Don't own anything recognisable from J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter books.

Chapter 13.

The Truth.

Katrina was still in bed. She had woken up earlier to change her blue robe into some pyjamas, but the exhaustion and the pure horror of the situation had caught up with her, and she had fallen asleep almost straight afterwards. She sighed and stared sightlessly at the ceiling, her mind full of confused thoughts about the past few days.

She had to tell Severus about their past before it was too late, and definitely before she lost her nerve. Ignoring her tired muscles' groans, (and the one that managed to escape her mouth) she got up, ran a brush through her hair and hastily dragged on an old cotton t-shirt and a pair of jeans. Grabbing her contact lens case and solution from the cabinet in her bathroom she attempted the futile task of throwing on her trainers on at the same time as putting a lens in her eye. She had managed to drag half of her foot into her shoe, and her finger was just approaching her eye when there was a brisk knock on the door, causing her to jolt in surprise and ram her finger straight into her eye.

"Ouch!! Damn!" she yelled, and hopped over to the door saying a few more expletives while trying to stop the flow of tears escaping her eye.

Swinging the door wide open, she almost fell over in shock as she saw Severus standing there.

"Uhhhh Sev- Professor Snape, what are you..? Whoah!" she yelled, grasping onto the front of his robe as she stood on the laces of her trainer and fell headlong into him.

"Shit, shit, shit!" she muttered, as she removed her trainer and, careful not to touch him too much, got off of Severus. "Sorry. I … ummm lost my balance."

He got up off the floor smoothly, and dusted himself down. "I noticed," he said restrainedly.

She became instantly flustered.

He looked into her face, and flinched slightly at the puffy eye. "Are you alright?" he asked evenly, motioning to her eye.

"What…? Oh this, I had an accident," she said, and then realised that they were still stood in the corridor. "Oh! Won't you come in?"

He nodded his assent and strode into the room.

"Its fortunate that you came here," Katrina said nervously, while searching blindly for her glasses. "I was just coming to find you. I have to tell you something."

She continued to bend over the desk as she spoke, her face mere inches from the top. Without her glasses or lenses, she was blind, and couldn't see her hand in front of her face. She could however sense Severus' presence behind her and stiffened slightly as his arm reached over her shoulder and picked up the elusive glasses from on top of a book she was reading.

"Thanks," she said, straightening up but not turning to face him until he had moved back and sat down on the sofa behind her.

~ ~ ~ ~ * ~ ~ ~ ~

Severus realised by the way she was being so completely out of character that she was ready to tell him. So he sat quietly and waited and tried to push the electrifying sensation he received whenever she was near to one side. It had been a mistake getting that close to her. Severus reflected, but he could not have waited any longer, while watching her pert bottom waving about. Especially when he (with his 20:20 vision) could see the glasses right in front of her face. She turned around and he attempted to keep the frustration he felt from his face as he scrutinised her.

His eyes explored her face, searching for anything that reminded him of the innocent young girl he had known. He suddenly realised from the expectant look on her face, that he had been still for a while, staring tensely at her face.

"You had something you wanted to tell me?" he asked.

She took a big breath in, which although accentuated her breasts, also seemed to give her courage, and approached the sofa he was sat down upon. She sat next to him and looked into his fathomless eyes.

"I was Fay Devlin," she admitted slowly and quietly.

Severus stared at her tolerantly, waiting for her to continue.

"Severus…?" He heard her say painfully as she caught the expression in his eyes. She stood up from the couch they were sat on and turned away from him. She didn't look at him as she continued her confession.

"After you left me on that night, well… I decided that I couldn't stay there any longer," she said quietly, and he could hear the pain in her voice; but he was dead to her pain, he couldn't say anything.

"You do remember me, don't you?" she asked tentatively.

'How could I not?' he thought cynically; she had been the one part of his Death Eater life that he had gotten true pleasure from. He again felt the turbulent emotions rise in him but, remembering last night and what he had done after becoming mad, he gripped his fingernails into his hands and managed to maintain the cool façade he always wore.

"Severus?" she said uncertainly, he could see the worry etched on her face. "What are you thinking?"

He could sense her body becoming tense as the silence extended, she was getting anxious so he decided to speak.

"I do remember you, yes," he stated bluntly.

His eyes ravaged her face; her glasses accentuated the bright green eyes he remembered, but her hair was a different colour. He muttered a few words.

"It won't change," she murmured softly to him upon hearing the spell to cast off a disguise. She unconsciously smoothed her hair down. "I buy muggle hair dye."

