Chapter Seven: After the Storm

Severus stood in front of the handsome doors at the top of the winding stair. He paused outside of them waiting. From his many years of seeking advice he learned that if both voices got quiet at the same time, the occupants were engaged in personal business. A voice called to him after a while, and he knew it was now okay to enter.

"Come in, Severus." He did as he was told and entered the room with only a half – heartedly greeting to his confidants. Albus and Minerva sat on the couch, together and both instantly knew he was unwell. Severus took the chair opposite them. He had been coming to Albus for support since his school days. Back then he was there about Evelyn. How funny that he be there in the same place, same chair, same people, and same topic as his youth. He had always known about Albus and Minerva; they had been married for ages, long before he was in school. They treated him very much like their own son, which was quite humorous, Gryffindor + Gryffindor Slytherin. The pair of teachers sat waiting for him to make the first move. Severus took a deep breath and rubbed his eyes before he began.

"Madam Hooch?" Evelyn called hesitantly from the half open door to the flying instructor's office. Evelyn couldn't bring herself to refer to any of her previous teachers by their first names. There were many things she couldn't believe now that she was teaching at Hogwarts. You are no longer fourteen, this is no longer the seventies, you're no longer a Hufflepuff, no longer a student. You need to grow up.

"Evelyn, come in!" Rolanda Hooch had been Evelyn's friend in school. Evelyn had always been able to loose herself in flying and the flying mistress had always been able to understand that. Evelyn entered the Qudditch covered room and took a seat across the desk from the steel haired witch. Hooch took one look at the crest - fallen features of one of her favorite students and said, "You need a drink." With out a word the witches stood and Evelyn followed the fly girl to the fireplace.

"What are – Where are we going?" Evelyn asked.

"This is a full scale D.F.M. emergency." Hooch told her throwing a fist full of floo powder into the flames. D.F.M. stood for Drink Fly Medicate, a nickname Evelyn had bestowed on her three friends. Rosmerta, Hooch, and Pomfrey had helped her out of many situations when she was young and stupid, now she was just stupid; and they were still there.

"Poppy! Poppy!" Hooch called into the fire.

"Yes Rolanda?" Poppy Pompfrey answered.

"We got a D.F.M. emergency. Meet me at Rosie's ASAP." Hooch said. Poppy instantly began to fuss about, and Hooch was with her. Evelyn couldn't take it, a small sob escaped her and she sat down heavily in a near by chair.

"Got to go." Hooch said and rushed to Evelyn's side. She patted Evelyn's hand and calmed her down. As soon as her face dried Hooch and Evelyn were on brooms and off moments later.

Rosmerta's was busy and would only get busier when Evelyn and Hooch arrived. Surprisingly, Poppy wasn't far behind them. The three women entered the establishment and Pomfrey hurried to the bar. Rosmerta was greatly surprised to see the Hogwarts healer there and her dark head popped up to look at Evelyn and Hooch as Poppy spoke.

"This way." Rosmerta said waving them to follow her. She led them to a small back room with a moderately large table and comfortable chairs.

"I'll be right back." Rosmerta told them. When she did return she was carrying a large tankard of Fire Whiskey and four tumblers.

"I have a friend running the bar. The Madams never keep you waiting." Rosmerta said. "Now what is it?"

Severus spoke finally after a long silence.

"Evelyn and I had a fight." He said slowly. Albus and Minerva waited, not saying anything. "I guess it all started s'morning with that damnable toga. She just walked down the hall and ignored the fact that every male in her wake had their jaws on the floor. And she was sad that I wasn't in costume with her, like we used to, back in school. She is still very much in the mindset of a student and thinks that I should be too. She went as far as to charm two huge horns and a tail on me. My first class blew up five cauldrons form laughing." He paused letting his anger go. And Still Albus and Minerva did not say anything.

