Chapter Ten
The Halvorson house looked much like the Norton one, except it was smaller and painted white whereas the Norton house wore a greenish-gray paint. Mr. Norton came with Severus up the front path and rang the door-bell.
The door opened, and Severus found himself face to face with Julie Halvorson, dressed in jeans and a short-sleeved cotton blouse, so close he could have touched her. Her eyes, he discovered, were blue, but of a blue so dark it almost seemed black in the relatively dim light inside the house, and in the still-overcast cloudy light outside of it. There was a mole near her mouth; its darkness seemed to emphasize the creamy-pale softness of the rest of her skin. Her hair was of a chestnut brown, dark with soft reddish highlights where the light caught it, and came down past her shoulders.
"Come in," she said, opening the door wide onto a large parlor room, filled with heavy oaken furniture and overstuffed chairs and couches. A large glassed-in case held several plates on display, many of them with a red-and-blue flag design.
There was a hum in the air; Severus traced it to a large metal-and-plastic box that sat in one of the windows and shot cool air about the room. An elderly woman in a cotton house dress sat in one of the chairs, a bandage-swathed foot propped up on a foot stool. She peered at Severus over black-framed reading glasses; her iron-grey hair was short and curled closely to her head.
"Would you like some lemonade?" Julie said, glancing from Severus to Mr. Norton.
"Yes, please," said Severus.
"That'd be great, Julie," said Mr. Norton.
"I'll be right back with it," she said. She flashed a brief smile at them, and Severus had the distinct feeling that her gaze lingered on him for a bit longer than it had on Mr. Norton. What's more, he had, without even trying to use Legilimency, the brief whiff of a thought from her as she looked at him: He's so handsome... just as I knew he would be, once he cleaned up...
He tried to keep his heart from leaping at the notion, but failed.
"But first – Gran, this is Severus Snape. He's staying with the Nortons. Severus, this is my grandmother, Hjordis Halvorson."
It was difficult to tell with her sitting down, but Severus guessed that Mrs. Halvorson was a short woman. A short woman, but by no means a small one. Her stout arms bespoke years of hard work and good feeding, and were emblematic of the rest of her. Her face was squared off, the high cheekbones matched by a long wide jaw. She looked rather like an iron brick with legs, to Severus' eyes, strong and self-reliant.
But the legs of the brick had failed her at last, it seemed. One of the legs, anyway. It was swollen with the gout, obviously painful now even as she sat in her chair trying not to move. Severus looked around at the trim sitting room, so clean and well-kept, and wondered at how it must hurt her pride not to be able to get about as she had done until recently. He walked over to her and held out his hand to be shook.
"Severus Snape," she said in a gruff voice, repeating his name back to him. Her grip would have done credit to Brutus Scrimgeour. "Pleased to meet you."
"My pleasure, Ma'am."
Dark blue eyes, the same as her granddaughter's, sparkled from behind her glasses. "Where are you from, Severus?"
"Nottinghamshire. In England, Ma'am."
"Robin Hood country?"
"Yes, Ma'am, though actually Robin Hood was much more active in Yorkshire, just to the north."
"Oh, I see."
"Would you like some more lemonade, Gran?" Julie said, reaching for an empty glass that sat on the small table next to Mrs. Halvorson's chair.
"Yes, I would, dear, thank you," Hjordis Halvorson said, smiling up at her granddaughter. Julie took the empty glass and flitted out of the room towards the kitchen, as light and quick as her grandmother was solid and substantial.
"She's such a good girl," Mrs. Halvorson said once she thought Julie was out of earshot. "I hate for her to be bothered up with an old woman when she should be out enjoying her summer. But I don't want to go into the nursing home... Severus?"
"Yes, Ma'am?"
"That's your name, right, Severus?"
"Yes, Ma'am."
"Don't mind me, dear, I'm just repeating it so I remember it. If I say something out loud three times, I can usually remember it... Severus..." She suddenly brightened. "But enough about me. Sit down and tell me about yourself, Severus."
The young wizard took a spot on the couch that was nearest Mrs. Halvoroson. "Well, there's not much to tell," he said. Because I don't dare tell you most of it. "I'm from Nottingham, in Nottinghamshire, in England. I turned fourteen last January. The rest of it's pretty boring."
