Chapter 28: Someone to Watch Over Me.

Disclaimer: We don't own the characters, places or anything recognisable from the Harry Potter Books 'cause they belong to J. K. Rowling. We write only for our own pleasure and make nothing from it

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Severus woke to the most delicious warmth all down the length of his back. A strange sense of contentment that he hadn't felt for months seemed to have taken root during the night. It was a few moments before it dawned on him that these feelings had an arm, an arm that was curled over his waist, and a hand that held his nightshirt, it's fingers slipped carefully between the buttons. He knew it so well; very tentatively he brought his own hand up to cover hers, almost to reassure himself that she was real.

Such a myriad of emotions assailed him as she shifted behind him, snuggling her face deeper into the back of his neck. Severus' every impulse was screaming at him to just turn over and gather her up in his arms so she couldn't get away, not caring if he woke her.

What had brought her here? Florence had never once led in his bed before. He shifted very carefully round until he was led on his back. She made a little sound and moved to snuggle up to him again in her sleep; her head on his shoulder and her hand hugging round his waist. He held onto her loosely wanting so much to know what had brought her to him but now not having the heart to wake her up.

Severus didn't want to go back to sleep, if he did then he might wake up to find he had just dreamt her.

He felt as though he had watched her for hours, taking in her every feature, he would never grow tired of her face. He touched her hair as lightly as he could, the different length very unfamiliar to him. If this was a dream, it was the best dream he'd ever had.

Every time she shifted in her sleep he would feel those little tugs on his heart and the rise of anticipation of her waking and each time she would just settle again, undisturbed.

His eyelids felt heavy and he had such an overwhelming desire to just slip back into sleep, but each time he convinced himself it was safe she would move against him and he would snap into alertness in case she woke up.

When Florence woke to the sound of someone's heartbeat, she lay still for a while letting the memories of the night before come back to her.

She had been sat next the fire in her room, cold and wrapped in a blanket, for the second night in a row. It had taken an age for it to dawn on her that she was thinking about Severus. Florence knew that he would be down here in the dungeon in the cold with no fire; she knew it the way she knew rain was wet. And after all, why had she come back to Hogwarts in the first place? Certainly not for the money, a teacher's salary was nothing to write home about. Granted, the position was a little more secure than she had been used to, but whom had she been kidding?

Severus was awake. He was playing with a piece of her hair; she could feel him letting it fall through his fingers. There was not one ounce of doubt that she wanted to be there, Florence just had no idea what she was going to say.

Severus felt her stiffen in his arms; he stilled his hand and waited, barely breathing, his heart racing in anticipation. She pulled herself a little higher on his body and whispered "good morning" in his ear.

She felt him sigh deeply, and push his face into her neck, kissing her though her hair. Perhaps she didn't need to say anything at all. Lifting her head she planted a soft kiss on his mouth and he returned it.

Severus carefully broke the kiss, touching their noses and pushing her hair off her face. "I love you," he breathed so faintly in was almost inaudible.

"I love you too," she whispered back, leaning forward to kiss him again.

Severus dodged her. "I love you so much," he mumbled as he spread warm and absentminded kisses round her jaw and her ear. "I can't believe you're real… I've dreamt you so many times."

Florence had never felt so consumed with love, she just nestled her face in his neck, trying hard not to cry for the millionth time. She could feel his hand on the back of her head, sort of cradling her, his long fingers working into her hair. Severus felt her shake with emotion and just lay still for a while.

"How? How can you… After all I've done…" he eventually managed, needing her to explain.

Florence pulled up from him, propping herself on one elbow, and opened her eyes for the first time. He had an ache-inducing look of vulnerability, his eyes opened slowly and the love in their usually unreadable depths made Florence draw in a sharp breath. She lifted her free hand from his shoulder to trail her fingers down over his cheek.

Drawing it out of her hair, he captured her hand in his. Lacing their fingers. He wanted this closeness, desperately, despite still being in doubt about her feelings.

"I decided I could handle that," she said honestly. "I just needed some time, I really hadn't been prepared for what you told me." She sighed, chewing her lip. "I had always assumed you were already working for us the night my family were taken."

"Always?"

"You were on trial when I was training, I could read any reports I wanted. I knew Albus had vouched for you. They never said why, it was all rather sketchy."

"I went to him that night. It was some time before he trusted me fully. There was no reason given at the trial. The Headmaster is greatly respected: he was tipped for the ministers job and no one wanted to argue with him."

Florence nodded, watching Severus as he spoke, none of his usual defences up, she got the impression that he would tell her anything. She looked at their entwined hands as his thumb started to stroke the back of her hand. "You told him what provoked you to leave? You told him it was me?"

