Severus Snape peered down at the tickets in his hand, once more second guessing himself.
"Sir, may I help you?"
The muggle box office worker looked at the dour gentleman with a bored expression.
Without any further preamble, the stern potions master stepped forward in his dark muggle suit and handed the worker his tickets.
"Oh, Mr. Snape!" The worker pepped up with an artificial smile, "Thank you so much for becoming a VIP. One alcoholic beverage and small concession item is included in your package. If you would like any additional alcoholic beverages you will have to pay an additional fee at the stand. Ask for an usher and they will bring you to your private box."
As Severus went into the theater he found it very quaint but classy. It was decorated like the old time theaters of old in crimson and gold but with a modern minimalist approach to the decor.
After getting a water and wine glass from the concession stand, he was directed by an usher into his 'VIP box'. His reservations from coming out that day started to fade as he saw that he indeed would have no disturbances since the box only had one seat, perfectly angled to view the stage.
For the first time in a long time, he felt his tense shoulders relax just a fraction. In the back of the mind he wondered if perhaps the Williams' girl had arranged the private box to fit him specifically. The chair was angled for a perfect view of the stage while keeping a wall to his back and a perfect eye-line of the box door in his peripherals.
The theater's lights dimmed and the play began.
It was a refreshing take on the age old Shakespeare play, "Hamlet". The director had decided to switch genders of main characters, like Hamlet and Ophelia; while still keeping to the very essence of the play.
Severus found himself enraptured by the actress that played Hamlet.
As she spoke of trials of conscience, the irony of life, betrayals and descents into madness. He could feel the emotions and see them across her face, she embodied the character so well he couldn't help but wonder what darkness she held inside to portray Hamlet's struggles so well.
She let tears fall as she grieved, she shut her emotions down when confronted by a lost love and as she stood for her final words leading up to her death he felt his heart in his throat.
And so the usually reserved potions master found himself coming again and again to see her play the iconic character, with each viewing her acting became more and more nuanced.
He found himself one day surprising himself, standing outside the stage door with a very special bundle of flowers.
His thoughts in a sudden turmoil as the stage door opened and the actors began to spill from it; he turned away determined to throw the flowers in the nearest trash receptacle.
"Wait!"
He froze and found a delicate hand upon his arm and a pair of light green eyes peering at him from thick ebony eyelashes.
"That's quite an impressive bouquet. Are they for our Ophello?"
If he wasn't already frozen, he would have stiffened further.
The young lady merely gave him a somehow innocent but knowing smile, "Rosemary for remembrance, Pansies for thought, Columbines for the irony of the uncle's marriage and…"
He turned fully to the actress, "Canker Roses for the not so sweet fate of Ophello and Violets for Hamlet's not-true love." His smile was more of a grimace, so out of practice was he but the actress merely smiled back at him. He thrust the bouquet into her arms, before headed off.
"Thank you!" Her voice would echo in his ears that night.
It wasn't until he got back to Spinner's End that he finally looked at the playbills he always discarded without a look. Beneath the picture of the actress, the role Hamlet, was her name: Sarah Williams.
~Perspective Shift~
Sarah looked down at the arrangement in her hands a bittersweet smile upon her lips, all were flowers that held meaning in Shakespeare's work.
As she took transportation home that night, her thoughts would come back to that tall figure with so much sadness and darkness in his eyes.
She arrived home to the smell of Diana and her favorite easy dinner shepherd's pie.
"Diana?"
"In the kitchen!"
Sarah came around the corner of the flat to find Sal lounging at the dining table and Diana pulling out the food from the oven.
Diana smiled her way when she finished placing the food on top of the stove, "How was the show? Ooh, who got you flowers?"
Sarah smiled and looked at the flowers that had survived the public transit home.
"I'm not sure who he was but I'd like to see him again."
Sarah looked up into her sister's eyes to find her grinning at her like mad.
"Not like that, he just seemed highly intelligent."
Diana looked at the flowers, "And with a sense of the dramatics."
