Chapter 11- Movin' and Shakin'
We win half the battle when we make up our minds to take the world as we find it, including the thorns.- Orison Swett Marden
Severus and Samantha walked quickly to the Square. The air was heavy with humidity and the smell of rain. When they were safely hidden in a grove of trees, Severus stopped and turned to Samantha.
"Haydyn, if we run into any trouble I want you to disapparate immediately," said Severus softly. "Today was too close for me. I never want to see you hurt like that again."
"Gabriel, I'm not about to leave you to become mince meat for the Dark Lord and his vermin," said Samantha. She took hold of his face in her hands. "We will face whatever comes together. You'll have all the time in the world to act noble when this war is over. Now, let's get a move on before it gets any later. You're going to have to apparate me. I've never been to your house."
Severus sighed. She took a hold of his arm tightly and Severus apparated them both. They arrived in a dark alleyway about a block from the end of the street. Severus edged around the corner of the building, looking for any signs of people wandering around.
"Sam, hit us with your Disillusionment charm," whispered Severus. Samantha tapped him on the head and then herself, shivering at the coldness trickling down her neck. When the charm completed, she could see the faint blue glow around Severus. Only the people who she cast the spell on could see her detection charm that was always paired with her Disillusionment. Lily had taught her the spell back in school, and Samantha had used it ever since.
She felt Severus put a hand on her leg, tapping her feet with his wand.
"What are you doing?" hissed Samantha, putting a hand on his shoulder to keep herself balanced.
"Cushioning charm so that your shoes don't make any noise," said Severus softly. "How else do you think I was able to sneak up on the little miscreants while I was teaching at Hogwarts?"
He grabbed her hand and they jogged to the last house. No lights shone in any of the windows. Severus pulled Samantha up the front steps and tapped his wand against the lock of the door. The door opened with a slight click. Severus pushed it open and closed it quickly and quietly behind Samantha. He tapped the door frame with his wand. The entire door was outlined in blue. Severus hit Samantha on her head with his wand, and the warm feel of the counter-charm ran down her back. He cancelled his charm and lit his wand.
"No more light than this," he said. He pointed to his bookshelves. "Start shrinking the books." He opened the staircase doorway and disappeared silently up the stairs. Samantha went over to the first book shelf and tapped her wand aganist the spines of the books. She heard a soft thud behind her. Severus had put a trunk beside the book case where she was standing. Samantha banished all the miniaturized books into the trunk.
Severus was doing the same to the other bookshelves. They had cleared all the book cases within a few minutes. He walked over to the side table next to the couch and turned it over. He cancelled a sticking charm on another book that was stuck to the underside of the table and shrank it, throwing it into Samantha's trunk of books. He looked around, spinning slowly in place.
"That's it down here," he said. "Let's go upstairs and do my room. The other rooms don't have anything in them. I cleared them of everything before Pettigrew moved in."
They levitated the trunks behind them as they climbed the stairs, Severus taking them two at a time. He moved over to the desk and began to empty all the drawers into the trunk. Samantha set her trunk beside the armoire. She opened the door, and pointed her wand inside, uttering a soft Pack. The clothes flew out of the closet and into the trunk, folding themselves neatly.
"There's a trick panel in the back, Sam," said Severus as he opened the drawers of his bedside table and pulled out vials of potions. "The center panel slides to the right. I want the box inside."
Samantha turned back to the empty armoire with a confused look. She did as Severus told her, the panel sliding smoothly. She lit her wand and saw a small, flat black box inside the small cubby hole. She pulled it out and ran her thumb over the edge of the silver initials SGS on the top. She opened the lid and gasped at the sight of a deadly-looking 7-inch blade with a thin 4-inch hilt. The hilt was silver, encrusted with sapphires and emeralds. She turned to Severus with wide eyes. He shrugged and moved over to his dresser, pulling on the handle and scooping clothes into Samantha's trunk.
"I'm rather partial to that blade," said Severus. "My mother gave it to me as a graduation present. We might need it."
"I should hope not," said Samantha softly. She closed the lid and put it on top of her trunk. The black box was quickly covered with the armload of clothes Severus dumped on top of it.
"That's everything," said Severus. He looked around the room one last time. They both shut and locked the trunks. Severus shrank them and put them in his pocket. He let Madeline out of her cage, telling her to fly to the 12. He cleaned and shrank her cage, adding it to his pocket. They moved towards the door when Severus stopped and walked back over to his bed. He crouched and pulled out a long, thin object.
