Disclaimers: I don't own them.
A/N: What's that you say? I'm updating? Yes the time has come to add another chapter to the saga that is my fic. I just wanted to say that I have been sadly remiss in not acknowledging the two people who have been beyond helpful to me during this whole process. Ladybug11 and ElvenJen read everything before I post it and tell me if it blows. Ladybug11 always gives me the most amazing ideas every time I come crying to her that I have writer's block. ElvenJen tells me if the story is flowing and what is truly sucktastic. I can't thank you two enough for putting up with me! I owe you guys big time!
Severus Snape was in shock. Rosemarie's speech had been completely unexpected. Call him insensitive or just plain stupid, but it had never occurred to him that his Rosie would have changed so much. Yes, damn it, she was still his Rosie, in spite of the fact that the two of them could barely spend two minutes in the same room together without fighting. "Of course she would have changed, idiot." Snape muttered to himself. When they had first met, Rosie had been eighteen years old and, in spite of her frosty exterior, extremely naïve. For Snape, what had started out as a game to rile the new girl, and maybe get in her pants, quickly became something more. Love was something that he had sneered at, and yet Severus Snape had fallen head over heels in love with Rosemarie Bacall. She had consumed him; he burned for her. Never in his life had he felt the way he did for Rosemarie. He still remembered the exact moment he had known he had fallen completely in love with her. It had been the night of one of the Ministry Christmas balls, and Snape had somehow convinced Rosemarie to let him escort her. Instead of wearing black, the way she did for every other Ministry event, Rosemarie had decked herself out in red silk robes. One look and Snape knew he couldn't live without her. It was true then, but how did he feel now? When he had walked into the Great Hall that first day, his heart had leaped in his chest; yes, he was furious with her, but at the same time, he wanted nothing more than to pull her to him and kiss her senseless. He was even willing to admit to himself that he had intentionally picked fights with Rosie in hopes of getting her turned on, and reminding her of how they always used to "make up".
But love was something else entirely different. Snape had allowed himself to love her once, and look how that turned out. It would not be easy to love Rosemarie again, despite the fact it was what she wanted from him.
Where was she? Rosemarie should have long since made her way to his room for their usual bout of make up sex. It was standard operating procedure: they fought, made love, then fought again. It was a continuous cycle, but one that never ceased to tire either of them. "Until now, it seems." Snape remarked bitterly to himself.
Rosemarie was staying away. It was the only way she could think of, to have a civilized relationship with him. Every time they added love or sex into the picture, their relationship became all the more difficult. It was time, finally, to move on. Rosemarie wasn't denying the fact that she loved him. "I've lived without him for twelve years, I can do it again." And who said she had to live without any kind of love or affection? She would get a house in Hogsmeade to live in this summer with the children-it was high time she moved out of Helen's home.
Yes, Rosemarie was going to start over.
He left Hogwarts early the next morning.
At first, Rosemarie thought he was avoiding her because of the things she had said the day before. She didn't see him at meals, or in the teacher's lounge. Finally, after a day had passed without seeing him at all, Rosemarie began to think something was seriously wrong. Going against her better judgement, she went to go look for him in his rooms. Of course, he wasn't there. Something about the room felt different, however. As she examined his apartments more closely, it soon became apparent that Severus Snape had packed up a few items and left Hogwarts. Rosemarie felt the icy cold grip of fear close around her heart. She knew of his past; she knew all about his spying for Dumbledore, and how his personal safety was always at risk. Swallowing her pride, Rosemarie went to ask the Headmaster where Severus had gone.
"I'm afraid I cannot give you Severus' exact location, Rosemarie, as you well know." Professor Dumbledore informed her an hour later. "He had volunteered to go on this mission for me last summer. I know that Severus has recently started forming a relationship with the children, so naturally, you would be worried about his well-being." Dumbledore gave her an enigmatic smile. "He will be quite safe, Rosemarie. The mission I sent him on was more of a-"he paused "diplomatic matter. I have not sent him into the path of the Dark Lord, I assure you."
To Rosemarie, it felt uncannily like a similar conversation she had with Dumbledore many years ago. "Thank you, Professor. Obviously, I don't want the children to lose their father before they really get to know him."
