***21 November, 1986-4:58 p.m. ***

Just as Harry crossed over the tree line, he heard Hagrid's panicked voice carry down the hill. "Where is 'ee? 'Ee was jus right there?"

Harry hid behind the biggest tree he could quickly find. He peeked his head from around the huge trunk in time to see Hagrid running towards his hut whilst Professor Kettleburn stumped as fast as he could back up to the castle.

Harry breathed a sigh of relief. Just as Professor Kettleburn began to make his way up to the castle, the Professor ran into Charlie, who was heading down to the Hippogriff paddock. Magical Creatures was Charlie's favourite subject and Harry had forgotten he was coming down to help Hagrid and the Professor after tea. Harry was going to miss talking to Charlie, but what he was doing was too important.

Harry saw the Professor say something to Charlie with an alarmed wave of his hand, and Charlie started running back up to the school. Good...maybe Daddy and Mummy would be there soon to find him. He was quite far into the forest, but he could still see Hagrid's hut and could even hear people if they spoke loud enough and boy, did Hagrid speak loud enough when he came back out of his hut after seeing Harry wasn't inside.

"HARRY...Where are ye lad?"

Harry saw Hagrid and Professor Kettleburn come towards the edge of the forest and he quickly ducked back behind his tree. They looked very worried, and Harry hated fooling them, but it wouldn't do to have Hagrid find him before Mummy and Daddy did.

Harry thought perhaps he could go just a little farther into the forest. Hagrid and the Professor were still talking urgently, but Harry knew they would come into the forest soon. Now was the time to sneak off and find a better hiding place.

***5:10 p.m. ***

Hanging from the top rung of the ladder in the student potion storage cupboard, Severus scowled to himself as he placed another expired phial of Boil Cure Potion into the box floating next to him. He really ought to have done this before term began, but at the moment it was busy work and it was a way to keep from going insane until Lucy arrived.

Enough was enough. After speaking to Aberforth the day before, Severus finally decided it was time to swallow his pride and ask Lucy to come home. It was getting rather ridiculous, actually. Severus could tell from the look in Lucy's eyes that she wanted to come home just as much as he wanted her there. But after the first couple days of cold shoulders on behalf of both of them, two simple words such as, 'I'm sorry' became increasingly harder to say.

After the length of time they stayed apart, Severus simply did not know where to start with the apologies, and had little faith in their efficacy to begin with. Where did one start to mend the breach between them?

After thinking about Aberforth's advice and failing to find sleep, Severus sat down at the small writing desk in his quarters and put quill to parchment. He wrote two missives to Lucy. The first was a simple request to meet him in his office after tea. The second was a poem.

Severus loved poetry, but he was rather inept when it came to creating his own, so he scoured his personal library for over two hours. He searched from Shakespeare to Cummings and failed to find words that moved him. He finally came across two poems by Neruda that brought him to tears. It was not the poems in their entirety, but only select stanzas. Rather than choosing one poem over the other, or including stanzas which he deemed inappropriate, Severus decided to take the only stanzas that spoke to him, and arranged them to say what his heart truly felt.

Apparently, Lucy received the package that Severus sent to her via house elf. Lucy wrote back saying she would meet him at 5:15. If all went well, Severus and Lucy would bring Harry home from Hagrid's around six o'clock—as a family.

Severus thought he could never thank Aberfor...Abe, enough.

***20 November, 1986-1:14 p.m. ***

"Here lad...drink this. Look as though you could use a Gillie."

Aberforth stood across the dusty bar from Severus and slid a tumbler with a finger of amber liquid towards the younger man. As much as Severus felt obliged to take the offering, without even lifting his head, Severus slid the lowball glass back to Lucy's grandfather.

"I'm sorry, Aberforth. I must return to the castle soon. I still have lessons to teach." Severus was not even certain how or why he had come to the Hog's Head after checking in on Harry. He had not stayed long enough to take his lunch with his son, but rather, in his melancholy, chose to go for a stroll for the rest of his break. How he ended up at Aberforth's doorstep, remained somewhat hazy. Severus now wished he had chosen to take his lunch with Harry and Hagrid. Severus wryly thought he would much rather tolerate Lucy's shrimp and grits than gag down Aberforth's onions and oatmeal.

As usual, the place was practically empty on the weekday afternoon. Aberforth only had a reasonable afternoon clientele on the weekends, when kalied wizards would rent one of his upper rooms to sleep off a bender.

"One won't do you aharm...and don't you think it's about time you called me 'Abe'? We're to be family soon, after all."

