on returning to England would put a spanner in all the plans, and it is an unnecessary risk."
"Umm," Harry started to say but stopped as John pulled a folded piece of parchment out of a pocket. "What's that?" he asked instead.
"This," John said unfolding the parchment and handing it over. "Is the standard UK betrothal contract that the muggleborn are using to get around the Ministry law."
"You think we should sign one?"
"We think you're going to need some form of legal protection. Forcing both, or either of you into something you aren't ready for isn't something we are going to push for. This gives you more breathing room."
"But she doesn't want to…" Harry said.
"She doesn't want to get married," John corrected. "Engaged on the other hand? An exchange of promises, a long engagement, what difference would it really make?"
Harry looked at John. "You know she isn't going to see it that way, especially not if we ask her to sign this."
"That," John said a small wicked smile creeping onto his face. "Is the beauty of one of these. She doesn't need to sign it, the head of her family does."
Harry looked at John, amusement mixed with shock. "You're going to…?"
John nodded.
"No wonder there was a coin toss, she'll go nuts."
"Well, I wasn't going to sign it until she agreed," John said equally amused. "I'm not quite selling her off to that extent."
"It's that bad?"
"It does mention a bride price so technically, yes, I would be selling her."
"Christ," Harry swore. "I really don't want to do that. She's a person, not a lamp. Is it necessary? Can't we just change it? How do you even do it anyway?"
"Well I saw someone in a film once sell their sister for a herd of camels," John offered dryly.
"Right," Harry said. "You can tell her how many camels she's worth. I'll be elsewhere, a long way away until she's calmed down."
"I think I'll take a pass on that one too thanks."
Harry started reading the parchment in his hands but gave up before he made it past the first paragraph, the dry legalese making little sense to him. "So what do we do?"
"First you're going to have to propose again. Properly this time, not sort of, and she needs to say yes and not 'Not yet'. A long engagement, not running off to Vegas tomorrow, sort of thing. Which is what you have now really, so it's not going to be much different, just a promise and a bit of jewellery. See if she likes that idea any better. While you're doing that I'll have this checked by a solicitor, so we all know what we're getting into, then you two will have to agree to have it signed."
"If we do, won't it register at the UK Ministry? Will it give away where we are?"
"I don't know," John replied. "I'll ask the solicitor when I speak to them."
"Won't they have to be magical?"
"Dobby has been proving his worth again," John replied. "Minerva gave Helen the name of her solicitor, and we've been sending Dobby to ask questions. Apparently, it's not unheard of in the magical world."
"Alright," Harry said nodding. "So proposing to Hermione. Any suggestions?"
"Nope," John replied. "I am her father after all. I believe my role is to warn you off and declare you not good enough for my princess. Happily, for you, I happen to know that you are good enough for her, and if I tried to warn you off both she and her mother would have things to say. Loudly, and repetitively."
"Thanks," Harry said glancing over at the smiling man. "It's not like it went all that well the first time."
"Never confuse a single defeat with a final defeat," John said. He stood from his chair and took the contract back from Harry. "I'll sort this; you go get the girl."
Harry returned to his desk and sat staring at his books. He had three NEWT exams to complete before Christmas, followed by two after. He spent more time cramming information into his brain recently than he felt he had ever previously during his seven years in education.
It had seemed like a good idea when Helen had suggested it at the beginning of the school year. He could get his exams out of the way, then if the war dragged out, he wouldn't have to worry about them. Not that he thought exams were the most important thing going on, but he supposed having them done and dusted meant afterwards, he wouldn't have to go back to school and study unless he wanted to.
Going back to school after defeating one of the darkest wizards of the current time seemed to Harry, something that he wouldn't want to do. His life could finally begin out from under the shadow of Tom and the prophecy, school seemed like it wouldn't appeal. So he'd agreed, and thanks to Helen and Hermione's organisation and his own considerable efforts, he was well on track to gaining three respectable qualifications in Charms, Transfiguration and Herbology only five months earlier than most students his age. After Christmas he'd take Defence and Potions then he would be free. Well, sort of free. He had started, thanks to the work they had done with the jewellery, to study Ancient Runes. They had been incorporated into all the spells they had developed to make the glamours and shields, and he had found it more useful than he had thought the subject would be back in Hogwarts. Using Hermione's notes from Hogwarts he had signed up for classes at school. He might actually be one of the oldest in the class as it was held as an out of hours' remedial class, but it had meant he'd been able to get Hermione to help him study at home and the lecturer to assess his progress. He had hoped this year to take his OWL equivalent, but with the cramming for his finals, he hadn't been able to give it as much time as he needed. He supposed he could keep going with it after, depending on what he wanted to do.
