Hi Guys,
I have been an avid fanfiction reader for the last few years. I have posted a few stories before, but due to severe anxiety and depression, I often struggle to write my own or finish ideas.
I have been so lucky to receive such amazing treatment and I would like to start writing again to show myself, and my amazing readers, how well I am doing in my Recovery.
This is such a beautiful community top be a part of, and I would really appreciate if you could review, follow and favourite, to let me know if you like the story and if you have any ideas that you would like to add.
Thank you so much for reading.
Love B xx
When he had woken in the middle of the night to see the small coin – from the order of the Phoenix – moving around on his desk, he knew that something was going to happen.
He pulled off his night shirt and dressed into his usual all black outfit and robes.
When he picked it up, the coin stopped moving. There was no other apparent message, showing a meeting or a date, so he relaxed slightly.
A knock on the door sounded and he was immediately as tense as before. He climbed down the stairs carefully and quickly, wand at the ready.
He hadn't realised it was raining when he startled awake, but he could hear it now.
A flash of light cracked across the sky. Trees bent in half from the wind, while rain hit so hard against the side of his house he began to doubt if the door had even knocked at all.
A loud pounding echoed from behind the wood again, only just reaching his ears above the noise of the storm.
Severus readied his wand a breathed deeply to focus himself, before he opened the door.
He clasped the cool metal in his hand and flung the door open to look outside.
He had never seen his old headmaster look so dishevelled as he looked that night. He pushed through the door, absolutely drenched from the rain. Severus groaned when he realised that the wizard's cloak was soaking his wooden floor.
A woman stood out in the storm.
Her brunette hair was absolutely saturated – it hung over her face and was mused from the wind. He couldn't see much else except for her golden eyes, and as soon as he saw them he recoiled in surprise.
Braea Glover was outside his door.
She pushed back her thick hair and he gasped when he realised he was correct, her golden eyes landed on him. The wizarding celebrity was at his house.
She didn't push past him like Dumbledore, she instead appeared to be waiting for an invitation inside.
A crack of lighting lit up the inky sky followed by a deafening boom of thunder.
She flinched.
He felt exasperated as he moved to the side and gestured for her to come in.
She didn't need to be told twice and hurried past him and into the house.
Severus slammed and then locked the door before he spun around to his sitting room, which had been converted into an inside pool from his new guests.
Dumbledore didn't seem too bothered by the state of their attire as he moved his hand behind him, causing the fire place to light up at once.
Only then did he seem to realise that he had intruded pretty much unannounced at his colleague's home, with a super model in tow, before he drenched the insides of the small home.
He pulled his grand elder wand from his pocket and moved his hand in an intricate pattern.
A gust of warmth emanated from the wand and just as if it had never been, the water disappeared off of the floor, himself and Braea Glover.
The woman looked relieved to be dry. Her hair hung in a relaxed and naturally curly way that he hadn't seen her in before. He reasoned that he had only seen her in papers, photos and billboards before though.
She was naturally as beautiful, if not more so, in person.
Her golden eyes looked around his sitting room and it gave him the perfect opportunity to actually take her in.
She was longer and leaner than he expected. She appeared to be just slightly shorter than himself, but still tall for a woman.
Even though she looked as though she had been rushed out of her house in her pyjamas – she still looked effortlessly beautiful in a way he hadn't seen anyone achieve before.
Her eyes glowed liked they contained all of the gold in Gringotts bank.
The features she carried were the perfect balance of beauty and strength.
Her cheekbones were high, jaw pronounced, all while maintaining a striking air of femininity that obviously made her so successful in her career field.
Even looking around his living room, she still looked like she could be photographed and make the cover of a big name Muggle magazine.
"Severus, you'll have to excuse the intrusion." Dumbledore finally began, after letting them stand in silence for a few minutes.
He regretfully turned his eyes from the beautiful brunette and onto his old head master.
He didn't even need to voice that he needed more information before the older wizard began to explain why they were there.
The Model's Muggle husband had spent their entire relationship attempting to infiltrate the Wizard world. He had targeted Braea and seduced her to learn more about her and the rumours surrounding where she had come from. He even went as far as to marry her on his quest for information. He had written pages and books on every single bit he had gathered from their time together. He planned to publish them and expose the world she came from.
One of the Ministry Witches had seen the first draft as it crossed an editor's desk – and the project had been terminated immediately.
With her husband being exposed, he had become violent and aggressive. Braea has feared for her life and summoned the Wizarding emergency help line.
The Ministry had come and wiped her husband's memory and then removed her to eliminate the Statute of Secrecy from being threatened anymore than it already had.
Her house had been destroyed and all traces of her and her wizard heritage had been obliterated.
It looked like it had been a hell of a night for the both of them.
Anger bubbled up in Severus when he could finally look at the woman, without being so awestruck, and see the bruises that were creeping out from under her clothing.
She smiled gently, but he could see right through it. She was in pain, she was confused and she was hurting – on every level and layer. She had just been betrayed by the man she loved and no matter how much she tried to cover that, he could see it.
Severus swore that he would allow her to stay with him, while Dumbledore decided what the best point of call would be.
He didn't bother to ask the older wizard 'why me?' – The question he was so eager to know.
Surely the Weasley's had room?
Snape let his mind drift to the burrow that barely housed the seven children and their parents.
With Hogwarts still on holiday they would all be at home. The amount of young men – and the thought of their raging testosterone in the house was enough to make him cringe.
He supposed the old Black Family home, where the order was to meet, would be too lonely for her.