Severus scoffed and decided he needed the firewhiskey after all. The glass made a scraping noise across the worm-eaten wood as Severus slid the glass back towards himself. "It will be rather difficult to take our wedding vows if Lucy refuses to ever speak to me again. Just this morning, she chose to avoid me by refusing to take breakfast in the Great Hall."

Severus downed the firewhiskey in one belt, taking comfort in the slow burn as the liquor made its way down his gullet. If it wasn't for the fact that he had to return to Hogwarts within the hour, he would have readily indulged in another... or three.

Aberforth took the empty lowball and a cup of hot tea magically appeared in its place. "Now you can't be knowin' that. As I understand it, you've been as stubborn as an ass on that point yourself." There was no accusation in the old wizard's remark, only a wry statement of fact.

Severus was about to take a sip from the tea when he set it back down on its saucer a little too forcibly. The hot tea sloshed onto Severus' fingers, but he only swore to himself irritably before he said, "I admit...I was wrong to walk out on Lucy that night, but how the hell am I supposed to apologise if she keeps avoiding me as if I had Dragon Pox?"

Aberforth flicked his wand towards the back room behind the bar and Severus could see through the open door where the few dishes he had left from morning breakfast began to wash themselves. He then placed his bony arm on the table and leaned towards Severus. "Now tell me true, lad. How much of an effort had you made to seek her out?"

"How can you say I haven't sought her out?" Severus said defensively. "Wasn't I here this Sunday past, looking for her so I could apologise. She is the one who chose to hide in her damned scriptorium. She was already in a snit. Disturbing her privacy would have made matters worse."

"Can't be any worse than it is now, can it?"

Severus rolled his eyes and avoided Aberforth's gaze as he thought of several ways it could be worse.

Aberforth continued on unaffected. "According to the other half of this little dirdum, tis' you who have been doing the avoidin'."

Severus scoffed and looked at Aberforth in disbelief. "Me? She was the one who..."

Aberforth held up his hands in defence, "Now I didn't say Lucy isn't wrong. You both made mistakes, and hopefully she'll do her part to fix this mess too. It doesn't matter who takes the first step, as long as one of you does, because the longer you wait, the harder the fixin' will be."

"I'm willing to take that step, Aberforth," Severus dully admitted, "However, if she continues to avoid me, it may prove problematic."

"I don't think she's avoidin' you, son. Don't you think that maybe like you, she just don't know what to say?"

Severus reflected on Aberforth's words. True—more than once Severus caught Lucy staring at him. He would actually catch his breath when he thought he saw his own longing reflecting back at him in her sea-blue eyes. Then she would quickly avert her gaze, and Severus would think he simply imagined the entire exchange.

Severus bowed his head dejectedly, "How can I be certain she is no longer angry with me."

"Ach...There you go misunderstandin' again. I didn't say that. For all you know, she could still be...now what is that turn of phrase she uses...ah...'angrier than a wet hen.' But in all honesty, I think she is more hurt, than angry."

Severus' melancholy only deepened. The thought that he had hurt Lucy was far more upsetting than making her angry.

As if the old man had read his mind, Aberforth's bony hand reached out to Severus', which was lying flat atop the bar, and patted it in understanding. "I know—tis' hard to think we hurt those we love, but like it or not, tis' somethin' we all do from time to time." When Severus did not answer, but only stared forlornly into his tea, Aberforth continued, "If you're ever goin' to get her back, lad, you need to stop yammerin' and do somethin' about it."

Severus' gaze shot up to the old wizard. What was he supposed to 'do?'

The older man read Severus' uncharacteristically open expression, "First—you need to get past your stubborn pride and overcome your irrational fears."

Irrational? There was nothing irrational about fearing he could lose Lucy forever due to his hot temper. He had already lost Lily for that very reason, all those years ago. Severus opened his mouth to say something, but Aberforth was talking too fast for Severus to get a word in edgewise.

"Trust me—I know how you feel. You don't honestly think Ella and I went through over eighty years of marriage without a nary a fight, do you? This is all new to you and Lucy—that's all. It's your first fight—and there will be others, the two of you just need to learn how to fight the right way. Do that and the two of you will have a long and happy life together, just as Ella and me did."

Severus was now more confused than ever. "You mean to tell me, if Lucy and I are going to be happy, we must learn to fight?"

"I said you must fight the right way," Aberforth emphasised, "Which means you can't go runnin' away from your wife every time an argument goes south. You have to see your problems through...together," Aberforth said pointedly. "Remember—you will be promisin' for better or for worse. Don't go stompin' out the door without letting her know that you will be home. Don't hide the feelings that truly matter from your wife. Continue to do things of that sort, then one day, she might not let you back in."

