Fighting for love - Severus Snape fanfiction (BOOK TWO of A Magical Muggle)

Chapter 9

"Oh, I know that smile," Alba praised as soon as Ana walked into the laboratory that Monday morning. "Was the weekend that good?"

Ana felt her cheeks reddening as the other coworkers side-eyed her and some even had a tired sneer on their faces. She punched her friend in her arm and picked her white gown to start working.

"It was that good, but can you be any louder, I don't think they heard you in China," Ana scolded her friend, even though her shy mile didn't vanish from her face. 

Alba noticed the necklace around Ana's neck and commented on how beautiful it was, but that was the last words they shared before working in silence for a couple of hours, focused on the thousands of experiences they were making. Johnny was late, which was unusual. No one in the office knew what had happened to him and they actually got worried around lunchtime. First of all, because Johnny is never, ever, late; Second of all, if he needs to arrive later, he always sends an owl with a note, or leaves a note the day before.

Even though he was nowhere to be seen that day, the work needed to be done, and Ana and Alba didn't waste any time worrying about him. The Devil's draught was actually showing good results and they were concluding the reports so they could talk to other teams and make larger tests, and, hopefully, help to fight the disease. However, they still had a long way to go before achieving that point and they were well aware of it.

Ana was not comfortable about exhibiting her work on the plant considering it was one of her major findings, but if that meant it could help cure that newfangled infirmity, she would give up everything to help.

The week seem longer than they normally were. Probably that was because of the amazing weekend Ana had spent with Severus. She found herself daydreaming most of the time, more than she usually did, remembering every detail of their little escapade. When she went to Hogwarts to work on the hospital wing area, she'd first find her beloved to give him a kiss or two and that was helping him endure those days without her. She had decided to make a double effort and spend more time with him, even if for only 5 minutes. She started by waking up and having breakfast with him, in their cozy chambers that, as time passed by, started lightening up; the windows were open more often; there was a sweet smell of lavender and coconut in the hair from Ana's shampoos and her natural scent, which Severus cherished; things were no longer in complete dark and everything around seemed happier.

The breakfast was no longer than 20 minutes, but they enjoyed every second of it.

Meanwhile, some students haven't returned to school after the Easter holidays. Some because they were sick, others because their parents were afraid they get sick once they returned to Hogwarts.

Everyone was scared. A little bit more every day as no magical and non-magical creature achieve anything resembling a cure.

Johnny also didn't show up for the whole week and, eventually, Ana and Alba sent him a letter. With no response after 2 days, they decided to knock on his door during lunch break. But no one was home. Or didn't want to open the door. Out of worry, more than curiosity, Ana decided to use her powers to find him, but her heart skipped a beat when she was not able to do it. She knew it wasn't her fault, there was some other reason she couldn't find him and that was truly worrying.

After half a week, a dark grey owl brought them a piece of parchment.

Dear Ana and Alba,

I apologize for not writing earlier, but my condition did not allow me such a simple gesture. I have been locked in a nursing house as a serious illness took over me. It is almost completely gone at the moment and I am feeling much better now. It has been a hard process, but I will be soon ready to go back to work and I do have a renewed energy.

I hope I did not worry you too much.

I will return soon.

Johnny.

Ana and Alba stared at the letter with their eyes wide open. Such a simple letter inspired so much suspicion. First of all, Johnny's letter is not that perfect, and second, he did not write that well. Johnny they knew would make a joke or two, but the letter was too serious. Perhaps someone else wrote it for him since he was so sick. That would explain the beautiful handwriting. Probably a woman's. Probably his girlfriend. And the fact that he was so polite was because he was sick and probably not in a good mood, or maybe his girlfriend made him be polite.

They didn't talk about their questions to each other, but both of them spent the rest of the day quiet, alone with their thoughts.

After that, two weeks had gone since the strange letter and Johnny was back.

When Alba and Ana arrived that morning, he was already working, mind absent from the world revolving around him.

"Good morning," Alba greeted him with a pat in the back.

At first, Johnny growled, as if he was mad for her gesture, but a second later he turned around was smile at them.

"Missed me?" He asked them both.

Now, that's the Johnny I know, Ana thought. However, as Johnny's look was too intense and odd, Ana furrowed her brows as they talked to him, asking him about the strange illness he had. Even though his story made sense, something was off. Something was not right. Even though Ana was not convinced about Johnny's wellbeing, she dared not to ask anything directly to him, but she did talk to Alba during lunch break, only to find out she had the same impression ever since he returned to work.

Alba and Ana talked about it during the weeks following his return, but only when Johnny started acting stranger than he already was, Ana made the decision to go for it and approached him.

"Are you ok?" Ana asked, slightly unsure if she had made the right decision by asking him. 

"What?"

"Ever since you returned, you've been acting strange, John - uh, stranger than you already are,2 Alba said, trying to make a joke and act like she was not nervous at all. Johnny's chuckle echoed in Ana's head and she felt a peculiar chill running along her spine, which confirmed that something was definitely not alright with him.

"I am moved that you two are so worried about my wellbeing, m'ladies," he said, grabbing Ana and Alba's hands, kissing them. "But I assure you that I am. I'm still - uh - dull about the condition I had and, maybe I'm not ok because..." 

Alba and Ana looked at each other, with curious, yet, reticent faces.

"Elena and I broke up," he confessed with a stern look plastered across his face, one that seemed too cold-hearted.

"OoOh," Alba said sadly. "I'm sorry..."

"It's alright," he said, turning his back on them. "It was for the best. We weren't getting along very well lately."

Once again, Alba and Ana looked at each other with curious faces, as both recalled Johnny said something about asking her to marry him before the whole disease thing started. There was something more to it, and they knew it, but it was not their place to ask or pressure him into telling him anything he didn't feel comfortable with - and he did not seem comfortable at all.

Weeks have passed after that conversation and not much had happened. They were working harder than ever in the laboratory, now that they had shared the report about the potential of the herb Ana had discovered.

However, even though they had started seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, Johnny was acting stranger every day. There were rage explosions all of a sudden; words that did not make any sense to Alba or Ana; other times he was simply quiet, observant as if he was scrutinizing their very movement. Even after Alba and Ana asked him several times why he was acting that way, he would continue acting as if they didn't ask anything. 

Then, things got weirder, and that was the beginning of something Ana did not understand at first.