"I went to talk to her about it, to let her know that I've grown up and she got defensive. It escalated, going from discussion, to argument, to an all out fight. I started talking about how she doesn't act her age and she said she was sickened by what she's heard about me, how I was a royal bitch and everything that my students go through. And she asked me what happened to the man she used to know. I was getting so angry. And then she said: "Power? Is that it? Is that the soul reason for any and all of this? You need the power that comes from being a teacher, from holding the detentions and house points in your hand and abusing them? If this is so then you should not be teaching. If this is how you really are then they deserve you." She pushed up my sleeves, she knew about my mark and it made her physically ill. But she knew. I didn't tell her and she knew. And it made her ill. My life has sickened her." Severus stopped again his throat felt like it was being stabbed with millions of pins, his eyes stung as he thought about Evelyn's reaction. He could vividly remember the look on her face. Albus was sitting listening intently. Minerva had leaned over and grasped Severus' hand. Severus sat for another minute or two before heaving a sigh and emptying the last of his mental poison from his wounds.

"I said things to her I should not of, about her, physically. I can't believe what I did but I was just so angry with her. I don't even really know why now. But everything is such a mess in my head." He sighed. "She slapped me, honestly slapped me, and told me to get out. She was furious." Severus finished. He was still very much in chaos, but he knew that he would soon get it straightened out.

Evelyn downed a whole glass of whiskey before she was composed enough to talk. With a deep breath she began.

"Severus and I had a fight." She told the three older women sitting around her. They nodded. "Started s'morning. Severus and I used to dress up every Halloween, and when he didn't have a costume I made him one. My first free period he bursts in and accuses me of trying to undermine his authority. "Evelyn, I am not fourteen any more, I am an adult who needs respect and wearing horns and tails undermines that. You are no longer fourteen, this is no longer the seventies, you're no longer a Hufflepuff, no longer a student. You need to grow up." He told me." Evelyn paused, the Madams looked at each other and then at her again. Madam Pomfrey looked very much like how she pictured her mother would look if she were there. Madam Rosmerta was listening intently and nodding in understanding. Evelyn knew she was trying to make some scene out of everything. Madam Hooch looked like she could kill. "I snapped back at him about how big of a bitch he was and how I was only joking. He said that I turned him into a laughing stock instead of a lesson to be learned. A reality that they would have to be checked by sooner or later. He was livid about his loss of control. I yelled about his need for power and I…I…I threw up his sleeve, I knew he had done it but I had told myself so many times that it wasn't true, that he wasn't gone. He was still my Sevvie – Kins, the one I use to sneak around the castle and break rules with. But it was there! He had the mark. And he said, he said…" She trailed off into a painful whisper, "He said, "Yes, your precious – little – Sevvie – Kins. Maybe I like having power. Maybe having control is all I've ever wanted. And you contradicting that is unacceptable. I act my age, no student looks at me with anything other than respect for my authority, they may hate me but they respect me. I don't have female students ogling me and if I ever do I would put them in their place." I wanted to cry. But then he went on, "You, you however go from that tucked fitting suit to this! Parading your cleavage and thighs for every male to see and fantasize about!" The madams gasped, two from shock and one from anger. "I slapped him; I've never slapped anybody in my life. I told him to get out. He slammed the door so hard that he broke my picture on the wall, one of the ones of us." Evelyn said. She took a drag from her refilled tumbler and burst into tears. She felt them slip down her cheeks and fall off, she didn't even try to stop them she just laid her head down on her arms and cried. The madams all patted what they could reach of her as they regarded each other with looks.

Albus and Minerva looked at each other for a while both thinking of the right things to say. Severus sat with his head back breathing deeply. The Dumbledore's knew that the fault lay on both sides. Evelyn's naïveté and nostalgic obsession were two traits that were admittedly very annoying. But Severus wasn't above reproach by any means. The words they exchanged were truthful but vitriol. However Severus was in a state that the couple had never seen him in before. Evelyn was very good for him without a doubt. It wasn't a question of weather or not he should apologize, the answer there was an unambiguous YES. Severus knew he was in the wrong and that fact was eating him up inside.