"I'd almost forgotten about this," said Severus. He lit his wand and ran it lovingly down the black handle of a dusty Nimbus 2001. "Lucius bought seven of them for the Slytherin house team after Draco made the team. He sent me one as well. We might as well take it along." He turned back to where Samantha was standing beside the door. Suddenly the frame above her head flashed blood red and the sound of ringing bells filled the room.
"Damn," said Severus. He slammed the door, no longer worried about making noise. He grabbed her hand and pulled her to the window. "Get on the broom behind me, Sam, and disillusion us quick."
She hit them both on the head while Severus tapped the side of the broom. He kicked off from the floor and flew through the window just as the door blew apart, the wood splintering everywhere. Severus flew over some neighboring rooftops and braked, turning back to watch as his house exploded in bright green flame. They heard a shouted "MORSMODRE!" and watched the skull float menacingly above his roof.
"Bloody hell," said Severus. He took a deep breath and exhaled. "You alright, Haydyn?"
"Yeah," whispered Samantha. "You?"
"Yeah," answered Severus. "I feel bad for Shacklebolt though. He'll have to find some other Death Eater to track now."
Samantha leaned her head wearily against Severus's back, tears falling silently down her cheeks. She closed her eyes, trying to block out the sickening green light. She saw it in her mind, hanging over the house she had grown up in, the house she had always loved, the house that smelled like fresh-baked cookies her mother would always pull out of the oven when she got home for the summer.
Severus flew them over to the alleyway at the end of the block. He landed and cancelled the charms.
"Come on, Haydyn," he said softly. "We've got to get to your place. You go first."
She nodded and disapparated with a soft crack. He looked one last time down the street. He disapparated just as Ministry officials arrived.
He apparated to the hall of Samantha's flat and heard her moving around in the sitting room. He walked in, lighting the room with a wave of his wand.
"I kept your books upstairs in the closet," said Samantha as she turned to see Severus. She looked away from him and quickly dried her eyes on her jacket sleeve. "I didn't want anyone to walk in and ask me questions if they saw them. I'm gonna go upstairs and get my trunks." She made to walk past him but he grabbed her arm as she passed. Severus pulled her to him. She ducked her head to keep him from seeing her tears, but he lifted her chin gently with a thin finger.
"Haydyn, what's wrong, love?" he asked. He brushed her tears away with his thumbs and looked deep into her glistening eyes.
"Nothing, Gabriel," she said softly. "It's nothing."
"It's not nothing if you're this upset," said Severus. He pressed his lips to her forehead and wrapped his arms around her. "I'm so sorry, Sam."
"I don't know why I'm crying," said Samantha between sniffs. "You're fine. You're not even - not even hurt or anything."
"Shh," said Severus, running a hand through her hair. "It's alright. Everything's gonna be alright." He looked down at her and kissed her lips, trying to comfort and reassure her at the same time. The kiss deepened as Samantha tightened her hold on Severus. Minutes passed before Samantha pulled away.
"I'll go get a trunk for you," said Samantha as she stepped out of Severus's embrace. She walked down the hall and returned with her old school trunk. She opened it for him and shrank the books that were already inside. "Bring it to my room when you're done. I'll put the stuff in my desk drawer in that trunk." She left for her room. Severus banished the books to the trunk and made sure there was nothing else in the room that they needed. He flicked his wand at the trunk and walked down the hall.
A half-full trunk sat in the middle of the room. Severus jumped out of the way as clothes flew into it from a closet. Samantha reappeared and walked over to her desk. She pointed to the floor beside her and Severus set the trunk down. She cast unbreakable charms on her ink bottles and packed those, her quills and rolls of blank parchment. Severus stacked up all the parchment scattered on top of the desk and dumped it into the trunk. She tapped her secret drawer and started to pull out all of her letters, placing them on top of the nearly full trunk. Severus pulled one of them off the top and read a message in his own handwriting.
"Samantha Haydyn!" he said in a loud tone. "What in the hell are you doing saving these? Anyone could have found them!"
"Severus Gabriel, do not take me for an idiot," said Samantha as she emptied the rest of the drawer's contents. "The only person who knows about this drawer is me -- well, and you now. No one else could have opened it, as the charm is specifically tuned to my wand. I know you told me to get rid of them, but I like rereading some of them every once and a while." She picked a yellowed slip out of the trunk and flipped it open. "Take this one, for example. 'Haydyn, thanks for all your help in transfiguration. I managed to get that wand movement down after you went to bed last night. Did you see the look on McGonagall's face when I did it right in class today? Bloody brilliant! I'll see you at dinner tonight. You should have taken Runes with me instead of Divination. It's awesome! Gabriel'" She smiled as she placed the note back in the trunk.
