My feet found solid ground in front of Susan's house. There were a number of extra cars sitting outside from Mark's family and Susan's. I rang to doorbell once and prepared myself for Susan to scold me for being late and go on and on about the repercussions of the lost three minutes.

Susan opened the door and immediately wrapped her arms around me. "Ruby. You're not supposed to be here until Monday."

"Er…" I said feeling her arms tighten. "It is Monday."

She let go and looked at me for a moment. "Is it really? My how time flies when you're having fun."

"Right…" I said a bit caught off guard by her laid back attitude.

She pulled me in the house and into the sitting room where Mark was sitting on the sofa watching something on the television. She shoved me onto the seat next to him and took her seat next to me. She flung her feet up on the coffee table and leaned her head on my shoulder and continued to watch the show on the tele.

"Aren't we going to do wedding planning?" I asked. "That's why I'm here. You demanded it."

"Oh yeah!" She said getting up and running to the next room.

"Has she been drinking?" I asked Mark.

"No I haven't." Susan answered as she walked in to the room with magazines.

She dropped them on the table, most of them falling to the floor.

"Oops." She said with a giggle. "I forgot the notebooks."

When she left the room again Mark spoke.

"She's been drinking since Saturday." He said shaking his head and going to pick up the fallen magazines. "Her Aunt was fed up with Susan's anxiety and has been refilling that cup the entire weekend. I have no idea what with but Susan is certainly loopy."

Susan re-entered the room and plopped down on the sofa next to me, picked up her cup, and took a long drink before placing it back on the table in front of us.

"Ok." She said. "Now what?"

"Notebooks?" I asked noticing she had none.

She hit her forehead with the heel of her hand. "Oh, duh."

I put my hand on her leg to prevent her from standing up. "Never mind. We don't really need them. What are we looking at anyways? We're going to look for your dress in an hour or two and isn't that the only thing we really have left?"

"I suppose." She said reaching for the cup.

"I don't think you need any more drinks." I said taking the cup from her hand and putting on the floor at the side of the sofa. "You don't want to have to continually go to the bathroom when you're trying on dresses, do you?"

"Well what am I supposed to do?" She asked. "If I can't have anything to drink because you don't want me to have to pee and we can't look at magazines because everything is decided besides my dress and the tele is boring. What is there left?"

"I don't know." I said. "We could play a game."

"Oh, let's play the truth game." She slurred. "I'll start. I don't really like Snape and I don't want him to come to my wedding."

I felt my blood stop moving and drain out through my flesh. My face felt hot and my fingers and toes went cold.

Mark laughed. "Who does like him?"

"Ruby does." Susan said with a tone of disgust and a roll of her eyes.

My brain stopped analyzing and turned on auto. I stood up from the sofa and walked out of the front door of the house. It was beginning to rain. I didn't know what else to do so I just stood and let the rain drops splatter against my hair, skin, and clothes. It was cold and uncomfortable but I wasn't sure what else I could do. I couldn't apparate just in case someone was looking out a window and saw me disappear. A drop of cold water ran down my spine causing me to shiver and gasp. I stood staring at the damp grey world with my arms wrapped around myself as I absentmindedly stroked my thumb back and forth over my sweater sleeve.

"Are you going to come in out of the rain?"

I turned around to see Mark stepping out of the house. I shrugged in answer to his question.

"I wouldn't listen to Susan." He said walking towards me. "Yesterday she told me that she didn't like my face and that I shouldn't wear it to the wedding. She is just a rude drunk. I'm surprised what she said even made you upset."

I looked past Mark over his shoulder to the wet walkway.

"You dated him." He said causing me to snap my head up to look at him. "That's it, isn't it? I dated a Slytherin once, too."

"What?" I choked.

"When we were second years there was a girl in my Defense Against the Dark Arts class that I rather fancied." He said. "I'm embarrassed to say who it was now. It ended badly and for the rest of the year she would hit me with a stinging jinx every time she saw me which made defense class incredibly difficult."

"I can imagine." I said.

"I wondered why Snape always gave you detentions from which Susan said you always returned injured." He said. "He's using his power as a professor to get back at you like Helena did to me."

"I really don't think he became a professor just so he could torture me." I said. "And you dated Helena Bogtrotter?"

"Don't tell anyone." He said. "Not even Susan knows. I promise not to tell anyone about Snape. I would have never known you two had a thing. I always thought he was in love with Lily Evans."

"He was." I said without thinking.

"So that was the problem, eh?" He asked. "Snivellus carried a torch for Evans and you didn't like it?"

I sighed slightly annoyed at the nickname. "Yeah, something like that I suppose. Not that I'm the jealous sort or anything."

"Of course not." Mark said shaking his head. "It's cold and I'm soaking wet, shall we go in now? We should make sure Susan gets nothing except water to drink for the rest of the day."

