43

Chapter 43 Working for the Man

During their break from Charms homework, Severus's opinion of their employer's request was quite evident to Lily.

Rather than starting their first day of work by arriving Monday morning, Regulus Moonshine requested the two of them arrive Sunday afternoon 'to settle in'. Severus didn't like it. If they are paid to work Monday through Friday, what they did on Sunday was up to them. What if this fellow expected them there every Sunday for the next several weeks, now that a precedent was going to be established?

After listening to Severus, Lily replied, "Well, maybe he has something he wants us to get right on Monday. Eager for us to start so he doesn't want to waste time explaining rules and whatever."

"Rules?" Severus repeated. "Although we'll be living on his land, and working for him, we're only there for a short while so we won't get so comfortable that we're doing … who knows what."

"Well, we wouldn't, but some students aren't as mature as us."

Severus made a face. Was Lily talking about shagging? Immature people shagged too.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothing. You have put his request in a positive light so I will not quill a nasty reply, but return our acceptance."

Lily was momentarily rendered speechless. There was no more discussion? No more what-ifs from Severus to get her wound up? Maybe he was feeling a bit off and under the weather emotionally. "So we'll have an extra evening there," she replied suggestively with a couple eyebrow raises to indicate what she meant.

"With all the studying we did for our Hogwarts expedition to make stone floors comfy, we should be all right. I also know pest repelling charms."

"Good," Lily agreed. Severus was practical, and being covered with mosquito and gnat bites was not mood-enhancing.

"If the weather is fair, Phi will be comfortable out of doors. When she's cooped up, she gets noisy."

"Are you packing anything special?"

"Like what?"

"Uh … I don't know. I could bring my bathing suit, but you never wear one?"

"No, however I can watch you go swimming. Though no swimming areas were mentioned in the letters."

"What about your radio?"

"It's not good looking. I put together a wireless with a muggle tuner."

"What?"

"My house isn't wired to power things."

"There's batteries."

"Aren't there dangerous chemicals in those?"

"They only leak when they aren't new anymore."

"I'd rather stick to the wizarding wireless getting muggle music."

"You prefer muggle music?"

"There's only one wizarding station up this way, and I don't have an ear for most of their selections, and during the day they talk about food. I heard London has three stations. Besides wizards setting up their own transmitters to broadcast whatever they feel like, until the Ministry gets a complaint."

"Like what?"

Severus shrugged. Crackpots could recite poems to their kneazles for all he cared.

Hm, Severus was now conversing normally. Maybe something was making him moody? Lily had been dwelling on her friend stating he was unhappy. This job was an unknown, but he had steadfastly stood by sacrificing six weeks of his holiday to better his chance at a recommendation for an apprenticeship. After six years of Hogwarts, they could take anything for six weeks, especially since they'd be together.

"So I'll let mum know. Did he give a time? Maybe you could have dinner here."

"Just afternoon … that's before dinner time?"

Lily sighed. She did not want to miss Sunday dinner at home. It was always delicious.

Seeing Lily's displeasure, Severus asked, "Would it be inconvenient to serve it a little earlier, and then I will respond back with a letter stating our arrival time will be two hours after that? It's summer so it's light enough to see anything he wants to show us outside."

"Yeah, like our teepee."

"What? I've heard you call bog paper T.P."

"Oh, yeah, I got that from an American show on television. No, I mean the things their indians live in."

"India? I don't know what you're talking about, Lily."

"With no television and not attending school, you've missed out on a lot, Severus."

"No, I haven't. I find out what I want to know. I charmed a notepad to give me the highlights for football games so I don't need to go somewhere to watch them."

"Football?" Lily asked in puzzlement.

Severus nodded, "Manchester United. That's the best team."

"I've heard of them," Lily agreed, hoping this was not going to turn into Severus's version of a quidditch obsession.

"So knowing the final score, who scored and assisted, penalties and the other facts, I don't need to take the time to go to the pub to see the game. It's quicker, and my clothes don't end up getting smelly."

"Wouldn't you rather see it?" Lily was trying to understand. The only quidditch she paid attention to was the school games, when Gryffindor played. She enjoyed sitting in the stands with the other Gryffindors, rather than doing something else and being told after the game who won and who scored.

Severus looked thoughtful, then said, "I suppose it would be convenient if I had my own television to watch a match, when I didn't have something else to do. And my father's mates still book motor coaches and get a block of tickets for the important games. That would take most of a day for me to do that, besides paying for my ticket and share of the transportation."

Lily felt a bit thick. Of course, Severus's father. It wasn't some fancy of Severus's to like a football team. "You'd go with them on the bus?"

"Why wouldn't I?"

"You could apparate."

"Oh. I could go alone." He paused, then added, "I'd rather not go alone."

That was crazy talk. Why would Severus rather be with his father's drunken, loud-mouthed lot? Was he that sad? Maybe daydream about liking his father and going with him somewhere nice … or a football match? Severus really had no clue about all the fun things there were to do. He probably heard all sorts of extravagances in Slytherin house, but his life centered around Spinner's End or Hogwarts. He didn't even bother going to Hogsmeade till Lily made him. She supposed that could be partially her fault, since he just said he'd rather not do things alone. Lily went with Mary and Helen. She didn't even think about what Severus did on those weekends because she assumed every student third year and older was there. It certainly seemed like it whenever she tried to shoulder her way into Honeydukes, or tried to find a table at the Three Broomsticks.

Severus changed the subject since he knew Lily did not like football, "I'm going to London before tomorrow afternoon. Did you need anything?"

"No … wait, did you get the portkey information for late August?"

"The Ministry said the schedule is not final. That office seems a bit scatterbrained, and suggested waiting lists for unusual destinations. I was intrigued by 'unusual' so asked to see a list to see if something exciting was on it. They claim not to have one, nor are they allowed to tell me any details about the waiting lists like if any need two more people for August for them to schedule a regular portkey. That's probably how they make their fees for their portkey service."

"I have money if we want to book our own portkey."

"I do too, but that's not the point. We aren't too particular about where or even the exact day or time."

"Maybe we should go someplace ridiculous."

Severus' eyebrows lifted. "Why don't we see how ridiculous our accommodations are at Moonshine's first?"

