Title: Atonement, Chapter 9
By: PepperjackCandy
Rating: PG13
Disclaimer: You recognize it? It's J.K. Rowling's. All I own is Alex Farrell.
A/N: Well, I fought to keep this from going all romancey, but looks like I lost . . .
=========
Alex was gone by the time Harry reached the hallway. Hoping that she was going up to the Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers' office, he mounted the stairs to the upper floors.
He ran to her office, one that had become so familiar to him over his seven years at Hogwarts, and knocked on the door.
"Yes?" Alex called out. "Come in."
Harry opened the door. "Professor Farrell?"
She gasped and hastily shoved the magazine into a desk drawer. Harry had the impression that she'd been staring at it. "Mr. Potter! Come in!" She indicated one of her guest chairs.
He sat. "Please, call me Harry. Or just plain 'Potter' if you want."
"All right, Harry." She smiled at him. "What brings you to my office?"
He leaned back. "Professor Snape told us that he's been showing you the ropes around here. About the Defense Against the Dark Arts job and things. Apparently, he's also been talking to you about the people who held the job prior to you?"
Alex nodded, wondering where Harry was going with this.
"Well, I had quite a lot of contact with them, particularly Re - Professor Lupin and Barty Crouch. So if you have any questions that Professor Snape can't answer, feel free to ask me."
"Thank you, Harry." Alex smiled.
"You're welcome . . . Professor Farrell?"
"Alex, please. I'm still not used to being called 'professor.' The only title I'm used to is 'officer.'" She smiled. "I'm sure Professor Snape told you that I was a Muggle police officer before I attended wizarding school?"
"Yes he did. How did that happen? Unless you worked for the police before you were eleven?"
"Well, I was Muggle-born, and prone to having strange things happen when I was around," she noticed that Harry gave her a particularly charming smile when she said this, "so when I got a letter accepting me to a witchcraft school, my parents and I simply dismissed it as a practical joke. It wasn't until thirteen years later that I discovered that it was genuine."
"How did you find that out?"
"I was caught Apparating without a license. All the way from Islington to Edinburgh, as a matter of fact."
Harry blinked in amazement. "My only accidental Apparation before I discovered I was a wizard was onto the roof of the kitchens at my school while I was trying to avoid some bullies." He didn't tell her that the lead bully had been his cousin Dudley.
"You didn't!" Alex laughed.
"I did. When I was nine."
They chatted amicably like that for several minutes, but were interrupted when someone else knocked on the door of the office.
"Come in!" She called out.
It was Draco. "Harry!" He whispered. "We've got to go . . ."
"Sorry, love. I just got to talking with Alex, here, and lost track of time."
Draco looked at Harry pointedly, looked over at Alex, and back at Harry.
Harry's eyes widened as he realized what Draco was telling him. "Draco and I were wondering if you would join us for dinner tonight. We'll meet here outside your office around, say, 7:00?"
"Thank you, Harry." Alex smiled. "I'd like that."
"See you then, then." Harry said as his fiance dragged him out into the hallway and off to Hogsmeade.
As soon as they were well away from the Hogwarts grounds, Draco asked Harry, "So you really think Snape fancies her?"
Harry snorted. "You saw the way he watched her whenever she was in the room."
"He used to watch you all the time, too. You don't think he fancies you, too, do you?" Draco seemed somewhat scandalized by the idea.
"Of course not! But the way he looked at me was *completely* different from how he looks at her. Trust me."
"If you say so, Cupid."
Grinning, the two men continued their walk to Hogsmeade.
Early in the afternoon, Alex knocked on the door of Snape's office.
"What?" Snape snarled.
"Can I come in, Professor Snape?" Alex asked.
He sighed and stood. "All right. But the door's locked, so I have to . . ." He opened the door.
"What are you doing?" He asked snappishly.
"Bringing you lunch. What does it look like?" She walked into the room and deposited a plate and a mug of pumpkin juice on his desk. "You didn't come to lunch, so I brought lunch to you."