Severus nodded, awaiting her reaction.

"He knew all along, and he brought me here. The sly old git never said a word." Florence looked considerate.

"I should have told you all of this long before now." Severus looked so angry with himself.

Florence thought about her next statement; she had to be sure of what had happened in the past to ever be sure of their future. "Severus, there's just one more thing I need you to-"

"Anything," he assured, knowing that for this to last, he would have to be willing to let her know him completely. Strangely, it didn't horrify him as much as he would have thought. He needed to know that the words she said were true and her feelings weren't false and, above all, he wanted her to have all of him; there was no one else he would trust with his life and his past. She instilled a sense of security in him he had never felt before and he didn't ever want to be without that again.

"I need to understand what happened when we finished school." She didn't elaborate any further, wanting to know what he would say.

Severus looked somewhat overwhelmed. "I don't think I know where to start," he said quietly.

"Perhaps that's not what I need to hear."

Severus didn't know how to explain himself. She looked a little sickly; she was really baring her insecurities. He sat up, taking a deep breath.

Florence pulled away a little, letting him sit and collect his thoughts.

"I don't want to make any excuses or cheat you out of the whole truth, I just don't know where to start."

"Severus, we were different then. If you tell me I didn't mean to you then what I do now, I don't care; we're starting again."

Severus shook his head. "Don't say that." He said with a force she hadn't expected. "I don't understand most of it myself, I didn't know what I was getting into, but I do know that I thought the world was ending just because I was sending you away on that train for a couple of days before I came to see you."

Florence remembered that as clear as day; it certainly hadn't felt like he intended to leave her for good. She'd made some excuse, that one of her aunts had been ill and would be staying with them, that's why he couldn't come back with her right away. In truth, she had wanted a little more time to figure out how to explain to him she was from a muggle background. They had been together for almost a year and around that many people that knew, she had half presumed he already knew. She'd known the next day that she had made a mistake and explained it all in a letter, and told him to come as soon as he could. He hadn't replied or turned up and she had written to him numerous times after and tried to find him. The nagging feeling was always at the back of her mind that he hated her for not being able to tell him, or hating her because she was muggle born, and wanting to go back to the platform that day and just take him home with her regardless.

"I got a letter the next day-"

Florence felt her belly go to knots and shut her eyes.

"-from Mulciber."

Florence eyes flashed open and she frowned. "Marcus Mulciber?" The only memories Florence had of him were that day in Diagon Alley when they were at school and last Christmas when Severus had almost wrung his neck.

"He told me you weren't pureblood. You have to understand that last year, when he was here, I knew I wouldn't have left you just because of some childish letter. Don't get me wrong, I was as prejudiced as the rest of them at the time. I was brought up to believe that bloodlines were everything. I was shocked, granted; I had never thought of you as anything but a true witch." Severus put an emphasis on the word 'true' letting her know this probably wasn't the best word to describe what he was meaning. "I met with him. There was a group of them, all practicing dark magics, I'm pretty sure that very few of them knew it had anything to do with Voldemort. He was tempting young witches and wizards with tastes of the power that was held by the darkness and then introducing himself as someone who could take them further, when in fact he had been there all along. I was susceptible, arrogant, and once I was into it there was no getting out. I thought I was more powerful than all of them, I thought I could take the whole regime from the inside. I soon found out I was wrong and became a willing minion.

"Anyway, when you came back here I couldn't understand it, how I'd let it take over, why I had gone to join them in the first place. You had told me to go to you and I didn't understand why I hadn't… I still had the letter he sent me. I fetched it and… well, it's not just a letter. Albus has it now. There was magic in it, somehow it affected me. Nothing I didn't already possess, but still, it made me more curious about what he was offering, and less inclined to think of things that would have led me not to go," Severus elucidated. "It would explain why I never came to you. It was never my intention to-" Severus stopped, realising he was just trying to make things easier on himself.

"You got all those letters I sent?" Florence asked.

Severus opened his mouth as if to say something and closed it, thinking better of it. He seemed to have a little inner debate with himself. "I still have all the letters you sent."

Florence felt her eyes widen. "You have them?"

Severus nodded. It was the truth; he couldn't see what good hiding it from her would do.

She blinked, surprised into silence.

"Only some of them are read. I can't remember when I realised I still had them, but I didn't seem to be able to open them or get rid of them."

The young girl that had written those letters was very different from the woman that lay in bed with him now. She had been naïve and distraught, but now… Florence felt battered and bruised, not wounded by a loved one, but generally weathered by life. She didn't love him in the same way, it wasn't the sort that made you wander around in a daze, grinning inanely at everyone and everything; it was the sort that made you ache all over, the type where you would just shrivel up if you were kept apart rather than just get over it.

