"Please, Severus?" Jess was continuing to wheedle and whine at Severus one
evening even after he'd expressed his sincere distaste for her notion to go
to Diagon Alley with Lucas for a bit of a break from the castle.
Jess and Severus were sitting on the loveseat, as had become a common custom for them since Halloween. It was now November and Jess was beginning to suffer a severe case of cabin fever. She took one of his paws in two of her diminutive hands and squeezed.
"It could be like a little holiday-for-the-day type of thing. All three of us could have such a splendid time. Shopping and eating out. Oooh, and we could stay at the Leaky Cauldron for the night and come back in the morning!"
Severus took a sip of his Chianti, stoic resistance evidenced on his face. "You don't have to ask my permission, Jess, but you know what I think of it. Obviously if you go I'll have to go with you. I'm not letting you off castle grounds without my supervision. But I don't think it's wise. And if you do decide that you absolutely must get out I feel I must insist that you leave Lucas here."
"But Severus-"
He set down his glass and raised his newly free hand. "I'll not bend on that stipulation. It's not safe for you to be wandering about wizarding London, let alone bringing Lucas along with you. I don't think you realize just how easy it is to cast a tracking spell on someone. For all you know there could be scores of deatheaters waiting in Hogsmeade for you to wander away from the castle. All it takes is a half a minute, Jess, and you're gone." Then as an afterthought he added, "I don't think I could stand it if something were to happen to you."
Jess sighed deeply and threw her head back so that her neck arched in such a way as to make Severus' heart skip a beat. Thus far he had never touched Jess unless she had initiated it, and all of their romantic foibles had gone no farther than a kiss. The sight of her arched against the back of the couch sent his mind to matters quite unrelated to her leaving the castle.
She took another sip of wine and set her glass down, pulling her knees up to her chest and gripping her ankles. She tossed her head to one side, looking at Severus with a mixture of amusement and annoyance.
"Fine."
"Fine what?"
"Fine I'll leave Luke here. As long as someone doesn't mind watching him. And I'll even tolerate your company. I just have to get out of this castle. Besides, it's almost Christmas, and I need presents."
"Very well. And when do you plan to head off on this little excursion of yours?"
"First thing Saturday morning. We can return on Sunday."
Severus cringed inwardly. He avoided Diagon Alley whenever possible, but now he actually had a reason to. It was going to be a crowded mess this close to the Holidays. There would no doubt be some members of the Dark Lord's circle laying in wait. Not to mention how uncomfortable the beds were at the Leaky Cauldron. But, much to his dismay, Severus found that he could deny Jess nothing that she truly wanted, and so Friday evening found him packing a small satchel with a change of clothes, toiletries, and a change purse that held a fair amount of galleons, sickles, and knuts.
Severus closed the door to his private chambers after taking a good long look at them. Always dark and forbidding, he marveled at how he had lived in them for so long. He had been spending every night of the past two months in Jess' apartment, and the contrast could not be starker. His rooms were in the dungeons, had no light or warmth to them, and were almost less inviting than his classroom if that was possible. At least the classroom had circulation of young minds and bodies through it. Snape sighed as he realized that his surroundings had become as stagnant as he had. He hoped as he walked up the hall, satchel in hand, that Jess would be able to bring him back to life. Lucas had already started, but Snape needed to be brought to life in a whole other way as well.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Saturday morning Jess and Severus brought a cranky Lucas to Albus' study where the old Headmaster was enjoying some tea and toast for breakfast. Jess handed Lucas to Severus to hold while she sat up his playpen and tossed some toys about for him. Then she handed the nappy bag to Albus and put Lucas in the playpen.
"Everything should be here, but I've left my door unlocked in case I've forgotten something." Jess bent down and kissed Luke tenderly on the forehead, ruffling his hair as she turned to go.
When she and Severus had left and the door had been shut, Lucas reached out to Albus with one pudgy hand and cried, "dahhhhhh," as if asking whether Albus noticed the spark between them as well.
