"Your knee seems to be holding up well," she panted as they ran side-by-side along their usual path, well out of view of the castle.
"As if it had any choice with you dragging it out for a run twice a week," he replied in a grouchy voice, as breathless as hers.
"I don't drag you!" she laughed, glancing over at his sweaty face and watching as his hair bounced along just like hers. It made her smile even wider.
They ran in silence again for another mile and as they made the turn back towards their starting point, Severus spoke.
"At least you don't have me running in the dark."
"Or the cold," Serena agreed. Running in winter in Scotland hadn't been the nicest experience and having to run with a lumos charm hadn't been very practical either.
"Or the snow."
"Oh, we haven't run in snow at all!" she half-cried, half-panted, wiping sweat away from her upper lip. "I made that mistake last year, nearly broke my ankle."
Severus grunted and they continued in a comfortable silence once more, the only sounds their heavy footfalls and their rhythmic panting in the summer morning air.
It was wonderful running in the Scottish hills, everything seemed so fertile and full of life. Birds and owls flew overhead frequently, their incessant tweeting accompanying them in their effort. The sun was rising, casting a warm, orange light upon the green scenery and lighting up the sky magically.
"I'll probably come back out on Wednesday or Thursday," she breathed as they neared the end of their run and began to slow down.
"Thursday," he replied curtly as they slowed to a halt in the cover of the trees and began stretching. "If you wish to have company."
"Sure," she smiled, wiping her sweaty face against her sleeve and stretching out her calves. Her legs felt like jelly.
"I've got revision classes this morning with the seventh years, then I've got lunch with Minerva and Pomona, I'm free this afternoon, but I thought I might eat with Remus in my quarters tonight, what with him on duty in the castle."
Severus had begun dressing himself in his usual robes again, ready to walk back to the castle. "I shall not join you," he said quietly. "I have marking to do in my office."
"Okay," she shrugged.
"I shall be in the greenhouses this afternoon, however," he said in the same, low voice. "I have ingredients to collect."
She grinned at him. "I had planned to give Pomona a hand," she smiled. "Especially with the nice weather. What a coincidence."
"Indeed," he said slyly, before giving a small bow in her direction. "Good day, Professor Lake."
"Professor Snape," she supressed a smile as he disappeared into the trees, making his way subtly back to the castle. Serena, who didn't ever bother disguising the fact that she went running, turned to the lake and strolled back to the castle across the magnificent green lawn. She waved at Hagrid, who was digging up his vegetable patch, and said hello to a few students who were out for an early morning fly-about. As she walked up the familiar stone staircases to her quarters, she spotted several studious students on their way to the library, surely ready to cram facts into their heads before the start of the exams next week.
As she stepped under her hot shower, she thought about the wonderful evening she had spent with Severus the previous night. It had been such a romantic gesture, coming from him, and she hadn't expected it at all. He had been in such a charming mood, making her laugh and blush, and when he had carried her off to bed, well, he'd made her feel something else, too.
Even all this time later, she still felt incredibly lucky and blessed to see the real Severus. Severus when he was relaxed and comfortable and off his guard. The only parts of his persona were real too, of course. The moody Professor, the dangerous spy, the cruel Death Eater, the unsociable man… All these parts made him up as a whole, but the side she loved the most was Severus the husband. Severus who loved her, who took care of her, who was full of vulnerability and self-doubt. Severus who had scars on the inside, as well as on the outside.
She dried off and changed into a pair of light blue jeans and a white t-shirt. She threw a light, lilac cloak over the outfit, leaving it open at the waist and slipped on her favourite pair of trainers which she tainted lilac too with a simple chameleon charm.
After her usual hair and makeup routine, Serena picked up her bag and headed down the corridor to her classroom. She didn't mind dressing more casually on the weekend, especially as it was just last-minute revision with voluntary seventh years.
Minerva joined in the last half an hour of her class, and the two witches demonstrated the benefits of combining transfiguration and charms to ensure a long-lasting spell. When the students had left, looking a little less stressed than they had been when they had arrived, Minerva and Serena strolled up to Minerva's rooms, where they met Pomona.