And free of course was somewhat subjective. If the plan they were cooking up went sideways, he might not be able to take his exams at all, never mind early. If it went really sideways, it might not even matter. He tried not to think about that. And on top of his concerns about his exams, and his concerns about what going back to England would actually mean, and how he was supposed to defeat Tom in the first place, and his ongoing worry about Hermione going into danger with him, he now had to find a way to convince her to get engaged.
His head thumped down onto the open book in front of him, and he closed his eyes with a groan. He was seventeen, what did he know about saving the world and getting the girl, and not necessarily in that order?
He turned his head slightly and regarded the mirror hung on the wall. Was there anyone on the other end of that, that might be able to offer him some sound advice?
Fred and George? Probably not, they might come through, but they were more than likely to take the piss and suggest something outrageous. There was no way he was asking Minerva and doubly so in regards to Professor Snape. He couldn't actually imagine how hard Snape would sneer at him for even contacting him, never mind asking for relationship advice.
That left Remus. Harry pondered that for a moment. He was no longer angry at the man. The anger had long faded and become, he felt around the feeling like a tongue probing a sore tooth. He was resigned? Sad? He let that sink in for a moment then readdressed the question. Could Remus help him?
Remus was married to Tonks, and Tonks and Hermione were both strongly opinionated people. But Tonks had pursued Remus not the other way around. He looked at the mirror again. Could he? Should he? Would he get another chance to mend the hurt if he didn't do it now? It was a grim thought to be sure, but the fight with Tom was coming. His survival of that fight was hung in the balance no matter what anyone said. He stared a long moment at the mirror half wishing it would chime and end his deliberations for him. Sighing he sat up and reached for his wand, he flicked it at the mirror, and it turned pearlescent grey before resolving.
"Harry?"
"Hello Remus," Harry said. "How are you?"
"You've been outmanoeuvred, old man. Your plan is no longer viable."
"I don't see how, " Albus replied calmly. The argument had been circling for nearly an hour, and Severus felt his temper fraying.
"Because," he said a growl in his throat. "The Dark Lord is going to replace Scrimgeour. The Prophet is running a smear campaign against him after the incident in the Alley. He's made some bad choices he isn't aware of, and now Lucius Malfoy is pulling his strings at the behest of the Dark Lord. He's considered too Light to remain in power despite the hold they have on him, and he's going to be replaced."
"Minister Scrimgeour is a good man," Albus said serenely. "He is an agent of the Light."
"He doesn't like you, doesn't agree with the power you wield, and he clearly isn't a card carrying Death Eater, he's hardly a loyal sycophant. That is what is keeping him alive for now and if, if he goes quietly he will remain so, but he is going to be replaced."
"I think you underestimate-"
"I don't underestimate anyone!" he snapped back, anger boiling in his tone and his dark eyes glaring at the obfuscating wizard sat across from him. "Your plan is no longer conscionable. If you continue with it, it won't matter if Potter returns or not we will have lost. The Order won't recover from the replacement of a slightly tarred but genuinely good man with a puppet of the Dark Lord's choosing without you there to hold their hands and tell them it will all work out. The populace isn't going to stand up and make themselves a target. Not one defensive spell was cast in that attack on the Alley. They were caught by surprise and immobilised with it and fear. Without an example to follow they are not going to make themselves a target."
"You are overstating my influence," Albus said picking out another lemon drop and popping it into his mouth.
"On this occasion old man, I am not."
Albus smiled kindly. "They will rally to Harry."
Severus leant his head back and stared at the ceiling, Albus wasn't listening or didn't care for what was being said. "Your plan hinges on my cooperation. I have no wish to be involved you have forced my hand as you always do. I might be willing to go along with this preposterous plan but not at the expense of everything else. You aren't that important to the cause Albus. I am not willingly going to throw away an advantage to pander to your ego."
Albus twinkled at him. "The plan still has merit. Your cooperation is of course preferred, but not necessary. There are a number of poisons in the school that I could indulge in and achieve the same results."
Severus didn't blink. He wasn't surprised, and he was too tired to build up any form of outrage at the idea that Albus would do such a thing. "Not quite the public statement that you wanted to make, though."
"No, but I believe it would serve the same purpose."
