Perhaps Another Time, Severus [A Severus Snape Fanfiction]

2000

2000
Shaylah dropped to her knees in the bushes outside Malfoy Manor. Her eyes peered inside the giant window into the ornately decorated den. A large table was lined with Voldemort's most trusted Death Eaters. At the head of the table sat Voldemort, his bald head and gray skin causing the bile to bubble in Shaylah's stomach. The sheer sight of him made her sick. Lucius Malfoy, Narcissa Malfoy, Draco Malfoy, Barty Crouch Jr., and Fenrir Greyback were the ones she recognized immediately. Voldemort's ranks had grown so rapidly in the recent year that Shaylah couldn't keep up with all the names and faces that traipsed through the doors of Malfoy Manor.

Voldemort took up the head seat at the end of the table, the snake coiling around his feet like a faithful dog. She watched as Severus joined them, he filled the last seat at the table, the one to Voldemort's left. She hadn't heeded his warning in the pub, though his words constantly invaded her mind. What happens after this conversation is out of my control. It had been a month since and she hadn't approached him again but she had wondered why he gave her any warning at all and why he hadn't killed her when he had the perfect opportunity in the alcove.

She waved her wand over her ear and the voices inside became loud and clear though the window still stood between them. "We are finding more Mudbloods each day my Lord. Ticking down their numbers quickly." She heard an unfamiliar voice say.

Rage grew in her chest as she thought of her father, the bastard that murdered him could very well be sitting in that room patting themselves on the back for a job well done. She felt the heat grow in her cheeks. "Fine news!" Voldemort's arms stretched out in a congratulatory gesture. She bit the inside of her cheek."Severus! What of the Order?" Voldemort let out an eerie chuckle. It was minced with evil undertones.

Severus had his back to the window, so any small expressions on his face she couldn't see. However, she could hear his silky voice as he said, "No leads yet. Their headquarters remains hidden, though I have an ear to the window that it may be near Mixten."

Shaylah and Voldemort both raised a brow at Severus' words. Only Shaylah picked up the message that was carefully wound in his words for her. She was the ear to the window and Mixed In was the pub she had approached him at. It was peculiar that he would be addressing her, and unnerving that he knew she was there and had not told the rest of the room. "We will find them Severus, they can't hide forever when the world is crawling with those who are all too willing to kill them." Voldemort laid a hand on Severus' shoulder and Shaylah could have sworn she saw the man shudder under his touch.

Shaylah left Malfoy Manor with no more information than she had arrived with. The sickening statistics they had discussed still rattled in her mind. The repopulation efforts were sickening in themselves, forcing women to reproduce with those vile men who would follow Voldemort to the ends of the world and burn everything in their path in hopes of producing powerful full blooded wizards and witches. It was disgusting.

She had apparated down the street from the small pub, she pressed her body to the cold stone of the nearest building to cool her body. Her chest was tense and she felt the heat in her face. She was doing her best to summon back the confidence she had so easily found last time she was so close to him but this time it was a struggle. She watched his black robes disappear through the door of the pub. The little town was mostly wizards and witches, very few Muggles. So no one would question his attire.

She had followed him here several times, it was far from Malfoy Manor but not suspiciously far. As if he wanted to sway on the outside of the radar he had created. She knew he held a lot of authority and made a lot of the rules that the others followed and they all answered to him. He was powerful in his world, he was dangerous in hers.

One final deep breath summoned all the confidence and composure she could muster. Her head snapped from left to right and when she saw no one, she crossed the street and entered the pub. Her eyes fell on him quickly, the dark figure in the back booth with an extra drink waiting patiently across from him. Eyes watched her as she crossed the room but she pretended not to notice. He noticed. She saw his eyes scan the faces of those that watched her, as if he were noting them for later. She kept her back straight as she sauntered up to his table and drew back the chair. "You're a bright girl aren't you?" He muttered into his glass as she took her seat. "You deciphered my message."

She snorted. "It's not as if you wrote it in hieroglyphs."

She wrapped her fingers around the glass he had waiting for her. "My ear to the window, you've still been following me though I warned you not to." He shook his finger in her direction.

"Guess I'm not so smart after all." She quipped. She debated taking a sip from the glass but decided against it. It had been sitting before she arrived and this man was a potions master, she didn't trust that it wasn't poisoned. She wrapped her fingers around her wand inside her coat and turned toward the bar, glass in hand. As she pretended to drink the liquid it disappeared. She was sure she had been deft enough that Severus hadn't noticed but if he did, it would just assure him that her presence here was not a sign of trust.

She gestured to the barkeep for another drink and it was quickly delivered. She thanked him before he pattered back toward the bar. "I didn't poison the drink." He stated. A smirk gracing his face. "I'm a potions master, not a murderer."

She snorted as she took a swig of the whiskey. "That has yet to be proven."

"I've had plenty of chances to kill you Shaylah Wilde and yet here you sit unharmed." Her eyes bulged as her name fell off his tongue. His smirk only widened. "I know all about you. I'm sorry about your father."

Her blood chilled in her veins at the mention of her father. Severus' dark eyes didn't wander, they stayed connected with hers. He was despicable. She ran her fingers through her hair, trying to think of the right words to spit back at him. "So why haven't you killed me, Severus? You had all the chances and yet here I sit." It wasn't the string of expletives she wanted, but it's what came out.

He hummed. The sound was throaty and smooth. "Perhaps the timing wasn't right." He brushed the stray strands of raven hair from his eyes. "Or perhaps I never intended to at all." His shoulders rose and fell.

She narrowed her eyes as he took a swig of his drink. "What are you playing at?" She mumbled.

He cocked a brow as he sat his glass down with a thump. Though his tone was a bit cruel, he still didn't cause the bile to rise in her throat. "Stop before you get yourself hurt." He drew out a pause between each word and somehow it made the warning more sinister.

She stood, wrapping her coat tightly around her. "I'll be seeing you soon, Severus." His eyes watched her until she was gone, along with several sets that belonged to other patrons. She could have sworn she heard Severus' voice shout in anger as the door closed behind her.