***25 September, 1986***

In the days following the incident with Kenneth, Lucy slowly came around to herself again. Kenneth was safely ensconced in Azkaban awaiting trial. She had not received word yet as to when the trail would be, but she hoped it would be soon. Once she had given testimony, she was determined to wash her hands of him and never look back. Lucy would make a life for herself and her daughter far from the murderous bastard.

At present she was finishing up with her morning classes. Miss Tonks, a sweet little Hufflepuff third year with wildly pink hair had stayed behind to ask for some pointers on how to study for their first exam coming up in a week.

"You mean you're only going to ask one question?"

"Yes dear. It will be from one of these three that I have given you." Lucy leaned over the girls shoulder, pointing to the questions on the parchment. "Your answer will be an essay. You have a whole week to study these questions and practice how you will answer them."

Miss Tonks nodded, but still seemed a little unsure. "I'm not very good at writing essays."

Lucy smiled her understanding. "Don't worry yourself too much over it. This is only the first exam and it does not hold as much weight as the others. If you prepare, you'll do just fine. "

"Okay," Miss Tonks sounded unconvinced.

"If you have a question, come see me. I'll be happy to point you in the right direction."

Miss Tonks brightened up at that. Her hair had miraculously flashed a brighter shade of pink. "Thank you, Dr. O'Conner," at that, the girl scooped up her books and skipped out of the classroom.

Lucy gave a wan smile and cleaned up her classroom before she went to lunch.

She had never taught young children before and was wondering if she may need to change some techniques. Sometimes it was hard to remember that most children are not as gifted as she was at their age. She was afraid that perhaps she may be giving too much homework. By the end of term, her fifth years will have done about eight hundred pages of reading in addition to their research projects.

Lucy was used to teaching undergraduate students. Before that she taught high school. If she had accepted the tenured position back at the university in the States, she would have been directing graduate students for the first time.

She decided she would wait for the results from her first exams to see if any changes were necessary. If she had to, she would adjust. As much as she wanted her students to learn, she did not want to burn out their little brains.

The one universal truth about teaching was, it is always a learning experience.

She warded her office door and went to lunch. She needed to finish her lunch quickly if she and Severus were going to make their 'date' in the staff room.

Severus was already at the Head table when Lucy finally made her way into the Great Hall. The other professors were leaning their heads towards one another, deep in speculation.

Today was Thursday. Last week, in an effort to get Lucy's mind off of her problems, Severus challenged her to a game of wizard's chess during their free period. He had not expected her to be quite so good. They did not finish that day, so the board was left in the staff room. They had not finished on Tuesday either. Tuesday was the other day they shared a free period. Today would be the third day of the match.

Lucy approached her chair and looked around at her colleagues in their hushed conversations before sitting down.

"So what are the odds?" she asked nonchalantly as she took her seat.

"Even," Severus said slightly chagrined. He had hoped that at least he was given a slight advantage.

Albus looked over from his chair. "I'll have you know Severus, Lucy learned to play from my brother when she was only six. He is the only person to ever best me in the game."

Filius was the punter for this game. When he overheard Albus, he squeaked and immediately changed the odds, "Five to four in favour of Lucy."

Severus almost choked on his onion soup when he heard that.

Students stared up as they wondered what was going on at the Head table. The staff was clamouring around Professor Flitwick to change their bets.

Lucy smirked while Severus groused. Then suddenly a familiar aroma caught her attention. Severus noticed and he too forgot the doings of the other professors. Albus was grinning knowingly, though his smile did not meet his eyes. It had not since the incident the previous week.

"That couldn't possibly be…" she said staring at the silver tureen in the middle if the table. Lucy lifted the lid and was surprised to see tiny spiced shrimp sitting atop a mound of creamy white grits.

"Did Pawpaw write to Mama for the recipe?" she turned and asked Albus.

"Not to my knowledge," said Albus as he began to take a bite of his banger.

"Did you?" Lucy asked as she began to eagerly fill her plate.

"I did not."

She stopped what she was doing. That left only one other person. "Severus, you wrote my mama about my cravings, didn't you."

He didn't look in her eyes but instead at what he considered to be the smelly mess she was pilling on her plate. He was beginning lose his appetite. He turned his attention back to his soup. "I may have had a brief correspondence with her over the matter," he mumbled into his spoon.

