Disclaimer: ...see previous chapters...

A/N: My gosh! I'm back? (Starts to feel the keyboard/chair/self), yes I am. Well, hopefully now it should be back to normal and shall be able to update a bit more frequently depending on when the exams are. But yes, im back. Thank youto all of you whohave reviewed! You all rock!

And special thanks to gahhMinervafor her fantastic beta-reading skills! (Read her stories, they're great!)

Chapter 5

The Morning After

There are a few advantages of falling into a deep, drunken slumber on a beach at a party. Firstly, the vast amount of space meant that you could invite as many people to the party as you wished, and still have enough space to let in any gatecrashers that may have innocently wandered to that particular spot, naturally to find out what the party is about. Secondly, with the vast amount of open space, you could sneak off unnoticed behind the sand dunes, or in this case, the pub on the hill. And lastly, you could be as loud as you could possibly want, and still not wake the neighbours, as, in this case, the neighbours were about a mile or two away. But unfortunately, there are as many disadvantages, such as having too much to drink and making a complete nutter of yourself by announcing that you wished to go for a 'light' swim in the cold North Sea. Or, you could wander too far down the beach and find yourself stranded, which is never a good position to be in at the best of times, especially when you are incapacitated. Or, you could fall asleep from consuming too much beer or wine in front of a dying fire in the early hours of the morning, and find yourself the next time you wake up to a full-blinding sun, and also a nice refreshingly chilly bath in the North Sea.

"Ahh, Dementors!" screamed the Filius as he was awoken from his peaceful slumber by the cold sea, which swept up the beach towards the sleeping party of staff, and drifted back again, this time with the small professor floating along with it. "HELP!"

The sea threw a particularly large wave towards where most of the staff lay trying to wake themselves up, and managed to get their attention by soaking them all head to toe with salty water, and black seaweed. Marcus managed to jump up, mainly from the shock of the cold bath he had just received, but also from the cries of help from the small professor, who was currently being swept away by the sea.

"Accio!" he shouted towards the diminutive Charms professor, and Filius was sent soaring past the many other professors scrambling around, trying to help him. Marcus caught him in the nick of time as he flew through the air, for the second time in two days, and placed him down on the ground.

"I'm getting far too old for this!" he panted and toppled into deep hole filling up with water. "Thank you, Marcus."

"You're welcome," Marcus grunted in reply and tried to pull himself together. He watched with amusement as the rest of the staff looked just as disorientated and confused as he did. Poppy drew her wand and cast a quick drying charm on her light summer robes, then gazed around, taking in the surroundings, while clutching her head because of the searing headache forming. She gave a start when a rather handsome young man placed his hand on her shoulder, and began to question him irritably for doing so. Pomona seemed to be clutching a long stick to prop herself upon, while trying desperately not to fall down again, and retch into the long grass on the bank. The rest of the professors, however, were struggling to climb up the bank towards the pub for safety, in fear of the sea having another shot at covering them with cold water. It was quite a sight to behold as none had yet to think of a simple drying charm as they scrambled aimlessly towards the dry land, soaked with salty water, and bits of seaweed, which had landed in various places on their bodies. Marcus began to amble up the bank to meet the rest of the pitiful group nursing hangovers and sore limbs from lying in odd places. Casting a fugitive glance around the group, he noted that there were a few of their number missing and began to search the beach for any sign of them. It seemed that not one of the four professors missing had wandered off from the group since dawn so Marcus could only assume that they were at Hogwarts or elsewhere. Marcus felt a certain pang as he realised Rolanda was not there amongst them. He had spent the night trying to get her to succumb to his devilishly good looks and witty charm, only to find that she had gone elsewhere. He knew that it was impossible for her to have wandered off with Severus, as she, like himself, hated the man because of his poor social demeanour and rude comments. Contenting himself with the assumption that she was probably safe at Hogwarts, Marcus cast his thoughts towards the last two members who had disappeared from the group. Albus and Minerva, he seemed to recall, had gone back to Hogwarts. He remembered the two vaguely staggering off in a random direction because it made him laugh. Marcus chuckled at the memory, as he replayed it again through his mind.

It's not everyday you see two great minds stagger off together in the middle of the night, he thought with a wry smile.

"Marcus, were going to do a group Apparition as some of us are still rather incapacitated," said Poppy in a rather gruff voice.

"Okay," he replied in the same low, croaky voice.

Great, everyone sounds like Barry White, he thought with a sigh, and moved off next towards Auriga to hold her hand.

"Ready?" said Poppy, trying not to raise her voice.

"Where are we going?" mumbled Artimis and Poppy held his hand.

"Hogsmeade station, we can't Apparate into Hogwarts." Poppy said in irritation as the professors held onto each other. "Ready?"

A few low moans and 'yeses' passed around the circle and on a count of three, they Apparated with success into Hogsmeade station.

A sweet perfume scent began to drift and make its way up a rather crooked nose, making the owner of said nose begin to twitch and frown. Albus could not for the life of him work out where he had smelt that wonderful perfume before, and his mind began to tick through all the old files to find a name for this new perfume, and to whom it might have belonged. Taking in a rather deep breath, he hoped that his old mind would soon work out this mysterious scent and where it had come from, as it was beginning to grate on his nerves. Images flashed in front of his eyelids, replaying an old film of random thoughts and memories, which seemed to connect with this smell. Mulling them over, Albus decided that this perfume must be a recent brand because he remembered a witch from Diagon Alley offering him this wonderful smell of passionflower. After another couple of minutes, Albus decided that the best thing for it was just to open his eyes and stop being a lazy old coot, as his brain would not be able to work it out anytime soon.