"Our one look at Mould-on-the-Wold was pretty boring. I want some excitement to look forward to."

"Ridiculous and excitement are not the same thing, Lily."

"I want something fantastic so when we get back to school no one will believe that you and I went there."

"That should not be the primary reason to pick a destination."

"Well, what do we want? One – I agree with speaking English. I'm not in the mood to be misunderstood and confused. Two – I want good food. Three – I want to see things that I can't see around here."

"There's a lot that's not around here. For food, do you mean a regional cuisine, or lots of quantity and variety?"

"Hm, I'm not sure. I do like steaks … you know that already, Sev."

"That's fine."

"You know what? I'm going to look at muggle vacation spots. That might lead to something better than the Ministry."

"If you want. I'm not particular that it has to be wizarding or muggle. Do we need something to travel as muggles?"

"Can't they fix up a portkey for where we want?"

"If we pay for it, and I'll ask again about paperwork for international travel, if we are going into muggle areas."

"Can't we fake it?"

"We have time to prepare properly and legally, Lily. Unless your idea of adventure is foreign constables and their version of the Ministry of Magic."

Lily made a disapproving noise. There could be an element of fun, but at heart, she did not like being trouble. "So before we get back to arguing over this Charm again, let me ask mum about dinner tomorrow to get you a time."

Severus had all his letters written by later that day so took them all with him to Diagon Alley to post. He was not thrilled to have so many correspondents. The only interesting correspondent he had was Lovegood. His solicitor did get him information so he had posed a new question to be answered, for a fee. Of course, he had to word it in a roundabout manner, and anyone that knew him would see it for a blatant lie. He did not in any way admire Albus Dumbledore's clothing, but he did realize that even taste that bad was an expensive habit. As a young man with limitless career potential, was an educator's or headmaster's salary so generous, or did Dumbledore have other sources of income? If one of those businesses could be learned and duplicated, Severus did have the capital to start his own venture. This was not about friendly competition and proving he could be better, in fact, it would be better for Severus if he could undermine any of the irresponsible coot's without having to establish a rival business of his own that needed to be built up over years.

Albus paced around his office.

He was disappointed.

He did not put a lot of stock in Divination since so much was vague, open to being forced into interpretation that was incorrect, or some was just plain made up.

The predictions for Severus Snape, Albus could have written himself, based on all the thought he had given the matter. It was annoying to not have anything new, and Augury confirmed everything he already concluded.

The bad far outweighed the good, but if Albus read this correctly, a sort of scale was tipping slowly towards Severus's favor. Augury had been thorough and put things in perspective starting with how he read the youthful phase full of hardship and setbacks. In plainer language, it would sound like one of Upsilon's sagas of someone from lowly beginnings with everything pitted against them emerging as a finely forged being.

This was still the formative stage with many factors still pitted against Severus. Albus had been aware of them, but private worry and someone else putting it in writing were different.

Why was there any link between Tom Riddle and Severus? Especially while he was still a student? Severus's accomplishments at the school were not so phenomenal to attract that sort of attention … unless it was something only known among the Slytherins. Whatever occurred was prior to this year with the dragonpox, the werewolf, and targeting the boy's father. Was Tom persistent due to some perceived importance regarding Severus, or just the idea that a teenager did not oblige him by dying? Did Horace know the cause, and neglect to volunteer any information since he had other students to promote?

After hours of searching in the pensieve, Albus concluded that not even Abstractus had mentioned Severus until this year. When he submitted that massive tome of arithmatic, hypothetical potion substitutions. Prior to that, any faculty member only mentioned Severus negatively in connection with the Gryffindor boys in his year.

Inspiration struck, and then he was frowning at himself because he overlooked a source. He should visit Remus Lupin, and he should have thought of it before now. Not in association with asking about Severus, but due to the circumstances for which he was imprisoned. As a young philosopher recently said, the headmaster was culpable for what happened at the school.

With trepidation, Lily mentioned to her mother, "Mum, Severus told me he was unhappy when we were leaving that wedding the other day. He sort of blamed me."

Her mother did not answer immediately as she studied her daughter. Before blurting out the way she saw things, she asked to clarify, "Just that Severus is unhappy, or about something in particular?"

"He talked about us and said he was unhappy, but I know it's not me because all this stuff is happening to him. We both got dragonpox, then the werewolf, then I couldn't come home for Christmas, and his father getting murdered, and the headmaster not caring enough to tell Severus so then his mum died too, when Sev should have been home to help her. And the headmaster being a real pain in the ass ever since then, and even annoyed Severus at the wedding reception by being all two-faced."

"What does you staying at the school for Christmas have to do with Severus? Wasn't he happy you stayed with him?"

"Oh yeah, he was. Sorry, I was thinking about the differences in the past school year. I guess that was a highlight actually."

"Well, we could start there. Besides all the homework I've seen you do in previous years, what did you do besides that over the holiday?"

Lily groaned, "I forgot about that. The headmaster was a real toerag then too. We went to the Christmas feast, where the faculty and students that stayed behind just sit at one big table and stuff themselves.

"I had wanted to go to it, and it wasn't till later that I realized that Severus may never have gone to one in all the Christmases he had been there. I'm not sure if it's due to one teacher telling us that they preferred the students to stay out of sight and get their meals from the kitchen directly, or if he knew that there was something about the food or company he wouldn't like. He didn't even know what a cracker, the one with the prize inside, was. The feast was horrible but Severus snuck out early to go to detention."

"On Christmas?"

"Severus doesn't belong in detention at all. It's only because he wouldn't strip off his clothes for Madam Pomfrey."

"Madam? A woman?"

"She's the school nurse, but she hates Severus. We had gone to visit Mary in the Infirmary because she stays there during the day when its the full moon. She's too weak then to get out of bed. Well, we're there, visiting, being quiet and respectful, even though Mary's the only patient in there, and out of nowhere, Pomfrey pops out of her office and demands that she be allowed to physically examine Severus, and when she told him to take off his clothes, he told her 'no'."

"Severus is not well cared for. She may have been trying to help him."