Snape sighed and looked askance at the sandwich on the plate. Then he looked at it with more interest. He lifted the piece of bread that formed the lid of the sandwich and picked the sandwich up, flipping it over and looking under that piece of bread.
"This is my favorite. How did you know?"
She smiled. "I asked the house-elves what kind of sandwich you get most often."
"Thank you." He said quietly.
"You're welcome."
"Would you like to have a seat?" Snape offered.
"No, thank you. I just thought I'd make sure you have something to eat sometime today. I really have to get back to my own work."
Snape nodded. "I understand."
"I'll see you . . . later?" She asked.
"Yes. Later." After she'd left the room, he sat down behind his desk, gazing at his sandwich. He wiped the sweat off his palms. Damn me for a fool! He berated himself. Start out angry with her for asking Potter and Malfoy for their autographs, end up all tied up in knots because she brings me a sandwich!
Angry at himself for this gush of emotion, Snape savagely bit down on his sandwich.
The day passed without further incident and at precisely 7:00, Alex heard a knock at her door. "Is that you, Harry?" She asked.
The door opened a crack. "Yes, it is."
"I'm sorry I'm not already ready, but I lost track of the time." As she stepped out into the hallway, she noticed that Harry wasn't wearing a robe. He was wearing Muggle clothes - a red polo shirt with blue jeans.
"Actually," he blushed a little. "We built a little time to change into the schedule. You'll need to be wearing Muggle clothes for dinner."
She looked at him curiously. "All right. But I'll have to go to my apartments to get changed."
They walked the little distance between Alex's office and her apartments. She gave the password to the painting and she ushered him into her home.
She went through her wardrobe, choosing jeans and a baby-blue scoop-necked t-shirt. Then, self-consciously, she picked up Muggle underwear from a drawer and headed off to the bathroom. "I'll be back in just a moment," she said.
"Take your time." He assured her.
Draco, wearing a green t-shirt and jeans, met Snape outside of his office at 7:00. Or so.
Snape looked at Draco, askance. "Don't tell me I have to wear Muggle clothes." He asked.
Draco nodded. "If you don't have any, I'm sure we can arrange something."
"Don't worry, Malfoy. I have plenty of Muggle clothes."
Snape disappeared into his apartments, returning a minute later wearing pumpkin-colored flares* and an off-white turtleneck. A wide black belt was woven through the belt loops of his trousers.
Draco's jaw dropped and he shook his head. "No. That's just *not* going to do."
"What's wrong with it? It still fits."
"You look like a fugitive from The Mod Squad or something." He sighed and grasped Snape gently but firmly by the upper arm. "Let's see what else you have."
As they went into Snape's apartments, Snape asked, "The Mod Squad?"
"Muggle television program." Draco said shortly. "Same era as that outfit."
Alex emerged from the bathroom, and Harry let out a low whistle. "Pity you don't wear Muggle clothes more often, Alex." He winked.
"Oh, you." She said dismissively as she grabbed a pair of socks and tennis shoes from her wardrobe and sat down to put them on.
Draco looked through Snape's wardrobe, mumbling to himself. "Black robe, black robe, black robe. You think you have enough black robes?"
Snape shrugged. "They're serviceable enough."
"Fine." Draco sighed. "Black robe, black - jeans. What about these?" He held the trousers out to Snape.
"I wear those when I have to go foraging for ingredients." Snape said in a slightly offended tone.
"But are they clean? Do they fit?"
"Yes. Why?"
"You're wearing them." He threw the jeans to Snape, who just barely caught them. Then he went back to Snape's wardrobe. "Black robe, black t-shirt. Hmm. . . It'd make you look like a Ninja. Not good. Bl - hold on -- green shirt." He held the button-down shirt, a bright emerald green, out in front of him. "Could use a little ironing, but there's nothing for it right now." He tossed the shirt to Snape and shrugged out of his own t-shirt.
Snape retreated into the bathroom to change, as Draco muttered incantations over his shirt, turning the green t-shirt into a royal blue t-shirt. He put the shirt back on just as Snape emerged from the bathroom, clearly ill at ease.
