A/N: Good morning! I wanted to add another chapter, and I will probably add chapter 5 on tuesday. I know as a reader I enjoy having more chapters to read, especially with a new story.

Trigger Warning: Panic attack near the end of the chapter.

Chapter 4

Errands, and an Escort

Diagon Alley & Hogsmeade

August 5, 2000

The midafternoon summer sun illuminated the book I was reading, I was curled up in the window seat enjoying the lovely morning. In the last few days, I familiarized myself with the magical creatures that called the Hogwarts grounds, and forest their home. I also tried to get to know the other professors however they were busy prepping for the upcoming year. That or they were put off by me still taking my meals with Severus. If that was the case, I honestly didn't want to associate with them. My thoughts were interrupted by an owl swooping into the open window and alighting next to me.

"Hello there lovely, let me get you a treat." The eagle owl hooted and followed me as I went to the fridge. I pulled out a frog leg from the stash I kept for the owls and other smaller carnivores. The owl offered me its leg, I took the scroll, then gave it the frog leg. I turned my attention to the letter as the owl crunched into the treat.

Rea

I've been called in on a court case that pertains to the war, I may be gone for a couple of days. I had some errands I needed to run today, would you be willing to pick up a few packages for me? If you cannot, or are caught up in something else please do not worry. However, if you can I have locations for you, along with a money pouch. Enjoy yourself, there is extra in there for lunch or a treat.

All my love, and gratitude,

Minerva

I turned to the owl, who was holding out his other leg to me. The frog leg was long gone. I took the shrunken pouch from the owl, and it expanded in my hand until it was the proper size.

"Is that it?" The owl bobbed his head then tilted it to the side, and made a hopeful chirping sound. I chuckled, then set the pouch, and letter on the counter.

"Another frog leg for the road, or something else?" The owl shuffled his wings and cocked his head the other way. "I'll give you the choice then." Going to the fridge I pulled out another leg, and a rabbit haunch fur still on. I set them on the counter in front of him curious what he would choose. He took the haunch in his beak, then fluttering grabbed the leg with his claws. He flew away his thankful chirp was muffled by the haunch, I couldn't help but laugh at his greedy cheeky ways.

"You're welcome," I called out the window, then turned back to the letter, a list of places to go had been written down on a separate parchment along with payment prices. Scanning them I saw most were in Diagon Alley, a place I had only visited once. The last two were in Hogsmeade, deciding it was too lovely of a day not to get out and about. I went to get dressed slightly regretting leaving my window seat nest.

I put up half my hair into a milkmaid braided halo, my auburn curls decided to behave for the most part so it didn't take too long. Deciding on a simple outfit, I pulled on a blue dress that laced up in the front, then a darker blue open overrobe. Suede brown heeled ankle boots and my magically expanded messenger bag finished the look. I placed the list and the pouch in an exterior pocket and then started to walk to the gates so I could apparate.

The alley was extremely busy, as it was less than a month until September first. Children were everywhere, and the crush was almost unmanageable, I struggled with my anxiety as I accustomed myself to the furor. Once my breathing was under control I started to make my way to the various shops. I saved Flourish and Blotts for the last hoping it would be less crowded as most families would like to be in and out. My last stop before the bookstore was the apothecary, it was just as busy and so I waited impatiently for the line to end. Once it was my turn I stepped up to the high counter, and a younger man who looked fed up addressed me.

"How can I help you." He said his tone clipped.

"I'm here to pick up a package for Headmistress Minerva McGonagall." The store clerk huffed and flicked through a stack of cards.

"I don't know if I'm allowed to give the package to a complete stranger." He said, I sighed.

"She wouldn't just send anyone, and how would I know to ask for a parcel for her?" His eyes narrowed.

"Look I'm not going to just give this to you just because you say she gave you permission."

"I'm a professor at Hogwarts, and this is holding up the line, please give me the parcel and I shall be on my way." He snorted.