"It was only a couple months after we got out of hospital, and we were getting a weekly check-up by those healers for a while. One of them sorted Severus after he had scalding liquid poured on him in Potions because Madam Pomfrey couldn't be bothered. A prefect even walked him to the Infirmary, and he was angrier than Severus. If she wanted to see Severus's skin, that was the time to take an interest."

"That mark on his elbow is large."

"That's not from then. These were on his chest and stomach. He also got set on fire that morning too. Stupid bast … toerags and their magic turns some of them inhumane. Severus always gets the worst of it. Stripping off his clothes, set on fire, scalds, stabbed, knocked down stairs, his head beaten against stone walls and floors, cleaning charms so foam comes out of his mouth or rubs his skin raw. Same jokers also attack smaller boys in the loos, and were the ones stripped off girls' blouses and pulling up their skirts. That's why I didn't take any chances when one showed up on our porch, mum, and dragged you with me over to Severus's to keep you safe."

"Is that behavior normal?"

"No, it's just that they're wealthy gits. The one that was here was expelled. One of his mates is in prison. Another is exiled from Britain. And the last one got himself killed somehow, but he was always out of bounds at school so they never figured out what happened to him. Probably all before they were seventeen. They were treated like pampered princes at school till they killed Helen.

"The parents of the one that was lingering on our porch were at the wedding and we got into exchanging words until one of our professors showed up. They think the sun shines out of their little Jamie's arse."

"Lily."

"Well, they do. Can't admit he screwed up, they're bragging about him making it onto the reserve of a professional sports team."

"He didn't appear athletic to me."

"At Hogwarts, he was on the team because he had the most expensive broom."

"Do you think Severus is upset over this other young man?"

"I'm not sure how much he thinks about him. Obviously, with his proud parents shooting their mouths off, it crosses his mind."

"Only child?"

"I think so."

"Undoubtedly that's why they need to make the best of things. Severus should not worry about that. Not getting expelled is preferable. Look at how many young athletes have nothing to fall back on when they get injured, or realize they aren't cut out for that life."

"Why worry about education and having something to fall back on when they're born into unreasonable amounts of wealth?"

"That sort of thing is minor. They'll be people like that all the time, even if they don't really have money, class, or breeding. Seeing and hearing them may have simply brought some of Severus's feelings to the surface and that's what's gotten him down. The two of you went to a wedding anticipating having a lovely time, and they ruin your afternoon. A minor thing like that may have triggered other things that Severus has been mulling over."

"Maybe."

"Ask Severus more questions about how he feels. I'm not around you all the time, but I have heard you make decisions for both of you without discussing it with him first."

Lily tutted, "Not on important things. And Sev has his secrets. He does stuff at the bank, and has a solicitor doing paperwork for him."

"What's wrong with that?"

"He won't tell me much about it … like how much life insurance he received, he only says it's enough. And he said the paperwork was about handling his parents' affairs, but what did they have?"

"I assume they did not rent their house so there is some property, Lily. Besides, why do you need to know?"

"I'm upset that all his books are gone."

"Your father made an offer to help Severus keep them, and was declined. It's not our business what he does with his belongings."

"He didn't let me help him go through them, and what if he didn't get a fair price?"

"Lily, why are you so worried about Severus's money? I know you've said you two have talked about things … but if you have no confidence in Severus just because he has not had money in the past, perhaps you should consider he'd be more cautious with it, rather than frittering it away."

"He's still interested in doing some sort of vacation in late August; it's dependent on our homework. We've gotten a lot done already."

"Has Severus given any indication as to what he'd like to do?"

"He's disappointed with the portkey office. They arrange large things, but their scheduled service for a couple people seems haphazard. Not like an airplane or a travel agent. I told him I could go to the library or something. For our first trip, the only thing we agreed on was somewhere where a form of English was commonly spoken. The languages Severus studies aren't common … well, he can probably understand Greek."

"Greece could be lovely."

"Severus wanted to see old stuff there. I thought maybe he could start with British museums."

"With you?"

"Uh, I guess. Museums aren't really my thing, mum. I like some history, and museums have their value, but hours of looking at things? Perhaps if Severus had a mission to look at something specific, then we'd have time to eat and maybe do something else."

"You should try to compromise, Lily. Even if you only think of Severus as your very close friend, and aren't seriously considering what you've discussed, it's all right to be concerned about how he feels. You need to ask him directly, at times. Don't be a pest. Also, don't pester him about things like money, or if the two of you are seeing other people, keep it polite."

"What other people?"

"Like other people. Until recently, I had no idea that you and Severus were more than you know … best mates. I mean I know you are a girl and he's a boy, but he's … I don't know, I thought it was more brotherly. Perhaps because Petunia teased him so much at the beginning. Besides the two of you being young when you met."

"Why wouldn't he keep it polite? I mean I've told him that once I do my apprenticeship and get established, I'll meet wizards who catch my fancy and get married. It's not going to be a surprise. Half the students at Hogwarts are scoping each other out as potential spouses. The pool of wizards and witches in Britain is small enough that chances are good they'll marry someone they went to school with."

"And Severus?"

"Severus? Right now, he's still got those marks from that terrible case of dragonpox. It'll get better. I'm doubting his will go away entirely, but he's brilliant. Some Ravenclaw girl will fall in love with him over some arithmancy equation. Mary thinks she fancies him, but it's for all the wrong reasons. I've tried to tell her."

"What sort of wrong reasons? Is she interested solely because Severus is your friend?"

"She wouldn't have even looked at Severus, if he wasn't around me. No, it's when there was a chance I might be infected and turn into a werewolf, Severus was worried about everything. Where I would be at school, if I'd stay in school, what would happen when I was home here since there's limited resources in a muggle house, and all that sort of thing so that's why Mary wants him to take care of her. He even had some ideas about children. Werewolves supposedly can't have them or something, I did not get around to reading that, but with Mary, it's an accepted fact. I was upset over that, but Severus kind of brushed that aside with some ideas to help me once we knew at what stage the infection was. If it was just female werewolves could not be pregnant due to the transformation, then there's a way to remove an egg from me, fertilize and grow it in another body. The second was a little wild. He thought that if the eggs themselves were infected, that a similar one could be used … and you might want to hold on, mum, would you believe Sev suggested Petunia?"