He nodded brusquely, the secret of the muggle shops revealed, and continued his scrutiny of her face. Her lips were the same, pale pink and slightly swollen through her habit of biting her lower lip.

'She has managed to do something I could never do: escape from the past. I cannot drag her back. Whatever my feelings for her are, I cannot subject her to that,' he thought proudly, not letting an inch of his inner feelings known to her.

"What are you thinking?" she asked him timidly.

He turned to her, and blanked his expression, immediately hardening his voice. "How can I be sure that you have left the Death Eater way of life?"

Her eyes widened in fear and shock. "What…?"

"You heard what I said," he continued bluntly.

"I don't see what you mean."

"You came here with a false name. When you did recognise me, you did not come forward." He curled his lip and looked at her derisively. "It was only when I revealed your true identity that you came to me. How do I know that you are not here to spy for Voldemort?"

Katrina's face paled at Severus' suggestions. "I would never…"

"Well I only have your word for that," he interrupted her flow curtly, stood up and walked towards the door.

"Severus!" she moaned. "Please, no. Don't go. Look…"

He watched her turn towards her mirror.

She whispered a few words and the mirror became translucent. He sat down onto the chair and observed her taking the box from its hiding place.

She turned to face him.

"Here." She passed him the box that she had opened carefully. "I'm not sure whether it will help persuade you that I am no longer part of that life, but I want to share it with you."

He stared at the jewellery that she had been wearing on the night they had first met.

"I didn't take anything of my former life except those. I just couldn't bear to part…" She paused and lowered her head. "I hate rubies, but they reminded me of you, of that night."

He nodded understandingly, and then reached for the folded paper. A photo fell onto his lap and he gazed at the moving photo of young boys and girls.
He gestured questioningly to the photo while staring at her with a harsh penetrating look.

"Durmstrang," she admitted. "It's a picture of my class at Durmstrang."

He put the photo to one side, and then he unfolded the paper. He froze in horror as he saw the drawing of himself.

"I couldn't get your image out of my mind," she whispered. "I just couldn't stop drawing you. I burnt the other ones I sketched. God!" She rubbed her face with her hands despairingly. "I'm not like this, Severus. They took care of that. I'm not sentimental, and I don't need souvenirs, but there was something about that night. I just couldn't let go…" She trailed off, and stared into space.

Severus watched her as a myriad of emotions ran through her face.

Her eyes focussed on his face momentarily and a concerned expression appeared in them. "Look, Severus, just because I have this… well, infatuation with you, doesn't mean to say that you have to feel responsible for me." She smiled ruefully, but there was an aura of sadness around her. "Just leave me, Severus. Leave me alone."

He stood slowly, and let the box and its contents drop onto the chair.

"I went back for you," he said bluntly, his black eyes staring at her brutally.

"You…?" she mumbled incredulously, her face drained of blood. "You went back for me? When?"

"A few nights after we met," he said disdainfully. "I went back to your house to be claim you, but you were gone."

"Claim?" she asked derisively. "You went back to claim me? God, Severus, what am I to you? Some kind of faint-hearted woman? Did the fact that you bedded me automatically mean that you had to protect me like some naive child? You can be so imperceptive sometimes, Severus!" Katrina's face was flushed with anger, and she turned to leave the room crossly.

"No! Don't leave." Severus stood up and crossed the room, and gripped her arm so that the blood stopped reaching her hand.

"Severus! You're hurting me!"

He dropped her arm, took a step back, and surveyed her without emotion. "I apologise."

"No. Don't do that." She frowned at him. "Don't shut yourself off."

He continued to scrutinize her coldly.

She sat down, an obstinate expression on her face.

"I don't know what you mean," Severus said grimly. "I'm sorry to have wasted your time." He swivelled round and began to walk purposefully towards the door but her words stopped him in his tracks.

"Why did you come?" she asked, puzzled, rising from her chair and moving towards him.

Severus looked at her, a distant look on his face.

"You were the one to come to me," she continued.

"After your little episode, I felt it my duty to check on your state of health, not to mention your state of mind," he sneered patronisingly.

Katrina's face hardened and she jutted her chin out stubbornly. "My state of mind is quite lucid compared to yours, Professor Snape."

"Then I dare not trespass on your time any longer. Good day." He left with a swish of his robes, shutting the door with a click.

A/N Wow! All these reviews! Thanks very much to Kelest, Kat-tak (that was on of my favourite lines as well!!), Annoriel (Remus and Lunar's fic is very nearly finished, and I'll start to post it as soon as I finish posting this one!), Preciousgirl (an hour!!! Wow! You must have been reading very fast!) and Alexgrey.

Love to you all.

Krusty.

xxx