Chapter 3
One day at lunch, the door bell rang. Severus looked around wildly, until he realized that it was the doorbell. He quietly walked to the front door and looked through the eyehole, 'Who would come see me?'
Of course it was Cecily.
He opened the door, "Hello."
Cecily smiled as she fidgeted, a bit too excitedly, "Come on Owen!"
Severus' eyes widened, "Where are we going?"
"Somewhere very cool. Now come on." Cecily motioned forward. Snape hesitated, but she was faster and latched onto his wrist, "Let's go, I'm not letting you squirrel out of this one."
Eventually, they were driving towards another town. well. city. Cecily turned to him, "How much money do you have on you?"
Severus pulled out a pouch, from within he pull out a roll that was made out of five one hundred dollar bills. Cecily looked at him strangely and mumbled to herself,"Okay. You're going to get a wallet too." Then in a louder voice, " Why don't you have your money in a bank?"
"Uh. I do, but I can't. access my money from here."
Cecily glanced at him for as second and then shrugged. "It's okay. I guess."
They entered some sort off tunnel under a tall building, 'Something the Muggles call a parking garage.' Severus thought to himself as he glanced at the sign outside the tunnel.
They headed to a lift in the garage and Severus watched at Cecily pressed the button 7, which then glowed orange and moved the lift. When the lift finally reached level 7, the automated voice spoke: "Level Seven, Men's clothing and accessories."
Severus looked around the lift trying to figure out where the voice was coming from. 'Strange. these Muggle machines.'
Cecily soon dragged him through racks of clothes and eventually shoved him into the changing room with a mound that was so high that he could barely see in front of him.
Three hours later.
Severus glared at Cecily hatefully, she had made him try on at least a hundred different items of clothing already. His legs and feet were sore (from trying on shoes), his abdomen throbbed and his arms felt like they were going to fall off from the sheer number of bags he was holding. When they had gone to the check out counter, the lady looked utterly stunned at the sheer amount of clothes. Several of the customers behind them grumbled and headed off in different directions in search of a different counter.
In the end, the total came to nearly four hundred dollars. Severus was going to protest loudly. Then Cecily pointed at a red sign above the racks, then she pulled out a small square of parchment and a red card. Their expense immediately dropped to one hundred and eighty three dollars. This left him gaping, 'What? How on earth do these Muggles do business?! Dropping the price to less than half!'
As they left Severus handed Cecily half the bag, she whined for a bit and then finally took them when she threatened to push her into the fountain they had walked by. He looked at the bags he was holding, "How did you do that?"
"Do what?"
"I mean, it did cost four hundred dollars."
"Oh that, hehe. well, the last time I was here. I got detained by the security since they had thought I stole some jewelry. Later, I was exonerated, and as a way of saying sorry for taking up my time and accusing me, they gave me this nice seventy five dollar certificate."
Then Cecily sniggered, "You know, they never caught the person who stole the jewelry."
Severus eyed Cecily, her voice sounded mistrustful, "Oh~ and why is that?"
Cecily shrugged, but there was a glint in her eyes.
On the way back to the 'parking garage', Cecily bought a bag full of bakery items for him.. ("So you won't starve!"), a wallet, and some books (which actually was the highlight of his trip).
Severus sat in the car with five books in his lap. He glanced over them, and read the backs of each. "The Great Gatsby". "Slaughterhouse Five". "Catcher in the Rye" (Cecily insisted on this book). "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". "And Brave New World".
They didn't sound bad and he had planned on reading "Brave New World" first, but Cecily eventually bribed him by telling him that she'd bring him more books if he read "Catcher in the Rye" first. He rolled he eyes, 'It's only about some stupid kid who can't stop whining.'
~~~
Over the next week, thunderstorms rolled in, so he couldn't go out, he stayed in his house and read as he had some hot cocoa and marshmallows (which Cecily brought for him, he was wary of the floating white fluffs at first until she rolled here eyes at him and shoved one into this mouth.). Wrapped in the comforter from upstairs, Severus sat near the glass walls as he read.
He had managed to finish "Catcher in the Rye", which actually wasn't bad at all, It was sort of profound in a way. He had also finished the "Brave New World", which was a very entertaining book (Cecily promised to bring another similar book , "1984"). And now he was reading "The Great Gatsby", which was proving more interesting with every page he turned.
'I guess Muggle literature isn't bad. too bad I made fun of Granger all that time she kept trying to make references to some Muggle books.'
Next to him sat a Webster's dictionary, a very large encyclopedia, and the Macmillan visual dictionary, all of which Cecily had brought in after he asked too many 'stupid' questions. For example, there was that one time he asked Cecily what football was, since it was mentioned in one of the books, Cecily had looked strangely at him and then it dawned to her that football had a different name in England, she replied saying that it was about the same thing as rugby. Unfortunately, he didn't know what rugby was either.
Then there was that other time he asked her what California was. Cecily had deadpanned and then ran out of the house. She came back thirty minutes later with the three reference books so that he would stop asking questions that any ten year old knew.
He really enjoyed the Macmillan visual dictionary. It was actually far more helpful than the encyclopedia and the dictionary since it offered pictures which helped him visualize the things in the books.
Today the rain poured even heavier than the last two days. Earlier he had walked out in the rain to visit the horses, who where actually very dry, but a bit cold, so he pull out the two blankets in the shed and placed them over the grateful horses. As he came back in, soaking wet, he saw Cecily staring at him strangely again.
"Are you insane?! Why'd you go out into that weather without an umbrella?!"
Severus blinked, "Umbrella?" (He never had to worry about rain in the past since certain spells kept him dry)
Cecily held up a wet stick with cloth attached at the end of it and waved it in his face, "Yes, an umbrella, it keeps you dry."