I nodded my head. Upon entering the sitting room Susan appeared to be entranced by a commercial playing on the tele. She looked over at us.

"Why are you both wet?" She asked apparently unaware that either of us had been absent from the room at any point.

I noticed the cup was back in her hand and she took a large gulp from it. Anger heated my veins. I was not going to wait for her to elaborate on the relationship between Severus and I. I was lucky enough to have had Mark misunderstand and assume that everything happened when Severus was a student. I walked to Susan with long purposeful steps and snatched the cup from her hand. I threw the contents of it into a pot holding a decorative fake plant.

"Aguamenti." I said pointing my wand at the cup. I watched impatiently as it filled with water before slamming the cup into Susan's still outstretched hand causing it to slosh over the side onto her shirt.

"What's wrong with you?" She shrieked as she stood up to wipe the liquid from the front of her shirt.

"You can't really be that stupid not to know." I spat.

"Don't call me stupid." She said throwing water over the front of my already wet sweater.

I took her firmly by the wrist and tugged her in the direction of her room.

"If you'd excuse us?" I said to Mark before I dragged her around the corner.

"Caligo Nebula Nullum!" I shouted after I shut the door behind us.

Susan immediately placed her hands over her head, let out a groan, and crumpled to the floor.

"My head feels like it's going to explode." Susan moaned clutching her temples.

"Good." I said. "You deserve it. You've been acting like a total ass."

"How so?" She asked moving one of her hands to her stomach. "Uhh, I think I'm going to be sick."

"You apparently told Mark that you didn't like his face and you almost told everyone about Severus and I." I said. "Luckily there was a misunderstanding and Mark simply thinks that Severus and I dated when we were younger."

"I feel really ill." Susan said half a second before her stomach unloaded on the rug.

I turned around to face the door turning my back on her. Her sounds of heaving followed by the wet slapping of her sick made me gag.

Susan's mother opened the door. "Who's ready for shop-oh my goodness!"

She rushed to her daughter's side and, with the grace only a mother possesses, lifted her daughter out of the ever growing pile of puke and, without so much as a cringe, led her to the bathroom across the hall.

A moment later Susan's mother came back into the room picked up the rug and left. She returned with a mop and a bucket a minute after that.

"What happened?" She asked dunking the mop into the soapy water. "It's almost like she's hungover. She told me to stop talking so loudly in between heaves."

"Well…" I said.

"What do you know?" Her mother asked ceasing momentarily in the side to side sweeping of the mop.

"Mark told me that Susan's aunt had been filling her cup with something to stop her anxiety." I said.

"GLADYS!" She yelled at the top of her lungs which was met with a groan from Susan in the bathroom. "Can you finish cleaning this up for me?"

She handed me the mop as she stomped from the room. I heard Susan shush her mother from the bathroom.

After a few minutes of gagging over the sight and smell of my friend's vomit I had sworn off the idea of ever having children. I couldn't handle this and I only imagined diapers would be worse, much worse.

I wasn't sure what to do with the bucket since Susan was still occupying the bathroom. I looked down at it to decide what my plan of action should be but the chunks floating in between soap bubbles made my stomach turn and I decided it would be best for everyone if I left the room, lest Susan's mother need to clean up another mess.

"I know, Gladys." Susan's mom said as I past the kitchen. "Susan was bothering me with her anxiety too, but that doesn't mean you load her up with enough alcohol to kill a horse!"

"You told me to give her something for nerves." The woman I assumed was Gladys responded.

"I meant a glass of wine, not whatever concoction you could mix up from all the alcohol in the house and continually fill a pint for an entire weekend!" Susan's mother groaned.

"I'm sorry." Gladys said. "I didn't realize my sister had become so uptight."

"My daughter just threw up all over her room!" Susan's mother yelled.

I walked into the sitting room where Mark was on the sofa looking like he was concentrating very hard on the television.

"How long have they been doing this?" I asked sitting on the chair near the sofa.

"All weekend." Mark said.

"That long?" I asked.

"Oh, do you mean this argument?" Mark asked. "About five minutes or so, but the general bickering has been near constant."

A crash came from the bathroom and it was difficult to determine whether Mark or Susan's mother had the faster reaction time as they both ran down the hallway. I followed behind at a distance.

"It's going to be alright, sweetheart." I heard Mark say.

He emerged from the bathroom with Susan in his arms and walked her into her room where he laid her on her bed.

"I'll go get you some water." He said. "I'll be right back."

I watched him plant a tender kiss on her sweaty forehead before he left the room and shut the door behind himself.

"What did you do?" Mark asked in a less than friendly tone.

"I just used a spell to get rid of her foggy head from the alcohol." I said. "Evidently that has resulted in an immediate and intense hangover."

