Mend Me

Twenty-Seven

The two of them had returned to Hogwarts that morning, a week and a half before the start of term. She had spent the day helping him rearrange his classroom to better suit his style. While he had managed to keep his old private brewing room and living quarters, he had lost his classroom. This did not bother him much as the room was constantly freezing. He had gotten used to it after a year or two teaching there, but the cold had been making his hands and knees ache for the last three years.

"Well, that's depressing." She mummers as she steps back from a photo of a small child who had been unfortunate enough to encounter a werewolf. A shutter runs through her body when she glances over to another of a woman shrieking after being hit with a Cruciatus Curse.

"Yes, well..." Severus responds, taking a step back to ensure a detailed diagram of an Inferi was straight on the wall.

"I'm glad you're the one who will be teaching them this year, with everything happening right now. Last thing they need is another Quirrell or Lockhart. I suppose Moody wasn't terrible. He at least made it seem real." His wife rambles on, unaware that Moody was actually Barty Crouch Jr. disguised as Mad-Eye Moody using Polyjuice Potion.

"Will you teach me?" She asks, turning her attention to him as he rearranges his new desk.

"Teach you what?" Severus asks, looking up from the quills he was lining in the desk drawer and raises his brow at her.

"Anything that didn't teach me." She steps up on to the platform and makes her way around his desk, her finger leaving a trail in the dust as she slides it across the top. She looks up at him, her eyes full of trust.

"That was my intention." Severus replies, looking down his nose at her. "Although, it will be challenging considering anyone with ears will know what you plan to do."

"Yeah." She sighs, looking down at her feet. "Is there something wrong with me? Is that why I can't do it?"

"We are not having this conversation again. You are not a partial Squib, because there is no such thing. I should know. I'm the Defense Against the Dark Arts professor." He smirks down at her and raises one brow.

"I don't think that falls under Defense Against the Dark arts. Quite the opposite, actually." She giggles and wraps her arms around his waist.

"I think we are finished here." Severus says, prying her arms from his waist and offering her his arm instead. "Come with me."

Severus leads his wife through the castle, her arm linked in his. He learned at the beginning of the summer to slow his stride significantly so that he was not dragging her behind him as they walked.

"Walk like you have a purpose in life!" His father's voice rang in his ears, prompting him to hold his head high and walk as if he were the most important man in the room. Tobias Snape was a horrible man but knew firsthand how tough life would be for a poor boy with bad posture.

No other faculty had arrived, and many of the portraits were off doing who knows what. The few that remained in their own frames looked down at them with suspicion but did not say a word. He would be lying if he said it didn't give him a bit of satisfaction having them see. He leads her to the Clock Tower and allows her to go ahead so that he can catch her should she get too close to one of the many gears spinning near the stairs. Finally, they reach the top. The clocks pendulum swings softly behind them, creating a whooshing sound and a gentle breeze that shifts her hair back and forth on her shoulders as she leans over the railing to look at the courtyard below. She grips the banister tightly and leans over, her hair spilling around her face, her toes barely touching the ground. His heart stops for a moment, afraid she will let go and fall headfirst below. The sun sets low in the sky, casting a beautiful orange glow around her. The breeze rolling through wafts the scent of her into his nostrils, and he breathes in deeply, savoring the smell. Coconut hair, coffee breath, and her natural scent that he couldn't quite place, but was far from offensive.