Black Meadow Vila

Severus wasn't in bed with her when she woke up. Sunlight streamed through cracks in heavy curtains and fell across the room. It lit up the foot of her bed, a line across the floor and over by the fireplace too. She got up, opened the curtains and looked out over an overgrown garden and across to the park where a number of muggles were running or walking their dogs. Her head ached, her eyes felt dry and she remembered the night before with shame. What a mess, she reprimanded herself, It was the weekend but with any luck Severus would have gone back to Hogwarts and she wouldn't have to face him until she felt better.

She headed to the bathroom without getting dressed and turned the taps on the bath, for a little while the water ran brown until the old pipes cleared and once they had she put the stopper in the bath and waited on the side of it, mixing the water with her hand. Forty minutes later, when her skin was so pruned she couldn't stay in any longer, she got out and pulled a towel around herself. She vanished the dirt off of her teeth, realising that a toothbrush would have been a good idea when she stopped at the muggle shop and went back into her room. She opened her travel trunk, which was on the side of her bed and climbed into it, found new clothes (the usual overlarge jumper and legging) and then she made her way downstairs.

"Did you manage to wash away all your sins? You took long enough."

Arun stopped by the kitchen door and turned on her heal, "Oh, I thought you'd gone?"

"Sorry to...disappoint you." He shot her a thin smile and waved a copy of the Daily Prophet at her.

"Did anybody see you?" she asked as she took it from him.

"I'm a master of disguise," Snape told her. "Nobody saw me, I got an owl to deliver the prophet and I went shopping with muggle money."

"You've done the potions quiz already?" she complained.

"You need to get up early if you want to beat me," he came round the table.

"According to Kadora Hartborn you don't mind a good beating."

Severus laughed and he ran his hands around her waist and kissed her. "I think you will find it's the other way around."

"Oh, so you were with her?"

Severus kissed her neck in response, and crinkled his nose when her wet hair tiggled him, "That's cold."

Arun kissed him, drawing him in closer to her but something was burning and she broke away from him and looked over to the stove, "Are you trying to cook?"

"Trying? I'm a potions master, I don't try...I do."

"Well do try harder, you're burning something."

Severus turned away from her and studied the bacon cooking under the grill, "It's fine, don't you like it crispy?"

"There's crispy and there's obliterated."

"So particular, Granville," he muttered as he pulled it out. "Can you open that bag on the table? There's buns in there that need buttering, I need to turn these eggs."

"Did my rassions not pass muster?" she asked as she pulled the freshly baked buns out of the brown paper bag, with a flick of her hand they halved themselves and a knife flew from a draw and spread butter on to them. From the bag, some rocket landed on the buns, and then tomato sauce marched out and squirted itself over them.

"You bought two tomatoes and some noodles and alcohol. What on earth was I supposed to do with that?"

Arun floated the buns onto two plates and watched them journey across to Severus who was ready with the bacon and eggs. With a flick of his wand Severus put the kettle onto the hob and then he took his bun and bit down on it. "Perfect," he told her.

She bit into hers, held his eye contact for a moment and shrugged, "S-ok."

"Don't pretend to be unimpressed," he told her, waving the kettle off of the side where it had started to whistle. It poured them two cups of tea and he levitated them out of the room. She followed with the prophet under her arm and the bun on the plate. Severus had the fire going and they sank into chairs and ate without saying much.

When Arun was finished she put the plate on the floor and picked up her tea, "Thank you for coming over."

"It's not like you gave me much choice."

"I don't know why you were so worried, I was fine."

"Yes," he raised his eyebrows, "I could see that."

Arun studied him over the rim of her teacup. "When do you have to go back?"

"Tomorrow morning at the latest. I've asked Lucius and Narcissa to come over."

"To do what? Child-mind me?"

Severus gave her the same look he gave his students, she huffed and sat back. "I'm going to Thebes."

"You said."

"As soon as I have a plan."

"You said that too."

"I don't expect you to come with me."

"That's good because I won't be."

"Good."

Severus snorted a laugh, "What's a weekend going to change? The Malfoys are waiting for the Americans to contact them, just relax until then. They won't find you here and your sister isn't going to be killed until they have used her as bait."

"You tell me to relax when they could be doing anything to her."

"Doing anything to her would be foolish."

Arun sipped her tea again, and turned her eyes from Severus to the fire he had built. "What would you do?" she asked. "I can't ask the Death Eaters to help me. I can't ask the Ministry to help, Dumbledore has helped enough. The rest of my friends are scroungers and dealers like me. I've got to go to Luxor, to Thebes, and the rest is...well...I'll work it out from there."

