After rereading it, I realized how corny the recipes were. Oh well, no matter, it's just a small part of it. I got the recipes out of a magazine…tell me if some of the words got repetitive.

Severus was upstairs when he heard the faint ring of the doorbell. Placing the book he'd been previously reading on his seat as he rose to get the door, he stretched before making his way down the stairs, his socks making light thumps on the hollow stairwell. He reached the bottom step as another, more insistent, ring resounded through the house.

"I'm coming, I'm coming…" he grumbled, unlocking the door.

Peering around it, one hand still on the doorknob, he was met with the bright smiling face of Jane. Her hair whipped quite a bit around her face as the breeze lifted the light, frizzy locks, and even the barrette on her head did almost nothing to calm the flying mass. Placing a barely vacant hand to hold her hat down and using the other arm to keep her overcoat from flapping and knocking the books in her arm to the ground, her smile faltered.

"Oh--come in, Jane," He greeted hastily, quickly moving to the other side of the foyer to let her in. She smiled gratefully before nearly tripping over the step of the entrance. Relieving her rather large load of books, he flipped them over to read the titles as she shrugged out of her coat and placed both it and the hat on the coat stand nearby.

"The Joy of Cooking? Cooking with the CIA? What are all these for?" he inquired as he continued to look at the covers. "What's this?"

"Well, from your knowledge of food, your variety of it in your kitchen, and how you cook so well, I drew the conclusion that you liked cooking. Not to mention the few times you mentioned that it was your hobby." Her lips quirked into a cheeky smile to spread into a teasing grin, faint dimples on her cheeks.

"Mm…." He said absent-mindedly, giving her a quick smile in return as he glanced up before returning his attention to a particularly interesting recipe on Grilled Salmon with Orange Cream Sauce.

"Come on," Jane sighed as she dragged him to the kitchen. "Bring your infatuation with food to the kitchen, standing in the foyer is hardly the way to thank me when I bring you all of these."

All she got in response was a glare as she turned toward the kitchen island, pulled out a stool, and plopped on it, her chin on her left palm as she watched him zigzag toward the other chair. As he flipped the page to a recipe on Brussels sprouts, he felt a sharp pain on his side. Glaring at the offending yet innocent corner of the countertop, he nearly fell off his seat as Jane used her foot to tug the chair to the side as he sat down. He had to slam both hands and the book on the table to keep from falling over. Trying but failing miserably to scare Jane, who was biting back a giggle as she tried to look indifferent, he joined her in laughter for a while before asking where she'd gotten the books.

"I've had them for awhile…they came from a roommate, when she left college. I came across the box when I was cleaning, so," she shrugged here, "I thought you might want them and decided to give them to you."

He paused, then turned to her with a smile. "Do you have plans for tonight?"

"No…why?"

He seemed hesitant, but continued. "Perhaps we could try out some of these recipes, have dinner together. We have just enough time to go out and buy the ingredients…Would you like it?"

She smiled up at him, her features illuminated with delight. "Of course!"

By the time they had agreed on a recipe and finished the shopping, the wind outside had turned chilly, and the sky had begun to darken. As of now, they were in the warm, bright kitchen, bustling around each other and the food as they cooked the late meal.

"Onion…garlic…and half of three-fourths is…three-eighths…of extra-virgin olive oil…" came from where Severus stood muttering at the stove, stirring the beginnings of Zucchini-Mint soup as a rack of lamb and several grape tarts, made from a generous serving of grapes from the local vineyard, baked in the oven. Jane, meanwhile, was assembling potato and tomato galettes, coating the tomatoes with the remaining oil mixture in front of her as the wafting scents of mint and lamb caused her stomach to growl once again.

"Are you really that hungry?" Severus called over his shoulder, adding the stock and water to the mixture before letting the soup boil.

"Isn't the lamb affecting you yet? And you're so close to the oven."

"Of course it is. Don't worry, we just have to make the gremolata for the meat and puree this soup…and pop the galettes into the oven."

"And set the table and carve the lamb?"