"Untuck the shirt." Draco instructed him.
"Are you sure?"
Draco nodded. "The shirt's not ironed. It looks silly tucked in. And," he reached forward and unbuttoned the top button of his shirt.
"Just one more thing . . ." The younger man looked around the room. "Do you have anything to pull your hair back with?"
"Why are you so interested in how I'm dressed?" Snape asked, now that he had a moment to consider as he handed a length of leather to Draco.
"Because . . ." Draco began as he tied the leather in a knot around Snape's hair. His voice faded out and he never gave Snape an answer.
"There." Draco grabbed Snape and pulled him into the bathroom, modeling him in front of the mirror. "You look great!"
Snape looked in the mirror and had to admit to himself that Draco was right. The green shirt played down the sallowness of his complexion, and the leather tie holding his hair back brought out his eyes. Nevertheless, he still felt naked.
"Ready to go?" Draco asked.
"As ready as I can be, dressed like this." Snape responded bitterly.
"We're supposed to meet Harry on the ground floor." Draco said as they left Snape's apartments. And I hope your instincts are correct on this, Harry. I'm afraid we're making an awful mistake.
Harry and Alex arrived on the ground floor of the building. "What are we waiting for?" She asked.
"We're waiting for Draco." Harry told her. He didn't know why he wasn't telling her that Snape would be joining them. He guessed it was because if Draco followed instructions, Snape wouldn't know either, until they were face-to-face.
Where was Draco, anyway?
Snape and Draco climbed the steps up from the dungeon, Snape wondering the entire way why it was so imperative that he wear Muggle clothes. And why his first outfit had been unacceptable. As they rounded the corner, he saw Alex. His first thought was Dear God. It should be illegal for her to go around with her legs hanging out like that.
He knew there was nothing indecent about Muggle blue jeans, but something about the way she wore them . . . He ruthlessly squashed those feelings down. She was a co-worker. An associate. Nothing more. She could never be anything more.
============
*"Flares" are, of course, bell-bottoms to those of us in the U.S.
By: PepperjackCandy
Rating: PG13
Disclaimer: You recognize it? It's J.K. Rowling's. All I own is Alex Farrell.
A/N: Well, I fought to keep this from going all romancey, but looks like I lost . . .
=========
Alex was gone by the time Harry reached the hallway. Hoping that she was going up to the Defense Against the Dark Arts teachers' office, he mounted the stairs to the upper floors.
He ran to her office, one that had become so familiar to him over his seven years at Hogwarts, and knocked on the door.
"Yes?" Alex called out. "Come in."
Harry opened the door. "Professor Farrell?"
She gasped and hastily shoved the magazine into a desk drawer. Harry had the impression that she'd been staring at it. "Mr. Potter! Come in!" She indicated one of her guest chairs.
He sat. "Please, call me Harry. Or just plain 'Potter' if you want."
"All right, Harry." She smiled at him. "What brings you to my office?"
He leaned back. "Professor Snape told us that he's been showing you the ropes around here. About the Defense Against the Dark Arts job and things. Apparently, he's also been talking to you about the people who held the job prior to you?"
Alex nodded, wondering where Harry was going with this.
"Well, I had quite a lot of contact with them, particularly Re - Professor Lupin and Barty Crouch. So if you have any questions that Professor Snape can't answer, feel free to ask me."
"Thank you, Harry." Alex smiled.
"You're welcome . . . Professor Farrell?"
"Alex, please. I'm still not used to being called 'professor.' The only title I'm used to is 'officer.'" She smiled. "I'm sure Professor Snape told you that I was a Muggle police officer before I attended wizarding school?"
"Yes he did. How did that happen? Unless you worked for the police before you were eleven?"
"Well, I was Muggle-born, and prone to having strange things happen when I was around," she noticed that Harry gave her a particularly charming smile when she said this, "so when I got a letter accepting me to a witchcraft school, my parents and I simply dismissed it as a practical joke. It wasn't until thirteen years later that I discovered that it was genuine."
"How did you find that out?"