"Oh." Severus said as he suddenly realized that was what Hagrid always carried around with him. 'That flimsy thing is supposed to block rain?'
Cecily narrowed her eyes as she studied him, "This is strange, very strange."
Severus gulped, "What is?"
"The first time I see you, you're dressed like you're from the fifteenth century. Then you don't know a lot of things that any fourth grader would know and you're a middle aged man. It's almost as if you fell into the future.that or. something else."
Severus shook his head, trying to deny what Cecily said, "You're crazed you know that you bloody bint! I'm fine!"
"Who is the Prime Minister of England right now?"
"What?"
"Any old geezer from London would know who the Prime Minister was, regardless of whether he watched the television." Cecily glanced at the black box (called a televis. or something), a few days ago, she had found out that he didn't know how to work the thing.
"You are from London right?" Cecily confirmed.
"I." Severus was stuck, what if this bloody woman found out that he didn't know any of this. She's send him into a Muggle hospital for mental patients. But if he told her the truth, could he trust her? Or would he end up in the mental hospital anyways. He'd only been around her for a little more than half a month. And would he get in trouble with the Ministry?.
He didn't know why, he was probably temporarily insane at the moment ('I am experiencing this far too often'), but in the end, he managed to tell her the truth (well, excluding information about Voldemort and Death Eaters.)Afterwards he gave himself a good mental lashing about how his will was pathetically weak now. And didn't he used to be a spy? You'd think he'd know better than to blabber about everything.
She had been quite skeptical at first, but she wasn't unreasonable like most Muggles were, she just nodded and then asked for a little bit of proof. He went upstairs to retrieve his wand. Then she showed her by transfiguring a cup into a cat and then back again. 'If she tries to expose me, I'll just put a memory charm on her anyways.'
Cecily wasn't horrified or scared at all. All she did was nod and then mumbled something about "Susan's files. Hmm.That makes sense now."
"What makes sense?" A bit of dread spread in Severus' stomach.
Cecily sighed as she sat down on the black colored couch near him. "I haven't been completely honest with you. I mean, no one around here knows either. I'm sure you've heard stuff about me, how I'm a nice girl who just pops up here and there to help out."
Severus nodded, recalling a conversation he had eavesdropped on last week.
"But didn't you notice how I seem to have a lot of money? And yet I don't seem to have a job?"
Now that he thought of it. "Yes."
Cecily fidgeted a bit, while she played with the end of her sweatshirt that had the words 'Warped Tour 2000' written on it. "You can't tell anyone this."
"If you keep my secret, I'll keep yours."
Cecily nodded as she thought about it, "Alright.. Well, in the 'Muddle' ? ("Muggle") world, I'm called a Hacker. Which is a person who hacks. into computers. Hacking is usage of one's skill in computer programming to gain illegal or unauthorized access into a file or network."
"Computer programming?" Severus frowned. He understood most of what she was saying. except for the main core.
Cecily held up a finger, "Wait a second."
She quickly dashed out of the house.
A few moments later, she came back with a large black messenger bag. She pulled out a heavy black plastic rectangular box and set it onto the dining table. Then she dug in the bag and found several cords, which she used to connect to the wall and a few other apparatuses.
Cecily opened the black box by lifting the lid up, it looked like a screen. She fiddled with a button in the back and the screen burst to life with colors.
Cecily held her hands out, "This is a computer and the commands you put into a computer to make it do certain functions is called computer programming."
Severus folded his arms, trying not to look too interested, but failing miserably as his eyes widened when the computer started to load. Cecily smirked. Then Severus turned to her, "Now you mentioned something about being illegal and unauthorized access?"
Cecily grinned wider and turned to the computer to type in the password. "With this new technology available to us, most major companies, militaries, and governments have begun to use computers to hide their most secret information. My job is to find a way to gain access to the information without leaving a trace."
"Job? Who's your employer?"
"A defense company that the U.S. government uses. This is also one of the reasons why I'm no longer in jail."
"No longer?"
"Yes, stop parroting me. I was thrown in jail for about three years since I hacked into the U.S.'s central intelligence, called the Pentagon. Next day, FBI agents showed up at my door and took me away. I was later excused on the promise that I'd help the U.S. government hack into foreign government and to also help test new security systems."
"So what are you doing around here? In the country area? Instead of some major city?" Snape asked. And these FBI agents. sounded like Aurors. Aurors worked closely with the Ministry.
"Just because I work for the government, does mean I'm safe. There's always going to be people after me." Cecily finished. Then she turned to her computer and started to type away.
Her job definitely sounded like his. Suddenly he remembered her comment from earlier after he told her about him being a wizard. "Wait. what are Susan's files?"
Cecily froze. "Umm. well. I don't know how you'll react."
Severus narrowed his eyes, this had to be bad. "Tell me."
Cecily let out a hesitant sigh as she slouched, "Okay, from how you talk about us 'Muggles' I assume that you don't really think highly of us."
Snape shrugged, "What does this have to do with."
Cecily shook her head, "Listen. The problem with thinking in that manner is that, you underestimate us 'Muggles'."
Severus paled as he pulled out a chair and sat across from Cecily so that they were looking at each other eye to eye. "What do you mean?"
"The U.S. own over 300 satellites out of 750 that exist in space and these are only the documented ones. With these satellites, we can see everything that happens on this planet."
"Everything?"
"Everything. Including that wizard school in London that you told me about. Susan is one of my friends who works in a department which watches everything that goes on to make sure that nothing too suspicious will put the U.S. in danger. The reason the U.S. started this program was because there was too close of call with the Cuban Missile Crisis which happen in 1962. We've known about your wizard world for the last four decades. In fact, there's an entire room full of files on every wizard community that exists."
Severus' mouth was open, his hands were shaking in his lap. These Muggles knew all about them? All those deterrent charms had no affect whatsoever if the Muggles could see everything they did from space. "W-wait."
