Perhaps Another Time, Severus [A Severus Snape Fanfiction]

2000

2000

Seven years they had been married, and every day she managed to love him more.

In the beginning it was hate that brought them together as Shaylah followed his dark form down the turns of Knockturn Alley on instructions from the Order. She had found herself in the folds of the new resistance after her father had been murdered, attacked in the street because of his Muggleborn status. Despite his proficiency in charms and potions, his blood status had made him a target, and Shaylah found herself alone, stalking Death Eaters through shadows, pining for revenge. She had lost her mother when she was young, and as she had no siblings, it left her and her father to face the world together.

And they had taken him from her.

It was a self-destructive path, to chart routes and follow shadowy figures through deserted parts of both Knockturn and Diagon Alley alone. In fact, to those who knew her, it seemed she had a death wish.

Then, only two months after her father's death, an anonymous letter was delivered, inviting her to join the resistance, the new Order. She had happily accepted in hopes of bringing down the evil that had taken over, that had stolen the only thing she had left.

She followed Snape for weeks, watching every move he made but not finding any damning evidence against him. Though he was Voldemort's right hand, his most trusted servant, she never saw him do anything horrendous. None of the orders he was given were ever carried out by his own hand, he was never the one to cause harm or end a life. The demands were handed to someone else or achieved by coincidence.

He turned on her one night, pressing her into an alcove as she trailed him, his wand held to her throat and a murderous look in his eye. "Tell the Order to stop," he growled through clenched teeth, "before someone gets hurt, yourself included." He was gone in an instant, leaving her heart pounding, her own wand dangling from her fingers, too slow to react. He could have killed her, but he didn't.

She had shaken the warning away, not even telling the other members about it. After that, she became bolder when trailing him, joining him at his table while he sat at a pub one night, his fingers wrapped tightly around a glass of Firewhiskey.

His dark eyes traced over her as she plopped down in the seat across from him, a hood pulled over her head, hiding her face in shadow, as she propped one leg over the other across from him. For a moment neither of them spoke but as he swished the dark liquid around in his glass his gaze flicked to her face, "You need to stop following me," he drawled.

She cocked a brow at him, her eyes begging him to challenge her in such a public space. Shaylah was an excellent duelist and would enjoy nothing more than to provoke him. "I'll find what I'm looking for soon enough," she retorted, flashing her teeth as she smirked, lifting her own glass to her lips.

He was unbothered by her confidence. "You'll find the wrong end of a wand," he said, running a finger over the rim of his glass, "I'm warning you now, what happens after this conversation is out of my control." His monotone voice held no emotion, as if he were simply stating the weather, not threatening her life.

There was an odd air about him. His sheer presence made her feel small, but she didn't let it show. It wouldn't do to let him see her shrink, not when she was so close to finding the needle that would prick his finger. Though his presence was intimidating, he didn't curdle her stomach like the others, their very aura raising the hair on her arms. There was something different about this one.

Finishing her own drink, she snatched the glass that was now held between all five tips of his fingers, swishing absentmindedly above the table. His eyes widened as she drank the last of its contents, her blue eyes never leaving his.

She sat the glass down with a heavy thud and slid it across the table back to him. She wouldn't be intimidated by him, or his lack of compassion for those that his master hunted down for sheer thrill. She would see to it that he paid for everything that he had done, little did she know that much of the Wizarding World was actually in his debt. "I'll be seeing you around, pet," she spat, rising, looking down on him as he had so many others.

The corners of Severus' lips tipped up as he motioned to the barkeep, "Yes, I expect you will."