A/N: I haven't been writing much of late and I fear my longer fictions will suffer. But I'm trying, you guys. Short chapter update, but yeah, you're used to those by now.
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"You told your father off?" Dara asked of Avonlea as she moved around another room. "Even without him saying anything to you?"
"Yes," Avonlea said, glaring into the dying fire. "It's not like I had no right to do that. He's only here because he knows that I am finally capable of making a name for myself."
"Love, you've always been capable of making a name for yourself," Dara informed her, frowning. "Why would you ever think anything different?"
"Because look at me." Avonlea turned to look at Dara. "I'm a Halfling that was abandoned by her father up until now. I have no voice when it comes to confronting others or speaking up in classes that intimidate me. I can't stand up for myself when people pick on me. I can't rightfully earn the love of the man who saved me from becoming a monster. And I'm too cowardly to show anyone that I love him."
Dara blinked. "Lea..."
"Face it, Mama Dara. I'm a cowardly loser."
"No."
"That's what I am," Avonlea said, brushing away the calming tendrils of Snape as he tried to bring her down from her rushing chaos. "I'm not fit for the Slytherin house."
"Don't say that."
"It's true."
"What is true is that you are letting your emotions control your thoughts," Snape's voice said from the doorway. "And that is turning you into a sniveling drama queen."
Avonlea glared over at him. "Professor, this has nothing to do with you."
"Miss Raven, Dara already knows," Snape announced, sending ice into Avonlea's heart. "She confronted me about it shortly after my arrival at this brothel." His dark eyes penetrated her heart. "There is little you can hide from her."
Dara smiled slightly. "I always find out everyone's secrets...Yours is no different, Lea. But this is one that I will keep."
Avonlea looked between her best friend's mother and the man that she loved and felt herself shrink. This was too much, but she had a feeling that Snape brought bad news.
"You seem shut down," Avonlea said to him. "Guarded. You reach out to me with thoughts, but as soon as I try to reciprocate, you block me." The Veela-Halfling took a step towards him. "Did I do something wrong?" Her eyes narrowed. "Did my father or mother?"
Snape's eyes remained dark, guarded. "Your father..."
"I'll murder him," Avonlea seethed as her teeth sharpened. "Make him go away."
"Calm yourself, little one," Dara ordered, putting her hand on Avonlea's back. "There is no need to get in a state no one should see you in." Her eyes turned towards Snape. "He knows?"
Snape nodded and moved farther into the room. "I managed to glean that much from him before making my exit from their obnoxious presence."
Panic settled in Avonlea's stomach. "He knows?! My father knows?" She looked around the room, trying to find something to throw. "No one is supposed to know. He's going to tell my mother! He's going to tell everyone and make our lives miserable. Oh Merlin, why is this happening?"
Dara put her hands on Avonlea's arms just below the shoulders and held her in place. Avonlea held her breath as the older woman rested her cheek against hers and sighed.
"Avonlea, calm down," Dara whispered, her voice calm. "There is nothing to worry about. I will handle both of your parents and you can worry about them less." She pressed a kiss to Avonlea's cheek. "Your secret will still be safe when you return to Hogwarts after the holidays." A smile graced her lips as she pulled away. "Trust me."
Avonlea looked at the woman in awe. "Mama Dara?"
Dara moved over to Snape's side and whispered something to him before leaving the room. Avonlea wrapped her arms around herself and looked back into the dying fire. She could not get warm nor could she look at Snape at that moment.
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"I'm a coward," Avonlea said, bringing Snape's attention back to her as his ex-lover disappeared from the room. "You know it's true. Those words I said to my father – they left me shaking. I ran to Mama Dara for help instead of waiting for your thoughts to help." She shook her head. "I am not the kind of woman that you deserve. You deserve someone stronger willed and ready to take on challenges head on."
Snape narrowed his eyes briefly. "I deserve the best and the best is what I have received, Miss Raven."
Avonlea sniffed. "Yeah, right." She turned her back fully on him. "That's why so many boys want me so bad...not."
