-THE LOVE LETTER
CHAPTER FIVE - Exchanges of time
Lavinia pulled her hand out as if it had been burned. It took her some minutes to brush off the shock of touching the metal box. The box that wasn't there the night before... No matter how hard she thought, she couldn't find any explanation for that.
At least not a plausible one.
Taking another deep breath she decided to go ahead and remove it from the fireplace. She brought it down carefully and returned to the couch where she sat and placed the box on the coffee table. She stayed there looking at it, as if it was a strange object.
Brushing away the dark dust from the hearth, she opened it. She gasped letting out a small cry as she stared at its contents. It had indeed been moved, someone had taken it! She was half wishing to find everything in its place, so she could tell herself that she had been mistaken and hadn't looked for it thoroughly. It would have been easier.
But the truth was that someone had removed her box from its secret place. How, she had no idea.
All her letters were gone, and instead, a single one lay next to her fountain pen. A different letter. In fact, she had never seen a letter like that before. It was sealed with wax, the sort of thing used centuries ago...
She trailed the tip of her fingers on the red wax, it had the letter " S " imprinted on it. She admired the lightly yellowed envelope and carefully opened it, trying not to tear it.
It was a short letter, written with what probably would have been a quill, "Like in the old days, how curious..."
Not wasting any more time she started reading, her hands slowly getting shakier at every line she advanced.
""" Dear Lady,
I've just found your secret letters in my fireplace. I'm sorry if I seem to be meddling in your private affairs. It wasn't my intention.
I couldn't help wondering about the things you've said, and if you allow my intrusion, I would like to express my opinion.
I believe you should always follow your heart. In no way you can call yourself impulsive. I envy one who can act upon their feelings. Even though I'm never admitting it and I try to be as practical as I can, I wish I could be as light hearted as you, to go for what your heart desires.
It's not your fault that the one you idealized as your heart's desire didn't turn out to be who you thought he was. But it's always better to risk it than to wonder what would have been.
There is always a solution to every problem, even if it seems impossible at times. Maybe the one you seek might be out there in the mist, right now, just a heartbeat away.
Perhaps I am the one you seek...
A Friend. """
She started hyperventilating, it was too much, beyond her comprehension. Her heart was beating so hard, she could hear the thumps inside her head, making her dizzy as her stomach had that cold feeling like when someone is falling from a very high place.
She let the letter slip from her hands and laid back on the couch trying to compose herself. The only thing she could think was, "How?"
This wasn't even possible, how could anyone have access to her secret box, reply her letters and return it without her seeing anything. The possibility that her husband was behind it was more impossible than the situation itself.
John couldn't write a sentence properly and that would obviously not be his reaction to finding her letters.
Lavinia spent her whole afternoon staring at the opened box on her table and after a lot of thinking, not really sure why, she decided she was going to go along with it.
Going to a desk on the other room, she took some sheets of paper and an envelope. Returning to her living room, she sat on the floor, placing everything on the coffee table. She grabbed her fountain pen from the box and stared at the paper, trying to compose a reply. She thought it would be appropriate to take a more formal approach. She had no idea who this person was and she wasn't one to exchange intimate letters with a stranger, especially being a married woman.
After a while, she decided it was good enough and closed the letter in the envelope, placing it in the box. Not hesitating a minute, she quickly returned the box to its hiding place inside the hearth.
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Snape woke up with a start. Looking at the clock he realized it was already 9 AM and he might as well get up.
As he was getting dressed, he kept gazing at the fireplace in the waiting room, it was as though there was something talking in the back of his mind, pushing him towards it. Call it an intuition... but he tried to ignore it for he was hungry and had some work to do. So, being his stubborn self, he left his bedroom ready to go have breakfast.
The Great Hall was deserted.
Not only being summer holidays, it was way past breakfast time. So, Snape took his usual seat and food materialized in front of him. He was making a mental plan on his tasks for the day when he heard the flutter of wings and a grey owl landed on the table. Recognizing it to be the Hogwarts owl he had sent his friend at the ministry in America, he immediately opened the letter.
He gave the owl a piece of bacon, and started reading the information.
""".... the property at the stated address, belonged to a wizarding family for many generations, being sold in the early 60's to a muggle couple.... unoccupied for a great period of time between late 60's and 70's... later in the 80's it was sold to muggle family who resides there at present.. the property is being put up for sale again as of next week...""""
The letter proceeded with unrelated things and greetings from his old friend. At least now he knew that after the house was sold from the ex-potions master's daughter, a muggle couple had indeed moved in.
So how did those letters ended up in his fireplace? Maybe the old man's fireplace had some kind of connection with the one in his daughter's house... reading the letter once more, he wondered why had the house been unoccupied for so long and, the period of time in which the couple lived there, seemed to be so short...
"I wonder what happened," he thought while finishing his breakfast.
Snape spent most of his day busy working on a set of potions he was testing and didn't have much time to think of the letters. It was actually a good distraction to immerse himself in work. He had been obsessing on those letters way too much and it wasn't at all like him to spend time on such frivolous things.