"I got so angry with you," Florence whispered. Bringing her gaze back up to his face she seemed to focus, coming out of her thoughts. "I don't think that little girl exists anymore…"

"Flo." Severus sunk back a bit further under the covers.

"Can I have them?"

Severus blinked. "I… Yes, of course."

There was a long silence. "I…" Florence thought about what she was saying. "I've never loved anybody else," she whispered.

Severus' eyes fell shut and he pulled her down into a hug, wrapping her tight in his arms. She felt his shoulders shake. "I have never said those words to anyone else, and I have certainly never felt it." He swallowed hard, his chest uncomfortably tight with emotion

Florence pulled up, looking at him curiously, something dawning on her. "You can't cry, can you?"

Severus fought against the urge to look away and shook his head. "You do enough dark magic and you start to lose things. Voldemort was barely human at all," he explained. Staring up at her, he saw her eyes were full of tears. "Oh, Flo, don't," he murmured, stroking his thumb across her cheek as tears spilled from her eyes.

"They're not mine," Florence told him and she lowered her head so that their cheeks were touching, letting him feel the hot tears.

"Flo?"

"I can't explain."

She could have been his and only his, had he done things right, but he hadn't and he regretted it with every breath. What was done was done though and he would do things right from that second on. Severus nudged his cheek into hers, squeezing her as close as he could, his shoulders shuddering. He turned his face, kissing her mouth, tasting the salt of the tears as they trickled between them.

The tears eventually dried up and Florence led in his arms for a while, just all cuddled up. He eventually broke the silence, previously only filled with their quiet breathing, with a question that had been niggling at him since he woke, but hadn't been able to place. "How did you get in?" He spoke softly, not moving.

Florence looked up. "Through the door."

"There are enough wards on that door to-"

"Put a hole in the world? – I noticed."

Severus frowned.

"And I should probably tell you that I I'm obliged to report a number of them to the ministry for use without a licence… But I won't."

Severus still looked confused.

"If it makes you feel any better, it took hours," she ventured, wondering, not for the first time, how she had got in and into bed with him without waking him up.

"You may have to assist me in improving it." Severus looked disturbed.

"Wouldn't want me getting in a second time. One morning like this is enough for anyone," she said, a smile tickling at her lips.

"You know what I meant," Severus stated.

"Yes, but it was too tempting a torment to miss." She smiled, laying her head back on his chest, putting her arm under his pillow. "You slept in my rooms for months without half the wards," she commented, not understanding.

Severus seemed to consider this, his fingers returned to fiddling with her hair.

"What's this?" Florence's brow furrowed as she tugged on something that was screwed up under his bolster pillow.

It dawned on Severus what she had found. There was no getting away from admitting it.

"Hey, this is mine!" she announced, finding herself in possession of one of her old brown bed robes. "Where did you get this from?"

Severus raised his eyebrows.

"Well, obviously it came from my rooms, but when did you take it?"

"When you went to London back at Easter," he admitted.

"So that's it then…" Florence looked considerately at the robe. "I knew I'd brought five with me and not four."

"I'm sorry," Severus said.

Florence frowned again and tossed the robe aside. "You did miss me?"

It was Severus' turn to frown. "Of course I bloody missed you," he said quite forcefully, pulling her back against his chest, still having trouble believing she was even there.

Then she said the last thing he expected: "You aren't stubbly," and reached up to touch his cheek and chin.

"I've been using a charm," he stated matter-of-factly, not wholly meeting her gaze, his hand taking hers away from his face.

Florence wrapped herself tightly in a portion of the blankets and rolled over so she could lean over the edge of the bed. She resurfaced with her wand out of her ragbag and took off the charm. "That's better," Florence announced, leaning across him and dropping her wand on the floor. Severus look was stern when she arose. "What?" She was confused.

"That was rather careless."

Florence leant back over the bed, all mock horror. "Oh, Severus! Why didn't you tell me your rug eats wands?!"

He sighed at her sarcasm.

"Can we stay like this all day?" she said amongst a contented yawn and nuzzled her face back into Severus' hair, forgiving him any eccentricities.

He made an annoyed sound in the back of his throat as if just remembering something.

"What?" She lifted her head to look at him again.

"Hogsmeade." He stroked her hair back off her face, looking fixedly at her.

Florence groaned. "I should have remembered, I spent all week chasing third years for permission forms." She yawned, covering her mouth. "What time is it?" She had lost the concept of time and being in the dungeons didn't help. The lack of windows meant that the only light came from candles or the burning torches round the walls that were at the moment extinguished, no matter what the time of day.

He turned his head and craned his neck to see the clock. "About nine o-clock."

