Everyone had finally reached an agreement about Autumn and Willow. It was a rather unfortunate quirk of fate that they'd been brought into this, but now that they had, they would simply have to stay involved. At least for the time being. Severus felt oddly as though a weight had been lifted from his heart, in all honesty, as their sudden involvement necessitated his explaining many things to Autumn, which he'd been keeping from her. The weight that was lifted, though, was soon replaced with another as he realized that for every explanation, there would be new questions, and he would have to offer other explanations he did not wish.

It was little things. Autumn thought the 'tattoo' on his arm was 'wicked', but she had no idea that she was right. It was wicked, but not in the way she meant. It was evil, and it was a sign that he was evil, and that was not something he was sure he could avoid telling her any longer. He was not sure it was something he could reconcile with his conscious for not having explained long before now. Long? You've known her less than two weeks, you fool.

He found himself wishing suddenly that he could take her back to Hogwarts with him. How he would love her introduction to magic to be the enchanted ceiling in the Great Hall, or the painting of the pear that you tickled to gain entrance to the kitchens. How he wished he could sit with her by the lake, watching for the giant squid to surface with its tentacles, and see the look on her face. He wanted to see her reaction to portraits that talked and staircases that moved and House Elves and wingardium leviosa and Quidditch. Unfortunately she was going to have her belief in magic affirmed with what was sure to be a sketchy explanation of some of the darkest of the Dark Arts. There would be no changing of dustpans into doves to make her clap delightedly, there would be only a brief explanation of Imperio and Crucio, and he would leave out Avada Kedavra if he could.

"Do you want me to come with you?" asked a soft voice, and Severus turned to meet Lupin's eyes. "For moral support. I know you can explain it all, but..."

Severus laughed humorlessly. "I almost wish you would," he replied quietly. "But I don't know what good it would do."

"If it would make it easier for you to approach the subject, I'll sit there with my mouth shut," Remus promised softly. "It's an honest offer, Severus."

"I know, and I thank you, but..." he trailed off abruptly as a small figure in the doorway caught his eye. When the meeting had ended, Molly had opened the kitchen door, even though everyone in the house had either been in attendance or getting ready for bed. Now, though, Autumn was standing there, a faint flush on her cheeks. "Autumn," Severus whispered hoarsely.

Lupin spun around to look at her, his eyes wide, obviously thinking the same thing Severus was—what had she heard? She licked her lips nervously, and stepped into the kitchen, keeping her back against the wall, and Severus noted for the first time that she looked a bit pale. He crossed the kitchen quickly, and placed an arm around her shoulders. "Are you all right?" he asked softly, and she glanced around. She'd drawn a fair bit of attention in the past few minutes.

"I... erm..." she took a step back from him, looking at the floor, her arms crossed about her waist in an effort to hug herself, it seemed, and she glanced surreptitiously at Bill and Tonks who were still at the table. "I don't know quite how to say this," she said softly.

Severus exchanged another frown with Lupin. "Just out with it, then," Remus suggested.

She laughed a derisive laugh and looked at the floor again. "This is so stupid," she murmured, turning her head to the side and taking a deep breath. "There's..." she looked up at them, and her face grew even redder. She laughed again, but it didn't sound heartfelt at all, and she sank her head into her hand. "Never mind," she said finally. "I just have too much imagination. I'm going back upstairs."

Severus eyed her suspiciously, but didn't really know what to say. "Is something wrong, Autumn?" he asked softly, and she bit her lip again, looking very much as though she had something she would like to tell him, and at the same time looking rather determined not to say it, whatever it was.

She was looking past him, at the ceiling, her face turning redder by degrees and then finally she seemed to make up her mind. "No," she said, shaking her head firmly. "Nothing is wrong. I'm just in a strange house and it's been a strange night and if I think I'm seeing... no. Nothing is wrong."

"What is it that you think you're seeing?" Bill had been tying his shoe, and now draped an arm over his knee, regarding Autumn thoughtfully. "You know, we're not going to laugh at you."