"I quite agree, child. I quite agree." And with that Albus took Lucas out of his playpen and allowed him to wander freely throughout the room, playing with whatever he wanted. "Let's not tell your mother I don't make you stay in that awful cage, shall we? It shall be our private secret." Albus laughed slightly to himself as Lucas reached up to the bookshelf to get one of the massive tomes that were set upon it, lost his balance, and fell on his rear, then turned to see if Albus was looking and clapped as if he had just done some kind of trick.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ The trip to Hogsmeade was pleasant. There was still no snow on the ground and the breeze that ruffled Severus and Jess' hair was almost warm. They were wearing the lightest of traveling cloaks and Jess was thoroughly enjoying seeing the changing of the leaves.
Once in Hogsmeade they were able to find a dark corner from which to apparate. They appeared with a "pop" just outside the Leaky Cauldron. Jess wanted to get started shopping right away, but Severus thought it might serve them well to go and line up their room for the evening ahead of time.
"Look how busy the streets are," he reasoned with her as she watched wide- eyed and eager the comings and goings of the hundreds of witches and wizards who had crowded into the alley. "It's the holiday shopping season and I guarantee you that all these old biddies aren't going to want to apparate back home after an exhausting day of shopping."
A pair of wizened old witches that had been window shopping at the herbal shop about a foot away gasped and straightened up, giving Severus a look of pure malice, and waddled off toward Madam Malkin's. Jess laughed and slapped Severus hard against his bicep. He winced but did not react.
"You'd better watch what you say, Severus," Jess warned playfully. "You're no spring chicken yourself." Without waiting for a reaction Jess wandered into the Leaky Cauldron to secure a room. Severus blinked and watched her go, stunned that she had so blatantly insulted him. He finally sauntered in after her. He had intended to pay for the room, but she had already beat him to it. He waved her into a corner of the darkened pub.
"Where are you planning on going?"
"I don't know. Does it matter?" Jess sounded confused.
"Well it would be helpful if I am to follow you."
"Follow me?" Jess was downright confounded now. "Severus we can just walk together. Play it by ear."
Severus let loose an exasperated sigh. "You don't use your head much do you?" Jess scowled and looked confused but motioned for him to elaborate. "The deatheaters think that I am still a faithful follower of the dark lord. If one of them was to see me shopping with you I'm quite certain it would arouse suspicion. My suggestion is that you do what you need to do, but don't make it incredibly hard for me to keep an eye on you. Understood?"
Jess gave a small salute and clicked her heels together. "Yes sir," she answered in her best military voice.
"Fine. You go out. I'll be straight behind." And off they went.
The first place Jess wanted to go was the little witch's shop that carried Lucas' baby shampoo. She bought five bottles of it, along with a few bars of charmed bath soap that left a scent on one's skin that stayed in place for up to ten hours. These were to be Christmas gifts for a few of her old school friends.
The second stop was Geoffrey's Toy Depot, where Jess spent almost an hour doing Lucas' Christmas shopping. Severus wound his way up and down the aisles, watching Jess as she picked through all sorts of brightly colored bits and bobs that she thought Lucas would like. Every now and then she would look up as she was snooping through a bin or comparing prices on items and give Severus a smile. To the average observer it was the smile of one stranger to another. Just a simple courtesy. But Severus felt something more in the smile, something meant just for him, and try as he might he couldn't help the insistent tug of a small grin at the corners of his mouth whenever he saw it.
Jess finally finished at Geoffrey's and then made her way to Madam Malkin's Robes For All Occasions. There she purchased a few new sleepers in bigger sizes, along with three new robes, a cloak, and a brand new set of leather shoes that matched Severus', all for someone a tenth of his size. He smiled when he saw her pick them out. As she was waiting in line he came up behind her with something in his arms. She couldn't pick out just what it was, and couldn't risk taking it to look at it, so she turned to face him as she waited and pretended to be looking out the window. Then, with her lips remaining in place, she started to speak to him.
