Out of Nowhere

Disclaimer: I own only Leah and the plot. The rest belongs to the lovely JK rowling.

A/N: I want to thank everyone who\'s stuck with the story. =) This note is just a warning for OOC-ness on the part of our potions master. Also, all the \'advice\' Leah gives the girls was my attempt at blowing smoke out of my butt. LOL!! Hope you enjoy the story and as always, feed my muse by leaving lots of reviews!! Also, for my reviewers:

Catpower: Yes, writing that lemon, I was extremely jealous of our herione myself. LOL! I\'d actually wanted to do Remus\' serpent side before, but I just couldn\'t make it fit. I used last chapter to close up some of those pesky plot holes. LOL! You\'ll see a bit more of the potion in this chapter, but it won\'t be until the next one that anyone comments on it. *g* She didn\'t go into Ollivander\'s last time because Remus was enough of a bully. *winks*

Alauralen: Yes, you can have Leah\'s place between her werewolf and potions master, but you\'ll have to fight her for it...maybe she\'d be willing to share just once? LOL! Thanks for that on the lemon, too. Writing it, I felt like something was missing, but I guess not! Woo Hoo!! I\'ve been planning the kids walking in on them pretty much since I started writing. LOL!! You\'ll get to see if she goes home with this chapter. *g* And, unless it\'s just a short oneshot, there probably won\'t be a sequel, but then, my muse has made me a liar on more than one occasion. LOL!!

antipyro: Thanks!! *g* You\'ll be glad to know that my muse has made me a liar. It looks like there will be 2 or 3 more chaps after this, including the epilogue.

“Fuck, fuck, fuckity, fuck, fuck!” Leah bellowed as she came to rest at the bottom.

Everyone rushed out of the kitchen and sitting room to watch the young woman tumble down the stairs. No one made a sound as she came to a stop with her shoulders across the edge of the bottom step. The robe she was wearing was open almost to her waist, and Severus’ shirt, was pushed up near the top of her thighs, almost revealing that she was naked underneath.

Her eyes were still closed as she rested her head on the second stair and sighed. “I just can’t get a god damned break,” she said to herself.

Everyone looked up to find a shirtless Remus running down the stairs as he buttoned his trousers, followed closely by Severus, slipping on his wife beater undershirt. Both men were talking at the same time, asking Leah if she was okay. She gritted her teeth and held her hand up, silencing both of them as they got to her. She opened her eyes to find her lovers on either side of her looking worried and around them, six red heads and two brunettes with expressions ranging from bewilderment to mortification and amusement.

She took a deep breath before looking at each of her lovers. “I missed a step,” she said simply. “I don’t think I’ve broken anything, but I’ve definitely twisted my ankle and banged up my knees.”

Remus chuckled and Snape smirked and they each lovingly tucked a strand of hair behind each of her ears. “Can you walk?” Severus asked.

“Not until I look at my ankle. I’d hate to have a fracture and then compound it by putting weight on it.”

The men looked at each other and both grabbed her under her arms. They hefted her up, and she hobbled into the sitting room. She propped herself up on the couch and Severus looked at her. “Is that my shirt?”

She smiled cheekily and pulled the collar near her nose and sniffed. “Smells like you, so I hope so.”

He rolled his eyes and muttered something that sounded suspiciously like “Women” and replied, “I’m going to retrieve some potions and a couple of salves. Do not move until I return.”

“Are you sure I can’t move? I was planning on teaching Remy the Can-Can while you were gone,” she deadpanned.

He shook his head and bound back up the stairs. She sat talking quietly with Remus as the Weasley’s, Harry, and Hermione looked curiously on. He smoothed back her hair and gently and caressed and bruise on the back of her left hand. It was obvious to all present that the werewolf was smitten with this foul-mouthed young woman.

Severus came back quickly with the vials and a couple of salves. “Here’s an analgesic and anti-inflammatory potion. They will help with the pain and swelling.”

She knocked back the potions without so much as a grimace. He lifted her legs up and sat down, putting them in his lap. Opening one of the salves, he dipped a long finger in it and rubbed it on her scraped up knees. “This will heal any scrapes and prevent infection. The other,” he lectured, opening the second small tub, “will disburse any bruises that have formed.” He gently took the hand Remus had been caressing and rubbed the ointment on the bruise.