"Well fix it!" He spat through gritted teeth before he walked to the kitchen.

I followed him. "I think I know how, but it would require a potion…which I don't have and whose ingredients aren't exactly common in this area."

"What is the point of you?" He asked grabbing a plastic cup from a cupboard.

I shook my head. "I'm not sure what you mean."

"You did this to her!" He shouted. "She is really sick and you can't help her! What kind of Healer are you going to be? You're horrible."

I swallowed hard. "I'm sorry. I'd only read about the spell. I didn't know it would have this sort of after-effect."

"Maybe you should think before casting spells on my fiancée next time if you're not going to be able to fix what your stupidity does to her." He spat as he filled the cup with water. "I don't even know what you were so upset about. She brought up a past relationship!"

"I said I was sorry." I said surprised that Mark was capable of such anger. "Do you think I really meant for this to happen?"

"I think you should leave." Mark said before he turned and left me in the kitchen.

"I'm not going to leave!" I shouted back after him. "I am Susan's maid of honor. I've been her friend longer than you have!"

I crossed my arms over my chest and pouted angrily for a few seconds before I'd made up my decision. I focused my mind on where I wanted to be.

I felt the familiar sensation of being squeezed through a tight rubber tube before my feet touched solid ground again.

I didn't wait for the air to re-enter my lungs, like I normally would after I apparated, before I started running through the woods. I'd never been here by myself and the realization caused a pang of fear in the pit of my stomach.

I finally reached the clearing. It was relieving to see Hogwarts. I ran straight for the invisible entrance to the potions classroom that I knew was there. I ran my wand over the stones just as Severus always did. The wall melted away and I ran into the dark passage, down the spiral staircase, and to the wall that led into the ingredients cupboard.

I walked from the cupboard to find the empty classroom. I crossed over to the open door to his office, which to my dismay was also empty. I hadn't considered the possibility that Severus wouldn't be there.

I slumped down in the chair I usually sat in during our evenings together. I slammed my head down on an open book as the feeling of guilt washed over me. I had been stupid to try out a spell I'd only read about once. Especially on Susan. Poor, sweet Susan. Mark was right, I shouldn't have been that angry with her. She hadn't divulged any great secrets. She simply said I liked Severus, which Mark didn't believe, and even if he had it wasn't exactly untrue. I did like Severus. The fact that I was sitting in his office was evidence of that.

I sat wallowing in my own self-pity, listening to the sounds of potions simmering.

"Ruby?" Severus' surprised tone broke the rhythmic bubbling.

I lifted my head off the book to look at him. Had he always been this beautiful or did he just look exceptional because it had been a few days since I last saw him? Perhaps, it was because I so desperately wanted him that the sight of him satisfied some deep need making him look absolutely radiant to me in this moment.

"What are you doing here?" He asked.

I shook my head and smiled at how stupid I felt. "He asked what the point of me was. Not the point of having me there was…just to point of me. Basically what the point of my existence was."

"Who said that?" He asked taking the seat next to mine. Goodness he was handsome when he showed caring.

I sniffled slightly and smiled over my sadness again. "Mark."

"Mark?" He asked. "Susan's Mark?"

"He said I was going to be a horrible Healer." I said dropping my eyes to his hands in his lap.

Severus stood up from his chair and paced jerkily for a few moments. "Where is Wizenby? Not even the most experienced Healer will be able to put him back together after what I'm going to do to him."

"He's right though." I said, tears involuntarily falling down my cheeks. "I shouldn't have tried that spell on Susan without being familiar with it. I didn't even consider that she'd get sick and now I have no idea how to make her better."

"What spell?" Severus asked.

"I mean it's really not that bad of a side effect." I said. "I'm sure she'll get over it on her own but the way Mark talked to me makes me feel so much worse."

"What spell did you use, Ruby?" Severus asked again.

"Caligo Nullum Nebula." I said looking up at him.

A small smile spread over his lips. "Have a bit of a headache, does she?"

A fresh wave of guilt crashed over me. "It's horrible. She was sick everywhere. Mark yelled at me."

"It's alright." He said taking my hands and lifting me from the chair. "I think I have just what you want."

He bent down slowly and placed his lips softly on mine.

I smiled once he pulled away. "That was nice, but I don't think that's going to help Susan."

"No." He said with a grin. "That was what I wanted. What you'll want is over here."

He dropped my hands and walked over to a cabinet with different bottles and jars lining the shelves. He reached up his hand and plucked a small bottle with a greyish-green liquid inside of it.

"This should make Susan feel better." He said looking at the bottle before holding it out to me. "I wouldn't ask what's in it."

I took the bottle from his hand. "Thank you, Severus. Thank you so much."

I turned to leave but Severus cleared his throat loudly causing me to turn back to him.

