Chapter 2: A Truce and Friendship

CLAIRE returned home around midnight later that night, after a long and hard night shift. She shut and locked the main door before entering the small living room. She headed to the kitchen and fetch a glass before pouring a cold water into it.

Sighing blissfully as the cold water ran down her throat, Claire bought one hand over the back of her neck for a little massage when the kitchen's light suddenly switched on.

"Severus! You gave me a fright!" Claire had one hand on her chest, eyes widened at the dark haired man dressed in a robe, and seated near the kitchen's table.

Severus raised an eyebrow at the Muggle's statement, while internally trying not to smirk. He gave her a fright? Of course. It seems he still hasn't lost his touch to scare away people with only his presence.

Clearing his throat, Severus made a gesture for her to take a seat.

"Miss Rollins."

"Severus." Claire sat down.

Crossing his arms, he stared at the young woman. "Would you mind telling me what happened between you and Lucius earlier?"

Claire chose to look at her fingernails, suddenly found them so interesting to look at.

A frustrated groan came from the man sitting before her.

"Miss Rollins, unless you tell me what happened, I refused to put up the so-called protection spell you'd asked me for. Bear in mind, should you still refuse to tell me, I will not hesitate to use Legilimency on you." Threatening words came out from his mouth through gritted teeth.

"You won't dare." Claire glared challengingly at him.

"Don't push your luck, Miss Rollins. Now out with it so that I may be able to get some sleep! I had a long day at work today!"

Claire bit her upper lips. Deep frowns were on her forehead.

She trusted Snape. She trusted him enough not to use any magic on her against her wills. But at the same time, she was scared to tell him.

In the end however, her trust won.

Taking a deep breath, she told him what exactly happened.

Severus listened attentively. Not even once he interrupted her as she told him what happened. Finally, when she was done telling him, he let out a long heavy sigh and pitched the bridge of his nose.

"Miss Rollins, as much as I enjoyed our friendship, I must say that sometimes, you drove me up the walls with your gullibility and naivety."

Claire blinked her eyes a few times. Confusion clearly showed on her face at his sharp words.

"It takes more than just petty words for Lucius Malfoy to get on his nerves and under his skin, Miss Rollins."

"B-But he said-"

"He played you!" Severus shouted in frustration.

Honestly, he had been anxiously worried for her safety for nothing! When she said Lucius had threatened her, in his mind, Severus imagined his good friend had finally lose his sanity over his dead beloved wife and had retorted to violence. He feared for her own safety. He feared Lucius had threatened to do harms or even worse, killed her.

"He played you, Miss Rollins. He played you well."

Claire crossed her arms. "Why would he do that?"

Severus massaged his aching temple. "I don't know! Perhaps he found it amusing watching you trembled in fear at his meaningless threat?"

"That's just rude! Because of him, I could barely concentrate on my task tonight!" Claire huffed. "Where's he? I don't hear any noises."

"If it amuses you, Lucius had made an effort to tell me beforehand that he wouldn't be coming home tonight."

Claire pumped her fist in the air.

"Yes!" All the anger she'd felt toward Lucius vanished instantly. Her action had quickly earned her a stunning look from the older man sitting beside her.

"Yes? Miss Rollins, are you that delightful to hear Lucius won't be here with us tonight?"

"YES!"

"Huh."

Severus summoned two cups of hot Camomile tea, using wordless magic. He sipped on his tea before he spoke thoughtfully.

"I've been thinking, Miss Rollins."

Claire swallowed her tea and looked up at the man.

"Yeah?"

"Perhaps you and Lucius should get more acquainted with each other."

Claire spilt her drink at the counter, much to Severus' disguised as he shook in disapproval.

"Merlin! Honestly, can't you be more unladylike?"

"Pardon me, Snape. My hearings must have temporarily failed me. Did I hear you said to be 'acquainted' with Malfoy?"

Snape sneered and rolled his eyes.

Claire's happiness quickly vanished and was replaced with anger.

"Seriously? You want me to be an acquaintance with that self-righteous, selfish, arrogant Malfoy who doesn't even cared if his good friend is starving to death while he went off and have fun on his own? Seriously, Snape?"

