Disclaimer: All belong to J. K. Rowling
The Beginning
"For the last time, Miss Bloodworth. We're not sharing the same room," the man in black hissed angrily at the young girl who stood next to him.
"And for the last time, Professor. I am the one that has the money, so one room with a single bed for us," the young girl slammed the money on the counter and gave the receptionist the deadly looks.
"Ah… uhm… you cannot register for a room here," the young man at the reception desk nervously broke in their conversation.
"WHAT?" The girl's eyes opened widely and snapped at the young man.
"You're… uhm… underage to register," he tried his best not to show his fear at the young girl. "But… your father can. Please, may I have your ID, sir?"
The man in black looked at the young man with confused eyes. His face was impassive but a pressured feeling placed on the young man which made him swallowed hard. He tried to repeat the question again, but the man did not respond. His eyes were still on the girl, who shook her head in silence.
The young girl sighed and her voice's tone was soften, "When we arrive to the next destination, I will have more money. We will have two rooms with an adjoining door. But for now, please bear with me until then."
The older man groaned painfully but eventually gave the young man his ID.
A few minutes later, both of them settled in the small room. The man took the chair and sat down tiredly. The young girl threw her bag on the floor and headed to the bathroom. They completely ignored each other's presence.
"Professor!" The girl called out from the bathroom. "Can you give me my bag?"
The room was silent or the man totally ignored her call. The girl continued to call the man for a few times then she stopped. He rose his head up after a while without hearing a sound from the bathroom. She probably got pissed at him again, but he was too exhausted to argue with her. However, to his horror, the girl stepped out of the bathroom with only a towel wrapped around her small body.
"Miss Bloodworth! Do you have any sense of privacy?" The man quickly turned his face to the other way. His cheek definitely turned slightly pink.
"As I recalled, I tried to ask but someone was too stubborn to give me the bag. So, yeah, to hell with my privacy," the girl said sarcastically while tied her hair into a bun.
"Why did I end up with you?" the man groaned while collapsed his face on the desk.
"Because we have the same enemy," she responded after quickly dressed herself up with a wave of her wand. "Sorry for dragging you to this," her voice was soft this time.
"You have nothing to sorry about… I agree to do this on my own," he groaned again after realizing his stupidity of agreeing on something this messy.
"When we find the box, our agreement will end. You can go wherever you want without someone nagging behind your back again," she giggled a bit at the end of the sentence.
"Sometimes, you sound like an old woman, Miss Bloodworth," his lip twisted up a bit but she could not see, his face still laid on the desk.
"Please, call me Lalla, Professor. We're officially not in school anymore," she moved herself close to where he was sitting. The desk and the bed were right next to each other. She could put her legs on his laps easily but that idea did not cross her mind yet.
"Then stop calling me professor," he turned his head to the right and surprised to see her face was beaming at him.
"Yes, dear Severus," she spoke happily with his name hung on her lips for awhile.
"By the way, do I look like your father?" Severus rose an unexpected question when he remembered the young man referred to him as Lalla's father.
"I took after my mother's appearance, so you don't look anything like my father," she answered amusingly. "But we share the same raven black hair and black eyes, it's easy to make an assumption that you're my father."
Severus's eyes were still on Lalla. She did resemble him in away. Her raven black hair was long to the middle of her waist with a thick bang in the front. Her black eyes were big and long. Her skin was as pale as his, but it did not have that death color like him. She was a beauty, especially when she smiled, but she rarely did. Thinking of her as his daughter made he smiled softly at the idea. That should be nice...
Lalla wanted to say something else but noticed that Severus drifted off to sleep. She smiled warmly at his sleeping face. He felt relaxed and peaceful. Usually, she pushed him to sleep on the bed with the statement that she was young and he was old. Old man should not sleep on the floor, bad for the back and for the old scars… However, this time, he fell asleep on the desk, she would claim the bed. She did not want to waste the money and both of them ended up somewhere not on the bed.
Laying on the bed, Lalla remembered about their first encounter. It was an unexpected outcome.
Severus and Lalla crossed each other path a month ago in a middle of nowhere. While both of them got chased by their enemies, she found him and grabbed his arm in the midst of his apparating.
Severus apparated to Rosewood Gardens. He had a safe house there. When he landed in the backyard of his house, something pulled him down to the ground. He quickly looked at the thing that caused him to fall and his face turned dark.
"Miss Bloodworth, what are you doing here?" He hissed while grabbing Lalla's wrist. He recognized the girl, she was his student.
"First, thank you for saving me out of there. Second, is this your house?" She completely ignored his question.
