I'm so sorry it took me so long to update!! I sent this off to my beta
about a week ago, but then it turned out that she never got the message.
But because she was able to beta it with her usual speed it was ready for
today. So please, enjoy!!
And thank you all for reviewing!
X X X
The next day Severus spent most of the morning planning out the plots for the garden he would need that summer to support his research. As it was, the garden was an unruly jungle of weeds and thistles interrupted by odd patches of untended daisies. There may once have been a beautiful garden, if the network of stone pathways and the odd decorative but headless garden statue was any indication, but Aegerus had been apathetic to gardens and had allowed this one to go to waste.
By noon Severus was achy and sweaty from uprooting the unwanted plants domineering his plots. He had searched in vain for a book of simple gardening spells in both libraries but had to resort to non-magical methods to clear the garden in the end. He was nearly finished when his mother appeared in the kitchen door leading out to the garden. She rested the side of her face against the doorframe and watched sadly as Severus pulled up still more of the plants. Severus saw her forlornness, and looked guiltily down at the limp torn flowers in his hands.
Half an hour more and Severus had reclaimed the kitchen plots and most of the former decorative ones. He did not bother with the rest, which were not in an ideal location for growing aconite. He tossed down the dragon hide gloves he had been wearing and made his way to the house with the intention of cleaning up before lunch when he walked past a small pile of the white daisies he had pulled up from one of the beds. He hesitated, then bent over to pick up five of the undamaged ones, neatly broke off the bottom part of the stems, and continued on into the house.
His mother was no longer in the kitchen so he climbed the stairs to seek her out in her room. Before he reached her end of the hall, however, he heard a piercing wail erupt from a door to his left. He gently inched the door open and peered in. Celeste was nowhere in sight. Wondering at how she could leave the baby unattended like this when the child obviously needed something he stepped into the room. Quashing feelings that he shouldn't be there, on the grounds that it was his house after all, he closed the final few feet between him and the cradle and peered in. Inside was the wailing baby, looking quite like a pink, writhing flobberworm with vestigial arms and legs sprouting out of it. Even as he thought this Severus realized how unfair it was. He had been a particularly ugly child himself.
He was about to go looking for Celeste when the baby stopped crying just as suddenly as she had at their first meeting. She lay on her back, blue eyes now open and staring up at Severus, her mouth slightly open. A familiar trickle of goo dribbled down her chin and Severus hesitated before wrinkling his nose and wiping it off with the corner of her blanket. Babies truly were revolting.
As he looked down at her Severus realized how much she had grown; he hadn't had a proper look at her since that day at the Nostrum manor several weeks ago. She was still quite small, but she must have gained a few pounds. Her head was no longer completely hairless and it appeared that she would have black hair like himself.
Severus remembered the white flowers in his hands and used his wand to conjure a length of string. He tied the daisies into a bundle and then dangled them from the canopy bar of the cradle, so that the flowers were face down to the baby. She contemplated them a moment, mouth still open, before shifting her gaze back to Severus, whom she apparently found more interesting.
"Severus."
Severus turned to see that Celeste had entered the room through the door separating the nursery from her bedroom. She had an unreadable expression on her face and Severus strove to match it with an equally ambiguous one. They considered each other a moment, waiting for the other to make the first move.
"You brought her flowers?" Celeste asked.
There was no explicit sarcasm in her tone, so Severus had no excuse to reply with it himself. "Yes. Casualties of my summer research plans."
"Ah," Celeste said. She looked mildly confused but Severus did not bother to offer an explanation.
X X X
Severus was in the drawing room before lunch when his mother came in and announced to him that he had a visitor. Perplexed, Severus consented to have the visitor brought in to see him. A few minutes later Dumbledore twinkled his way into the grim room.
"Severus," he greeted warmly.
"Headmaster," Severus said with an inconvenienced air. Dumbledore had never been to the isolated and protected Snape manor before, and he rather wondered how he had managed to get in.
Dumbledore helped himself to a highbacked armchair and said in an amicable tone, "I just dropped by for a chat."
