Disclaimer: All belong to J.K. Rowling
The Story
A strong wind flew in the room, blowing the window and the curtains backward and bringing along the cold sensation of the late Winter's season. The chilly morning awoke the man who was taking his uncomfortable sleep on a chair with his head tilted oddly to the side and arms crossed tightly in front of his chest. Severus tiredly opened his eyes and groaned something unintelligent, probably cursing the chilly wind. His eyes soon fell on the young woman who was sleeping soundly with her face facing him. The nightmare finally bared her mind, he murmured to himself, remembering how she tossed and turned recklessly for the past hours. A moment later, another wind kicked in, making him chilly. He tiredly left the chair and headed to the window as the wind was getting stronger.
The window's lock clicked safely, blocking a bit of the morning cold. The man cast a warming charm on the young woman and himself, the room's temperature somehow reminded him of the dungeon. Severus sat back to his uncomfortable chair, staring at the young woman with an absent mind. It had been a while since he was in the same room with her. They used to share a room, fought over silly things, and laughed at misleading news about him. They used to have a strange relationship and... it was comfortable. Ethelinda shifted, letting her back rest on the mattress. His eyes were soft, focusing her chest's movement as she was breathing.
He leaned back into the chair, eyes staring at the ceiling. The scene from hours ago replayed in his mind. Something was off when he saw her. Her magic, it's getting darker for a moment, he frowned as he remembered how the air in the room shifted heavily. It was like her anger had influenced her surroundings and changed it. It was a normal phenomenon when a magical being's emotion arose. However, her change made him worry. He brought his hand up and looked at the ring that she gave him. He felt its reaction to her emotion, even it happened quickly but he could feel the ring burn, almost like a warning to him about her. I need to talk with her about this.
Lost in thought, he did not notice that she started to wake up. She opened her eyes slowly, still blurry from the crying from the previous night. Once her vision got clearer, she recognized where she was. She yawned tiredly and pulled the cover up, trying to go back to sleep. Her small noise brought the man's attention back to the bed, a small smile appeared on his face as he saw the young woman did not notice his presence. He cleared his throat and she turned around, eyes opened wide as she saw who was making the sound.
"Sev-Professor?" Ethelinda sounded surprised, stumbling in addressing him. "What are you doing here?"
Severus kept his face blank, but inwardly, an unidentified sensation creeped out as he heard the way she addressed him. Professor, the word played in his head like a non-stop movie, echoing strangely. He did not like it. As much as he wanted her to call his name again, he refused to show it. He understood enough of where their relationship currently stood, they… no, he was the reason that they stopped the familiar interaction between them. There was no need in lingering on an idea that was no longer there. He dismissed that feeling quickly as it appeared, turning his attention back to her question.
"I carried you back here after your meeting with a man named Jonathan," he spoke up with a voice of cold and distance.
Ethelinda frowned, absorbing his words, then the memory from her meeting with Jonathan returned slowly. Severus could see her body shaking slightly and her gaze became unfocused to the memory. Something was making her very uncomfortable, but he could not bring himself to comfort her. She continued lost in her memory until something tapping on the window's glass, brought both of their attention away from their thinking.
Severus walked to the window and opened the curtain. The sound was from the raven that always delivered information to Ethelinda. He turned around and let her have a clear view of the bird. He saw her face turned from surprise to angry then ended with a blank expression.
"Don't let it in," she shook her head and told him. Her voice sounded unusually calm.
Severus nodded as he cast the Confundus Charm to the raven, letting it fly back to where it came from. "What exactly happened in that meeting, Miss Lefevre?" he asked, finally displaying his worry in the way he presented his question.
"It's a long story, Professor," she replied, but hesitated in giving too much details. "Let's have breakfast first then we will talk about it."
His gaze moved from her to an old clock on the wall and realized that it was past nine. They were supposed to have a quick practice this morning, but with the current development, he did not think their plan would be the same. He took out a small vial and put it on the drawer beside her. "It's Calming Draught," he explained. "I am not sure what happened but I think you should take one before we discuss the matter."