He couldn't believe this. what if this was a trick? "How do I know you're telling me the truth?"
"I have no reason to lie to you."
But Severus wasn't convinced, Cecily grumbled. She stuck her hand into her black bag and pulled out a strange device that opened up to reveal dish of some sort with an antenna sticking out the middle of it. "Fine then, if you don't believe me, I'll show you."
Gaining access to the satellites Cecily talked about took about fifteen or so minutes, but they seemed like hours as the both of them waited for the laptop to load in the settings and connect to the satellites. Finally, the computer gave a sort of chirp sound, indicating that they were now connected. Severus watched the screen, it seemed a bit blurred at first, but it slowly came into focus. He could make out the outline of Europe. Cecily used the control on the side (the mouse) and clicked on the outline of Britain. The picture zoomed in. Then on England. The picture zoomed in more. Then she clicked on the grassy area. The outline of the Hogwarts train track soon came into focus. Then she clicked on a blurred object, north of a set of mountains.
As the screen refocused, Severus gasped as he realized they were looking down at Hogwarts from a bird's eye view. You could also see the forbidden forest, Hagrid's cabin, the Quidditch field and the lake. The Cecily click a few keys on the keyboard and the picture zoomed in even more. Soon, Severus could see students, about the size of dots walking around the school as they went to their next classes. "Oh my god."
Cecily gave him an 'I told you so' look. Severus sat down as he realized that he was standing up, with his face only a few centimeters from the screen. "I don't believe this.All those charms to keep Muggles away, they never worked! We never even considered that you could watch us from a space. "
Cecily sat there watching him, she didn't really know what to say at all to his ramblings. What could one say to a man whose beliefs were suddenly turned upside down?
~~~
Eventually Severus got used to the idea and wasn't as stunned as before, but from then on, he gain a new found respect for Muggles. Cecily was fairly nice about it; she wasn't the type to rub it in his face, much to his relief. And now whenever he asked her a question, she no longer gave him strange looks, instead she just explained things to him and would try to cover everything she could. She would even tell him which facts to memorize since it was considered common 'Muggle' knowledge.
Near the end of the third week, the spring shower ebbed away and the gloomy cloudy skies cleared to reveal a very bright cyan sky. And also on the day it stopped raining, the house keeper finally came for a visit.
~~~
Severus had been by the horse sheds again, feeding Lena and Sam. But the two horses were still a bit annoyed, since they hadn't been let out for almost three weeks. As he fed the horses, an elderly male voice spoke up, causing him to jump.
"Well hello there, are you Owen Leigh?"
Severus nodded mutely.
The old man smiled, "Ah, Mrs. Leigh informed me in a letter that you might show up one day, just didn't know when it was." The old man gave a chuckle, "Well, It's nice to meet you Owen. I'm Eddie Smith, I've been hired by your mother to look after the Leigh estate."
Eddie stuck his hand out. Severus shook his hand. Then Eddie petted Sam and fed him a carrot, he whinnied happily. Beside him, Lena looked longingly at the carrot Sam had devoured. Eddie pulled out two apple halves from his pocket, "Go on, give this to Lena, she like apples."
Severus placed one half of the apple under Lena's mouth and she ate it greedily, making loud crunching sounds as she shook her head contently. Severus then gave her the other slice after she finished the first one. Eddie led Sam out of the stall. "Well, both of them need to be washed, groomed, and get a bit of exercise, they're both really restless and I need to clean out their stalls."
Soon another voice from the fence called out, "Oh! I'll help!"
It was a little girl, about the age of nine.
"Ah! That's my granddaughter, Alice. Come on in Alice!" Alice, had brown hair that was tied back into a ponytail and freckles which vaguely reminded Severus of the Weasleys,
'Let's just hope she's not as unintelligent as they seem to be.'
Alice wore worn out overalls that seemed like hand me downs, however, Severus' theory was proved wrong when Alice decided to climb over the fence instead of opening the gate to come in.
Eddie laughed as he shook his head. "A real tomboy she is. She will throw the biggest fit if her parents try to get her into a dress. But she's great with horses, you'll see, they all seem to trust her, even the meanest ones. Too bad she isn't as good at her studies." Then Eddie spoke louder as he called over to Alice, "I swear Alice, you're mom is gonna have a fit if you rip another pair of jeans. That's the second one this month."
"But I had to climb that tree! Matt was making fun of how girls couldn't climb trees!"
"You nearly broke your leg."
Alice smirked. "But I didn't. Matt did, since I fell on him."
"Wicked girl you are." Eddie muttered as he shook his head again and turned his attention back to Sam. "Can you teach Owen here to how to wash the horses?"
Alice nodded. Eddie handed her the rope attached to Sam. "You take Sam and Owen here will take Lena."
Eddie placed Lena's rope into Severus' hand. "Just give it small tug, she's real nice and smart, don't worry, she'll follow you."
Severus followed Alice as they approached a concrete area with two posts that had several rings on them, 'I had wondered what this was for.'
Alice efficiently tied Sam to one post and came around to tie Lena. Then she scampered off to retrieve the hoses. When she came back, the bottom of her jeans were a bit wet, since water was already flowing from both of the hoses and had managed to splash onto her. In her free hand, she held a bucket with soapy water with a few brushes floating inside.
Alice instructed him how to wash the horses, "You want to brush them in circles. And don't put the hose in their face, they don't like that. (Alice handed him a small towel) Soak the towels and rub it around their face. When you're washing their mane, use the other brush and make sure you get more soap."
Alice washed Sam quickly since he was a bit snippy and less inclined to stand still. After she finished with him, she took out a pick and cleaned his hoofs. Severus watched Alice as he stopped scrubbing Lena. Alice looked up, "Don't worry, I'll also do Lena, it takes practice to get them to bend their feet like that."