She opened her mouth, and then shut it quickly, shaking her head. Tonks stood this time and walked over in her usual graceless fashion that brought to mind a kitten still trying to figure out what to do with so many legs. "You know," she confided softly, "you're right about one thing. This is a very old house, and a strange house at that, and you might shudder at some of the things we've found here. Did you see something? Hear a noise?"

Autumn opened her mouth again, and then closed it once more. "Like I said, I'm sure it was just my imagination."

Tonks nodded, looking thoughtful. "Couldn't have been a rat or something?" she prompted. "Wouldn't be the first time we found a rat."

Autumn looked at her for a long minute, then nodded, frowning. "Yes," she said finally. "I think it might have been a rat or... something."

"Where was it?" Tonks asked.

"In the wardrobe. In the room Remus said I could sleep in."

Tonks caught Lupin's eye, and he nodded, slipping off to the stairs. Severus looked from Tonks to Autumn and back again. "Remus will take care of it," Tonks said cheerily. "Come on now, let's have some tea and leave him to it. Filthy things, rats."

Autumn nodded doubtfully, and Severus could almost see her working to convince herself that it was, indeed, a rat. Fascinating. Severus had never been around Muggles enough to see this phenomenon, though he'd certainly heard of it—Muggles, it was always said, would go to great lengths to ignore magic when confronted with it, and even this Muggle, whom Severus had ample evidence believed in some form of magic at least (Muggle witches, Remus had called Autumn and Willow, and it was probably still right on both accounts, despite the odd twists and turns involving Willow), did not appear to want to be made a fool of by admitting to what she'd seen. Severus almost felt sorry for Remus going blindly to rid the wardrobe of whatever it was that was trapped inside it. Likely a boggart, but it could be almost anything.

Severus seated himself across from Autumn, watching her carefully as she stirred her tea. She'd been stirring it for several minutes now, and he was sure that her mind was on whatever it was in that wardrobe. And, he realized suddenly, he was being presented an excellent chance to broach the topic of magic with her. Clearing his throat softly, he leaned forward, bracing his arms on the table. "It wasn't a rat, was it, Autumn?" he asked softly, and her eyes widened again. She shook her head slowly, though. "Will you tell me what it really was?" he asked, hoping his voice was as patient and understanding as he intended it to be.

Autumn was very quiet. Exceptionally quiet, in fact. "I don't know," she replied at last. "I... it was..." She shook her head firmly. "I don't know."

"Will you describe it to me, then?" he asked, tilting his head to one side in an attempt to hold her gaze as she found her tea cup increasingly interesting.

She was quiet for so long that he was afraid she wasn't going to reply, but finally, she did. Haltingly, but she began to speak. "It was green," she offered, not daring to look up. "With red, bloodshot eyes and two horns, kind of like a rhinoceros. And fangs. But it was really little, like, no bigger than a cat, and it had really big feet with sharp claws and... no eyelids. And a forked tongue. And wings. And its body did look almost like a rat, with a rat's tail, except it had scales and designs on it like... like a snake."

Severus just stared at her. He'd been expecting her to say it was a giant rat or a snake with two heads or something... less complex. He looked at Tonks, who shrugged, and then at Arthur, who was sitting, his teacup in his hand. "Fascinating," he said softly. "Anything else?"

She shook her head. "It's stupid, I know. I told you I have an overactive imagination and..."

"Not at all," Severus interrupted, finding his voice finally. "It was... erm..." he frowned suddenly. "You know, Lupin's been gone longer than I would have expected it to take him to remove a boggart... I think I'll go make sure..."

"There we are!" The man in question entered the kitchen with a bright smile. "That's one less boggart to worry about. A particularly nasty one, too."

"Quite," Severus replied, still watching Autumn.

"A boggart?" she repeated. "What's a boggart?"

Severus shrugged slightly. "You might call it a monster of sorts, though I really don't like that categorization. It's a magical creature. But, I suppose a monster is close enough for now."