Turning back to her, he leant forward and captured her mouth with his in a very loving kiss. Florence leant into him and enjoyed it. Breaking apart, he pressed the side of his nose to hers in an enduring gesture of affection. Florence rolled back, tugging him with her.

He then placed soft, pressureless kisses up her nose and over her closed eyelids, eventually sighing deeply. "We should get up." He sounded resigned.

"Can I use your bathroom?" Florence asked with an obvious note of humour.

Severus grinned at her, chuckling faintly. "Of course." She moved to get up. "On one condition," he reconsidered.

"And what would that be?" she smiled sweetly at him.

"We bath together."

"Well I don't know about that." Florence put on a show of mock indecision.

Severus was already out of bed. He threw the covers back, making her gasp in the momentary shock, and leant down to pick her up, scooping her into his arms and striding toward the bathroom.

Florence giggled and lifted her arms to link them round his neck. "Quick, it's freezing." She shivered as every hair on her body stood up making her feel like a startled hedgehog.

"I'm only human," he griped; kicking the bathroom door open and then shut again once they were in.

"I didn't ask you to carry me," Florence reminded. Severus put her down and she gasped as her feet hit the cold bare stone floor. "Ok, carrying was good," she said shifting subconsciously from one foot to the other.

"I take it you would like a hot bath?" He looked at her with such open amusement that Florence couldn't rein in the urge to cuff him playfully round the head. "A hot bath it is then," he said, ducking out of her way and adjusting the taps. "Bubbles?"

"Does the billywig fly?"

Severus grinned at her use of the expression and climbed over into the water. Soon the whole room was full of steam and he could barely see her. "Come on in then," he prompted when she didn't immediately follow.

Florence got in to the water in front of him, pulling her robe over her head, and he slid his legs down her sides. "You have a bigger bath than me," she commented, noticing how easily they both fitted in and there was still room to move about. "In fact the whole room's bigger, much better than that poky little excuse for a bathroom I've got," Florence grumbled.

"Does it matter?" Severus asked, gathering her hair in his hands to expose her neck so he could kiss it.

"Severus?" Florence leant back into him without thinking.

He managed a distracted "Hmm", his hands now creeping round her waist.

"Would you wash my hair?" she asked, feeling the need for a different sort of intimacy.

"You want me to wash you hair?" He sounded as though someone had just told him they thought he was the ideal candidate to ice a cake.

"That's what I said," she encouraged.

"I don't have shampoo," he admitted as though it was something only a few people used and she was asking for something really bizarre. She knew why he didn't wash his hair, at least not often; she had known for years.

"You didn't bring your wand in with you, did you?"

"Yes, why?"

Florence knew he would have, he took it everywhere, a sort of paranoia that he might need to defend himself at anytime. "Would you summon my bag from in your room?"

"You brought shampoo?"

"Lets just say that I was ready for every eventuality."

Severus did as she instructed and Florence rummaged through the blue ragbag and produced shampoo and a jug. She smiled sheepishly and handed them over.

"Thank you," she whispered.

He hesitated and she turned to look at him. "You know, I've never…" he trailed off.

"Just do it like you would your own," she prompted.

Severus sighed. "Washing my hair is a rushed, unpleasant and uncomfortable experience that I would rather not think about, as you well know," he said curtly, as he set the shampoo bottle down on the ledge next to the bath and collected her hair up again. "Lean your head back a little," he instructed shortly.

After a long silence, in which Severus efficiently combed her hair back with his long fingers, Florence spoke up. "I'm sorry, you don't have to," she conceded.

"I know," Severus murmured, still thoughtfully running his fingers through her thick, straight hair, his mind obviously on something else by now. "Why did you cut it?" he mumbled, his words spoken into the handful of hair he had his face in.

Florence leaned back into his body. "I don't know," she admitted. "I felt like a change, I suppose, it was always the same."

"I liked it."

Florence put her hands around his knees, abstractly admiring his long pale legs, dusted with very dark hairs. "I know," she leant back, tilting her head to let him hide in her neck and hair, "I'm sorry."

He lifted his head, taking her chin and twisting her head gently round so that he could kiss her. "Don't be sorry," he commanded, between the tender brushes of his lips. "It doesn't matter, does it?"

Florence's face lit with a watery smile. "It'll grow," she whispered, kissing him in return, touching his face with a wet hand.

Severus eventually drew back, clearing his throat and pushing his hair out of his face. He gathered her hair back up, picking up the jug so that he could wet it.

Florence soon discovered that Severus didn't appear to take too well to giggling fits, at least not in this particular situation.

