When Snape came home that evening Freddie had the casserole in the oven and the house smelled amazing. She was sitting in his armchair, the book on dementors open in her lap, practicing the Patronus Charm. He Apparated directly into the sitting room, breaking her concentration but it didn't matter – all she'd been getting was wisps of silver.

"Not going well?" he asked with a faint smirk.

"This sucks," she declared, closing the book.

"The book isn't going to help you," he said, sitting down on the couch. "I told you, you need-"

"A happy memory, yeah, yeah, I know," she said irritably.

She took a deep breath and focused on her happy memory – a memory of lying in his arms, right before falling asleep, after he'd given her an amazing orgasm.

"Expecto Patronum," she said but again only wisps of silver. "Dammit!" She got up and threw her wand down in the chair. "It's useless! I'm useless. Apparently I'm freakin miserable. I don't have a happy enough memory. This is stupid!"

She felt her anger rising and she quickly shutting it down, using her Occlumency to clear her mind before she lost control of her magic.

"Relax," Snape said soothingly. "Come here."

He opened his arms and Freddie walked over to him. He pulled her into his lap and put his arms around her.

"You will get it," he said, kissing her swiftly. "Maybe not in a week, but you will get there. You are smart, you just need practice."

"All I've done is practice, all afternoon," she complained, laying her head on his chest.

"That's not all you've done," he said, putting his chin on top of her head. "I smell chicken."

"Yeah," she chuckled. "It'll be done in half an hour. It's called Holy Chicken Casserole."

"It smells good. I suppose you finally figured out the oven," he said and she could feel him smile.

"I did."

"Did you finish getting your school supplies?"

"Yeah and I went into Borgin and Burke's after lunch. I got a neat little thing called a foe glass – do you know what that is?"

"I do."

"It's pretty cool. It showed me when Malfoy was following me in Knockturn Alley."

"Wh- Lucius Malfoy?" he asked, pulling his head back to look at her.

"Yeah, you know him? He's one of my uncle's friends. I saw him in Borgin and Burke's and, well, he was creepy and-"

"Creepy how?"

"He kissed my hand with his creepy cold dead fish lips and he offered me a place to stay."

"He- what?"

She felt him enter her mind and dig through her recent memories until he found the scene in Borgin and Burke's. Freddie relaxed into his lap, laying her head on his thighs and he reviewed the memory. She watched his face flush in anger then clear as he withdrew from her mind.

"You know him?" she asked as he stroked her hair absently.

"Yes, I know him," he said in a low voice. "He is my...friend."

"Really?" she said, opening her eyes. "That guy is your friend?"

"We went to school together and...just, steer clear of him. He can be...dangerous."

"I was nice, or at least I tried to be. He seems like the sort of man you wouldn't want to piss off."

"You are right about that," he murmured, running his fingers through her hair, then his hand closed into a fist. "I cannot believe he followed you." His voice was an angry hiss. "I want to know what he was thinking, what he was planning to do if he'd caught up with you alone?"

"You could go ask him," she said. "Go hex him and make him tel you."

"I can't do that," he said, relaxing his grip on her hair. "Although I wish I could...go up to him, tell him you are mine, my plaything, not his, mine."

He grabbed her hair tightly again and pulled her head up to kiss her roughly. She smiled up at him, pleased with his possessiveness.

His. His plaything. Not Malfoy's, not Ryan's, not anyone else's. His.

She sat up in his lap to kiss him properly, hoping that he would take her right there on the couch...only to be interrupted by the beeping of the oven timer.

Damn.

"Go get your casserole," he said, kissing her briefly. "Before it burns."

"Okay," she said with an exaggerated sigh, climbing out of his lap.

She grabbed her wand and hurried into the kitchen. She turned off the timer and opened the oven. She used her wand to levitate the casserole from the oven and placed it on the counter.

"Wine?" Snape asked, following her into the kitchen. He opened the fridge and pulled out a bottle.

"Yes please," she said and he brushed against her as he reached to get two glasses from the cabinet. "Can you get two plates down please?"

"Here," he said, handing them to her. "So this is your holy casserole?"

"Holy chicken casserole," she corrected with a smile. "It's supposed to be served over rice but, uh, it turns out rice isn't the easiest thing to make."

"You burned it?" he asked with a smirk.

"Yeah. Twice," she admitted sheepishly.

"You tried," he said, kissing her forehead before he turned to pour the wine.

Freddie fixed their plates and carried them over to the table. Snape put her glass of wine down in front of her then took his seat. She took a drink of wine, waiting for his reaction as he took a bite of casserole.

"Well?" she prompted as he chewed slowly. "How is it?"

"It is good," he said, swallowing. "In fact, it's the best thing you've ever cooked."

Freddie flushed with pride and beamed as he took another bite.

"You will make some man a good house wife someday," he said and her face fell. "Assuming you learn how not to burn rice."

She scoffed and pushed her food around her plate before taking a bite. She didn't want to be 'some man's wife' she wanted to be his – whatever. Not wife. He wasn't the marrying type and she was fine with that. She wasn't sure she was either. She didn't want to be anyone's house wife. The idea of staying home, popping out babies, cooking and cleaning for 'some man' was downright abhorrent.

"I'm nobody's house wife," she muttered, stabbing a piece of chicken with her fork.