AN: Hey, obviously school's back on so updates have been slow. i'm almost done one the next chapter so it's shouldn't take to long to upload. And i don't own anything HP.

I hope people are still reading. :)

Chapter Fifteen

"You want to go for a walk?"

Abby watched Severus' expression turn grim as he looked down at her. "Oh come on," she persisted.

"There's a storm coming." He pointed out.

"Just a quick walk, I want to show you something."

"If you insist." He said glumly.

Abby sighed, he had returned back to three words to one sentence answers. He was trying very hard to get as little interaction with her as possible.

She started in the direction of the woods, thinking to show him her favorite spot of the forest she had hiked many times since she had moved here. She loved the forest, the sound, the smells, the animals and the feeling of being free and alive.

There were so many untold, never to be known stories here - mysteries and romances, tragedies and horrors.

She looked up at Severus, wanting to ask him so many questions, wanting to know so many things. But then she remembered everything she did know of him, of the things he had told her the night she had first learnt that he was a Wizard. What he had told her was horrible, but she didn't think any less of him, it just made her want to know everything so that she could help him through it. She was certain that he would deny it but he was still suffering, and maybe it's because he thought he didn't deserve to ever stop.

"Have you any idea where we are heading?" she heard him ask haughtily and realized she had been walking around aimlessly. She looked around, and when she was sure of where they were she switched directions.

"What scared, Professor Snape?" she taunted with a smile.

He scoffed and looked ahead of them.

"Did you bring your wand?" She knew she sounded derisive, but she couldn't help it. A wand? It was still too much to take in all at once. It was still just a polished stick to her, one that had fallen off a tree - one that allowed for magic to be created.

He seemed to understand as he said calmly, "Yes, I have."

"Could I ever wield magic with one, do you think?" she asked, sort of awkwardly.

He seemed to have been thinking it over then said, "I am not sure. Our wizarding schools usually always contact magic yielders to attend at the age of eleven, so perhaps not the same magic as I can create and not any with a wand. However, that doesn't mean you can't yield werewolf magic like Annabel said, they are an entire different race when born into it, so perhaps."

"Oh," she said, and looked around at the forest ahead of them. In the distance she saw the two unique trees which signified that they where almost there. What made these trees so different from the rest was the way they grew from the same spot in the ground and their trunks intertwined about eight feet in the air creating a hole that someone could walk through between them.

"Almost there." She told Severus.

As soon as she had said it Snape felt her soft fingers intertwine with his own rough ones. His body stiffened and his fingers were ramrod stiff as Abigail's curled through them.

Little children held hands like this, with friends or parents. Lovers held hands like this.

He had never held hands like this – with anyone.

Then he remembered what she had said and looked around. He saw the tree's that connected and formed a circle between the trunks a short distance away. He knew that just beyond that tree and behind the tall bushes was a small water fall which ran into a small spring. He could already hear the water splashing. He remembered coming here as a child, trying to get away from the bitter air, the soft cries and cruel voices of his home. He had come to escape reality, to be alone and talk with things that actually listened. He had always come alone; this was his place to be left alone.

Abby's heart leapt as Severus' fingers finally softened around her hand as they drew nearer to her destination. She looked up and saw that his eyes were focused ahead of them; they also looked sort of haunted.

As they cleared the bushes and entered the small clearing exposing the little waterfall and stream to them she pulled him over to a small patch of grass and sat down, still holding his hand.

A moment later Severus joined her on the ground, close but not touching her, their hands lying on the ground between them.

"I love it here, it's so peaceful and beautiful." She sighed looking around. Even with the dark clouds above them it was a beautiful sight.

"I used to come here as a child." Severus said after a while.

She looked up at him; his eyes were on the stream. She smiled; glad that he could actually say something which wasn't a question or in answer to a question. But even more glad that even when they hadn't had met they had secretly shared this place.

"What were you like?" she asked.

"I have already told you."

"No," she paused and looked back up at him, "You just said that in school you were a snobby, quiet kid with no friends. I meant when you where a little boy, what were you like?"

He looked down at her through a scowl.

"Well you did say that." She pointed out.

"I was not snobby. I just happened to like being by myself, which allowed me to focus on my studies and magic. Pardon me if I though that attending school meant excelling in my academics and not in the social networks."

"Okay, okay." Abby threw up her free hand in surrender. "So," she prompted.

Severus sighed and continued, "I don't know. I was probably always how I always will be." He looked down at her, annoyed. "And I refuse to talk to you about something that isn't your business."

She looked up into his smoldering dark eyes. He looked thoroughly livid and she could tell that he might never want to give in and open up to her. She sighed and took her hand out of his.

He turned his head and looked back over at the stream.

Snape was annoyed at himself. He knew that it hurt her to treat her this way but he didn't know of any other way to treat her. Cursing himself in the silence that had fallen over them he tried to figure out how he could be nicer to her.

He felt her shift next to him.

"Can I see you're wand?"

"You don't shut up, do you?" he snapped, turning his head towards her. But he put his hand into his black pants and pulled it out, glad that she was exactly how she was. Gingerly he placed it in her hands.

Snape watched her hold it in both hands, then she raised it closer to her eyes and ran her fingers over it.

"Is it just a stick?"

Snape snorted, "'Just a stick' she asks." He shook his head, suppressing a smile, "Its eleven inches oak, with a core of unicorn hair. It was created in dragon's breath, which is why it is black in color."

"Oh," She said and he could see her brain mulling over the new information. He had noticed how her eyes had slightly widened when he had said unicorn and then widen even more as he had said dragon.

"Did you have to choose it?" she asked.

"The wand always chooses the Wizard or Witch." He told her.

"Interesting," she looked from him to the wand in her hands, "Could you do magic without the wand?"

"I can, yes. Not much without full concentration, you see the wand channels the magic, in a sense it sends magic where it needs to go. Only the most powerful of Wizards can work without a wand."

"Could you do anything, with it? Are there no rules?" she asked, once again just looking at the wand.

"Well the Ministry of Magic does have rules yes. For instance there are a number of 'Unforgivable curses' which by law you are not allowed to use."

And he told her of the three.

Abby's brain was racked. She had asked so many questions and surprisingly he had answered all of them. She couldn't believe that you could force someone to do something against their will, or even kill someone by just sticking a stick – wand - at them and saying a few weird words. It was horrible how easy it made doing horrible things to be done.

They sat quietly for the past few minutes when Severus abruptly sat up straight.

"It's getting really dark now. It will rain in any minute. Hopefully we can make it back before it starts."

Abby looked up at the sky, it was hidden by black churning clouds.

Snape grabbed her hand and they started jogging back through the forest. He slowed them down whenever there was a fallen tree in their way and helped her over it. They could almost see the edge of the forest which opened to the clearing behind their houses when it started drizzling.

"Maybe we can make it before it starts to pour." Abby panted at Severus' side.

As soon as she had said this there was a rumble of thunder that started in the distance and became louder as it came towards them. Suddenly there was a flash of lightening and the heavens opened to let down a hell of a blizzard of rain.

The ground was getting softer and harder to navigate through and Snape could hear Abby laughing next to him. He looked down at her, which turned out to be a big mistake.

AN: Please R & R

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