"What's that you've got there?" It ended up sounding more like 'at's 'at 'u 'ot 'er?' Severus followed suit, pretending to be highly interested in a sign above the clerk.
"None of your business."
"I want to go into the next shop alone."
"Not a chance."
"Please. Just wait outside the door. I'll be fine. I want to pick up something and I don't want you to see it."
Severus raised an eyebrow quizzically but found that he simply couldn't tell her no. It was obvious that she wanted to pick up his Christmas present, and he was so struck by the fact that she had thought of him as someone worth buying a Christmas present for that he found himself telling her, through motionless lips, that he would be waiting right outside the door.
So, when Jess entered Apollo's Apothecary, a very posh shop whose wares were coveted by any potions enthusiast, he stopped on the steps and leaned against the window, watching the comings and goings of the wizarding world with no real interest whatsoever.
Five minutes passed. Ten minutes. Severus readjusted himself and snuck a quick peek in the window. He couldn't see Jess, but the shop was so crowded that he could have been looking right at her and not known it. He turned his attention back to the street and was just getting ready to go inside and rush the silly girl when he saw three cloaked figures waiting in the entrance to Knockturn Alley. The three had their hoods up and were paying no real attention to Severus, but Severus became quite interested in them.
His heart began to race and his breath came in prickly, staccato jabs. He spun around and looked in the shop again. Still no sign of her. He looked to his left, then to his right. And that's when he heard it. There was the tinkle of the bell to the shop door and there was the hustling sound of a cloaks swishing together. Out of the shop walked Lucius Malfoy, his arm around Jess' shoulders. Severus looked down. In Lucius' free hand was a silver stiletto with a mother of pearl handle pressed firmly against Jess' back, ready to puncture the skin if she made a single wrong move. Jess was able to make quick eye contact with Severus and the pure terror in them was enough to break his heart.
They spoke without words. She knew that he knew and that was enough. She trusted him to find her and she continued to cooperate with Lucius. Off they walked, toward the group of three dark wizards and into Knockturn Alley. Without hesitation Severus found privacy and apparated straight to Hogsmeade and from there straight to Dumbledore.
Jess and Severus were sitting on the loveseat, as had become a common custom for them since Halloween. It was now November and Jess was beginning to suffer a severe case of cabin fever. She took one of his paws in two of her diminutive hands and squeezed.
"It could be like a little holiday-for-the-day type of thing. All three of us could have such a splendid time. Shopping and eating out. Oooh, and we could stay at the Leaky Cauldron for the night and come back in the morning!"
Severus took a sip of his Chianti, stoic resistance evidenced on his face. "You don't have to ask my permission, Jess, but you know what I think of it. Obviously if you go I'll have to go with you. I'm not letting you off castle grounds without my supervision. But I don't think it's wise. And if you do decide that you absolutely must get out I feel I must insist that you leave Lucas here."
"But Severus-"
He set down his glass and raised his newly free hand. "I'll not bend on that stipulation. It's not safe for you to be wandering about wizarding London, let alone bringing Lucas along with you. I don't think you realize just how easy it is to cast a tracking spell on someone. For all you know there could be scores of deatheaters waiting in Hogsmeade for you to wander away from the castle. All it takes is a half a minute, Jess, and you're gone." Then as an afterthought he added, "I don't think I could stand it if something were to happen to you."
Jess sighed deeply and threw her head back so that her neck arched in such a way as to make Severus' heart skip a beat. Thus far he had never touched Jess unless she had initiated it, and all of their romantic foibles had gone no farther than a kiss. The sight of her arched against the back of the couch sent his mind to matters quite unrelated to her leaving the castle.
She took another sip of wine and set her glass down, pulling her knees up to her chest and gripping her ankles. She tossed her head to one side, looking at Severus with a mixture of amusement and annoyance.
"Fine."
"Fine what?"
"Fine I'll leave Luke here. As long as someone doesn't mind watching him. And I'll even tolerate your company. I just have to get out of this castle. Besides, it's almost Christmas, and I need presents."
