AN: I hereby present to you the longest chapter yet!
Somehow this ended up taking longer to upload, than I thought, which is strange cause I've only written about 200 words more than when I mention in the last chapter's AN that it was nearly done.. hmmm... my only excuse is that I had a hard time making it flow; I still don't think it does as well as it could.. perhaps revision will be in order at some point - or the help of a good beta reader; any takers? =D

Aaaaanyway, here comes a nice long bit of awkwardness between Severus & Penelope - not surprising really; reacquaintance can be a bitch, can't it?! =P ..also a lovely little flashback near the end; if you think it ends on a kind of cliffy, I can only say: True. ...that is because what occurs afterwards will be shared with you in another chapter ;) eheheh..

Thanks to all of the lovely people who decided to press favourite, alert and of course those who reviewed - it warms my heart!

Now; On with the story.

~ Chapter Two ~

Chambers and Trials

Severus felt as if time was moving in slow-motion all of a sudden. In front of him stood a woman he had never expected to lay eyes on ever again. It had been years since he had last been face to face with her, and yet she still looked exactly the same to him.

"Hello Severus." She said simply.

Her voice was exactly as he remembered it as well. He composed himself and took a few steps towards the witch, before offering her his hand to shake.

"Penelope." Was his simple way of greeting her, along with a small bow of his head.

However the witch had other ideas as she took his hand and shook it, before she leaned up towards him and laid a quick kiss on his cheek. As she stood back she let go of his hand and offered him a genuine smile instead.

"It has been too long." He found himself saying, and mentally slapped himself for doing so; he knew perfectly well the reason for it having been so long, just as he knew that he himself was to blame for it. He noticed that as soon as the words had left his mouth, the smile on her face seemed to fade, and a look of sadness took over her features.

"Yes.. it has.." she muttered in response, barely audible, and looked away.

"Severus, I have a meeting that I need to get to, I was wondering if perhaps you would show Professor Alisdair to her chambers?" Albus inquired.

"Of course, Headmaster." Severus replied and bowed his head to the older man.

The Potions Master then turned towards the doors and gestured for Penelope to follow him. She quickly glanced at the Headmaster and offered him a silent goodbye, before she followed Severus out of the office.

The two professors walked through the Castle in complete silence. Penelope couldn't help but wonder if Severus felt as awkward as she herself did at this very moment. The more she thought of it, the more ridiculous this whole situation felt to her; they were adults, for Heaven's sake! They were going to work together for the next year. This wouldn't do at all, so she decided to break the silence herself:

"So, Severus..." she began, though not actually having decided on what to say, so she continued with the first thing she thought of; "how have you been?"

The Potions Master gave her a look that she couldn't quite decipher, before he replied; "fine."

The witch could already feel her annoyance at the man growing; he could at least try making an effort. So a moment later, when he actually tried to continue the conversation, she found herself quite surprised:

"And yourself?"

"Well, you know.." she mused, not really knowing what to say, "same old. Not much to tell, really."

"Hmm.." He merely said.

The two of them continued on for a while in silence, once again.

"So.. have you been working at the Ministry for all of these years?" This time Severus was the one to break the silence.

Penelope gave him a strange look, "why would you think that?" She asked confused.

"Well.. that is where you worked, the last time we..." his voice faded out, Penelope assumed this meant that he felt just as awkward about their terminated friendship as she did.

"Oh, yes.. of course," she replied, understanding why he would think that she had worked there; the last time they had talked, she had been working in the Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes. Clearly someone doesn't read the Sunday Prophet, she thought to herself; after all she had written articles in it for years, ever since she left the Ministry. "No, I quit many years ago." She told him.

"How come?" He asked.

"It got a bit tedious," she said, "actually, that's a lie; it got very tedious."

"I see." Was all he said to that statement.

Penelope wondered why he didn't ask her what she had been doing since she left the Ministry; maybe he just didn't care. So instead she turned the questioning to his own person; "what about you? Been working here for about 10 years now, haven't you?"

"Nine years, yes," He corrected her.

"Blimey, that's a long time." She uttered.

"Yes, well... time flies when you're having fun," Severus said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.

Penelope released a somewhat amused snort, "so why stay here for so long?" She questioned.

Severus gave her a pointed look, "I'm sure my reasoning for staying here would seem tedious to you," he said, repeating her own word choice from before.

A hurt look took over her features when he said that and she found herself putting a hand on his upper arm, causing him to halt and look down at her, "Severus, I would never think that of anything you have to say." She assured him in a low and very sincere voice.

