In the next morning

Florence woke up with the sunlight entering through her bedroom window.

She turned onto her back and stared at the vaulted ceiling above her bed, remembering the fun she had had with her friends the night before, getting drunk on her father's expensive wine.

She chuckled at the memory and got out of bed, changing into a long-sleeved dress and going downstairs. The house was quiet, letting her know she had been the first one to wake up.

When she reached the living room, her morning tea was already on the table, waiting for her as always.

Somehow Tiffany knew the exact moment she put her feet on the floor upstairs – for her tea was always at the perfect temperature for her to sip as she enjoyed the early morning in silence, something she had learned to appreciate.

Florence stood in front of the floor-to-ceiling glass window in the living room, looking at the village while she sipped her tea; remembering when she used to dream of sharing those precious moments with Severus. She knew he'd enjoy the quiet mornings as much as her; watching the village as it was just starting to wake up, the white of the snow making it all look like a place out of a fairy tale.

She sighed, her fairy tale would never come true though, all she had was the stillness of those quiet mornings and her daydreams.

Suddenly she felt a presence in the living room second before she heard: "I won't ask what or who you're thinking about. I can imagine..."

"'Morning, Sirius. Yeah... I'm that pathetic." she gave him a small smile.

"I can help you, you know," he stopped beside her, "I know you still love him, and I fear you probably always will; but if you think you can at least like me a little..." he paused, "Flor, all I'm asking for is that you give me a chance to show you that I can make you happy. I can make you happier than he ever could."

Florence stared at Sirius for a long moment, until she finally said: "I like you, Sirius, but I don't love you. I truly appreciate you offering me you heart, but if I accepted it, I would be playing with your feelings, using you, because I know you like me and I just want to forget Severus."

"I love you, yes," he said, "I've always been crazy about you- let me make you happy, Florence, I know I can," he whispered, touching her face, his thumb brushing over her lips.

She tried to make him understand where they stood: "You know about the Enchantment... perhaps I'll never be able to forget him," she exhaled, the truth of those words saddening her further, "I don't love you, Padfoot," she softly repeated, making her feelings clear.

"Yes. But you'll love me someday, I'm pretty lovable," he winked.

Florence smiled and then Sirius fell onto one knee in front of her and her mind brought forth dreams of having Severus like that in front of her, asking her to marry him. But Sirius was there instead, and he was speaking so she tried hard to focus on what he was saying.

"Will you be my girlfriend, Flor, and give me the chance to make you happy?" he asked, one of her hands in his.

She thought: Well, why not? and replied: "Alright, Sirius."

He stood up straight, never taking his shining eyes off her face, as if committing to memory every detail of that moment.

Putting one hand on the back of her head, Sirius brought their lips close and kissed her, softly at first, but Florence sucked on his lower lip and he took that as an invitation for more; his tongue meeting hers for a sensual dance.

Sirius was a pretty good kisser, but Florence could swear she heard her veela groaning in displeasure in the back of her mind.

When James walked downstairs, he found Sirius and Florence on the sofa, watching cartoons on a TV that he hadn't realized was there before – he'd though it were a painting.

Sirius had his arm behind Florence's neck and she rested her head on his shoulder.

James stopped for a second, thinking he should be happy for his friend, but he couldn't; Sirius had always been obsessed with Florence and it seemed he'd finally got her, but James also knew she would possibly never forget Snape. He was a realist, while Sirius was a dreamer.

He walked towards them and said something about being happy for seeing them together; but it was clear as water that she was still suffering because of Severus, only Sirius didn't want to see that.

Florence left the two boys in the living room and went to the kitchen to get some water. Her dear house-elf was in there, getting breakfast muffins out of the oven.

"Good morning, Tiff," Florence greeted.

"Morning, Mistress Flor," she replied, hesitating a moment before continuing: "Tiffany doesn't wish to meddle, but she saw her Mistress kissing the Sirius-boy."

"Yes, Tiff. I've decided to give him a chance. He says he's always been in love with me, so maybe he'll help me forget the-one-you-hate."

The elf looked worried, "Tiffany just doesn't want her Mistress to get hurt even more."

"I'll be careful with my feelings, Tiff," she touched the elf's face affectionately, "Thanks for taking such good care of me."

Later that night, after her friends and her new boyfriend left her house, and she laid her head on her fluffy pillow, Florence's heart echoed Tiffany's words.

Truth was she hadn't felt a thing whenever Sirius kissed her, no matter how sweet or sensuous he made it; she had felt his love and desire for her, yes, but she couldn't give any of it back; her veela seemed to have gone into a deep sleep and left her without a wink of sexual desire.

Will I ever be able to love Sirius? She asked herself.

He was handsome, smart, funny; every girl in Hogwarts wanted him.

Florence turned on her bed, trying to hold back the tears that were threatening to fall; the problem was she knew the truth, she had been trying to fool herself, but she knew it.

It was not for Sirius that her body sang and her magic called; were not his the hands she yearned for; it was not his the voice that could make her orgasm by simply whispering obscenities in her ear. It wasn't Sirius who made her heart beat faster. And she knew it. She knew it all.

And then the tears came.

January 9th 1978

Two couples were walking by the snow-covered park in Godric's Hollow.

It was a really cold winter day, but the snow had stopped falling and a weak sunlight could be seen shining through the clouds in the sky.

"Florence!" someone called her name and she turned around to see Eileen walking on the sidewalk, carrying some grocery bags.

Florence gave her boyfriend a kiss, said goodbye to Lily and James and walked towards her godmother, hugging her and then taking some grocery bags from her hands.