Severus huffed and put down his book. "If it had been anything important, you only had to summon—" Severus was interrupted by the abrupt opening of the doors to the room. Celeste wandered in and then stopped in her tracks when she realized she was not alone.
"Ah, and would this lovely young woman be your wife, Severus?" Dumbledore twinkled merrily. Severus closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose. Dumbledore really should have been in Slytherin. His capacity for orchestrating the most extravagant of ploys was truly remarkable.
"Albus, this is my wife, Celeste. Celeste, this is my employer and the Headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore," Severus said.
"I am very pleased to meet you my dear," Dumbledore said, rising and holding out a hand to greet Celeste with.
Celeste responded with a subdued 'likewise' and waited for a cue from her husband to leave. Severus was about to suggest to her that she go have lunch when Dumbledore spoke.
"Please join us, my dear. I only came by for a sociable visit."
Severus groaned inwardly as he saw the set-up. Dumbledore was going to pretend that he thought they made a good couple or something, or encourage them to be in each other's presence by forcing this shared conversation on them. Perhaps he was even going to try to bring the baby into this somehow.
A stilted conversation ensued, although one would never have been able to tell judging by Dumbledore's relaxed and jovial attitude. Severus dourly avoided responding to Dumbledore's conversation, leaving it to Celeste to do so. She incidentally seemed quite charmed by the old headmaster. Perhaps she had been expecting any guest of Severus's to be quite different. Sure enough, the conversation quickly turned to the baby and Celeste left the room to bring her downstairs to show to the headmaster.
"She is a very beautiful woman, Severus," Dumbledore said, peering over his half moon spectacles at him. Severus snorted in response.
Celeste returned with Speranza a moment later. She proudly carried the baby over to Dumbledore and held her before him.
"What a beautiful child," Dumbledore asserted. He took the baby in his arms and rocked her, looking in Severus's opinion quite like a bearded, doddering old wet nurse. "And what did you call her?"
"Speranza Julieta Snape," Celeste said.
"Italian? That would have been your idea, would it not, Severus?" Dumbledore asked. Severus scowled.
Dumbledore rubbed Severus the wrong way for a half hour more before a house elf poked his long nose into the room and announced that lunch was ready to be served. Dumbledore immediately stood and proclaimed that he had an important meeting to be at. He shook Celeste's hand in a very genteel manner, twinkling over the rims of his half-moon spectacles, and then turned to Severus.
"Here is your bank waiver for the last term," he said reaching into his periwinkle robes. Severus took it without a word.
He noticed Celeste give him a furtive look.
X X X
Severus rolled the food around in his mouth boredly and wondered if he should announce the errands he would be running later. It didn't necessarily concern either of the women sitting at the table with him but it was the polite thing to do. He took a swig of coffee from his cup and said in a disinterested voice, "I will be going to Diagon Alley after lunch."
Constanza nodded and continued eating but Celeste put down her fork and looked at him shrewdly. Under her gaze Severus was thinking to himself that he rather preferred the more subdued personality he had seen at the dinner table the day before. She was beginning to be a bit tiresome.
"What is it?" he snapped peevishly.
"I need some things for the baby," she said.
"You'll have to do your own shopping." The thought of being seen by people he knew carrying a bag full of pastel-coloured baby products was nauseating.
"I don't have any money to do so with."
Severus was about to spit out a retort but what she had said instead made him think of something and he smiled rather oddly to himself. After a moment or two he remembered where he was and answered Celeste. "You may come with me then."
X X X
Diagon Alley was as busy as always. Courier owls flitted from shop to shop and children with Fortescue's ice cream smeared on their faces were dragged along by the hand by their harried-looking parents. Celeste walked briskly alongside Severus, and he was grateful at least that she was tall, making it easy for her to keep up with him.
"I have to go to Gringott's first," Severus said without turning to her.
Within a few minutes the gates of the bank came into view and they passed through them and entered the stately building. Severus walked up to one of the gleaming marble counters and handed over the slip that Dumbledore had given him. The goblin looked at it narrowly for a moment before nodding curtly and asking Severus where he wanted to deposit it. Severus turned to Celeste.
"Do you want me to give your parents their usual allowance?" he asked in a snide tone.
