Suddenly standing there alone, I was stunned. Both by myself and by his reaction. How quickly his demeanour transformed from the Severus I knew to the menacing Professor Snape. Furthermore, how much of an idiot must I have been for losing my inhibitions like that and kissing a teacher. I knew I would have to see him for a whole year at school and I feared what he would be thinking when he looked at me. I felt absolutely mortified but I let the thought go and wandered quickly back to my trunk and apparated with my belongings to the outside of Weasley's Wizarding Wheezes. Knocking on the door, I hoped Fred and George were home because I refused to stay at Spinner's End another night; the place knew too much.
A light turned on followed by the sound of shuffling feet. The door clicked opened with a surprised Fred yawning behind, wearing a knitted dressing gown with the letter F embroidered into the pocket.
"Adele? Come in, come in. Is everything alright?" I walked in hurriedly and apologized for waking him at this time of night.
"I'm sorry for coming so late but I'm heading back to school the day after tomorrow and I unfortunately had to vacate Spinner's End quickly. I don't have anywhere to stay, so I wondered if I might take you up on your offer? I won't be a burden I swear." I begged but stopped when I saw the look on his face telling me that my nerves were amusing him.
"Of course, you can stay." He gestured to the door leading out of the shop and into the residence. "George and I have to open early tomorrow, there will be a last day before school rush, so I've got to get back to bed but make yourself at home. Goodnight, Adele!" I walked around the apartment for a bit but made myself comfortable on the couch and fell asleep compartmentalising the events of the evening.
As I awoke from my slumber and glanced at the clock on the wall, I was alarmed to find that it was already one in the afternoon. Not one to ever sleep past breakfast, I must have been utterly exhausted, or perhaps my mind was just too full. Stretching my arms above my head and outwards to loosen my shoulders, I got up and walked down the stairs to the shop floor. Upon opening the door my senses were hit with the bustle of customers voices, their heads bobbing passed me in a hurry, and arms pushing against mine as they rushed to find their desired supplies. My expectations of the final summer rush were incomparable to the real thing. Squeezing my way through a group of girls giggling about potential victims for their new love potions, I found the door to the storeroom to look for one of the boys.
"Hello? Is anyone in here?"
"Adele? What in heavens are you doing behind here?" I continued walking in and around an inventory shelf which doubled as a dividing wall and found a befuddled George staring at me at his workshop bench. Googles over his eyes, he appeared to be testing some new potions to include in a special Skiving Snackbox.
"Oh, hello George! I was trying to find one of you, do you want me to get you some food? You looked swamped out there and it's the least I can do for last night." Although he was still looking puzzled, he nodded at me in agreement.
"Anything in a roll will be fine for me, same for Fred just make sure there's no egg. The bugger absolutely hates it. Thanks, Adele." After I arrived back at the store and gave them their meals, I went upstairs and tidied things up. Keeping busy was taking my mind of the previous night, but cleaning the apartment also reminded me of the last eight weeks, maintaining Spinner's End. The bewitched sponge had just finished washing the last of the dishes when WWW ceased trading for the day. Fred and George walked in laughing in conversation and said hello before taking rest on the couch. George explained that when he saw me in the storeroom today, he hadn't even realised I was visiting, let alone staying in the apartment. He also reminded me that coming into the storeroom was a bit of a risk as his experiments could easily go awry,
"You're a Ravenclaw aren't you? You should have better wits than that." The two of them cooked me a proper meal that night to celebrate my final year, pranks included of course. On my entrée plate, they had placed fake baby blast-ended skrewts, and charmed them to move when my fork came into contact with them. My squeals of terror were the height of hilarity to the twins, and they tried to convince me to eat it, but I couldn't bring myself to try. It was oblivious to the twins that even with all the fun around me, I was still feeling morose about how Severus and I left off last night. I was thankful that we were not exceptionally close friends in that regard, because they couldn't pick my emotions from my face, but I was glad we were close enough that they allowed me to stay here. After we had desert I excused myself and laid down on the couch again. I missed going on walks at night in the fresh air, that was my usual routine after dinner, but ever since my walk back home, my parent's death, and my capture, I simply couldn't bear it. With these thoughts in my mind as I slowly dozed off to sleep, my nightmares morphed into images of Severus in the dungeon, except instead of rescuing me he tortured me along with all the other Death Eaters. I woke up in a deep sweat and gasped to catch my breath. It was only 6 o'clock in the morning so closed my eyes and tried to get back into my slumber but after nearly an hour of trying, I was wide awake and decided I best get myself up and ready for my voyage to Hogwarts. After making sure belongings were all together in my trunk, I had a shower and prepared a light breakfast for the three of us to show my gratitude for their hospitality. Fred and George stumbled out of their rooms and we ate together, and said our goodbyes.
In order to get to the station, I had to go through the wall at the Leaky Cauldron, but I wasn't sure if the pub was still in business. I walked in to find Tom the bartender standing alone, with nary a customer in sight. Broken glass crunched beneath my feet, and chairs were strewn about the floor in chaos. I asked Tom for a butterbeer and engaged politely in conversation. He told me that since He Who Must Not Be Named had returned, there had been an influx in patronage from Knockturn Alley, and his regular clientele were so afraid of getting into duels with these dark wizards that the pub's business had slowed down. He expected foot traffic to increase today with the students embarking on their trip to school, but even back to school shopping had reduced with the closure of many of Diagon Alley's store. After I finished my drink, I said goodbye and left the sad image of the Leaky Cauldron behind.