Initially having been rather apprehensive, Florence had then been struck by the possible sensuality of the situation, the water trickling down over her not to mention the bubbles as Severus had started to lather, working in the shampoo with those lovely long fingers. His entirely practical approach and the no-nonsense look on his face had provoked huge fits of giggles. Florence ended up attacking him with bubbles, descending further into hysterics as he scowled at her with a big blob of foam on his nose. She leant forward, fighting for breath, as her laughter subsided, and wiped it off with a stroke of her index finger down over the hook of his nose.

She smiled, leant forward and kissed him carefully, lingering just a moment on his lips to tell him she was sorry.

"Do you want me to finish this or not?"

Florence pinched her nose and screwed her eyes up, then leant back into the water. Severus watched, briefly amazed at how she could bring herself to do that. Then he wondered at why his body found it quite so appealing. He decided perhaps the deep bubbly water was a good idea, and was thankful for the abundance of space there could be between them in the large tub. He wasn't sure he wanted her to know just where his mind was.

Florence resurfaced, gasping and smoothing her hair back, then wiping the water from her eyes. Severus felt a foot brush his hip and flinched. Florence gave him a brief odd look, as she rung her hair out, and then reached for a towel. Leaning over the side of the bath, she wrapped her hair in a towel turban, then turned back to him.

He looked a little uncomfortable, she could understand; they hadn't even spoken for weeks, let alone been in a situation as intimate as sharing a bath tub. It was bound to feel a bit awkward.

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Florence did a drying charm on her hair and dressed quickly to guard against getting a chill as she emerged from the warmth of Severus' steamy bathroom. The room was as drab as she remembered, absolutely nothing around the place; smoothing down her skirts, something caught her eye; a bottle on the bedside table, a bottle of sleeping potion.

She felt her stomach tighten into knots; there was no way he would have taken it voluntarily. It would have made him feel too vulnerable. Madam Pomfrey must have insisted. She had no idea things had got so bad. He had looked unwell for a while and she'd been worried enough to ask Branson for help, but for him to have acted on the Matron's recommendation…

"Are you alright?" Severus asked from behind her.

Florence spun around. "Fine," she assured, half of her feeling really bad for choosing last night to sneak in on him, when it was the one thing he worried about. The other half feeling relieved that she had; perhaps the knowledge that she had been there might have made him a little more secure.

Severus looked at her; there was such sadness in her eyes. Then she stepped forward and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him tight. He returned it, not really understanding.

A while later Florence stepped away. "Come on," she encouraged, enthusiasm renewed. "We have cretins to round up in the entrance hall."

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"Hey, Caleb, try one of these. They're so nice!"

Caleb moved towards the shelf that Jack was looking at and read the label on the jar. "Ewwww! Gross!" he cried, looking at the squirming wiggly worms in the jar.

"But they're raspberry flavoured!"

"Still…" Caleb looked dubious.

"Go on…"

Caleb shook his head and turned around, searching the crowded sweet shop for Maggie. He eventually spotted her deliberating over a display full of toffees. Just to the right of her Natalie MacDonald stood laughing with her friends over a large assortment of oddly shaped lollipops.

Jack followed Caleb's gaze and grinned. "You gonna go and try your new chat-up line, Cavell?"

Caleb gave Jack a withering look. "Yeah, right."

"Go on, mate. She's gagging for you!"

Jack dragged Caleb across the shop and pushed him towards Natalie. He stumbled and nearly fell right into her.

"Hi, Natalie," Caleb squeaked. "Sorry about that."

Natalie looked at the pile of Every Flavour Beans that she had dropped on the floor and directed a scowl in his direction.

"What do you want, Caleb?"

"I was just…" he trailed off, suddenly shy. "I… err…"

Natalie gave him an impatient look. "What?"

"Never mind." Caleb turned around and walked back to Jack, who was grinning.

"So, how did it go? When's the wedding day?" Jack asked playfully.

"Oh, go suck on a Pepper Imp!" Caleb retorted with a rude finger gesture.

Jack grinned. "There's no need for that, Caleb."

Maggie frowned shaking her head. "Will you just leave each other alone? Honestly, you're just like a couple of first years!"

"Sometimes you sound exactly like my mother," Jack complained.

"That's probably why you're so attracted to her!" Caleb snickered.

Jack scowled. "Oh, shut up!"

Maggie raised one eyebrow. "Are you finished? I want to go somewhere other than here, you know."

Both boys rolled their eyes.

"Never take a girl shopping," Caleb said seriously. "It always ends in disaster."

Maggie cuffed him around the ear.

"Ouch! Watch it!" Caleb cried. "I told you so," he whispered in an affronted aside to Jack as they moved out of Honeydukes.

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"What do you want to do with the remainder of the day?"