"What?" Celeste asked, surprised.
"I was asking you if, considering your past treatment at their hands, you wanted me to continue paying them as per the agreements your father and mine drew up when we were married."
Celeste looked dumbstruck for a moment before saying in a small voice that she rather thought he should give her parents the money. She then focused her attention on something at the far end of the room, as though to guiltily mask the lack of conviction in her decision.
Severus cocked an eyebrow but signed the slip the goblin had passed him. He filled in the appropriate amount and set it aside.
"How much do you need for the baby's things?"
"I'm not sure."
"Then I'll give you the usual amount." Severus reached forward and took the second slip, filling it out also. He directed the goblin to put the small remainder of his pay into his own vault. He set the stubby quill back in its well and looked at Celeste, only to find that she was staring at him with a confused expression on her face.
"The usual amount?" she asked.
"Is that not enough for your extravagant tastes, madam?"
Celeste furrowed her brow and reached for the slip with her name on it. "Vault 416: Celeste Snape?" She looked at Severus with a questioning expression. "I don't have a vault here."
"Silly me," Severus said. "That's my other wife's vault."
Celeste frowned and looked at him. "I have never had my own vault."
Severus considered her, looking down his nose at her perplexed face. "I sent you the key for your vault three years ago when I opened it for you, when I started my job at Hogwarts. I have been putting in a portion of my salary every term ever since."
"I never received a key from you," she said. She stared at the amount on the slip for a moment before placing it back down on the counter and reaching for the one with her father's name on it. "On second thought..." she trailed off, ripping the piece of paper to shreds.
Severus smiled darkly in spite of himself. He reached for Celeste's slip and tore it neatly in half. "I should probably open a new account for you."
X X X
They left the bank, moneybags heavy with coins, and headed back down Diagon Alley. "I need to buy some seeds," Severus said.
"To replenish the garden you decimated this morning?" Celeste asked.
"For my summer research, yes." They walked in silence for a while before Celeste asked, "Do you usually take on a research project every summer?"
"No," Severus said. "Usually I stay at Hogwarts, where there is little to do but restock the matron's potions store and revise my teaching plan."
"Oh," Celeste said. After another pause she ventured another question. "Does the staff normally stay at Hogwarts?"
"No. Usually it only myself and Filch, the caretaker."
"Sounds...uneventful."
"It is. But Filch does have some rather intriguing notions about corporal punishment. He waxes poetic about them after a drink or two."
Severus led the way to the Floo registry, where he was planning to reconnect his manor to the network. Taking the Knight Bus everywhere was not only expensive but tedious as well. Once inside he filled out the necessary paperwork as Celeste gazed out the window into the street.
"To Leed's, then?" Celeste asked when Severus was finished. Leed's Seeds was a small plant nursery at the south end of Diagon Alley.
Severus shook his head. "I know a place on Knockturn Alley that is cheaper." Severus did not catch Celeste's expression as he pushed the door open.
The winding Alley came to a narrow junction and Severus led the way down a dim, tight street. He often felt Celeste lag behind and periodically had to stop while she caught up to him. At last they came to Poisoneberry's Plants, a grimy, narrow little storefront with a few scraggly plants in the dusty window.
"How on earth do they manage to grow plants here?" Celeste whispered.
"They don't. They specialize in other things." The plants were a cover, but because the proprietors made their money in other ways, the plants and seeds they did sell were often marked down quite a bit lower than in other places.
The tin bell clanged as they entered the premises. After a moment or two a thin grubbly man with an unattractive oily sheen on his balding pate creeped out of the dark back room. "Severus Snape," he whispered by way of greeting.
"Hello, Benjamin," Severus said.
"And what can I do for you today, sir," Benjamin asked, rubbing his dirty hands together with a grin.
"I am here to buy some seeds."
"Oh." Benjamin's face fell. It was obviously not his area of preference. "Well, then."
"I need some aconite seeds," Severus said.
Benjamin set about fumbling through the tiny drawers covering the walls behind the till. "We have no aconite, sir." Benjamin turned and smiled grotesquely, seemingly thinking that this detail would spur Severus away from the boring matter of plants and instead into the area of business he enjoyed.