Lunch was hilarious, Minerva was telling stories about the exam invigilators from her first year of teaching, and Pomona, who had brought along a nice bottle of Prosecco was reminiscing about the rather dreamy astronomy teacher that used to teach when she had first started.
"It's just not fair," she sighed, supressing a burp, "there's not been anyone that handsome in years." Suddenly catching Serena's eye, she turned bright red and stuttered, "of my own age, of course."
Serena half grinned. "I know what you meant," she said in a good-humoured tone. "Anyway, doesn't Slughorn tickle your fancy?"
Minerva made a disgruntled noise at this, and Pomona grew serious, tutting loudly and muttering, "I trust that man as far as I can throw him."
"Yes, well," Serena said quietly, "there's been rather a few teachers we can't trust over the last few years."
"Indeed," Minerva said darkly.
Serena shivered unconsciously as Moody's face flashed before her eyes, a sickly stench filled her nostrils, and the coldness of a blade pressed against her nipple.
A burst of orange flame filled her vision so violently she leapt back over the arm of the chair, her prosecco hitting the floor, the smash of the glass a vague, distant sound in her brain as her mind screamed at her your potion! Did you take your potion?
And then the flame was gone.
She stood, panting behind Minerva's armchair, her wand in one hand, her other outstretched as though she still clutched her wine glass. She could feel heat burning in her cheeks as her brain worked out what had happened and her eyes finally focussed on the two concerned faces now standing before her.
"I'm sorry," she mumbled, lowering her wand and looking at the broken glass.
"Sit down, dear," Minerva said sympathetically, giving her arm a squeeze and guiding her to the armchair.
Serena took a shaky step back towards the armchair, pulling her occlumency shields down as quickly and as firmly as possible. "I'm sorry," she repeated in a more steady voice, as Pomona vanished the broken glass with a wave of her wand. "I-"
"You don't need to explain," Minerva said knowingly, "you've been through some things in the years that we've known you, it's not a wonder that certain things may trigger memories."
Serena looked at the scroll of paper Minerva was holding in her hand. "It was just Fawkes, wasn't it?"
Minerva nodded and glanced down at the parchment. "Just Albus confirming that he will be out of the castle this evening. Would you like a glass of water?"
"No," Serena shook her head and gave a warm smile. "I'm fine, honestly I…" she smiled again, forcing herself to be calm and portray an image of control to the two worried witches. "Do you remember why I first came to the castle, both of you?"
"Your magic," Minerva said, sitting back down in her chair.
"That's right," Pomona said in a surprised voice, "I'd almost forgotten, you couldn't control your magic!"
"Yeah," she smiled, remembering the first time she had walked up the drive and really seen the castle for the first time. "Yeah, that's right. I had outbursts of magic depending on my emotions. And, anyway, one of the consequences was fire… I almost killed Kingsley and me once… And nearly burnt Severus' classroom to the ground when he was helping me. Anyway, sometimes fire, if it just pops up unexpected like that, well, it makes me freak out… I thought I had lost control again."
Minerva gave an understanding nod. "Of course, only natural."
"So you can write that one down," she smiled, feeling better for having shared that small snippet of information with her friends. "No Weasleys Fabulous Flames or god knows what for my birthday."
They all laughed and thankfully, Pomona changed the subject.
After another hour of chatter, Pomona and Serena finally headed down to the greenhouses, swapping their colourful attire for their green gardening robes and a pair of thick gloves.
As both witches were busy in greenhouse six, Serena was unsurprised to hear two knocks on the glass door, and to see the familiar dragon hide boots of Severus making their way steadily up the alley to Pomona.
She winked at him as he passed her, his briefcase in hand.
"Ah, Severus, excellent! Serena is recolting the Aconite leaves now."
"There are over 250 different species of Aconitum, Pomona, I specifically asked for Hellitum Aconitum."
"And Hellitum Aconitum you shall get," Serena smiled, standing up and walking over to join them, her basket full of the small sprigs of dark leaves.
"You should cleanse your gloves," he said, after peering scrutinisingly into her basket before taking it from her. "The leaves are extremely poisonous."