"Severus, look at us." Minerva finally said after a short while. The thin man did, he looked very worn from the days events.

"You and Evelyn have been friends for twenty – six years. Twenty – six years of history does not get erased in twenty – six minutes of poor choices. I would be very much surprised if you to do not make up. If she's as emotional as you say she is then she is just as bad off as you are if not more so." Albus assured his friend.

"But she was sickened by me. When she saw my arm she cried. How did she even know?" Severus said. It still wasn't getting any clearer.

"You weren't the only one fighting in the war. Evelyn may have been out of the country but that doesn't mean she was out of the cause." Albus said.

"She may be saddened by that decision but I firmly believe that she will not let that stop her from being your friend. She knew long before she came to Hogwarts yet you two were still inseparable. So don't let that stop you from going and making up with her. Something you will have to do. Like it or not you hit back bigger than she did." Minerva said. Severus nodded, he knew he would have to apologize, that had never been the question. But what was the question? He had noticed all too clearly every one of her curves and had gotten mad when the youth had two. He had let his frustration surfaced when he found the horns instead of letting it fly. He was now utterly distraught at the thought that she despised him, even though as Albus pointed out that was irrational. He shook his head, at least he had the ideas aligned, but that only left room for the bigger question how was he supposes to apologize?

Evelyn eventually regained her composer; she sat up and gave the madams a faint smile. The madams returned the gesture. To say Evelyn was glad to get the fight off of her chest would be a mere educated guess. Once Evelyn finished her second glass of fire whiskey she began to dread not only what the madams would say but also the apology she would have to do later.

"Well." Madam Rosmerta was the first to speak she had carefully thought everything through and saw the problem. "I think you both had your points. But that was definitely not the way to express them. Although on many levels you were right and he was wrong that doesn't mean that you don't owe him some sort of apology. He's a proud man and I think the bottom line of his anger was that you bruised his ego." Rosmerta was right of course.

"You and Severus have been very close for a very long time." Madam Pomfrey began, she reached across the table and grasp Evelyn's hand. "I think the hardest part is over now that you two have fought. You have enough history together that I think your make up will be easier than you think." Rosmerta nodded in agreement. Madam Hooch was the last to speak.

"I'd love to get my hands on him right now!" she said. Her anger wasn't towards the words that were exchanged that day, but the fact that Severus didn't know what he had done, and was continuing to do to one of the best things to happen in his life.

"Rolanda!" Both Rosmerta and Pomfrey said together.

"You're not helping." Pompfrey said. Evelyn giggled. Then she burst into full out laughter, the madams just looked at their young friend as she went into hysterics. But Evelyn was okay. They would work it out. Hooch just reminded her that boys punch and make up and that everything would be all right.

Minerva turned to her husband of forty years as soon as Severus left.

"When they both didn't show up for lunch we all thought something completely different was going on." She said.

"Perhaps you did." Her husband replied pulling her closer to him on the coach.

"You can't honestly tell me that you knew that the kids were having a fight Albus." Minerva said.

"I didn't say that I knew that it was a fight that kept them away, but my mind didn't eminently jump to them having sex either. Two people of opposite sexes can be friends with out making love, Min." Albus said, Minerva laughed.

"That's what we said." She reminded her husband.

"I don't doubt that they do not care deeply for each other, if they didn't then their fight wouldn't have been. But I don't think that we have a romance on our hands." He said smiling at her.

"I just hope this gets resolved quickly." Minerva said. Albus assured her that it would and the pair returned to the business they were discussing before hand.

Evelyn flooed home, Rolanda would not let her fly. She had gone threw two large tumblers of whiskey, even though she didn't act drunk yet all three women knew she would not have her wits about her. So Evelyn returned early via the fireplace and the three madams sat and talked.

"I can't believe those two could fight like that…with each other I mean. They always seemed so perfect for each other." Poppy said taking her first sip of whiskey all evening.