Lucy took a bite of the sweet and spicy shrimp along with a spot of the creamy grits. Her eyes rolled back with pleasure. After she swallowed she said "Ah…Heaven…I could kiss you for this Severus Snape."

Severus' cheeks flushed for a brief moment. He shifted nervously. "Not after eating that you won't." Under any other circumstances, he may have been tempted to take her up on that offer.

As far as chess games are concerned, this one was hardly exciting. Neither Severus nor Lucy had managed to gain control of the centre. That first day, it had taken fourteen moves before she managed to capture Severus' first pawn. She had a sneaking suspicion that the only reason she had managed that was because Severus just wanted to see something come off the board.

It was now three days into the game and the only thing that had been accomplished was Lucy had three of Severus' pawns and he had one of her pawns and a bishop. They had both castled their kings, realising that this battle wasn't going to be over anytime soon.

There were a few other professors in the staff room, including Filius, who had a vested interest in the outcome of the game. For the most part, the game was ignored, people only gathering around the table if it looked like something exciting was going to happen. In reality, the only excitement in the game was the wagers that were set on it.

Filius had another vested interest, but not in the chess game. He also kept an eye on the players. He only had two more weeks left in his little wager with Minerva and he was getting frustrated. Couldn't these two just admit their attraction and get on with it? Honestly, these two young people danced around their feelings like they danced their pieces around the chess board, either one afraid to make the first bold move in fear that it may be the wrong one. Well, at least they were chatting with each other over the game board.

"Do you have enough chaperons for your excursion Saturday?" Severus asked a he was contemplating Lucy contemplating her next move. She had a habit of twitching her nose when she was immersed deep in her thoughts. He found it rather endearing.

"Hmm…yes. Professors Myers, Sinestra, and…oh what's the new Runes' professors name?

"Babbling."

"Yes, Babbling. They will be coming along as well as some parents. They all want to tie the trip in with their curriculum. Why? Did you wish to come along?" She finally moved one of her knights, hoping that Severus would accept her sacrifice, thus opening himself up for attack by her queen.

"Not unless one can use a monolith in a potion. Know of any?" Severus did not take her bait. He calmly moved one of his pawns in such a manner that if she dared to move her queen into position, his free rook would snatch her away.

"Damn," Lucy muttered under her breath. She leaned back in her chair to consider her next move. She knew the game was about to change

They were distracted as an eagle owl flew thought the window. It was carrying two posts. They watched it gracefully fly in and land on the table next to the chess board. It hopped over to Lucy had held up a talon. Seeing that this owl belonged to the post office in Hogsmead, Lucy took a couple of sickles from a pocket in her robe and put them in a leather pouch attached to the owl's leg. The owl turned and glided back out the window.

Severus looked at Lucy with interest. "You seem to be popular this afternoon."

Lucy opened the first letter and smiled broadly. "It's from Mama. Not only will she and Daddy be here next weekend, they're bringing Allen and Alf."

Severus raised an eyebrow at the strange name. "Who is Alf?" He had only heard of three brothers, Allen, Richard Jr., and Daniel.

"Well to be quite honest, I don't know his real name. He is Daddy's Alfa patient, the first volunteer to try the potion. When it was an obvious success with him, Daddy was given permission to expand clinical trials. I suppose he is going to give patient testimony at the symposium."

Severus recalled reading about the miraculous success surrounding Dr. O' Conner's Alpha patient. He had to admit, as much as he still harboured a fear of werewolves, he was intrigued to see the results of Dr. O'Conner's work first hand.

"Wonderful!" Lucy exclaimed. "Allen is taking a hiatus from school this year to assist Daddy, but he has been accepted into Graduate School at MIT next year!"

"I thought your younger brother was a Squib. How much assistance can he be?"

"You would be surprised. He may not be able to create magical potions, but he knows the theory behind them. And he is absolutely genius with mundane potions. He has been fascinated with Daddy's work as long as I can remember and Daddy always encouraged him to pursue the knowledge. He is going to study to become a bio-chemist...If we are lucky, he'll bring his guitar"

"Your brother plays?"