Severus nodded.
Eventually he also finished washing Lena and she happily nipped at his sleeves as he petted her damp mane.
When suddenly he let out a yelp as cold water splashed down his back. He spun around angrily, "Who the hell?!"
Of course, it was Cecily, "Oh oops."
"Don't do that again." Severus snapped at her.
"Do what? This?" She raised the hose in her hand and splashed him the face.
"Dammit Woman!" Severus yelled, not noticed that Lena had backed away, a bit spooked at his outburst. He quickly dived towards the hose that he had been using and sprayed Cecily. She squealed as the cold water hit her and he ran at him with her own hose.
The both of them manage to completely soak each other, but Severus was more thoroughly soaked since Cecily had put her thumb over the opening of her hose and send well place sprays at him. Severus was laughing but furious at the same time, "You stupid bitch!" He screamed and ran at her, shoving her onto the dirt that had become mud from their fight. He quickly sat on her abdomen, scooped up a handful of mud, and rubbed it into her hair. She let out a scream, "That's so gross!"
Severus, for the first time in many years, let out a hearty laugh as he kept splatting mud onto Cecily. Suddenly Cecily took a handful of mud next to her and rub it into his face, then she shoved him aside, causing him to fall back into the mud. He started to spit out the mud that had gotten into his mouth.
Eddie, who had come over at the sound of the commotion, cleared his throat. Alice who was standing near by, had stopped laughing and squeaked, "I didn't do it!"
Eddie shook his head, "Alright you two. Go clean yourselves up. I'll call you out when the horses are dried and saddled, then you can take them out for a ride." Eddie then looked directly at Cecily, "Unbelievable Cecily. even if Alice doesn't get involved, you managed to get into a water fight every time."
Cecily gave Eddie a stupid grin. Severus was looking at her, "Every time?"
She nodded proudly.
Then she dashed off towards the house, "I get first dibs on the bathroom!"
"What?! No!" Severus yelled as he followed her as fast as he could.
Eddie turned to Alice, "You better get Cecily's clothes in her car, I expect it's in the same spot as always."
~~~
Severus sat on the fence next to Cecily, with his damp brown hair dripping a bit. She had managed to beat him to the bathroom, leaving him muddy and soaked outside for about half an hour. Then, when she finally came out, she informed him that there was another bathroom downstairs. "Stupid bint."
Cecily rolled her eyes, "Oh come off it. I heard that mud is good for your skin anyways."
Severus turned to her and smirked, "You want to test that theory?"
Cecily smirked, "Next time."
As the watch on Cecily's hand indicated that it was three o' clock, Alice ran over, slightly out of breath, "Gramps said that the horses are ready."
Cecily nodded and hopped off the fence. Severus did the same, but a bit awkwardly. The three of them walked over to Sam and Lena, who were saddled up. Eddie was holding the bridle, "I decided to put Western Saddles on them, it'll allow you more leverage on the trail."
"Trail?" Severus asked Eddie.
Eddie nodded and pointed behind him, "At the back of your estate is Shire woods, they've made a trail back there just for riders."
Cecily nodded and thanked Eddie as she took Sam's bridle into her hands. Then Eddie handed Severus the bridle for Lena. Severus turned to Eddie, "I don't know how to get on."
Alice hopped up and down, "Oh! I'll show you!"
Severus turned to her and nodded, "Put your left foot into the stirrup. Then place your right hand on the back of the saddle. Then put your left hand on that knob at the front of the saddle. Yep, there you go. Now, pull yourself up."
Severus tried to, but it was immensely difficult, and it seemed like the saddle was going to slip.
"Here," Cecily, handed the bridle back to Eddie and made a cup under Severus' foot, then this time as he tried to mount, she quickly caught onto his foot and helped him swing it over the other side of the horse.
Lena obediently stayed, but swished her tail a bit, she was getting a bit bored. Severus shifted a bit and finally sat down comfortably. Cecily then walked over to Sam and easily mounted. "You'll get better with time."
Then Cecily held out her hand and Eddie the bridle back to her.
~~~
It was nearly evening and the skies painted with violet, scarlet and orange when he and Cecily made it back to the house. The lights in the house were on and pleasant smells arose form the kitchen. Cecily smiled, "It looks like Eddie and Alice are making dinner."
Cecily first dismounted Sam and walked over to help Severus off Lena. It was almost as difficult as getting on since he felt stiff from riding so long. He stood and watched as Cecily took off both saddles and bridles and took them back to the shed. Then she gave each horse a firm pat and allowed them to roam out into the field. "They like sleeping outside when the weather is nice."
Severus nodded as he folded his arms.
The both of them walked side by side as they headed to the lighted house. Severus turned to Cecily, "I never really had friends you know.I mean, back at Hogwarts, I was feared among the students and greatly disliked by my fellow colleagues." He paused, not really sure why he was telling her this.
Cecily looked at him and smiled, "Well, there's always time to try something new."
"I used to be known as the slimy, greasy git." Severus smirked, now finding the name a bit amusing.
Cecily laughed. "Nah, you're more of a smarmy, pompous git."
"And the students thought I was a vampire."
Cecily laughed. Severus raised an eyebrow, "What?"
Cecily lifted his arm, "Got a nice dark tan from riding." Then she pointed at his nose, "And you're sunburned."
"What?!" Severus touched his nose and winced, "I've never been sunburned."
"Really?"
"Well, I worked in the lower part of the school and my classes took place in the dungeons, never really exposed myself to the sun much."
Cecily patted him on the shoulder, "I'll bring you some Aloe Vera tomorrow. It'll make the sunburn less inflamed."
Severus touched his nose again and winced.
"Stop doing that stupid!"
"I'm not stupid bloody woman!"