Sarah let out a slightly exaggerated sigh, before going into the kitchen and getting a vase from underneath the sink.
"How was your project today? Which you've yet to tell me what it is."
She could practically hear her little sister's shrug as she set the table, "I'm not sure you'd approve of it." She paused before continuing, "Even if you approve of the reasoning."
"Can you at least tell me the reason?" Sarah set the newly filled vase on the counter before sitting across from Sal at the table.
"It's a project for revenge, no that's not right more like avenging."
"Who are you avenging?" Sarah raised an eyebrow.
"I haven't even told Hermione yet, and I can't say without breaking a confidence that the person I'm avenging doesn't even know of."
Sarah had an inkling already, she had seen the uncharacteristic paleness of one of her sister's friends when they came back at the end of the school year.
With a sigh, she looked up from her meal "As long as it won't come back to you, and get you arrested or something like that; I'll not ask anything more."
With a bounce of a nod, Diana smiled "Agreed."
"It's not as if mundanes could ever track it back to you. The target would be sooner placed in a mental ward than you becoming the culprit."
"Sal!" Diana pursed her lips and scowled at him.
Sarah threw her hands up, before shaking her head "In other news, we are going to be having some more guests at our home for a couple weeks. So if you could get the flat magically expanded to include one more bedroom that will be perfect." She smiled secretly.
"Who is it?"
"It's a surprise. However, you have to be here next week. So the latest you can come home from your training is Sunday night. We'll be going to the airport early Monday morning to pick them up." After taking a bite of food, "Also, it might be best that Sal be in his younger form for the time they are here. I don't want to have to explain…" Sarah pursed her lips almost letting free the surprise.
Diana's eyes were wide and hopeful as they looked at her sister who only replied with a knowing smile.
~Time Skip~
The next week found Sal (in younger form), Diana and Sarah all in their best clothes waiting outside by the luggage claim at the London International Airport.
Diana was bouncing on her toes in excitement, and it wasn't until she heard a tell-tale voice shout across the room that she stopped her fidgeting.
"Diana!"
Emerald eyes searched the crowds and there weaving through the crowds, with a frantic strawberry blonde woman racing after him, was Toby.
"Toby!" Diana held her arms open and into them ran her little brother, who wasn't as little anymore.
"Oh my goodness! You've grown!"
"Yep! I'm going to be taller than you soon." A gapped toothed smile was tilted up towards Diana, before a small finger was pointed towards Sal, "Who's he?"
"This is my friend Sal. He lives with us and goes to my school."
"In the castle?"
"Yep." Diana smiled.
Sarah smiled at the two of them before looking up to find Irene catching her breath in front of them, "Sal why don't you and I help Irene with her bags?"
"Thank you, Sarah! The flight was terrible. How far away are we from your flat?"
Sarah smiled at her harried step-mother, "Not too far. We hired a driver for today, so you wouldn't have to brave London's public transportation right off the bat." She was rewarded with a relieved smile.
~Time Skip~
The family had just settled in the living room, both adults with a glass of wine and the kids with their own cups of hot chocolate when the doorbell rang.
"I'll get it!" Toby hopped up, after taking a large sip of his hot chocolate, a full whipped cream mustache upon his lips. Diana went after him, and was just able to wipe his mouth with a napkin as the six year old opened the door. "Hello, Mr. King!"
Diana's eyes widened as she straightened and found her tutor and king dressed in civilian clothes on their doorstep.
"Mum! Mum! Mum!"
"Yes, Toby."
Diana turned and gestured for the king to come into their house, just as her step-mother replied to her son.
"He's the king in my dreams, I told you about!"
Diana and Sarah's almost hyper-beam like stares fixated on the king.
"Diana is always there too! It's such a big castle." At this Toby looked up wide-eyed at the king before him, "Is your castle bigger than Diana's school?"
Irene had turned red, her eyes flittering to the girls' pale complexions, then to the so-called king and then back to her son. "What in the world is going on?"
Emerald eyes met the king's mix-matched, "Yes, Your Majesty. What is going on?"