"Hmm...how about wolfsbane, Benjamin?"
Benjamin scowled in unconcealed disappointment as he rifled through the drawers once more. After a moment he turned around holding a linen sack. "Found them."
"Idiot," Severus muttered under his breath. "They're the same plant."
Benjamin stumped over to the archaic scale and began setting it up. Severus told him how much he wanted and when Benjamin had inexpertly weighed out the correct amount of seeds and tied them up in a cloth sack Severus handed over a few sickles. Severus stashed the little sack away in his cloak and was about to bid his goodbyes when he noticed Benjamin was looking past him, licking his thin lips.
Hairs raising themselves on the nape of Severus's neck, he turned to follow Benjamin's line of vision and found that his suspicions were confirmed. He flushed angrily and strode towards Celeste, took her by the wrist, and led her from the store.
It was a few blocks before the foul taste in Severus's mouth left him. Celeste was struggling to keep up with him. They were about to turn onto Diagon Alley so that Celeste could get the things she needed when a cloaked figure stepped gracefully into their path.
"Lucius Malfoy," Severus greeted.
"Severus Snape. It certainly has been a while." Lucius smiled a little too pleasantly. "What brings you to Knockturn Alley?"
"Only an errand, Lucius," Severus replied.
"Ah." Lucius's grey eyes lazily dragged themselves over Celeste's face, and lower. "And who is this you've met up with? I thought you didn't sneak around behind your wife's back, Severus. Not that I disapprove of your taste."
Severus flushed darkly. "Celeste, this is Lucius Malfoy, an old...associate. Lucius, this is my wife, Celeste."
Lucius coolly raised an eyebrow, not at all apologetic. "I see. I do see." His eyes roved a moment longer before snapping back to Severus's face. "I was wondering if we could talk sometime, Severus."
"Is that so."
"An interesting proposition has come my way and I think you might find it just as intriguing. Perhaps you would like to come by my manor sometime next week? I will have the Lestranges over," Lucius said.
"I will have to see. I am planning on being quite busy this summer."
"Not too busy, if you have time enough to let your wife drag you out on errands with her."
Severus huffed impatiently. It seemed the only way to get Lucius off his back for the time being was to convince him he was going to get what he wanted. "Very well, then. I will send an owl before I come."
Lucius smiled broadly. "I would like that very much, Severus." With that, Lucius Malfoy sauntered down the grim alley away from Severus and Celeste. Severus rubbed the bridge of his nose in sheer exasperation and turned to continue towards Diagon Alley when he noticed that Celeste was not following him. He stopped in his tracks and turned around.
"Celeste?"
Celeste forced herself to follow.
X X X
There was a man who lived in Leeds
He filled his garden full of seeds
And as the seeds began to grow
It was a like a garden filled with snow
And as the snow began to melt
It was like a ship without a belt
And as that ship began to sail
It was like a bird without a tail
And as that bird began to soar
It was like a lion at my door
And as my door began to crack
It was like a penknife in my back
And as my back began to bleed
I was dead, dead, dead indeed.
--By Unknown
Someone complained that there's no action in this story. I hope you don't all feel this way. I mean, what do you think the whole wolfsbane thing is about? Or the timeframe? I mean, don't you think the timeframe is important? Because it is. Just wait.
So...Three guys hit on Celeste in one chapter. Ugh. (Well, Dumbledore doesn't count, I guess. But he did say she was beautiful.) Benjamin the sex god is a present for my beta. I told her so in my email to her when I sent her the chapters and apparently she thought Ben was going to be hot or something, as she naturally read the email before reading the attachment. Because of, you know, the Young Ben, whom we both had monstrous crushes on two years ago...never mind. Inside story. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed his cameo appearance. I think it would be funny to have him show up in every one of my fics (not my one-shots because they're too short for gratuitous details).
Talking about gratuitous appearances, I guess Dumbledore's visit had that written all over it. Ah, well. Dumbledore's like...uh...seasoning. Add a little here and a little there.
Anyhoo...THANK YOU to all my reviewers!! You all make my day.
