Hey Everyone. Sorry this took so long. I had major virus problems on my computer and I haven't had any chance to access the internet. All is okay with it for now though so I should be updating fairly regularly. I hope you like this Chapter…it's a little longer than the others.
Thanks for all the kind reviews as well. I really appreciate them.
Chapter Two
Professor Snape walked down to the dungeon with a grimace on his face. As much as he valued Dumbledore's opinions, he didn't understand why the Headmaster insisted on making him interact with people he did not wish to. He was doing with the other Professors now just like he had tried to do it with Potter.
Snape knew that him teaching Harry Occlumency would only lead to disaster but the Headmaster had felt that the lessons would benefit them both. And look what had happened – Black was dead and Harry was most likely devastated. As much as he disliked the boy, he could not deny that he had suffered greatly throughout his young life and did not deserve to anymore. But the Dark Lord was ruthless and it was only a matter of time before he destroyed Potter or Potter destroyed him. To make matters worse there was no telling who would die in the process, but those close to Potter were at the greatest risk. No one was safe in Voldemort chose to go after them, and he tended to target those whose deaths would have the greatest emotional impact on the young wizard.
After resting for a moment in his chambers, Snape began to prepare what he should wear to the Death Eater meeting scheduled later today. Lately Voldemort had been concerned about spies overhearing their discussions and, luckily for Severus, instead of suspecting internal spies, he directed his attention to his external enemies. The Dark Lord felt that meeting at a more secure location was pertinent now that the Ministry was aware he had returned to full power, and for some reason unknown to Snape, he had decided that the best location would be a coffee shop in a small muggle town. Granted the ministry would be unlikely to search for them there, but Severus felt that the pureblood wizards would stick out greatly due to the fact they had been exposed to very little of muggle life; however, he did not dare challenge Voldemort's decision. Only the most trusted Death Eater's were attending this meeting so perhaps their small numbers would prevent them from drawing too much attention. Snape imagined that Malfoy, Lestrange, MacNair and possibly a few others would be part of the group today. Most of the Death Eaters who had ended up in Azkaban had easily escaped once the dementors, as Dumbledore had predicted, were lured by the Dark Lord's promises of power.
It hadn't taken Severus long to regain Voldemort's trust. He simply told the Dark Lord that he could not return to his side immediately because Dumbledore would have suspected something. Snape convinced him that he only stayed because he felt he could be of most service he remained close to Dumbledore. Naturally he had to deal with several encounters of the Cruciatus curse as penance, but the process hadn't been too painful and went better than expected.
Noticing the time, he quickly conjured up a suitable outfit to wear to the meeting. He kept his basic black colour, but instead of swooping robes he wore black pants and a simple black shirt. It seemed appropriate for the place they were going, and once he was satisfied with his appearance, he apparated, once outside the Hogwartz grounds, to a secure location near where they were planning to meet.
As he began the short walk to "The Coffee Cup", he wished he had added a sweater to his ensemble. It was freeing outside and he longed for the constant warmth of his thick robes. It was too risky to attempt any magic however, so he raced inside the shop to escape the frigid air. Once indoors, he chose a table in the corner and opened up a book that had a cover that read Great Expectations, the title of a popular muggle tale, but actually contained the latest potion developments inside.
His reading was immediately interrupted by a muggle girl.
"You look cold. Can I get you a cup of coffee of anything? Maybe some hot chocolate?" She asked tentatively. "It would help to warm you up…"
Snape looked up and glowered, full prepared to sneer at the girl and inform her that he was expecting others, but when he met her eyes, his heart jumped slightly. He dark emerald eyes brought back Skylar's to his mind and he stared up at her in shock while she looked at him questioningly.
He quickly gathered himself together and softly answered, "Some tea would be great."
She smiled slightly, "I'll get right on that" and left the table.
Severus' heart raced as he attempted to regain control of his emotions. It would be of no benefit to him to have Voldemort see him so shaken up by a mere muggle. Unfortunately, the rest of his entourage arrived just as the girl brought him his tea. It took all his strength to maintain his emotionless exterior around this girl, but he managed to do so. Just barely. Once she had taken the rest of the orders, she left them alone and Snape gave a quiet sigh of relief.
