Trust Me, Sev...

Chapter 10

It was now summer break. Clair and Severus of course were upset they'd had to part ways but they'd always written letters to each other. Severus of course was at his house in Spinner's End and Clair along with the rest of the boys were all staying at the Potter residence. It was the largest of all their homes along with the fact that James' parents weren't home very often and well if the group had stayed at Sirius' place, they'd probably have a not-so-pleasant run in with his family. The Marauders were a joy to be around, of course, but Clair needed to see Severus right now. Also, she felt extremely bad that she'd missed his birthday because of their mostly one sided fight (caused by Sirius). That leads to where she is now, roller skating down the road, about a block away from her dear Severus' home. She could've taken the floo network, sure, but where was the fun or surprise in that? So there she was, approaching his home, backpack on and a rather large picnic basket in hand. She knew Severus was embarrassed about his home and his family and well pretty much everything about himself but she wanted to surprise him and make a good impression on his family, mostly his mother. Clair marched right up the little stoop, up to the door and knocked. She could hear a slight shuffling inside before her lanky, raven headed lover answered the door and he was shocked to say the least. Severus scanned his eyes over her; Bell bottom jeans, a Slytherin ringer tee shirt that had obviously been cut shorter ('she must've made it herself', he thought) and a pair of big yellow tinted circle sunglasses rested on her face. The outfit covered a lot of the plushness and curves that he loved but he still thought she looked beautiful in muggle clothing. Before he could get a word out she pushed inside and rolled over to what she'd hoped was the kitchen, seeing his mother and father sitting at a small table inside. Severus was trailing behind her, standing in the doorway trying to wipe the look of horror off his face. It wasn't that he didn't want her there, it was just that he didn't want his family to say anything inappropriate and scare her off. She set the basket down on the table before leaning down to greet his mother by kissing her on both cheeks before offering a slight nod to his father as a hello. He thought she was insane to say the least, she'd greeted them as if they'd met a million times. His thoughts were interrupted by his lovers voice.
"I brought some food over since I missed Sev's birthday, I hope you don't mind", she said with a smile on her face, turning to look back at him before turning back to his parents. She set her backpack down and pulled a six-pack of beers out setting it in front of his father. To any muggle they'd appear to be normal beverages but she put a bit of calming drought in before resealing them, with magic of course. He wasn't going to hurt her love or her future mother in law on her watch. She offered an over exaggerated wink to Severus and that told him all he needed to know. She was brilliant when she had to be but he needed to get her out of there as soon as possible. So, he took her hands and lead her back to the living room, the wheels on her skates making a slight noise against his floor.
"What're you doing here? And why didn't you just use the floo network?", he said in a kind of frantic whisper. She sat, tilting her glasses up so they rested on the top of her head, and started taking off her skates, replacing them with short white boots.
"Oh come off it Sev, I wrote your mum. We wanted it to be a surprise for you so we can all celebrate together.", she said and stood up, giving him a hug. He couldn't believe she went through all that trouble for him. It was just a birthday, there was nothing really special about it. She missed it, so what? There's always a next year. Not to Clair, she felt horrible about missing his special day and honestly, she would go through all the trouble in the world for him, this wasn't much. She got on her tiptoes, putting her face right next to his ear.
"She also said you could come stay with me for a bit", Clair whispered, coming back down to her regular height with a smile. Severus' cheeks has grown warm and red as he quietly gulped and nodded. He of course was nervous because on one hand, he knew his lover had been staying with Potter and the rest of his tormentors but on the other hand, he could finally be intimate with her again. Even as he sat down with her along with his mother and father to eat dinner, he couldn't shake the thought and excitement he held. Before he knew it the evening was up so he packed a weeks worth of clothes and essentials (which really wasn't much for Severus) then they floo'd to the Potter residence. The first thing the couple saw as they exited the fireplace were of course the Marauders, looking grumpy as ever I might add. They had to be on their best behavior for Clair's sake. She took Snape's hand in hers, happily skipping past the boys and dragging him up to her room that they were now sharing.