AN: There are major references to Phantom of the Opera in this chapter. If you have not read it and don't own the book, you can read it for free at
READ THIS!: OK, if any of you might recall, a looooong time ago, I asked for help on Shay's accent. Someone finally mentioned it, and so, when I was bored and had nothing to do, I looked for a dictionary of Irish slang words. So, if you happen to see some things you don't quite understand, I'm using them in context, and you should probably be able to figure it out.
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Shaylee was on the floor in her office, wearing her normal pajamas, though this time with a green and blue knitted sock cap on her head and her scarf around her neck. She looked freezing.
She was looking at the cover of The Phantom of the Opera. She didn't want to start reading it again without Severus there. She already knew what was going to happen, but didn't want to get ahead of him still.
At that moment, the fire turned green and Snape's voice filled the room. "Shaylee? Are you in there?"
"Yeah. Come on in," Shaylee greeted, sitting up. Severus stepped through the fire, and immediately sat down on the bean bag chair. Shaylee invited herself to come over and sit on his lap, beginning to cuddle, trying to steal a little bit of his warmth.
"We're going to get through chapter 14 tonight, Sevvy," she told him, indicating the book. Severus sighed. "Aren't we only just starting chapter 9?" Shaylee rolled her eyes and opened the book. Severus sighed again but didn't object any more, which Shaylee took as a sign that he was starting to appreciate the Muggle novel.
They were reading the part where Raoul met Christine at the masquerade, when Severus broke the silence. "He's an idiot," he muttered simply. Shaylee looked back and glared at him. "Why do you say that?" she asked indignantly.
"Well, firstly, why's he following her? Doesn't he care about his own life at all? And, secondly, that man is quite obviously Erik..." Shaylee glared at him again, then muttered, "Lucky guess."
Severus rolled his eyes. "No. Raoul is just really stupid."
"He's a bloody Muggle! What do you expect?!" Shaylee finally scolded. Severus shrugged. "Good point." They went back to reading.
There were a few more times when Severus groaned at romantic parts, but it went without actual comment until Christine was going through the mirror. "I know! The Phantom is a wizard, isn't he?!" Shaylee sighed and rolled her eyes. "You eejit! Do I have to remind you that it's Muggle literature?" That silenced him.
They read the next few chapters in silence like that, until they reached chapter 14 and Severus finally said, "What in bloody hell is a safety pin?"
Shaylee paused, then giggled as she noticed the part he was talking about. "It's a small device that Muggles use to pin things together."
Severus nodded, though he didn't really look as if he understood.
It was only moments later when he said, "Gabriel's sense of humor reminds me of you."
Shaylee grinned. "Thank you. I'd tell you who reminds me of you, but I'll wait until the end of the book to do that."
"Why?" Severus asked curiously. There was only a small, mischievous smile on Shaylee's faee. "You'll see," was her answer.
Severus shrugged, then went back to reading. As soon as they reached the end of the 14th chapter, Shaylee snapped the book shut.
"Hey!" Severus protested. Shaylee giggled. "It's getting late, Sevvy. We have classes tomorrow."
She stood up and headed towards the door that lead to her room and bathroom. "Good night! And I'm taking the book with me so that you can't read without me!" She stuck her tongue out at him, then smiled and closed the door behind her.
He shook his head and decided to go back to his quarters. She was right; he needed some sleep.
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Draco was sitting at the Gryffindor table at breakfast the next morning, as usual. He was talking to Hermione about their plan.
"I don't know..." Hermione said. "There are so many holes in that. We would undoubtedly need back-up if we were to go with that plan."
Draco sighed and ran his hand through his hair. "But, we can't d-" He had looked up at her and saw Scott talking to Harry by the door. "Wait a second..."
Hermione looked intrigued, wondering what was going through her boyfriend's head.
"That's it! We can do that, if we can get other people in on it with us!"
Hermione's face went considerably downcast. "Draco, do you have any idea how dangerous this is?"
"No one knows as well as I do, Hermione." He grinned. "However, I also know that P-Harry won't ever turn down a chance to get rid of the evil asshole. And Ron will undoubtedly follow him."
Hermione glared at him. "Notice that all of those are my friends?"
Draco shrugged. "I don't really have any left... I mean, we're obviously gonna ask Scott, right? But, I don't think Blaise would want in on it. His father's-" He paused. "Never mind. But, what I'm saying is that we could do this!"