"Answer me! What. Are. You. Doing. Here?" He squeezes her wrist harder with each word that he spoke deeply and angrily.
"I apparated here with you when I grabbed your arm, sir," she explained while trying to pull her hand away but the more she struggled the tighter he held. Her eyes began to show a sign of fear and nervous, but they never moved away from his deep dark eyes.
"You… What?" Severus finally realized that he dragged her along from the forest without knowing. "How did you… What were you doing in that place?"
He finally released her wrist while she managed to stand up. She dusted away the stuffs on her robe and hairs. She looked back at him, who was still waiting for an answer from her. She sighed but she would discuss her problem in a place more private.
"Should we go somewhere more privacy to discuss this?" She suggested while searching his face for any reaction, but his eyes were cold.
"Fine. Walk with me," he took a while before responding to her request.
Severus led Lalla into his safe house from the backdoor. Spinner's End supported to be his untouched place, but somehow, the Aurors found out the location and put a tracking charm on it, resulting the crazy chase a few minutes ago.
Severus closed the door and began to ward his place tightly. He did not bother to look at Lalla until he made sure all the areas secured. She stood close to one of the windows and peeked outside from the gap between the curtains. When she heard his boots got close from behind, she turned and smiled at him.
He gestured and led her into his library where there were a couch and a armchair. He pointed her to the couch and he soon got comfy in his armchair.
"So let start again," his teacher mode was on, "What were you doing in the forest?"
Lalla sighed as she pulled her legs up to the couch. Her dizziness was coming back. She leaned back to the couch and moved her attention to the fireplace that was out cold. She began her story.
"Near the end of the Voldemort's fall, there was a special group that he assigned to target my family. My adopted parents got killed at the scene while I was able to escape. I have been on the run for four months, but the last four days, my luck ran out. Somehow, they found out my drop-off location and put a trap there. I almost got caught in it but fortunately I managed to run off. And that was how I ended up in the forest with you. Honestly, at that moment, I could not think of anything, I believed they would soon capture me. However, when I saw you readied to apparate, I took the opportunity right away. Knowing that they can not track down my magic because I follow you. And you're a powerful wizard, you will know how to keep your magic away from the detection. Hence, I am here with you."
Severus listened her story carefully and never made a sound the entire time. He noticed she remained calm when she talked about the death of her adopted parents or even when she mentioned the Death Eaters. She was too calm for her age.
Then, Severus remembered the last task Voldemort hung out. He wanted to track down a certain book that could benefit to his future plan. Severus knew about the incident at her house and tried to report back to the Order, but they never came through. At the moment, he surprised to see those carried out the task were still on. Did he miss something in those last meeting?
"So what do you plan for now on?" he curiously asked her.
"I will continue my search while looking for a partner," she said.
"A search and a partner?" he cocked his brow at her answer.
Lalla did not respond right away. She looked down to her hands; there was a set of silver rings on her left hand: one on the index finger and the other one on the pinky finger. Her thumb played with them for a while.
"Yes, a search and a partner," she nodded. "Do you want to be my partner, Professor Snape?"
His arms now crossed front of his chest. He cocked his head to a side as he observed the girl. Many things run in his head and he wondered if he was even alive by the end of this month. It was hard to hide away from the Death Eaters, and now added the Aurors. He had too many things on his plate already. A partner? He questioned himself at the idea.
Lalla breathed softly and she continued, "In my current state, my magic was very weak. I was lucky to survive until now, but from now on, I wonder how long I will last, sir. I need someone as powerful as you are to help out." She stopped for a bit and observed his reaction, but the man showed nothing, just quietly listened to her. "This partnership will benefit both of us. You only need to act as a protector for three months while I search for the item. Once I find it, I promise you that no one will ever bother you again. I can make you disappear forever and you can live the life you want without worrying about the magic world."
A life without worry? Disappear forever? That sounded too good to be true, but knowing Lalla, Severus knew the girl would not lie to achieve her goal. She was a Hufflepuff after all. He had nothing to lose now. He could not stay here for long, sooner or later, they would eventually caught up. If he went with her, at least, they would not know his whereabouts. Three months will pass quickly.
"And what exactly do you need my magic for?" Severus finally spoke.
"To activate the item I am looking for and to protect me," she replied quickly. Her face lighted up as he got more interested in her proposal.
He could see her eyes were beaming like a happy puppy waiting to be pet. He smirked and nodded, "Let's go over your plan then, Miss Bloodworth."
Author note: Yup, new chapter. Hope you guys enjoy it :)