"What's wrong with that idea? You are sisters."

"We're nothing alike."

"If Severus could see a similarity between the two of you, then you should believe him."

"It was all crazy talk, mum," Lily disagreed. "Sev said if it was the two of us, he wouldn't mind our baby in his body. I mean that's just plain weird."

"Although I have trouble comprehending that, Lily, I am glad that Severus thinks of solutions. Not everyone is fortunate to easily have children. It tears couples apart, especially when blame is assigned haphazardly. There's a whole range of difficulties ..."

"You watch too much telly, mum."

"I do not. It happens in real life too."

Lily rolled her eyes, and her mother added, "Perhaps you need to talk to Severus more about why he said he was unhappy. He may have changed his mind once he was away from those people."

"Maybe this job will keep us so busy, he won't have time to think. I think that's the problem with him. He can stay awake all night thinking. Sev barely slept after his mum died. So if something's really wrong, he may not sleep. I'll try to figure that out while we're at this fellow's house."

"And no breaking the rules either. What applies here, applies there, Lily."

"Mum, we're seventeen." Lily had not told her mother that she'd be sharing a room, or shed, or tent with Severus.

"I don't care if you're seventy."

It was always worse than he remembered it.

Albus Dumbledore hated going to Azkaban. Plain and simple. It was a miserable place, and did nothing to reform wizards. Overwhelming guilt and self-doubt had its uses, but constant assault on the mind by dementors left one changed, and not for the better.

He was torn over the case of Remus Lupin. There were laws … good laws … to enforce that a werewolf had to take more than reasonable care to prevent their transformed lycanthropes meeting non-infected persons. Lupin had attacked others, infected one and killed another. Using the defense that he was not in his right mind was not a valid legal defense because he knew beforehand that he was a werewolf.

With regards to his accessibility and not being supervised, that was Albus's fault. However, when Lupin knew that others found out that he was a werewolf and could use him for illegal activities, it was his duty to report it. He knew he was dangerous, and why, after all his own personal suffering, would he risk infecting or killing someone else? That's what confounded Albus most. Lupin knew his friends were reckless, and might try to 'play' with the werewolf. Gryffindors did the most foolhardy things. Had Lupin no thoughts about his friends, or did he desire one of them to keep him company during the full moon when they accidentally got infected?

His conversation while he visited with Lupin was stilted. The young man was hopeful regarding James Potter's endeavor to have a pardon granted. Albus saw he did truly regret what had occurred.

Eventually, Albus steered the conversation to the subject that brought him here. "I had been reminiscing about the days when the four of you were in school together. You and Potter, along with Pettigrew and Black. I feel I should have seen something … some sign that you boys were heading down the wrong path. I intervened enough times with Prof. McGonagall to think that the four of you would trust me. Perhaps come to me with a problem that was too big for you to handle alone."

Remus nodded, then commented, "I guess we were caught up in our overconfidence. We were having fun."

"Was there a point among yourselves that you noticed that your direction was more towards hurting others, rather than just fun? Was there an incident that pushed your activities in that direction … perhaps with Mr. Snape?"

"Snape? Um well, he fights back, and he can make it challenging at times. I know sometimes we'd catch him unawares and go too far. We almost drowned him in a toilet. Other times it spilled over to other Slytherins. Since Sirius and James were brilliant with transfiguration, they could change the food on the Slytherin table from our side of the Great Hall. It wasn't poison or anything like that. It didn't bother Snape so much, but they got a kick out of other Slytherins' reactions."

"Did there come a time when you worried it may become poison to make things more exciting?"

"I don't think they'd do that."

"Are you saying that because you might incriminate yourself, or are you trying to protect your friends, Mr. Lupin?"

"Nothing like that … sir, I'm just saying they wouldn't risk killing someone."

"But they did."

"Uh, well, I'm hoping that that was all a big mistake. Sirius does not think the whole thing through before he begins something."

"I do not think you are being entirely truthful, Remus. With your appeal coming before the Wizengamot, I think anything you could do to unburden yourself of the secrets you've kept till now, would be best."

"Secrets?"

"Between you and the other lads."

"James already told me that he registered his animagus form, and Peter probably died in an accident when someone saw him as a rat. Sirius well … he's an animagus too, but he's no longer living here."

"Three animagi? Whose idea was it and who led?"

"Um, I know it wasn't Peter. And definitely not me. Either James or Sirius knew that werewolves did not attack animals or animagus in their form, so that's what led them to start studying how to do it."

"Did either one of them learn it very quickly?"

"No, I mean it was over a year before they got anywhere, and Peter was the last to achieve it."

"I'm in something of a quandary, Remus, and you may know something that you don't realize. Can we talk some more about Mr. Snape? What started the rivalry?"

"Oh, well … I think Sirius and James ran into him on the train before we were even sorted. I was in a different compartment, but Evans and Snape were sitting with Sirius and James, and then something got said, and Evans and Snape moved compartments. Since then, James fancied Evans and they both wanted to get the better of Snape."

"How did they involve you in it, or did Mr. Snape target you also? I know he's not an entirely innocent, rule-abiding student."

"It was more like being part of the group. With Snape being into the Dark Arts, it was an easy choice."

"What Dark Arts have you seen him use?"

"I haven't seen him use any. He knows a lot of spells, but he's always reading. Sirius recognized the books. There's a lot of them at his house."

"Do you know any titles?"

"No, I mean … they're blank on the outside without a picture. Not best sellers. They're either dark or black hard cover books."

"So if I am understanding you, it was based on Sirius Black's knowledge of what Dark Arts tomes look like that the four of you began attacking Severus Snape in first year?"

"Not just that … I mean Snape's good with verbal insults, and if he ... I don't know, chickened out or cried or something, it wouldn't have been fun. That was the main reason I think, the consistant entertainment value he provided."

"Than your understanding is that truly hurting him would put an end to a juvenile pastime? Rather than hurting him permanently would make the group of you the victors?"

"We crossed the line, and so did Snape, but none of us were looking to put an end to the other. Snape could have picked me or Peter off at any time, and he spent enough time watching and thinking to probably get James or Sirius, if he wanted to. He'd restrict it to a stinging hex or something similar when he caught one of us off guard."

