Severus apparated in the middle of his living room. He sank down in his armchair, more then ever glad that Wormtail had left his house for Malfoy manor last month. He felt confused. He was a master in occlumency. He needed to stay in his role. Needed to act as the Dark Lords second in command. He shouldn't have disagreed with Rabastan. He should've took that woman in as a prisoner, leave her to the Dark Lord, or deal with her himself. Instead, he protected her. Maybe he could have gone away with that, but he should've at least obliviated her. He even showed his relief that all of the muggle born students got out. And now, he was getting an ointment to put on her cuts, to prevent permanent scarring. He didn't know a thing about her. She could have already informed members of the order and then his entire cover was blown. Everything could be in danger. Still, he stood back up and grabbed the ointment he needed from a cupboard. He decided to have one of his rare looks in the mirror but immediately regretted his decision. He loathed looking at himself, hating what looked back. He hardly recognised himself these days. He quickly turned away and checked if he had everything he needed; his wand and ointment were secured in his pockets. With his tongue, he checked for the capsule of anti-venom he disguised as his wisdom tooth. Three taps with his tongue made it come loose and then all he needed to do was bite on it to release the potion. He hoped he wouldn't make the Dark Lord so angry that he would send Nagini after him, but you could never be too sure. Lastly, he felt the vial he had kept in an inside pocket for the last month, hoping to give it to the boy when he needed it most. He started to turn and focused on his location. After experiencing the uncomfortable feeling of apparating, he appeared in an empty parking lot next to an abandoned warehouse. He saw that the woman was already there, shivering in the cold, still covered in blood. She looked if she regretted coming here. He couldn't blame her. She noticed him. He saw she tried to smile a little. 'I brought the ointment for your cuts,' he said. 'I made it myself. Just put a small layer of it on your cuts twice a day. It will heal faster and it leaves no scars.' She accepted the cream and nodded. She looked up at him. 'I don't understand,' she said. She shivered again. 'Would you like to talk in your car?' Severus asked. 'Perhaps you'll be a little warmer there.' The woman nodded again and opened her door. Severus did the same. The car was a little warmer, but not a lot. He took of his cloak and gave it to her. 'Thank you,' she said while she wrapped herself in his cloak. He saw her hesitate a little before she asked: 'Why did you protect me?' 'I'm sorry, I can't tell you. It will put both you and I in danger,' he said. 'You need to promise me you won't tell anyone. Can you do that?' 'Yes.' He knew she was lying. 'Who are you planning on telling?' She looked scared. 'It's ok, I'm not going to hurt you,' Severus explained. 'I just need to know if I need to obliviate you or not.' She looked even more scared now. 'That won't hurt you either, it just makes you forget what happened on the train,' he quickly told her. 'I'd rather not obliviate you, but I can't have you tell any witch or wizard about our encounter.' 'I promise I won't tell any witch or wizard,' the woman said. Severus noticed she wasn't lying this time. Unfortunately, he saw right through her trick. 'You're not allowed to talk to other muggles about the wizarding world,' he said. 'I won't.' That puzzled Severus. He sensed she still hadn't changed her mind about telling someone. But if the person wasn't a witch or wizard, nor a muggle, then who could she tell? 'I don't know if you're talking about a creature or perhaps a squib, but if you don't give me some clarity to your situation I will need to obliviate you.' The woman looked at him, still confused. He couldn't blame her. She seemed rather new to the magical world. The woman hesitated; 'What is your name?' Now, it was Severus' turn to look confused. 'You want to know all about me, but I know nothing about you,' she continued. 'You're obviously assessing if I'm a threat or not for whatever it is you're up to. I would like to know if you're going to be a threat to me.' A small grin appeared on Severus' face. This woman had some nerve. Hardly anyone dared to speak to him like this, let alone a muggle who was obviously no match for him. 'It's Severus,' he said. 'I'm a very trusted servant to the Dark Lord. Tomorrow I'll be the appointed headmaster of Hogwarts, school of witchcraft and wizardry. I'm sure I'll be missing some students, considering what I found out this night,' he said with a slight smirk. 'However, as the Dark Lord might want to punish you for it, I will not. I will also not tell the Dark Lord or anyone else that will harm you. I will not come looking for you and hurt your loved ones.' 