Disclaimer: Everything recognizable from the Harry Potter universe belongs to J K Rowling, no infringement is intended to any copyright holder
Beloved on this Earth
~ 0 ~
Lois woke to the most delicious feeling of well-being. Her sleep fogged mind cleared in seconds and she remembered in vivid detail the night before. She gave a small, satisfied sigh and snuggled back into the warm form behind her, her body aching pleasurably. She had been exceedingly glad to discover Severus brought his meticulous and methodical nature to every task he undertook. With the gradual return of awareness to her surroundings, she realised the bed she was lying in was deliciously soft and comfortable, much better than her own in fact. It was also considerably larger, but given Severus's greater height she supposed that was unsurprising. Not that the size of the bed mattered at the moment, she thought with a small grin; he was wrapped so tightly around her the tiniest single bed would have been plenty big enough for the two of them - it would probably have even had room to spare.
Wiggling slightly in his firm embrace Lois attempted to turn to face him, but quickly found she was unable to move; she lay half on her left side, pinned firmly in place by an arm slung possessively around her waist. It was lucky she wasn't in a rush to be anywhere, she contemplated amused; she would need to be Houdini to escape from his hold right now. Although she had made no noise, her movements must have woken him, because she felt his sleep relaxed muscles slowly tense and shift with the return to wakefulness. Lois took the opportunity to twist quickly in his arms, turning until she faced him to stare into his fluttering eyelids, which blinked sleepily for a second before quickly sharpening into focus.
'Good morning.' She smiled.
'Good morning.' He repeated huskily, the most beautiful expression of pleasure breaking on his features before immediately settling back into his normal enigmatic lines.
'So, Severus,' Lois said the same smile on her face. 'Quite the clinger I see.' She teased indicating her currently completely enclosed state.
'I do not cling.' He replied very much on his dignity, but loosening his hold not even slightly.
'No, of course not.' Lois agreed her eyes gleaming with amusement. 'But you are half octopus right?'
'I seem to recall you doing a fair bit of clinging yourself last night.' He said calmly, obviously deciding against arguing the point, moving his head the necessary few inches to capture her lips in a warm kiss.
'You know me - if I'm not touching, I'm not happy and last night I was very happy.' Lois said softly, sincerity shining from her voice. She was distantly aware she was grinning like loon, but she didn't seem capable of any other expression at the moment.
'Always glad to oblige.' Severus said with mock conceit, finally loosening his hold on her to roll onto his back, linking his hands behind his head, an immensely self-satisfied expression on his face as he twisted his head to look at her from his position of supine indolence.
Lois laughed in delight at his actions; she had never seen him so relaxed before. 'Ooh I like the sound of that! I might even keep you around for a while.' She said lightly, turning to crawl out of bed and missing the swift look of pain that tightened his features, before instantly disappearing as though it had never been there. Inching herself gingerly backwards, Lois tried to drag the dark green cotton top sheet with her as she went, finally managing to wrap it awkwardly around her as she stood.
'What's this?' Severus asked watching her performance with disbelief. 'Modesty? At this late stage?'
'I'll have you know I'm a very modest person normally.' Lois defended her face slightly flushed, not quite confident yet to swan around naked in front of him, even after last night. Although his chambers had no windows, the lamps magically recreated the lighting to suit the time of day and his bedroom was therefore sunny and bright and definitely had no dark corners to hide in. 'But desperate times call for desperate measures.' She finished primly bending to pick up his plain white shirt she had just found on the floor, quickly dropping the sheet and pulling it on. The shirt buried her nearly as completely as the sheet had, but with the sleeves rolled back it made a serviceable alternative until she could find her own clothes. Suiting action to thought, she headed into his sitting room returning moments later with her robe which she hung over the back of a chair.
'So what happens now?' She questioned crawling back onto the bed to lean over him, staring down into his bottomless black eyes, the irrepressibly happy mood she had woken with dimming slightly as she waited for his response.
'Happens?' Severus questioned cautiously, instantly looking less relaxed.