"I don't know really," Florence admitted. "You want to brew potions though."

"What led you to that assumption."

"My Mum always said that my Dad got a specific look on his face when he wanted to go the pub, and I never understood that. But I do now; I know when you want to spend time in your lab. It's not a look, but I can tell."

Severus raised a sceptical eyebrow, wondering if her mother had indeed possessed a little magic in her veins. "I haven't done any brewing, outside of the classroom that is, for some time. Poppy is getting rather agitated about the state of her store cupboard."

"I'll make you a deal, you can brew potions if I can sit with you."

"Certainly." Severus couldn't think of many things nicer that didn't involve taking ones clothes off.

They walked back to Hogwarts in relative silence, just the sound of rowdy children in front of them and the gravel under their shoes. That was until a fireball interrupted things.

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Jack looked back to where Caleb was lagging behind. "Oi, Cavell! Move your arse!"

Caleb looked up from where he was rummaging in his rucksack and jogged to keep up with his friends. "What?! I was just trying to find something."

"Your brain cells?" Jack snorted and Caleb sent him a glare, which turned into a grin of triumph, when he found the bag of Peppered Imps that was buried away at the bottom of his bag.

"Oh, no, Caleb. You can't eat those now…" Maggie looked worriedly at him.

Caleb shrugged and popped one into his mouth. All of a sudden, his eyes began to bulge.

"Oh, no…" Maggie groaned and took two steps back.

Jack, who was facing forward, looked back at Caleb just as flames spurted out of his mouth. Caleb let out a massive burp and grinned.

Flames licked Jack's forehead, as his spiky hair that he carefully styled every morning went up in smoke.

Maggie's jaw dropped. "Jack…"

"What?" Jack gave her an odd look, perfectly oblivious to the fact that his head had turned into a smokestack.

"Your head is on fire…" Maggie enunciated slowly.

Jack put a hand to his head and immediately retracted it. "Ow! Jeez, Caleb!" He slapped himself on the head to put the fire out.

Caleb's eyes were wide. "Oh! I'm so sorry!" He rummaged in his rucksack again, pulling out a bottle of Butterbeer he had been saving for later and pouring it all over Jack's head.

Jack glared at him as a large drop of the drink slid down his forehead. The fire finally put out, steam hissed as it rose into the air. "I'm gonna kill you, Caleb…"

"Uh-oh," Caleb squeaked as he backed away.

With a swish of black cloak, Snape stood in front of them, a fierce look in his eye. "And what is going on here?"

"Professor Snape! What a… lovely surprise!" Maggie jumped in front of the boys and flashed the professor her most charming smile.

Snape's lip curled and he glared at the trio. "What is going on here?" he repeated.

"Well, you see, Professor. I just sampled one of my Peppered Imps – they're so tasty. You should try one! You can buy them in Honeydukes for only three…" Caleb trailed off as he saw the look in the Potions Master's eyes.

"Oh, Merlin! What is going on here?" Florence, who had followed Snape, gasped as she saw the state of Jack's once blonde hair.

"I think Snape's already covered that question," Caleb muttered under his breath, and then cowered under the Potions Master's glare.

"Whatever happened, this boy needs to go and see Madam Pomfrey immediately for hair re-growth," Florence continued with a meaningful side-glance at Severus. "I hope she has the correct potion in stock."

"Yes…" Snape glared at all three children again. "Now, come with me. Hurry up!" He swished off at great speed back towards the castle, Florence following.

"Well, it looks like Snape and Professor Findal are back together," Jack commented in a whisper.

"What?!" Maggie and Caleb looked at Jack in amazement. Snape turned his head and glared, making the trio look sheepish.

"You heard. They were rather lovey-dovey just then," Jack murmured.

"Yeah, as lovey-dovey as two frozen cockroaches." Maggie rolled her eyes.

Caleb looked shocked. "Oi! Don't call Professor Findal a cockroach! She's a lovely specimen of womanhood…"

"…that Snape has got his greasy mitts all over!" Jack finished quietly, with a mischievous grin. Caleb looked like he was going to be sick.

Maggie gave both boys a stern look. "Can we just leave this? It's getting obsessive."

"Obsessive?! About Snape? Yuk!"

"Yeah, my sentiments exactly."

A couple of steps ahead, Florence gave Snape a grin.

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After dropping a smouldering Jack Ivander and a clucking Maggie Millstone off at the Hospital wing, Florence and Severus headed dungeon-ward. Florence summoned marking from her office and rooms and they sat in the relative quiet of Severus' lab, just the sound of chopping ingredients, simmering cauldrons and the occasional crackle of a magical fire.

