A/N: Thanx again for the reviews! They're encouraging. Furthermore, the author would like to state that no women were actually hurt during the writing of this chapter. Neither were young boys. ;-))
Chapter six: About Fish and A Wish
Emily proved to be quite nice company. She told Snape about her job that she quit. It turned out that she really HAD run out of the catwalk, just like he imagined. What were the odds of that? Snape managed to nod and smile at the right times, adding some hm-hm's and is-that-so's when necessary.
"Are you a mummy?" Justin suddenly asked. He was wearing his cutest little smile, to Severus' utter contentment.
"Not yet, dear, but once I hope to be one," Emily blushed. "I think it's wonderful to be a mummy."
"Taking care of a child is," Snape explained hastily, "by far the most rewarding experience a person ever can have."
"O, I'm so convinced that that's true," Emily replied as she nodded earnestly.
"So Justin, where's your mummy?" she asked then.
"My mummy's gone. She's looking at the clouds," Justin explained. "Can I go play now, Uncle Sev?"
Without waiting for an answer, he jumped off his chair and headed toward the aquarium at the back of the restaurant. He pressed his little nose against the glass, looking at all the fish.
Emily looked at Snape, a little puzzled.
Snape leaned forward, shot a look over his shoulder to make sure that Justin couldn't hear him, and said softly: "His parents are… not with us anymore, alas."
Emily slowly shook her head and there was that beautiful frown of hers again.
"They were both killed in a terrible accident," Snape continued. "Struck by lightning, both dead, just like that." He snapped his fingers.
"Gosh," Emily whispered. She had tilted her head a bit, and was biting her lower lip. She was buying it. She was buying it completely.
"Such a tragic loss for everybody, and the most for Justin," Snape continued. "They were wonderful people. Of course I immediately insisted in taking care of the boy."
"Aw, that's so noble of you," Emily said.
"Well, no, it's just family love, you see," Snape replied. "And the kid's such a pleasure to be with. I couldn't imagine my life without him anymore." They both looked at Justin, who was still standing by the aquarium, pretending to be a fish, opening his mouth and closing it again.
"How is he under the circumstances?" Emily asked.
"Oh, basically he's all right, but he keeps thinking his parents will come back one day. He tells everybody that his parents are looking at the clouds now. I ignore this as much as possible. Don't want to traumatise the boy even more." Snape tried to look concerned, and Emily shook her head again. "Poor, poor boy," she said. "And how lucky he is to have an uncle like you." Was that a tear in her eye? Snape smiled at her, and made sure not to look too happy.
A waitress approached their table. "Can I take your orders?" she asked friendly.
"I'll have the squid, please," Snape said, "Fries for the little boy, and the lady wishes…" He looked at Emily, who was quickly scanning the menu by now.
"O dear, I haven't had the time to look at the menu yet," she muttered.
Justin had joined them again. "You take squid," he said. "My mommy likes squid too." There was an understanding exchange of looks between Emily and Snape.
"No, no," Emily said hastily. "No squid for me. I can't eat squid. I'll have the… vegetarian menu please."
"And give us a good bottle of wine," Snape said.
Things went well. Whether it was the wine or his charms, or perhaps both, but Emily really loosened up. She was all ears to his stories, her cheeks were red and he couldn't get enough of looking at her. Justin didn't have the patience to sit with them, and he came by occasionally to eat another bite. It suited Snape just fine.
By the time he ordered the second bottle of wine, she had already put her hand over his hand a couple of times, and when that bottle was almost empty, her foot was rubbing his foot under the table. Her eyes were smashing in the candlelight, and when he told her that, her cheeks were so red that he was afraid they would set fire.
"So, is there… a Mrs Snape?" Emily suddenly asked. One of her perfect fingers was trailing the brim of her glass.
"No there's not," Snape replied. "Not yet, that is. I'm still looking for the right person. She could be anywhere. She could even be in, let's say, a restaurant at the moment." He pushed back a strand of hair at his temple, knowing that that did the trick with many women. She was wiping a little piece of fried potato from a corner of her mouth. Her eyes above the napkin had such a promising look, that he felt like ravishing her right there and then. Time to slow down a bit. He decided to change the subject.
"Just out of curiosity, but why did you say that you can't eat squid?" he asked.
"Oh, I don't know," she said, looking a little shy. "It's just this thing I have with squids. I like them so much. Did you know they are really intelligent animals? They're actually able to screw the lid off a jar all by themselves."
"Well, not from the inside, clearly," Snape chuckled, thinking of his supply of potion ingredients on his shelves. Never had one of his squids been running away, for all he knew.
She looked at him puzzled. "Why on earth would anyone want to put a squid inside a jar?" she asked. Snape started to laugh. "I don't know, I just imagined they couldn't," he said.
"But seriously," Emily continued, "Sometimes I think being a squid isn't all that bad. They're not beautiful, but clever. When you're a squid, you've got all the space in the water that you need, and no one will condemn you for your looks."
"Not to mention the advantage of the possession of eight arms," Snape replied.
She laughed heartily. "I hadn't thought of that, but that would be convenient… in certain circumstances. Now I really wished I were a squid!"
Justin had joined them again for a quick bite. He smiled happily at them, and was off again.
When Justin was gone, Emily gave Snape a quick smile with just one corner of her mouth. Snape thought it was the sexiest smile he'd ever seen. She was hooked. She definitely was hooked.
He leaned forward and touched her hand. "I have to tell you something." She looked up, partly curious, partly smiling. He knew she only pretended to be curious; she obviously knew what he was about to say. "I was thinking, what if you and I would—"
POOF!!!!
There was a large cloud of smoke. Her hand had changed under his hand. It didn't feel soft anymore; it felt long, thin and… slimy. With no fingers but…
When the smoke cleared up, Emily was gone. Quickly Severus stood up. Instead of Emily, a large squid was on the chair. Two of its tentacles were on the table, one of it was holding a knife. Two other tentacles were dangling off the chair, like legs. The other four were waving incoherently from side to side. This was a squid in shock.
Snape took his eyes from the squid-that-had-been-Emily and slowly turned around. There stood Justin, with a wand in his hand. Snapes wand. He must have taken it out of Snapes pocket. Justin was looking at the squid with a mighty triumphant look. "I did it, I did it uncle Sev!" Then the kid saw the look on Snapes face and stood still.
"Justin…" Snape stepped forward and Justin backed away.
"What, uncle Sev? Didn't I do good? She said she wanted to be a squid. I helped her!"
"Justin!" Snape repeated. He grabbed the boy and clenched his fists around his wrists, taking back the wand.
"Auch! Uncle Sev, you're hurting me!"
"JUSTIIIIIIIIIN!!!!!!"
