Title: Atonement, Chapter 10
By: PepperjackCandy
Rating: PG13
Disclaimer: You recognize it? It's J.K. Rowling's. All I own is Alex Farrell.

Am I allowed to plug mailing lists here? If so, I've started a new general fanfiction list -- for posting fics only. Anyone can join. Anyone can post their fics there. All other communication is by private e-mail between listmembers. If you're interested, click here: HP_fanfic. This list is for G-PG13 fics only. I also have an R and NC17 list, if you're interested, called HP_fanfic_adult

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As they came around the corner, Alex gasped when she saw Snape. His eyes. She thought. They're usually so obscured by all that hair, I've never really noticed them before. They're probably his best feature.

Her eyes skimmed his body, then. Though the rest of him isn't too bad, either. She thought assessingly.

What's going through her mind? Snape wondered as Alex looked at him wordlessly. He'd seen her jaw drop as their eyes met for the first time, and he could just hear her laughing at him. He looked ridiculous. Why'd I let Malfoy talk me into this? He lamented.

Harry and Draco watched the Potions Master and the Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher silently. Their eyes met and Draco nodded slightly, acknowledging that he now saw the attraction that his lover had commented on earlier. He wasn't sure if Snape was ready to act on that attraction now, but he fervently hoped that his teacher would be ready for it someday.

"You look very nice, Severus." Alex tried the Potions Master's name out on her tongue, steeling herself for a biting response.

Instead, he fairly blushed. "Thank you. You look good, as well." There was some strangled quality in his tone that she couldn't quite identify.

Snape felt his abdominal muscles tighten when Alex addressed him by his Christian name. It had been nearly twenty years since a woman had used that name so casually, since Laura had used his name so casually, and he was so tied up in knots he couldn't sort out whether he liked it when Alex used it. He had responded as best he could, hoping that he didn't come across as upset as he felt.

Draco cleared his throat. "So, are we ready to go then?"

Snape felt the bottom drop out of his stomach. "Go? Why didn't anyone tell me that we were going somewhere?" Of course we're going somewhere, you idiot, he chastised himself. Did you think we'd gotten all dressed up in Muggle clothes so that we could have a picnic on the floor of the library?

Alex saw Snape stiffen and said reassuringly. "I'm sure it'll be fine, Severus."

Harry and Draco exchanged bewildered looks. Harry looked inquiringly at Alex, who simply gestured her deferral to Snape.

Snape pursed his lips. "Professor Farrell," he began pointedly looking directly at Alex, "and Professor Sprout have this strange idea that someone has made an attempt on my life." The uncomfortable subject of the threatening note returned to Snape's mind, but he ruthlessly shoved it back down with all of the other memories he didn't want to face.

Alex recoiled a little at his hostile tone, stung that he rejected her attempt to advance them to a first-name basis, especially since he was the one who began it by calling her by her Christian name earlier.

"Did someone make an attempt on his life, Alex?" Harry asked her.

She nodded. "One of the ewer-plants ruptured. The acid nearly hit Professor Snape." She looked directly into the Potions Master's black eyes as she said his name. "Professor Sprout investigated very thoroughly, and it could only have been sabotage. The laceratio hex, actually."

Draco and Harry followed Alex's line of thought. "But if it was a hex, then . . ." Draco looked at Alex, who nodded.

"Nonsense." Snape snapped. "It doesn't prove a thing. We can't even be certain that Professor Sprout's conclusions were correct."

"Well we can dismiss it for tonight, at any rate." Harry said.

Alex and Snape looked at Harry curiously.

"We'll be traveling using this." He pulled a small wad of fabric out of his jeans pocket. "It's a portkey. No-one but Draco and I know where it will take us, and it's impossible to follow someone traveling by portkey, so at least for tonight, you can be certain that you won't have any worries on that score."

Snape shrugged. "Doesn't matter to me." He said, but internally he was rejoicing. Ever since he'd found the threatening note, he had been feeling increasingly claustrophobic, and it was a good feeling to know that he'd be leaving the Hogwarts campus safely.

Harry looked at Alex, who nodded her assent silently. "All right. Everyone join hands." He instructed them, and was disappointed to see Snape walk away from Alex to take Draco's hand. He indicated for Alex to take Draco's other hand, and took Alex's free hand. Then he stuck the portkey back in his pocket and fiddled with the wrappings until he could touch the smooth metal surface of the silver charm that he and Draco had used.

Then he felt the now-familiar tug behind his navel, and everything went black.

The first person to speak when the rematerialized in a small copse of trees was Alex. "So that's a portkey." She said, in a slightly queasy tone. "On the whole, I think I prefer aeroplanes."

Draco grinned at her. "But you can't beat a portkey for time-efficiency."

Just then, Alex noticed that it was full light. "It was sunset back at Hogwarts." She said. "How far have we come?"

"Oh, just 5,000 kilometres or so." Harry grinned. "We're in Texas. It's 2:00 p.m. here."

"Texas?" She asked, amazed. "Well, I guess the portkey is worth a little nausea, then."

"So," Snape snapped. "What's in Texas that's worth visiting?"

"You'll see." Draco winked at Harry, making Alex wonder what they had planned.