"Let me share my suspicions with you, Remus. Over the past year, I noticed at least three attempts on Severus's life. One of them included you. I believe the information Sirius gave Severus was to lure him to you alone at an ideal time, however since he also gave Mr. Snape a concussion, the information was not received properly.

"Prior to that, a rare Dark Arts spell was employed against him, along with Miss Evans, who was in close proximity to him. She was one factor in uncovering the plot, along with one of my faculty studying such phenomena as a hobby.

"I also suspect Mr. Pettigrew was involved in the third attempt, but since that was on the evening he disappeared, I'm not certain if he laid the trap for Mr. Snape, or he led someone else to the ideal location.

"Lastly, is the most disturbing evidence that something is afoot. Since Mr. Snape's father is a muggle, he lives in a muggle town. Just him and Miss Evans, with no wizards for miles. No floos, no owls, no local reporter for The Daily Prophet, so why would Death Eaters choose a pub his father frequents to have their sport? The same pub Messrs. Potter, Black and Pettigrew caused trouble in last summer. My thought is it was to lure Severus home, away from Hogwarts, but like the other attempts, it was badly botched.

"You were already in Azkaban when that occurred, but do you know what occurred last summer and how it could relate? Whose idea was it to visit the quaint muggle town where Mr. Snape and Miss Evans dwell? I doubt either one issued an invitation."

Remus groaned and muttered, "I told them it was a bad idea. After we got in trouble for the girls' blouses, which I still say we never did, they were hot over the probation and James getting banned from quidditch. It wasn't Snape's fault, but when they need someone to blame, there's always some way they can connect him back to the incident.

"So we finished our OWLs, were on the train, still talking about the perceived injustice of it all, and we get off the train, and there's Snape, and he's going to board a muggle train with who got mistaken as his sister, but it was really Evans' sister, but we'll come back to her. So Peter changed and followed to find out where they bought a ticket to."

"Was it Peter's idea?"

"I don't think so. We had all been talking about how it was inconvenient we did not know where Snape lived because we wouldn't be able to do something till September, unless we sent him mail."

"You all knew he does not have a wizard and witch as parents? I think Prof. McGonagall has mentioned the prejudice your group showed Mr. Snape and would make inappropriate, public statements regarding he deserved the treatment he received because that's all he exists for?"

"Yeah, I know what you're talking about. It's not that he's a half-blood at all, it's just that James and Sirius can't stand him so they said some pretty crazy things. It's hard to explain, they'd get caught up in the moment, and the crowd cheering them, and someone might object so they'd say that Snape deserved it and threaten them with the same treatment if they didn't shut up. It's one of those things the dementors like to use so I've given it some thought."

"All right, so knowing that the destination may be muggle, especially since he switched to muggle transportation, the plan was to go there and do what?"

"I'm not sure what the final idea was, or how they ended up in that pub. I do know there was a problem because they found Evans' sister, but thinking she was Snape's, Sirius may have said some inappropriate things, and then James was mad at him because he fancies Evans."

"Yes, I think Miss Evans said that Mr. Black threatened her sister. She's still upset, and Mr. Potter only recently visited her home to try to speak to her so she's concerned that wizards, other than Mr. Snape, intend to show up and bully muggles whenever the mood strikes them."

"Peter said something about the secrecy act when he was stewing over how the plan went wrong. That they were going to cause trouble, and then Snape as the only underaged wizard in the area, would take the blame because they planned to exit quickly using the Knight Bus.

"I doubt that was true because Evans lives around there too, and James would not want Evans in any trouble."

"He did get into trouble, but Mr. Snape confessed that his father had requested that he attempt to repair the damage caused by your friends. That is underaged magic. However, there's only so much he could do on his own, so he did do the right thing by getting in contact with the Ministry through Miss Evans."

It did cross Remus's mind that his friends claimed that Snape had destroyed the pub, rather than them, but the Marauders always had a poor policy of being truthful, even privately among themselves. It was just one more shameful event in the Marauders' brief history. Remus spent a lot of time wishing that he could do it all over, while he whiled away the days and weeks in Azkaban.

"I'm sure you understand my search for a definitive connection then?"

"Connection?"

"Yes, between the Marauders and the Death Eaters. Starting with the failed excursion by your friends, that is when things changed. They were outwitted by muggles because one recognized magic. Who knows where their plans would have led them after they left there? Perhaps they would have found Mr. Snape's residence and treated it in a similar fashion."

Remus frowned in thought. He was not sure if they would have done something to another student's house. Wouldn't Snape's mother stop them?

As if sensing Remus's thoughts, Albus continued, "Mrs. Snape, although a witch, was ill for many years so they would have found it easy enough to wreak havoc, along with whatever collateral damage happened to their muggle neighbors' homes.

"Failing to accomplish whatever they set out to do during that trip, the next plan was put into motion, almost killing Mr. Snape and making Miss Evans quite ill. If the two of them were not so close, he would have suffered alone, and probably it would have remained undetectable, as I said earlier.

"When Mr. Snape recovers enough to return to school, Mr. Black assaults him and somehow accidentally mentions in passing that you are not at home during the full moon. Mr. Snape is unwell, injured, and passes the information along to his friends during conversation, and we all know how that ended up.

"During an unsupervised detention, a large masonry block falls almost crushing Mr. Snape and a Ravenclaw prefect. That is the evening Mr. Pettigrew disappeared and although his death was reported, his body was never recovered.

"That takes me up to Death Eaters attacking his father. A muggle. A nobody in the middle of nowhere, as far as they're concerned. Due to an unusual chain of events, Severus does not go home at the appropriate time. So if there was a plan for the same Death Eaters to finish whatever they started in that pub, it would fail because they too were overcome by muggles, or if others were waiting for Mr. Snape, he did not arrive when and where he was expected."

Remus understood what the headmaster was saying, but had to ask, "Why Severus Snape? He's a student, and from what I heard all the Slytherins are joining up with He Who Must Not Be Named so why go through any trouble to kill him? And we don't have anything to do with him."