Severus rubbed the bruise salve onto her ankle as he told Leah the properties and explained how it worked. Everyone in the room stood there, astonished, at the gentle tone the usually snarky man used. His cold, hard eyes shown with a warmth none in the room had ever seen. When he finished, he added, “After you bathe, I would like to make sure that there are no bruises on your back. So we can take the appropriate measures.”

She smiled at him and batted her eyes. “My hero,” she cooed with an exaggerated Southern accent.

Remus laughed out loud and Severus just shook his head. She wiggled her toes. “Can I stand up on it? I’m not broken, am I? I’m hungry.”

Severus gently got up, minding her ankle and Remus helped her up and into the kitchen. All of the Weasley’s and Harry and Hermione followed behind the two. “What do you want,” Remus asked.

Molly interjected. “I should have already started lunch, Remus. Can you wait about half an hour dear?”

Leah smiled at the Weasley matron. “Yes, ma’am, I think I can wait that long. Is there any coffee made Remus?\"

She looked at all of the kids and Bill, still gaping at her. Smirking, Leah said, “Ok, hit me.”

Both of the twins started asking questions, Harry, Hermione, Ron and Ginny all started saying something about the ‘great bat’, and Bill sat down next to Leah. He leaned in and asked, “You aren’t from around here, are you?”

She looked into his sparkling blue eyes and laughed. “Would you believe me if I said I was from the future?”

Everyone stopped talking and looked at her. Bill blinked and shook his head. “I didn’t think so,” she laughed, “but, alas, it’s true.” She looked around conspiratorially and leaned into Bill. In a loud stage whisper she declared, “I’m also from an alternate universe.”

Hermione sat down and her eyes got big. “But inter-dimensional travel is impossible!”

“Time travel is also impossible in my universe,” Leah said matter-of-factly.

Remus sat her cup of coffee down over her shoulder and she pecked him on the cheek. “Thank you, dear one.”

She’d finished telling her story by the time Molly finished cooking and everyone was in awe. Severus stepped back into the kitchen as everyone was sitting down to eat. The dark haired wizard was fully dressed save for his shirt that Leah was wearing. He walked over to the hearth and went to grab some floo powder. “Hey, you aren’t leaving, are you?” Leah asked.

She got up and hobbled down to the dark wizard, putting her hand on his arm. “At least have a bit of lunch before you go, Sev.”

He looked at her, his mask of indifference firmly in place. “It happens that I have very important things to do that can not wait. And, please, do not use such a moniker as ‘Sev’.”

With a skeptical look, the young woman replied, “After last night, nothing should be more important than getting something solid on your stomach. And, if you don’t like ‘Sev’ maybe I should call you something more appropriate, something like…God.”

As she ended her sentence, her voice got low and seductive. Everyone at the table watched the exchange between them. Everyone but Remus almost choked at her last statement. Severus scowled at the young woman and opened his mouth to dish out a scathing retort but she cut him off. Pointing her finger at him she said, “And don’t you dare fall into that misanthropic bastard of the dungeons routine!” She pointed to the empty chair next to hers. “It’s already noon, so you’ve lost the whole morning already. Fifteen more minutes will not hurt, now, eat.”

He drew himself up to his intimidating six feet five inches, and turned and sat down. Leah hobbled back to her seat, grinned and winked at Remus. Every pair of eyes was on this young woman who didn’t back down from Severus Snape. This same young woman also teased the humorless man!

Lunch was a very subdued affair, considering that everyone was terrified of Severus and could see that he was in a horrible mood after the display made with him leaving. When he was finished eating, he reached down and drew Leah’s injured ankle into his lap. She smiled sweetly at him and, of course, he just scowled back.

When everyone had finished, Leah excused herself to go get dressed and Severus helped her up the stairs and into the bathroom. When she got done, she pulled the ‘lust’ potion out of her bag and put a little on her legs and where she could on her arms. Severus pulled out the bruise salve and rubbed it across her shoulders where she’d landed on the bottom step of the stairs. Before he left the room, Leah took his hand. “Thank you, Severus. Thank you for everything, the salve, potions, last night, and most importantly, thank you for staying for lunch.” She cupped his face in her hands. “I try never to let a lover leave without at least something on his stomach. If he does, it makes me feel like he’s trying to steal away like some thief in the night. Will you be back tonight?”

He snorted. “Not bloody likely with Potter and the Weasley clan in the house.”

“Maybe you could try stealing in like a thief in the night. That could be fun.”

He gave he gave her a curt nod and left with his shirt. She hobbled down the stairs and into the sitting room with everyone. Leah looked at Remus and made a circle around her head with her finger. He grinned and pointed his wand at her, drying her hair.