And the two bickered until dinner. and then some more after dinner
One day at lunch, the door bell rang. Severus looked around wildly, until he realized that it was the doorbell. He quietly walked to the front door and looked through the eyehole, 'Who would come see me?'
Of course it was Cecily.
He opened the door, "Hello."
Cecily smiled as she fidgeted, a bit too excitedly, "Come on Owen!"
Severus' eyes widened, "Where are we going?"
"Somewhere very cool. Now come on." Cecily motioned forward. Snape hesitated, but she was faster and latched onto his wrist, "Let's go, I'm not letting you squirrel out of this one."
Eventually, they were driving towards another town. well. city. Cecily turned to him, "How much money do you have on you?"
Severus pulled out a pouch, from within he pull out a roll that was made out of five one hundred dollar bills. Cecily looked at him strangely and mumbled to herself,"Okay. You're going to get a wallet too." Then in a louder voice, " Why don't you have your money in a bank?"
"Uh. I do, but I can't. access my money from here."
Cecily glanced at him for as second and then shrugged. "It's okay. I guess."
They entered some sort off tunnel under a tall building, 'Something the Muggles call a parking garage.' Severus thought to himself as he glanced at the sign outside the tunnel.
They headed to a lift in the garage and Severus watched at Cecily pressed the button 7, which then glowed orange and moved the lift. When the lift finally reached level 7, the automated voice spoke: "Level Seven, Men's clothing and accessories."
Severus looked around the lift trying to figure out where the voice was coming from. 'Strange. these Muggle machines.'
Cecily soon dragged him through racks of clothes and eventually shoved him into the changing room with a mound that was so high that he could barely see in front of him.
Three hours later.
Severus glared at Cecily hatefully, she had made him try on at least a hundred different items of clothing already. His legs and feet were sore (from trying on shoes), his abdomen throbbed and his arms felt like they were going to fall off from the sheer number of bags he was holding. When they had gone to the check out counter, the lady looked utterly stunned at the sheer amount of clothes. Several of the customers behind them grumbled and headed off in different directions in search of a different counter.
In the end, the total came to nearly four hundred dollars. Severus was going to protest loudly. Then Cecily pointed at a red sign above the racks, then she pulled out a small square of parchment and a red card. Their expense immediately dropped to one hundred and eighty three dollars. This left him gaping, 'What? How on earth do these Muggles do business?! Dropping the price to less than half!'
As they left Severus handed Cecily half the bag, she whined for a bit and then finally took them when she threatened to push her into the fountain they had walked by. He looked at the bags he was holding, "How did you do that?"
"Do what?"
"I mean, it did cost four hundred dollars."
"Oh that, hehe. well, the last time I was here. I got detained by the security since they had thought I stole some jewelry. Later, I was exonerated, and as a way of saying sorry for taking up my time and accusing me, they gave me this nice seventy five dollar certificate."
Then Cecily sniggered, "You know, they never caught the person who stole the jewelry."
Severus eyed Cecily, her voice sounded mistrustful, "Oh~ and why is that?"
Cecily shrugged, but there was a glint in her eyes.
On the way back to the 'parking garage', Cecily bought a bag full of bakery items for him.. ("So you won't starve!"), a wallet, and some books (which actually was the highlight of his trip).
Severus sat in the car with five books in his lap. He glanced over them, and read the backs of each. "The Great Gatsby". "Slaughterhouse Five". "Catcher in the Rye" (Cecily insisted on this book). "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest". "And Brave New World".
They didn't sound bad and he had planned on reading "Brave New World" first, but Cecily eventually bribed him by telling him that she'd bring him more books if he read "Catcher in the Rye" first. He rolled he eyes, 'It's only about some stupid kid who can't stop whining.'
~~~
Over the next week, thunderstorms rolled in, so he couldn't go out, he stayed in his house and read as he had some hot cocoa and marshmallows (which Cecily brought for him, he was wary of the floating white fluffs at first until she rolled here eyes at him and shoved one into this mouth.). Wrapped in the comforter from upstairs, Severus sat near the glass walls as he read.
He had managed to finish "Catcher in the Rye", which actually wasn't bad at all, It was sort of profound in a way. He had also finished the "Brave New World", which was a very entertaining book (Cecily promised to bring another similar book , "1984"). And now he was reading "The Great Gatsby", which was proving more interesting with every page he turned.
'I guess Muggle literature isn't bad. too bad I made fun of Granger all that time she kept trying to make references to some Muggle books.'
Next to him sat a Webster's dictionary, a very large encyclopedia, and the Macmillan visual dictionary, all of which Cecily had brought in after he asked too many 'stupid' questions. For example, there was that one time he asked Cecily what football was, since it was mentioned in one of the books, Cecily had looked strangely at him and then it dawned to her that football had a different name in England, she replied saying that it was about the same thing as rugby. Unfortunately, he didn't know what rugby was either.
Then there was that other time he asked her what California was. Cecily had deadpanned and then ran out of the house. She came back thirty minutes later with the three reference books so that he would stop asking questions that any ten year old knew.
He really enjoyed the Macmillan visual dictionary. It was actually far more helpful than the encyclopedia and the dictionary since it offered pictures which helped him visualize the things in the books.
Today the rain poured even heavier than the last two days. Earlier he had walked out in the rain to visit the horses, who where actually very dry, but a bit cold, so he pull out the two blankets in the shed and placed them over the grateful horses. As he came back in, soaking wet, he saw Cecily staring at him strangely again.
"Are you insane?! Why'd you go out into that weather without an umbrella?!"
Severus blinked, "Umbrella?" (He never had to worry about rain in the past since certain spells kept him dry)
Cecily held up a wet stick with cloth attached at the end of it and waved it in his face, "Yes, an umbrella, it keeps you dry."