"I think you may have, through Sirius Black. His cousin was one of those Death Eaters. Along with her husband and brother-in-law. His father was suspected of being in Voldemort's inner circle. After this failure, he was found dead in Knockturn Alley. It's obvious Sirius has connections. He was out of jail and Britain itself within a day of Parkin meeting her end."

"No, Sirius hates all that."

"If it's one thing I learned is that Sirius Black could tell a convincing tale, and certainly he could express outrage when any version of the truth, other than his own, was presented. I'm only wondering at what point did he really tell you and the others the truth? Was there always some plan against Severus Snape, or was it some crazy fancy of his that took hold of him and escalated it into something deadly?"

"I understand what you are saying, professor, but that has nothing to do with us. Uh, me and the Shrieking Shack was only a coincidence. Not part of some overall plot. I don't think there is any, really. Snape's smart, but he's not … oh, I don't know, a genius?"

Making light of the assessment, he replied, "At least you give Mr. Snape more credit than Prof. Slughorn."

"Well, that was a class where a lot could go on … I was in Runes with Snape. I hadn't given him any attention till last year because I was constantly struggling with it. But I saw that Snape really understood what was going on."

"Prof. Upsilon is fond of Severus. It was not until recently that I was aware of some of the staff's feelings regarding him. His article in The Quibbler, then his research in The Practical Potioneer … usually one is not as accomplished to appear in both publications."

"I remember the Unforgivables article," Remus replied wistfully. It had been when the four of them were together in their dorm. Then he remembered Sirius's attitude towards Unforgivables. It was a carefree attitude that did not consider others. Not a plot to target anyone specifically, except they were bound to hate anything written when it was authored by Snape.

After his conversation with Dumbledore, Remus Lupin lay in his cell wondering if the headmaster only visited him to talk about Severus Snape. Damned dementors were driving him crazy. That just came up in conversation. Dumbledore was concerned about him languishing in prison. Only natural since they had been somewhat close before. Remus was sure of it since he went through all that trouble to allow him to attend Hogwarts.

When Severus arrived at her home for Sunday dinner, Lily blurted out, "Where'd you get those?"

"You told me to get new clothes."

"Um, yeah I did, but you picked those out yourself?"

"What's wrong with them?"

Lily had not meant for Severus to buy new clothes that were similar to his old clothes. The trousers and jumper fit so it was a big improvement, along with not being older than the person wearing them. No real color either. His jumper was a grey blue, and the trousers were dark charcoal. "Uh, I'm sort of surprised that you didn't choose something different since your other clothes are hand me down."

"I can't wear robes in Spinner's End or over here, Lily. This style is fine. Students wear trousers and jumpers, when they aren't in uniform."

"Yes, they do … I'm just as I said, surprised that you did not choose something different."

"Not all types of clothing would suit me," was all he murmured in reply.

Even though Severus was not looking directly at her father, in his short-sleeved, bright plaid shirt, Lily agreed that a riot of color would be a huge adjustment for her friend.

Severus did not know what Lily really meant with her criticism. There was nothing wrong with these clothes that he bought at the muggle store. The selection of clothing he saw bordered on hideous. He intentionally wanted something plain, that covered him, and was suitable for wearing in both muggle and wizarding environments.

During dinner, Severus was quiet but would give Lily a sullen look occasionally as he thought over her comments. He was never going to dress like her father, if that's who she was using as an example of a well-dressed muggle. Severus was not a jovial, good-natured person whom bright colors suited. Mr. Evans' arms were also meaty so the sleeve hems were filled, rather than flapping feebly around wiry, insignificant arms like his.

Afterwards they said their farewells, Lily got what she packed and shrunk it and went out back with Severus to use the spot between their shed and fence from which to apparate. Considering she did not want any incidents when they were expected, Lily allowed Severus to apparate the two of them to Mould-on-the-Wold after he called Phi, who had been lurking nearby. Lily's owl would be sent to her with a letter either tomorrow or the next day, and she'd reply to send her back.

Severus looked around, then said, "Moonshine used the inn as a reference point in his directions. It's this way."

"Are you all right, Sev?" Lily asked as she walked beside him.

"Sure."

"Oh, you were quiet at dinner. Dad even mentioned football."

"I was thinking."

"What about?"

"Nothing unusual or harmful."

"Hmm, and how are you feeling?"

"Feeling?" Severus repeated before coming to a complete stop to look at Lily. "Feeling about what?"

"Yourself, Severus."

"Oh." Severus paused to think, then started walking again. Usually if someone asked him that out of politeness, he replied with the socially acceptable 'fine', since no one cared what he answered. Lily usually told him how he felt, rather than asking for his opinion. "I'm looking forward to the change of location here. My house has always been quiet when only mother was home, but I am bothered by her missing. If my apprenticeship is not close to where we live, I may sell it."

It's not quite what Lily meant when she asked, but Sev's response was interesting. Rather than saying that no one would want to buy his house, she asked, "Is that why you go to London so much?"

"Perhaps. I don't do much there so that is growing boring."

"How can Quality Quidditch Supplies ever get boring?" Lily kidded.

"Because Nimbus can't come out with new models fast enough to please me. We're turning down here."

Lily looked around. They were leaving the hard-packed dirt road for a well-worn, wide path that was slightly overgrown on both sides.

"There's no street lights out here to find our way after dark," Lily observed.

Severus was not sure if Lily was complaining, or commenting on how rural the area was.

After another minute or two of walking, Lily asked, "Is that it?"

Severus supposed it was their destination. He knew he was not in a position to judge other people's homes, but the sprawling jumble of buildings and additions was a sloppy patchwork of construction and dubious maintenance.

Was that a live chicken running across the dusty dirt in front of what was probably the main door? That prodded his brain regarding raising livestock. He had meant to learn more about food animals when he was considering taking care of Lily, when they married. Did that one escape, or did they run loose for exercise? Maybe it was intentionally loose since there was a four-legged animal wandering around also.

Whatever it was, it was eating an unkempt, scraggly bush. It had shaggy hair that was long and matted. It stopped long enough to bleat at them, before resuming its meal. Considering that sheep were useful for their hair, also provided mutton, kept lawns cropped and made a 'baa' noise, he asked, "Is that a sheep?"