Serena shared a smirk with Pomona.
"See, Pomona, he still thinks he can teach me things about his precious potions ingredients but I know it all already now."
Pomona chuckled warmly. "She cast an impervious on the gloves before harvesting, Severus."
"And on her trainers, too?" he inquired coldly, "because there is a leaf currently soaking its way through the leather, but if you prefer to die a horrible death, pray, don't listen to me at all, your loss shall be mourned deeply, I'm sure."
Serena looked down at her trainers and was surprised to see a tiny, black leaf stuck to her laces. She stuck her tongue out at Severus and took off her gloves, before vanishing the leaf and casting a cleansing charm on her shoes.
"Am I safe now, dear?"
He snorted and rolled his eyes, ignoring her cheek, but Serena wasn't fooled by his posture, she could see his eyes sparkling behind his hair. "Hagrid says you have been transplanting the Bubotubers, may I see them?"
"Serena has done a great job on them, even you won't have a bad word to say," Pomona said in a reproachful voice, "come with me."
Serena and Severus both followed her out of greenhouse six and into greenhouse four.
"Pleasant lunch?" he asked Serena quietly as they followed the older witch to the wooden planting boxes.
"Yes, thank you," she said, slightly surprised at his interest. "It was lovely, we had a good laugh. And my revision class was quite productive too, I'm a lot more confident with the seventh years this year than last year."
"That was my sentiment too," he nodded, before setting his briefcase on one of the trestle tables and pulling out two large vials. "Pomona, I shall take two selections of puss, if you will, I know it's early, but I wanted to study its maturity cycle."
"Of course," Pomona smiled, taking the vials from his hand and expertly squeezing the puss from the lumpy black plants.
"You were right," Severus said quietly, "they have been looked after well."
Pomona beamed at the praise and winked at Serena, as if to say, there you go!
Serena almost asked him why he was in such a good mood, but if last night had been the same for him, then she already knew why.
Severus stayed with them for another hour, moving from greenhouse to greenhouse, and asking Pomona for details or descriptions, collecting ingredients here and there or sometimes just admiring their work.
"I will take my leave," he said eventually, and she could hear the regret in his voice. "I have marking to do."
"Well, if you hang on five minutes I'll walk back up to the castle with you," Serena said. "I just have to feed the Alihotsy tree, and I'm done. Remus said he'd be over early. Molly's babysitting Vinnie."
Severus nodded silently and stayed talking with Pomona whilst Serena finished her tasks and changed her robes, siphoning dirt from her shoes and hands.
When she joined Severus she looked a lot fresher and they turned to the castle together, making sure to keep a respectful distance between them.
"How have you both overcome the aggressive roots of the Shrivelfig?" he asked as they climbed the small hill together.
She raised her eyebrows, surprised by his question as she was sure he knew the answer already. She looked sideways at him and his dark eyes pierced hers meaningfully.
You look beautiful in your gardening robes.
She looked away quickly, having to supress a grin as his thoughts filled her mind.
"We've been repotting them every seven days," she said in a neutral voice, her eyes on the path before them. "So that the roots have to acclimatise to their new environment each time."
When she looked politely back at him, their eyes connected again.
I mean it, his thoughts said firmly. I remember when I first saw you wearing them, with your hair pulled up and your face without makeup for the first time. You looked so young.
"I'm not sure if that's a good thing," Serena said out loud, looking at the approaching castle. "But it's the solution I've found."
"I don't know that it is a good thing," he agreed quietly, "but…" he trailed off and she looked at him again.
It stayed with me, he continued silently, how beautiful you were… it stayed with me.
"but it's worth a try, I suppose," he finished as they arrived at the castle.
There were more students in the entrance hall, bustling around the place. The general chatter quietened slightly as Severus walked through their midst, and Serena followed him up the staircases to the second floor.
"Might I see you at dinner, Severus?" Serena asked, knowing the answer already, as they lingered outside her door.
"No," he said curtly, "I have much more important things to do than watch those dunderheads eat. Ah," he said sharply, looking at someone over her shoulder. "It would appear you have company."