"Yes."

"That's not 'just' anything…oops." A slice of the tomato slipped from her fingers, landing with a splash in the oil mixture.

Severus turned around partially, ladle still in hand. "What is it?"

"Oh…nothing." Walking over to the sink to wash her hands, she asked, "I'll open a bottle of wine…I saw a bottle of Kendall Jackson Merlot in the pantry earlier. What about that?"

"Seems fine to me," he replied, pureeing the soup in the blender.

"Okay, I'll set the table—" the oven timer went off here, "And pop in the galettes…"

"I'll finish off with the gremolata, then."

Satisfied, they continued their work.

Thirty minutes later found them enjoying the meal, sipping the wine as they alternated between the lamb and potatoes. "Mmm…" Jane said as she crunched on a crunchy slice of potato, coated with juice of the tomato.

"I couldn't agree more." Taking a small spoonful of the gremolata and adding it to his lamb, Severus carved a bite-sized piece before popping it in his mouth. "How's the writing going so far?"

At this, Jane placed down her fork, sipping at the wine before replying. "I don't know…I have so much to worry about that creativity hardly gets a chance. Even my compositions for school are rather…poorly written, I guess you can say."

"What do you mean, so much to worry about? It's not bothering you again, is it?" By it, he meant her amnesia, but he never could bring himself to say the words.

"It? Oh—well, yes. I've just found my thoughts wandering lately…trying to remember things."

"Jane…" he sighed, swallowing his mouthful of lamb before continuing. "Why do you think about it so much?"

"What else am I supposed to do? Sometimes, when my classmates talk about going home for the weekend, or—or how their parents are, I can't help it. I can't help wondering who my parents were, if they're wondering who I am now!" She speared her lamb rather viciously, glaring at it.

"I know—"

"No! You don't get it! I can't just ignore my past! Can you imagine what it's like to not have a past?"

He flinched, she'd definitely struck a nerve. She didn't know what his past was like! She didn't know all of the beatings, the taunting, the company of the Death Eaters he'd had to bear…how uncontrollable his actions were! She didn't really think that he'd been cuddled in his formal life, did she? Mentally, he sighed. Of course she did, she didn't remember his sour moods, his bitter remarks.

"Some of us would rather not have one," he replied softly, after a long, tense silence.

She looked up, startled. "I—" she looked down, picking at the potatoes on her plate. "I'm sorry…I didn't know…I didn't mean to…to…"

"No need to apologize, you couldn't know it. But I'm sorry for ruining your dinner." He gestured to her still full plate. She offered him a small smile, which he returned. "Let's just forget about it."

The rest of the dinner commenced in silence, a thoughtful, yet companionable quiet that continued throughout the evening.

"Come on," Severus stretched in his chair before his empty plate. "Let's rest a bit before desert. Even if the idea of grape tarts is extremely appealing."

"Yes, if I ate another bite I'd probably burst." She replied as she scraped back her chair and carried her dinnerware to the sink.

"Just leave it there…I'll wash it later, after dessert," He tipped up his wine glass to get the last bit.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, just leave it on the counter…yes, right there would be fine…" Placing his own dishes in the sink and moving the leftovers to the counter and the dessert to cool on the table, he started up the stairs. "We can relax in the library, if you'd like."

"That sounds great…settling with a book on a comfy armchair…I can imagine how it'd be in the winter."

"It's wonderful…especially when you can see the moon from the windows. It's like you're watching everything from outside, but the fire keeps you warm."

"And the heater?"

He laughed as he entered the room, flicking on the lights. "And the heater."

He was about to pick up the book he'd left on his chair earlier that day when he realized she wasn't behind him. Turning, he watched her stare in awe at the private library. "Wow…all this to one person?"

"The space? Or the books?"

"Both. And I can see what you mean by the view…" She walked up to the window. "I'll bet you can even see the park's lake from here when it's light…" She turned, happiness written all over her face.

He couldn't help but grin at her enthusiasm. "A book, perhaps?"

