Chapter 5
After September came and went, October flew by and they were coming on November when Severus started getting his powers back. He would work on them everyday much to Russalynn's dismay. "You really should slow down," she said one morning as he levitated the butter knife in front of him, "If you push yourself to hard you could relapse. Now I know how much you like living like a muggle, but I would like you to be fully restored one day," a frown on her lovely face.
"Trying to get rid of me are you," he commented, to which she rolled her eyes with a snort and dumped the rest of her coffee down the drain and place the mug in the sink.
"It's nice outside. It looks like the fog is clearing up. I'm going for a walk, care to join me," she asked over her shoulder. She saw him shake his head and levitate another utensil, "Fine. Suit yourself," she said her voice stiff.
She walked out the back door and the utensils dropped as the screen door slammed shut behind her. He looked out the window as he watched her walk down the gravel path. Ever since the day at the café he had been trying to get to know her a little more. How she knew Dumbledore. What her childhood was like. Then his powers had started to return and with the bad weather he had just been focusing on them.
He tossed his wand on the table and loosened the buttons on his collar. He tried to keep the large scars hidden from sight, but he couldn't deign they were there, a constant reminder that he had done terrible things and was spared by an angel of mercy. He knew he loved her, had known for a while, but he was in the same situation he had been in with Lily.
He got up collecting his wand and walked out the back door. He slowly walked the path Russalynn had just marched down, her shapely body covered in khaki shorts and a blue tank top. Her hair had been tied back in a knot at the back of her head and he had wanted to pull it free and watch her auburn hair tumble freely around her shoulders.
He was just thinking about how he should apologize for acting like a git when a splash caught his attention. It had come from a nearby lagoon that Russalynn had shown him once or twice. Thinking she was probably down there throwing stones he moved towards the sound. She had mentioned that it was one of her favorite places to think.
When he got down to the lagoon he didn't see her at first and then her head popped out of the water. "Oh Merlin! You've really got to stop sneaking up on me. But I am glad you decided to come out after all," she said as she swam to the edge and began to get out.
He couldn't tear his gaze away if he had tried. She wore a silver two piece that hugged her body like a second skin. Her hair slicked back and water droplets beaded on her skin. She looked like a goddess emerging from the lagoon and it was hypnotizing.
It took saying his name several times before he could shake free, "Hey if you don't stop staring I'm gonna think you like me for just my body," she said with a teasing light in her bright green eyes.
"Well may be if you covered up a bit more I wouldn't feel like you were flaunting," he sneered and damned himself a triple fool when he saw the light fade from her eyes. Her face went hard and he knew he was in trouble.
She walked over to where she had left her shorts and pulled her wand from the pocket. She summoned a robe and it fell around her shoulders. She scooped up her clothes and turned to him with green fire in her eyes," Better," was all she said and with a 'pop' she was gone.
It was about noon when Severus began a slow trek back to the house. He thought about how he was going to make it up to Russalynn for being a complete ass and was drawing a blank. What he said had really hurt her and he didn't know how he could say he was sorry enough.
As the house came into view the sun was setting and the only light on was the one in her office. The house looked lonely and sad without the warm glow the lights and Russalynn's voice brought to it. He walked in and moved down the hall to her office. He saw her at her desk writing with her quill on a long sheet of parchment.
As he entered she looked up. Her hair was tied back in a sever bun. She was wearing pants and a long sleeve button up top. He had never seen her so fully clothed, but it was her face that bothered him the most. There wasn't even a hint of a smile when she said, "Yes."
He walked farther into the room and over to her desk, "I wanted to apologize for earlier," he said a miserable look on his face.
"Apology accepted. Now if you don't mind, I have work to do," she said the same hard edge to her voice. It wasn't right, this wasn't his Russalynn. Not this hard sever woman in front of him. He wanted to see her smiling and laughing again.
He put his large hand down on the parchment she was working on. She looked up at him with hard emerald eyes, "I know you well enough that you despise paper work. And that is not how you have ever forgiven me. Now I'm sorry I was a complete ass and I should have never said those things."
She looked at him them looked down at her hands. She twirled the quill between her fingers then set it down, "Do you remember why I went to Chine Severus," she asked and even thought he thought it a strange change in subject he nodded and noticed the hardness had gone from her voice.
"I said that when you want to be as far away from something as you can the other side of the world is the best place to be," she said and her voice sounded far away. When she looked up at him her eyes held that shadow he had seen so many times. "I'm going to show you something. Something only one other person knows. The reason I went to China," she said, "That is if you can handle it."
He had been a Death Eater. He had seen horrid things hundred of times, "If you can survive it then so can I," he said simply. What could have been so horrible that it would cause her this much pain?