Lucius Malfoy grimaced once she left. "Muggles are all such foul creatures. I do hope that she does not massacre the preparation of my tea. Boiling water can be such a challenge."
Snape's eyes narrowed slightly. "Actually the tea is quite good here…Surprisingly…" He said adding that latter part to prevent suspicion from arising within the group. The small talk ended here and the proceeded onto their business.
That was one thing that Snape actually appreciated about the Death Eater meetings. They never engaged in pointless conversation. Voldemort usually just updated them on the latest news and gave them their orders. No one really argued with him, mostly out of fear, so the meetings were predominantly short and sweet. Snape's orders this week were to concoct a few potions and, as always, keep a close eye on the happenings at Hogwartz.
During the discussion, his eyes kept wandering to the young waitress and he found himself watching her intently. She looked around sixteen or seventeen at the oldest. His eyes glanced over to the tag which displayed her name, Brody Hart, a rather strange name for a muggle female. This Brody was fairly tall, with short dark hair that could be slightly reminiscent of his own, and those eyes that were identical to his former fiancée's. He knew it wasn't possible, that his child had died in Skylar's womb but a part of him couldn't help but be unnerved.
Snape was quickly brought out of his thoughts when he noticed that Voldemort was addressing him.
"We are concluded here Severus, finish up your tea so we may leave."
Snape searched his head for some excuse to stay, he didn't want to leave quite yet. He couldn't leave. "Thank you Master for thinking of me, but I think I may remain here for a little longer to catch up on some work."
"You wish to remain amongst this filth?" Lucius asked skeptically.
"Well not particularly, but it is definitely preferable to remaining among those annoying twits at the castle, and partaking in their incessant chatter." Snape answered while masking his nerves in order to prevent revealing his lies to the Dark Lord.
"You have been placed in a very trying position my servant" Voldemort interjected, "And I greatly appreciate your constant loyalty. You will be rewarded once I regain my former position of power."
"No reward is necessary Master. I live to obey you and your needs."
The rest of the group proceeded to leave, not without Lucius' customary sneer at him for being Voldemort's current favourite, and Snape found himself finally alone. His eyes scanned the shop for Brody and he noticed she was coming towards the table once again.
"Nice friends you have there. So polite and friendly…" She said sarcastically as she cleared the table.
"I would never refer to those people as friends" Snape said bitterly. "They are simply work colleagues who I am forced to tolerate."
Brody laughed and Snape could not help but marvel at how much she reminded him of Skylar once again. "You know I could tell that you were different from them. I'm kind of good at sensing those type of things about people. What they are really like…I'm sorry. I really shouldn't be talking this much. You probably don't care at all. It's my first day here and I tend to ramble when I'm nervous."
Snape smiled slightly. Skylar had done the same thing. "It's quite all right. I don't mind rambling." He added quietly. "It's nice to have someone to talk to."
"I'm Brody Hart." She said, extending her hand. "I work here pretty often so if you ever feel like a tea, you should come back. Well if you want to…"
"Severus Snape." He said, his hand shaking slightly as it met hers. "I will definitely try to come back again. The tea was excellent."
He glanced at his watch and realized that Dumbledore would be expecting him to return shortly. "I should be on my way though. I am meeting someone soon and I cannot be late. But I will see you again?" He asked hopefully.
"For sure, well unless I get fired. Take care." Brody added as she walked to serve the next table.
"You as well." Snape answered as he reluctantly left the shop.
Severus could not believe that a simple, mundane meeting with the Death Eaters had led to all these revelations. He was afraid to believe it was possible, but the girl had arisen such strong emotions in him. In the few moments they had conversed, he felt more of a connection to her than to anyone he had encountered after Skylar's death.
He apparated to a location outside the castle grounds and proceeded to walk towards the building. A conversation with the Headmaster would be extremely necessary once he returned.