Hermione sighed, then stopped to think about it as Draco started in on his breakfast, waiting for her decision. She seemed to be debating with herself.
Finally, she relented. "Okay, but we really should have some adults with us... We're not really experienced enough to face a hundred Death Eaters."
Draco was about to say that there were usually only about fifty Death Eaters at one meeting, but then stopped as his gaze met two caffeine consuming individuals sitting at the High Table.
He grinned. "Give me time, and I'll see what I can do."
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Shaylee groaned as she sipped at her coffee, holding the cup with both hands to warm them. "Soo... Tired..."
"You really shouldn't stay up that late," Severus chided her.
Shaylee glared at him. "Sevvy, you were the one who wanted to stay up later. If it weren't for my wise decision to go to sleep, you'd probably still be in bed right now."
Severus rolled his eyes. "Since when do you make wise decisions?"
Shaylee opened her mouth to respond, then thought better of it, taking a drink of coffee instead. "Whatever," she answered briefly and started to look around the Hall for her brother.
She turned to Severus. "Do you know where Flynn is? I haven't seen him this morning." Severus was just shaking his head when the morning mail flew through the rafters. Shaylee shrugged. "Well, wherever he is, he should be OK," she said as she picked up a letter that an owl had tossed on her plate and opened it.
As she scanned through the letter, she rolled her eyes. "Oh, for Merlin's sake... The bollock..." She sighed as she finished and set the letter down.
"What was that?" asked Severus, who had set his coffee down.
"It's from my oldest brother Donnelly. My dad's memorial service is Saturday afternoon." She sighed, exasperated, as she ran her fingers through her hair.
Severus was silent, not knowing exactly what to say. "Are you going to be able to make it through it?" he finally asked.
Shaylee sighed again. "Without eating his head off? I'm not quite sure..."
The corner of Severus' mouth turned up. "That's not what I meant, but there's that too."
Shaylee smiled too, and was silent for a few moments, then said quietly, "I don't know... I was actually getting over it, Sev... And then I hafta go to Da's service..."
Severus made himself say what they were both thinking. "Nobody is forcing you to go..."
Shaylee nodded. "I know, it doesn't seem like it, does it? But Donnelly really is. I don't want to know what kinds of things he'll say about me if I don't show up..."
She shook her head, thinking about her brother. "Plus, I should go anyway. I really do want to. I just don't want to see my brother." There was a comfortable silence between the two as she thought. Suddenly, she looked up at him. "Go with me."
"What?" Severus wasn't quite sure he had heard her.
"Come to the service with me. I don't want to go by myself. I don't think I can put up with Donn's guff by myself. And Flynn won't be any help. He'll be hiding somewhere, getting plastered off the walls..." She smiled fondly at this thought. "Or maybe I'll just stick around with him..."
"Shaylee," Severus said warningly. "What did I tell you about getting drunk?"
Shaylee grinned. "I was just kidding, Sevvy. Plus, you have nothing to worry about! I'm Irish! I can handle it!" She winked at him.
Severus shook her head, knowing that this was always going to be her defense.
"Anyway, will you please come? I really don't want to face my family alone."
Severus sighed. "If it's that important to you, I'll go. But I don't see how I'll make it any better..."
Shaylee's grin grew at this. "Oh, you'll see, Sevvy. You'll definitely get along with my family." She tugged on her hat as she went into her own little world and laughed to herself.
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Hermione sat across from Draco at a table in the back of the library. It had become too cold in the castle to swim without risk of illness, so Professor Weasley had closed the pool for the Winter.
The two had to come up with a new spot to meet, and in a hurry to get somewhere to discuss their plan, decided on a back table in the library.
"So, the way that you're talking about the layout of the Manor, we would have virtually no access to that area before you take me there," Hermione clarified, deep in thought.
"Not virtually. We'll have literally no access," Draco corrected her.
"Well, then, we're going to have to have blueprints of the area, if we're going to do this right," Hermione thought out loud.
"I can do that. But, when are we going to get our back-up?"
Hermione paused. "Let's try to talk to our friends tomorrow. I still think we need someone with a bit more experience too, though." Draco smiled at her. "Don't worry, I'm taking care of that."
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Unfortunately, I'm gonna stop writing review responses until after Christmas, because I want to get the Christmas part out at the correct time of the year. However, after the main Christmas part is out, I'll resume the responses as usual. Thanks all of my reviewers! I love you all!!