After several hours Severus started returning ladles to the hooks on the back wall of the lab. Florence looked up from her marking and raised an eyebrow.

"I'm going to leave this to simmer," he informed her.

Florence screwed the lids on her inkpots and gathered up the parchments she'd been marking and stopped her magical-test-marking quill half-way through some first year assessments.

"Have you done enough to keep Poppy happy?"
"It will have to be enough. I'll take these to her now." He gestured to a small crate full of tiny vials, each neatly and individually labelled.

Florence loaded her ragbag up with the scrolls and quills and went to Severus' side. "Shall I go to the kitchens and get us a meal and some-?"

"Flo." He cut her off.

"What?"

"Are you sure about this? About wanting to be with me…? I just don't think I could stand it if I lost you again." He stepped toward her, holding her round her waist.

"Severus-"

"I mean, we had today; I don't think I've ever been so happy. If you aren't sure, I'll know we had a wonderful day together once. I just don't think we should start anything."
Not wanting to be cut off again, Florence squeezed him in a tight hug. "You really are silly sometimes," she announced. "Of course I'm bloody sure."

Severus sighed loudly. "Oh, thank Merlin!" he exclaimed, squeezing her back with equal force.

When Florence was freed from Severus vice-like grip, she returned to her original thought. "Shall I go and get us something to eat?"

"That would be wise." Severus looked thoughtful. "I'll meet you upstairs."

"Um, Severus." Florence decided to tread on unfamiliar ground. "Can we stay down here? It's just, we always stay in my rooms and… well… why?"

Severus blinked. "I suppose I always assumed your rooms were more fit for human inhabitation."

Florence nodded. "Alright, I just didn't want it to be anything sinister."

"Sinister?" Severus raised one eyebrow.

"Like a wench under the bed, or medieval torturing devices…"

A second eyebrow joined the first and Florence giggled. "I'll see you in ten minutes," she promised, leaning in and kissing his cheek.

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Re-entering the dungeons, Florence was surprised when the door opened for her as she approached Severus' rooms. She smiled and went inside, oddly struck by the warmth. He had lit a fire, and there was new furniture; a sofa and coffee table were in front of the fire, and Severus was nowhere to be seen. She set down the generous basket of food the house elves had provided and noticed a rug under the coffee table. She smiled and sat down, still gawping around.

"You approve?" Severus said from behind her and she whipped round, seeing him coming out of the bathroom. He was in just his shirtsleeves, un-tucked and unkempt.

"Very much." Florence grinned.

Severus sat next to her. "Did they give you enough for five?" he asked, cynically, regarding the House Elves.

Florence sighed, "and some."

Opening the lid, she produced plums and grapes, a variety of cheeses and crackers, and an abundance of other things that seemed to keep appearing as though the basket were bottomless. She watched him as she did so. He carefully unbuttoned his cuffs and rolled up his sleeves. There was a certain manly efficiency to it.

"You lit the fire?"

"It appears so."

"For me?"

Severus looked at her and then away; she had made him uncomfortable. If he had done, he wouldn't want her pick up on it so Florence hastened to change the subject.

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The food eaten and the room now toasty warm, Florence led back and picked up one of Severus' potions' papers from the floor; she started to peruse it.

A while passed before she realised that he was led across her, snoozing, his head resting on her belly, one hand clutching a hip and the other hanging over the side of the sofa. Severus had looked tired for a long time, and the bottle of Sleeping Draft she had noticed next to his bed that morning had only certified things for her.

Dropping the paper on the floor, she watched him sleep for some time. She had never seen him look so relaxed and content before, not in all the time they had spent together. His lips were slightly parted and the frown lines that gouged his face were less pronounced. She felt a sense of huge relief that he was sleeping without help.

Minutes later he made a little sound and Florence felt a grin spread inexplicably across her face. She snuck her fingers round into his hair to stroke the soft skin behind his ear. The sound was repeated and he fondly nudged his chin into her belly. Florence smiled broadly. This was right; they belonged like this.

Driven by her rise of affection, Florence moved her attention to the back of his neck. The responding nudge was more desirous and dug hard into her stomach. She rubbed harder, sneaking her hand into his high collar.

He was dreaming, there was no doubt in her mind, and the shifts of his eyes beneath their closed lids confirmed it. The thought that he was likely dreaming of her sent happiness bubbling up through her. At least, she hoped he was.

Florence shifted beneath him and felt him hard against her leg. Eyebrows rising, she realised the sheer fervency of his behaviour. An unrepressed groan escaped him as Florence scratched ever so gently at the nape of his neck, and his hand twitched at her side. She moved again and he moved against her, unintentionally in slumber.

Making a decision, Florence gently shook him awake; as endearing as she found his responses, she knew that he would hate it if he were allowed to embarrass himself.