"Of course Rosemarie." Again, he gave her that knowing smile. "You know Rosemarie, I know you think your work for our cause was unimportant and insignificant, but you really were quite an asset to us. I realize you have the children to look after now, but we would always appreciate any help you could give us."
Rosemarie was in shock. "Like you said, Professor, I do have the children and I would never want to put myself in danger." She paused, remembering the allure working for The Cause had for her back when she was eighteen. "Perhaps if you had something along the lines of filing paperwork-" Rosemarie let her sentence trail off at the end.
If Rosemarie didn't know any better, she would think Professor Dumbledore was grinning at her. "I will certainly let you know. Thank you, dear."
He came back on Christmas Eve. He arrived in the late morning and in the foulest mood imaginable. Rosemarie saw him, striding angrily down the hall, dripping wet, his bag, airborne, following him. Rosemarie gave an involuntary shiver, when she saw him. She shut her eyes to regain her composure, and her mind began to drift back to the past.
"Where is he?" Rosemarie said for what seemed to be the hundredth time that evening. It was pouring down rain outside, and Severus still wasn't back from whatever errand Dumbledore had sent him out on. "I'll be back in an hour. Git." Rosemarie mimicked Severus' placating tones, as she moved the curtains aside to look for him again. She heard a small popping noise behind her, and turned to see Severus standing in the middle of the living room, sopping wet. "You bloody idiot!" Rosemarie hissed at him. "You know you're not supposed to apparate here! You could have been seen."
"I had no other bloody choice! But I'm fine, since you seem to care so much about whether or not I'm alright."
"Are you alright?"
"Of course I'm alright."
"Then will you please tell me where the fuck you've been?"
"I told you. I had something to do for Dumbledore." "'I'll be back in an hour' you said. Well it's five hours later, Severus! Where the hell have you been?"
"Rosie, please. I'm cold, wet and exhausted. I really don't have the time or patience for you to play the jealous girlfriend right now. I just want to take a hot shower and go to sleep. Tomorrow you can yell at me all you want."
His condescending tone sent Rosemarie into a fury. "Oh really, that is typical! Clearly, I thought you were with another woman! I wasn't at all worried about the fact that you were out on some kind of mission for Dumbledore. It never crossed my mind once that you were a spy, and that Voldemort could have found out about your spying! No, I just thought you were giving it to some other woman, because that's how women think!"
Severus just rolled his eyes, muttered something under his breath, and headed for the bathroom. Rosemarie wrapped her bathrobe tighter around herself, and followed him down the hall. "You are such an insensitive chauvinist, do you know that? I was bloody worried about you, and you accuse me of acting like a jealous girlfriend." She entered the bathroom, to see him stripping his wet robes off.
He turned and looked at her. "Were you really worried about me Rosemarie?" His voice was gentle, and he sounded completely unlike himself.
To her horror, Rosemarie felt tears running down her face. "Of course I was." Her statement was punctuated by an inelegant sniff.
Even though he was soaking wet, he pulled her into his arms. "Thank you." The kiss was soft and gentle at first. She felt a fire ignite inside of her, and it wasn't long before the kiss deepened. Rosemarie shivered. "We're soaked." She murmured against his mouth.
Snape just smiled at her, and reached behind him to turn on the shower. "Well we should take care of that then."
Rosemarie snapped herself back to the present, suddenly aware of the fact that Severus was staring at her. "Hello, Rosemarie." His voice faintly mocking. "Were you just going to stand there all day?"
She was caught off guard. "No! I was just thinking about something, that's all."
"Hmm. I thought I smelled something burning." He grinned at her.
"Oh how bloody typical of you!" She snapped at him. "You would go and say something insulting."
The grin disappeared from his face. "Sweet Gods, I was teasing you Rosemarie! Do you know where I've been these past two weeks? In some miserable shit hole with Black and Lupin, attempting to get along with the two miserable berks, who choose to forget the fact that I fought for Dumbledore during the war. No, clearly, I'm still an evil Death Eater who cannot wait until the Dark Lord rises again. So, I'm really not in the mood for your feminist manifestos today, Rosemarie." He shot her an evil glare before turning on his heel and walking back towards his rooms.
