They got to the brick wall, and Severus tapped the appropriate brick with his wand. The wall shifted to become an arch, and Bethany gasped in delight. There, just beyond the arch, was the world she had cut herself off of for over eighteen years. She skipped ahead of Severus, a bright smile on her face.
Severus had to smile at her antics. She was childish with wonder, and she ran about in a traveling cloak and muggle clothes, gazing at all the shops and storefronts she had missed like a first year, until they reached the snowy white building of Gringotts, the wizard's bank.
Instead of going to the withdrawal line, Severus caught sight of her now serious demeanor as she exchanged her muggle money with a rather unpleasant, even by Goblin standards, old teller.
"You expect me to know how much that makes in Galleons?" the teller grumped at her.
"That's your JOB, so yes, I do." her face became a mask of cold anger, and her violet eyes flashed dangerously with annoyance.
The Goblin gulped in slight fear, and began the exchange. Severus had to smile. For such a cheerful woman, she was scarier than a Dementor. He dimly recalled a time when they were students at Hogwarts. Peter Pettigrew had said something rather nasty, and she boxed him in the nose, knocked him down, and continued beating him up. It took Sirius, James, AND Remus to pull her off, huffing in anger as she thrashed about, yelling obscene insults at Peter. Snape smirked at the memory, and Bethany turned to see it. She blushed prettily, and looked down at her shoes while she collected a fair sized bag back that jingled merrily.
The woman made her way back to Snape, who already had withdrawn money, and they re- entered the busy street. They first walked into Madam Malkin's Robes for all Occasions, where Bethany got fitted for black, emerald, and blue robes, as well as a long emerald green dress, which she didn't let Snape see. She paid for her robes, and they directly made their way to the Owelry, where Snape and Bethany had found matching horned owls. They had agreed that screech owls would not be very good mail carriers.
Afterwards, they stopped at the Apothecary, where Severus got a few ingredients he had been lacking. Bethany had decided it would be fun to scare Severus, just a little.
"Hey, Severus..." she held up a large beetle that was the size of a cat. He turned to her and started in fright. She giggled loudly, and Severus blushed in embarrassment. He smirked. Clearly, this was war.
He picked up a small frog and dangled it in front of her. Bethany screamed in fake fright and shielded herself with her hands, and bumped into a nearby table. Crickets rained down from its surface, causing the Apothecary clerk to toss them out.
They looked at each other for a moment, then burst into uproarious laughter. Many people looked at them strangely. There were two Hogwarts professors, getting thrown out of Apothecaries and laughing like a couple of idiots. They stood up, still giggling and brushing themselves off, when a familiar voice pierced the air.
"Professor Snape?"
He whipped around, a smile still clinging to his visage, only to be wiped off at the sight of Hermione Granger, an armful of books in her grasp. Next to her was the Weasley boy, Ron. They were staring at him as if there was a large bug on him.
'There probably is,' he thought to himself, and he cleared his throat. "Yes?"
Hermione blushed furiously, and Ron looked just about as dim as ever. Bethany peeked around Severus' shoulder, and a smile erupted on her face.
"Oh! Hello, Ron! Hello, Hermione! How are you?" she curled an arm around Snape's, the action not unnoticed by the two.
"We're fine, I guess." she seemed a bit embarrassed, as she had never witnessed Professor Snape so... enjoyable, or relaxed, or childish, or... in love.
Finally, Ron spoke up, but his words were not what Severus had expected.
"Aunt Timble? What are YOU doing here?"