"Let me help you," Florence said and they began to walk side by side.

"Thank you. How are you, dear?" Eileen asked, "I haven't seen you since Christmas."

"I'm fine. I had a great new year's dinner with my friends. And you?"

"I'm good," Eileen smiled weakly.

They continued to walk side by side, in a heavy silence.

Florence looked around, remembering she had walked those streets many times in the past with Severus.

"Come in and have tea with me," Eileen invited, as they reached her house.

"Is Severus…?" Florence needed to know, for she hadn't taken any vial of her draught for a week.

"No. He hasn't spent a night home since the new year's… even today, being his birthday, he prefers to be elsewhere with Merlin-knows-who, doing Merlin-knows-what…"

Florence silently nodded and followed Eileen into the house.

They entered the kitchen and left the bags on the floor. Suddenly a small house-elf appeared, looking into the bags, picking up things and putting them away.

"Good afternoon, Mistress Eileen," said the elf, "Nice to meet you, Miss Florence."

"Hello, Sam," said Eileen.

"Is she yours?" Florence asked, surprised.

"Yes, Severus gave her to me three days after Christmas. Sam, make us some tea, please."

"Yes, Mistress!" said the elf, happily, "Sam will make it right away!"

Florence and Eileen sat at the table and Sam, quickly and efficiently organized everything for their tea.

"What have you been doing during the break, Flor?" Eileen asked.

"I stay mostly at home, take daily walks around Hogsmeade, read books to pass the time," Florence said, picking up a strawberry muffin and eating it.

"I saw Sirius with you at the park… you kissed him," Eileen said, pouring the tea.

"Yes, we're together now," she replied before sipping from her cup.

Eileen looked at her: "You're using him."

"No. It's not like that," Florence explained, "Sirius knows I still love-" she paused and sighed, rephrasing her sentence: "He knows I don't love him, but... he said he loves me and he's asked for a chance... so I'm giving him one."

Eileen sipped her tea and asked sadly: "Everything could have been different, couldn't it?"

"Yes," Florence murmured, tears pooling in her eyes as she looked at the kitchen cabinet by the sink, where she used to be thoroughly ravished by Severus about a year ago, "Anyway... I've decided to study to become a mediwitch. So, after I finish Hogwarts in June, I'll start my training in St. Mungus."

"I'm happy for you, Flor. You have every right to move on with your life…" Eileen sighed, "Just promise me that when you have a child, you'll bring the baby here for me to help you take care of him or her. I'd like to be your children's grandma, if that's ok with you."

"I promise I'll never forget you and I thank you, godmother, but that will be really difficult to happen," Florence looked sad.

"What do you mean?" Eileen asked, confused, "You don't want to have kids anymore?"

"Well, I've had some trouble feeling attracted to Sirius..." she blushed, "So I did some reading and it turns out, my veela may refuse to mate with another man... which is something that has already been happening. And because of the Enchantment, my body may not accept conceiving a child if the father is not…"

"Severus," Eileen completed, nodding in understanding.

"Yes. If I hadn't met him, it would be possible because my magic wouldn't know there's a perfect match for me, but now that I've met him... there is that problem."

They stopped talking and just sipped their teas and ate some muffins.

"How is he?" Florence couldn't stop herself from asking.

"Not well," Eileen replied with a worried frown, "But I don't know for sure. I haven't seen him since New Year's. He sent me money three days ago; a large sum. He also bought a bit of the neighbour's land and now my backyard is bigger and I can have a larger herb garden," she shook her head, "It's just too much too fast. It makes me wonder what Severus has done in the last two weeks to get so much money."

"Is he going back to Hogwarts?"

"He told me that he is. He still wants to be a Potions Master so he needs his N.E.W.T.s." Eileen finished her tea and looked at Florence, "Lately he has mentioned a lot of meetings... do you know what happens in those, Flor?"

"I'm not sure, but I think they make plans to- you know- attack muggles... I remember my father having those meetings weekly; at the time, I thought they were planning business-related things, but now I know..." she looked down at her lap, clearly upset by that talk, "In the meeting I saw the last time I was at his house, he had had a woman killed. Avery's muggle girlfriend; and she had died expecting their first baby."

Eileen looked at her in shock.

Florence continued: "But I believe Severus is working in some sort of laboratory, making Potions and... stuff. You know, he probably makes things like anti-inflammatory, blood-replenishing and reconstructive potions. Perhaps Skele-Gro and Polyjuice, as well as poisons."

"I see."

And they were silent again. But Florence quickly broke the silence with some news:

"I got a second house-elf a couple of days ago, her name's Melody. I got her to help Tiffany, because after new year's eve and the mess James, Lily, Sirius and I made, it's not fair to make Tiff do everything by herself."

"That house is big enough to have work for two house-elves," Eileen agreed, smiling, "I'm glad to know you've been having fun. Can you stay the night here, so we can talk more?"

"But, what if…?" Florence felt her heart beating faster, her veela stirring at the back of her mind, panting at the possibility of seeing her destined mate.

"He won't come home," Eileen shook her head, "I haven't seen him in days, I already told you that."

"I don't know-" Florence was nervous.

"What are you afraid of, Flor?"

"I just... I don't know how I would react if he… showed up here in the middle of the night." she explained, blushing, "I don't have any draught at the ready."

Eileen nodded, understanding.

"I don't mean to pry, but have you and Sirius…?"

"No," Florence blushed even redder, "We've been dating for a little more than a week and... I don't feel like that towards Sirius."

"So, will you stay the night?" Eileen asked again.

"Yes," Florence conceded. "I'll just grab my things at the Evans' house and then I'll come back here."