"Well this is turning out to be a nice Christmas so far." Rosemarie muttered to herself, before heading back to her rooms.
Rosemarie was lonely. Every Christmas Eve, Professor Dumbledore hosted a party for the teachers in the Staff Room. He encouraged everyone to dress up in order to "get everyone into the proper Christmas spirit." Rosemarie went to the party, hoping to get over her loneliness for the children. It didn't work. She sat in the corner, wearing an ancient red silk dress robe, watching the other professors laughing and talking as they became more and more intoxicated on the Muggle eggnog Dumbledore had ordered. Severus wasn't there either. Not that Rosemarie had tried to make herself look gorgeous for his benefit-she simply felt like dressing up. The door opened, and Rosemarie felt her heart leap in anticipation. Finally, he was here. Her excitement soon turned to disappointment when she realized that it wasn't Severus, but Remus Lupin. After being laden down with cookies and eggnog, Lupin made his way over to Rosemarie's corner. "Happy Christmas Rosemarie!" He settled down in the chair next to her. "I had to come for my Wolfsbane potion, and Dumbledore insisted I join the party."
Rosemarie had never been happier to see him. "I'm glad to see you, Remus. I'm feeling a little down tonight." Before she realized what was happening, Rosemarie found herself telling Lupin everything that was bothering her. "And the worst part is, no matter how much I keep telling myself I need to move on, I can't."
Lupin looked at her for a moment. He was about to say something, when his attention was distracted by someone entering the room. "Don't look now, but I believe Severus just came in."
Rosemarie felt the color drain from her face. "Oh Gods, Remus, what should I do?"
Remus' eyes twinkled devilishly. "Well for starters, let's give him something to think about." And before Rosemarie could say anything, he grabbed her by the shoulders and started kissing her.
Rosemarie sighed. Remus certainly knew what he was doing, but it just lacked that zing she always felt with Severus. Still, it was nice to have someone paying attention to her. She was finally starting to relax, and get into the kiss, when she heard someone clearing their throat loudly and angrily.
"Lupin. I never thought you would fall victim to the village slut." Snape's icy voice filled Rosemarie's ears.
A/N: What's that you say? I'm updating? Yes the time has come to add another chapter to the saga that is my fic. I just wanted to say that I have been sadly remiss in not acknowledging the two people who have been beyond helpful to me during this whole process. Ladybug11 and ElvenJen read everything before I post it and tell me if it blows. Ladybug11 always gives me the most amazing ideas every time I come crying to her that I have writer's block. ElvenJen tells me if the story is flowing and what is truly sucktastic. I can't thank you two enough for putting up with me! I owe you guys big time!
Severus Snape was in shock. Rosemarie's speech had been completely unexpected. Call him insensitive or just plain stupid, but it had never occurred to him that his Rosie would have changed so much. Yes, damn it, she was still his Rosie, in spite of the fact that the two of them could barely spend two minutes in the same room together without fighting. "Of course she would have changed, idiot." Snape muttered to himself. When they had first met, Rosie had been eighteen years old and, in spite of her frosty exterior, extremely naïve. For Snape, what had started out as a game to rile the new girl, and maybe get in her pants, quickly became something more. Love was something that he had sneered at, and yet Severus Snape had fallen head over heels in love with Rosemarie Bacall. She had consumed him; he burned for her. Never in his life had he felt the way he did for Rosemarie. He still remembered the exact moment he had known he had fallen completely in love with her. It had been the night of one of the Ministry Christmas balls, and Snape had somehow convinced Rosemarie to let him escort her. Instead of wearing black, the way she did for every other Ministry event, Rosemarie had decked herself out in red silk robes. One look and Snape knew he couldn't live without her. It was true then, but how did he feel now? When he had walked into the Great Hall that first day, his heart had leaped in his chest; yes, he was furious with her, but at the same time, he wanted nothing more than to pull her to him and kiss her senseless. He was even willing to admit to himself that he had intentionally picked fights with Rosie in hopes of getting her turned on, and reminding her of how they always used to "make up".
But love was something else entirely different. Snape had allowed himself to love her once, and look how that turned out. It would not be easy to love Rosemarie again, despite the fact it was what she wanted from him.