Lucy nodded. "Twelve string. The O'Conners come from southern Ohio. My grandfather was a Muggle and absolutely amazing with is guitar." Lucy recalled fondly. "He tried to teach all of his kids and grandkids. I could never pick it up, but Allen took to it like a duck to water."

Lucy was so excited about seeing her little brother, she almost forgot about her second letter. "Are you going to open that one?" Severus pointed out.

"Oh…thank you." She opened up the second letter and a curious look came across her face.

"What is it? Not bad news, I hope." Severus said. If Kenneth managed to get released because of his Ministry connections, there would be Hell to pay.

"No…the British Museum of Magical History wants to see some of my reproduction work."

"What kind of reproductions?"

"Ancient Manuscripts. My second doctorate was with artefact recognition and preservation. I studied old manuscripts and learned how they were created. I reproduced some carpet pages and manuscripts from the Book of Kells and the Book of Kildare. They are quite magnificent if I do say so myself. Apparently the manuscript curator at the museum wants to look them over."

"I wonder why?"

"I suppose I'll find out when I meet with him. He is coming here on Monday," Lucy said as she folded the letter and put it back into its envelope.

The clock in the staff room chimed. It was quarter until two and time for the last afternoon class. As it was a double class on Tuesdays and Thursdays, it would last until four o'clock.

Staff began to shuffle out of the room. Severus and Lucy were amongst the last to leave as Severus cast a charm over their game so it could not be disturbed. Filius was the only other person left. "Filius…If you don't wish to be late, you shoud make haste," Severus reminded him.

"I'll be fine. Just need to finish this one paper," he said, feigning as if he was grading.

"Severus…would you and Harry like to come up and see my work this evening," Lucy asked. "I'll throw in dinner."

"As long as you're not serving shrimp and grits," he held the door open for Lucy to pass and followed her out as she laughed.

Filius rolled up the parchment that he had been blankly staring at for the past forty five minutes and grinned. Perhaps he would win that wager with Minerva after all.

***7:27 p.m. ***

Harry was laying on his belly in Miss Lucy's chamber. He and his daddy had just had a brilliant dinner with her. Something called Chicken Parmesan. For pudding they had something called Shoo-fly pie. Miss Lucy said it was a recipe from her Grandma O'Conner who grew up in Pencil-vania. Wherever that was. Harry thought Shoo-fly pie looked and tasted an awful lot like Treacle Tart, which was good, but he thought the name was very funny.

He had a piece of alfalfa grass stuck between his teeth wiggling it about. Harry was trying to coax Thor out from behind the plants she was hiding behind. The bunny had managed to get close to him once, but Harry moved too quickly as he reached out to pet her and she bolted away again.

Harry gave up on Thor and turned on his side. He propped himself up on one arm and watched his daddy. Miss Lucy had gone into her study to get something and Daddy was looking at some strange little statues she had displayed on the shelves. Harry wished his Daddy had followed her into the study. Then they would be alone and maybe get this whole kissing business done.

Miss Lucy came out of her study with a flat rectangular wooden box with all kinds strange and beautiful carvings on it. She went over and sat on the sofa and placed it on the coffee table along with a pair of white gloves. She then asked Harry and his daddy to join her.

"Severus…Harry, have a seat." She patted a spot on the sofa beside her.

Severus turned from where he was admiring a votive statue. He had been thinking a lot of Lucy as of late. Tonight he could not help but to notice how pretty Lucy looked in her brown and chiffon over gold silk. The way her hair cascaded over her shoulder was stunning. Her eyes were dancing with excitement and the prospect of divulging her life's passion.

Yes, Lucy loved to teach. It was evident in the way she was always there to answer her student's questions and she took pride as if their accomplishments were her own. Lucy had told him the only stupid question is the one left unasked. Perhaps he might consider that approach.

But Lucy admitted that her true obsession was with artefacts and writings. "Tangible links to the past," she had called them. Lucy described the thrill of touching something that another soul had touched thousands of years before. It was the only way one could reach back into the past and touch their ancestors. That was why she loved history so much.

Severus had never been much on history. To him it had always been places and dates and old dead men. But he had never looked at it in the way Lucy had. Perhaps it had something to do with having a close family and taking pride in its accomplishments. Severus had to admit, he had not been so blessed. He really didn't care a rot about his family's dark past, either side of it, but he could definitely understand passion in ones work.