"You're forgetting my payment." He said.

I was caught off guard. I didn't think Severus would make me pay for the potion. I didn't have any money on me and I suddenly felt even worse for assuming that he would help me just because I asked him to.

He tapped his bottom lip and smirked.

"Oh." I said understanding his hint. "How could I be so inconsiderate?"

I put the bottle in the pocket of my jeans before I reached up my arms and wrapped them around the back of his neck. I pressed my lips against his. I felt him smile which I responded to with a smile of my own. A jolt of electricity flashed in my stomach when I felt his hands glide over the small of my back.

I wished that kiss could have lasted longer since the chance of being walking in on at this current moment was quite small but I was, almost regrettably, on a mission.

He insisted on walking with me to a point of the forest from which I could apparate. The extra time together was nice. He kissed me once more.

"I'll see you in a few days." He said running his thumb gently along my jaw.

I nodded my head in agreement. I imagined myself standing in Susan's sitting room and soon felt as though I was closed inside a rubber tube.

My feet landed on the floor of the empty sitting room. I tapped my fingers over my jeans pocket where I felt the lump of the glass bottle from Severus.

I walked through the hall where I could hear Susan's mother and aunt arguing about something behind the closed doors of the guest room. I stopped in front of Susan's room and took a deep breath before turning the knob and opening the door.

Susan laid in her bed sleeping off her illness.

"I thought you left." Mark said from a chair in the corner.

I shook my head. "I've got something to help."

"Something to help make her even more ill?" He asked still obviously upset with me.

"I don't know why you're angry with me." I whispered defensively. "This was going to happen whether I did that spell or not. You're the one who allowed her to drink constantly for three days, don't be angry with me because she's not feeling well."

He pursed his lips together.

I nodded in victory of his lack of comeback and withdrew the bottle from my pocket.

"What is that?" He asked.

"It's a potion." I said. "I wouldn't ask what's in it."

I walked over to Susan's bed and placed my hand on her shoulder and shook gently.

"Susan, wake up." I whispered. "I have something to make you feel better."

"Do you have to talk so loud?" She groaned.

"Drink this." I said pulling the stopper from the top and pressing the rim gently to her lips.

"What is it?" She asked without opening her eyes.

I hesitated. "Pumpkin juice."

She took a large gulp before she pulled her head away from the vial smacking her lips in disgust. "That tastes horrible."

She put her head back down on the pillow and fell back asleep.

Mark was still staring daggers at me.

"Would you stop that?" I whispered. "She's fine."

"Compared to what?" Mark asked.

"That's it." I said getting up from Susan's bed and yanked Mark off the chair he was sitting on and pulled him into the hallway and closed the door quietly. "What is your problem?"

"Susan could have hurt herself when she fell over in the bathroom." He said.

I rolled my eyes. "So you blame me. This would have happened anyways. She was drunk, very drunk. One of the consequences of drinking is getting sick."

"You made it worse with your stupid magic." He shot at me. "You're not a Healer, stop trying to be one!"

"I'm not one now, no." I said feeling my fingernails digging into my palms when I balled my fists. "But I will be, one of the best. And when I am I can refuse to treat whatever Auror injuries you may…"

Susan's door opened and Susan stood there with a small amount of color returning to her cheeks. "Could you two stop fighting?"

Mark and I froze as soon as the door had opened and once Susan spoke I was overcome with a feeling of embarrassment.

"You two need to get along." She said putting her hands on her hips.

"Are you feeling better?" Mark asked.

"I love you." She said to him before turning to me. "And you are like my sister. I refuse to rid myself of either of you and I'm sorry to say that you are both in for a lifetime to come of having me as your wife or friend. I won't have you two fighting all the time. You remind me of my mother and aunt and I won't tolerate it. Am I understood?"

"But he said…" I started to argue.

"I heard what he said and I didn't like it either." Susan said. "Mark, Ruby will be one of the most exceptional healers St. Mungo's ever had, don't say differently again. Ruby, you will not refuse Mark any treatment no matter what."

I nodded my head caught off guard by how civil and grown up she was sounding.

"Susan?" I heard her mother say as the guest room door opened up. "Are you feeling alright, dear?"

"Better." Said Susan.

"That's good." Her mother said. "Why don't you go back to bed? We don't want you straining yourself."

"I feel fine." Susan said defiantly. "We need to go dress shopping. If I don't find my perfect dress today then everything is ruined. Tomorrow is booked for decorations, Wednesday is picking a caterer, Thursday is when I need to approve tuxes, ties, and vests and also when I need to pick out Mark's ring, and Friday is when Tilly can fit in cake tasting. Saturday is for packing and Sunday I go back to school. If we don't go now then nothing will ever get done!"

Susan was back.