"You're a fool," Severus said to the ceiling. "After the inauguration ceremony, after New Year once the Order has acclimatised to the new rule. Then your plan would be back on a level where it might work as you wish it to once again. He's taunting you, trying to draw you out, he wants the wand. If you die and he gets his puppet in, he'll just take it. There will be no options left open. I'll be dead. Potter will stay away and do whatever mourning of you that you deserve from a distance. Everyone else will suffer. Hogwarts will suffer, he'll take her over, and no one will be able to stop him. The students, the staff. You'll leave them with nothing, no shield to defend them from the atrocities that he will visit upon this place if only to destroy everything you built, to drag you down further." Severus climbed to his feet, weary, tired and despondent. "You'll do as you wish, of that I am sure."
He had reached the door before Albus spoke.
"That was very poetic Severus, one might almost think you care."
"I care, Albus, I just hadn't realised until now that you didn't."
He turned and left, pacing down the corridors. At the junction, he paused then turned and headed up to the astronomy tower. He'd roust whatever love-sickened students might be occupying it and claim the space his own for a while.
The command to enter, in response to the knock on her door died on her lips as he entered, sailing into the room. "Minerva," he said gregariously.
"Albus," she returned cautiously. A swish of his wand transfigured one of the hard back chairs in front of her desk into a comfortable armchair, and he settled himself into it. She said nothing as he did so, waiting, watching him over her glasses, quill still in hand.
"I wondered if you had a moment for an old friend," he said. "You've been busy recently."
She replaced her quill in its holder carefully, placing the student's parchments to one side and removed her glasses. All the movements precise, then she called for an elf and requested tea. The tea came moments later, and she calmly made them both a cup. Then she settled back in her chair raising an eyebrow in invitation.
Albus smiled serenely back at her taking a sip of his tea. "I thought I'd pop in and make sure everything was alright. I am aware that I have been letting the responsibility of the school lie in your hands, and I wanted to express my gratitude that you've coped so admirably with it all."
Minerva gave him a small smile and reminded herself that she was loyal, that she still had to maintain the façade of a sycophant, and burning resentment was not the appropriate response.
The smile was thin. "Indeed Albus, I am of course always willing to help where ever I can."
Albus smiled at her, the twinkle in his eyes that once reassured her, making her suspicious of what he wanted and why he had come to her office. "Is there something, in particular, I can help you with?" She indicated the pile of marking. "I do have things that require my attention."
"Is everything alright Minerva?" he asked gently as if she was a small child who might not want to tell the adults what was troubling her.
Cold fear flashed through her, and she ruthlessly suppressed it, not wanting it to show on her face and give her away. The sharpening of Albus' gaze told her she hadn't managed to fully hide her reaction to his words. "Why do you ask?" she responded as calmly as she could, taking a sip of her tea to buy time.
Albus gave her a look full of concern. "I had noticed that you have been absent from the castle for a number of evenings. Forgive me my impudence, but I enquired of Poppy as to your health. You didn't mention you had been unwell at the beginning of the school year. Is there something I can help you with?"
Minerva felt relieved that Poppy hadn't disclosed the cause of her illness to Albus, he certainly would have mentioned it sooner had she done so. "I am quite well Albus," she said smoothly. "As for my absences, I believe my evenings are my own when I do not have patrols. If the students have need of me, one of the elves has been instructed to find me. There would be no delay in my attending them aside from the time it takes for me to return by floo."
Albus made a pacifying motion. "Yes, yes, and your sick relative you were nursing?"
"Quite recovered," she supplied crisply.
He nodded sagely. "So your absences?"
She huffed an impatient breath at him. "Albus why is this so important to you? I leave the castle of an evening when I am not required. It is well within my rights to do so when you are present in the castle. You can't possibly expect me to become some sort of prisoner, I do have a life outside these walls."
"Ah," Albus said understanding lightening his face. "I see," he said. "I apologise, of course." His eyes started twinkling madly. "It is wonderful for you, after so long and after Robert." He smiled wider at her flabbergasted face. "Come, come, Minerva, I won't tell anyone your secret. And if you need me to step in if he turns out to be a scoundrel I would, of course." He winked at her, and she felt her jaw drop slightly. Albus, clearly delighted he'd discovered the reason for her absences, continued. "Not that I think I would need to, you are of course a capable witch, but a little backup never hurt."
Minerva gathered her scattered wits. "I, don't…" her voice was a little scratchy, so she lifted her cup.
"Have you been courting long?" Albus inquired blithely.