"Oh." Severus said as he suddenly realized that was what Hagrid always carried around with him. 'That flimsy thing is supposed to block rain?'
Cecily narrowed her eyes as she studied him, "This is strange, very strange."
Severus gulped, "What is?"
"The first time I see you, you're dressed like you're from the fifteenth century. Then you don't know a lot of things that any fourth grader would know and you're a middle aged man. It's almost as if you fell into the future.that or. something else."
Severus shook his head, trying to deny what Cecily said, "You're crazed you know that you bloody bint! I'm fine!"
"Who is the Prime Minister of England right now?"
"What?"
"Any old geezer from London would know who the Prime Minister was, regardless of whether he watched the television." Cecily glanced at the black box (called a televis. or something), a few days ago, she had found out that he didn't know how to work the thing.
"You are from London right?" Cecily confirmed.
"I." Severus was stuck, what if this bloody woman found out that he didn't know any of this. She's send him into a Muggle hospital for mental patients. But if he told her the truth, could he trust her? Or would he end up in the mental hospital anyways. He'd only been around her for a little more than half a month. And would he get in trouble with the Ministry?.
He didn't know why, he was probably temporarily insane at the moment ('I am experiencing this far too often'), but in the end, he managed to tell her the truth (well, excluding information about Voldemort and Death Eaters.)Afterwards he gave himself a good mental lashing about how his will was pathetically weak now. And didn't he used to be a spy? You'd think he'd know better than to blabber about everything.
She had been quite skeptical at first, but she wasn't unreasonable like most Muggles were, she just nodded and then asked for a little bit of proof. He went upstairs to retrieve his wand. Then she showed her by transfiguring a cup into a cat and then back again. 'If she tries to expose me, I'll just put a memory charm on her anyways.'
Cecily wasn't horrified or scared at all. All she did was nod and then mumbled something about "Susan's files. Hmm.That makes sense now."
"What makes sense?" A bit of dread spread in Severus' stomach.
Cecily sighed as she sat down on the black colored couch near him. "I haven't been completely honest with you. I mean, no one around here knows either. I'm sure you've heard stuff about me, how I'm a nice girl who just pops up here and there to help out."
Severus nodded, recalling a conversation he had eavesdropped on last week.
"But didn't you notice how I seem to have a lot of money? And yet I don't seem to have a job?"
Now that he thought of it. "Yes."
Cecily fidgeted a bit, while she played with the end of her sweatshirt that had the words 'Warped Tour 2000' written on it. "You can't tell anyone this."
"If you keep my secret, I'll keep yours."
Cecily nodded as she thought about it, "Alright.. Well, in the 'Muddle' ? ("Muggle") world, I'm called a Hacker. Which is a person who hacks. into computers. Hacking is usage of one's skill in computer programming to gain illegal or unauthorized access into a file or network."
"Computer programming?" Severus frowned. He understood most of what she was saying. except for the main core.
Cecily held up a finger, "Wait a second."
She quickly dashed out of the house.
A few moments later, she came back with a large black messenger bag. She pulled out a heavy black plastic rectangular box and set it onto the dining table. Then she dug in the bag and found several cords, which she used to connect to the wall and a few other apparatuses.
Cecily opened the black box by lifting the lid up, it looked like a screen. She fiddled with a button in the back and the screen burst to life with colors.
Cecily held her hands out, "This is a computer and the commands you put into a computer to make it do certain functions is called computer programming."
Severus folded his arms, trying not to look too interested, but failing miserably as his eyes widened when the computer started to load. Cecily smirked. Then Severus turned to her, "Now you mentioned something about being illegal and unauthorized access?"
Cecily grinned wider and turned to the computer to type in the password. "With this new technology available to us, most major companies, militaries, and governments have begun to use computers to hide their most secret information. My job is to find a way to gain access to the information without leaving a trace."
"Job? Who's your employer?"
"A defense company that the U.S. government uses. This is also one of the reasons why I'm no longer in jail."
"No longer?"
"Yes, stop parroting me. I was thrown in jail for about three years since I hacked into the U.S.'s central intelligence, called the Pentagon. Next day, FBI agents showed up at my door and took me away. I was later excused on the promise that I'd help the U.S. government hack into foreign government and to also help test new security systems."
"So what are you doing around here? In the country area? Instead of some major city?" Snape asked. And these FBI agents. sounded like Aurors. Aurors worked closely with the Ministry.
"Just because I work for the government, does mean I'm safe. There's always going to be people after me." Cecily finished. Then she turned to her computer and started to type away.
Her job definitely sounded like his. Suddenly he remembered her comment from earlier after he told her about him being a wizard. "Wait. what are Susan's files?"
Cecily froze. "Umm. well. I don't know how you'll react."
Severus narrowed his eyes, this had to be bad. "Tell me."
Cecily let out a hesitant sigh as she slouched, "Okay, from how you talk about us 'Muggles' I assume that you don't really think highly of us."
Snape shrugged, "What does this have to do with."
Cecily shook her head, "Listen. The problem with thinking in that manner is that, you underestimate us 'Muggles'."
Severus paled as he pulled out a chair and sat across from Cecily so that they were looking at each other eye to eye. "What do you mean?"
"The U.S. own over 300 satellites out of 750 that exist in space and these are only the documented ones. With these satellites, we can see everything that happens on this planet."
"Everything?"
"Everything. Including that wizard school in London that you told me about. Susan is one of my friends who works in a department which watches everything that goes on to make sure that nothing too suspicious will put the U.S. in danger. The reason the U.S. started this program was because there was too close of call with the Cuban Missile Crisis which happen in 1962. We've known about your wizard world for the last four decades. In fact, there's an entire room full of files on every wizard community that exists."
Severus' mouth was open, his hands were shaking in his lap. These Muggles knew all about them? All those deterrent charms had no affect whatsoever if the Muggles could see everything they did from space. "W-wait."