You're getting far too old, he thought with amusement. Eventually he gave in and slowly opened his bleary eyes slowly. The surroundings were familiar, so Albus knew he must have been at Hogwarts. Perhaps he was still asleep, as these were his old rooms...

So that must mean that I am back with Amelia!

But no, it could not be, as certain things had changed around the room; for instance, he never had a dressing table. Gazing around a little more he saw a set of emerald green robes hanging from an old oak wardrobe.

Ah, I am in Minerva's room! Albus thought with a smile and contented himself in the fact that he knew where he was and what day in age it was. Drifting a little off to sleep, Albus gave a sigh at the wonderful smell of Minerva drifted through his nostrils again. But before his eyelids could come to a close, they snapped back open with alarm, and Albus glanced under the covers to find himself without any sort of clothing. Dreading what had happened, he turned gently to find Minerva undisturbed in the same sort of state, and turned back to find his robes.

Oh. Dear. Merlin, he thought in panic as he slipped out of bed, pulling on his robes from last night, and he fled from her chambers without a second thought.

Albus began to speed-walk to his own chambers praying that no other member of staff would see him in such a state. Feeling a full-force headache coming on, Albus broke into a run until he reached his stairs, and muttered the password. Hurrying up the stairs, Albus dashed straight for his sleeping quarters behind one of his many bookcases, and over to the bathroom without a second thought. Dropping his robes into the washing basin, Albus slid open the door of his bathroom cupboard, and fumbled about until he came to the right potion to cure the splitting headache. With a deep breath, Albus sat down onto the toilet seat and began to think through what he had done the night before. He could remember going on a pub-crawl with the rest of the staff, and fire...there was fire there... although Albus could not for the life of him work out why. At some point he and Minerva had got together, most likely when they got back to Hogwarts, how ever they did that.

Silly old fool. His mind was circling this particular banner and waving it high up in the air.

"Well, provided Minerva doesn't realise what we have done, then there is no one to say other wise," Albus thought aloud. "We can continue on as if nothing had ever happened. You are such a stupid fool for allowing this to happen. Especially after what happened with Amelia..."

With a resolute sigh, Albus stood up and climbed into the shower, going over what he would say to Minerva should he meet her this morning.

The crisp sea air swept across the horizon, causing Rolanda to shiver and look for a source of warmth. The paper-thin sheet covering her curvaceous petite body did nothing to keep her warm in the slightest, and with annoyance, Rolanda sat up and gazed around the alien environment. The net curtains were flailing and twisting themselves because the wind had nothing to prevent it from stopping. The wooden doors were wide open to the vast amount of ocean and the bright sunlight filtering into the room. Turning her head slightly, Rolanda saw the dip in the pillow beside her and cocked her head slightly, trying to remember just who it was that she was with the night before. A few memories came flooding back of Severus and herself, walking up to a random house perched on the hill. They had kissed and broken in to the house, rescuing a fine wine from the pantry then made their way to a more 'comfortable' surrounding.

But where the devil was he now? Is he in the shower? Downstairs?

Rolanda sat up and wrapped the thin sheet around her to investigate the disappearance of her mysterious lover. Immediately she was hit by a wave of nausea and felt back on to the soft bed.

I hope to Merlin he is not in the toilet, Rolanda squeezed her eyes shut waiting for the moment to pass. The creases of her eyes gradually began to fall away as she peered out and up at the white ceiling where the bright light from the sun was shinning. Her hands still clutching her stomach, Rolanda cautiously began to rise from the bed and make her way across the wooden floorboards. Moving very slowly, in fear of emptying whatever contents still lay in her stomach, Rolanda gradually made her way to the landing and across towards what looked like a bathroom. Finding out her assumption was correct, she inwardly send a mental thank you to Merlin, and climbed into the bath to start the shower. Rolanda felt the shock as she turned the knob on the wall to start the shower and soon realised that the water was near freezing.

"MERLIN!" she screamed as the water began to cover her body. Rolanda jumped to the opposite end of the bath shivering from the cold wake-up call she had just received.

Well, at least you don't feel so bad...

Given the sudden shock of her attack from the cold water, Rolanda felt a little less nauseous and more refreshed. Slowly edging her hand towards the dial on the shower, she felt another shock from the cold water and quickly withdrew.

"Oh, sod it!" she muttered and walked back under the cold showerhead, standing for a few minutes to let her body adjust to the cold water it was having to put up with. After the disastrous shower incident, Rolanda found her clothes, which had apparently been thrown all over the place.

Apparently Severus had fun last night, she thought with a wry smile. It took a while to re-dress herself as it seemed Severus had been rather enthusiastic about throwing her clothing all over the place. Rolanda found some items of clothing in the most unusual places ranging from the balcony, to the top of the high wardrobe, and, somehow Severus had managed to get her bra wrapped around the light fitting. Rolanda could not help but smile in amusement. Something out the corner of her eye glittered in the sunlight as she began to levitate it down and decided to investigate it further. Down the corner of the un-made bed, Rolanda found what appeared to be a man's silver necklace, much like the ones she had seen in the army. Fishing it out of the hole it had fallen into, Rolanda examined it closer to find the eloquently written words 'Severus Snape' and underneath a date of birth 'Jan 08 1964'. With a small smile, Rolanda pocketed the silver chain and used a simple cleaning spell to remove the wineglasses, and make the bed. Making a quick tour of the house to see if Severus was anywhere to be seen, Rolanda soon found he was nowhere to be seen. With disappointment, she gave one last look outside before she decided to give up and Apparated with a small 'pop'.

What did you think? Do you think I havepass my owls with it? (Don't do a Snape) Let me know!