The Potions Master stared at her for a moment before he replied; "well then.. perhaps one day I'll tell you," and then he turned away from her and continued walking in the direction of the Defence Against the Dark Arts Tower; he glanced back at her momentarily, "..if you're lucky, that is." He added with a very smug look on his face.

The pair arrived in the chambers, which were going to be Penelope's home for the next year. Severus stood by the door watching the witch as she walked through the main room, her hand tracing the top of the mantle absent mindedly. She continued to a door on the other side of the room and opened it to find a bedchamber, which held very few furniture; a wardrobe, a small sofa in front of a fireplace, which was smaller than the one in the main chamber, and a large bed – possibly the largest bed Penelope had ever laid eyes on... certainly the largest bed she would ever have slept in. She walked back to the large fireplace in the main chamber and started running her fingers over the mantle once more. She let out a soft giggle.

"You know, since we left school all of those years ago, I haven't lived anywhere with a fireplace." She stated before she turned her face to look at Severus, who still stood by the door, "now I have two of them."

Severus didn't know how to reply to that – or if she even expected him to give her a reply, after all she didn't actually ask a question. So instead, after a few moments of silence, he chose to change the subject:

"Have you been in contact with your brother?"

She looked up at him, surprised by his question, "of course.. Perseus is the only family I have." She told him sadly.

"Yes." Severus said, "how is he.. coping?"

"I can't say, really.." She started out, as her face saddened even more; "some times he seems to be doing quite well, considering the circumstances. Other times I... I fear he is loosing his mind."

Severus, once again, didn't know how to respond. What does one say to a 'friend' one hasn't spoken to for eight years, in such a situation?

Penelope suddenly found herself feeling too self-conscious; why was she telling him this? He wouldn't care about it – he's just trying to be polite, she reminded herself. "I should probably.." she started out, before making an awkward gesture towards the room they were in.

Severus nodded. "If you require any other furniture, you can have a look around in the Room of Requirement," he stated, "I trust you still remember how to enter it." It wasn't a question – Severus knew she had a vivid memory.

Her eyes lingered on him for a moment, before she gave a gentle nod.

Severus looked towards the door and then back at Penelope, "I'll just.. leave you to unpack then. There's dinner in the staffroom at six thirty – or you can call for a house elf and have something brought to your chambers." He informed her, before turning around and heading out of the door.

"Thank you.. Severus." He heard her say, and glanced back, merely giving a nod of his head, before leaving her chambers and shutting the door behind him.

~oOoOo~

** Flashback **

Thursday, December 3th, 1981

Penelope was stood in the elevator, waiting for it to stop on Level Ten of the Ministry. She was on her way to her brother's trial before the Wizengamot. She knew perfectly well that he had been one of Lord Voldemort's Death Eaters, but she still hoped that he would not get to spend the rest of his life in Azkaban – that he could somehow convince the council that he had seen reason and left his dark path behind, before Voldemort had fallen, or that he had been under the Imperius Curse. She'd heard that some Death Eaters had been set free in exchange for turning in their former allies. However she didn't know what her brother was going to say – ever since he had been captured, she hadn't been allowed to see him or communicate with him in any way. Though she thought him cruel at times she missed him dearly – he was after all, the only family she had left.

As the elevator came to a halt, she looked up to see that she had reached the dark corridors of the Court Level. The halls were flowing with people on their way to witness the trial as well. Penelope took a deep breath before she stepped out of the now empty elevator. She looked around to see if there might be someone she knew.. someone she trusted, but she was met by doubtful and accusing stares from the surrounding witches and wizards.

She knew very well that ever since her brother's capture rumours had started to flow; speculation about whether or not she too had been working for the dark wizard – that was no unique situation; most wizards related to someone who had been accused of being a Death Eater had faced the same stares and whispers that she was now.

Suddenly a gentle hand pressed down on her shoulder from behind and she turned around to come face to face with her former headmaster, Albus Dumbledore. Just as it happened, she could practically feel the eyes of all the other people leaving her alone. Dumbledore gave her a gentle smile and inquired to her health. Penelope, of course, merely said she was fine considering the circumstances. The older man gently put his hand on her lower back and started guiding her towards Courtroom Ten, where the trial was to be held.

Once they'd entered the filled courtroom, Dumbledore guided her to one of the higher seats, saying that this would shield her from too many unpleasant stares. Then he sat down beside her so that once he had to go and join the Wizengamot himself, hopefully she wouldn't have to sit next to anyone.

Not long after, the trials began and much to her relief her brother was not the first Death Eater to be trialled this day – as unpleasant as this was going to be, she still preferred to have an idea of what was going to happen, so watching someone else get prosecuted first eased her distressed mind just a bit.