Was he afraid she expected a marriage proposal? Or maybe a declaration of undying love? Lois ignored the quick pang of disquiet that particular thought caused, before determined optimism overtook her once more. She didn't expect him to immediately return her love and in fact she had no intention of telling him about it yet anyway. It was much too soon and she didn't want to risk frightening him off. Nevertheless she did want some indication that they were actually in a relationship.
'I just meant are we officially all "couply" now.' She pressed needing reassurance.
His face relaxed again at her words. Despite her insistence last night that this was not going to be just a one off, he had been worried that perhaps the wine he had plied her with had had more to do with her decision to sleep with him than she had realised. Of course that had been pretty much what he had been aiming for – a romantic atmosphere courtesy of flickering lamplight and the crackle of an open fire and consumption of enough alcohol to lower her inhibitions. He had intended to get her nicely mellow – not drunk he assured himself – and lull her into a false sense of security with the utter normality of the evening before making his move. However, as always, she had surprised him by taking matters into her own hands and had given him no chance to put into action his admittedly rusty seduction techniques. Not that he was complaining; he was a practical man - the desired result had been achieved and this way he hadn't had to risk open rejection.
Looking up into her anxious face, the most indescribable feeling of pleasure washed over him. He had absolutely no doubt that he loved her. He may not have experienced the emotion before, but he was intelligent enough to recognise it when he saw it. He was also pragmatic enough not to waste energy railing against something that was beyond his control. Thinking about it now, he realised he didn't know precisely when the desire he felt for her had turned into love, perhaps it never had; perhaps it had been love from the beginning. In any event he neither knew nor really cared; there has been no panic-struck denials or terrified horror at the prospect, just such an easy acceptance of the fact that it had surprised even him. That wasn't to say he was happy about it exactly, but he certainly had no desire to change how he felt, even though he easily could. He was a powerful wizard after all, this… situation, could be erased with any number of emotion suppressing potions or spells, but the idea of removing the feelings she inspired within him seemed almost obscene.
He had absolutely no intention of telling her though. Ever.
While he loved her, he was reluctant to hand over the last piece of control around her he had left – the knowledge of that love. And for once it wasn't only his cautious nature that was holding him back either, it was more that he was afraid he would be trapping her with his words. Her soft heart would demand that she not hurt him once she learned of his love and he could easily imagine her sacrificing her own happiness for his. Not that she would see it like that of course, but the result would be the same – tied to him out of duty rather than love and he had been surprised to discover during the long night, that there was still a smidgeon of honour left him in that refused to allow that.
Lois, he had long since realised, was an innately good person and while he didn't know if the emotion burning in her eyes last night had been love, he suspected that she thought it might be. He hadn't asked, and he didn't really want to know, but he guessed he was the first man she had been intimate with since her husband had died. Given her nature, it was a fair bet that she would have a hard time accepting the fact that she could sleep with someone she didn't love. He was almost positive that she had convinced herself that what she felt for him was more than simple desire and he couldn't – wouldn't - take advantage of that.
In any case, with the passing of time this passion she felt for him would more than likely burn itself out and all that would remain, would be the odd friendship she had initially badgered him into. When that day came he was determined not to be an object of pity to her, or worse still, be desperate enough to force her into continuing a relationship with him that she no longer wanted out of obligation. If he didn't condemn himself now with words he couldn't take back, when she eventually decided to move on, he could at least keep her in his life as a friend.
Of course, after all of his hard work and machinations over the last few months, he wasn't about to make it easy for her to escape him now that he finally had her. If he was incredibly lucky, whatever it was that drew her to him might never disappear. While he was aware appearance alone often had very little to do with attraction, the fact that she apparently desired him as much as he desired her perplexed him somewhat, but who was he to question the inexplicable nature of physical attraction? He didn't know what it was she saw in him, but it was powerful enough to overcome her inhibitions - as last night had proved - and also gave him hope that their relationship might not be a short-lived one.
