Saving Snape

58. Tabitha and Sirius

When I wake up, I dress up in a Gryffindor shirt and jeans. My hair is in it's usual style. I decide to turn my nails black for fun. My muggle school would never have let me wear nail polish. I trot down to the kitchen and make some toast, then bring the two plates to the dining room. Severus comes in soon after and starts eating with me.

"Good morning."

"Good morning."

"Did you actually read Deathly Hallows?"

"Yes. I'll be making the necessary potions today. I'm going to lose quite a lot of blood."

"Or that could just be the charm. Better to be safe than sorry, though. Did you sleep well?"

"Of course. What's with the questions?"

"I don't know... What if the potions fail?"

"I'll be fine." He says softly. "Don't worry about me."

I look down at my empty plate, and there is silence for a few seconds. I'm the one to break it.

"It was my boggart." I say quietly. "You died and I couldn't help."

"How touching. You beat that boggart, though."

I look up again. "That's the thing, I didn't. I don't know why, but I couldn't. I couldn't make it funny."

"Well, here's some good news to cheer you up. I finally got that job."

I smile. "Yay! That's great! You'll get to prepare the trio for next year. I mean, I knew you would, but yay!"

"I'm glad you're happy."

"Make sure Hermione knows everything about survival spells, teach them non-verbal. You must do non-verbal. This is their last year at school that I know of."

"Slow down. I've read the books, I know what I'm going to teach them. It's only a small portion, but it's a good guideline."

"Yeah, the hideout room is amazing. It brings in stuff from the future." I think for a second. "MERLIN'S BEARD!!"

He looks up suddenly, startled by my shouting. "What?"

"OneRepublic's albums that I don't have on my phone! I can get them!" I squeal. "Yay!"

He sighs. "I thought something was up. Don't do that."

"Sorry." I say sheepishly. "I'm a huge fan of them."

"I'll say."

I stand up and pick my plate up. "I'll be outside if you need me."

"Okay. I'll be in the potions room. It's across from my bedroom."

A few minutes later, I step outside, into the heat of summer. Tabitha is watching Francis and her brothers and sisters playing.

"Hi!"

She looks up at me.

"Hello, Isabelle. How was school?"

I shrug. "Same as usual. Criminals everywhere, evil teachers." I laugh when she pulls a face. "It's not that bad. We were all taught self defence at the start of our time there. That's one of the perks. One of the really bad dudes has escaped, by the way. Made of evil stuff, that one. If you see a pale noseless dude, run for your life."

Let's just say she looks even more scared.

"How... Lovely."

I smile. "It's not that bad. We just hate the teacher. A lot. So much it's not even funny. The criminals aren't that bad, most of them didn't know what they were doing. Like some sort of drug. Some others were threatened into doing crime, and one guy was framed. That guy died about a week ago. The last one, the noseless guy, he's the one you should watch out for. Most people don't even say his name."