"I was caught Apparating without a license. All the way from Islington to Edinburgh, as a matter of fact."
Harry blinked in amazement. "My only accidental Apparation before I discovered I was a wizard was onto the roof of the kitchens at my school while I was trying to avoid some bullies." He didn't tell her that the lead bully had been his cousin Dudley.
"You didn't!" Alex laughed.
"I did. When I was nine."
They chatted amicably like that for several minutes, but were interrupted when someone else knocked on the door of the office.
"Come in!" She called out.
It was Draco. "Harry!" He whispered. "We've got to go . . ."
"Sorry, love. I just got to talking with Alex, here, and lost track of time."
Draco looked at Harry pointedly, looked over at Alex, and back at Harry.
Harry's eyes widened as he realized what Draco was telling him. "Draco and I were wondering if you would join us for dinner tonight. We'll meet here outside your office around, say, 7:00?"
"Thank you, Harry." Alex smiled. "I'd like that."
"See you then, then." Harry said as his fiance dragged him out into the hallway and off to Hogsmeade.
As soon as they were well away from the Hogwarts grounds, Draco asked Harry, "So you really think Snape fancies her?"
Harry snorted. "You saw the way he watched her whenever she was in the room."
"He used to watch you all the time, too. You don't think he fancies you, too, do you?" Draco seemed somewhat scandalized by the idea.
"Of course not! But the way he looked at me was *completely* different from how he looks at her. Trust me."
"If you say so, Cupid."
Grinning, the two men continued their walk to Hogsmeade.
Early in the afternoon, Alex knocked on the door of Snape's office.
"What?" Snape snarled.
"Can I come in, Professor Snape?" Alex asked.
He sighed and stood. "All right. But the door's locked, so I have to . . ." He opened the door.
"What are you doing?" He asked snappishly.
"Bringing you lunch. What does it look like?" She walked into the room and deposited a plate and a mug of pumpkin juice on his desk. "You didn't come to lunch, so I brought lunch to you."
Snape sighed and looked askance at the sandwich on the plate. Then he looked at it with more interest. He lifted the piece of bread that formed the lid of the sandwich and picked the sandwich up, flipping it over and looking under that piece of bread.
"This is my favorite. How did you know?"
She smiled. "I asked the house-elves what kind of sandwich you get most often."
"Thank you." He said quietly.
"You're welcome."
"Would you like to have a seat?" Snape offered.
"No, thank you. I just thought I'd make sure you have something to eat sometime today. I really have to get back to my own work."
Snape nodded. "I understand."
"I'll see you . . . later?" She asked.
"Yes. Later." After she'd left the room, he sat down behind his desk, gazing at his sandwich. He wiped the sweat off his palms. Damn me for a fool! He berated himself. Start out angry with her for asking Potter and Malfoy for their autographs, end up all tied up in knots because she brings me a sandwich!
Angry at himself for this gush of emotion, Snape savagely bit down on his sandwich.
The day passed without further incident and at precisely 7:00, Alex heard a knock at her door. "Is that you, Harry?" She asked.
The door opened a crack. "Yes, it is."
"I'm sorry I'm not already ready, but I lost track of the time." As she stepped out into the hallway, she noticed that Harry wasn't wearing a robe. He was wearing Muggle clothes - a red polo shirt with blue jeans.
"Actually," he blushed a little. "We built a little time to change into the schedule. You'll need to be wearing Muggle clothes for dinner."
She looked at him curiously. "All right. But I'll have to go to my apartments to get changed."
They walked the little distance between Alex's office and her apartments. She gave the password to the painting and she ushered him into her home.
She went through her wardrobe, choosing jeans and a baby-blue scoop-necked t-shirt. Then, self-consciously, she picked up Muggle underwear from a drawer and headed off to the bathroom. "I'll be back in just a moment," she said.
"Take your time." He assured her.
Draco, wearing a green t-shirt and jeans, met Snape outside of his office at 7:00. Or so.
Snape looked at Draco, askance. "Don't tell me I have to wear Muggle clothes." He asked.