"All I'm saying Miss Rollins, is that you consider having a civil conversation with him. Lucius is a deeply broken hearted man whom had just lose his beloved wife. I'm well aware you can't comprehend the situation he's facing at the moment, but believe it or not, you are not much different from him."

That certainly got her attention. Claire turned her head toward him. Her lips was thinned. Her ears grown red.

Snape knew very well she was desperately trying to hold back her tongue from retorting his words. He let out a small smirk.

"You both have a lot in commons more than you realized. For example, both of you have recently lose the people you loved the most. You both are still struggling to deal and cope with the losses." He shrugged. "Do you really want me to list down everything?"

It took a while for a respond from the young Muggle beside him as she let his words sunk in. Fortunately for Snape, he was a very patient man. Finishing his cup of tea, Snape looked at the untouched tea beside him before his eyes moved to the young woman who had her head down.

Her medium short brown hair fell all over her head.

It was faint, and almost impossible for him to hear, but Snape did. He heard soft murmurs coming from the Muggle.

"What do you think I should do?"

Snape watched her carefully from the corner of his eyes before answering in a gentle voice. "Get to know him. Lucius isn't a horrible man once you got to know him better. Yes, he has his demons, but so do the rest of us. Give him a chance to get to know you too. Claire."

Claire instantly looked up. Snape had never used her first name before, not even once. He was always too formal and old-fashioned to call her by her first name, despite she often referring him sometimes both of his first and last name, depending on the occasions.

Dark penetrating eyes stared her. Before long, it was Claire who took the first initiative to look away. She sighed in defeat.

"Fine."

That's all he needed to hear.

Snape nodded and got up. With a wave of his wand, he cleared up the table, and wished her good night, before heading to his own private chamber to get some well deserved sleep.

To say it was easier to befriend Lucius Malfoy than Severus Snape, was an understatement of the year. At least with Snape, Claire knew where she stood in his eyes. It was under pure coincidence that he had the nightmares that drove her to him.

With Lucius, she didn't even know where to begin with!

When Claire woke up the very next morning, she was determined to find Lucius and had a long heart-to-heart talk and get-to-know sessions with him. She had even made an effort to wake up extra early to make breakfast for Severus (who was surprised to find her on Breakfast Duty for a change), before he left for work.

Once Severus was out of the house and after she'd finished done her daily chores, Claire went for a quick shower and prepared herself to meet with Lucius.

While putting on her attires (she chose to wear a black fitted jeans and a simple white laced blouse), it finally occur to her that she didn't even know where Malfoy had been to last night!

Severus had mentioned during breakfast Lucius didn't returned in the morning. So that means, he must have slept somewhere with one of his toys. But where and how on Earth was she going to find him?

Groaning frustratedly, she quickly text Severus.

'Do you have any ideas where Lucius had been to last night or this morning? I certainly don't!'

After sending the message, she waited impatiently for the man to reply.

About twenty minutes later, Snape finally replied. 'His Muggle Office in London.'

Claire was shocked. She remember Snape had once told her after the death of his wife, Lucius had left everything behind including his business to his one and only son while he went to mend his broken heart.

She wanted to ask Severus if the man had been working while he was grieving, but decided not to.

If Claire had learnt anything about the ex-Potion Master during their struggled of building a friendship, was that he hated to be disturbed the most during working hours with an exception of emergencies.

Even that had to be a Life or Death situation.

Shrugged, Claire turned to the next best thing to help her with her dilemma － Google. She typed 'Malfoy Company Business' and clicked the Search button. It took her merely a second for the searching site to be filled with all sorts related to the Malfoy's Business.

Raising an eyebrow, she began her quest to search for his Main Company's location in London.

It took Claire a few minutes to get things done. After she had jotted the address, Claire once again looked herself in the mirror. If she was going to do this, she would make sure she do things right.

Taking a deep breath, Claire grabbed her handbag and left the apartment.

"LINA, could you fetch me a cup of coffee, please?"

"Right away, Mr. Malfoy."

Lina Walker, thirty years old, walked out of the Executive's Private Office, swaying her hips left and right, with hopes that the man would noticed. She returned a moment later with the finest brewed Coffee and handed it over to the ever-so-handsome Executive.

Lucius had smiled, though briefly and thanked her for the coffee. His smile had made her heart melted and she felt like twenty years younger again.