Minerva, if she'd completed the movement of her cup, would have spat out the tea. Was Albus expecting some sort of girl talk about her supposed courtship? A courtship he had entirely made up?
"I, um," she floundered momentarily, then the devil on her shoulder spoke up, and she found herself saying. "Well it's early days yet, we're not so much a couple as two people finding out if we're compatible."
Albus' smile, if it was possible, which she suspected it was not, grew wider at her admission. "Oh, delightful. To find someone amidst so much turmoil. It gives us all hope."
"Albus," she said sharply. "I do not wish my personal life to be bandied about the castle. I accept that you might need to know in as to how it pertains to my role here, but I will not become public fodder."
The wizard across from her nodded in agreement. "Of course, of course, I shall not say a word. You will take precautions however when you meet with your young man?"
Minerva had a moment of horror as she contemplated Albus Dumbledore cautioning her to engage in safe sex. The moment thankfully passed when he continued. "The situation with the Ministry is sadly devolving, and it is not becoming any safer out there especially for those who have made their positions clear."
She nodded in agreement. "I assure you Albus that I am not looking to draw attention from unwanted corners."
He nodded sagaciously at her wisdom, finishing his cup of tea he placed it back on the tray and stood. "I'm glad that you feel you can still speak to me. If you do have any further concerns, my door is always open."
She nodded ducking her head slightly so he couldn't fully see her face while she got herself under control.
"I'll let you get back to your marking. Give your chap my best won't you." With that, he turned and sailed from the room leaving her feeling flummoxed and somewhat blindsided. Placing her own cup down she sat back in her chair. Then after a few minutes to make sure that Albus had sailed off to upturn someone else's day she left the room herself, in search of someone to explain what had just happened.
Minerva found him up there. It was later, the sun was still in the sky but had moved around the tower. Severus hadn't been disturbed until then, which meant the students had either realised he was there before he'd noticed them, or word had travelled that he was up here and no one was prepared to find out if he had left.
He did wonder how she'd found him, but briefly, vaguely, a passing consideration in the turmoil of his troublesome, tumbling thoughts. He'd gotten no further, a half dozen plans thought through then discarded. The wish that it could become someone else's responsibility, someone else's problem, had been fervently, if not desperately wished, then laid aside.
She stood next to him where he was leaning against the wall staring out at nothing. She stayed quiet and still, letting the silence grow, the peace return to cover them both.
Then quietly she spoke. "I've thought about it too. About laying it all down and walking away. I imagine everyone has those moments."
He let out a breath quietly, only slightly irked she'd seen the direction of his thoughts some hours ago. "You wouldn't though."
"Nor would you. Twenty years of staying true to your cause with no real need to? Says enough don't you think?"
"It speaks of my stupidity, my desperation, my regret." The last was whispered.
"It speaks of your love," she rebutted softly. "What woman wouldn't want to be loved like that?"
"Lilly Evans," he replied sourly.
"Nonsense. If you'd have chosen differently so would she."
He made a pained noise.
"She wouldn't have wanted you miserable, though."
"Slaving under two masters is hardly going to make me bucolic."
The smile that formed on her lips was warm and full of humour. "No, you're not the skipping through meadows type."
He snorted at that. "Albus."
"Albus is who Albus is, we were already working around him," she pointed out.
"He's threatened suicide by poison if I don't comply."
She let a soft hiss escape through her lips. "That man! Can he not just leave well enough alone?" Her voice was still soft and gentle despite the words and her obvious displeasure.
He raised a hand in gesture. "I've thought about it six ways to Sunday, and if he acts too early, we're lost."
"The new Minister?"
"A puppet," he confirmed.
"Early confrontation?"
He sighed heavily. "Are we ready?"
"We'll never be ready Severus, you know that." She turned back to face outwards, staring across the expanse of countryside rolling out below them towards the horizon. "In other news," she said. "Albus has been to visit me today."
Severus made an enquiring noise without breaking his gaze from the horizon.
"It seems that he's noticed my absences and was wondering if all was well."
"Oh?" he asked looking at her. "And what did you tell him?"
"Nothing," she replied. "I have the right to leave the castle as and when I am not required."
"So what did you tell him?" Severus repeated.
She sighed, chagrin and embarrassment warring on her face and she refused to look at him as she admitted. "He's gotten it into his head that I'm courting."
He looked at her in incomprehension.
