Special thanks to Diana for her insight and perfect suggestions and to those of you who reviews here and to me personally.
Chapter 23 – Into The Eyes Of Yesterday
It was a particularly warm Sunday morning in March. Sophie woke up to find arms wrapped around her waist and a pair of legs entwined with hers. These mornings were her favorite. Neither she nor Severus kept early Sunday appointments so they customarily spent the morning lingering in bed and generally avoiding the outside world.
She could feel his warm breath on her neck and she relished it. She wanted to stay like that forever, but Dumbledore had requested their attendance at a staff meeting later that morning. Why it could not wait until Monday was beyond her. She gently tried to wake her dormant lover.
"Severus?…Severus, darling……..we need to get up."
No response. She turned over to face him. He looked so peaceful, she hated to disturb him, but… "Severus," she whispered as she kissed his forehead. "Severus." She kissed his nose. "Severus." She kissed his lips and realized that he was kissing her back. "You are awake, you prat."
He was now sporting a full grin. "I wanted to see how far you would go to wake me up."
She hit him with her pillow. "Get up." She went to leave the bed and he pulled her back.
"Who said you could leave?"
"And who is going to stop me?" She put on her best pouty face. He proceeded to pin her arms down while he got on top of her.
"You are officially my prisoner. I will hold you here until I feel you have earned the right to leave." He subsequently sat on her.
"You are insatiable."
He leaned in. "I have a lot of lost time to make up for."
She lifted her head and gave him a quick kiss. "If I promise to make up for it in spades this evening, can we get up? We are expected at a staff meeting in an hour, and I will need lots of caffeine to get through it."
He furrowed his brow as if deeply considering her proposition, "I will agree to your terms, but that means I get to call the shots this evening."
"I wouldn't have it any other way." He lowered his head and kissed her huskily before setting her free.
A full breakfast was waiting for them at the kitchen table. Sophie shook her head. "Do you have those elves on retainer or something?" she inquired.
"They aim to please."
"Really…that's what I like about you as well."
He smiled out of the side of his mouth as he buttered his toast. Sophie found herself constantly struck with how different his demeanor was from when they first met. He was relaxed and playful, even down right mischievous at times. Living a childhood he never had, maybe; enjoying a life he refused to live before, probably. But most of all he was happy and allowing himself to be so. As a psychologist it did her heart good to be able to witness it; as his lover it did her heart good to share it. ]
"Do you have any idea what this meeting is about?" Sophie asked while sipping her coffee.
"None at all."
"You seem unconcerned."
"I see no reason to fret about something I can not control. I will know soon enough and can worry appropriately at that point."
She just shook her head. "I wish I had your fortitude."
"Trust me. You have other assets that are much more desirable." They smirked at each other.
When they finished eating Sophie announced, "I am going to take a shower. I will be quick, I promise." She gave him a soft kiss and walked to the bathroom.
She got undressed and entered the shower; the warm water dripped down her body. The idea of just staying there and letting the water wash away the day was appealing but remembering her pledge to be brief, she started to soap her torso. Suddenly a thick voice asked, "Do you want to me to get your back."
She gave resigned smile, "We are going to be late, aren't we?"
They made it to the meeting on time - barely. The entire staff was sitting in Dumbledore's office. Sophie was surprised to see the cozy office enlarged to accommodate the assembly, but then once again she had to remind herself where she was.
Professor McGonagall moved over to allow Sophie and Severus to sit together. Sophie enjoyed the fact that Severus' s co-workers got so much pleasure out of their relationship. For a man who had convinced himself that he was to spend the rest of his life alone, he had a lot of people who cared about him.
Dumbledore entered the room. He looked more solemn than Sophie ever remembered him looking. He surveyed the faces that were seated before him, taking a mental roll call. When he was pleased that everyone was present, he spoke.
"My friends, I am glad you all made it here this morning. I will begin by apologizing for interrupting your weekend, but I felt this could not wait. As many of you know we have spent the past six months trying to keep track of Voldemort's movements as well as those of his followers. As our efforts to convince the population of his revival have not been as successful as we had hoped, we have doubled our endeavors."
"Our spies have informed us that there is activity in the Death Eater's camps. We were aware of the fact that they had started to regroup and were actively training. We also became aware of the fact that that were trying to recruit new members. On a positive note it appears they have not had much success either. We did find out that they are initiating their children much earlier than is the tradition. That was confirmed to us by the efforts of Sophie and Severus. It has also been confirmed that their training methods are relentless and violent as it seems some have not survived the preparations. We believe the reason for this aggression is that that they are planning an offensive very, very soon."
"The latest bit of information however is the most disturbing. It seems that they are choosing to target Hogwarts. I do not think I need to stress that we need to be on our highest alert. I also don't think I need to specify exactly who we feel they will target, suffice to say I am enlisting the help of a few allies in this battle. I need everyone to keep an open mind and to remember we are all fighting for the same thing. " Dumbledore walked over to a door at the far end of his office and admitted a few people: Arthur Weasley and his two oldest sons, Charlie and Bill entered first, followed by a shaggy dog and his handler.
It was at the sight of the man holding onto the dog that caused a gasp to escape Sophie's lips, a gasp that caught the attention of every set of ears in the room especially those of the man sitting to her right. Sophie was oblivious to all of it. A recollection of days long past swept over her. Before her stood a faint memory of robin's egg blue. She was staring into the eyes of yesterday…into the eyes of Remus Lupin.