'Yes we're a couple,' he said calmly seeing the relief flare in her eyes and held up a warning hand. 'But not overtly so.'
'Overtly.' Lois said with distrust. 'What does that mean?'
'Well, basically it means open, not hidden.' He said purposely misunderstanding her question.
'I didn't mean the dictionary definition you sarcastic bugger!' Lois growled. 'I might only know as much about magic as a first year, but I am an adult Severus not one of your students; I don't see what the problem is with anyone seeing us together, as long as we're not indiscreet in front of the children of course.' She said her eyes flashing fire, daring him to disagree.
'The problem is that I meant what I said yesterday Lois - I won't have your reputation harmed and the wizarding world is an old-fashioned one, a great deal more so that the muggle world.' He said firmly.
Lois grinned at his words, satisfied for the time being that he wasn't trying to deny their relationship. 'Will they think I'm a floozy?' She asked with relish.
'Undoubtedly.' He said sardonically, slightly annoyed at her refusal to take the matter seriously.
'Fine with me.' She shrugged. 'I've never been a loose woman before.' She said with pleasure, catching a glimpse of the bedside clock and leaping off the bed again. 'Look at the time.' She groaned. 'We're going to be late - is it okay if I jump in the shower first?'
'Would you like some company?' He asked levering himself up onto his elbows, his black eyes suddenly burning.
Staring at him Lois felt the fever that had overtaken her last night return full force and for a second couldn't remember for the life her why she had been rushing. That was right – school!
'I don't think it would be big enough.' She said finally, thoughts of the small shower cubicle managing to distract her long enough to form an intelligible answer, before she was captured once again by his heated gaze.
'I could make it bigger.' He assured.
The words, "I bet you could" flashed unthinkingly through her mind and despite her very best efforts, she couldn't prevent the fit of giggles that overtook her at his inadvertent double entendre, which only worsened when he stared over at her, eyebrows raised under a perplexed frown.
Finally managing to drag themselves out of his chambers to make their way to breakfast some time later, they encountered a trio of Slytherin girls almost as soon as they left his room. Luckily the sight of Lois in the dungeons was not an uncommon one and the only reaction she surprised, even given the earliness of the hour, was a look of haughty disdain from the two seventh years. The last student was a first year who Lois had treated for a nosebleed up in the Infirmary the previous week.
'Hello Imogen.' She smiled at the tiny red-headed girl.
'Morning Miss Scott.' Imogen beamed back, her smile disappearing at the sharp nudge she received from one of the other girls – Pamela Dove, Snape recognised. Luckily Lois had already walked on by this stage and missed her action, but Snape saw it and gave her a coldly warning glare from underneath harshly lowered brows. Both of the seventh years paled at his angry look and hurried on towards their dormitory, not daring to look back.
***
'Good grief Poppy who's that?' Lois gasped walking into the Infirmary later that afternoon to find herself looking at a completely naked, fully grown male lying on one of the beds, only a small sheet in place to preserve his modesty.
'Not who, what.' Poppy said with a complacent smile. 'It's a medical training dummy - so you can start working on your empathic skills.' She explained when Lois looked at her blankly.
'Where did you get it from?' Lois asked in awe, watching the steady rise and fall of the smooth chest.
'A friend of mine at St Mungo's lent it to us. They're very expensive, so there's no way the school board would have agreed the funding for one here. We're really lucky Melvin was able to sneak this out for us.' She said with a pleased nod.
'Sneak?' Lois asked suspiciously. 'Poppy no one's going to get into trouble for this are they?'
'No of course not.' Poppy said with a dismissive wave. 'Worst comes to worst, Melvin will owl me and we can package it up and send it straight back - it'll be there practically before they've even noticed it's missing.' Noting Lois's unconvinced look, the older woman rolled her eyes. 'It was either this Lois or you travelling up to St Mungo's and as it's so far, the only sensible solution would have been for you to be based there for a few months. I didn't think that you'd want to do that.' She smiled. 'But if you're really not happy I could always return it…?'