By the time I got to Kings Cross it was only nine thirty, giving me ample time to find an empty carriage for me and my friends. What am I going to tell them about the summer? I couldn't tell them that I spent it with Severus, but they would have heard about my family by now so they'd want to know what happened after, where I stayed, and why they couldn't reach me by owl. I thought that as long as there weren't too many questions I would be okay. By ten fifteen the train was filling up fast, and both Cho Chang and Marietta Edgecombe had come to find me in my compartment. The three of us started Hogwarts together and had been friends throughout our schooling years. Ravenclaws tended to stick together, however after losing my parents and spending the last few weeks with Severus, I suddenly felt disconnected from the two, observing throughout the train ride how gossipy and immature the two appeared to me. Marietta had noticeably tried to cover up the scars from the cursed boils she contracted after telling Professor Umbridge about Dumbledore's Army. Too her dismay the Charmed Cosmetics had made it worse, so Cho and Marietta were discussing the latest in MagiCosmetics when Marietta turned to me.
"Oh Addie, I forgot to ask, how are you holding up? Bit of shock to hear what happened but you seem aright," she asked casually, "I heard about the fire. It sounds just terrible." I started to reply and explain that I was doing the best I could, but little sobbing sounds coming from Cho's mouth were distracting me from my words. I put my arm around her to comfort her as she began to cry over our losses. I had expected this to happen and because she had an affinity to be overdramatic, so there I was on the train, soothing Cho's tears whilst suffering my own grief.
"Addie, why does he have to take everyone away from us?! Cedric from me, and your parents from you?" she continued like this until we arrived at the school and although her whining was getting on my nerves, I was secretly grateful that it prevented me from having to talk about anything I did during the break. We took our thestral-pulled sleigh to the castle in silence and admired the majesty that was Hogwarts Caste. For the first time however, I could actually see the beast pulling me into the air. It hadn't occurred to me until this moment that this would be a repercussion of witnessing my parent's murder, how silly of me to forget.
The moment I was waiting for had arrived - walking into the Great Hall and seeing Professor Snape sitting at the long table, my superior once again. He was no longer the man I had grown to know, but back to the dreaded Potions- no. Defence professor. I wonder how the rest of the school will take the news. A small smile crept on to my face against my will, thinking about how ecstatic he would be to begin his classes. I sat down at my table, and listened to the sorting hat sing a song about being a united front. It was fitting considering the state of the wizarding world at the moment, but the Slytherins thought it was nothing but a joke. Professor Dumbledore then made a few announcements and introduced Professor Slughorn as the new Potions' teacher.
Looking over to the Gryffindor table, I saw the horrified looks on my classmates' faces when Severus' new position was announced. Harry Potter's was the most incredulous, full of surprise, anger, confusion, and fear. It was granted that Harry would be taking Defence Against The Dark Arts, he's Harry Potter, but the entire school knew of the animosity that existed between Severus and himself, and it showed in the contortions of his face. We should be in for an interesting year. In an instant, our food appeared onto the table and I began to eat. Occasionally I'd look up at Severus to see if he were looking at me, but he never was. I couldn't stop myself from thinking about him, thinking about that moment, and suddenly like he could read my mind, he turned and looked straight into my eyes with the most indignant stare he had given me. My eyes widened as I slowly averted my eyes away from him. My stomach was queasy, so I put my plate aside and waited to be able leave, get a good night's sleep, and hopefully not think about him. But that wasn't as easy as I had hoped.
Sitting in my room in Ravenclaw tower with the quilt over my head, trying to fade my way into darkness and slumber, I found that the more I tried, the more awake I became. I grunted inwardly and threw the blanket off me to the end of my bed and walked to the bathroom. Whilst washing my face, I heard a tapping at the window. I was happy to find a dark grey owl carrying a piece of parchment inscribed with my name. Hoping it was from Severus I quickly rewarded the owl with a treat and ripped open the folded note.
Adele,
You forgot this little trinket at our place and we just knew you couldn't be at Hogwarts without it. Make sure you look after our pwecious little Ronnie and keep him out of trouble. With Harry around, it's a hard ask but Mum doesn't hesitate with the Howlers.
Good luck this year, and let us know if you need somewhere to stay during the Christmas break.
Always in jest, F + G.
My heart felt heavy with sadness upon realising the letter was not from Severus, but I thought it was a lovely gesture for the twins to wish me well. They had sent me a figurine of Professor Umbridge, the hideous pink woman from last year. The figurine voiced obnoxious quotes when you tapped its head, and when you poked it enough times, the head exploded off and slowly grew another. I knew that I hadn't bought it from the shop, but the twins had sent it to me to cheer me up. We had spoken how sine their departure mid-year last year, Hogwarts was a much duller place, much quieter, and no-one to cast pranks on Peeves or Filch. After reading the letter through again and storing it away in my desk, I wrote a thank you reply and gave it to the grey owl waiting on the windowsill, pecking at the pellets I had given it as a reward. He took my reply and swiftly flew away. I climbed back into bed and fell asleep at ease, not realising there was another owl outside tapping hastily on the door.