Making her way back to her desk, with a wide grin still plastered on her kissable lips, Lina was however, shocked to find a rather plain looking younger woman standing near her desk.

The younger woman gave her a smile as she waited patiently for Lina to approach behind the desk.

"May I help you?" Her voice was sharp, irritated and possessive as she asked the younger woman.

"Uh, yes." Claire cleared her throat. "Actually, I'm here to see Mr. Malfoy."

Lina raised one perfectly eyebrow. "Name?"

"Claire Rollins. I-I didn't make an appointment with him, but-"

"Mr. Malfoy is a very busy man with hectic schedules, Miss Rollins. Unless you made an early appointment with him,only then you may be able to see him."

"Please Miss-" Claire looked at her name tag. "-Miss Walker. All I ask is five minutes of his time. That's it."

"I regret saying this to you, Miss Rollins, but you have to make an appointment with him. His next free schedule will be two months from now on. Good day then." The older woman dismissed her with a wave of her hand.

"I-"

"Miss Rollins?" A familiar male voice spoke through Lina's intercom speaker. The older woman cussed silently. Of course. had recently set up a hidden camera somewhere in the room.

The reason for this was because he had been receiving too many unwanted and demanding visitors to his private office that it was getting stressful and harder for his personal assistants and secretary to handle them all.

By setting a hidden camera, Lucius was able to determine who he wished to entertain his visitors.

"Miss Rollins is just about to leave, Mr. Malfoy. I've told her that if she wishes to meet with you she needs to-"

"Come on in, Miss Rollins." Spoke the man again over the speaker before he ended the conversation.

Almost instantly, Claire felt cold air emitted from the older woman.

"It seems Mr. Malfoy wishes to see you. However, I must refrain that you do not take his time away from his already hectic schedule, Miss Rollins."

Claire nodded wordlessly before walking over to the Executive's door and gave it a knock.

"Enter."

"I must say you surprise me, Miss Rollins." Lucius gestured his guest to sit down on the black leather seat before his desk, after shaking her hand.

"To what do I owe the pleasure of having you here?" Lucius asked after seated himself.

Claire tucked the strings of her hair behind her ears. Taking a deep breath, she decided not to waste time by beating around the bushes and be honest about it.

"Mr. Malfoy," Claire struggled to calm her nerves. "What happened last night at the Deli, was unacceptable. I was wrong for displaying such rudeness toward you while you were my customer."

Claire Rollins was many things in Lucius' eyes. She was a strange, ill-mannered, unladylike, naive young woman who didn't know her place in society. With her poor background and lack of manners, she shouldn't even be in the same place, let alone breathe in the same air as him!

At last, as it turned out, after the death of his beloved wife, he was stuck with the young Muggle for Merlin knows how long. Until he could picked himself up again and mend his broken heart perhaps?

It amused Lucius to no end when he had found out that his good friend, Severus Snape had befriended with the Muggle, even to a certain point, grown fond of her. How could the ex-Potion Master have a soft-spot for her was beyond his ability and credibility. I mean look at that hairstyle!

Such hideous hairstyle!

Severus had the patient to tell him it was called 'Pageboy Haircut.' It shouldn't be appropriate for young ladies of all age at all!

For Lucius, while he was no longer openly acted like a ruthless bigot and racially superior to the people beneath him, he still took a great pride in his aristocratic stature, and only internally condemn them.

The only thing that changed in him was that Lucius had more self-reserved, tolerate and control of his feelings especially when it comes to deal with the lower-class people, Muggles, Muggle-borns, and Half-Bloods.

"Mr. Malfoy?" A soft voice snapped Lucius out of his deep thoughts.

Dark grey eyes stared up at her before he cleared his throat.

"Miss Rollins, I must say it is brave of you indeed to come all the way here to see me just so you could apologised for your rude behaviour last night. For that, I accepted your apology." He smiled.

"Wait," Claire shook her head. "Wait Mr. Malfoy, I think you must have misheard me. I apologised for my behaviour because you were a customer. The moment you walked into the Deli, you were a customer whom I must served and respect. However, I do not recalled apologising for saying those words to you!"

"Miss Rollins, what exactly are you trying to say? If you did not come here to apologise for your words last night, why are you even here then?"

Claire took a sharp deep breath and exhaled.

Stay in control, Rollins. Don't let him get to you. Stay in control.