The dark professor moved across the room and turned her so that she was staring at his chest. "Are you really going to let your emotions get the best of you? This one minor setback that Dara has promised to take care of? Miss Raven, are you really going to let one encounter with Kravyn destroy you?'
His other half looked up into his eyes. "I don't know."
"You are stronger than that," Snape reminded her. "Where is the anger that you felt for him? For your mother? That stubbornness that was taking root just days ago?"
She stared back into his dark eyes with sadness in hers, but said nothing. Snape brushed back the tendrils of hair that had fallen so close to her face, trying to be gentle. To be calm for her, reassuring. Things he was not good at. Things he realized he would have to learn to be if he was to be in this relationship with Avonlea.
"Avonlea," he said softly, caressing her cheek. "You're letting him win. Do you not think he's waiting for you to break down like this? I saw it in his eyes. He wants to have you break down so that he can claim you're not a proper witch and take you away to his form of schooling, his shaping." Snape held her gaze. "That man is looking for someone he can mold to his design and you're falling into his trap."
The Veela-Halfling blinked. "I hate him so much. I tried to be strong, but it took so much out of me. I want to be angry with him. I want to fight back, Severus. To send him away and get my mother off my back just the same. I'm not their perfect daughter. They are far from perfect parents. I want to find me." She shifted her body weight. "I want to become stronger."
Snape's lips twitched, but he didn't smile. "Then perhaps you should not run away from me when I offer my help."
Color lit up her cheeks, giving them a rosy glow in the dying light of the fire. "Sorry."
"I'm sure," Snape said, running his fingers over her skin.
Avonlea held perfectly still for him as he ran his fingers over the curve of her cheek to her nose and down to her slightly parted lips. Snape touched her lips with the lightest touch and dragged down her bottom lip with his thumb. He quirked up an eyebrow when Avonlea nipped at his thumb and she offered him a small mischievous smile.
"You tease too much," Avonlea told him. "It's starting to drive me mad."
Snape returned to caressing her cheek. "Has it?"
"Yes and you know it."
"Do I?"
Avonlea glared at him and stomped her foot. "Yes, you do!"
"Someone is throwing a temper tantrum because they get no treats," Snape commented, smirking. "Whatever am I to do with you?"
The Veela glared at him harder and moved closer. "You could fucking kiss me."
Snape heard the door click shut and lock on its own accord. He looked down into her eyes and felt pulled in. Avonlea slid her hands up his chest to his shoulders and bounced onto her toes. She very softly pressed her lips to his as if testing to make sure it was all right. Snape wrapped his arms around her and kissed her more firmly, backing her against the wall nearest the fire.
He made short work of her shirt and bra as he stood there, caging her against the warm wall. Avonlea gasped as he feasted on her breasts, threading her fingers through his hair. Snape feasted until she was panting heavily and arching into him. The girl's eyes burned blue-gray as he freed the clasp of her jeans and slid his fingers to her warmth. Snape rubbed and flicked her until she continuously cried out enough to satisfy him. She trembled as she came around his fingers and melted against him.
The dark professor forced off her pants and the garments under it. Avonlea let out a low moan as Snape lifted her against the wall and let gravity slide her down on him. Automatically, the little Veela-Halfling wrapped her legs around him for deeper penetration and Snape braced a hand against the wall near her head. The wall was still warm from the dying fire, but he paid it little attention as he thrust his hips into hers and set her off in shivers of delight as she moaned his name and sank her nails into his flesh through his cloak and shirt.
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Avonlea sat by the glowing coals of the fire after Snape had made love to her. She stared at the moving patterns of red and listened to the sound of his breathing as he sat by her. A piece of parchment appeared in the fireplace in a shower of red sparks, causing her to gasp.
Snape retrieved it and looked it over. He let out a sigh. "It is done."
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A/N: Woo, I did a chapter. And it was short. But at least I did a chapter. I am sorry you guys. Thank you for reading. -Scarlet