Draco nodded. "If you don't have any, I'm sure we can arrange something."
"Don't worry, Malfoy. I have plenty of Muggle clothes."
Snape disappeared into his apartments, returning a minute later wearing pumpkin-colored flares* and an off-white turtleneck. A wide black belt was woven through the belt loops of his trousers.
Draco's jaw dropped and he shook his head. "No. That's just *not* going to do."
"What's wrong with it? It still fits."
"You look like a fugitive from The Mod Squad or something." He sighed and grasped Snape gently but firmly by the upper arm. "Let's see what else you have."
As they went into Snape's apartments, Snape asked, "The Mod Squad?"
"Muggle television program." Draco said shortly. "Same era as that outfit."
Alex emerged from the bathroom, and Harry let out a low whistle. "Pity you don't wear Muggle clothes more often, Alex." He winked.
"Oh, you." She said dismissively as she grabbed a pair of socks and tennis shoes from her wardrobe and sat down to put them on.
Draco looked through Snape's wardrobe, mumbling to himself. "Black robe, black robe, black robe. You think you have enough black robes?"
Snape shrugged. "They're serviceable enough."
"Fine." Draco sighed. "Black robe, black - jeans. What about these?" He held the trousers out to Snape.
"I wear those when I have to go foraging for ingredients." Snape said in a slightly offended tone.
"But are they clean? Do they fit?"
"Yes. Why?"
"You're wearing them." He threw the jeans to Snape, who just barely caught them. Then he went back to Snape's wardrobe. "Black robe, black t-shirt. Hmm. . . It'd make you look like a Ninja. Not good. Bl - hold on -- green shirt." He held the button-down shirt, a bright emerald green, out in front of him. "Could use a little ironing, but there's nothing for it right now." He tossed the shirt to Snape and shrugged out of his own t-shirt.
Snape retreated into the bathroom to change, as Draco muttered incantations over his shirt, turning the green t-shirt into a royal blue t-shirt. He put the shirt back on just as Snape emerged from the bathroom, clearly ill at ease.
"Untuck the shirt." Draco instructed him.
"Are you sure?"
Draco nodded. "The shirt's not ironed. It looks silly tucked in. And," he reached forward and unbuttoned the top button of his shirt.
"Just one more thing . . ." The younger man looked around the room. "Do you have anything to pull your hair back with?"
"Why are you so interested in how I'm dressed?" Snape asked, now that he had a moment to consider as he handed a length of leather to Draco.
"Because . . ." Draco began as he tied the leather in a knot around Snape's hair. His voice faded out and he never gave Snape an answer.
"There." Draco grabbed Snape and pulled him into the bathroom, modeling him in front of the mirror. "You look great!"
Snape looked in the mirror and had to admit to himself that Draco was right. The green shirt played down the sallowness of his complexion, and the leather tie holding his hair back brought out his eyes. Nevertheless, he still felt naked.
"Ready to go?" Draco asked.
"As ready as I can be, dressed like this." Snape responded bitterly.
"We're supposed to meet Harry on the ground floor." Draco said as they left Snape's apartments. And I hope your instincts are correct on this, Harry. I'm afraid we're making an awful mistake.
Harry and Alex arrived on the ground floor of the building. "What are we waiting for?" She asked.
"We're waiting for Draco." Harry told her. He didn't know why he wasn't telling her that Snape would be joining them. He guessed it was because if Draco followed instructions, Snape wouldn't know either, until they were face-to-face.
Where was Draco, anyway?
Snape and Draco climbed the steps up from the dungeon, Snape wondering the entire way why it was so imperative that he wear Muggle clothes. And why his first outfit had been unacceptable. As they rounded the corner, he saw Alex. His first thought was Dear God. It should be illegal for her to go around with her legs hanging out like that.
He knew there was nothing indecent about Muggle blue jeans, but something about the way she wore them . . . He ruthlessly squashed those feelings down. She was a co-worker. An associate. Nothing more. She could never be anything more.
============
*"Flares" are, of course, bell-bottoms to those of us in the U.S.