Autumn's eyes were big and round as saucers. "You mean... it's real?" Her voice was barely a squeak now. "But... I thought..." she was increasingly pale, and her eyes were threatening to consume her whole face. Her hands shook until her teacup was in danger of being knocked off the table, and Bill moved closer in alarm, pushing her cup farther from the edge and hooking an arm firmly around her waist.

"Are you all right?" he asked, concern evident in his voice.

Autumn nodded, her eyes still wide, and she looked like she was going to be ill. She did not look 'all right'. Severus looked at Lupin, his own eyes wide, his expression clearly asking 'what the hell did I do?' Lupin's face replied, just as clearly, 'damned if I know!'

"Autumn, er, I... I didn't realize this was going to upset you so, and..." He looked, panic-stricken at Arthur, who looked considerably less fascinated now and more concerned.

Tonks stood suddenly and moved to the cupboard and retrieved a glass and a bottle of scotch. Pouring a liberal measure of the latter into the former, she returned to the table, placed the glass in Autumn's hands, and commanded in a firm voice, "Drink that. You look like you need it." Autumn looked at Tonks for a moment, then picked up the glass and tossed the entire contents down her throat, and set the glass back on the table with a thud. "Better?" Tonks asked after a moment, and Autumn nodded, shakily. She didn't look precisely better, but she also didn't look quite so green now. Maybe that was an improvement.

Tonks sat again, nudging Bill out of the way and turning Autumn to look at her. "Now, that green monster with the red eyes and horns... was this the first time you've ever thought of such a thing?"

Autumn shook her head slowly, and Severus' eyes threatened to pop out of his head suddenly. Lupin sank into the chair to Severus' left, and was watching with avid interest. Tonks ignored them both.

"Where have you thought of it before?" Tonks asked.

"My brother," Autumn whispered. "He used to tell me there was a monster that lived in the sewers that would get me if I went to the bathroom at night."

Tonks shot a withering look at Severus and suddenly picked up a stray napkin and threw it at him. "And you told her that thing was real you lout!"

Severus' mouth worked soundlessly for a moment, and then snapped shut. But that...

"Men," Tonks muttered, rolling her eyes. She patted Autumn's hand. "Don't worry, there's no monster in the sewer that I know of. That thing upstairs was called a boggart, which is a type of creature. It's a shapeshifter, and it turns into whatever you fear. So, you obviously fear this thing your brother made up to tease you—aren't boys just awful like that?—and the boggart sensed that, so became it. Does that make sense?"

Autumn was nodding slowly, looking a little more calm.

"They're really fairly harmless, provided you don't kill yourself trying to get away from them. Most people's fears are more concrete than that. Spiders and snakes and rats and the like. Must've been a shock to see this old monster in your wardrobe suddenly, huh?"

Autumn nodded again, looking at Tonks as though she'd grown two heads.

"Yeah. It's different if you're not used to that kind of thing," Tonks was saying. "I know I never saw one until I was in school, and being taught how to get rid of it, so mine was really wonky too. I'm afraid I watched way too many horror movies growing up, so mine was something of a cross between Freddy Kreuger and Michael Myers. You know, that really stiff walk and the blank mask face and the knife, but the really sharp fingernails and the red and white sweater?"

Severus looked at Bill and then at Lupin and then at Arthur, but they all had equally blank expressions on their faces. Freddy who and Mike what? Autumn, however, had a faint smile on her face.

"Yeah. It's pretty funny now. But the good news is, those film monsters are a hell of a lot worse than anything that's real. So, before you freak out because 'monsters' are real, keep in mind that film directors have phenomenal imaginations and specialize in making us scream. Probably why Muggles are more afraid of boggarts than witches and wizards. Like those four," Tonks pointed, taking in the four men across the table, and then leaned towards Autumn to speak conspiratorially. "I bet they'd all shit their pants if they saw Alien."