They stepped from the copse of trees to see that it was a beautiful, sunny day. It was also a hot, sunny day. They skirted the parking lot (Snape gawped at the variety of cars, trucks and sports-utility vehicles in the lot), walking up a gravel pathway past an elaborately-landscaped pond, to the front of the restaurant.

One of the hostesses at the hostess spoke. "How many are in your party?"

"Just one moment." Harry said with a smile as Draco indicated the waiting area to Snape. The ceiling of the waiting area was a bright blue, with just the vaguest suggestion of clouds, matching the sky outside exactly.

Snape's jaw dropped as he walked that direction. "How could Muggles . . ." He whispered, then he saw the sky begin to darken and grow red in the west, as if sunset was approaching. He furrowed his brow, and continued watching as the sky above him slowly turned night-black. He walked back towards the door, where he could see clearly it was as sunny as ever.

He turned a confused expression on Harry and Draco, who began laughing. "We thought exactly the same thing as you did when the local Quidditch team brought the Cannons here for dinner." Harry said quietly so that only Snape and Alex could hear.

"It's mechanical." Draco said. "But it reminded us so much of the sky in the Great Hall, that we just *had* to share it with someone who'd appreciate it."

Harry then turned to the hostess. "Four, please."

The hostess took four menus and a basket of tortilla chips from the counter behind her and led the quartet into a cavernous room with whitely-stuccoed walls and wooden beams across the ceiling. Off to one side was a small group of booths.

"Is this all right?" She asked in an accent very like a midwestern twang, indicating a booth that had a small bowl of salsa on the table.

"Yes. It's fine. Thank you."

By an unspoken agreement, Draco and Harry sat across from each other. Snape immediately slid into the booth next to Draco, and Alex sat next to Harry.

Snape opened his menu and stared at it for a few minutes, completely unable to decipher terms like enchilada and flauta. "What's a -- 'chicken fried steak'?" He finally asked in desperation.

The other three shrugged, looking as confused as Snape felt.

"Well, you can get what Harry and I are having." Draco suggested. "The beef fajitas. Pretty basic. Tortilla, that's a kind of bread, and meat, with onions and peppers. And they bring toppings and things, too."

Snape nodded. "I'll defer to you on that one."

Harry looked at Alex, who nodded as well. "Who'm I to argue? I'll have the same."

Harry took one of the chips and dipped it in the salsa. Draco followed his fiance's example.

Snape nervously took a chip and followed in his students' footsteps.

"Professor Snape?" Draco asked before Snape could get the chip to his mouth.

"Yes?" He responded testily.

"You might want to wait until we get our drinks. That's kind of spicy."

Snape snorted. "It can't be all that spicy." He bit into the chip and immediately his eyes started watering. "See?" He said weakly. "Not bad at all."

It took a great force of will for the other three not to laugh.

Their waitress came by to take their beverage orders.

"I'll have a tea." Harry said.

"I'll have the same." Draco responded.

"And I." Snape said.

Alex rounded it out, with, "I will as well."

"Umm. . . Could you wait a second?" Harry asked the waitress.

"'Tea' probably isn't what you're expecting. In Texas, when you order a 'tea,' you get iced tea." He clarified.

"Well, I doubt they have butterbeer." Snape said. "So why not? I'll try this 'iced tea.'"

Alex nodded. "So will I."

Harry placed their order of enough beef fajitas for four, and soon their food had arrived. Harry watched Snape watching Alex wordlessly as she piled the meat onto the tortilla, folding it up and holding it so that the entire thing stayed together, then followed her example.

She saw him watching her and smiled softly. "I went to wizarding school in the U.S." She shrugged self-deprecatingly. "I had a few classmates who'd order things like this for their meals and learned from watching them."

Harry could see as clearly as if Snape had said the words that the Potions Master's interest in her hadn't been solely for her fajita-eating technique.

"So," Harry said, to break the tension at the table, "You were a Muggle police officer. I'll bet you have a bunch of exciting stories to tell about those days."

She smiled, then giggled a little. "Well, there was the time that we caught an American fugitive in our borough. . . ."

Harry kept Alex talking for a while, then coaxed Draco into telling them a suitably-edited account of their adventures locating materials at Malfoy Manor, and soon enough, their food was gone and the bill had arrived.

Snape handed it to Draco, who handed it to Harry.

"I thought you had the money." Harry said.

"Didn't you bring it?" Draco deadpanned, then he grinned. "Yes. I have it right here. Nice, fresh, American dollars." He took the wad of cash from his pocket and counted out the total for the bill plus a healthy tip, and the quartet stood.

Their waitress came by again, and Draco handed her the money, then they left the restaurant, walking back down the gravel pathway to the copse of trees. There they joined hands again, Snape to Draco to Alex to Harry, and portkeyed back to Hogwarts.

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A/N: All right, before you go accusing me of stereotyping by having her notice his eyes first, but him notice her legs, remember that this is the first time she's ever seen him without his hair in his eyes. And Snape has very seldom seen Muggle clothing. And he's never seen Alex in Muggle clothing. Trust me, if their positions had been reversed, *her* eyes would have been the first thing *he'd*'ve noticed.

Also, about the "everyone joining hands and Harry touching the portkey" thing, I figured that'd work, since Harry was able to bring Cedric's body back carrying the body and holding the portkey himself. I'm not sure if it's impossible to follow someone traveling by portkey, but it seems that at a minimum it would take some kind of preparation, just like the portkey itself does.