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Sandy Shores

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Severus gave in after a minute of thinking it over and made some arrangements to go to California ...

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"That's great! Thank you, Severus! Keep in contact!" Gellert said into the floo.

"Tell him to floo call once he's settled! Take lots of pictures too!" Albus yelled before Gellert could pull out of the fireplace.

"Albus says take lots of pictures and to floo call us the second you're settled ... yes, good-bye Sev, be safe. Minister Blum will meet you at the airport when you land." Gellert pulled his head out of the floo and sat down next to Albus and Narcissa, "Severus is for sure going now. Why did I have to ask him to gather information as a representative of the UK in order to do it? I thought he liked Mr. Minitree and was going already."

Narcissa sighed, "Severus got cold feet last night and decided he wouldn't go to California."

"And we're forcing him to go because ..." Gellert trailed off waiting for someone to explain.

Albus smiled knowingly, "What happened last night when he floo called you Narcissa? ... and what does Mr. Minitree look like?"

"A very good looking young man with blonde hair and two different colored eyes, one blue and one hazel, and about ... four inches taller than Sev. I swear I saw Sev swoon when he saw him, but our dense potion master didn't realize until just last night that, as a director, Harry wouldn't send an invite without doing a thorough background check. Thus the call at night saying that he won't be going and he'll babysit Draco for us while we're at the conference tomorrow. He hides it very well, but it was obvious he was heartbroken thinking Harry wouldn't like him." Narcissa explained. It saddened her that her friend thought so little of himself.

"Oh." Albus sighed as Gellert sat with him, "He realized Mr. Minitree most likely knows about the spying during the war and tried to back out ... you wanted to have him go for another reason. That's a good call." Albus concluded.

"Yes ... he needs to get out of here for a while. Sure Lucius suffered during the war as a spy too, but we all know Severus took the brunt and hasn't had a chance to get away. I hoped making him go under another reason would get him to finally leave and take the vacation he needs ... and maybe come back with a ring on his finger." The witch smiled happily.

"Now I get it." Gellert chuckled, "that's why you asked me to convince him to go ... I needed to choose a representative anyway so Minister Blum is happy we can finally get things going. The UK is so behind in many advances it's disturbing, but Severus was a great choice ... so you think he'll come back with a ring?" He asked. Both he and Albus looked amused and happy at the thought.

"Oh ,yes." Narcissa smirked, "Harry definitely seemed interested in Severus too."

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Severus frowned as he watched a baby in the row of seats across from him begin crying and the mother begin fussing, "I wonder if Harry would want kids-..." He quickly shook those thoughts from his head trying hard to remember that Harry knows everything. There was no way the man would want a former spy as a lover least of all one that looks like him.

A very low self-esteem has plagued Severus since he was very young. It keeps him from really looking around at the people casting glances his way. He had no clue people were checking him out. His abusive childhood and popular students in school, like James Potter, bullying him didn't help at all, but even though he didn't everyone else noticed how good he looked in his jeans and black button down shirt ...

Despite the fact that he believe Harry wouldn't be interested in him it didn't stop him from nearly running off the plane to meet Minister Blum who was waiting in a car for him, "So good to see you again Mr. Snape. Please call me Adina, we will be see each other pretty often with you being the representative for the UK." The minister opened the door for him to get in and the driver took his luggage to put in the trunk.