So I'm taking the time to go back and fix this up a little bit, I don't plan on making any big changes just fixing typos and maybe adjusting a few words or sentences. I'm so pleased to see that this story still seems to get quite a bit of traffic despite all my typo's and it's age...can you believe that I just recently learned how to check that? Thank you to everyone that is still reading it or revisiting it...please leave reviews if you are a new reader!
Disclaimers: All Harry Potter characters belong to J.K. Rowling. Only Jillian belongs to me, she is pretty much my daughter with just a tablespoon of my son thrown in to make her sweeter. I know that my Snape is a little OOC, but as this is my first fanfic…I'll work on making him a bit more snarky as I go along. I really did try, but he just refused to listen to me.
Thanks go out to Beth who helped beta chapter one, then went out to live her life away from the glare of the computer…and to Amber who is the greatest beta in the entire world…and who did not put me up to saying that!
Chapter 1 - "Devoted"
Severus Snape stood looking out the window, but the twinkling stars on this summer evening held no charm for him and went largely unnoticed. His life had been almost perfect and in the blink of an eye tragedy had struck. Now even breathing hurt, it felt like someone had hit him in the solar plexus and he felt like he couldn't draw a full breath. He had almost lost it all, or was in the process of losing it all. Hell, he couldn't think straight anymore. He ran a weary hand through his hair, he was just so tired. He had no control what had happened; even the most powerful wizard couldn't bring back the dead, well they could, but it had never been done with anything close to what anyone one would ever call great results.
Now she was all he had left, and he'd be damned if he would stand by and do nothing while they tried to take her from him.
Lost in his thoughts he was startled when he felt her cold hand slip into his, instinctively he began to rub some heat it to it. Turning he looked down and into her wide cinnamon eyes, which were rimmed red with sorrow. Without letting go of her hand, he took a few steps and sat down in his favorite chair. He opened his arms to her, and she in turn didn't hesitate to turn to him for comfort. Sitting on his lap and burrowing into his side, he pulled her slight body to him and gently pushed her head to rest against his shoulder.
"If you don't want to go, I can make up an excuse for your absence. But I think that you should talk to them; it's the right thing to do. They need to know that it's your choice that you stay with me." He gently lifted her chin looking into her eyes. "You know that they love you, and only want the best for you…"
"What's best for me is staying here." she said, her voice resolute. "I want to stay with you, and the Weasley's can just go to hell for all I care!" Her chin jutted out stubbornly.
His sigh hung heavy in the stillness of the room before a small smile curled in the corner of his mouth. "Language…if you keep this up they are going to think I've had a bad influence on you." But this was said with a no bitterness.
"Humph." She answered as she leaned in and wrapped her arms around his neck, placing her tear-streaked cheek against his. "They can make me go with them, but I'll just come back. I'll keep doing it till they get tired of tracking me down. Sooner or later they are bound to just leave me here." An impish smile appeared. "If I'm too much trouble this time, they might even bring me back all on their own. It would save us all a lot of trouble."
"I don't know about that." He lay his head on hers, "You've been nothing but trouble since the moment I laid my eyes on you, and you don't see me trying very hard to get rid of you, do you?" He turned his head and buried his nose in her long curls, memorizing her scent. "Let me worry about it, when push comes to shove I'll do whatever is necessary. Don't doubt that, I'll even go as far as using the Pensive if need be. It will hurt the Weasley's to know that their son lied to them, but if that's what it takes then so be it." His voice had turn cold, and she understood why so many people reviled him.
She sat up, pulling her feet under her robes, her eyes if possible, growing even larger. "Will I be able to go into the pensive too?" She asked quietly.
He eyed her wearily, before giving her a flat "No."
"But I…" She started, trying hard to keep her lower lip from quivering.
"No." He said again firmly. "Someday, but not today. Let's not fight about this. There are some things in there that you wouldn't understand, not now anyway. When we have had time to adjust…we just lost…Please...not today." He said finally and pulled her close to him, kissing her head softly.
They sat that way taking what comfort they could from the closeness of the other. Finally he broke the silence, and softly said, "We've had a tough day, I don't know about you but I'm exhausted. Let's just make it an early night, shall we. You go on to bed, just give me a few minutes so I can clean up out here...I'll be there in a few minutes." He watched as she walked towards the stairs and up to the bedrooms. In the time it took him to clean up and get himself ready for bed, she was already curled up sleeping. The tears were still wet on her cheeks and pillow.
Thankfully he had insisted that Albus push the meeting until tomorrow after lunch. The day had been hard enough, without adding to it the strain of meeting with the Weasley's. Surely he would've be off to Azkaban after being forced to deal with them, how could they have been so foolish to think that meeting today would've ended without the chances of someone being hexed?
Gently he knelt down at the side of the bed, and brushed a damp strand of hair away from her face. Then he did something he had seen her do countless times, but until then had never considered doing himself…he prayed.
