A Star For You

Four

After momentarily panicking, Estelle walked over towards a seat and sat down while Elio followed quickly behind her. Severus conjured up some teacups and pot of tea and magically poured them a glass each.

Elio sat down, grabbing the cup and began to drink from it. "Nice to finally meet the great hero of Hogwarts, Severus Snape." He smiled, continuing to sip from his cup. Elio noticed Snape flinch at the title he said but regained his composure once again and smiled a tight and forced smile.

"Nice to meet you as well, Professor Beauregard." He said, staring into the fire with deep concentration, with a forced cheerful tone. He desperately wanted to be anywhere but here at this very moment but held on.

"Please, call me Elio." He grinned, grabbing his own cup of tea and drinking it.

For some reason, Estelle could sense some kind of tension and it worried her. Why was there any reason for tension? This was simply a comfortable and friendly cup of tea between colleagues.

The three sat in silence for a few minutes, drinking their tea. Estelle was the first to speak up, wanting this strange and tense silence to go away and fast.

"If you don't mind me asking, how did you survive? I heard that you were close to death and might not make it." She asked, her curious getting the best of her, remembering reading the newspaper after the days of the battle of Hogwarts. It was very saddening and chilling to read about. She couldn't imagine what it was like to be a part of that and be severely injured at that.

"You don't have to answer if you don't want too..." She quickly added, noticing his rigid posture at the mention of it. What a stupid question to ask and not the right one to break tension, it was more like it was adding to it. Sometimes she didn't think about what she asked. 

He shook his head, "No, it's been long enough already. I should have died that night...but one of my previous students, Hermione Granger used fast thinking and saved me. I was sent to St. Mungos and healed there for a few months." He told her, his hand automatically going to his neck, remembering the night that Voldemort got Nagini to kill him. He had terrible scars that even magic couldn't fix, and it stung when he thought about it. He rarely talked about the night it happened but he had no reason to lie right now.

"I'm so sorry that happened, thank merlin you survived." She smiled, reaching out her hand and patting his wrist softly with sympathy. She pulled away instantly, already had forgotten this wasn't the best thing to do to him. Though this time, he didn't really pull away as if it was poison it was more like she had offended tremendously and then he tucked his hands away to his sides. It wasn't better than the first time and she found herself wishing he had pulled away like the first time, instead of this where it hurt her heart. He seemed to shy away from any physical contact and it was obvious he wasn't going out to get any either...

Elio coughed awkwardly, signalling he was still there. Estelle and Snape had been awkwardly staring at nothing with their hands tucked away rather stiffly. She glanced at her brother apologetically and noticed he was staring at Severus with hard thinking eyes. He was frowning, tapping his finger against his teacup. Estelle knew he did this before he asked a question people usually didn't want to be asked.

"Elio—" She started but Elio asked Snape the question, ignoring his sisters attempt to stop him from asking whatever question he was about to ask.

"Do you still have the dark mark?" He asked, staring directly at Snape. He remained quiet while staring back at Elio, his eyes looking far away and his posture stiff as an arrow.

"Elio—" she tried again, not sure what her brother was getting at and why. She knew about this so called Dark Mark, seeing it in the newspapers even in America, it being the mark of Lord Voldemort's followers. It was the mark of his Death Eaters, dark wizards who followed him as their Lord. She immediately became quiet when she seen Snapes hand go to his arm and pull up his black sleeve of his robes he was wearing. Estelle held her breath as she watched, staring directly at his rolled up sleeve.