"Very well. And when do you plan to head off on this little excursion of yours?"
"First thing Saturday morning. We can return on Sunday."
Severus cringed inwardly. He avoided Diagon Alley whenever possible, but now he actually had a reason to. It was going to be a crowded mess this close to the Holidays. There would no doubt be some members of the Dark Lord's circle laying in wait. Not to mention how uncomfortable the beds were at the Leaky Cauldron. But, much to his dismay, Severus found that he could deny Jess nothing that she truly wanted, and so Friday evening found him packing a small satchel with a change of clothes, toiletries, and a change purse that held a fair amount of galleons, sickles, and knuts.
Severus closed the door to his private chambers after taking a good long look at them. Always dark and forbidding, he marveled at how he had lived in them for so long. He had been spending every night of the past two months in Jess' apartment, and the contrast could not be starker. His rooms were in the dungeons, had no light or warmth to them, and were almost less inviting than his classroom if that was possible. At least the classroom had circulation of young minds and bodies through it. Snape sighed as he realized that his surroundings had become as stagnant as he had. He hoped as he walked up the hall, satchel in hand, that Jess would be able to bring him back to life. Lucas had already started, but Snape needed to be brought to life in a whole other way as well.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Saturday morning Jess and Severus brought a cranky Lucas to Albus' study where the old Headmaster was enjoying some tea and toast for breakfast. Jess handed Lucas to Severus to hold while she sat up his playpen and tossed some toys about for him. Then she handed the nappy bag to Albus and put Lucas in the playpen.
"Everything should be here, but I've left my door unlocked in case I've forgotten something." Jess bent down and kissed Luke tenderly on the forehead, ruffling his hair as she turned to go.
When she and Severus had left and the door had been shut, Lucas reached out to Albus with one pudgy hand and cried, "dahhhhhh," as if asking whether Albus noticed the spark between them as well.
"I quite agree, child. I quite agree." And with that Albus took Lucas out of his playpen and allowed him to wander freely throughout the room, playing with whatever he wanted. "Let's not tell your mother I don't make you stay in that awful cage, shall we? It shall be our private secret." Albus laughed slightly to himself as Lucas reached up to the bookshelf to get one of the massive tomes that were set upon it, lost his balance, and fell on his rear, then turned to see if Albus was looking and clapped as if he had just done some kind of trick.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~ The trip to Hogsmeade was pleasant. There was still no snow on the ground and the breeze that ruffled Severus and Jess' hair was almost warm. They were wearing the lightest of traveling cloaks and Jess was thoroughly enjoying seeing the changing of the leaves.
Once in Hogsmeade they were able to find a dark corner from which to apparate. They appeared with a "pop" just outside the Leaky Cauldron. Jess wanted to get started shopping right away, but Severus thought it might serve them well to go and line up their room for the evening ahead of time.
"Look how busy the streets are," he reasoned with her as she watched wide- eyed and eager the comings and goings of the hundreds of witches and wizards who had crowded into the alley. "It's the holiday shopping season and I guarantee you that all these old biddies aren't going to want to apparate back home after an exhausting day of shopping."
A pair of wizened old witches that had been window shopping at the herbal shop about a foot away gasped and straightened up, giving Severus a look of pure malice, and waddled off toward Madam Malkin's. Jess laughed and slapped Severus hard against his bicep. He winced but did not react.
"You'd better watch what you say, Severus," Jess warned playfully. "You're no spring chicken yourself." Without waiting for a reaction Jess wandered into the Leaky Cauldron to secure a room. Severus blinked and watched her go, stunned that she had so blatantly insulted him. He finally sauntered in after her. He had intended to pay for the room, but she had already beat him to it. He waved her into a corner of the darkened pub.
"Where are you planning on going?"
"I don't know. Does it matter?" Jess sounded confused.
"Well it would be helpful if I am to follow you."
"Follow me?" Jess was downright confounded now. "Severus we can just walk together. Play it by ear."