'No need!' Lois said quickly. 'So you've managed to get your hands on a training dummy have you?' She asked brightly.
Poppy laughed softly. 'Yes I have - procured completely legitimately from an authorised supplier.'
'How does it work?' Lois questioned interestedly.
'Well it has a fully functioning autonomic nervous system, which responds to stimuli in exactly the same fashion as a human would, but unlike a human it's completely unaware and incapable of experiencing pain. That means you'll be able to try out your empathic powers and work on healing some more serious conditions without worrying about making a mistake.' She said giving the dummy's head an approving pat. 'But that isn't all it does; we can adjust pretty much everything about it to suit ourselves.' Poppy enthused. 'If we open it up and want a clearer picture, we can change the colours of the internal organs or restrict the blood flow if it's obscuring the view, or even stop it altogether if we don't want to get our hands sticky. A marvellous thing, just marvellous.' She said with a happy sigh.
'Would you and the dummy like some time alone Poppy?' Lois teased amused, by the other woman's extreme pleasure in her new toy.
'I suppose I am getting a little carried away.' Poppy admitted with a slightly shamefaced smile. 'But I've always wanted one of these and you have to admit Lois, it's pretty amazing.' She pressed.
Bending over Lois hesitantly reached out her hand to check the carotid pulse, which beat slow and steady under the warm skin.
'Perfect down to the last detail.' Poppy said with satisfaction.
While Poppy began the gruesome task of afflicting the dummy with injuries that couldn't be seen by the naked eye, Lois waited in the office so that she wouldn't have any clues as to what she was looking for. Heading back into the main room at Poppy's shout, Lois first sat on a chair next to the bed and centred herself with the deep breathing techniques Remus had taught her. When she was ready, she stood again and began running her hands palm down over the still form in front of her.
'Poppy I can't feel anything.' Lois said impatiently five minutes later. 'This isn't working.'
'Perhaps we need to make the damage more severe to start with.' Poppy said meditatively. 'But that means you'll be able to see what's wrong.' She said tapping her wand thoughtfully against her thigh. 'Right there's nothing else for it, you'll have to wear a blindfold.'
Lois groaned but allowed the other woman to place cotton pads on her eyes and wrap a large bandage securely around her head.
'Can you see anything?' Poppy shouted as though she had suddenly become deaf as well as blind.
'No, and I think that's probably a good thing.' Lois grumbled imaging how she must look, hands held searchingly out in front of her and loose ends of bandages trailing behind her like a poor man's mummy from some cheap horror film.
'Okay then.' The Matron said enthusiasm shining in her voice. 'Hang on a second.'
Poppy quickly mumbled a spell and Lois winced as the initial sickening sound of bones snapping, was immediately followed by the wet popping of the same bones presumably protruding through the skin.
'Now don't lower your hands too much this time.' Poppy warned in the same jolly tone. 'It's a bit… messy.'
'I can imagine.' Lois grimaced, wishing she hadn't eaten such a large lunch.
An hour later and all she had accomplished for her efforts was a raging headache, and a vague tingling sensation in her palms when she finally found the last, and most severe injury Poppy had spelled onto the dummy – its leg had been practically smashed into a bloody pulp Lois saw when she removed her blindfold.
'It's a start.' The Matron had encouraged seeing her dispirited expression. Lois nodded wearily, too spent to speak and gratefully accepted the pain potion the other woman handed her. 'I don't understand where we're going wrong though.' Poppy continued thoughtfully, quickly repairing the dummy's damaged bones and pouring a thick, glutinous mixture onto the ruptured skin, which bubbled as it knitted itself back together. 'We must be missing something.' She said replacing the stained sheets with a flick of her wand and drawing the curtains around the bed.
'Perhaps I just don't have the ability.' Lois said sitting on the edge of the opposite bed massaging her temples as the pain thankfully receded.
'Maybe.' Poppy said slowly sounding unconvinced. 'But if that's the case how can you feel anything at all, even if it is only a tingling?'
