A/N: I hope that this chapter lives up to the others' standards and I'm so sorry if I took long to update. I've been very confused lately about stuff going on.
Second Best: Part VII
Snape manor was everything that she would expect it to be. It was an old, large house, isolated from everything and everyone. There was darkness all over the house. Even during the say. All of the curtains where pulled closed so that there would be no sunlight in the house. The hallways where lit by very dim torchlights. But she could see that the walls where a bark green color, the color of pine trees.
He led her through the halls and up a flight of stairs. He entered a hallway with about seven doors. There where three doors on each side and one all the way at the end of the hall. When he stopped in front of the first two doors and turned to look at her. "Do you prefer the sun in the morning of in the afternoon?" he asked as he stared down at her.
"The morning," she said with a shrug as she looked at him. He nodded and turned away from her. He turned to the door on the left and opened it and he than motioned for Luna to step into the room. She walked past him and into the large room. There was a large four-poster in the middle of the room, with a navy blue comforter and had four pillows. Two pillows where Navy blue and the other two where black and seemed to be made of silk. There was a nightstand on each side of the bed and a door to the left of the bed. Luna guessed that the door led to a private washroom.
"If you need anything," he started out saying and she turned to look at him as he spoke. "Snap your fingers and a house elf should appear. Meals are at all the normal times. You can choose to eat or not, as long as you don't starve yourself. I would also prefer that you don't bring any food up here. You may wander around as you wish, but do not enter any locked rooms and don't go down to the lab in the basement. Should you ever need anything my room is the one at the end of this hall. Also, your trunk shall be brought up by a house elf shortly," he than turned away and walked out of the room. Luna walked over to the bed and sat down.
She soon touched the pillows and found that they where in fact made of silk. She pulled the comforter up a little to see the sheets. She soon saw that the sheets where black and where also made of silk. She wondered why he seemed to like silk so much. She loved the feel of silk against her skin, but she had never even thought of getting silk sheets. She stood up and walked over to the window. There where two windows, one on each side of the bed.
She looked out into the darkening sky and sighed. She realized that this was perhaps going to be a very long summer. As she looked out the window she could see all the trees. Their where trees around for miles. She wondered why Snape lived in such a secluded area. Was he truly that much of a misanthrope that he lived in an isolated area. But she wondered if he was such a misanthrope why he would choose to become a Professor. At that moment there was a large thump, in which she turned around and looked at the elf that stood there.
The elf looked like a normal house elf, but it had a black pillowcase on that didn't make him look quite so pathetic as Dobby. It's eyes where big and deep pools of emerald green. He looked at it and soon realized that her trunk was at the foot of the bed. "You may call me One," the house elf said with a small bow towards Luna. His tone of voice was very monotone, as if her where a very unhappy little elf.
"One?" Luna asked as she looked at the house elf.
"Master Snape does not bother himself with naming us," the house elf said in response. Luna nodded and soon noted that the Elf spoke in proper English. Leave it to Snape to not bother with naming House elves, but troubling himself with teaching them proper English. "Will you be eating dinner Miss Lovegood?" the elf said as it looked at her. She merely nodded in response. "Well please follow me," he said as he turned away and walked down the hall. Luna walked behind him and soon realized that in the entire time that he had talked to her he had spoken with no tone in his voice at all.
"Umm, One," she said, feeling strange for calling it by a number.
"Yes Miss Lovegood?" asked the House elf as it turned to look at her and stopped walking.
"So you mind if I give you a name?" she asked as she looked down at it.
"I don't mind at all," said the house elf as a cheerful tone crept into his voice. Luna smiled down at the house elf. She wondered what it was like to only have the company of Snape and other house elves. She wondered if all of Snape's house elves where this depressed and this eager to have someone else tell them what to do. She guessed that they weren't used to kindness.
"Can I call you Turtle? I really like turtles," she said as she looked down at him. The elf smiled up and her and nodded it's head eagerly. He walked over to her and took her hand into his and walked her down the hall. Luna noticed that there was a happy little bounce in his step now and she smiled to herself. They walked down the stairs, down a hall and soon stood before to very large doors. He than let go of her hand and pulled the heavy door opened and motioned for her to walk in.
It was a large dining room with a large rectangular table. It could seat at least fourteen people. There was space six seat on each side of the table and a person on each end, but there where only two seats at the table at the moment. The room was very dimly lit, which was something that Luna wasn't used to. Turtle walked past her to one side of the table and pulled the chair out. "Thank you," Luna said as she sat down in the seat. Turtle nodded and walked out and soon returned setting the table.
Pretty soon the door at the other end of the room opened and Snape walked in and took his seat all the way on the other end of the table, sitting opposite of her. He did seem to notice that Luna was sitting on the other end of the table. He had many pieces of parchment in his hand and was concentrating pretty hard on them. Turtle than walked out of the room and walked back into the room with food and started putting it on both their plates, which also went by unnoticed by Snape. Snape than looked up and looked right at Luna, "You're eating?"
"I haven't eaten anything all day," she said as she looked at him. He merely nodded and looked back at the pieces of parchment in his hand. Soon Turtle walked over to her end of the table and poured juice into her goblet. "Thank you Turtle," she said with a smile. Turtle nodded and walked out of the room. Luna turned to look at Snape who was staring at her with a raised eyebrow.
"Turtle?" he asked.
"Oh I named him that, I hope you don't mind. It's just that I found it strange to call it a number," she said as she looked at her professor.
"I don't care, but Turtle?" he asked as he looked at her.
"Better than One," she said as she looked at him. He just raised left brow and than turned back to the parchment in his hands. "Professor Snape may I ask you a question?" she asked. He looked up at her and raised a brow. "I'll take that as a yes. How is it that you won't waste your time on naming your House Elves, but you don't mind wasting time in teaching them proper English and proper manners?" she asked as she looked at him.