Severus swallowed the last of his tea his brows drawn down pensively. As he put down his cup and thought on Lucy's grandfather's words, for the first time since Lucy Disaparated from his garden gate, Severus honestly believed that he and Lucy could overcome their problems. Severus knew they only needed to talk the matter through, but until that moment he no idea how to approach the matter. Yes, Lucy had not handled the situation any more admirably than he had; however, it was his wounded pride that ignited the conflagration in the beginning. It was for Severus to forego his pride and make the initial apology.

As far as Severus was concerned, at this point, he was not concerned if Lucy apologised or not, as long as she came back to him. Ever since she left, Severus had felt as if he were seperted from an important part of his body, unable to connect with everyone and everything around him. At the moment, Harry was his one purpose that kept him grounded at all. He needed Lucy to end his discombobulation.

It wasn't just Severus that needed Lucy, Harry did as well. Severus was running out of excuses as to why Lucy had yet to come home and the boy's sadness was every bit as palpable as his own. Harry wanted his mummy. Severus knew that his hot words had pushed her away before Lucy had a chance to explore her new role in his or the boy's life.

It was time to end this madness.

Severus arose from his chair and took out his money pouch to pay for the whiskey and tea, and Aberforth raised his hand in protest. "Your Galleons are no good here, Severus. What makes you think I'd charge my own great-grandson?"

Aberforth's blue eyes twinkled from over his half-moon glasses as he looked at Severus. It was the only trait of the old wizard's to give away that he was of any relation to the Hogwarts' Headmaster. But Aberforth's similar expression was neither irritating nor patronising, rather, it was warm and genuine. For the first time in as long as he could remember, Severus truly felt as if he were part of a greater whole...a member of a true family.

Severus gave the elder wizard a nod of thanks and then did something he had only done in the presence of Harry and Lucy...he smiled. "Thank you, Aberfor...Abe for... everything."

Aberforth rewarded Severus with one of his own rare smiles, "That is what family is for."

Severus made way to the tavern door and stepped aside to allow a new patron through. As he began to close the door behind him, Aberforth called out. "Oh Severus...there is one exception to that 'make your feelings known' rule."

Severus did not ask for elaboration, but simply turned and raised an eyebrow in curiosity.

"If she ever asks you if her new robes make her look fat, the customary answer is, 'Of course not, darling. You look as lovely as ever.'" Aberforth had such a cheeky grin on his face as to make the Cheshire cat proud.

Severus stifled his 'guffaw' as the new patron slapped his hand on the bar and shouted, "Sage advice, if there ever be any! Gimme a pint of your finest ale, 'keep!"

***21 November, 1986-5:14 p.m. ***

Lucy hesitated and knocked on the open door to the storage room before she tentatively put her head around the corner. "Severus?"

He was atop a ladder, incongruously in his frockcoat as he put old potions into a wooden box floating beside him. She caught her breath at the sight of him. She had missed him desperately over the past few days. She had not realised even in the short time they had known each other just exactly how much he had come to mean to her. She had come to realise as she sat alone in her scriptorium at night, carefully analysing ancient pigment and text she knew her life would be empty without him. Her talk with Alf, the morning before, made her realise how pig-headed she had been.

***20 November, 1986-7:42 a.m. ***

Pawpaw had gone through the extra effort to make a traditional fry-up for Lucy that morning. In all honesty, she had no appetite, however for the sake of her baby, she forced herself to eat her breakfast. She wasn't suffering from morning sickness. She had no need for those potions for three weeks now, but she could no longer sit beside Harry and Severus and pretend that nothing was wrong. She had already been a blubbering mess throughout most of her pregnancy, but today Lucy felt so miserable, she was certain she would break down in front of the entire Great Hall if she had to endure another silent breakfast with Severus.

Lucy loved Harry with all of her heart, but there is only so much stimulating conversation one can engage in with a six year old. She sat at the table with her barely touched breakfast before her read the Prophet for no other reason than to have something to hide behind.

She read that Sirius Black's family fortune had been restored and that the Ministry had paid him an undisclosed amount in reparations. Currently, he had resumed his residence in his bachelor flat in Soho, and was very popular amongst the young witches that looked upon him as a tragic hero. Lucy was glad to see that an innocent man had his life back, but the unabashed hero worship made her want to vomit.

"Are you two still not talking?"