"Mr. Malfoy, I've come here not to provoke you any further about what happened last night, so let's just forget the whole thing and put it behind us, yeah? I'll get straight to the point: I think we both started on the wrong foot since day one. So, I'm offering you a new start, a new beginning of a friendship, if you will. With me."

Lucius' eyebrows rose and he struggled to hide his shock. Clearly he must have misheard this?

"I beg your pardon?"

Claire sighed. "I'm offering you a truce and friendship, ."

Lucius steeple his hands in front of him, and tapped his fingers on his lips. "Why?"

At his question, Claire bit her lower lip. "I've been doing some thinking lately, that perhaps, I didn't try hard enough to understand your current situation, hence, my treatments toward you have been rather unfairly, as pointed out by your dear friend, Severus."

Ah, so that's the real reason.

Severus. Of course.

Lucius leaned back in his chair and stared at Claire. "So in other words, Miss Rollins,the reason you're doing this is because of Severus and not yourself, am I correct?"

"Incorrect, Mr. Malfoy. Severus only pointed out that I'd been treated you rather unfairly. It is my decision to come here."

Lucius once again looked her straight in the eyes. After what seemed to be eternity, he finally moved his gaze and straightened his back.

"Well, Miss Rollins. I must admit, I am rather surprise with your honesty and your boldness." He looked up to her and this time, smiled sincerely at her.

"I accept your offer."

It was Claire's turn to be in shocked by his response. She didn't expect him to accept her offer really! Before coming here, Claire had all sort of imagination what might happened when she stepped into his office. The least thing Lucius could do was humiliate her and then had her thrown out of the building!

Yet, here he was, accepting her offer of friendship with a smile－a sincere smile, nevertheless.

Taking a deep breath, Claire stood up and held her hand to him.

"To a new beginning, ."

"Lucius." He said, shaking her hand. "If we are going to be acquaintances, I'd prefer to be call by my first name, Miss Rollins."

"Oh, then call me Claire. I prefer if people call me by my first name too. Less formality." She casually shrugged.

To her unexpected, Lucius lifted her hand to his lips and kissed at the back of her hand. His hot breath was on her skin, it made Claire flinched a bit as blush slowly creep from her neck to her face.

It took a moment for Claire to realise what he was doing, and in that short moment, Lucius let out a smirk before letting go of her hand.

Claire pushed her hair at the back of her ears. She stood up straight, readily to leave. "Well, since we're done here. I-I should really be going."

"Miss Claire?" Lucius also stood up. "Would you care to join me for dinner tomorrow night? I think it would be in our best interest to really get to know each other."

"I'd love to, Mr. Ma-Lucius." She smiled at him. "Tomorrow night it is then?"

Lucius nodded. He opened the door and watched her leave.

"SO, you've made a progress, I assume?" Severus Snape was currently stirring a wooden spoon to the beef stew in the kitchen of their apartment.

Claire bit on a green apple and made herself comfortable by sitting on the island beside the stove. Severus glared at her, which she ignored and continued telling him what had happened at the Office.

"I guess so. We've made amends, which is a good thing right? He'd even asked me out for dinner tomorrow night."

"He did? That's a good. And, you accepted his offer, correct?"

Claire shrugged. "He wanted to make an effort, so why should I declined him? After all, we've been house-mates for the past five months, and I still don't know what's his favourite colour is!"

Severus raised an eyebrow, amusingly. "Favourite colour, Miss Rollins?"

"Or anything about him!" Claire exclaimed.

"Ah." Severus turned off the stove.

Using a wave of his wand, he took two empty ceramic bowls and put it beside him. He then scoop the stew into each bowls before processed to the dining table where a freshly baked garlic breads were waiting for them.

"His favourite colour is obviously green, Miss Rollins. All Slytherin members would preferred green over any colour. Though personally, I think the combination of green and silver suit him best."

"Is that so?" Claire poured them a glass of iced lemon tea.

"Yes." Severus took one of the garlic breads and dipped into to his bowl of stew before he ate it.

"This is good!" Claire munched the half-covered with stew bread.

"Thank you. I could teach you how to make the stew if you want."

"A recipe would be nice. Thanks, Severus."

"You're welcome, Miss Rollins. Now then, let's enjoy the meal while it still hot."