Serena turned to see Remus approaching them, his hand in the air in greeting and a relaxed smile on his face.
"Hello, darling," he chirped, giving Serena a kiss on the cheek before shaking Severus' hand. "How are you Severus?"
"Fine, thank you," Severus said politely. "I have ingredients to store, Lupin, Professor Lake has your potion, see that she doesn't forget to give it to you, her mind does wander."
Serena rolled her eyes playfully, sharing a smirk with Remus and guiding him gently to her door. "Come on Remus, or he'll start insulting you too, soon. Good day, Severus."
Can't stop thinking about last night, she whispered in his mind, sending a flicker of arousal in his direction.
He gave a slight, almost unnoticeable shiver and his lips twitched into the tiniest of smiles. "Good day," he said stiffly, turning on his heel and swooping towards his own quarters.
"Come on," she repeated, smiling openly this time and pushing her door for him to enter. "I'm gonna have to take a shower," she called as she shut the door behind them and hung up her cloak. "I stink, I've been in the greenhouses all afternoon. Why don't you make us a coffee?"
"Perfect," Remus agreed, hanging up his own, slightly shabbier cloak and heading into her kitchen.
Serena showered and dressed for the second time that day, before joining Remus at the kitchen table.
"So how are you? How's my favourite girl?"
Remus' face lit up like a fairy. "She's been following me around all morning on her chubby little legs, she's practically running now, I can't believe it! She'll be up the stairs soon!"
"Better get practising those long-lasting cushioning charms," Serena chuckled. "Molly's looking after her and Max tonight?"
"Yeah," Remus smiled. "Max has become her big brother, it's so lovely, it was such a good idea to have Samuel move in with him."
"It seems like it's worked out well for everyone," Serena smiled, sipping her coffee.
"Yeah…" Remus trailed off suddenly, staring unseeingly at a spot over Serena's shoulder. She reached over and squeezed his hand, waves of grief and sadness pooling over her. She kept her face neutral and took a few seconds to push the thoughts she recognised away.
"I can't believe it's been a year," she said eventually.
Remus blinked and his eyes refocused. "Yeah," he said quietly. "Me neither…"
"And I can't believe how much your little Vinnie has changed! Next thing you know, she'll be doing magic!"
"Oh! That reminds me, oh I have to tell you what she did this week, I was crying with laughter," a smile lit up Remus' face suddenly and she felt his sadness pass as he bagan his story . They spent a few hours in Serena's rooms, chatting and eating, before a knock on the door told them that it was time to start patrolling the corridors.
"Wotcher," winked Tonks, who had come to collect them. "Albus has just left apparently," she said in her Yorkshire accent. "Minerva said each of you should take three floors."
Serena pulled on her lilac cloak again and her and Remus stepped out into the corridors.
"And what about you?"
"I'll be keeping an eye out on the grounds and the entrance hall with Dawlish. Bill's up patrolling the towers."
"Okay," Remus nodded, "well I'll take the upper floors if you like, Serena. You take two to four?"
"Yepp," she said cheerfully. It wasn't the first time that they had been asked to patrol the corridors, and definitely not the first time that Albus had left the castle. She knew she was in for a rather boring evening and hoped he wouldn't be back too late, wherever he was.
"Patronusses if you spot anything strange," Tonks said, "see you later." They watched as she walked purposefully back towards the staircases.
"Come on," sighed Remus, "or Minerva will come and tell us off."
Serena lit her wand and began tracing a slow circuit along the second floor corridor, up the main staircase, along the third floor corridor, checking behind the tapestries occasionally, then using the secret passageway up to the forth floor before descending the main staircase to the second floor once more.
Occasionally, she was on the landing when Tonks was patrolling the entrance hall, and they waved to each other or pulled faces.
At least she was getting exercise in, she thought, her lips remembering the taste of the Cornish pasties she had eaten with Remus earlier, and her wonderful meal with Severus the night before. Her legs were aching slightly from her morning run, however, and the stairs were unwelcome.