Where was she? Rosemarie should have long since made her way to his room for their usual bout of make up sex. It was standard operating procedure: they fought, made love, then fought again. It was a continuous cycle, but one that never ceased to tire either of them. "Until now, it seems." Snape remarked bitterly to himself.
Rosemarie was staying away. It was the only way she could think of, to have a civilized relationship with him. Every time they added love or sex into the picture, their relationship became all the more difficult. It was time, finally, to move on. Rosemarie wasn't denying the fact that she loved him. "I've lived without him for twelve years, I can do it again." And who said she had to live without any kind of love or affection? She would get a house in Hogsmeade to live in this summer with the children-it was high time she moved out of Helen's home.
Yes, Rosemarie was going to start over.
He left Hogwarts early the next morning.
At first, Rosemarie thought he was avoiding her because of the things she had said the day before. She didn't see him at meals, or in the teacher's lounge. Finally, after a day had passed without seeing him at all, Rosemarie began to think something was seriously wrong. Going against her better judgement, she went to go look for him in his rooms. Of course, he wasn't there. Something about the room felt different, however. As she examined his apartments more closely, it soon became apparent that Severus Snape had packed up a few items and left Hogwarts. Rosemarie felt the icy cold grip of fear close around her heart. She knew of his past; she knew all about his spying for Dumbledore, and how his personal safety was always at risk. Swallowing her pride, Rosemarie went to ask the Headmaster where Severus had gone.
"I'm afraid I cannot give you Severus' exact location, Rosemarie, as you well know." Professor Dumbledore informed her an hour later. "He had volunteered to go on this mission for me last summer. I know that Severus has recently started forming a relationship with the children, so naturally, you would be worried about his well-being." Dumbledore gave her an enigmatic smile. "He will be quite safe, Rosemarie. The mission I sent him on was more of a-"he paused "diplomatic matter. I have not sent him into the path of the Dark Lord, I assure you."
To Rosemarie, it felt uncannily like a similar conversation she had with Dumbledore many years ago. "Thank you, Professor. Obviously, I don't want the children to lose their father before they really get to know him."
"Of course Rosemarie." Again, he gave her that knowing smile. "You know Rosemarie, I know you think your work for our cause was unimportant and insignificant, but you really were quite an asset to us. I realize you have the children to look after now, but we would always appreciate any help you could give us."
Rosemarie was in shock. "Like you said, Professor, I do have the children and I would never want to put myself in danger." She paused, remembering the allure working for The Cause had for her back when she was eighteen. "Perhaps if you had something along the lines of filing paperwork-" Rosemarie let her sentence trail off at the end.
If Rosemarie didn't know any better, she would think Professor Dumbledore was grinning at her. "I will certainly let you know. Thank you, dear."
He came back on Christmas Eve. He arrived in the late morning and in the foulest mood imaginable. Rosemarie saw him, striding angrily down the hall, dripping wet, his bag, airborne, following him. Rosemarie gave an involuntary shiver, when she saw him. She shut her eyes to regain her composure, and her mind began to drift back to the past.
"Where is he?" Rosemarie said for what seemed to be the hundredth time that evening. It was pouring down rain outside, and Severus still wasn't back from whatever errand Dumbledore had sent him out on. "I'll be back in an hour. Git." Rosemarie mimicked Severus' placating tones, as she moved the curtains aside to look for him again. She heard a small popping noise behind her, and turned to see Severus standing in the middle of the living room, sopping wet. "You bloody idiot!" Rosemarie hissed at him. "You know you're not supposed to apparate here! You could have been seen."
"I had no other bloody choice! But I'm fine, since you seem to care so much about whether or not I'm alright."
"Are you alright?"
"Of course I'm alright."
"Then will you please tell me where the fuck you've been?"
"I told you. I had something to do for Dumbledore." "'I'll be back in an hour' you said. Well it's five hours later, Severus! Where the hell have you been?"
"Rosie, please. I'm cold, wet and exhausted. I really don't have the time or patience for you to play the jealous girlfriend right now. I just want to take a hot shower and go to sleep. Tomorrow you can yell at me all you want."