"It wasn't my idea!" she said indignantly. "I told him to mind his own business, and he asked if I was. I couldn't quite believe what he suggested, and he took my silence as an indication he was right." She shrugged her shoulders helplessly.
He threw his head back and laughed, loudly, from deep within him, a purely happy sound. "It's not that funny," she protested weakly. The laughter had made his eyes shine, and it lightened her load a little to see it.
"Minerva," he drawled, his lips still tilted up in a smile. "You let Albus think you are carrying on a courtship rather than tell him to mind his own business."
She cast a warming charm on them both and renewed the silencing charm on the door. "It seemed simpler," she replied. "He was already suspicious, and it's not as if I could tell him why I leave the castle. I nearly spat out my tea when he jumped to the conclusion."
He eyed her, and she tilted her head. "What?"
"Well, it's not improbable I suppose."
"Severus Snape! Are you insinuating what I think you are?"
"Yes," he answered.
"I don't think so; my days of courting are well behind me."
"You're not that old," he pointed out.
"It's not about age Severus. You of all people know that." They had a moment of quiet understanding pass between them. The memories, the might have's.
"He's not going to let it drop you know," Severus said the smile faded but his tone no longer bleak.
"I know, damn him and love is the greatest power, and his happily ever after nonsense."
"What are you going to do?" he asked curiously.
"Nothing," she replied. "I've told him he's not to spread it over the castle and hopefully he actually pays heed."
Severus looked at her sceptically. "You will have to do something to keep him satisfied on the topic. Otherwise, he might realise he railroaded you into it and start digging at what you are really hiding."
Minerva shook her head. "That is a worry for another day. It's cold up here, have you brooded enough for one day?"
They separated once down from the tower. He expressed a need to get his marking completed before dinner, and she agreed that she had her own work to complete.
Back in his room Severus settled down at his desk, but the devil inside of him kept whispering, and once he'd finished, he let the whispers come together into a full-blown idea. He considered it for only a moment more before calling for an elf. The elf was sent to retrieve the item he had requested and returned bearing the catalogue.
Severus paced over to his bookshelves when he had been younger and more foolish, he thought that his mother's book might aid him in courting and wooing a witch. Now he thought it might come in useful in shoring up Albus' belief in the reasons Minerva absented the castle. It wouldn't do for him to become suspicious and if it tweaked her tail at the same time? Well, he wasn't going to complain.
He flipped through the book considering his options, jotting a few notes, then found the list of meetings Albus had arranged for the staff. Breakfast would be too overt and set tongues wagging across the castle, not just with the staff, but with the student body. The same went for general staff meetings, the staff would talk and then the students would find out. A Head of House meeting, however, yes, that would do. Filius and Pomona could be trusted to keep their mouths closed and well, she might try and take it out of his hide, but that didn't mean he would let her.
Smirking to himself he completed the owl order form and called an elf. Handing over the form and instructions he sent the elf on its way with a needless caution about the need for secrecy. The scathing look the elf shot him as it turned away he supposed he deserved, but still, a direct order couldn't be countermanded where an implied one could.
Three days later he arrived in the staff room early for the Heads of House meeting. Settling into an out of the way chair he hid behind a potions journal, allowing the conversations his entrance had stalled to start back up again. As the time for the meeting drew closer, the other members of staff drifted away. Filius and Pomona were already present chatting quietly to themselves, Minerva and Albus had yet to arrive.
Right on time a Hogwarts elf appeared in the room burdened under a tall box. It placed the box on the table and vanished from the room with a quiet pop. Severus watched it go then cast his eye over the parcel it had delivered. It shimmered in its silvery paper enticingly, the bow, he decided was altogether too jaunty but it was a tasteful shade of grey to go with the wrapping paper. It took a moment more for Pomona and Filius to notice the arrival and Pomona made a noise of inquisitiveness before rising to her feet and checking the label.
"It's for Minerva," she told Filius. She flipped the hanging tag over to display the shop's logo on the reverse. "Oh, my," she breathed. "It's from Flores."
"Really?" Filius squeaked, entirely too enthusiastically Severus thought to himself. "And they are for Minerva?" Pomona exchanged a glance with Filius before sitting back down and exchanging silly grins with each other. Severus rolled his eyes behind the journal. Granted it was Lucius' go to florist when he needed to grovel to Narcissa, but they were still only flowers. After all the preservation charms put on them, they couldn't even be used as potion ingredients once they started to lose their lustre.
It was fortunate, Severus thought, that Albus and Minerva both arrived only a minute or two later. Pomona and Filius had begun to all but squirm in impatience and giddy excitement.