'I don't know.' Lois sighed morosely, her face immediately lighting up when the Infirmary door opened and Severus walked in.
'The potion you asked for Poppy.' Snape said coolly handing over a large stone jar to the older woman, barely glancing at Lois as he did so.
'How very kind of you to bring it up yourself Severus.' Poppy said with feigned innocence, turning to walk towards the store cupboard, her back to the two of them. 'And also unusual; don't you normally send one of the children?'
'Generally yes, but as I also wanted to see Lois it seemed foolish not to bring it with me.' He said finally turning to face her, not batting an eyelid at the older woman's teasing. 'I have a free period if you would like to come down to my dungeon for an extra potions class?' He asked his dark eyes gleaming.
Lois leapt off the bed, tiredness instantly forgotten. 'Okay.' She beamed her smile threatening to split her face in two. 'Just give me one minute to grab my stuff from my room.' She said heading for the door, stopping briefly to reach up on tiptoe to kiss him as she passed.
Avoiding Poppy's probing questions with ease, Snape gave Lois the one minute she had requested and a further two before impatience really kicked in and sent him striding from the Infirmary after her, breaking off practically in mid-conversation and heading out of the room, only finally remembering at the door to turn and say his goodbyes, much to Poppy's amusement.
'Lois?' He called, tapping on the chamber door. When he received no response he pushed it slowly open, calling her name again as he walked in, instantly spotting her standing frozen in the middle of the room, a horrified expression on her face. Forcing his eyes from her pale features he quickly scanned the room immediately seeing what held her rigid as he surveyed the wreckage surrounding her. Cupboard drawers were open or upended on the ground, their contents strewn across the floor, ornaments and photographs were lying broken on shelves and through her half open bedroom door, he could see that the other room had undergone a similar fate.
'What happened?' He asked striding to her side.
'I don't know.' She answered in a dazed voice. 'It was like this when I got here.'
'Was the door still locked?' He asked quickly pulling his wand to check and finding it unbroken. 'Only very powerful dark magic could open a lock in any of the private quarters.' He said his mind quickly working its way down a list of suspects who would be powerful enough, and stupid enough, to do this. Truthfully it didn't make any sense, why would anyone make the effort to break in just to vandalise her room? It seemed rather childish.
'I don't know if I locked it.' Lois said softly, but he barely heard, already itching to find the perpetrator and punish them severely for this. How dare anyone try to hurt Lois? What if it had been more than vandalism they'd had in mind, he thought with a cold clutch of panic.
'It has to be one of the Professors,' he said out loud, his thoughts racing. 'None of the students could do this.'
'I said.' She spoke loudly over his words. 'I don't know if I even locked it.'
'What?' He exclaimed, finally hearing her and looking at her as though she were a simpleton. 'You didn't lock it?'
'I don't remember.' She said quiet again. 'I… I don't sometimes. Mostly I'm just down the corridor and I'm backwards and forwards all day. Often I … don't.' She trailed off looking around her room again.
'Of all the idiotic, trusting…' Snape stopped too incensed to continue. 'Lois this is a school filled with not - as you seem determined to believe - honest, innocent, basically good-natured children, but devious, malicious, trouble making hellions down to the very last one of them.' He said in disgust, certain now with this new information that it was one of the children who was responsible for the damage. 'This was probably the work of a student in a hormone ridden rage over the object of her affection mooning over you.' He said with distaste, not noticing her flinch at his words. 'How hard is it to lock a door?!' He thundered suddenly. 'It takes a millisecond and you would have been spared this!' He said with a sweeping gesture of his right arm, already deciding the punishment he would dish out for this outrage. Whoever they were, even Slytherin, which was the most likely suspect he knew, they would rue they day they pulled this stunt.
Turning back to face her, he finally noticed the silent tears pooling in her eyes and spilling down her cheeks. He cursed under his breath; he was not the right person to call to comfort wailing women he thought in near panic. Even when he routinely discovered homesick, sobbing first years in the common room late at night, he woke Poppy to deal with them.