"Hmm…what genre are you interested in?" She surveyed the collection on the shelves. "A lot of novels…mystery…and children's books?"

"From my childhood, yes."

"Hmm…perhaps I'll read this." Pulling out a book and settling on the chair across from Severus, they relaxed, each lost in their own small world.

Suppressing a lazy yawn, Severus looked up at the clock above the mantel, noting the late time. Softly, as not to startle her: "I think the dessert has cooled enough, and that we have digested some of our dinner…is the idea of grape tarts as appealing to you as it is to me?"

Looking up, she smiled. "Not so much as the book, but I think that a bit would be nice." Following him out of the room, she was about to turn down the staircase when she noticed the small room nestled in the corner. "What's in that room?"

"Nothing," he said quickly. "Just some old toys and the like."

Too late, she was already there, hand on the doorknob. "Of course it's something, childhood memories always are something. They define who you are, or why you are who you are." Slipping in, he saw her form search blindly for the light switch for a moment before they flickered on, illuminating the small chest under the window. She froze for a moment, then, in a sort of way like she was being controlled, she reached for the lid, pulling the cover open.

"Jane…" he was puzzled by her strange behavior. Striding in, he called her name again. "Jane!"

After a few moments of silence, she still did not respond. Instead, she continued to rummage through, staring blankly ahead at the wall in front of her, hands still moving to reach for the time-turner that lay on the top. Severus watched with a growing fear as the device began to glow a distinct blue, apprehension gnawing at his stomach.

"Jane…Jane! Stop!"

Suddenly, she began murmuring...strange things. He recognized the curses, hexes that poured out of her mouth, indistinct, monotone. As he stepped forward, trying to wrench it out of her hands, she began to scream.

"No, professor…don't…" Her words became a rapid flood of sound, shrill and hysterical. Trying harder, he managed to pull the device from her grip, and to his relief, the glow faded. Looking back at her eyes, he realized they were still glassy, and then her eyelids fluttered. Swaying, she collapsed to the ground. "Prof…fessor…"

"Jane….Miss Granger!" All the time, thoughts were racing through his head. How had she suddenly remembered? And what was that blue glow? "Hermione!"

His frustration and helplessness building up, he ran down to the kitchen, hoping that his call would not reach the hospital too late.

Hours later, he was sitting in the lobby of the hospital, still waiting for her to wake up, finding nothing of interest to look at, and only the limp cushion of the chair there to comfort him, he decided to write to Albus. Hopefully, he had at least a clue of what had happened. Asking the receptionist for pen and paper, he began writing, the words running crooked as he balanced it on his knee.

Albus,

I'm sure you remember the letter I sent you a month back about Jane's worsening amnesia. I fear it's not just a permanent case of memory loss…the doctors say that her brain has been damaged more than they had originally thought. Of course, they do not know of the curse that hit her, but it seems that she may be having reactions to things in her past.

A while ago, she claimed to have a dream where she was in Hogwarts, with that cat of hers…all she knew was that she was in a castle, and thought it something she had imagined, as goes with a normal dream. However, her writings also show some of the unconscious memories. Many of the settings and characters are like those of the magical community. Those small bits did not seem like a lot to me at first, but this evening, as she was over at my house for dinner, she came across the room I stored my old things in. The time-turner someone had placed in my trunk before was found by her, but not by coincidence. It was as if the magic controlled her…the device began glowing blue. She began muttering curses and spells, and she had a brief spell of recognition of me as her professor.

She will live, that is certain, but for how much longer, we don't know. Is there anyway you can send help? She doesn't deserve this, and you know it.

Severus

Later, when he had left assured that she'd be okay, a nurse came by the seat he had been sitting on, cold and empty. Finding the piece of paper on the floor, crumpled and stepped on, the woman threw it away, not giving the letter a second glance as it fell into the wastebin.

I now respond to reviews with the new reply system, and I hope it works out fine.

Also, I know the ending is a bit confusing, it would really help to have specific questions so I could try and make it more understandable, thank you.