J.K. Rowling owns HP and I own the plot and OC's...thanx :)

Alone No More

CHAPTER ELEVEN: crushcrushcrush

11

Snape awoke to the sound of someone softly singing. He slowly slid out of bed, and padded to the open doorway. He went into the doorway, but did not move forward, lest he give himself away. He recognized the tune as one of his absolute favorites, Clair De Lune, by Claude Debussy had been one of his favorite on the piano as a young boy. Lumora was in a curious pose. Her arms were stretched gracefully out to her sides. Her right leg was extended behind her, parallel to the floor. Her left was firmly on the floor, her foot turned out. He watched as she leaned farther back, bringing her arms back towards the foot that was extended behind her. Somehow she managed to bend even further, causing her leg to come up a few inches further than perfect parallel to the floor. She was facing the side wall, her face peaceful, a small smile of pleasure on her lips. He had found out last night from dancing with her that she was more than capable on the dance floor. Still finding himself surprised, not by her flexibility, but by her strength and control. He quickly shut his eyes, whispering an invisibility charm, as she came down to face the doorway, an arm coming up gracefully above her head.

So she was classically trained. He cracked one eye open, with a plie, she shifted to the opposite side and repeated the arabesque. Her left was even higher. Then with a look of determination of her face, she gently placed a hand on the back of the couch and began lowering her torso further down. Then her head disappeared, and her leg became extended into a full split. After a few moments, she came back to plie and this time she locked eyes with him. Her singing stopped abruptly and her smile faded.

"Good morning," His voice was soft, but still Snape. Slowly, he moved into the room and sat luxuriously down on the sofa facing the still glowing fire.

She nodded. "How long have you been awake?" she asked moving to sit on the sofa next to him.

"Long enough to discover a classical ballerina in my chambers," He mused with a slight grin. Last night he had noticed that she cringed away from him when touched her feet. Especially when he had kissed them. Now he at least knew why. He had detected small scars on the balls of her feet, and her littlest toes had black bruises on the side of them.

Her smile returned rather sheepishly, "Summers away from Hogwarts were full of singing and dancing lessons." She had a far away look in her eyes, "After my father died, I was given to my mother's sister. My aunt and uncle are very dear people. They were very welcoming of magic and my growth."

Snape was confused, "And your mother?"

Lumora sighed, her cheeks flushing, "is in an Asylum. She went insane after my father was killed. I was four."

He could tell this was a touchy subject. He would let her tell him the details later. "Did you begin dancing at the tender age of four?" His tone was rather sardonic, but she could tell it was meant to cheer her rather than jeer at her.

"Two."

"Years old?" Snape questioned rather quickly. No wonder it was so much a part of her.

"Yes, two years old Severus. It is actually quite common in the muggle world." She stated, swiveling to sit next to him, back against the headboard.

Goodness he loved hearing her say his name, especially in her joking sarcastic tone, "You grew up with Muggles?" He sounded surprised, no shocked was more like it, at the thought.

"Does that offend you?" She turned to look at him. Her eyes were wide with anticipation.

"No." Snape admitted carefully. He returned her gaze and asked, "Do you still live with them?"

"They were killed by Death Eaters." Her voice shook with anger. He didn't know what to say. Many people he knew and may have loved were killed by the Dark Lord. "It was the reason I sought out the Order. Then they set up this whole scheme so I could come crawling to Lord Voldemort. I claimed that he had done me a favor by killing my muggle aunt and uncle. I was after all, an Ollivander. Anyway, I was already friends with Remus' fiance Tonks. We were in the same year in school." Her words brought him back four years to his potion's classroom.

"You were her lab partner." Snape stated. How could he have forgotten? Did his work with the Dark Lord really put that many holes in his memory? Of course, frail looking blonde girl next to Nymphadora. She was always making little mistakes, but he could tell she was very intelligent. She was just nervous. One needed to relax and let the ingredients guide them when mixing potions.

"Yes." She nodded. "You remember me?" Lumora asked. Part of her wanted him to say yes, the other part of her did not. She was dreadful at potions!

"You were awful." He smiled, his voice faintly amused.

She giggled. "Dora was a saint. She is the reason I passed your class."

"Do you remember me?" The question caught her off guard, especially coming from him. Severus Snape was known for not caring about what anyone thought of him.

Lumora let quick breath, "Um, I-" she stopped, a slight blush on her cheeks. "Professor Snape you were-"

"Severus," he reminded her, a small smile of amusement at her slip into stuttering school girl.

"Severus," She nodded, biting her lip. "I did so awful in potions because I was nervous."

she giggled. "It sounds so silly now." She shook her head.

Snape waited, cocking his eyebrow with interest, his lips pursed in their normal straight line.

"Umm," she giggled, and took a deep breath and let it out. "So many girls would giggle and discuss your dreamy qualities. You know, your voice, hair and your eyes. I of course agreed." She looked over at him, enjoying the slight amusement alight in his eyes. Taking a deep breath she continued, "we all went to potions for the sole reason that we got to hear your sexy voice for an entire hour. Only Dora knew that I had a serious crush on you. I was too embarrassed to admit it to anyone else. I did once to a girl named Rose. I'm sure you remember Rose Namely. She was the queen of our grade, raven hair, perfect lips and her chest had every boy wanting her." Lumora rolled her eyes. "She said something about having detention with you, and trying to seduce you. Apparently, she had failed and I mumbled something along the lines of that I would have been successful if I had detention with you. I recall I had detention with you the next week, and Rose had thrown my comment back in my face." She had dropped her gaze to her hands. She was playing with his comforter, tracing the entwined S's.