By the end of the afternoon he decided to call it a day and went to his chambers for a well deserving shower.
He was getting dressed for dinner when he heard a knock on the door. With a scowl he went to see who it was. And to his surprise, McGonagall was smiling at him outside his door.
"Ah... back so soon," he said obviously not pleased.
"I'm glad you're so happy to see me, Severus," said McGonagall sarcastically.
"I though you were spending the whole summer at your house," he said turning his back on her and going to the next room to get his frock coat.
"I was, but I've changed my mind," she said entering the room and sitting in one of the chairs near the fireplace. "I was rather bored and thought Hogwarts seemed a lot more interesting these days."
"For woman like you, Minerva, that kind of curiosity is appalling," he said with a smirk. "I for one, never though you would be the nosy type."
"Offending me will not prevent me from finding out what you are up to. Did you actually think I was going to believe you were just curious about Hogwarts past Professors?" she said with one eyebrow raised.
"One is entitled to have hope," he replied in a mocking voice.
"Enough with the jokes, Severus, it's not really your strongest point," she said impatiently. "Go on, spit it out!"
"Ah... the feminine subtlety of a lady," he said silkily.
She crossed her arms and just waited. She wasn't going to leave that room without a good explanation.
He sighed heavily. "Bloody woman can't keep her nose out of my life," he muttered under his breath.
He sat on the opposite chair and scowling at her and blurted out the whole thing, to see if he could get rid of her faster."Alright Minerva, I've found some letters inside my fireplace that belonged to a woman in the 60's and I wanted to know if they might have had anything to do with the person resident in this chambers at the time."
McGonagall looked surprised as if this was the last thing she was expecting.
"Oh, how interesting... can I see the letters?"
He looked at her and thinned his lips, "Why is this so important to you?"
"It seems to be important to you," she shot back.
He stood up and went to his office to get the letters. Upon returning, he had a thought. "Minerva, what was the name of the Professor's daughter as well as his name?
"The Professor was Orbilee Marston," she answered.
Snape snorted at the name and she said, "Well, he was from Texas you know."
"Hmm, so his last name was Marston," Snape said. "And the daughter?"
"If I'm not mistaken it was Krista, but I don't know her married name," answered McGonagall.
Snape confirmed what he already knew. Lavinia Lewis, was the muggle woman who had moved in along with her husband, shortly after the Professor's daughter moved out.
He handed McGonagall the letters and waited to see her reaction. She read them intently and at the last one she looked up amazed.
"Poor woman."
"I'm thinking this fireplace has a connection with the one in America, I don't know how they did that, but..." he trailed off.
"He must have put a spell to bind the two fireplaces, he was very brilliant, you know?"
"All Potion Masters are," said Snape with a smirk.
McGonagall raised an eyebrow. "Always so modest."
Snape smiled lightly and then his face slowly turned serious again, there was a longing sadness to his eyes.
"You are really into this, aren't you Severus?" McGonagall asked with a little concern. "You realize this happened in 1963?"
"You are talking to a man who just answered a 30 year old letter," he said almost without realizing it.
"You of all people?"
He didn't know why he was opening up to her, he felt very vulnerable. "She is so much like me, I can almost..."
He suddenly came out of it and met McGonagall eyes, that were very concerned ones by now.
"Oh Severus..."
He shook his head with a dismissing expression. "Don't worry, I believe it's dinner time already, shall we?"
He stood up and motioned to the door opening it for her to leave.
She nodded and knew better than to continue the conversation. As she left, he followed, closing the door behind him and both went to the Great Hall in silence.
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
Later that night, Snape decided to do some research on his library, to help with his current work and didn't see time fly by. Stretching his arms and rubbing his hands on his face, he headed for him bedroom.
On the way, his attention was again pulled to the fireplace in the waiting room. He looked at his bed and back at the fireplace, as if debating wether to go to sleep or do the silly task of checking his fireplace for "mail".
"Look at me! I've really lost my marbles this time!"
Running his fingers through his hair to hold it back from his eyes, he considered the idea and shrugged, deciding to go along with the madness. "I've come this far already."
He moved around the chairs and crouched in front of the hearth, going through the same ritual as before to reach the metal box. Pulling it down, he placed it on the coffee table and sat in front of it.
Curiosity taking the better of him, he quickly opened it to find his letter gone and a muggle letter sitting in its place.
His heart was racing as he picked it up and examined it in his hands. It worked, oh God! The magic used in this fireplace not only bound two houses in different countries, but it also bound two different times...
He trailed one long finger through the envelope and opened it.
""" July 10th 1963
Sir,
I received your astonishing letter today and I'm amazed by your audacity. Who are you, and how could you know I had something hidden in my fireplace?
I wonder if I put another letter in the same place... Am I in the middle of some feverish dream and you are going to violate my privacy again?
In mystification,
Lavinia Lewis. """
Snape sat in awe contemplating the amazing letter in his hands. He looked around and realizing he wasn't going to be able to sleep any time soon, he stood up and went to his office.
Sitting in front of his desk, he got himself some parchment and a quill and started writing his reply.
"""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""