Lucy looked up from the table in surprise to find Alf standing over her. He was dressed in a rather stylish set of slate-grey casual business robes. He had his violin case with him. Lucy had nearly forgotten that this was the morning of his audition. Although Alf had initially refused, Severus had insisted upon paying him for watching over her and Harry during her convalescence. Severus had explained that it was his intention to pay Alf from the beginning and if he hoped to ever watch over Harry again, Alf would take the money.

She sniffed, then took her napkin and dried her eyes. She hadn't realised she had even been crying. Lucy said nothing as Alf set his instrument on the floor, and with the scrape of wood against stone, pulled out the chair across from Lucy and joined her at the table.

"Oh...did you want something before you leave for London?" Pawpaw was out feeding his goats and Lucy felt the responsibility to play hostess in his absence. Pawpaw had only three other guests that morning. Two had already left and one was still upstairs asleep. Lucy also hoped to divert Alf's attention away from her problem by changing the subject. "Lovely suit. Did you buy it for the audition?"

Alf waved off the offer. "That's quite alright. I know where the kitchen is and I don't think I could hold anything down today if I tried," he said offhandedly. "Nice try, by the way."

"Pardon me?" Lucy said as unaffectedly as she could before taking a too big of a bite of tomato. She tried, but failed, to keep from grimacing as she chewed. Everything tasted off. Even Pawpaw's normally lovely and silk-like eggs had tasted like sawdust. She swallowed it down hard and took a deep swig of orange juice before she choked out her retort. "Alf...I have no idea what you are talking about."

Alf said sardonically, "Of course you don't, Lucy. Why don't you just talk to him?"

Lucy put down her fork a bit forcibly. She could no longer pretend she did not understand Alf and the pain the subject brought her was apparent in her voice. "Because he doesn't want to talk to me Alf. Obviously he does believe I am to blame for what happened to Harry."

Alf shook his head to the contrary, "I don't believe that at all. I think he's just feeling guilty about what he has done to you and doesn't know what to say."

"Severus has never been at a loss for words, Alf."

"Neither have you, yet here you are, alone, having your breakfast in your grandfather's pub instead of the Great Hall because you are too frightened to face Severus."

"I am not afraid to see Severus," Lucy irritably denied, then after another moment her indignation deflated. "I just don't know what to say to him anymore. Sometimes, I think I can see his apology in his eyes," she said with a gusty sigh, "and then it's gone, and I think I must have imagined it all."

Alf reached across the table and took both of Lucy's hands before he said sympathetically, "Lucy, if you're having so much trouble coming up with the right words, how do you think Severus must feel? This is not the first time he took his temper out on someone he loved because of Sirius." He pulled his hands away from Lucy and said regretfully,"You, no doubt, know what happened the last time."

"He thinks he's going to lose me like he did Lily," she mumbled the realisation mostly to herself.

Remus nodded in agreement, "And you refusing to speak to him must only be reinforcing that thought. Lucy, I've known...or at least, thought I have known, Severus since we were children. He has changed in many ways—for the better, mind you- however, the one thing that has not changed is his pride. He is the first to berate himself when he knows he is wrong, and the man who came here Sunday frantically looking for you was ashamed of himself for what he had said and done."

Lucy turned her face away from Alf, and wiped a stay tear away with her fingers. "He's not the only one who is ashamed." She took a deep breath to compose herself and said, "I should have never have left, Alf. What I did was worse than what Lily had ever done. I not only ran out on Severus, I ran out on Harry as well."

Alf choked back his own grief before he said, "Take it from someone who was there, Lucy. Lily Potter had her own regrets over Severus and she took them to her grave." As if shaking off the maudlin thought, he said only somewhat more brightly, "You, however, are older—thus, presumably, wiser—and you have the opportunity to make amends."

"I don't know what to say to him, Alf. Where do I begin?"

"What do you want to say to him?"

"That I'm sorry I ran out on him and Harry, and that I should have given him the chance to explain before making assumptions."

Alf raised his hands as if she had just stated the obvious. "Well, there you go then. That seems as good a thing to say as any." He arose from the table and picked up his violin case. Lucy arose from her chair as, and reached up to wrap her arms around his neck. He leaned his head down far enough so she could plant a kiss on his cheek.

Lucy smiled up at him, feeling optimistic for the first time that week. "Thank you, Alf. You're a great friend to the both of us."

Lucy allowed him to extract himself from her embrace. He was blushing when he said, "I couldn't be otherwise...It was your family who gave me a second chance at a life, and though Severus will never admit it, he gave me the chance to redeem myself to him, for that alone, I am eternally grateful." Alf's brow furrowed as he thought on what he just said. "Please don't tell Severus I said that."