"The Malfoys will help you."

"They have a son now."

Severus caught her eye, Arun thought about baby Draco and didn't let him see her deal with Fenrir.

"You shouldn't act until you know what they want to do to trap you."

"Really?" Arun snapped. "This would be the best time, whilst they still think I'm in England and they have lower defences. If your under attack, Severus, keep moving."

Snape looked away, sighed and stood up. "Are you still hungry? I am."

"A little."

"I'll make us something else," he left her by the fire, it was clear he didn't want her to follow him. She slid down in her chair until her chin rested on her chest and then she closed her eyes. What was she gaining from staying still apart from allowing Fenrir the chance to get to Luxor first? How would she get there? Apparition and the Flu network were watched and flying that distance would be uncomfortable to say the least. She would have to make a portkey undetected, which meant she would first have to mask her magical signature from the ministry, that shouldn't be too hard from this house, as no ministry officials had its location, but the connection to Luxor would be detected. They wouldn't be able to track who had cast the magic but as soon as she came through without a scheduled arrival the customs wizards would be on her in a flash. Maybe she could use her sister's painting, even though Amber wasn't there. The room was most likely compromised, if she were one of the Americans she would keep a lookout on the place. Whatever she did, she would need to do it quickly.

Severus came back into the room, he lent over and kissed her on the forehead, then he dropped an apple into her lap and went to his own chair. "Are you going to read the Prophet or not?" he asked, seeing how she had one foot on top of it. "I've still got the Pink Magic section to study."

Arun picked it up and chucked it at him, "Thinking of changing your hair Sev?" she asked. "Maybe I'll turn mine ginger."

Snape didn't find that funny. He chose not to react to her, and he took the newspaper and thumbed the pages until he found the section he hadn't read yet. Arun chucked the apple into the air and made it levitate. It spun around the room flying over and under furniture then she bewitched it to avoid her and started to shoot at it, aiming her finger like a muggle gun.

"Will you stop," Snape snapped. "Are you intentionally acting like a child?"

"You're keeping me like a prisoner."

He folded the paper and let it drop into his lap. "You are free to leave whenever you want. I presume to suggest a course of action, I do not insist you follow it."

"I just want you to-" Arun paused. Her voice faltered. "To…"

Severus sat forward, "What?"

"I want this," she motioned around the room. Snape blinked, he seemed surprised. "I want to be bored with you. I want to get old and fat and laugh about the Prophet's Pink Magic section and annoy you with floating apples. I want to wake up with my head on your chest and laugh at your sleepy morning face."

"We do all those things, we've just done all those things."

"Yes, in a safehouse whilst my friends are tortured for my location and my sister is held prisoner by a bunch of Americans who want to create their, what did Narcissa call it?"

Severus rested his head on the back of his chair and looked at her down his nose. "Las Vegas Voldemort." He cleared his throat, "What's wrong Arun? Has Dumbledore giving you a job affect you so badly?"

"He had no right to medal with my life like that."

"It's what he does. Albus' weakness is also his greatest strength; he always sees the best in people."

"He can't see me."

"He wants to; you seem determined to prove him wrong."

"I don't see how," Arun grumbled.

"What do you think happened? What story are you telling yourself?"

Arun shrugged. She didn't see it mattered, Severus would just take the headmasters side anyway.

He folded up the paper and walked across the room to sit next to her. She raised her legs so they rested on his lap."Oh, let me see," Snape's eyes had a cruel glint, "You contacted Albus and told him you couldn't bare to be apart from me. You'd seen the error of your ways whilst in Egypt and you begged him to give you a job where you could be with me again."

"Ha ha Severus Snape," Arun kicked him. "What did he say?"

"I asked him to give you a chance. I told him you could be trusted."

Arun's smile fell. "Do you feel like I let you down?"

Severus regarded her, "What story are you telling yourself?" he asked again.

"I contacted the Aura's to sell them the artefact, I thought that if they had it then it would be their problem and they could take on the Americans. I went to Mad-eye but he wasn't biting then Dumbledore turns up and offers me a job but refuses to buy the artefact. I wasn't going to take the job until you told me about the hauntings. I suppose that was his plan too wasn't it? To get me and my artefact to Hogwarts where all three would be 'safe.' Except...well...I decided to destroy them for good, didn't I? I came with my own agenda."