If YOU want to make my day, then you can review too.
And thank you all for reviewing!
X X X
The next day Severus spent most of the morning planning out the plots for the garden he would need that summer to support his research. As it was, the garden was an unruly jungle of weeds and thistles interrupted by odd patches of untended daisies. There may once have been a beautiful garden, if the network of stone pathways and the odd decorative but headless garden statue was any indication, but Aegerus had been apathetic to gardens and had allowed this one to go to waste.
By noon Severus was achy and sweaty from uprooting the unwanted plants domineering his plots. He had searched in vain for a book of simple gardening spells in both libraries but had to resort to non-magical methods to clear the garden in the end. He was nearly finished when his mother appeared in the kitchen door leading out to the garden. She rested the side of her face against the doorframe and watched sadly as Severus pulled up still more of the plants. Severus saw her forlornness, and looked guiltily down at the limp torn flowers in his hands.
Half an hour more and Severus had reclaimed the kitchen plots and most of the former decorative ones. He did not bother with the rest, which were not in an ideal location for growing aconite. He tossed down the dragon hide gloves he had been wearing and made his way to the house with the intention of cleaning up before lunch when he walked past a small pile of the white daisies he had pulled up from one of the beds. He hesitated, then bent over to pick up five of the undamaged ones, neatly broke off the bottom part of the stems, and continued on into the house.
His mother was no longer in the kitchen so he climbed the stairs to seek her out in her room. Before he reached her end of the hall, however, he heard a piercing wail erupt from a door to his left. He gently inched the door open and peered in. Celeste was nowhere in sight. Wondering at how she could leave the baby unattended like this when the child obviously needed something he stepped into the room. Quashing feelings that he shouldn't be there, on the grounds that it was his house after all, he closed the final few feet between him and the cradle and peered in. Inside was the wailing baby, looking quite like a pink, writhing flobberworm with vestigial arms and legs sprouting out of it. Even as he thought this Severus realized how unfair it was. He had been a particularly ugly child himself.
He was about to go looking for Celeste when the baby stopped crying just as suddenly as she had at their first meeting. She lay on her back, blue eyes now open and staring up at Severus, her mouth slightly open. A familiar trickle of goo dribbled down her chin and Severus hesitated before wrinkling his nose and wiping it off with the corner of her blanket. Babies truly were revolting.
As he looked down at her Severus realized how much she had grown; he hadn't had a proper look at her since that day at the Nostrum manor several weeks ago. She was still quite small, but she must have gained a few pounds. Her head was no longer completely hairless and it appeared that she would have black hair like himself.
Severus remembered the white flowers in his hands and used his wand to conjure a length of string. He tied the daisies into a bundle and then dangled them from the canopy bar of the cradle, so that the flowers were face down to the baby. She contemplated them a moment, mouth still open, before shifting her gaze back to Severus, whom she apparently found more interesting.
"Severus."
Severus turned to see that Celeste had entered the room through the door separating the nursery from her bedroom. She had an unreadable expression on her face and Severus strove to match it with an equally ambiguous one. They considered each other a moment, waiting for the other to make the first move.
"You brought her flowers?" Celeste asked.
There was no explicit sarcasm in her tone, so Severus had no excuse to reply with it himself. "Yes. Casualties of my summer research plans."
"Ah," Celeste said. She looked mildly confused but Severus did not bother to offer an explanation.
X X X
Severus was in the drawing room before lunch when his mother came in and announced to him that he had a visitor. Perplexed, Severus consented to have the visitor brought in to see him. A few minutes later Dumbledore twinkled his way into the grim room.
"Severus," he greeted warmly.
"Headmaster," Severus said with an inconvenienced air. Dumbledore had never been to the isolated and protected Snape manor before, and he rather wondered how he had managed to get in.
Dumbledore helped himself to a highbacked armchair and said in an amicable tone, "I just dropped by for a chat."
Severus huffed and put down his book. "If it had been anything important, you only had to summon—" Severus was interrupted by the abrupt opening of the doors to the room. Celeste wandered in and then stopped in her tracks when she realized she was not alone.