"Yeah right, and I'm the minister of magic, you can't be older than 18, now stop making a scene, and move along." His voice raised slightly, it had my blood up, how dare he, I had been civil to him. It also brought back my anxiety and flashes of memories I ruthlessly thrust to the back of my mind. He seemed to be spoiling for a fight, or a reaction, and I would do my best not to give him the satisfaction. Then I saw a flicker of cloth out of the corner of my eye, and Severus was there radiating a palpable forbidding aura.

"Mr. Corner, how predictable it is to see that your tenure at Hogwarts did not gift you the manners of a respectable wizard. I would say I am surprised and appalled however my expectations of you are so low the bar is buried somewhere in the mantle of the earth. Now must I summon your manager or will you serve Professor Faber, it would give me no end of delight if you gave me the slightest little reason to do so." I expected to see an ice-laden fog issue from his mouth, his tone was arctic, and laced with steel as well as a dry sardonic note. Corner's face paled drastically until it resembled sour milk with a gray tinge to it.

"N..n..n..no Professor Snape, I was just, just trying to stop… to make sure that this, girl-"

"This is Professor Astrea Faber, niece to Headmistress McGonagall, you will address her as such." His arctic tone had dipped lower if possible making the young man flinch.

"Y..y..y..y..yes sir, professor Snape sir." Corner paused seeming frozen, and unable to figure out what to do next.

"Must I inform you of your next steps Corner?" Severus sighed as the man, Corner still was frozen. "You will apologize to Professor Faber, and serve her….now." The last word was a barking command, Corner jumped.

"Ah, yeah, erm, sorry Professor Faber, erm, here's the package." He handed me a fist-sized square parcel, I gave the amount written on the list and turned to leave. Severus kept step with me, and people got out of our way.

"Thank you," I said lowly as we stepped out of the apothecary, glancing at him from the corner of my eye I saw a hint of surprise. "I should also thank you for the lesson." He stopped turning to me another flicker of surprise.

"What lesson did I teach you Astrea?" I smiled up at him.

"On how to verbally eviscerate a person, it was masterfully done, and I had to stop myself from laughing at his reaction." He cleared his throat.

"I believe that is called schadenfreude, and I have never been complimented on my sharp tongue." I chuckled.

"Well they should have, it takes a talented tongue to pull off such a masterful performance." His mouth jerked sideways.

"You believe me to have a talented tongue then?" I blushed and looked down.

"Ah, I mean, I didn't mean, I apologize." Severus stopped me, we were in between stores, and out of the way of the stream of people.

"I did not mean to infer I found your comment inappropriate, in fact, I consider it a compliment." His low voice mesmerized me, his tone was tinged with warmth, surprising me.

"Ah, well then, you, um, are welcome, Severus," I said staring up at him, voice soft, he cleared his throat and broke the spell.

"Where were you heading next?" I looked away, blushing again, then looked down at my list.

"A Flourish and Blotts, then a couple of places in Hogsmeade."

"May I?" He gestured towards my list and I handed it over, he scrutinized it for a moment, muttering under his breath. "Ah just Honey Dukes, and the Three Broomsticks, well then would you mind if I accompanied you?" I blinked surprised and trying not to look too pleased.

"That would be most helpful, but are you sure, I don't want to get in the way of your errands." That twitch at the corner of his mouth again.

"I would not have offered if I did not mean it." His warm tone took the sting out of his words.

"Well, then I accept gratefully, I know I can trust you, and thank you, Severus." He bowed his head the curtains of black hair falling to hide his expression. We joined the flow of traffic and made our way to the bookstore. I paused once we passed the threshold, and touched Severus's arm feeling the need to warm him.

"I, um, am a bit of a bookworm, though my aunt calls me a bibliomaniac, ah, but anyway, that's why I saved this one for last, I'll try and hurry up if it's a bother." Severus coughed and I thought it was to hide a laugh.

"If you had visited my office you would find mostly bookshelves, and they are all filled with books. If I were to judge I would be throwing stones at glass houses. Shall we divide and conquer, I will obtain the package, while you peruse the shelves."