"If you had just swallowed your pride…"

"It wasn't about pride, Severus. I will not side against my uncle and my friends. In refusing to buy it from me that's exactly what they are doing, exposing me."

"The Dark Lord is supposed to be dead," he muttered.

"Well he's not, is he? The Potter boy lived, and the Dark Lord's out there somewhere biding his time until he's strong enough to return. When he returns I do not intend to be grovelling. To either side."

Severus ran his hand down her leg, "I don't want to lose you. I've lost enough through my own folly."

"Are you talking about Lily?"

"I made a choice. I think I feel so awful because I had a choice to be with her and I was too blinkered. You know, I did love her, I always will, but I chose the Dark Lord. She waited, she wanted me and I was blinkered. It was only once I chose the Dark Lord that she left me behind. Potter was a rebound."

"You're talking about childhood love. You're talking about a friendship formed when you were what? Fifteen. How old were you when you lost your virginity to her?"

Snape didn't seem too concerned that she asked, he wasn't ashamed. "Eleven."

"That's really young."

"Yeah." He bit the inside of his lip, "We carried on sleeping together until we were fifteen. We kept it secret. I knew if anybody found out she would have been be bullied, I tried to get her to be friends with my friends but every day she was in Gryffindor her views and mine grew apart. There came a time when she asked me to choose, and I turned from her. I knew, as soon as I did it that it was the wrong thing to do, but from that point on she and I lived different lives. I never stopped caring for her though, even though I moved on. She was more like family to me than my own parents. The only person I shared good memories with before Hogwarts. I never wanted anything bad to happen to her and when it did it was my fault. That was the breaking point for me. That's when I…" he stopped talking and he studied Arun as if he was suspicious of her. "Am I safe saying this to you?" he asked.

"You mean, will I tell my uncle if he comes back that you really do work for Dumbledore and the Order of the Phoenix? No, I won't."

"Swear on it, make an oath with me."

Arun noticed that Severus's other hand had gone close to his wand. She held out her hand and with her other, she used a cutting spell to slice her palm open. Severus seemed to relax, then he did the same. They grasped hands together and Severus tapped his wand across their palms, muttering as he did. From the end of his wand, like golden ribbons, light danced around their hands.

"Thank you," Severus said, then he leaned across to her and kissed her. "Come upstairs."

Severus Snape was not a hairy man, he vanished his body hair, not all of it, but across his chest and back at least. He had a few tattoos too, thankfully none of them flowers. He worked out as well and his torso was muscular, not ridiculously so, but defined enough for her to trace the contours with her fingertips. She ran her hand across the patterns of ink etched into his skin, over freckles and up across his collarbone, then with the back of her fingers she stroked up his neck, across his jaw and reached his mouth. He smiled, looked down at her and his eyes closed again.

"Do you remember," she asked. "That I said I would make you immune to the Dark Lords snake?"

Severus nodded.

"Well, I have a present for you."

He ran his hand up her arm and took her hand away from his neck. "When did you make the potion?"

"During the week."

He pulled her arm across his body so she would follow and when she was on top of him he tilted his head up and kissed her, "is it my birthday?" he asked.

"It is soon."

"How soon?"

She kissed him again, laughing as she did. "I think you will find it's tomorrow Professor Snape," she did McGonagall's accent.

He pulled a face, "That's unpleasant." They kissed again, "I'd like you to still be here for it."

"The Malfoys haven't been in contact yet," Arun bit his lip hard enough to draw blood. He hissed with pain, ran his hand across his lip then he laughed and kissed her again, more passionately this time. He pulled her onto her back so he was on top of her and he kissed her over and over. "Maybe Kadora Hartborn wasn't lying," she giggled.

"Fuck her."

"You did."

He kissed down her body, and for the first time Arun didn't become so overwhelmed that she forced him to stop. He seemed so happy that she let him continue.

"I love you," he whispered once they were done. "So, so much."

She ran her hands across his hair and laughed. "Severus," she whispered, "What have you done to me?"

After a few moments where they just held each other, Severus rolled off the bed and whistling he went for a shower. Arundel listened to the water splashing and her smile fell. She dressed and put her travel case around her neck and left the potion and picture on the bedside table. Then with a flick of her hand, she conjured paper and a quill and wrote. "I love you too, but this is goodbye. You know what I have to do."

She apperated from the bed to the desert and from the desert, she flew unassisted to the rooftops outside her sister's apartment in Luxor.