It had been slow in coming and he did not know when he had finally made up his mind, but Severus had come to a conscience decision to pursue Lucy. He was not sure how he was going to go about doing it, but he needed to convince her to stay in the country and he did not know whether or not to make his intentions known. If he told her and she still decided to leave, how would he handle it? If he did not tell her, would she leave never knowing how he felt?

Lucy was kind, intelligent, and witty...and Harry absolutely adored her. Severus found that he could not imagine a day without seeing her.

She may be prone to outbursts of anger from time to time, but then again so was Severus. Every so often she had chastised him over how he spoke to his students, but she took it as a lack of teaching experience. After all, he had no formal training as she had, and had only been a 'father' to a small boy for over a year. Severus had actually managed to curb his temper since that first year. If she had seen his outbursts before then, she may not have been so magnanimous in her assessment of him.

But just like he found himself not wanting to disappoint Harry, neither did he wish to disappoint Lucy. He wanted to live up to her expectations.

The question was would Lucy return his affections? After all she has just ended a rather nasty relationship. He could hardly blame her if she were reluctant to try again.

But sometimes, he swore he saw something in her eyes... something that had always eluded him with Lily. So Severus was determined to take things as slow as he needed to in order for Lucy to know that she could trust him with her heart.

Harry had already picked himself up off the floor and was leaning against Lucy's knee, curious about what she had to show. Severus went to the sofa. He hitched his slacks and sat down next to her.

"Harry…why don't you sit on your daddy's lap," Lucy suggested.

Severus lifted up Harry and plopped him on his lap. The child made himself comfortable and waited patiently for Lucy to open the box.

Lucy first cast a spell of the coffee table to make it free of contaminates and then put on a pair of white gloves.

Severus looked at her hands. They were tiny for a grown woman. The whole of her hand could fit quite easily in the palm of his own.

She slid off of the couch and sat on her knees in front of the coffee table and gently lifted the ornate cover off of the box. She removed the top layer of acid free parchment that protected her delicate work. She gently lifted the top vellum page out. Lucy held the edges gingerly between the palms of her hands and gently placed it on the table for Severus ad Harry to see.

Severus gave an audible gasp. "Lucy…you made this?"

"Wow," breathed Harry.

Lucy smiled demurely at their approval "Yes," agreed Lucy. "It took me five years to recreate these eight pages."

The page before them was practically translucent. The intricate geometric designs were both bold and delicate at the same time, the blues, golds, greens, and reds strikingly vivid.

"How come it took so long?" asked Harry. It was almost his entire lifetime.

"Well, it took me over a year to discover the pigments and learn the quill strokes. And of course I had to obtain high enough quality photographs to work from, because obviously I could not have more than one day's access to the originals," she looked down lovingly at her handiwork.

"This is quill work?" Severus was astonished.

"Yes…these types of manuscripts are all done by quill. Since the type of quills needed are no longer made, I had to make them myself."

"Lucy…this is miraculous work. How close are they to the originals?"

She gave a naughty little chuckle. "Close enough that one can't tell the difference without an age charm or they would have to be intimately familiar with the quill stokes. They are practically perfect."

"Do you suppose the museum wants to display them?"

"It would be an honour." Lucy said but wouldn't dare to hope. "I doubt it though. These are based after Muggle works."

"However did you ever find time to do something like this?"

"Severus…this is the type of thing I used to do with my spare time when I left home to study."

"This was your idea of fun?"

"When I was alone…yes it was."

It boggled Severus' mind the amount of dedication Lucy need to complete this work. And he thought himself obsessive when it came to potions.

Severus wondered if she missed it. He found that at times, he missed his private potions experimenting. But he now knew that was the time he was lacking something in his life and he needed the obsession to fill the void. Raising Harry had quelled the obsession for the most part. But sometimes he really did miss that freedom.

The next couple of hours, Lucy spent going over the pages of manuscript with Severus. Harry had fallen asleep and Severus placed him on the sofa and he took a place on the floor next to Lucy. Thor had come out of her hiding place and tucked herself into the bend of Lucy's knees and fell asleep.

Severus had lost interest in the artwork itself long ago, but instead hung on Lucy's every word as she went into minute detail behind every stroke.

She sounded as though she were telling a love story. In one very real sense, she was.