"Fourteen? Why, Julie just turned fourteen back in April, didn't you, Julie?" she said, turning to look towards her granddaughter as she returned from the kitchen carrying a tray of glasses.
"Yes, Gran," Julie replied, a small smile on her face as she set the first glass of lemonade down by Mrs. Halvorson. She then gave Mr. Norton his glass, and Severus his. She then set the tray down on a table and carried her own drink over to the couch where Severus was sitting.
Julie looked at Severus with her dark blue eyes, so large and so open to him. "Do you mind if I sit here?" she asked.
Severus felt another blush rising on his cheeks. "No, not at all," he said, his eyes meeting hers. "Please, sit here..." he said, patting a spot on the couch. And never, ever leave.
She gave him a smile, soft and warm, and sat on the couch on the very spot he had touched with his hand. Her body was less than a foot from his; he thought his heart might explode from the joy that this fact produced in him. But the joy was dashed when he remembered that he was only a visitor here; in a week's time, maybe less, he would be back with his aunt, and he would never see Julie again...
"Hjordis is kind enough to let my cows graze on her property," Mr. Norton said after taking a large gulp of lemonade. "In exchange, we help her out around the house."
"It's nice to know I'm still running a farm, even if it's just a hay farm now," Mrs. Halvorson rejoined. "Been a farm girl all my life, I don't know anything else."
Mr. Norton chuckled. "Oh, I don't know about that, Hjordis. You were a fine nurse during Dubyah-Dubyah-Two, or so the boys at the Sons of Norway tell me."
"The Sons of Norway!" shrieked Mrs. Halvorson in mock indignation, a high-pitched cackle unlike her usual speaking voice. "Have those old women who call themselves men been talking about me again!"
And then the conversation took a turn that was largely closed off to Severus and Julie, consisting as it did of old people's reminiscences about long-ago wars and long-ago friends.
It occurred to Severus that he could use the opportunity to start a private conversation with Julie. But did he dare? Did he, when the Ministry officials were probably even now getting ready to Apparate onto the Nortons' property? How could he start something he had no hope of finishing?
He was still debating the question in his head when he felt her hand touch his.
Her hand. Soft, warm, smooth, tender. He found himself gripping it in his own as he looked her in the face.
She returned his look, her gaze full of a question he couldn't quite decipher. So he resorted to Legilimency...
Oh, Severus, I hope I didn't offend you...
He raised his eyebrows, and before he could stop himself, he thought back:
No, Julie, you didn't.
Now it was her turn to raise her eyebrows. You... you can read minds?
A little. But never this well, not until now... with you...
Julie's mouth opened in a silent O. Severus couldn't help but think of how much he'd like to kiss that mouth – and then realized, to his horror, that Julie had felt him thinking that thought.
Oh, Julie, I'm sorry –
She silently puckered up her lips into a kiss, and smiled.
"...and speaking of the cows, Hjordis," said Mr. Norton, "It's time for me to go milk them again. You stay here, Severus," he said, turning towards the boy, a slight grin on his face, "and keep these ladies company."
"Are you sure you won't need me, sir?"
Mr. Norton's grin grew a little wider. "I'm sure, son. Just be back home in time for supper, all right?"
"All right." Thank you, sir.
Ministry or no, Severus decided that he would spend as much time with Julie as he could before they took him away. And maybe, once he was of age in another two and a half years, he could come back to see her again, if she would wait that long.
Mr. Norton winked at him as he walked out the door, which caused Severus to wonder if the man could read Severus' mind, too.
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A tall, elderly gentleman, dressed in a rather smart if somewhat unfashionable velvet puce suit, made his way towards the phone booth in front of the Jewel in the Crown Indian take-out place in the High street of Dunfermline. His vigorous stride belied the whiteness of his hair and beard, which were both cut to just above shoulder length. (They had both been somewhat longer fifteen minutes before, and would revert back to their original lengths once he was done with his task and safely at home.)
He had a piece of paper in his hand. The piece of paper contained instructions for dialing an overseas phone number, as well as how to pay for the call. (Hermione Granger's assistance had been invaluable in this regard, as it had been several decades since he had last had occasion to use a telephone.)
He entered the booth, picked up the phone, and sighed. Then, referring to the piece of paper, he carefully dialed the phone number.