"Sev! That's a goat." Lily stared at Severus. How could he not know the difference between a sheep and a goat? They looked nothing alike.

"Oh … oh, goats provide milk?"

"Uh, I guess that one could, but goats sometimes have a temper so I'm not going to check for you."

"Temper?"

"Yeah, they run into people and knock them down. Maybe bite too."

Severus looked at the animal in a new light. He had been warned from an early age regarding dogs and biting. There were no goats in Spinner's End so there had been no need to list them along with the other dangerous animals like dogs, cats, rats, bees, hornets, and pigeons.

For a wizarding house, Lily was not impressed. Chickens and goats in the front garden that was not maintained, along with shoddy, sprawling makeshift construction where possibly magic was the only thing holding it together.

Keeping an eye on the goat, Severus lifted the door knocker and allowed it to drop.

A young blonde woman, wearing an apron, with her hair up in a messy knot with a brass stirring rod holding it in place answered. "Hey, wotcha … oh, now I know where I remember the name Evans. You're a Gryffindor."

"Um, yeah."

"It's the red hair that I remember. I was in seventh, when you two were sorted."

"I don't recall your name," Lily admitted.

"It's -"

"Tess!" was yelled behind her.

She shrugged and yelled back, "It's them!"

There was the patter of feet, and a couple children popped out on each side of Tess. Severus stepped back.

A male voice yelled, "Out of the way. No one's here to see you lot."

Tess moved forward to make way for Regulus Moonshine, the Potions Master. He shuffled forward into the doorway wearing his tartan carpet slippers and a stained robe over his shirt and trousers. Probably a bathrobe since it was a worn, red velvet with a tasseled sash. He was not so old that his attire during the daylight evening hours while awaiting guests was excusable. Moonshine was a wizard who found traditional long hair and beards properly fashionable. His was grey at the roots, gradually turning dark brown towards the ends.

"Ah Mr. Snape," Moonshine said as he extended his hand.

Having already reviewed Moonshine's vitae before accepting the offer, Severus properly addressed him while extending his hand in return, "Professor."

"Very good, and ..." Moonshine stopped to stare at Lily, then exclaimed, "You're a girl."

Annoyed that this fellow put his apprentice in a flowered apron, and was some sort of throwback who did not recognize the women's liberation movement, she replied, "Well spotted."

"I mean … Mr. Snape only referred to you by your last name, Evans. He never elaborated on … the particulars."

"My OWL achievements are the same nonetheless," Lily insisted.

"Miss Evans is as qualified as I," Severus added. Why was this fellow insulting Lily simply because she was a woman? He had a female apprentice.

"That's … uh, I thought it would be two lads. There's uh, two beds, of course, but they are together."

"You said something like that in your letter," Lily agreed. "I've known Severus since before we started at Hogwarts. We don't have a problem with it."

"Uh … well then … I guess I'll show you to … oh, Tess, did you get down there?"

"No, I was up here the whole afternoon. I didn't have a free moment."

Moonshine sighed and shook his head, "I'll get it then. If you two will follow me, I'll point out some things that need doing on the way."

Severus had a good idea why Tess had little time to study for her Potions mastership by the time they reached their destination. Moonshine wanted extensive landscaping work, beside rejuvenating his potions plants, both in his dilapidated greenhouses and out of doors. He also had a general idea of where wild mistletoe could be harvested, and he needed different batches during different phases of the moon.

Staring at the object before them, Severus was confused. What was it? It was raised above the ground, and had a wheel on each side.

"It hasn't been opened in a while. Tess was supposed to get down here earlier."

"Oooh, a caravan," Lily claimed excitedly.

"We went on a couple vacations in it when we were into muggles and such."

"You drive?" Lily asked.

"The wife did. She was muggle-born and didn't want to give it all up."

Moonshine used his wand to charm the folding camper to the open position.

Meanwhile, Lily told Severus, "Tunie and I always wanted to take a trip in one. It hooks up to a car, and gets pulled behind it."

"You'd be in it, while it was being pulled?"

"No, we'd be in the car while on the highway. When we got to the camp or shore or wherever we're going, it would get opened up. Though we wanted to go in the one that didn't fold, with the bunkbeds and kitchenette."

Despite Lily's enthusiasm that this shelter on wheels was a standard muggle vacation vehicle, he didn't like the look of it. To him, it seemed fragile, especially when compared to Hogwarts or his own brick house in Spinner's End. At least a tent would be firmly on the ground, rather than balanced on one axle. It was attached to a post to steady it, but he had not put it to any sort of test yet.

Lily was disappointed that this was a very simple caravan. It would have to be to fold down like this. Nothing above waist height, and it wasn't big at all. Definitely long enough for them to lay down with a little extra, on the two bench like couches on either side of the low table. There was a door up front, that was rather clever the way it was hidden away when it was folded down. There were also windows high up on the side walls.

"Is there a lavatory?" Severus asked.

"There's an outhouse over there," Moonshine said as he pointed out a little shack, "and there's a water tank that you can fill and stand under over that way."

"Does your family come down this way often?"

"No, Tess keeps the kids close to the house so she can keep a better eye on them."

"What time would you like us up at the house tomorrow?" Lily asked.

"Breakfast is at seven. Then I'll show you what needs doing in the lab."

Lily made a face. The lab and all this work outside? This fellow had some pretty big plans for them.

It wasn't till they were alone that Severus pointed out, "I don't see how his apprentice gets any learning done. Caring for children, and there was food on her apron so she probably helps with meals. He may be taking advantage of her doing whatever is asked of her."

"How does someone get out of an apprentice contract?"

"It's not easy. He could poison her name to the point where no one else would take her on."

"Maybe your idea about writing to Healer Pye's a good one."

"If you don't want to write her, don't, Lily."

"What if I end up wiping noses for years?"

Severus shrugged. He had told this to Lily before, but now that she saw that it could happen, she grew concerned.

"Let me see what Phi needs before we … get too comfortable."

"I'll try to get that stuffy smell cleared out," Lily answered. She made too much noise for them to leave windows open till they were ready to go to sleep.

"You might have to cast charms directly on the upholstery. They might have gotten damp in the past."