They swept into the room together, and Minerva made for her usual seat, by-passing the box without paying it the slightest bit of attention. Severus watched as Pomona and Filius exchanged puzzled looks, their bubbling excitement leaking away. Albus clearly saw the box and Pomona and Filius expectant faces and glanced at Minerva. He, however, drew no more attention to it than the witch had and brought the meeting to order. Severus watched, as, throughout the meeting, which he contributed only what he needed to, his two co-workers grew more and more antsy at Minerva's apparent ignorance of the box, its intended recipient, and its likely contents. It wasn't until the meeting was dismissed and she made to leave that Pomona's patience broke.
"Aren't you going to open it Minerva?" she asked half desperately.
"Open what?" Minerva asked looking at Pomona with a faintly puzzled look on her face.
Pomona pointed at the box still on the table where the elf had left it. "That," she said. "It's for you."
"It is?" Minerva said, approaching the box cautiously. She pulled her wand out and cast a detection spell on it, and Severus couldn't quite help the feeling of smug approval. Pomona, however, tutted and sighed. "It's not going to bite Minerva, it's from Flores."
"Flores?" she asked Pomona in a querying tone.
"Yes, very exclusive," the other witch enthused. "They do lovely arrangements, and I'd give my eye teeth for some of their plants."
Severus rolled his eyes, trust Pomona to bring it back to the plants rather than the flowers, but he supposed it was better than her gushing over them. He shot a quick glance at Albus who was smiling altogether too knowingly. Severus watched as the three crowded close to Minerva as she pulled the ribbon undone. As she did, the ribbon and the paper vanished from around the arrangement in a whisper of magic. The charms keeping the blooms from being damaged while wrapped and the scents from escaping also vanished and the arrangement almost seemed to shiver in relief, the sweet perfume drifting out into the room.
It was a tall arrangement, the gladioli were matched in height by the snapdragons and blue iris, while the Proteas circled them all just above the lip of the vase. Severus eyed it and decided that it would do quite nicely. From the expression on Albus face Minerva's alibi had just moved from believable to rock solid.
Minerva plucked the card from the vase and flipped it open. She scanned it once then tucked it into her robes pocket. The others were already cooing over the blooms sending her sideways looks.
"They are very lovely," Albus said. "You've obviously made an impression."
Minerva sent him a narrowed eyed glare and said quellingly. "Yes, quite."
"Who are they from?" Pomona asked, walking straight into the middle of Minerva's and Albus staring match.
"A friend," Minerva said.
"Oh really? I rather think I might like a friend like yours." Pomona winked and nudged Minerva with her elbow. "Does this friend have a name?"
Minerva looked blankly at Pomona, and Severus stepped into fill the gap.
"Delightful as this all is since the meeting is finished do you think you could possibly stop blocking the door? Flowers that aren't good for potion ingredients or taking cuttings from can hardly warrant this much attention."
"Oh hush you," Pomona chid him. "We're only curious. Minerva's got an admirer, there's no need to be sour about it." The unspoken words hung in the air between them.
He sneered at her in response, and she stepped sideways away from where she had, in fact, being blocking the door.
He swept from the room and returned to his, where he placed the decanter of whisky and to glasses out on his coffee table. He removed his outer robe and made himself comfortable. By his estimate, he had five minutes or less before he'd have company.
It was three before she appeared storming out of his floo vanishing the soot and ash with an impatient jerk of her wand.
"Severus Snape I ought to hex you to next week!" she declared.
"Yes, but you won't."
"Do you know how long it took me to get away from them?"
"Approximately three minutes," he replied unconcerned, rising to pour them both a glass.
She took it with a murmur of thanks and then stared down at him as he settled back into his chair. "Dare I ask why you took it upon yourself to do such a thing?"
"Because your deplorable alibi needed shoring up, and judging from Albus' face he's probably planning on presiding over your nuptials if not giving you away himself."
She looked at him aghast. "What?"
"Well yes," he agreed. "It did work out a little better than I thought it might."
"Filius and Pomona have promised to keep it to themselves, so it won't be all over the castle by supper." She sat in a chair and eyed him. "Thank you for them, they are quite lovely."
Severus shrugged.
"You have Pomona cooing at any rate, and Filius was decoding them as soon as you left. Snapdragons?"
"You are deceiving people are you not?" he asked with a smirk.
She answered it with her own. "Rather better now than before. They are all aflutter with the secrecy of it."