His condescending tone sent Rosemarie into a fury. "Oh really, that is typical! Clearly, I thought you were with another woman! I wasn't at all worried about the fact that you were out on some kind of mission for Dumbledore. It never crossed my mind once that you were a spy, and that Voldemort could have found out about your spying! No, I just thought you were giving it to some other woman, because that's how women think!"
Severus just rolled his eyes, muttered something under his breath, and headed for the bathroom. Rosemarie wrapped her bathrobe tighter around herself, and followed him down the hall. "You are such an insensitive chauvinist, do you know that? I was bloody worried about you, and you accuse me of acting like a jealous girlfriend." She entered the bathroom, to see him stripping his wet robes off.
He turned and looked at her. "Were you really worried about me Rosemarie?" His voice was gentle, and he sounded completely unlike himself.
To her horror, Rosemarie felt tears running down her face. "Of course I was." Her statement was punctuated by an inelegant sniff.
Even though he was soaking wet, he pulled her into his arms. "Thank you." The kiss was soft and gentle at first. She felt a fire ignite inside of her, and it wasn't long before the kiss deepened. Rosemarie shivered. "We're soaked." She murmured against his mouth.
Snape just smiled at her, and reached behind him to turn on the shower. "Well we should take care of that then."
Rosemarie snapped herself back to the present, suddenly aware of the fact that Severus was staring at her. "Hello, Rosemarie." His voice faintly mocking. "Were you just going to stand there all day?"
She was caught off guard. "No! I was just thinking about something, that's all."
"Hmm. I thought I smelled something burning." He grinned at her.
"Oh how bloody typical of you!" She snapped at him. "You would go and say something insulting."
The grin disappeared from his face. "Sweet Gods, I was teasing you Rosemarie! Do you know where I've been these past two weeks? In some miserable shit hole with Black and Lupin, attempting to get along with the two miserable berks, who choose to forget the fact that I fought for Dumbledore during the war. No, clearly, I'm still an evil Death Eater who cannot wait until the Dark Lord rises again. So, I'm really not in the mood for your feminist manifestos today, Rosemarie." He shot her an evil glare before turning on his heel and walking back towards his rooms.
"Well this is turning out to be a nice Christmas so far." Rosemarie muttered to herself, before heading back to her rooms.
Rosemarie was lonely. Every Christmas Eve, Professor Dumbledore hosted a party for the teachers in the Staff Room. He encouraged everyone to dress up in order to "get everyone into the proper Christmas spirit." Rosemarie went to the party, hoping to get over her loneliness for the children. It didn't work. She sat in the corner, wearing an ancient red silk dress robe, watching the other professors laughing and talking as they became more and more intoxicated on the Muggle eggnog Dumbledore had ordered. Severus wasn't there either. Not that Rosemarie had tried to make herself look gorgeous for his benefit-she simply felt like dressing up. The door opened, and Rosemarie felt her heart leap in anticipation. Finally, he was here. Her excitement soon turned to disappointment when she realized that it wasn't Severus, but Remus Lupin. After being laden down with cookies and eggnog, Lupin made his way over to Rosemarie's corner. "Happy Christmas Rosemarie!" He settled down in the chair next to her. "I had to come for my Wolfsbane potion, and Dumbledore insisted I join the party."
Rosemarie had never been happier to see him. "I'm glad to see you, Remus. I'm feeling a little down tonight." Before she realized what was happening, Rosemarie found herself telling Lupin everything that was bothering her. "And the worst part is, no matter how much I keep telling myself I need to move on, I can't."
Lupin looked at her for a moment. He was about to say something, when his attention was distracted by someone entering the room. "Don't look now, but I believe Severus just came in."
Rosemarie felt the color drain from her face. "Oh Gods, Remus, what should I do?"
Remus' eyes twinkled devilishly. "Well for starters, let's give him something to think about." And before Rosemarie could say anything, he grabbed her by the shoulders and started kissing her.
Rosemarie sighed. Remus certainly knew what he was doing, but it just lacked that zing she always felt with Severus. Still, it was nice to have someone paying attention to her. She was finally starting to relax, and get into the kiss, when she heard someone clearing their throat loudly and angrily.
"Lupin. I never thought you would fall victim to the village slut." Snape's icy voice filled Rosemarie's ears.