She nodded as he bid his goodbye and left the room. "It'll be a long day," she whispered to herself as she watched his shadow disappeared behind her closed door. Letting a small sigh, she headed to the bathroom. She stopped in front of the mirror and saw her reflection. Her eyes were swollen badly from all the crying. To be truthful, she did not remember of crying to the point that she passed out and slept. And Severus… she stared at her own reflection as she remembered calling his given name. He did not fix her and when he carried her back, she was very happy. Unfortunately, he seemed to go back to his normal self this morning. She shook her head, pushing those thoughts back to where they belonged. She unbraided her hairs, letting it loosely fall to her back. After undressing, she stepped inside the tub and turned the water on. Sitting tiredly down, she closed her eyes for a moment of rest before she needed to deal with him again. Another story that she needed to tell him. Probably another disappointment...
By nine-thirty, she descended down from the stairs, walking to the end of the hallway, where the dining room was located.
Much different to her room or other rooms in the mansion, the dining room was filled with morning sunlight that reached through those large windows as all curtains pulled to one side. In the middle of the room was a long table with more than ten chairs, seating at each side of the table. It was very modern compared to the Victoria design in most parts of the mansion. With the wooden floors, the creamy wall stood out nice and elegant. There were a few paintings on the wall with various styles and themes. She glanced at them but did not linger, she was not good when it came to enjoy the beauty of the art. Her eyes moved back to the head of house's chair, which located close to where she was standing, facing to a large door headed to the garden. To her own surprise, Severus was already there, sitting comfortably to one of the chairs close to her right side. The man wore a white shirt with a black trouser. His hair tied back neatly to a pony tail with a few strings fell loosely along his jaw. His appearance improved much more than a few days ago, which caused her to subconsciously admire the sight.
"Good morning, Professor," Ethelinda greeted Severus as she settled down to her chair. The tension for the past days somehow disappeared in that room. She could not help but smile to the familiar atmosphere that they used to have.
"Mornin' Miss Lefevre," Severus greeted back but his eyes never left the book he was reading.
"What are you reading there?" she started a conversation while Cadfael began to serve breakfast.
"Nothing in particular interest to you," he answered with his cut-and-dry voice, breaking the nice moment between them.
"Your appearance fails to match your mood again, Professor," she, however, did not take his words to heart, she only chuckled at his suddenly sour tongue. Being his partner for a while, she learned that the man's mood could change unexpectedly. It would be easier for her to just accept his moodswing, rather than dwell on it.
"Uhm hmm," he was completely absorbed into the book and barely noticed of her comment.
She shook her head, smiling softly as she tilted her head and watched him. While they were on the run, they did not have the luxury to stop and relax like now. And of course, seeing him enjoying a good book was a rare sight. She wondered if that how he usually spent his time with a good book and a cup of hot tea. The tension on his face that was usually present was not there at this moment. However, her observation cut short as her butler brought out a full English breakfast with fried egg, sausage, bacon, mushrooms, baked beans, toast, and a few slices of tomatoes. She could not help but to inhale the divine smell and, to her own horror, her stomach responded to the scent by its beautiful growling. Oh Gods! Why? she groaned in her mind as a tint of pink slowly creeped on her cheeks. Too focused to her meal, but mostly tried to avoid any awkward interaction, she failed to notice to her right side, where the man was smirking, clearly enjoying the small scene that she displayed. Her stomach always made noise whenever she smelled something delicious and he never failed to notice the short moment of her burning cheeks.
By ten o'clock, they already sat comfortably in their seat, enjoying their cup of tea.
"I don't think we will need to process the mission separately as planned," Ethelinda spoke up, her attention landed somewhere between the teapot and the table, avoiding his gazing.
"I expected that much," Severus agreed, leaning comfortable to his armchair. "Do you want to talk about it?"
His question startled her. Still avoiding his eyes, she took a sip of tea while forming a reasonable explanation to him. It felt like a deja-vu when she began another confession. Bloody confession!
"I was surprised to see him," she spoke, "As you have known, we do not get along well and I try to not get involved with him. Unfortunately, I did not know much about my family's procedure when it comes to servants' contracts and an alarm in my mother's room. So, they were the reason he visited me." She paused, holding the teacup with both of her hands and looking like she was lost in her memory. "Then in a slip of his tongue, I found out that my mother is still alive..." Something became dull in her eyes, much different to her reaction from the previous night. The anger then replaced with a lifeless look, but it did not last long when she looked back to him and asked him gently, "Did you ever wonder why you found me in that attic years ago?"