'Lois.' He said patting her shoulder awkwardly. 'Don't cry, I shouldn't have shouted at you - it's not completely your fault.' He said, managing to sound almost sincere. 'It doesn't matter anyway - we'll find the student responsible and I'll make sure they're punished.' He said with grim relish.
He was shocked when his efforts to console only resulted in her sobbing even harder, making little choking sounds now as she turned into his arms, burying her face in his robes. He stood unsure for a second, before instincts he didn't even know he possessed kicked in and he wrapped his arms around her and began rubbing slow circles on her back in a soothing gesture.
'Don't cry.' He said again helplessly. 'I will find them.'
'That's not it.' She said in a hiccupping voice. 'I don't care about catching and punishing them, it's just… why would they do this?' She wailed lifting her head slightly to stare tearily at him. 'What have I done to make them hate me so much?' She questioned plaintively burying her head in his chest again.
He saw with dawning realisation that it wasn't the room that was upsetting her, or even his shouting, but the thought that she could have unknowingly driven one of the students to do this.
He pulled her away from him, holding her firmly by the shoulders as he stared into her eyes. 'Stop this.' He said firmly. 'You of all people know how unstable teenagers can be. I am positive this was done without a seconds planning when they came across your door ajar.' He shook her slightly when she looked unconvinced. 'Like it or not Lois, you have a fair number of the boys at the school panting after you, and not because you've encouraged them, but because you are a passably attractive adult women and that is was adolescent males do.' His words caused a quick flash of anger in her eyes and an affronted sniff, and his lips twitched in amusement, preferring to see her offended rather than crying.
'Now.' He said, glad to see her tears were drying. 'Once you have calmed down you will realise you are not foolish enough to believe you can be blamed for this and crying over it will achieve nothing.' She sniffed again and he smiled, a real smile this time as he took in her panda-like eyes and pink nose. 'Here.' He said, handing her a handkerchief. 'Go and wash your face and I'll repair the damage. Is anything missing?' He said suddenly, feeling foolish for not having asked that before.
She looked around the room, scrubbing at her eyes. 'I don't think so.' She said finally and Snape nodded, doubting even an enraged teenager would be stupid enough to take evidence of their crime. 'Go on then.' He said guiding her towards the bathroom. 'What's that doing there?' He asked in surprise seeing Filch's cat curled up asleep on her laundry basket.
'Sleeping by the looks of it.' She replied facetiously.
'I can see that.' He growled impatiently. 'I meant how did she get in?'
'Probably… Oh.' She said in a hopeful voice. 'Do you think Filch might have done this?'
He shook his head in amazement, realising she would be happier knowing the caretaker had done this rather than any of the children. 'I'm sure not.' He said honestly. 'Filch would never risk his position here by doing this, no matter how much he dislikes you. I simply wondered how the cat got in. Was the door actually open when you arrived?'
'No.' She said gloomily. 'Wouldn't matter anyway - there's a gap behind the fireplace wall, that's how Mrs Norris gets in and out.'
'She's here a lot?' He asked surprised.
'Mostly in the day. I think that's when Filch is busy with his caretaking duties and she seems to like my bathroom.' She said with an uninterested shrug.
He left her alone while he attended to the mess in the small sitting room and bedroom. Several cleaning and repairing spells later and her chambers were back to their previous pristine condition and he sat down on one of the fireside chairs to wait for her. A knock on the door interrupted almost immediately and he got up to answer it, not wanting to bother Lois. Unfortunately her visitor was Potter, looking horrified to see him.
'Professor Snape.' He said dismayed. 'Is Lois here?' He asked a suspicious light dawning in his eyes as he tried to see around Snape's tall form.
'She's busy Potter.' Snape said icily. 'Shall I give her a message?' He asked, having no intention of passing it on.
'It's okay Severus, I'm here now.' Lois's voice said from behind him and he stepped away from the door to face her, pleased to see that although her eyes were still red rimmed, they no longer held the stunned look they had earlier.