However she soon found that the experience of watching the prosecution of someone else – someone she'd never even met – was excruciatingly painful as well; no mercy was shown to these people whatsoever. She hadn't actually expected there to be, but knowing that her brother would face the same treatment made her insides writhe.

Suddenly the turn came to her brother and she immediately stiffened in her seat. First they made the formality of asking him if he was Perseus Angus Alisdair, which he confirmed – Penelope wondered if they might have given him Veritaserum, to make sure he didn't lie. Then the head of the council, Mr. Crouch, started listing the crimes he was accused of; use of Unforgivable Curses, violence, torture, rape, murder.. Penelope was horrified, she had never imagined that her brother had partaken in such horrible deeds as torture and rape, let alone that he had actually murdered someone. A violent sob escaped her lips and her left hand came to her face in an attempt to control herself. Suddenly something tightened around her other hand, which was resting in her lap; she looked down to see a large hand covering her own, smaller one. Her gaze followed the length of the black clad arm to see none other than Severus Snape sitting in the seat that had previously been empty. For a moment she was numbed by surprise and seemed to forget all the horrible things she had just heard about her brother, but as her mind and body once again seemed to remember the current situation, she gave Severus a questionable look. He didn't say anything, instead giving her hand a reassuring squeeze and motioning his head towards the centre of the court, where her brother was currently affirming or denying the accusations, and she quickly refocused her attention to witness the trial, feeling slightly more at ease with Severus' hand covering her own.

Much to Penelope's horror her brother didn't deny any of the accusations or say that he had acted under the Imperius Curse – in stead he claimed that he would have done the same again, even if he had known how the War would end and that it would send him to Azkaban. Penelope felt like an enormous fist was closing around her heart. It was becoming harder and harder for her to breathe. She vaguely heard when Mr. Crouch told her brother that he would be send back to Azkaban with no chance of release, to spend the rest of his life imprisoned there. Penelope's vision was blurring – she could barely breathe any more; she thought she had prepared herself mentally in case this would be how the trial turned out, but clearly she hadn't prepared well enough.

Minutes later Penelope started to regain her senses and found that she was now sitting on a bench in the completely empty corridor on Level Ten. Apparently Severus had escorted her out of the courtroom, when he saw the state she was in, without her even realising that they had been moving. She felt hollow. Empty. Ghost-like, she suspected. She vaguely registered Severus' hand resting comfortingly on her back, as she sat there staring straight ahead, without actually looking at anything. She'd heard Severus' baritone voice speaking, but she couldn't get her mind to settle on the words and actually hear what he was saying.

Suddenly a pair of eyes were in front of her and she tried for a moment to focus on them with no luck.

"Has she said anything, Severus?" Albus asked the other wizard.

"No, Headmaster." He answered, "I don't even think she realised that we left the Courtroom – I practically carried her out here."

Albus looked at Penelope with concern and then put his hand gently on her shoulder, while his other hand went to her cheek.

"Nel, can you hear me, dear?" He asked her softly, but he didn't get a respond, "Penelope?" He tried her full name in stead, but this had no effect either. Then his attention went to Severus in stead; "Severus, I'm afraid we have more trials to conduct – could you be persuaded to get Miss Alisdair home and see to it that she gets a calming potion? I shall be in touch as soon as we're done here."

"Of course, Headmaster." Severus answered and with Albus' help got Penelope up from her seat before he secured her in his arms, so they could Disapparate safely. He whispered a warning in her ear and then they were gone from the Ministry.

AN: And on that cheery note the chapter comes to an end.
I have to admit that, for some unknown reason, I'm really liking the flashback - not as much the writing as the whole situation. Perhaps knowing what has occurred before and after is the reason for that, who's to say?!

Anyway; I'd be happy to hear what you thought of the chapter.. and the characters? In-character enough? Mary Sue-ish female lead? Constructive criticism is always appreciated.

Soo... I haven't actually started writing the next chapter yet, so it'll probably be at least a week before I update again (sorry!) ...buuuut I've written up this nice long timeline of everything that happens to Severus and Penelope from the time they went to Hogwarts and until after the 7th Book, to make it easier to place all the events and such (just having a big bunch of notes was confusing as hell!).

Oh, by-the-by; I edited the prologue a tiny bit - nothing to do with what happens in it, merely a few mistakes in the wording (accidentally called a *quill* for a *feather*) and somehow ended up writing Penelope's Prefect batch was green, when obviously it would be blue and bronze *sigh* - THAT is what happens when you write canon-knowledgy things whilst tired =P