Severus has barely consented when Dumbledore was out of the house and back into the storm. The rain began to pour into the home once more and Severus raced to slam the door again.
With the storm contained from entering, he allowed the reality to hit him.
He had a guest.
In his home.
And it wasn't just any guest.
It was a woman.
He looked around the dim and dark surroundings of his house. He had never felt self conscious in his own home, but suddenly he was very aware of his mountains of books that acted as wall paper and the mismatched wooden furniture that had come with the house.
His lips parted, like he was going to apologise. The Apology had been awful in his head, the words tasted disgusting as they bubbled in his throat, he hadn't apologised for many years, not since...
His mind drifted to his teen self crying against the cold stone of the Gryffindor Common Room as he begged to be let in by the fat lady that guarded the entrance.
"I'm sorry." He sobbed repeatedly as if it were an incantation that would bring her back to him.
– Allow him to repair the cords he had so brutishly severed that same day...
Mudblood.
He chased the memory away with a gasp and tried to open his mouth again.
"How did you decide to order your books?" She asked contemplatively, curing him of his internal panic.
He watched, words escaping him again, as she trailed her long fingers so delicately along the various stages of worn spines that covered the walls.
"Is it by how much you use them?" She asked again, casting a glance back at him that made him feel dry in the mouth.
With the fire beside her, she was illuminated like she was some kind of goddess – that had accidentally made a pit stop in his home.
"I'm sorry, it's not my place to ask." She said sheepishly and she seemed to remember herself and focus her attention back on the stranger and his home that she was currently standing in.
Her being in the room was challenging enough, but with her full attention on him, he felt like he couldn't think and was eager to be released from the trance he had fallen under.
"Bed?" Was all he managed to mutter, he wasn't sure if it sounded more like a question or a statement.
She gaped her mouth in surprise before she nodded her consent and moved to follow him up the stairs.
She seemed to be taking everything in. Her golden eyes moved like they were a camera, desperate to capture as many details as her tired brain would allow.
"You can stay here." He said, more rigidly than usual as he gestured to his spare room, which had been empty for years.
"Bathroom is there." He continued as he gestured to the half open door.
She kept her eyes on him after she had taken in both rooms and he felt as though he was melting.
"Good night." He bid her as he disappeared into his room and then slammed the door behind him.
His head rested on the back of the door and he went over the entire interaction in his head, cursing himself for every breath that he dared to release in her presence.
The next day, the first thing he saw when he strolled down his rickety stairs was an owl. It sat perched on his kitchen window and looked to be as miserable as he felt.
The poor bird was soaked through and looked as though he hadn't managed to sleep due to the storm.
Severus opened the window and took the barely dry letter from the bird and fetched it a coin for its message.
The owl took the coin and shoved it into a small bag it carried before it took off back to the still grey skies.
Severus,
I will be returning this afternoon to collect Miss Glover and decide what is best for her during this period.
Until then,
A.D
Even if he hadn't signed the letter off with his initials, Severus was still certain he would recognise Dumbledore's regal handwriting anywhere.
The thought that he wouldn't be trying to entertain the woman indefinitely relieved him greatly.
He decided he had acted a fool last night, and so he refused to be affected by her feminine wiles any more.
She must be awful – he decided as he placed the letter down and put the kettle on the stove.
She must be an awful, horrible, judgemental woman – he tried to trick himself into thinking. By the time he heard any signs of life above him, he had decided he hated her– and he let rage fill him as he listened to her moving around upstairs.
He heard her the wood creak as she came down to ground floor.
He scowled at the sound of her.
"Good Morning." She greeted him kindly and he spun around and wished he could will back all of his previous annoyance and hatred for her – but it left him so quickly that he couldn't have stopped it, even if he tried.
"Morning." He breathed back weakly, but it seemed enough for her. She walked further into the kitchen and sat across from him at his small breakfast bar with the newspaper.
She had her long hair wrapped up in a bun, but she had changed out of pyjamas from the night before.
She was now in a pair of jeans that cupped each part of her like they were painted on, along with a deep pink sweater.
There was a simple beauty to her that permeated all of her movements.
She even made turning the news paper pages look good.
He cleared his throat and tried to make his brain work, cursing himself for making any sound that would bring her stunning eyes to rest on him.
"Tea?" He managed to bite out. He knew he was acting like an adolescent idiot, but if she had caught on, she thankfully said nothing.
"That would be amazing. Thank you." She said sincerely and all he could do was focus on her lips. Her top lip was bowed as if Cupid himself had gifted to her, while her bottom lip was so plump and full. She scraped her pearly white teeth against it, and he burned his hand viciously on the hot kettle.
He hissed in pain and shook his hand, silently grateful to have something to take his mind off of her.
"Oh Merlin! Are you okay?" She asked as she quickly crossed the room to him.
The burn had shown up immediately on his skin, and it appeared to be deep and angry, blisters were already forming.
Her long beautiful fingers gently clasped around his sore hand, the feeling soothed the pain more than any spell he could cast to fix it.
"We need to run it under the tap." She said as she looped her arm around him and tried to guide him to the faucet.
Her body pressed into him with concern, and when he breathed in, he could only smell her.
Cinnamon and Sugar.
He felt another burn beginning to light up inside of him and he pulled away from her somewhat violently.
She flinched in surprise and her brows furrowed in concern.
Guilt started to eat at him when he caught her eyes and he just shrugged her off and moved up the stairs to his room to nurse his ego and his hand.
I hope you enjoyed so far, please leave me a review with your thoughts, corrections and opinions. I would love to hear them all, and learn from you.
I hope you all stay safe during this crazy time.
B xx