"Did you save every little note I gave you?" said Severus incredulously. "I don't even remember writing that one."
"I saved most of them," said Samantha with a shrug as she shut and locked both of her trunks. She waved her wand, and the trunks shrank to the size of a matchbox. She picked them up and put them in her trouser pocket.
Severus just shook his head at her. Women.
"Do you have everything?" he asked. He grabbed his broomstick from where it was leaning against the wall.
"I think so," said Samantha. She looked one last time at her room. "Let's get back to the 12."
It was completely dark when Severus and Samantha apparated back to the park. They walked quickly down the street and up the steps to Headquarters. Once inside, Samantha locked the door as Severus lit the torches that lined the entryway. He motioned with his head towards the stairs. They tiptoed past the portrait of the fork-tongued Regina Black and silently climbed the stairs to the second floor. Samantha opened the door of the room where she had slept earlier.
"I think I'll take the room across from you, Sam," said Severus. Samantha nodded and walked inside. He pushed open the door to his chosen room to find it sparsely furnished. A heavy desk sat in a corner, while a large four-poster took up most of the center of the room alongside a tiny bedside table. He heard the flapping of wings in the hall. The sound grew louder as an owl flew through the door. Severus held out his arm and Madeline landed on it, giving Severus a soft hoot. He pulled out her cage, setting it on top of the desk to enlarge it. He opened the door of the newly resized cage and Madeline flew in, landing on the perch. He picked up the cage and hung it in the corner of the room with his wand. He pulled out the small boxes in his pocket and began to unpack.
Samantha had just finished putting the last of her books on the bookcase she had transfigured when she heard a knock on the doorframe. She looked and saw Severus eyeing her bookshelves and smiled at him.
"Yes?" she asked with a smirk. She watched as he ran a hand down the side of the bookcase.
"Can you make me a couple of these?" asked Severus, still in awe at Samantha's transfiguring. "I'll probably need at least two this size."
"Sure thing," she said. "I'll just grab some parchment."
"You made those out of parchment?" cried Severus as he walked back across the hall. "I didn't even know that was possible!"
"Were you even in seventh year Transfiguration?" said Samantha as she entered his room. "Where do you want them?" He pointed to the empty wall facing the bed. She set down the parchment and up grew two huge bookcases, covering the entire wall with shelving. She turned and chuckled at the shocked look on Severus's face. "My dear Gabriel, McGonagall went over this for two weeks!"
"Hm," said Severus as he sat on the bed. He opened the drawer in the bedside table and placed all his potion vials inside. "I don't recall her going over that."
"Well, maybe if you hadn't had been so concerned with hexing James Potter behind his back, you might have learned something."
He frowned at her as he stood back up. He stretched his long arms over his head and yawned.
"I think I'm going to go to bed, Sam," said Severus. He walked Samantha back over to her room. He kissed her cheek and gave her hand a squeeze.
"Goodnight, Hadydn," he whispered. "Sweet dreams, love. And thanks for the book shelves."
"Goodnight, Gabriel," said Samantha.
Severus walked back over to his room and shut the door. He untucked his shirt and pulled it over his head. He unbuckled his belt and slid it through the loops of his trousers as he slid his feet out of his shoes and removed his socks. Too tired to undress further, he pulled back the covers on the bed and turned off the lights. He lay staring at the ceiling, trying to get used to sleeping in a strange bed in a strange room. He jumped at the sound of his door opening and raised himself up on his elbows. Samantha slid into the room and shut the door behind her.
"Sam, what's wrong?" asked Severus as she walked over to the bed. Her hands were running up and down her bare arms to ward off the slight chill.
'I just -" started Samantha. She stared into Severus's worried eyes. She pulled back the covers and slid into his bed next to him. He lay back down as she wrapped an arm around his waist and rested her head on his bare chest.
"I don't want to be alone anymore," whispered Samantha. She snuggled closer to Severus's side. After a few minutes, her breathing slowed and deepened as she fell asleep. Severus put his arms around her, one hand resting in her hair.
"I don't either, love," he whispered as he closed his eyes. "I don't either."