"Ah, and would this lovely young woman be your wife, Severus?" Dumbledore twinkled merrily. Severus closed his eyes and rubbed the bridge of his nose. Dumbledore really should have been in Slytherin. His capacity for orchestrating the most extravagant of ploys was truly remarkable.
"Albus, this is my wife, Celeste. Celeste, this is my employer and the Headmaster of Hogwarts, Albus Dumbledore," Severus said.
"I am very pleased to meet you my dear," Dumbledore said, rising and holding out a hand to greet Celeste with.
Celeste responded with a subdued 'likewise' and waited for a cue from her husband to leave. Severus was about to suggest to her that she go have lunch when Dumbledore spoke.
"Please join us, my dear. I only came by for a sociable visit."
Severus groaned inwardly as he saw the set-up. Dumbledore was going to pretend that he thought they made a good couple or something, or encourage them to be in each other's presence by forcing this shared conversation on them. Perhaps he was even going to try to bring the baby into this somehow.
A stilted conversation ensued, although one would never have been able to tell judging by Dumbledore's relaxed and jovial attitude. Severus dourly avoided responding to Dumbledore's conversation, leaving it to Celeste to do so. She incidentally seemed quite charmed by the old headmaster. Perhaps she had been expecting any guest of Severus's to be quite different. Sure enough, the conversation quickly turned to the baby and Celeste left the room to bring her downstairs to show to the headmaster.
"She is a very beautiful woman, Severus," Dumbledore said, peering over his half moon spectacles at him. Severus snorted in response.
Celeste returned with Speranza a moment later. She proudly carried the baby over to Dumbledore and held her before him.
"What a beautiful child," Dumbledore asserted. He took the baby in his arms and rocked her, looking in Severus's opinion quite like a bearded, doddering old wet nurse. "And what did you call her?"
"Speranza Julieta Snape," Celeste said.
"Italian? That would have been your idea, would it not, Severus?" Dumbledore asked. Severus scowled.
Dumbledore rubbed Severus the wrong way for a half hour more before a house elf poked his long nose into the room and announced that lunch was ready to be served. Dumbledore immediately stood and proclaimed that he had an important meeting to be at. He shook Celeste's hand in a very genteel manner, twinkling over the rims of his half-moon spectacles, and then turned to Severus.
"Here is your bank waiver for the last term," he said reaching into his periwinkle robes. Severus took it without a word.
He noticed Celeste give him a furtive look.
X X X
Severus rolled the food around in his mouth boredly and wondered if he should announce the errands he would be running later. It didn't necessarily concern either of the women sitting at the table with him but it was the polite thing to do. He took a swig of coffee from his cup and said in a disinterested voice, "I will be going to Diagon Alley after lunch."
Constanza nodded and continued eating but Celeste put down her fork and looked at him shrewdly. Under her gaze Severus was thinking to himself that he rather preferred the more subdued personality he had seen at the dinner table the day before. She was beginning to be a bit tiresome.
"What is it?" he snapped peevishly.
"I need some things for the baby," she said.
"You'll have to do your own shopping." The thought of being seen by people he knew carrying a bag full of pastel-coloured baby products was nauseating.
"I don't have any money to do so with."
Severus was about to spit out a retort but what she had said instead made him think of something and he smiled rather oddly to himself. After a moment or two he remembered where he was and answered Celeste. "You may come with me then."
X X X
Diagon Alley was as busy as always. Courier owls flitted from shop to shop and children with Fortescue's ice cream smeared on their faces were dragged along by the hand by their harried-looking parents. Celeste walked briskly alongside Severus, and he was grateful at least that she was tall, making it easy for her to keep up with him.
"I have to go to Gringott's first," Severus said without turning to her.
Within a few minutes the gates of the bank came into view and they passed through them and entered the stately building. Severus walked up to one of the gleaming marble counters and handed over the slip that Dumbledore had given him. The goblin looked at it narrowly for a moment before nodding curtly and asking Severus where he wanted to deposit it. Severus turned to Celeste.
"Do you want me to give your parents their usual allowance?" he asked in a snide tone.
"What?" Celeste asked, surprised.