Autumn giggled at that, and Severus just shook his head. Bill looked like he was going to protest, but then seemed to change his mind. Autumn's smile suddenly faded. "Witches?" she asked softly. "And wizards? I..." she frowned. "Willow claims her grandmother was a witch... I don't suppose you're talking about wicca and..."

"No," Tonks said firmly. "I'm not going to tell you that's all rot, but it isn't what I'm talking about. There are people who can perform magic, Autumn. People like me and those four idiots over there," Tonks waved at them again.

"You're a witch," Autumn repeated, and Tonks nodded, grinning. "Are you..." she frowned slightly, then started again, more resolutely. "Are you a good witch, or a bad witch?"

Tonks smiled again, but more sympathetically this time. "I wish it was that easy, but it isn't. Just like anyone else, there are good and bad witches and wizards, and if you come right out and ask them, none will say 'oh, yeah, I'm bad.' So it's a question of who you trust and who you believe. You know Severus, don't you?"

Autumn looked across the table at Severus and frowned. He flinched at the look on her face. The look in her eyes. "I thought I did," she said softly. "But I didn't know he was a witch."

"Wizard," Tonks corrected. "Men are wizards, women are witches. And don't be too hard on him because he didn't tell you—there are harsh penalties for revealing ourselves to Muggles, but sometimes it can't be helped."

Autumn nodded again.

"And, tonight, it couldn't be helped. You see, there are other witches and wizards who are in strong disagreement with us, or vice versa you might say, about certain things, and, to make a long story very short, you sort of got dumped into the middle of the conflict. So, now you're here, and this has got to have been one of the biggest shocks of your life, hasn't it?"

Autumn nodded once more, still looking at Severus with a mixture of curiosity and distrust. The distrust came close to killing him.

"So, I'm going to suggest that you and Severus find a quiet corner somewhere and do some talking," Tonks said, as though suggesting they go have tea. "And if he says anything that scares you like the boggart did, just hit him or something. He's just a man, after all, and men are notorious for being blind to what frightens women, and he's a wizard who knows nothing about the Muggle world, so he probably wouldn't know what's scaring you half the time even if he did notice it. Now, go on." Tonks stood again and frowned slightly at Autumn. "Do you want some more scotch?" she asked. "It might help."

"I don't think so," Autumn said softly, standing as well. "I think you're right. I mostly need to talk to Severus."

Severus flinched inwardly at the ice that laced Autumn's voice, but he stood, and offered her his arm. After a moment of staring at him as though he were a venomous snake, she touched his arm tentatively, and then seemed to give herself a mental shake. "Let's go examine your wardrobe," Severus suggested softly. "And make sure there are no other boggarts hiding in your room. I think you've had enough monsters for one night."

She nodded, and he guided her out of the kitchen and into the hallway. "Is there a lot to tell me?" she asked softly, and he smiled sympathetically at her.

"Quite a lot," he admitted, gesturing for her to lead the way upstairs.

She fell silent for a moment, until they reached her room, and he led her to the bed, helping her settle onto it, and then began a systematic searching of the room, wand at the ready. Wardrobe first, then desk drawers, then bureau drawers. He checked under the bed, and under the nightstand, and behind the curtains, looking for much more than simply boggarts but not telling her. As he peeked behind a chair, he suddenly chuckled and pocketed his wand, crouching to reach into the corner. He came up with a puffskein in his hands and moved over to the bed to sit beside her. She stared at the custard-colored furrball as though it might attack her.

"You can pet it," Severus offered, trying his best to be sensitive. "It's... it's called a puffskein. It's very safe. Children keep them as pets."

She continued to stare at it, and at him. "I—I'd rather not," she said softly, and he nodded, placing it in his lap and smiling slightly as it began to vibrate against his thigh.

"Very well," he replied. "I won't make you. But it really is a charming little thing. Like a perpetually purring kitten."