'I do not have the ability to tell if someone lies or not,' the woman said. 'Why would I be lying to you? I saved you from Rabastan and if I wanted to harm you, or extract information from you, believe me, I would already have done that with much ease,' he said, his eyes darkening. He saw the woman swallow uncomfortably. 'Well..' she hesitantly said. 'My name is Anna. I am a muggle and I happened to live with a squib. She is my friend. She recently told me about the magical world. She wanted to bring the children to France, but can't drive a car. I offered to do it for her. I will tell her what happened, but she won't tell anyone else. We're very careful and pretty isolated from the magical world.' Severus noticed she told the truth. Her squib friend most likely was instructed by someone from the order, who new which students were muggle borns, but he wasn't too worried about that. They would most likely be left alone; it would be dangerous for them to be involved too much in the magical world, so they would simply disappear in the muggle one. It was a big leap of faith, but he decided to not obliviate Anna. After all, memories were all a person has. 'Thank you for sharing this,' he said a bit reluctantly. 'Your memories will be fine.' 'Thank you,' Anna said. She seemed a bit relieved. 'Can I ask one more question?' 'Sure,' Severus said. 'Why did you save me?' 'It seemed like the right thing to do.' 'If you're so hung up about what's right, why be a Death Eater then?' Anna said, apparently regaining more confidence. 'That's more than one question,' he said, giving her one of his silencing looks. However, Anna seemed rather unimpressed. She even looked at him with a little pity. 'Maybe we can help you if you want out. We live under some protection.' Severus looked at Anna. Who was this person? Did she really offer to help him? Him?! He was left speechless for a moment. Anna kept staring at him, almost studying his reaction. To be looked at like that, really looked at, made him feel uncomfortable. 'I'm comfortable where I am, but thank you for your offer,' he said after he'd collected himself. A silence fell over them. Anna fumbled a bit with his cloak. He wrecked his brain trying to find something to say to her, but what can you say in a situation like this? Anna broke the silence: 'So can I put the cream on now?' Severus, almost letting out a sigh of relief, responded: 'Yes, but first you'll need to clean the wounds and probably clean of the blood.' Anna looked at her arms, as if she noticed the blood for the first time. 'Ah, yes of course, I'll have a first aid kit in the back.' She retrieved a box and put out some muggle disinfectants. Severus watched as she cleaned of the blood. He saw on her face it obviously stung, but she didn't say anything. 'I'm done,' she said. 'Can I just rub the cream on?' 'Yes, about the size of a pea on each cut, but you forgot the cuts in your face.' Anna tried to look in the rear view mirror. 'I can't see my whole face in this. Can you help me?' She handed him the disinfectant wipe. Severus nodded and started to wipe of the blood in her face. It felt strangly intimate. The last time he touched anyones face was when he was a child on the rare times his mother was affectionate. Anna flinched when he started wiping the cuts. 'I'm sorry,' he said. 'I'm almost done. There, finished,' he said after he cleaned the last cut. 'Thank you,' Anna said. She started to put the ointment on the cuts on her arms. 'Could you help me with putting it on my face?' she asked. 'Of course,' he said slowly. His fingers trembled slightly when he put the cream on his finger. Why did this make him feel so nervous? That bloody snake of the Dark Lord wasn't as nerve wracking as this. With his finger, he gently massaged the potion in the wound. She closed her eyes and her face seemed to relax a little. 'All done.' He gently stroked her cheek with his thumb. She leaned into his hand with her face. 'Thank you,' she wispered. She opened her eyes and smiled at him. 'It's working already, it's like magic,' she said with a smile. He smiled back. She was one of the most interesting people he'd ever met. 'Do you have a long journey ahead?' he asked. 'Only two hours left,' she said. 'Thankfully, because I've been on the road since four in the morning.' She looked at her watch. 'Hopefully I'll make it back before four o'clock this morning.' 'Are you feeling good enough to drive back?' 'I think so, it's only the last part,' she answered. They both got out of the car and she gave him back his cloak. 'Thank you again, for everything,' she said. 'My pleasure,' Severus answered. Anna got in her car and with a last wave goodbye, she drove off. Severus kept looking in the distance long after the car had disappeared, savouring the closeness in they just had, the glimpse of happiness he hadn't felt in years. With one last sigh, he pushed those feelings aside before apparating back to the duty he had to fulfill.