He couldn't believe this. what if this was a trick? "How do I know you're telling me the truth?"
"I have no reason to lie to you."
But Severus wasn't convinced, Cecily grumbled. She stuck her hand into her black bag and pulled out a strange device that opened up to reveal dish of some sort with an antenna sticking out the middle of it. "Fine then, if you don't believe me, I'll show you."
Gaining access to the satellites Cecily talked about took about fifteen or so minutes, but they seemed like hours as the both of them waited for the laptop to load in the settings and connect to the satellites. Finally, the computer gave a sort of chirp sound, indicating that they were now connected. Severus watched the screen, it seemed a bit blurred at first, but it slowly came into focus. He could make out the outline of Europe. Cecily used the control on the side (the mouse) and clicked on the outline of Britain. The picture zoomed in. Then on England. The picture zoomed in more. Then she clicked on the grassy area. The outline of the Hogwarts train track soon came into focus. Then she clicked on a blurred object, north of a set of mountains.
As the screen refocused, Severus gasped as he realized they were looking down at Hogwarts from a bird's eye view. You could also see the forbidden forest, Hagrid's cabin, the Quidditch field and the lake. The Cecily click a few keys on the keyboard and the picture zoomed in even more. Soon, Severus could see students, about the size of dots walking around the school as they went to their next classes. "Oh my god."
Cecily gave him an 'I told you so' look. Severus sat down as he realized that he was standing up, with his face only a few centimeters from the screen. "I don't believe this.All those charms to keep Muggles away, they never worked! We never even considered that you could watch us from a space. "
Cecily sat there watching him, she didn't really know what to say at all to his ramblings. What could one say to a man whose beliefs were suddenly turned upside down?
~~~
Eventually Severus got used to the idea and wasn't as stunned as before, but from then on, he gain a new found respect for Muggles. Cecily was fairly nice about it; she wasn't the type to rub it in his face, much to his relief. And now whenever he asked her a question, she no longer gave him strange looks, instead she just explained things to him and would try to cover everything she could. She would even tell him which facts to memorize since it was considered common 'Muggle' knowledge.
Near the end of the third week, the spring shower ebbed away and the gloomy cloudy skies cleared to reveal a very bright cyan sky. And also on the day it stopped raining, the house keeper finally came for a visit.
~~~
Severus had been by the horse sheds again, feeding Lena and Sam. But the two horses were still a bit annoyed, since they hadn't been let out for almost three weeks. As he fed the horses, an elderly male voice spoke up, causing him to jump.
"Well hello there, are you Owen Leigh?"
Severus nodded mutely.
The old man smiled, "Ah, Mrs. Leigh informed me in a letter that you might show up one day, just didn't know when it was." The old man gave a chuckle, "Well, It's nice to meet you Owen. I'm Eddie Smith, I've been hired by your mother to look after the Leigh estate."
Eddie stuck his hand out. Severus shook his hand. Then Eddie petted Sam and fed him a carrot, he whinnied happily. Beside him, Lena looked longingly at the carrot Sam had devoured. Eddie pulled out two apple halves from his pocket, "Go on, give this to Lena, she like apples."
Severus placed one half of the apple under Lena's mouth and she ate it greedily, making loud crunching sounds as she shook her head contently. Severus then gave her the other slice after she finished the first one. Eddie led Sam out of the stall. "Well, both of them need to be washed, groomed, and get a bit of exercise, they're both really restless and I need to clean out their stalls."
Soon another voice from the fence called out, "Oh! I'll help!"
It was a little girl, about the age of nine.
"Ah! That's my granddaughter, Alice. Come on in Alice!" Alice, had brown hair that was tied back into a ponytail and freckles which vaguely reminded Severus of the Weasleys,
'Let's just hope she's not as unintelligent as they seem to be.'
Alice wore worn out overalls that seemed like hand me downs, however, Severus' theory was proved wrong when Alice decided to climb over the fence instead of opening the gate to come in.
Eddie laughed as he shook his head. "A real tomboy she is. She will throw the biggest fit if her parents try to get her into a dress. But she's great with horses, you'll see, they all seem to trust her, even the meanest ones. Too bad she isn't as good at her studies." Then Eddie spoke louder as he called over to Alice, "I swear Alice, you're mom is gonna have a fit if you rip another pair of jeans. That's the second one this month."
"But I had to climb that tree! Matt was making fun of how girls couldn't climb trees!"
"You nearly broke your leg."
Alice smirked. "But I didn't. Matt did, since I fell on him."
"Wicked girl you are." Eddie muttered as he shook his head again and turned his attention back to Sam. "Can you teach Owen here to how to wash the horses?"
Alice nodded. Eddie handed her the rope attached to Sam. "You take Sam and Owen here will take Lena."
Eddie placed Lena's rope into Severus' hand. "Just give it small tug, she's real nice and smart, don't worry, she'll follow you."
Severus followed Alice as they approached a concrete area with two posts that had several rings on them, 'I had wondered what this was for.'
Alice efficiently tied Sam to one post and came around to tie Lena. Then she scampered off to retrieve the hoses. When she came back, the bottom of her jeans were a bit wet, since water was already flowing from both of the hoses and had managed to splash onto her. In her free hand, she held a bucket with soapy water with a few brushes floating inside.
Alice instructed him how to wash the horses, "You want to brush them in circles. And don't put the hose in their face, they don't like that. (Alice handed him a small towel) Soak the towels and rub it around their face. When you're washing their mane, use the other brush and make sure you get more soap."
Alice washed Sam quickly since he was a bit snippy and less inclined to stand still. After she finished with him, she took out a pick and cleaned his hoofs. Severus watched Alice as he stopped scrubbing Lena. Alice looked up, "Don't worry, I'll also do Lena, it takes practice to get them to bend their feet like that."