"Are there sheets for those?"

"He didn't say."

"I don't want to lie directly on them."

"If you don't find anything, we can transfigure whatever we need."

Lily lost patience quickly, and decided to fix the interior to her liking. Severus could lock and ward everything when they were out. Stupid old man would probably pry into things like Dumbledore. They were seventeen. Sev thought Phi would be a good lookout, and he was making her a shelter against rain. When they left at the end of their six weeks, she'd put it all back.

As Severus entered, he told Lily, "I filled the tank with water, if you want it. In the evening the sun might have warmed it all day … what did you do?"

"I wanted one bed, Sev. It's covered with nice fresh sheets."

"I'll make a table and chairs outside. We can work on homework there, when we have time."

"Do you have much left?"

"I can work on my Arithmancy and Runes over weekends, if you want."

"If you need more time, you can work on it here. I have a bit of Divination left. I'd rather have it all done before we go on vacation."

"Did you want to do anything else first, or should I change into those pajamas?"

Lily was ready to smack herself in the head. She told Severus that he needed to wear pajamas, and now she didn't want him wearing anything. She answered, "Sure. Let me get out my nightie, and I'll change too. Could you get the door please?"

"Yeah, I'll ward it. I'm going to crack this window so I can hear Phi. I think she understands."

"Uh, I'll try to keep quiet."

"He should have no reason to complain if we get our work done. Moonshine certainly has enough in mind so we shouldn't be idle."

"Do you think we'll learn anything?"

"Other than to be cautious over our apprenticeships?" Severus asked as he took out the grey nightshirt.

Lily took out a frilly babydoll. She was going to leave the matching bloomers in her bag, but then decided to put them on the side to put on later in case someone came to check on them.

"I checked the post this thing is connected to. It seems stable, however maybe we shouldn't get too active."

Lily laughed, "It would be funny, if we knew we wouldn't get hurt."

Smirking, Severus replied, "At least you realize that's a possibility."

"Is there some sort of levitation spell we could use on ourselves?"

Realizing Lily meant something new for them, he reminded her, "We can cast it on each other, but the subject will drop if the caster stops concentrating."

"I think that's a new spell you should work on, Sev." She stopped talking to watch him finish getting undressed. He still hadn't told her what happened to him. How long was that going to take? It wouldn't be forever since Sev started to tell her things. There were going to be things that Lily didn't want to hear, but were important like Severus being unhappy and missing his mum.

Severus saw Lily staring at him. It was uncomfortably small in here. The ceiling was high enough that he could stand, but he could touch it when he barely put his arms over his head while changing. Was she expecting him to do something clumsy or funny?

Lily's mouth quirked at Sev's nightshirt. He was right. She'd want easy access to his broom so something like her nightgowns would keep her happy. If it was dark, it wouldn't matter.

"Are you changing, Lily?"

"Oh yeah, I was wondering if you liked this?" she asked, holding up the nightie she had already chosen.

"It's fine."

She was disappointed that Severus sorted through his things, rather than watching her disrobe. Did he think she was getting too fat? Mum had made a couple comments regarding her weight, but Lily couldn't help it. She was hungry.

Lily decided to pose herself on the bed before she called, "Okay, Sev. I'm ready."

He was relieved that Lily was seductively posed in a non-revealing manner, rather than some pornographic pose similar to those photographs. He didn't want Lily to become one of those kind of disgusting witches, even if it was only with him.

Smiling as Severus crawled up the bed to her, Lily cooed, "At last."

Tucking his wand in the crevice between the bed and wall, Severus asked, "What should we do first?"

"Don't be silly, Sev. Kiss me."

Other than restraining herself so they did not get the caravan rocking over the wheel chocks, Lily was immensely pleased with their evening. It was sort of like Valentine's Day when Severus preferred the slow love making, rather than Lily's wild enthusiasm. One thing flowed into another, and then they both dozed off with Lily's bum still rubbing against Severus while he held her.

Lily did not think she had been asleep long when she woke because she was hot, or maybe because Sev snored. She was definitely overheating with him right on top of her so she shifted to put some room between them and to get some air on more of her body.

Feeling lazy, she reached around for her wand to open the windows so she wouldn't have to get up and manually open them. As soon as her hand touched it, Lily knew she found Sev's wand instead of her own. It felt solid, or not to say that Lily's wand was not solid, but hers had a flexible feeling to it. Sev's didn't feel springy like hers. Although Ollivander had said hers was good for charms work, Sev was not bad at Charms. Though his wand thought different since the windows barely budged. They moved just enough for Lily to know that she had cast a spell. After a couple tries, she stuffed it back next to the bed and gave up. Stupid, stubborn wand.

When Severus woke during the night, it was because Lily was playing with his anatomy. He rolled onto her and gave her what she wanted. If she started waking him every night or multiple times in one night, he'd complain.

She still had her hand on him when he woke to the dawning morning. Lily was asleep. He wondered if she had held his cock all night. He momentarily speculated over that, but if she was not getting rough with it so he couldn't sleep, it was all right. Though if she tightened her grip like she was doing now when he tried to pry Lily off, that was going to be a problem. He elbowed her and murmured, "Lily, let go."

"Hmm?"

"I need to get up, so let go of me."

"What time is it?"

"Close to six. We can walk slow up to the house and plan between us what gardening would be easy to start on. If we have the option, did you want to work inside, while I stay outside?"

"Why?"

"I thought when we were talking over the possible work, you did not care for gardening."

"Uh … I didn't mean you couldn't handle ingredients or anything … maybe we should stick together when we can."

"Or do outside work early in the morning, or later in the afternoon."

"Well, we still need to find out what else he has in mind."

"Could you let go of me?"

"Oh, sorry."

After he dressed, Severus told Lily, who was dozing off, "I'll be back soon."

He came back and woke her up. "I left a basin of water on the table outside so you can brush your teeth or whatever with it. The water tank is arranged more for showering."

"You're dressed in your old stuff."

"If I'm doing all that yardwork, why not?"

"Eh," Lily said in agreement. The fellow was wearing an old dressing gown when he met them last night, and didn't bother to put on a regular pair of shoes to show them down here.