Severus let loose an exasperated sigh. "You don't use your head much do you?" Jess scowled and looked confused but motioned for him to elaborate. "The deatheaters think that I am still a faithful follower of the dark lord. If one of them was to see me shopping with you I'm quite certain it would arouse suspicion. My suggestion is that you do what you need to do, but don't make it incredibly hard for me to keep an eye on you. Understood?"
Jess gave a small salute and clicked her heels together. "Yes sir," she answered in her best military voice.
"Fine. You go out. I'll be straight behind." And off they went.
The first place Jess wanted to go was the little witch's shop that carried Lucas' baby shampoo. She bought five bottles of it, along with a few bars of charmed bath soap that left a scent on one's skin that stayed in place for up to ten hours. These were to be Christmas gifts for a few of her old school friends.
The second stop was Geoffrey's Toy Depot, where Jess spent almost an hour doing Lucas' Christmas shopping. Severus wound his way up and down the aisles, watching Jess as she picked through all sorts of brightly colored bits and bobs that she thought Lucas would like. Every now and then she would look up as she was snooping through a bin or comparing prices on items and give Severus a smile. To the average observer it was the smile of one stranger to another. Just a simple courtesy. But Severus felt something more in the smile, something meant just for him, and try as he might he couldn't help the insistent tug of a small grin at the corners of his mouth whenever he saw it.
Jess finally finished at Geoffrey's and then made her way to Madam Malkin's Robes For All Occasions. There she purchased a few new sleepers in bigger sizes, along with three new robes, a cloak, and a brand new set of leather shoes that matched Severus', all for someone a tenth of his size. He smiled when he saw her pick them out. As she was waiting in line he came up behind her with something in his arms. She couldn't pick out just what it was, and couldn't risk taking it to look at it, so she turned to face him as she waited and pretended to be looking out the window. Then, with her lips remaining in place, she started to speak to him.
"What's that you've got there?" It ended up sounding more like 'at's 'at 'u 'ot 'er?' Severus followed suit, pretending to be highly interested in a sign above the clerk.
"None of your business."
"I want to go into the next shop alone."
"Not a chance."
"Please. Just wait outside the door. I'll be fine. I want to pick up something and I don't want you to see it."
Severus raised an eyebrow quizzically but found that he simply couldn't tell her no. It was obvious that she wanted to pick up his Christmas present, and he was so struck by the fact that she had thought of him as someone worth buying a Christmas present for that he found himself telling her, through motionless lips, that he would be waiting right outside the door.
So, when Jess entered Apollo's Apothecary, a very posh shop whose wares were coveted by any potions enthusiast, he stopped on the steps and leaned against the window, watching the comings and goings of the wizarding world with no real interest whatsoever.
Five minutes passed. Ten minutes. Severus readjusted himself and snuck a quick peek in the window. He couldn't see Jess, but the shop was so crowded that he could have been looking right at her and not known it. He turned his attention back to the street and was just getting ready to go inside and rush the silly girl when he saw three cloaked figures waiting in the entrance to Knockturn Alley. The three had their hoods up and were paying no real attention to Severus, but Severus became quite interested in them.
His heart began to race and his breath came in prickly, staccato jabs. He spun around and looked in the shop again. Still no sign of her. He looked to his left, then to his right. And that's when he heard it. There was the tinkle of the bell to the shop door and there was the hustling sound of a cloaks swishing together. Out of the shop walked Lucius Malfoy, his arm around Jess' shoulders. Severus looked down. In Lucius' free hand was a silver stiletto with a mother of pearl handle pressed firmly against Jess' back, ready to puncture the skin if she made a single wrong move. Jess was able to make quick eye contact with Severus and the pure terror in them was enough to break his heart.
They spoke without words. She knew that he knew and that was enough. She trusted him to find her and she continued to cooperate with Lucius. Off they walked, toward the group of three dark wizards and into Knockturn Alley. Without hesitation Severus found privacy and apparated straight to Hogsmeade and from there straight to Dumbledore.