"Just because they fight doesn't mean they aren't a cute couple." Rosmerta told her friend. "I would be more worried if they didn't fight."

"By the end of the year, ten gallons." Rolanda said. The madams laughed.

"Friends don't have to be girl/ girl or boy/ boy." Poppy said. She refused to make a bet.

"I think it'll take longer." Rosmerta said, putting her money on the end of the year. The three didn't worry about if the two idiots would make up and they soon dissolved into talk of their shared past and favorite memories of the duo.

Severus left Albus and Minerva's and headed directly for Evelyn's chambers. He needed to make this right before it couldn't be fixed. He knocked, but no one answered, he called but no one heard. Finally he pulled his wand and let himself in. He had never seen the inside of her chambers before. They were quite tranquil with wood floors and white marble. The sitting room had a large fireplace and even larger windows. There were large carved coaches in front of the hearth and bookshelves lined the wall opposite. Closing the door behind him he walked about the room and looked at it. Everything was decorated with nature in mind. There were inlays and carvings of vines and leaves. On the shelves were many books about various things as well as photos and trinkets from around the world. She had a miniature Buddha facing west and many temple photos. She is the mythology professor. He thought. There were also photos of her youth. He recognized her family immediately, her, her parents, and two older sisters. She looked very much like her father and nothing like her sisters. Severus moved on walking around the room until he was sure he had seen everything there was to see. He settled himself on one of the coaches and prepared to wait.

Evelyn arrived in her bedroom moments after leaving the madams behind. Her chambers were dark…except for a light in her sitting room. Evelyn stood in the joining door between her sitting and sleeping rooms. Severus was there he nose buried in De Rerum Natura (On the Nature of the Universe) Vol. II. His profile reminded her of a statue she might've seen in Greece. Only his eyes moved as he read. He looked a touch haggard since she last saw him and she wondered if he had experienced anything like she had in the past hours since their row. She watched him for a while as quiet as a mouse until he turned a page; it was then that she spoke:

"Pleasant it is, when over the great sea the winds shake the waters, to gaze down from shore on the trials of others; not because seeing other people struggle is sweet to us, But because the fact that we ourselves are free from such ills strikes us as pleasant." His head shot up and looked at her a look of surprise on his face; she walked nearer and continued to quote. "Pleasant it is also to behold great armies battling on a plain, when we ourselves have no part in their peril." She reached the place where he was sitting and took the book gently from his hands setting it aside, she smiled at him and he returned it. "But nothing is sweeter than to occupy a lofty sanctuary of the mind, well fortified with the teachings of the wise, where we may look down on others as they stumble along, vainly searching for the true path of life." He took her hand in his and they sat quiet for a time. Neither one of them spoke for a while. Severus had gotten over his initial surprise upon seeing her, his face was now softened and he looked to be deep in thought. Evelyn took a deep breath and decided to make the first move.

"Severus, about earlier today…" She began but was cut off.

"Evelyn, I said a lot of things I didn't mean, not in the slightest. I'm so sorry." He said looking her in the eye, he was blushing. In twenty – six years she had never seen that particular coloring upon his face. He was the first to lower his eyes. But for a split second she thought she saw embarrassment in them. Evelyn gently brought her free hand up and made him face her once again.

"I'm sorry too, I was just as horrible if not more so. I'm not sickened by you in the least. And I believe in you." She said, her hand sliding down his cheek and going to rest on his left forearm. She made him keep her gaze her brown eyes holding his shadowy ones.

"Thank you." He said softly. She smiled at him and he returned it. Friends.

A/N: De Rerum Narura meaning On the Nature of the Universe is by Lucretius. And in it he believed that humans were in charge of their own destiny and that religion was basically a crock. The 'pleasant' line Evelyn quotes is from volume 2 of 6, lines 1 – 10. Bit of the bizarre, I was finishing the HBP when I was writing the Severus/Albus/Minerva parts. But no matter what the canon does I will always have my fandom Snape. Period.