"I was asking you if, considering your past treatment at their hands, you wanted me to continue paying them as per the agreements your father and mine drew up when we were married."
Celeste looked dumbstruck for a moment before saying in a small voice that she rather thought he should give her parents the money. She then focused her attention on something at the far end of the room, as though to guiltily mask the lack of conviction in her decision.
Severus cocked an eyebrow but signed the slip the goblin had passed him. He filled in the appropriate amount and set it aside.
"How much do you need for the baby's things?"
"I'm not sure."
"Then I'll give you the usual amount." Severus reached forward and took the second slip, filling it out also. He directed the goblin to put the small remainder of his pay into his own vault. He set the stubby quill back in its well and looked at Celeste, only to find that she was staring at him with a confused expression on her face.
"The usual amount?" she asked.
"Is that not enough for your extravagant tastes, madam?"
Celeste furrowed her brow and reached for the slip with her name on it. "Vault 416: Celeste Snape?" She looked at Severus with a questioning expression. "I don't have a vault here."
"Silly me," Severus said. "That's my other wife's vault."
Celeste frowned and looked at him. "I have never had my own vault."
Severus considered her, looking down his nose at her perplexed face. "I sent you the key for your vault three years ago when I opened it for you, when I started my job at Hogwarts. I have been putting in a portion of my salary every term ever since."
"I never received a key from you," she said. She stared at the amount on the slip for a moment before placing it back down on the counter and reaching for the one with her father's name on it. "On second thought..." she trailed off, ripping the piece of paper to shreds.
Severus smiled darkly in spite of himself. He reached for Celeste's slip and tore it neatly in half. "I should probably open a new account for you."
X X X
They left the bank, moneybags heavy with coins, and headed back down Diagon Alley. "I need to buy some seeds," Severus said.
"To replenish the garden you decimated this morning?" Celeste asked.
"For my summer research, yes." They walked in silence for a while before Celeste asked, "Do you usually take on a research project every summer?"
"No," Severus said. "Usually I stay at Hogwarts, where there is little to do but restock the matron's potions store and revise my teaching plan."
"Oh," Celeste said. After another pause she ventured another question. "Does the staff normally stay at Hogwarts?"
"No. Usually it only myself and Filch, the caretaker."
"Sounds...uneventful."
"It is. But Filch does have some rather intriguing notions about corporal punishment. He waxes poetic about them after a drink or two."
Severus led the way to the Floo registry, where he was planning to reconnect his manor to the network. Taking the Knight Bus everywhere was not only expensive but tedious as well. Once inside he filled out the necessary paperwork as Celeste gazed out the window into the street.
"To Leed's, then?" Celeste asked when Severus was finished. Leed's Seeds was a small plant nursery at the south end of Diagon Alley.
Severus shook his head. "I know a place on Knockturn Alley that is cheaper." Severus did not catch Celeste's expression as he pushed the door open.
The winding Alley came to a narrow junction and Severus led the way down a dim, tight street. He often felt Celeste lag behind and periodically had to stop while she caught up to him. At last they came to Poisoneberry's Plants, a grimy, narrow little storefront with a few scraggly plants in the dusty window.
"How on earth do they manage to grow plants here?" Celeste whispered.
"They don't. They specialize in other things." The plants were a cover, but because the proprietors made their money in other ways, the plants and seeds they did sell were often marked down quite a bit lower than in other places.
The tin bell clanged as they entered the premises. After a moment or two a thin grubbly man with an unattractive oily sheen on his balding pate creeped out of the dark back room. "Severus Snape," he whispered by way of greeting.
"Hello, Benjamin," Severus said.
"And what can I do for you today, sir," Benjamin asked, rubbing his dirty hands together with a grin.
"I am here to buy some seeds."
"Oh." Benjamin's face fell. It was obviously not his area of preference. "Well, then."
"I need some aconite seeds," Severus said.
Benjamin set about fumbling through the tiny drawers covering the walls behind the till. "We have no aconite, sir." Benjamin turned and smiled grotesquely, seemingly thinking that this detail would spur Severus away from the boring matter of plants and instead into the area of business he enjoyed.
