Perhaps Another Time, Severus [A Severus Snape Fanfiction]

2000

2000

"Stay, just a little longer," Severus mused, his breath tickling her ear as he spoke. They had been lying in bed for hours, simply basking in each other. Though she hadn't accepted his proposal out loud, their relationship had blossomed beyond work, beyond the Order and the Dark Lord. The abandoned shack became a stable place, redone bit by bit, fully furnished by Severus.

"You know I can't," she said, sitting up, "Vex will be waiting for me. Someone let it slip about a little hovel that has been housing Voldemort's followers," she cast him a wicked smile as she pulled on her boots, "We aim to shoo them out like the cockroaches they are."

He rubbed her back and rested his chin on her shoulder. He still wasn't dressed, the deep green duvet draped over his body. "That someone seems to give you a lot of information," he smiled, "Perhaps you should marry him." His voice was minced with a sweetness she hadn't quite gotten used to.

Shaylah hummed, lacing up her other boot, "Severus, you know we can't. It's too risky." She turned to face him and he caressed her face with his knuckles, his nose brushing against hers as their lips crashed together. When they separated there was a smile on both their faces. "Do you ever think about how originally we had set out to kill each other?" Shaylah asked.

He waved a finger at her, tsking, "You set out to kill me."

Shaylah snorted, "Fair enough. I have to go," she said, running her fingers through his hair before placing a soft kiss on his head.

She met Vex outside a dilapidated shack, the windows boarded and broken, the walls so rotted they looked as if a slight wind might blow them down. The roof was in tatters, the shingles broken and missing. "Are you sure this is the right place?" asked Shaylah, examining the structure. Most of the nests they had raided were charmed to seem liveable, but this one, they hadn't even bothered to hide.

Vex pushed his glasses up further on his thin nose as he nodded, "Yes, Brawn and Travis have been watching it all day. They should be here soon, they went to get potions from Prix and bring Hutch back with them."

Vex and Shaylah had taken up a post across from the shack, tucked down into the tall grass over a small hill. Several people entered the building, glancing over their shoulders, but no one left. "Do we know how many are in there?"

"My guess is about ten," said Vex, "With the five of us, we should be more than capable of taking them down. Hutchinson is quick with protection spells and charms and you're great at dueling. Brawn and I only need to worry about incapacitation."

Shaylah nodded as a deep voice whispered behind them, "You guys ready?"

Shaylah's heart leapt into her throat as she turned to see Brawn standing over her, Hutch and Travis on either side. She kicked toward him, a hand to her chest. "Don't do that!"

Brawn let out a deep chuckle before he knelt beside her, the other two men following suit. Travis was a thick older man with salt and pepper accents at the temples of his dark hair. Hutch was her age with dark blonde hair that he kept cut short and a nose that had been broken several times, leaving it bent. "Hutch is going in first, with me behind him, Shaylah you're in the middle and Vex and Travis will bring up the back. Don't waste time, we don't want any casualties." Brawn instructed, nodding to each of them.

"Incapacitate them and Travis will do the rest," finished Vex. The old man had joined them from Azkaban, ready to bring in the prisoners rather than just guard them. Though they all knew the steps, it was repeated each time they raided, in hopes that what had happened to Cross wouldn't happen again. No one had gone alone since, and the rule on incapacitation was strict to keep anyone from being blindsided.