"Sounds like a deal, I'll meet you by the door." While Severus went to the counter I did a lap around the store looking at the sections on offer. I dipped into the educational texts to pick up this year's COMC tome as I had not proscribed a specific book. Then I found a first edition of Fantastic Beasts and picked that up as well. Finally, I went into the fiction section, and to the romance subsection, I was close to finishing my current book so needed something else. Spotting one of my favorite authors I noted she had published her newest book, "A Tempest of Sparks, and Stars'. it had six little flames on the bottom of the back cover which meant it was going to be a very spicy read. I stifled my gleeful cackle added the new book to my small stack, and decided not to keep Severus waiting much longer. Paying for my books I found Severus at the door waiting for me trading glares with a red-haired man. I saw the man open his mouth and seemed about to make some rude remark.

"Thank you for waiting Severus, shall we go?" I got in between the man and Severus taking his arm. I heard a grunt behind me but trusted Severus to keep me safe.

"You are welcome, indeed let us go, it is getting rather crowded in here, and there is a whiff of something unpleasant." He shot a look at the man behind me before the man could respond we swept out of the store. As we made our way through the crowd I kept my hand on Severus's arm, which he seemed not to mind.

"He seemed like an awful man." Severus snorted and deftly pulled me closer as I narrowly avoided a trunk being pulled by a girl.

"He is." He said in a clipped tone as we avoided another family and then finally found a semblance of peace as we stopped between stores, my anxiety had been growing due to the crush of people, and all I wanted to do was escape. It was getting difficult to breathe but I didn't want to inconvenience Severus. "Do you mind if we stop here, I need to pick up a few cauldrons."

"Yes, I'll stay out here though if you don't mind." He nodded and then entered the store, I practiced my breathing as I waited feeling my chest tighten. A loudly arguing family who passed by made me jump. I pressed my back into the cold stone wall trying to ground myself but it wasn't working. A dropped cauldron clanged on the cobbles, a child shrieked, a parent shouted, and it was all.. too..much. My breath sped up, my throat tightened, and tears prickled my eyes. I dug my blunt nails into my palms trying to use pain to ground me, hoping I wouldn't have a full-fledged panic attack.

"Astrea, Astrea look at me." That voice cut through my mental fugue, I looked up at him, I don't know what he saw but he stepped closer, in between me and the alley. "I need you to breathe with me, feel my heartbeat." He put my hand on his chest, I could barely feel it, but the steady rise and fall of his chest helped. Slowly my chest loosened but it still wasn't enough as I heard another child shriek this time at the beginning of a temper tantrum.

"I..need..to..go..please.." I couldn't help the desperate tone, Severus wrapped an arm around me, obsidian eyes trained on mine.

"Do you trust me?" I nodded and then spoke.

"Yes." Then buried my head in his chest as I stepped closer, deciding if he asked I would blame it on the panic attack. He wrapped his other arm around me and spun us away. My breathing sped up again as we landed, the squeezing effect of the apparition unpleasant to say the least. Listening to Severus's heartbeat helped but once I was breathing evenly again I forced myself to step away. Severus's arms immediately released me.

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to…" My chest started tightening again.

"You have nothing to apologize for Astrea." His voice held warmth and compassion. "I should have seen the signs, but I thought you were merely tired, would you like to sit down?" I nodded and decided where I was standing would be a perfect spot as my knees were wobbly.

Looking around I found we were at the edge of a forest, a cheerful village was in the distance, and the road leading to it was roughly 700 feet away. I found a large tree root and settled on it. I put my head in my hands and tried to keep my breathing steady. I felt an acute mixture of embarrassment, vulnerability, frustration, and anxiety.

"Merlin this is the second time you've rescued me, I hope you don't think less of me because of it." Severus sat next to me on the same root his knee, thigh, and hip touching mine.