The light dimmed and the oil lamps lit on their own accord. Sometimes she would stop and have a chat with some of the portraits that weren't snoozing away, and there were four old men in a painted barn on the fourth floor that were drinking two bottles of whiskey they'd stolen from another painting. Each time she passed they grew louder and louder, and she couldn't help but laugh at their drunken conversations.
An hour passed without incident. Serena was growing cold, and she was just deciding to stop by her rooms to get a thicker cloak when a sharp cry startled her.
"Professor Lake!"
She span around, wand in hand as she saw Ronald and Ginny Weasley and Neville Longbottom sprinting around the dark corridor towards her.
The fact that they were clearly defying curfew only flashed through her mind for a second as she realised that something was very, very wrong.
"What-"
"Professor!" Gasped Miss Weasley, her red hair flying behind her. "It's Malfoy, he-he's let Death Eaters in the castle Professor! Through the Room of Requirement! They're heading upstairs towards the big tower, we tried to stop them but he had Peruvian Darkness Powder and-"
"Get to the safety of your common room immediately," Serena ordered, her heart screaming inside her chest as she realised what, after these months of waiting, was finally happening.
It was tonight.
"I mean it, Miss Weasley, I want all of you out of danger. Did you see how many of them there were? Did you recognise anyone?"
"At least three or four Professor," Ronald Weasley answered for his sister, "but we didn't get a chance to see their faces, we just heard them."
Serena could feel her heart beating in her chest, her hands were sweaty, her eyes were bulging almost painfully against her lids as her brain worked faster than it ever had before.
"Get to your common rooms, now! I will alert the teachers!"
It might be too late, but the grouped patronuses she sent off to Remus, Tonks, Bill, Minerva and Pomona should hopefully alert some of them to the impending danger.
Then, without waiting to get the students to safety, she span on her heel and burst into action.
She had to get to Severus.
Serena skidded along the stone slabs over the third-floor corridor, racing towards the staircase and leaping down the steps, taking them four at a time, before sprinting around the corner and down the second floor corridor to his office, her wand held tightly in her hand.
According to Miss Weasley, the Death Eaters were on floors way above them.
She could have sent a Patronus to Severus, she knew she could have, but she had to see him before this final battle, had to hold him, had to say goodbye and give him the courage to do the worst.
She crouched low and side-stepped behind a suit of armour as she saw two figures lingering in the shadows by his office door, but her brain took milliseconds to recognise them as two students out of bed.
"Lovegood! Granger! What are you doing? You need to get to your common room, there are Death Eaters in the castle. You're not safe!" She skidded past them, not checking to see if they had turned around and swung open the door to Severus' office, letting it slam heavily shut behind her and striding over to his desk.
He had jumped up from his writing, utterly startled, but as she threw herself into his arms he understood immediately.
His strong hands wrapped themselves fiercely around her, his face buried itself in her hair and he breathed in deeply before letting her go.
"Near the astronomy tower," she said quickly. "I don't know how many, but they came in through the Room of Requirement."
Severus grabbed his cloak and took out his wand, his expression flashing through so many emotions she could barely keep track-
Fear, pain, loss, anger, and, finally, a deep resolution as he accepted what needed to be done. She could see his Death Eater persona slowly sliding into place, but she needed to keep him for just a moment longer.
"I love you," she said fiercely, gripping the clasp of his robes, pressing her palms against his chest in case this was the last time she would ever see him. "I am so proud of you, I always will be. I know that you do your best and that is all you can ever do. I'll be waiting for you, on the other side of it all. I'll be ready, waiting to run away with you and start afresh."
His eyes burned with a fierce molten fire and he pressed his forehead against hers.
"I love you," he murmured in a raw, raspy voice. "Keep safe, it is all I ask of you."
"Go!" She gasped, pulling him around the desk, "I'm going to block off the seventh floor, do what you have to do!"
Severus manoeuvred swiftly, spinning around his desk, pushing her gently in front of him, she raced towards the door, her heart pounding, her stomach lurching, her fingertips touched the wood, and then she froze, a flash of light erupted violently behind her, she registered a strange jerk of movement and everything went black.