"You're the last blood of the family," Severus replied. "The obvious conclusion that someone hid you away from the attack of the Dark Lord."
"Unfortunately, she's not that noble," Ethelinda sneered at the idea of her mother trying to protect her. "She hid me away because she needs my power to help her. Something that both my great-grandmother and Jonathan refer as rare. Jonathan still believes that my mother wants to rebuild the family's reputation by using my power. And again, according to my great-grandmother, she's just a selfish maniac who wants power more than anything. In her eyes, she never considered me as a daughter, only an important piece in her plan. She put me away as soon as I was born and left me there with Cadfael. My first four years in the mansion was living in that dark and cold attic with a butler. Then the other fourteen years were hidden away under different names. I never truly have lived for me, even now..." Ethelinda's gaze stopped at the family's ring on her hand, then looking at Severus. Something clicked in her mind as the story went. Her voice was barely audible, she whispered, "Why did you not participate in the massacre of that night?"
"The Dark Lord assigned a different task for me," he replied without hesitation. He had nothing to hide from her because she already knew about Voldemort's plan in attacking her family and her.
She tilted her head at him then stood up and headed to the desk. A different task, those words chanted quietly in her head as she searched for something in one of the desk's drawers. Finally, she found the thing she was looking for, a piece of parchment with a strange drawing on it. "Did your task relate to this?" she asked, showing him the parchment in her hand.
The strange drawing was not unfamiliar to Severus because he had seen it before, The Book Without Words. "Yes," he answered as his eyes never left the drawing. "Are we also searching for it?"
"Not searching, we're unlocking spells," she clarified his question.
"The book is under a protection?" he asked.
"Yes," she nodded. "As much as I hate to do this, it was something my great-grandmother asked me to do. Besides, if I have the hold on the book before my mother, her plan will not work."
"What exactly is her plan?" he got curious as she mentioned her mother's plan.
"Honestly, I have no idea of what she is planning," she sighed. "However, my great-grandmother foresaw my mother's ill intention, she put me up to the job to prevent it."
"Your great-grandmother is a Seer?" he continued his questions when the mention of her great-grandmother continued to pop-up.
"Yes," she replied. "Unfortunately, her prediction ended with my encounter with a dark and mysterious man." Her words ended with a grin on her face. Her great-grandmother had written down every event she could foresee in the journal and hoped it would aid her little great-granddaughter. One of them did mention about him, which she failed to make any connection until much later.
Severus stopped his gaze at her, frowning at what she just shared. "A dark and mysterious man? Don't tell me she described me?" he did not like the idea of someone planning his life again.
Ethelinda nodded, "Her exact words are, 'In a mid of a chase, a dark and mysterious man would join hand with you.' And that's the last sentence in her journal. Anything after that will be up to us to figure out."
He watched her while his mind kept lingering on the idea that their encounter was not a coincident. Did she lie to him? No, he could detect a lie easily and he knew even though she kept secrets away from him, she could not lie. The possibility that she planned out a chase was highly unlikely. He shook that idiotic theory away as his thought continued on. She did ask for his protection in exchange for his freedom. And for the past months that they worked together, she did not show any ill attempt to him. Except when she suddenly peaked in the bathroom while I was using it. The odd memory suddenly straightened the man as he fixed his posture. He cleared his throat and said, "Now that we have clear view of who may be behind your attack, we can prepare better until the book's safety is in your hands. When will we part this evening?"
"Mostly around seven," she replied, arching a brow at him, not sure what he was planing.
"Good, now I need to verify your ability," he stood up, gesturing her to follow.
"My ability? Of what?" she confused, knitting her eyebrows together and watching him deeply.
"In fighting," he responded as he got up, readying to leave. "I want to see how well you are in a real fight because the last time I let you out of my sight, you ended up on the ground and bleeding heavily. I vowed to protect you and I will do all in my power to fulfill that agreement between us. However, I can't guarantee that we'll not separate during an attack. Being able to know where your level is will help us to adjust in our new situation better."
That… actually is a good idea," she agreed with him as she took her wand out and followed him.
A/N: I'm back. Did anyone miss me? lol But don't worry, 'cause I am working on chapter 12 & 13 and some actions will finally appear in those two chapters. Read and review! Love you all :)
And of course, many thanks to my wonderful beta, Hero of Olympus in Disguise!