All of the seats were taken up in the room, so the young woman stretched out in the floor with her aching ankle propped up on Remus’ knees. “So,” Harry asked, “what’s it like being trapped in your younger body, Miss Leah?”

She looked at the gangly young man and said, “Please, call me Leah, after all, we are the same age. As far as being back in my seventeen-year-old body, well, it’s nice. My back doesn’t hurt, my knee isn’t injured, and I don’t have the screw in my ankle from the wreck I’ll have when I’m twenty-one, so I could stay trapped in it forever and I’d be okay with it.

“The one thing that I don’t particularly like though, is that I don’t have the control of it that I learned to have over my twenty-five year old self.”

“What do you mean, ‘control’?” Remus asked.

She smirked at him. “I mean things like my facial expressions and certain impulses. Otherwise, this skinny body is fine.”

“What about your world, is it any different than ours? I mean, has it changed much from now until your time?” George asked.

“It’s a much different world. Most of Europe is on one currency, Princess Diana has passed, and it’s not such an innocent place as it once was.”

“The Princess of Wales is dead?” Hermione asked, astonished. “It was some kind of accident, wasn’t it?”

Leah shook her head and stared at the ceiling. The large group talked for a while longer until Albus stepped through the hearth. He greeted everyone in kind and dropped a couple more CD’s into Leah’s lap with a wink. She laughed out loud and saluted him. He gathered all of the adults up and they went into the kitchen to have a quick Order meeting.

Ron had not spoken much throughout the conversation with this strange young woman, but when the last adult left the room, he asked, “So, before you came here, what did you do?”

“Believe it or not, I taught sixth and seventh year English,” she answered. “I’ve got a few questions for you guys. First, what’s it like going to a school like Hogwarts? I mean, I’d kill to have classes like transfiguration and divination, and even herbology.”

“Divination?” Harry and Ron asked at the same time.

“Sure,” she replied sitting against the edge of the couch. “I’d love to take a class that teaches the proper techniques for things like trancing and scrying.”

Harry laughed. “All that fake bint Trelawney does is predict my death!”

“You know, I don’t understand why anyone would keep a teacher on that does that. Does Dumbledore not realize that your life is already full enough of drama without some nutjob predicting your death three times a week? I mean, it’s got to get pretty old, and really, there are only so many ways to die,” Leah added.

She grinned at the teens. “You want to see my divination skills? I’ve gotten pretty good at predicting the future in the last few years.”

The kids looked at her skeptically and shook their heads. “This ought to be good,” Fred whispered to George.

Leah grinned at the twins and closed her eyes. She let all of the tension appear to flow from her body as she went limp. Suddenly, her head snapped up and her eyes were wide. In a monotone voice she chanted, “Soon I will drop some friends off at the pool,” then she lifted her hip off of the floor and farted.

She grinned at the flabbergasted teens. They all sat there looking at each other before bursting out laughing. “It’s really too bad we aren’t still in divination, Harry,” Ron quipped. “Doing something like that to Trelawney would be priceless!”

“I get just about everyone with that one,” the long limbed young woman admitted. “Seriously though, using a combination of my runes and trancing, I’ve predicted a few things for people close to me. Want me to see what I can come up with for you guys?”

Fred and George were eager to see what she could really do after that prank prediction. “What do you have to do,” they asked together.

“Give me about ten minutes of silence,” she answered.

“That’s all?”

“Sure!”

Leah lay down on the floor and took several deep breaths. She silently counted to sixty several times. Just before she began, she heard the door open and two distinct sets of feet come in the room. She began to speak. “In his throne upon high, the cobra watches. His serpents await his command. He should beware his most trusted viper, which sides with the snakeling. The young snakeling has the heart of a lion and shall strike with such force. A truce shall tip the scales and the young snakeling shall follow his heart.”

She counted to sixty before opening her eyes to a room full of astounded witches and wizards. Hermione was scribbling down the ‘prophecy’. She began analyzing it. “The cobra is obviously the Dark Lord. The viper is…” she looked around the room and Leah finished the sentence for her.

“Severus and his serpents are the Death Eaters.”

The students all looked at her quizzically. She just smiled enigmatically at them. “That means the snakeling is Harry, then,” Hermione quipped.

He looked around the room and then at Leah. “Where would you get ‘snakeling with the heart of a lion’ from?”