'Hi Harry, come on in.' She managed not quite as cheerfully as normal. 'Did you want me for something?' She asked with a smile.
'Yes, I just wondered if you wanted to come and watch Quidditch practice.' He said slowly examining her closely. 'Lois are you alright?' He asked suddenly with a quick accusing look at Snape.
'I'm fine.' She assured him. 'Bumped my head leaving the Infirmary.' She said in explanation. 'That's one of the many good things about being female, you can cry like a baby when you hurt yourself and no one thinks any the less of you.'
Harry looked doubtful, but didn't press it. 'Okay.' He said. 'Well never mind about the Quidditch then. You'll be at the game on Saturday though won't you?'
'Wouldn't miss it for the world.' She assured him and saw him to the door, noticing the hard expression on his face as he looked quickly over at Snape before leaving.
'You realise he probably thinks I beat you now?' Snape said idly as she shut the door, not really caring what Potter thought.
'Of course he doesn't.' Lois said dismissively her mind obviously on other matters. 'Severus about all this… business.' She said indicating the now repaired room with a wave of her hand. 'I don't want you to tell the Headmaster.'
'Why not?' He demanded incredulously.
'Because it probably was a spur of the moment thing like you said and hopefully it's burnt itself out now.'
'And what if it hasn't?' He asked impatiently.
'Then we can tell Professor Dumbledore if anything else happens.' She huffed. 'But I don't want to make a big deal of it and get it blown all out of proportion. And I don't want you starting your own little witch-hunt Severus.' She said sternly.
'I'm not promising that.' He said in a hard voice. 'We won't tell Dumbledore yet if you insist, but I will find who did this and they will be punished.'
'All right.' She accepted knowing he would go ahead with or without her approval. 'But no punishments until we discuss it first. Okay?'
'Fine.' He agreed outwardly compliant, but having no intention of letting whoever had done this off with a warning, whatever she said. While his mind was busily planning what to do next, he caught her looking up at him under her lashes. 'What is it?' He demanded sharply when she continued eyeing him furtively, but still didn't speak.
'Passably attractive?' She asked with a vaguely sulky pout. 'I thought you said I was beautiful.'
'And I thought you said you didn't need the words.' He responded dryly.
'During times of stress women always need the words.' She said with a wry smile.
'Ahh I see.' He said in at tone which clearly showed he did nothing of the sort. 'So let me get this straight; when your eyes are red and puffy, your face is blotchy and your nose is pink, that is the time I am required to wax lyrical?' He asked with a disbelieving shake of his head.
'I've said it before and I'll say it again – I just don't know how some lucky woman hasn't already snapped you up Severus.' Lois murmured, softening the insult with a loving kiss.
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
A/N This chapter is a bit shorter than normal, but that's because it was originally huge for some reason. I thought it would be easier to read in two halves and being as the second half wasn't quite finished, I chopped it in two and just posted the first part. I'm hoping to get the rest of it out in the next couple of days.
Starlight and Blue Moon – Snape lying to Lois about Remus – yup that's going to come back and bite him on the bum (so to speak). Serves him right too!
Gotsnape and Moonikens – I'm sorry, I'm sorry - no big bedroom scene because I don't want to change the rating, but there will be canoodling ahead if that's any consolation :)
Elspeth: The wandless magic – yes it's because of one of the three things you asked (although that's not much help I suppose as one of the options was – "or is it something else" ^_~) and yes, it's gonna be super dooper important later. I'm sure though that you'll all guess the ending long before I get there, which quite frankly I think would be almost a relief at this stage – at least I'll know then that the clues I've been dropping haven't been completely impenetrable.
Thanks everyone who reviewed and sorry this chapter took a while. I do try to update regularly purely because if I don't I know, magpie-like, I'll be distracted by something shiny and wander off and never finish, but I caught some bug and just wasn't up to sitting at the computer for any length of time. Oh well, all better now!