"Hmm...how about wolfsbane, Benjamin?"
Benjamin scowled in unconcealed disappointment as he rifled through the drawers once more. After a moment he turned around holding a linen sack. "Found them."
"Idiot," Severus muttered under his breath. "They're the same plant."
Benjamin stumped over to the archaic scale and began setting it up. Severus told him how much he wanted and when Benjamin had inexpertly weighed out the correct amount of seeds and tied them up in a cloth sack Severus handed over a few sickles. Severus stashed the little sack away in his cloak and was about to bid his goodbyes when he noticed Benjamin was looking past him, licking his thin lips.
Hairs raising themselves on the nape of Severus's neck, he turned to follow Benjamin's line of vision and found that his suspicions were confirmed. He flushed angrily and strode towards Celeste, took her by the wrist, and led her from the store.
It was a few blocks before the foul taste in Severus's mouth left him. Celeste was struggling to keep up with him. They were about to turn onto Diagon Alley so that Celeste could get the things she needed when a cloaked figure stepped gracefully into their path.
"Lucius Malfoy," Severus greeted.
"Severus Snape. It certainly has been a while." Lucius smiled a little too pleasantly. "What brings you to Knockturn Alley?"
"Only an errand, Lucius," Severus replied.
"Ah." Lucius's grey eyes lazily dragged themselves over Celeste's face, and lower. "And who is this you've met up with? I thought you didn't sneak around behind your wife's back, Severus. Not that I disapprove of your taste."
Severus flushed darkly. "Celeste, this is Lucius Malfoy, an old...associate. Lucius, this is my wife, Celeste."
Lucius coolly raised an eyebrow, not at all apologetic. "I see. I do see." His eyes roved a moment longer before snapping back to Severus's face. "I was wondering if we could talk sometime, Severus."
"Is that so."
"An interesting proposition has come my way and I think you might find it just as intriguing. Perhaps you would like to come by my manor sometime next week? I will have the Lestranges over," Lucius said.
"I will have to see. I am planning on being quite busy this summer."
"Not too busy, if you have time enough to let your wife drag you out on errands with her."
Severus huffed impatiently. It seemed the only way to get Lucius off his back for the time being was to convince him he was going to get what he wanted. "Very well, then. I will send an owl before I come."
Lucius smiled broadly. "I would like that very much, Severus." With that, Lucius Malfoy sauntered down the grim alley away from Severus and Celeste. Severus rubbed the bridge of his nose in sheer exasperation and turned to continue towards Diagon Alley when he noticed that Celeste was not following him. He stopped in his tracks and turned around.
"Celeste?"
Celeste forced herself to follow.
X X X
There was a man who lived in Leeds
He filled his garden full of seeds
And as the seeds began to grow
It was a like a garden filled with snow
And as the snow began to melt
It was like a ship without a belt
And as that ship began to sail
It was like a bird without a tail
And as that bird began to soar
It was like a lion at my door
And as my door began to crack
It was like a penknife in my back
And as my back began to bleed
I was dead, dead, dead indeed.
--By Unknown
Someone complained that there's no action in this story. I hope you don't all feel this way. I mean, what do you think the whole wolfsbane thing is about? Or the timeframe? I mean, don't you think the timeframe is important? Because it is. Just wait.
So...Three guys hit on Celeste in one chapter. Ugh. (Well, Dumbledore doesn't count, I guess. But he did say she was beautiful.) Benjamin the sex god is a present for my beta. I told her so in my email to her when I sent her the chapters and apparently she thought Ben was going to be hot or something, as she naturally read the email before reading the attachment. Because of, you know, the Young Ben, whom we both had monstrous crushes on two years ago...never mind. Inside story. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed his cameo appearance. I think it would be funny to have him show up in every one of my fics (not my one-shots because they're too short for gratuitous details).
Talking about gratuitous appearances, I guess Dumbledore's visit had that written all over it. Ah, well. Dumbledore's like...uh...seasoning. Add a little here and a little there.
Anyhoo...THANK YOU to all my reviewers!! You all make my day.
If YOU want to make my day, then you can review too.