Snape stilled her hands with one of his own. Then he put a finger under her chin, bringing her eyes to his. "Had you tried, you would have succeeded." He remembered it. He didn't know how, but he remembered the very detention she was talking about it. She had sat silent the entire period, staring at her hands with a slight blush dwelling on her cheeks. He was fascinated that she did not even look at him. Most people under his authority of punishment usually watched him warily. Even then, she seemed to not be intimidated by him.

Her eyes widened. Did he remember? He nodded as if he had read her expression. Her gaze returned to her hands. "I was so embarrassed. I was so sure you knew."

"I did." Her eyes flew to his face. He continued, "I dismissed it. You were a silly seventeen year old girl. How could you be interested in a cold, heartless bastard like me?" his question was rhetorical, but she still felt the need to reply

"I'm still a silly twenty-two year old girl," She said playfully. Suddenly she felt her stomach growl with hunger. The clock gave nine chimes. Good thing it was Sunday, Snape mused as he watched Lumora stand up from the couch. She heard one of the house elves "pop" in, and gave a sigh of contentment. Then she eagerly grabbed his hand and led him to his dinning table. One of his house elves, Nina, was setting two steaming plates of hash browns, bacon and an omelet each. "I ordered, I'm not sure what you usually eat. Breakfast is my favorite." She looked up at him hopefully.

"My sentiment's exactly," He replied, then he kissed her softly. He took a seat, and she took the one opposite. They ate in companionable silence. He read the Daily Prophet that Nina had brought for him. Lumora was skimming through a copy of "Practical Defense Against the Dark Arts. "Working on Sunday are we?" He said from behind his paper.

Lumora looked up, still chewing a forkful of omelet. She swallowed, "No, well, not really." He let half of the paper fold down, revealing his skeptical expression. "It's for the children Severus!" She exclaimed in an exasperated plea.

"So it is," was he only comment on the matter, he flicked the paper up to begin reading again. Lumora stared a little while longer at the front page. The headline read "Sighting of 'He Who Must Not Be Named' Confirmed!" She shook her head. Sometimes people were just afraid of the wrong things. Dumbledore had always reminded them to never be afraid of the name.

Breakfast was finished, Lumora hummed while washing dishes in the sink. She was surprised when he offered to dry. Every contact with his hand brought them closer and closer until he had forced her against the counter and kissed her senseless.

Snape insisted that his shower was just as good as hers. So hesitantly, Lumora closed the door to the bathroom. Ten minutes later, she found him out in the Library, sitting at his desk. He was writing, and Horace stood on his perch. Severus writing, was as attractive as him dancing. Then she realized it was his hands. She almost lost herself with the memory of watching him brew potions.

Lumora crossed the room, to stand in front of the window. She was wearing a lush violet sweater and pair of flowing black pants. The sweater had a wide neck line, exposing her shoulders and collarbone. Her hair was swept up from her face and neck into a mess of curls at the back of her head.

Snape finished writing and tied the letter to Horace's leg. Then he joined her at the window and opened it for the raven. "We have a meeting with the Order tonight." He stated, turning away from the window.

"Fabulous," She quipped, following him back into the living room.

Snape gave a small smirk, then turned and went to his bedroom. She heard the shower come on a few minutes later.

Lumora settled on to his sofa with her book. She needed to plan what lessons she was teaching this week. With the war coming, she wanted to teach her seven years the Patronus charm. She had faced many dementors in her twenty-two years and knew them to be horrid creatures. Also Patronuses were useful for sending messages, or help.

"Lesson planning are we Professor?" Snape had come to stand behind the sofa, gazing at her open book. She looked up at him.

"What is your Patronus, Professor Snape?" She asked.

"I don't know." Snape stated coldly, turning away from her.

Lumora stood up, her book gripped tightly in her hands, "What?" she asked in a whisper. She came to stand just behind him, a hand on his elbow.

"It was originally a doe." Snape admitted turning towards her. He could see recognition flicker in her eyes. She knew it was because he had loved Lily. "It seems my memories are no longer sufficient to produce a Patronus charm." His face was controlled, but she could see the frustration boiling under the surface.

Lumora fought to keep tears from welling up in her eyes. Oh how this man had endured too much! Her Patronus was the same as her Animagus, an eagle. She needed to approach this cautiously. Her childhood had been filled with excitement, achievement and encouragement. His had obviously not. Her adulthood had proved to be rather disheartening, but she still could hold on to happier memories.

A few moments of silence passed between them. He knew what she was going to offer. He couldn't help but think of how much she reminded him of Sirius when she got all diplomatic. He was looking forward to the meeting with the Order to clear a few things up between him and Sirius and Remus. He was sure there was some angle he wasn't seeing.

"I will make you a deal, Professor Snape." She spoke rather teacher like, "You will teach me how to fly on a broom, and I will help you with your Patronus."

Dearest Readers,

Will Snape take the deal? I certainly hope so, I think flying lessons with these two would be incredibly entertaining! well, you know the drill...thanks for reading AND reviewing, they really do help! thanks! up next is..."vision."

xoxo

Lumora The White