"I do not, in fact, I believe it takes a great deal of strength to trust another when one is in such a state. I myself have experience with panic attacks, especially after…" he trailed off touching a spot on his neck, peeking from his collar I saw two rounded scars. I remembered what aunty Min had said, and felt a pang of sympathy for him.

"I feel too much, and though I try to regulate, and conceal, sometimes it just spills over." I didn't feel comfortable dumping my past on him. I wouldn't know how he would treat me afterward, and I didn't want to see pity in those eyes.

"Knowing yourself is the beginning of all wisdom." I shot a surprised glance at him.

"Aristotle." His brow quirked up.

"Indeed." I grinned slightly and decided to reply with one of my favorite quotes.

"Wisdom is not the product of schooling but the lifelong attempt to acquire it."

"Einstien." I outright grinned, I saw a rare smile flicker across his mouth.

"The fool doth think he is wise but the wise man knows himself to be a fool." I hummed for a moment, then had it.

"Shakespeare, As You Like It." He chuckled was warm and deep, and my breath hitched, damnit why was I attracted to this grumpy, snarky man?

"When he shall die, take him and cut him out in little stars, and he will make the face of heaven so fine. That all the world will be in love with night

and pay no worship to the garish sun." Romeo and Juliet had at once disgusted and enthralled me, I could not imagine loving someone so much.

"Love is not love
Which alters when it alteration finds,
Or bends with the remover to remove:
O no! it is an ever-fixed mark
That looks on tempests and is never shaken." The quote was spoken softly.

"You win," I said after a long silence unable to come up with something else. I couldn't sully it with something more light-hearted, and instead let the silence continue after my statement.

"Do you wish to finish the errands or do you need to rest?" I hummed.

"We can finish the errands, that is if you are still wishing to accompany me?" Severus stood with a muffled groan, then turned offering me a hand.

"Of course, I shall continue accompanying you." I took his hand and rose, then wobbled a bit, he put a hand on my waist stabilizing me. I smiled up at him grateful for his help, then spoke.

"Thank, you for that, and for helping me, please let me know if there is anything I can do to repay you."

"There is no need." I decided not to disagree so instead walked with him to Hogsmeade, and helped expedite the rest of the errands we had to run. It was lovely spending time with him even just walking back with him to Hogwarts listening to the night come alive around us. We had gotten a quick bite at the pub, just a hand pie then headed back as I was growing tired. I was yawning by the time we stopped at my cottage, the sunset was fading fast so the lights from the cottage and castle were appreciated.

"I think I'll have an early bed," I said yawning, "Thank you again for your help, I truly appreciate it," I said leaning against the door frame feeling too tired to have manners.

"You are welcome Astrea, this was a much more pleasant day than I had initially expected." I smiled and swayed a little feeling exhausted. "Can I help you inside, you look a bit peaked." Wanting to protest, but feeling too tired to do so I sighed and nodded.

"Thank you, the panic attack took more out of me than I thought it had." He wrapped an arm around my waist and opened the door, the light dazed me so I was happy he was able to steer me to the couch. I grew dizzy and didn't notice he had taken my shoes off until my socked feet touched the rug. Then he gently helped me up, and I was leaning heavily into him.

"Bedroom?" He murmured, I muttered and pointed weakly, I was glad my room was magically cleaned. He set me on the bed and murmured a switching spell. "May I undo your braid, it looks like it would be uncomfortable to sleep in." I nodded, his fingers slid through my hair and I tried to remind myself that we were colleagues, and how could he think of me like that? However, it was difficult as his touch felt comforting, his hands were gentle and deft. I was blinking in an attempt to stay awake as he pulled the covers away, and then I felt him maneuver me to lie down. As I let myself slip into sleep I swore I felt his lips on my forehead pressing a kiss there.

"Sleep well Astrea," I murmured something but quickly drifted into sleep.

A/N: As someone who has PTSD I find that my panic/anxiety attacks take it out of me, then I sometimes push myself too hard, and end up like this, having emotions is exhausting sometimes. Thank you for reading, and please review I would love to know what you think, Cheers!