She shrugged. “It’s just what came to me.”

Hermione said, “Well, Harry, you are a parselmouth, so that’s probably where it comes from.”

He shook his head. “No Hermione, that’s not where it comes from. I’ve never told anyone, but in the sorting hat wanted to put me in Slytherin. That’s where the ‘snakeling with the heart of a lion’ comes from.”

“Snakeling is also what I call my Slytherins,” said Severus from a dark corner.

Leah looked over her shoulder at her lover and smiled. He and Albus were standing in the corner of the room watching her interact with the kids. “Ok, so does this mean that you have to call a truce with Professor Snape, Harry?”

Harry rose from his seat with a grace that belied his young seventeen years. He shrugged at his friends. “I don’t know, Fred, but if he’s willing, I would be too because as the war escalates, we’ve all got to have as many allies as we can. Professor?”

Snape sneered at the young man. “A truce? With the son of James Potter? It’s complete and utter rubbish! Leah here is no more a seer than you’ll stick to the truce Mr. Potter.”

Leah rolled her eyes. “And you are supposed to be the adult, O Randy One,” she smirked at Snape.

His cheeks blossomed pink and he growled before leaving the room with as much dignity as he could muster. “Now Leah, you know that you shouldn’t start in on Severus,” Dumbledore admonished, eyes dancing with mirth.

“But he’s so easy,” she mock whined, grinning at the old man.

The kids all watched the interaction and as soon as Albus left, Ron asked, “Snape? Randy?” Everyone laughed at this but Leah.

A mischievous grin threatened to split her face. “Severus is definitely a randy one. Of course, you didn’t see him kissing Remus last night.”

Both of the girls gasped as the boys all made faces and muttered ‘ewww’ and ‘gross’. “I know, guys, TMI, but you shouldn’t make comments like that if you really don’t know.”

She winked at Hermione and Ginny who were sitting across from her whispering. “TMI? What’s that?” Harry asked after getting over the mental picture of Snape and Remus playing tonsil hockey.

“TMI means ‘too much information’.”

“That makes sense,” Harry agreed. “I’ll have to remember that one.”

The teens all sat in the sitting room talking for a while longer until the boys decided to take their brooms out in the back yard and fly around for a bit. As soon as they were all out of the room, Ginny leveled her gaze at Leah. “Ok, spill it. In one day, you have managed to shut Snape up twice, and embarrass him. How?”

“Three words: Men. Are. Easy.”

“That’s it?” Hermione asked. “Men are easy? Surely there’s more to it than that!”

Leah grinned conspiratorially and motioned the two girls over beside her. “I know I look seventeen, but as you know, my mind is twenty-five. In those eight extra years, I’ve learned a few things about men. Number one: The most brilliant man can’t ever out maneuver a woman. No matter how smart he is, we can use our emotions and make him think that it’s logic. At lunch for instance, what got him to decide to stay was not my reminding him that he’d slept away the morning. It was calling him God. I reminded him of last night. Then, being the brilliant man that he is, I threw a statement of pure logic at him, just to make sure he’d stay. That’s why he rubbed my ankle.

“Number two: When all else fails, remind him of how sexy you think he is. Men like their egos fed. Like Harry and Ron, they’re both athlete’s. Even if you aren’t a jock chick like me, memorize his position and know play by play what he did every game. After games say things like, ‘do you know how sexy it is when you do…’ or, if he’s studying and being quiet and he has some odd habit like chewing his quill, tell him you think it’s cute. He may say he doesn’t like it, but deep down his ego’s screaming ‘Yes!’

“Number three: If he’s not the touchy-feely type, don’t try to hold his hand or things like that. It makes him uncomfortable. Touch him casually, like on his arm or shoulder. If you walk up to him and put your hand on his arm, as opposed to holding his hand, he’ll appreciate it and it’ll make him more eager to reciprocate.”

“Wait, those three things will make even the hardest men like Snape crumble?” Ginny asked in a disbelieving tone.

“Well,” Leah said, “there’s a bit more to it, but it’s really a man by man thing. I’m serious when I say men are easy. Oh, and if you make them mad, give them the big doe eyes, pout, and change the subject. It works every time. There’s only one other piece of advise I can give you. Always keep a pair and a spare.”

At that point, Remus walked in. “Leah, are you corrupting these two?”

All three of the girls laughed. “Actually, Remy, I am. What’s up?”

