Chapter 2

The next morning, I woke to sunlight streaming through the windows. I reached for Severus, but I only felt blankets. I slowly sat up moving my hair out of my face. I was about to get a little angry, when I heard the shower running. It shut off shortly after I noticed it. My bathroom door opened and steam wafted out as Severus came out with a towel around his waist, and drying his hair with a second. He looked up at me when he noticed I was sitting up.

"Sorry, did I wake you?", he asked. I shook my head and smiled at him.

"Nah, the sun did that. So, sleep good?" He looked at me and smirked as he tucked a wet strand of his hair behind his ear.

"Too good actually." He dropped his towel and started pulling on his pants from the night before. "I'm actually going to have to take a rain check on breakfast." He threw his shirt on and came over to me. "I'm sorry. I'll make it up to you later this week. I need to go to Hogwarts to get my classroom sorted before the end of term." He leaned down and kissed me gently. "I have to go." I nodded and sood, walking over to my dresser and pulling out an oversized pajama top.

"I'll walk you out." We head out to the living room, and he lights the fire with his wand. He gave me one last quick kiss, and then he took the floo network back to Hogwarts. I sighed and slowly made my way back to the bedroom, showered, and dressed for the day. I was heading to the kitchen to start a pot of coffee when the guest house door opened, and Narcissa Malfoy walked in. She sauntered over to the kitchen island, a smile on her elegant face.

"Dear cousin", she said as she leaned against the counter and crossed her arms. "Did someone have a visitor last night? A male visitor at that?" I rolled my eyes and looked over at her.

"Could you please let me make coffee first before you start lecturing me?" I made sure to brew enough coffee for her as well. "I really can't process judgment without caffeine."

"I'm wounded. How could you think that I would lecture you?" I shot her a look as she continued. "Although, he is older than you dear, and damaged goods."

"Cissa, I'm not marrying him. I'm fucking him. That's all this is for him too, I'm sure." I set the steaming mug in front of her and went to get the cream and sugar. "We just ran into each other at this shitty little goth club last night. I thought you and Lucy would be gone till Tuesday, so I invited him back. That's all that happened." I sighed and took a sip of my coffee.

"Fine." She said, looking at me over the rim of her own mug. "How big is his cock then?" I shot her a surprised look. "What? I've always been curious." I shook my head.

"Who ratted us out, anyways? Who saw us?"

"No one, dear. We got in late last night, and I saw you from the bedroom window."

"How mad is Lucius?"

"Well, he's not thrilled. I think he's more angry with Severus, though. I'm pretty sure he wrote him a letter calling him a dirty old man."

"He's only three years older than me, He's not exactly robbing the cradle" I groaned and rested my head in my hands. "I'm never gonna see Severus again because of him." Narcissa laughed and reassured me that she would talk to Lucius, and try to calm him down.

A few days passed, and I was sure that my prediction had come true. I was a little surprised to hear a tapping on my bedroom window. A barn owl was sitting on the sill, a parchment envelope clutched in its beak. I quickly let the owl in, and took the envelope from it.

"Um, I think I have some water here." I say as I go to get a bowl. I tore the letter open as the owl hooted at me and took a few sips of water.

M,

Dinner tomorrow? I can pick you up at your place or meet you somewhere in London. Send your reply with this owl, He knows where to find me.

-S

I happily scrawled my reply to him, telling him to meet me at a pub I knew in London. Less of a chance of running into my cousin that way. I watched as the owl flew off and had to remind myself that this was purely physical. At least, I was telling myself it was.

The next night, I walked up to the pub smiling when I saw Severus waiting for me outside. I noticed a few people around cast glances at him, and I had to remind myself he wasn't exactly unknown in the wizarding world. He did look slightly uncomfortable, but he seemed to relax when he finally caught my eye. He gave me a soft kiss when I walked up to him and gently took my hand.

"I was half worried you wouldn't show", he said. "I thought Lucius would have talked you out of seeing me." I shook my head.

"Lucius doesn't tell me what to do." I said as we started to walk in and find a table. The pub itself was fairly empty, but felt really warm and cozy. It was just nice enough to have table service, but still just grungy enough for just about every surface to be covered in Quidditch memorabilia. "Besides, I'm hopefully going to be moving out. I just need to find a flat." He nodded and ordered for us when the waitress made her way over to us. Normally, something like that would have bothered me, but I trusted him.

"You never did say why you moved here in the first place" he said as the waitress set two pints of beer in front of us. "I thought you had some fancy job with the Magical Congress."

"Oh yeah super fancy." I laughed. "I spent a year organizing the potions regulations departments files for almost nothing. Then, my dad died, and I inherited his share of the family fortune. Now, I kind of don't need to work, but I don't want to waste my time either." He nodded as our food was set down in front of us. "So, I decided to come to England and work on that book I've always wanted to write."

"Why England?"

"I had a family here I could stay with for free." I looked down at the delicious smelling shepherd's pie that was sitting in front of me, and started picking at with my fork nervously. "That and I've always felt kind of pulled here. Everytime we visited when I was younger, I would beg my parents to let me stay. I also begged to go to Hogwarts, but that didn't happen either." I looked up at him and he had an amused look on his face.

"So, what's your book about?" He dug into his own food.

"It's a romance," I said, grinning at him. The rest of dinner passed with us talking easily with one another. When we had finished our food and were just sitting there talking, I decided to ask him something that had kind of been bugging me.

"Hey, Sev?" I started. "I know we just started hanging out and everything, but is that all this gonna be?" He looked up at me, slightly surprised.

"Marie…" He sighed and sat back in his chair. "It would be hard to be together once the term starts in September. Why don't we give it till then? Let's just let it be til then and just have a bit of fun." I actually breathed out a sigh of relief. I didn't want to be tied down. I had just gotten here. England was still a place for me to explore. I could give a few months of that time to Severus, I suppose. At least I knew they would be fun.

"That actually sounds perfect. I don't want to get into something too serious. I just moved here, and I'm still trying to get settled." I saw relief flood his face too, and he relaxed again. "That being said, I'd rather not date anyone else, while we're having fun. Is that fair?" He nodded.

"I think I can handle that." He reached for my hand, and took it gently. We paid and left shortly after and then, we apparated back to the guest house. I unlocked the door, and turned to look at him.

"Well, are you staying tonight?", I asked him, and he nodded, walking in with me. I hoped that I knew what I was getting myself into.