Lucy jokingly looked around, as if they were being spied upon and she whispered, "Your secret is safe with me. Oh...I almost forgot. Daddy and Mama want me to invite you to join us in Charleston for Christmas. Do say you'll come."

"Not this year, poppet. I do love Charleston, but I haven't spent Christmas with my family in years and I'm joining my parents and sister on the Isle of Wight this year."

"It sounds lovely, I'll be sure to send your regrets to Daddy and Mama."

Lucy walked along with Alf to the tavern door. "Good luck with your audition. I just know you will be brilliant.

"Thank you, love." Alf turned to her and put a hand on her shoulder. "Talk to Severus...I promise you everything will be fine. He loves you very much."

Lucy nodded her head, "I'll write him tonight and ask to meet tomorrow evening. I have quiz papers to finish grading tonight that my students are expecting tomorrow. I know everything will be fine," she said with as much confidence as she could muster.

***21 November, 1986-5:15 p.m. ***

Lucy had been in the middle of writing her letter to Severus, when she received the package from him the night before. First was a letter was very similar to the one she had been writing, asking to meet the following day. Lucy could gather from the request what Severus' state of mind was, but in the small box, she found her answer...and Severus left no room for uncertainty.

Within the cardboard box, she found a small cylindrical box made of birch. Burnt into the wood was a simple inscription... 'SSL'.The middle 'S' was twice again as large as the outer letters. When she slid off the top, inside was a curved potion's phial, the type typically used for Veritserum, but it contained no potion, instead, she noticed a tiny parchment rolled within. Lucy removed the stopper and turned the phial on end to remove the tiny parchment. It was sealed with green wax and the seal of the Head of Slytherin House. The seal was so small that Lucy could barely discern the details.

Lucy wondered how she was going to possibly read the parchment, even with her glasses on. She did not have to wonder long, because when she broke the seal, she jumped back as the parchment grew to the size of standard stationary. When Lucy read the words, scrawled out in Severus' nearly illegible handwriting, she cried for nearly an hour:

I can write the saddest verses tonight
To think that I do not have her. To feel that I have lost her.

To hear the immense night, more immense without her.
And the verse that falls onto my soul like dew onto grass.

What difference does it make if my love could not keep her.
The night is full of stars, and she is not with me.

That is all. In the distance someone sings. In the distance.
My soul is not at peace with having lost her.

As if to bring her closer, my gaze searches for her.
My heart searches for her, and she is not with me.

Lucy, I love you...

I love you without knowing how, or when
or from where,
I love you directly without problems or pride:
I love you like this because I do not know any other way
to love.
Except in this form, where there is no I nor you.
so close, that your hand upon my chest is mine,
so close, that you close your eyes with my dreams.

~S
Lucy, although the words are not wholly mine, please know that the sentiment is.

As she stood in the doorway and waited for Severus to acknowledge her presence, she chuckled internally that the scholar in Severus had even thought to acknowledge Pablo Neruda for the prose. But none of that mattered. Severus still loved her and she would go home with him tonight.

He turned and looked down from his perch, the stress of the last few days, etched firmly in the creases beside his mouth and in the line between his brows. His relief at seeing her was written on his face and evident in his voice when he said, "Lucy...you came."

She watched as his lithe form descended the ladder and thought she could never get enough of seeing his body in motion. Before she realised, he was standing before Lucy, looking down at her. He was breathing heavily but Lucy did not know if it was from physical exertion or simple nervousness. She felt a flush of heat rush over her from the nearness of him.

Lucy opened her mouth to say something, but Severus spoke first. "Lucy...I need to tell you I'm ..."

"Professor Snape! Professor Snape!"

Severus looked past Lucy and she turned around to see Charlie Weasley gasping for breath as he leaned over and supported himself against one of the lab tables.

Lucy hurried over to the boy, whose milky skin had taken on the blotchy red of all gingers after exertion. He looked as if he would perish from heat despite the fact that it was chilly outside.

"Charlie," Lucy said forgetting formality, "Take a breath and tell us what is the matter."

Charlie kept shaking his head, gasping for breath as he tried to form is words.

Severus' questioning gaze sought Lucy's telegraphing his own sense of urgency. He seemed to be asking, Was someone, injured? In the hospital? Was Poppy in need of a special potion?

When Charlie did finally answer, Lucy and Severus found themselves thrust in the midst of a new nightmare.

"It's Harry...Harry is gone."