He helped Leah get out of the floor and pulled her on the couch, into his lap. She looked at the two teens and cocked her head to the side and grinned. They giggled as they left the room. “Nothing’s up. We finally finished with the Order meeting and I wanted to see how you were.”

She laid her head against his chest and smiled. “I don’t think I’ve been this content in a long time, Remy. All of those kids are great, so innocent despite what they’ve seen and been through. You know, I don’t remember a time in my life when I was that way.”

He tightened his arms around her and kissed the top of her head. They sat there in silence for several minutes, until Severus walked into the room. Remus nodded and Leah beamed at him. “O Randy One? What in the hell was that? Those children are my students and I have a reputation to uphold!”

With a straight face, Leah answered, “Severus, they’re practically grown. Don’t you think you might have an easier time with them if they thought for one second that you are human? Before you say another word, let me relate a small piece of advice to you, teacher to teacher. As students, they see Snape, your hard ass classroom persona. They assume that is how you always are. You are a hard ass so they give you a hard time. It’s fun for them just to see who can give you your first gray hair, or who can make you want to throttle them first. Believe me, I was one of those students. If they realize that you are actually human with real human emotions, they’ll all be less inclined to call you names, and they will respect you more.

“I did you a favor. I made them think. Now every time they see you, they are going to think about me and what I said. I’m not some freakish looking hag, and I’m not bruised up with rope burns around my wrists, so no, they aren’t going to start some rumor about you being into S&M if that’s what you are worried about. I think you’ll see that they will think a bit more before saying and doing things in the coming school year.

“Now, I want you to tell me this. Why didn’t you take the olive branch Harry tried to offer you? I did that whole ‘trance, prophesy’ thing so they’d leave you alone and you threw it right in the boy’s face. That wasn’t very mature of you.” She leveled a glare at the tall man to rival one of his.

He narrowed his eyes at her, still curled up in Remus’ lap. “How do you do that?”

“Do what?” She asked innocently.

“How do you make the most illogical, irrational things sound perfectly reasonable and acceptable?”

Leah chuckled at his question. “I’m an English teacher. I have to have command of the language to teach it to others. That, and I read entirely too much.”

He sat down beside Leah and Remus and pulled her legs into his lap. Stroking her still slightly swollen ankle he finally admitted the one thing that he was afraid to admit, even to himself. “I’ve never met a woman like you before. You’re stubborn and impudent. You have a filthy mouth, and yet you can charm even the coldest of men. You’re resilient and brilliant and beautiful. What strange twist of fate has brought you into our lives? Never in my life have I met someone who made me want to be a better person. You have, though.”

As she leaned over and kissed his cheek, Molly and Bill walked in. “Severus, I’ve been described as a mystery wrapped up in an enigma and stuffed haphazardly in Pandora’s box. The only answer I have is that it is just the way that I am. Most days, I don’t even know why I do some of the things that I do. They just feel right, I suppose.”

The two elder Weasley’s were just standing in the doorway. They didn’t want to exit because they didn’t want the three lovers to know what they’d witnessed. Bill blushed and coughed lightly to alert the three to his and Molly’s presence. Both men looked over to the mother and son with identical expressions, that well known deer in the headlights look, while Leah just smiled, waved them over and cuddled into Remus.

“So, dear,” Mrs. Weasley queried, “how has your summer been, living at Hogwarts?”

“It’s been the most memorable summer of my life. I’ve met some of the most amazing people and I’ve gotten to live what others only dream of. Did you know that Albus plays the guitar?”

Molly looked confused at Leah’s question. “No, I wasn’t aware.”

“Well, he does. He even played me some traditional folk songs one day! I got to spent the full moon with Remus and my first morning here, I woke to Severus blowing up a potion and throwing a fit. If I used the word magical, it might be rather trite, but that’s what it’s been.”

Severus sat stiffly with Leah’s legs still in his lap as she spoke of her summer. It was obvious to her that he was extremely uncomfortable and felt on display. She smiled at him and adjusted herself in Remus’ lap so that her legs dangled to the floor. Remus and Bill began talking about his work at Gringotts as Molly and Leah talked about cooking.

The young woman kept stealing glances at the tall wizard, trying to gauge his mood. He looked bored, sitting there, not talking to anyone. Then, all of the other teens flooded into the room chatting noisily, followed by Dumbledore.

It was getting on up into the evening, and Molly decided that she would begin cooking supper. Ginny walked over to Leah and whispered into her ear, causing the young woman to look up at her and grin. “Remy, I’ll be right back,” she whispered as she got up.