As he emerged from his delirium, Severus moaned into her, apparently still unaware of reality. Eventually he looked up at her grin-brightened face and groaned once more, only not with the ecstasy of the preceding ones. "I was asleep."

Florence nodded, despite it not being a question, and pushed his hair back off his face and behind his ears. He was slightly flushed and embarrassed, making her want to kiss him. She stroked over his lips, watching her thumb's progress all the way, aware all the time that both of their breathing patterns were quickening.

Severus enjoyed Florence's attention, his gaze held captive by her eyes as she watched; they were big and bright, her pupils huge. He wanted to crawl up her body, putting his hands in her clothes, feeling her warm all around him.

They lay there for some time, both lost in thought.

In the end, Severus bowed his head, burying his face back in her stomach. "I love you." The muffled words were hot through her clothes. He felt her belly contract in a silent giggle. "We shouldn't do this… not yet."

Florence sighed, still stroking his hair, and tried to sit up a little. He looked up at her and she nodded in agreement. She had wanted very much to get carried away in that moment, but she did still have a lot to come to terms with. It was Severus' turn to sigh, and Florence was sure that he had never looked so beautiful: relaxed, ever so slightly stubbly, the light of the fire on his face and the rosiness of arousal making him look more healthy.

Yesterday, Severus would never have believed things would be like this in just twenty-four hours. He hugged his arms around her and indulged himself one last time, rubbing his nose in her clothes, breathing her in, and working her blouse up a little so he could feel the warm skin around her navel.

Florence led back again, closing her eyes; she felt drowsy, warm and very much wanted. She almost allowed Severus attentions to lull her off to sleep, but long after he had stilled and gone back to resting, she caught herself on the brink.

"Come on, bed time." Florence announced with a yawn, sitting up fully. She just caught the flicker of fear that fell over Severus' eyes before he masked it.

She knew about that. He used to get that look after he had had a run of bad nights and she knew that, left to his own devices, he wouldn't even have gone to bed. He must have been having a dreadfully rough time of late.

Leaning over to hug him, Florence whispered; "I'll be here, if you'd rather take the sleeping draft."

He shook his head. "I'll take my chances."

Getting under the covers, not long after, Florence wriggled, making herself comfortable. The dungeon room seemed altogether more habitable tonight than it had last. She was sure that he'd aired the mattress and possibly used more than one warming charm. Last night, she had felt the need to go as far as conjuring a hot water bottle!

"Not long till Christmas," she said thoughtfully, and it seemed to Severus as though this thought had come from nowhere in particular.

There was a lengthy pause in which Florence wriggled some more, pulling the blankets up high under her chin. Severus watched her, enjoying the shifts of the mattress as she moved, he'd forgotten how comforting that could be during the night, the knowledge that she was there, and comfortable enough with him to sleep in his presence. Her words sinking in, he asked, "What would you like?"

Florence turned her neck so that she was looking at him. She hadn't considered it; she usually tried not to think too much about Christmas. She answered this with her only honest thought. "Just… Just to wake up with you. Have tea and toast in bed and make crumbs…" she continued, her eyes closing, she was too sleepy to keep them open. "To sit next to you at Christmas Dinner, and have Boxing Day in bed… eating and snoozing…"

Severus contemplated that Christmas had never sounded particularly good before that moment.

"What about you?" she asked, barely audibly, then yawned widely and silently.

Severus rolled over, laying his head on the pillow next to hers and draping his arm over her waist. "All those things… except perhaps the crumbs."

He saw her smile a little into the candlelight, "I'm sure we can negotiate the crumbs."

THE END.

Authors' Notes

HUGE THANKS to everyone who has supported us when we originally wrote this. Thanks to Starlight, Tegan , Hopeful Writer, Becki, Kbear, Luna Wolf, Lyra Lupin, Polgara, Fiery Clover, Krusty, Cygnus and Charlie, Jen, lovable843, Nemesys, Dana, Pogo, Enfleurage, Indarae, Lyansidde, Profion, Sapphire, Alicia

We hope you have had as much fun reading this as we have had writing it!

2008 - We have added extra bits and re-posted some chapters. We would love to hear your feedback – please leave a review if you have stopped by to read.

Florence and Severus still have plenty of trials to go through, at least they do in our heads.

We have now started the long-awaited sequel to all our stories.

I (Martha) apologise for not having finished 'over the moon' yet, but a computer melt-down meant a lot of writing got lost and I've not had the motivation to do it all over. It will need to be finished soon though as Remus and April feature heavily in the sequel.

Lots of love,

Martha and Squirrel. xxx.

All your reviews were received with great joy!