We walked over the sidewalk. Some people passed us, but in contrast to the policemen, they didn't give us a glance. Only a few actually, who only looked at Severus' face. Which was a normal occurrence with a face like his was now.

"How are we getting home?" I asked him.

"Apparition, I think," he replied without even looking at me. Strange. He never said 'I think'. He was always so confident. About everything. This proved to me he wasn't so mentally strong at the moment as he normally was. His mind was as broken as his nose and probably needed even more time to heal.

"We can't do that here, can we?"

He sighed with a sense of irritation. "No we can't. Because Muggles are not allowed know about the existence of magic. You know that," he snarled.

His tone… Did he know about my fault of not telling him I was searched by the police? Probably. The man knew nearly everything

"I know," I simply responded.

He didn't react and kept on walking.

We walked through the crowdy streets. People with shopping bags passed us.

"Are you okay, Severus?" I asked him. I had to ask him. I had worried about him so much. But I realised soon that that had been a stupid question.

He turned his head and looked at me with an angry face. "What do you mean? Don't I look okay!?"

"I didn't mean it that way," I replied monotonously.

Severus raised his eyebrows. "You didn't mean it that way? Explain to me what your thoughts are then," he stated hatefully.

"I meant it in a more mental way."

"In a more mental way? Do you think I care about my mental well-being right now!?"

"No. But I do. I care about your mental state." It cost me so much willpower to stay calm. He was so intimidating when he was pissed off.

"Don't you dare feel pity for me! I don't want it! And I will never want it either!"

"But I can't stop feeling pity, because it's my damn fault!"

Severus stopped walking and turned around to face me, the scabs on his wounds reflecting the sunlight.

"Excuse me?"

"I'm sorry," I said.

"Excuse me?!" he said with a threatening tone, suppressing yelling, to not disturb the few people in the street.

He walked to me, with big steps and grabbed my upper arm. "You are going to tell me everything! Am I clear!?" he hissed.

"Yes, yes, but let go of my arm please. It hurts," I begged.

"Oh, you think this hurts? Look at me! Look at my damn face. That hurts!"

"I'm sorry!" I pleaded while nearly crying.

"Tell me!"

"Let go of my arm then!" I hissed, to not disturb pedestrians.

Our eyes met each other and I saw anger turning into… fear? He said nothing. He just stared for a moment and slowly let go of my arm.

I rubbed it to soften the pain. Severus still said nothing. Probably thinking about the situation he was in and realising that anger wasn't the solution for this problem. But why the fear then?

"I think you know a lot more about what has happened than I do," he stated seriously after a moment, more calmed down now.

"That depends on how much you know," I responded.

He frowned. "You know I don't like that kind of answers."

"I didn't mean it that way. I meant, if you first tell me what you know, then I can fill in the blanks," I explained.

"There is a lot you don't mean in the way you say them, don't you think?"

"Or you just interpret them wrong."

He growled, his eyes widened. His hand immediately on his left pocket. The pocket where his wand was. But he stopped and sighed.

"If you were a trained witch, I would have stunned you right now," he threatened, lowering his hand.

I was shocked by his threat. Was he really the type to do that to people? Had I been wrong all along?

"Did I offend you so much?"

He sighed. "No. You… you just reminded me of someone. And I reminded myself of someone else."

He sighed, nodded and we started walking again. I didn't know who the person was I had reminded him of of course, but I knew for sure the person had left him with bad memories. He looked puzzled. His anger had completely disappeared and was replaced by nothing but confusion. And who was the person he had reminded himself of?

"Your idea was good, you know," he said after a moment. "To let me tell what I know."

"Good. Let's start from the beginning then."

"Well, first I got arrested," he started. "Then, they brought me to a Muggle police station. They started questioning me about you."

"What did they ask?" I asked him curiously.

Severus gave me an irritated look. He clearly hated this kind of conversation, me asking him questions about himself. But he answered it nonetheless.

"Well, they had found my books about all sorts of magic. Those Muggles thought I was crazy." He said the last word a bit louder than the rest of his sentence to indicate how stupid he thought those people were.

A small pause occurred. I knew he wanted to say something, but had no idea how to do it. I looked at him, he looked back with a face full of seriousness.

"They also thought I had kidnapped you, Ellea," he stated.

I swallowed. He knows, I thought nervously. He bloody knows!

"Why would they think that?" he asked me seriously. "Why was there Muggle police in our house, Ellea?"

"Our house?" I asked him incredulously. I hoped I could change the subject and talk about why the police was at... THE house later. However, I also wondered if he really had meant 'our house'.

He sighed, a bit irritated. "Yes, our house. You live under my roof now, so it's not only my house anymore," he explained.

"Thanks," I simply said.

"Smart play to change the subject," he stated seriously. "Very smart. A real Slytherin move, I have to say," he said proudly.

Busted, I thought nervously. But he has to know it sooner or later.

"However, you know more about why there was police at OUR house, don't you?" he asked calmly.

"I'm sorry," I tried again.

He stopped walking. "Why are you so sorry, Ellea?" he asked. "What have you done?"

How was I going to say this? Just start from the beginning then?

"It's over now, but I want to know. I need to know. This is no joke, Ellea. This is very serious."

His voice had become more friendly. The anger seemed to have left him. However, you never know what's going on in Severus' head.

"I know it is. I have thought about it a lot and I know you should know. Not only as you being you, but also as you being a wizard."

"I think you need to clarify that." He walked into a dark alley next to a shop. No one paid attention to us.

Severus looked one more time. "Time to leave," he stated quickly, grabbed both of my arms tightly and we apparated.

My body felt like it was pushed through a small hole, just like the previous time. Everything went black. I couldn't breathe. It felt like some force pushed my chest further into my body. My eyes seemed to be pushed backwards by the same force. I squeezed them tightly closed. And the feeling on my ear-drums. As if someone pulled them out of my head. Even though it all hurt, it went better than the first time.

The force had stopped pushing my body. I felt Severus' grip on my arms decrease. And there was the nausea. Apparition was certainly not the most comfortable way of traveling, but it was by far the fastest.

Around us were trees and grass and I noticed that we had apparated to the same place as the time he and Dumbledore had picked me up from the train station.

I shook my head, to get rid of the nausea.

"Could you tell me you want to do that next time?" I sighed.

"Let's go home," he replied without looking at me.

We walked over the same road as the day I had met him. The trees, the meadows, the cows, all looked the same as before. As if time had stopped for this countryside. As if this sight had all the time in the world to change and had decided to do that later. As if the sight had all the time to make the decision. Time I wished I had had to make mine. I would have made different choices. I bet Severus would have made other choices. Things would have gone way differently. Way differently.

Author's Note:

Hey reader!

A small puzzle for you this week, who is the person Ellea reminds Snape of? And who is the person Snape reminds himself of?

Please leave your answers in the reviews. The winner gets a shout-out of course :) and a price… At the end of the story there will be a chapter about the future (by the time Ellea goes to Hogwarts). She will get sorted into a Hogwarts house… but which one? The winner can make a choice between Gryffindor and Slytherin. Leave your choice in your review as well, so I can announce the winner and his/her choice next week.

If nobody gets the answer right, I will reveal the answer next week and I will make a poll, so everyone can vote for a house.

Take this hint for help: they are original Harry Potter characters who play an important part in how Snape is.

Good luck solving the puzzle and see you next week!