With a slight nod she turned to the vault and with a flick of her wrist it opened. She pulled it farther open and walked in. "Lumos," she muttered and began to scan the shelves. She flicked her wrist again and a large stone bowl floated down to her desk.
"You have a pensive," he asked a little shocked. It was a powerful relic. Dumbledore had used his frequently. Then it hit him what this meant, "You're going to show me a memory?"
She nodded and held the tip of her wand to her temple. She closed her eyes as she slowly pulled the sliver mist from her mind. Once it was fully removed she dropped it into the shallow basin. "After you," she said and waived a hand at the bowl.
He leaned over the pensive and let himself fall forward. He landed lightly in a noisy crowded room and Russalynn wasn't far behind him. "Where are we," he asked with a frown on his face as he took in their surroundings.
She moved through the room and he fallowed as she answered. "A graduation party May 26th 1990, six days after my birthday. My best friend Arden Grenfell threw it to celebrate both. There I am," she said and pointed to a much younger Russalynn sitting on a large red sofa.
She wore a knee length blue skirt and a white button up blouse. Her hair was in a short bob and she had a light lip gloss on her lip. She laughed as the dark haired girl she was sitting with said something that was lost in the noise of the room. "I was so young," she said with a small smile.
A young wizard with messy black hair and a thin handsome face sat down and draped his arm around Russalynn's shoulder. Severus felt his insides burn. He looked so much like his school day enemy it was uncanny. Her voice called him back, "That was my boyfriend. James Andrews. The boy every girl wanted and the man every boy wanted to be. But he was mine."
The scene shifted to a moonlit beach, deserted except for the young couple in front of them speaking in quiet tones and two observes of the romantic stroll. "Now I am going to ask you Severus," Russalynn said and he looked at her from the corner of his eye. He couldn't make out what the young couple was saying with their tones so low, but he didn't want to look away.
"Is the way I am dressed inappropriate? Am I acting like I am easy? Is anything in my mannerism asking for this," she asked and pointed to the two young people as the young man turned Russalynn and slapped her hard knocking her to the sand with a cry of pain.
"Or this," she asked as he knelt down and punched her in the face breaking her nose. The whole time the young girl was crying and pleading for him to stop. At one point she pulled her wand out but he grabbed it and tossed it in to the sand out of reach and slapped her again.
Severus watched with anger coursing through his veins as James lifted her skirt and ripped away her panties. As he moved to undo his pants a sobbing Russalynn tried to scramble for her wand, but he caught her and roughly rolled her over and tore a scream of agony from her that no one heard but the two onlookers.
Severus looked at his Russalynn and saw tears rolling down her cheeks. At the sight he grabbed her around the waist and pulled them out of the horrid memory. Both gasped as the cleared the traumatic event that had shaped the woman before him.
Severus kept his hands on the desk and looked down at it trying to control the rage that boiled inside of him. He noticed a crystal bottle appear and the shaking of Russalynn's hand as she transferred the memory from the pensive to the bottle. She them stopped it and sent both items back to the vault.
She walked over and snapped the wall closed. She slid her wand into her pocket and wiped the tears from her face, "So you see," she said her voice shaking a little, "It doesn't matter what you wear, how you act or what you do. If a predator has you in his sights he won't stop. No matter how you beg or cry he won't stop till he gets what he wants," she said her voice still quivering and the sound tore at is heart.
"I'll kill him," came his cold words. He was startled to feel her cool hands on his hot cheeks as she lifted his eyes to meet her soft green ones.
She shook her head, "No. I don't hate him any more. I'll never forgive him, but I don't hate him. If he hadn't done that terrible thing where would I be," she asked and smiled at his shocked look.
Tears still shimmered on her lashes as she continued "I wouldn't have gone to China. I wouldn't have learned to play the Bawu. I wouldn't have found out about the Rudella or made the Rebirth Potion. I wouldn't have met you. So as I said that day in the Café. Don't dwell on the past. Don't forget it, but don't dwell on it. Goodnight Severus," she said and left a shocked man in her wake.
He fallowed her out and moved to the open window to watch her as he heard the flute music begin. She was sitting under her beloved Rudella tree as she played. A sad slow melody that seemed to help heal as well, and she was pulling him right along with the melody.
Then he saw it. A large black figure dropped down from a near by tree and crept stealthily on four legs closer to Russalynn. Severus ran to the door ready to callout to her, but stopped as he saw the large beast sit down next to her and wait for her, "I was wondering when you would show up Jinx," and her laughter broke out as the large cat knocked her over with a loud purr.