She didn't look convinced, and, after a moment's consideration, he decided that maybe it would be best if he didn't have the thing in his lap while he was trying to talk to her. He placed it on the floor again, and it scuttled into a corner. "Don't let me forget to take it with me when I go," he said softly.

She nodded.

Stifling a yawn, Severus glanced around the room. "I hardly know where to begin," he said softly. "I'm afraid this didn't start quite the way I'd intended."

"What's a Muggle?" she asked softly. "Tonks kept saying that."

"Non-magic people," Severus replied promptly, glad that her first question was so easy to answer. "'Ordinary' people, you might say."

She nodded again, and drew her knees to her chest. "Are there a lot of witches and wizards?" she asked.

He yawned before he could stop himself this time, and smiled apologetically at her. "A fair number," he replied from behind his hand, blinking.

"Did you not sleep well last night?"

He laughed softly. "I didn't sleep very long last night," he answered. "I was up past three."

She nodded, and reached for his hand. He smiled and allowed himself to be pulled to the mattress beside her. Opening his arms for her to settle against him, he was somewhat surprised when she moved to cradle his head against her. "Do we need to talk about this tomorrow instead of now?" she asked softly.

He yawned again. "If you think you can sleep with what knowledge you have, I'd be eternally grateful for the delay," he murmured.

She combed her fingers through his hair. "I think I'll survive," she said softly. "Especially if you're here with me to protect me..."

His eyes had been drifting steadily closed, but suddenly they popped open again and he looked at her a bit oddly. "You do know I can't stay," he said softly. The horrified look on her face told him very clearly that no, she had not considered that possibility.

"Don't leave me here alone," she pleaded. "Please, don't leave me in this place alone."

He shifted slightly, pulling her into his arms. "Shh," he whispered. "You won't be alone. Remus will be here, and Willow is in the other room."

"It isn't the same," she insisted. "Please, Severus, don't leave me here by myself. That... that thing in the corner! What if there's more?! What if there's another... another boggart?"

"There are no more boggarts," he insisted, kissing her forehead. "And there's only the one puffskein, and if you really won't try to pet it, I'll take it with me when I leave."

"How do you know there are no more boggarts?" she asked, a note of panic creeping into her voice.

"Because I checked, remember?" She was trembling, and he stroked her hair lightly trying to calm her, and making a note to brew some calming potion tomorrow.

"But how did it get there in the first place?" she demanded, her voice becoming shrill with the panic. "What if more come? What if..."

He placed a kiss on her lips to stop her. "I'll stay," he murmured. "Just calm down. I'll stay."

"All night?" she asked, and he mentally cursed her for being so astute; he'd only intended to stay until she fell asleep, and he suddenly found himself wondering what had prompted her to ask that.

"All night," he promised. "But I'll have to leave early in the morning. Do you want me to wake you before I go?"

She frowned. "How early?" she asked.

"Probably six or a little before," he said softly. "I teach, remember? My first class will arrive at eight sharp, and I can't imagine they'd be much more forgiving of my tardiness than I am of theirs."

"Wake me before you go," she whispered. "I don't want to be in here alone."

"All right," he agreed. "Now, do I need to get up and remove the puffskein or will it be all right in the corner where it is?"

She seemed torn between wanting it gone and not wanting him to let go of her. Curling up closer to him, she buried her head against his chest. "You swear it won't hurt us?" she asked.

"If either of us was in the slightest danger from it, I wouldn't have picked it up to begin with," he replied calmly. "It's no more dangerous than a kitten or a rabbit. Just a soft, furry thing that purrs."

"We're going to have to get up to get under the blankets, aren't we?" she asked, and he was aware that she was clinging to him. He couldn't help but chuckle.

"There are some true advantages to magic, Autumn," he murmured against her hair. "Accio blanket!" The blanket flew up from the foot of the bed, settling over them, and he tucked it gently around her shoulders. "Good night," he whispered.

"Good night," she returned, and snuggled in closer. He felt a surge of protectiveness just before he slipped beneath the surface of sleep.