Severus nodded.
Eventually he also finished washing Lena and she happily nipped at his sleeves as he petted her damp mane.
When suddenly he let out a yelp as cold water splashed down his back. He spun around angrily, "Who the hell?!"
Of course, it was Cecily, "Oh oops."
"Don't do that again." Severus snapped at her.
"Do what? This?" She raised the hose in her hand and splashed him the face.
"Dammit Woman!" Severus yelled, not noticed that Lena had backed away, a bit spooked at his outburst. He quickly dived towards the hose that he had been using and sprayed Cecily. She squealed as the cold water hit her and he ran at him with her own hose.
The both of them manage to completely soak each other, but Severus was more thoroughly soaked since Cecily had put her thumb over the opening of her hose and send well place sprays at him. Severus was laughing but furious at the same time, "You stupid bitch!" He screamed and ran at her, shoving her onto the dirt that had become mud from their fight. He quickly sat on her abdomen, scooped up a handful of mud, and rubbed it into her hair. She let out a scream, "That's so gross!"
Severus, for the first time in many years, let out a hearty laugh as he kept splatting mud onto Cecily. Suddenly Cecily took a handful of mud next to her and rub it into his face, then she shoved him aside, causing him to fall back into the mud. He started to spit out the mud that had gotten into his mouth.
Eddie, who had come over at the sound of the commotion, cleared his throat. Alice who was standing near by, had stopped laughing and squeaked, "I didn't do it!"
Eddie shook his head, "Alright you two. Go clean yourselves up. I'll call you out when the horses are dried and saddled, then you can take them out for a ride." Eddie then looked directly at Cecily, "Unbelievable Cecily. even if Alice doesn't get involved, you managed to get into a water fight every time."
Cecily gave Eddie a stupid grin. Severus was looking at her, "Every time?"
She nodded proudly.
Then she dashed off towards the house, "I get first dibs on the bathroom!"
"What?! No!" Severus yelled as he followed her as fast as he could.
Eddie turned to Alice, "You better get Cecily's clothes in her car, I expect it's in the same spot as always."
~~~
Severus sat on the fence next to Cecily, with his damp brown hair dripping a bit. She had managed to beat him to the bathroom, leaving him muddy and soaked outside for about half an hour. Then, when she finally came out, she informed him that there was another bathroom downstairs. "Stupid bint."
Cecily rolled her eyes, "Oh come off it. I heard that mud is good for your skin anyways."
Severus turned to her and smirked, "You want to test that theory?"
Cecily smirked, "Next time."
As the watch on Cecily's hand indicated that it was three o' clock, Alice ran over, slightly out of breath, "Gramps said that the horses are ready."
Cecily nodded and hopped off the fence. Severus did the same, but a bit awkwardly. The three of them walked over to Sam and Lena, who were saddled up. Eddie was holding the bridle, "I decided to put Western Saddles on them, it'll allow you more leverage on the trail."
"Trail?" Severus asked Eddie.
Eddie nodded and pointed behind him, "At the back of your estate is Shire woods, they've made a trail back there just for riders."
Cecily nodded and thanked Eddie as she took Sam's bridle into her hands. Then Eddie handed Severus the bridle for Lena. Severus turned to Eddie, "I don't know how to get on."
Alice hopped up and down, "Oh! I'll show you!"
Severus turned to her and nodded, "Put your left foot into the stirrup. Then place your right hand on the back of the saddle. Then put your left hand on that knob at the front of the saddle. Yep, there you go. Now, pull yourself up."
Severus tried to, but it was immensely difficult, and it seemed like the saddle was going to slip.
"Here," Cecily, handed the bridle back to Eddie and made a cup under Severus' foot, then this time as he tried to mount, she quickly caught onto his foot and helped him swing it over the other side of the horse.
Lena obediently stayed, but swished her tail a bit, she was getting a bit bored. Severus shifted a bit and finally sat down comfortably. Cecily then walked over to Sam and easily mounted. "You'll get better with time."
Then Cecily held out her hand and Eddie the bridle back to her.
~~~
It was nearly evening and the skies painted with violet, scarlet and orange when he and Cecily made it back to the house. The lights in the house were on and pleasant smells arose form the kitchen. Cecily smiled, "It looks like Eddie and Alice are making dinner."
Cecily first dismounted Sam and walked over to help Severus off Lena. It was almost as difficult as getting on since he felt stiff from riding so long. He stood and watched as Cecily took off both saddles and bridles and took them back to the shed. Then she gave each horse a firm pat and allowed them to roam out into the field. "They like sleeping outside when the weather is nice."
Severus nodded as he folded his arms.
The both of them walked side by side as they headed to the lighted house. Severus turned to Cecily, "I never really had friends you know.I mean, back at Hogwarts, I was feared among the students and greatly disliked by my fellow colleagues." He paused, not really sure why he was telling her this.
Cecily looked at him and smiled, "Well, there's always time to try something new."
"I used to be known as the slimy, greasy git." Severus smirked, now finding the name a bit amusing.
Cecily laughed. "Nah, you're more of a smarmy, pompous git."
"And the students thought I was a vampire."
Cecily laughed. Severus raised an eyebrow, "What?"
Cecily lifted his arm, "Got a nice dark tan from riding." Then she pointed at his nose, "And you're sunburned."
"What?!" Severus touched his nose and winced, "I've never been sunburned."
"Really?"
"Well, I worked in the lower part of the school and my classes took place in the dungeons, never really exposed myself to the sun much."
Cecily patted him on the shoulder, "I'll bring you some Aloe Vera tomorrow. It'll make the sunburn less inflamed."
Severus touched his nose again and winced.
"Stop doing that stupid!"
"I'm not stupid bloody woman!"
And the two bickered until dinner. and then some more after dinner