"Miss Lovegood these elves have been in my family longer than I have been alive, it was not I that wasted my time on these elves," he said as he looked at her.
"Than I assume that it wasn't you either that couldn't afford to waste their time coming up with a name," she said as she looked at him.
"You assume correct," he responded as he looked down at his parchment.
"Than why don't you name them Professor Snape?" she asked as she looked at him.
"I don't care too name them Miss Lovegood," he said as he looked up at her. She could hear the exasperation creeping into his voice. There was an irked expression on his face and she could tell that she was bothering him. He sighed loudly and snapped his fingers and immediately Turtle appeared in the room. "Round up all the house elves and bring them here," he ordered at he looked at him. Turtle nodded and left the room quickly. "Since it bothers you so much that they have no names, than you name them," he said as he looked at her, he than looked down at hi parchment and paid no more mind to her. A couple of minutes later Turtle arrived with four other elves.
They all stood in a straight line before Luna. Luna could tell that two of the elves where male, those two where clothed in the same color as turtle, as for the girls, they where wearing white. Luna turned her attention to the four house elves that where staring at her with their wide eyes and she could see them sparkle. "This is numbers 2,3, 4 and 5," Turtle said as he went down the line. Luna nodded as she stared at them.
"Miss Lovegood will be giving the lot of you names," Snape said. Luna turned to look at him and she noted that he had not looked up at all when he said it. She turned to the House elves, who where all staring at her with something shinning in their eyes more than before. Luna turned to the House elf with the Black eyes; it was wearing white so she could tell that this was a female.
"Your number 2?" she asked as she looked at it. The house elf nodded in response. "Well I'm going to name you Ebony," she said as she looked at her. She nodded in response, Luna than turned to number three, which was a male. He had large light blue eyes. "I'm going to name you Sky," she said as she looked at him. She than turned to the other boy and he had large brown eyes. "You remind me of Chocolate so that's what I'm going to call you," she said as she looked at him. Luna could see out of the corner of her eye that Snape was no longer looking at the parchment but staring at her intently. She soon turned her full attention to the last house elf standing before her. She had large light brown eyes. As she looked at the light pools, she knew exactly what to name her. "I'm naming you Honey," she said as she looked at her.
"All of you depart now, back to your chores," Snape commanded. Luna turned to look at him and noted that he had once more turned back to the piece of parchment in his hands. All of the house elves walked off with a new beat in their steps. Luna turned back to her food and tried to eat, and since the only thing in the room living other than herself was Snape, she turned to study him. After a couple of minutes of silence passed by she wondered why he wasn't eating.
"Professor Snape are you not hungry?" she asked as she looked at him. He looked up and stared at her.
"It is a strange question to ask, but no," he responded. She wondered than why he was sitting at the table and why he had food before him. She than wondered when the last time that he had eaten was.
"When was the last time you ate?" she asked as she looked at him. He raised a brow at this question.
"Not that it is any of your business, but last I ate was breakfast," he responded as he looked at her.
"It is not healthy to go on so long with nothing to eat," she said as she looked at him. He once again raised a brow at this. At that moment a House Elf walked into the room and walked over to him. She could tell, that this one was the one she and named Ebony. Ebony looked like she was the oldest House elf there. She looked older than Turtle.
"Master Snape, you have a visitor waiting for you in the entrance hall," Ebony said as she looked at him. Luna watched closely, she wanted to see Snape's interactions with his House elves. She noted that Ebony did not quite act like the other House elves. She seemed to have more dignity and respect for herself than the whole lot of them. She turned to look at Snape and noted that he seemed to respect that about her. Luna noted that Ebony had turned and looked at his plate, which was full, and turned back to him with a look. Luna noted that it was one of those looks that you mother or grandmother would give you when you're not eating well. "Master Snape had not touched his food. You are not eating well Master, since you returned from Hogwarts you have not ate well. You've reduced your meals to once a day or once every two days," Ebony said as she looked at him.
"Enough number... Enough Ebony," he said as he remembered that she had just been given a name. He stood up and walked past her. The House elf sighed and decided to start to clean up.
"Ebony," Luna said as she stood up. "Has Professor Snape truly not been eating well?" she asked as she stood up and walked over to her. Ebony sighed and nodded as she continued to clean up.
"He hasn't slept well either. Something is troubling him. He is spending long hours in the lab, when he wakes up he goes down there. He doesn't come out all day. He wanders the corridors as night and has fitful bouts of sleep. I don't know what troubles Master so, but I know that I have never seen him like this, and I have raised him since he was a young one," Ebony said as she cleaned up and walked into the kitchen. Luna followed her into the kitchen, wanting to find out more. She wondered what could possibly be troubling Snape now, now that the war was over and the only thing that he had to worry about was Hogwarts.
"Do you know why?" Luna asked as she followed Ebony.
"No I do not miss Lovegood," said the old House elf as she turned to look at Luna. The old elf could see the worry written all over Luna's face and looked softly at her. "You should not worry yourself over Master Snape's troubles. He knows very well how to take care of himself. There is no need for you to trouble yourself."
"Are you the House Elf he calls on the most?" Luna asked her. She nodded and Luna could tell that there was perhaps a strong bond between her and Snape. She could tell that Ebony was ever loyal to Snape and would never betray him.
"Master Snape has a lot of respect for me and he has patience with me. I wish I could say that for Honey and Turtle, but I can't. Honey is much to young, she easily anger Master Snape. And Turtle, even though he is the oldest, he does not act it and that causes Master Snape to loose his patience as well," Luna nodded as she looked down at Ebony. "You should be heading up stairs Miss Lovegood." Luna nodded and turned and walked out the kitchen wondering about Snape and why he was acting like that.
TBC...