Ginny threw Leah’s arm around her shoulder and helped the young woman limp from the room. As they made their way upstairs, Hermione rushed up behind the two and draped Leah’s other arm across her shoulders.

They went into the school mate’s room and Hermione cast locking and silencing charms on the door while Ginny propped up on the bed. The elder witch turned to the young muggle. “We didn’t get to ask earlier because Remus came in the room, but what’s Professor Snape look like under all those layers of robes?”

Leah giggled and said the first thing that came to her mind. “He has the body of a god! I mean, you didn’t see him in his under shirt this morning?”

Ginny’s eyes glazed over. “I noticed his arms. I couldn’t believe that he was the same person that’s taught me potions all these years.”

“I must have missed that,” Hermione said thoughtfully. “I was more interested in Remus, buttoning up his trousers.”

“Oh, yeah, Remus is hot too, under all the robes and practically worn out clothes, but Severus, wow! He looks like he was chiseled from the finest alabaster. Remus is just a little soft, you know, not quite as defined as he probably could be and it suits him. He’s a bit scarred up from all of his years of transformations at the full moon, but that also suits him.

“Severus is like, I don’t know, he conjures images of Ares with me. He’s all flat planes and angles with a few battle scars. I definitely think the Greek god of war would describe him.”

The girls chatted for a while longer about Professor Snape and Leah related to them how he was a very kind and attentive lover, exactly opposite of the way he presented himself to the world. Soon, the boys were dismantling the locking and silencing charms and bursting in the room. Leah got many congratulations on her treatment of Snape and shutting him up.

She just chuckled and replied that eventually there would be a woman in their lives who would be able to do the same thing to them. When the Weasley sons got finished puffing their chests out and claiming to be men that no women could handle, Leah just waved them off with a “Sure, sure, guys.”

The conversation quickly turned to Leah’s old life. She talked about her friends and her lovely dog. She talked about her years in college and how she decided upon her major. She and Hermione discussed the physics of her arrival, though Hermione explained it more because she understood of the physics behind it. Finally, the two young women heard someone cough and it sounded suspiciously like ‘know-it-all’. Leah stopped talking and turned and looked at the boys disdainfully. “Who was it?” She asked as her eyes narrowed.

“It’s okay, Leah, Ron does that to me all of the time when I start on something boring,” the bushy haired witch placated.

Ron’s face turned bright red in embarrassment. “You should be glad you have a brilliant girlfriend, Ron. Were it not for her, you’d have never lived past eleven. Never, ever let me hear you call her a know-it-all again. When you’re caught screwing up, she’s the one going to be smart enough to talk your way out of it. Don’t forget that.”

Tears were prickling at the corners of Hermione’s eyes. None of her friends had ever acknowledged her hard work and they sure didn’t recognize her aptitude at turning a bad situation in their favor. When Leah got finished, Ron looked thoroughly ashamed of himself, and so did Harry. She looked at the beaming Hermione and whispered, “I was my group of friend’s know-it-all, except the big difference was I was the leader. Never let them make fun of you because they don’t know as much.”

The young witch reached over and hugged Leah, giving her a heartfelt ‘Thanks.’ That was how Remus found them. The two brown headed girls hugging and Harry and
Ron, still thoroughly embarrassed. He poked his head in the bedroom door and smiled. “It’s time for bed, Everyone. We have a long day ahead of us all tomorrow.”

The twins hauled Leah up and she let out an unsuspecting squeak that everyone laughed at. Remus took her hand outside of the door and led her down to the bathroom where she stopped. “I’d like to shower before bed tonight, Remy. I won’t be too long.”

He smiled and said, “I’ll send Severus up to look at your back and reapply the ointment when you get done, if you’d like.”

“I’d like that,” she answered, touching his cheek.

She rummaged through her bag, which Remus was kind enough to bring her, and pulled out the long silk nightgown she brought, with matching robe. She turned the water on while she brushed her teeth and quickly the steam had enveloped her and fogged up the mirror. She stepped under the hot spray and sighed. Long before she was finished, she heard the door open and close. “Severus? Is that you?”

He made a rumbling sound indicating that it was indeed the potions master. She hummed a cheerful tune as she washed her hair. There was a quick rush of cold air as she turned to rinse her hair out. Large hands stilled hers and resumed rinsing the soap from her hair. Leah opened her eyes to find an unsure expression on Severus’ face. When he finished, she took on large hand and kissed the tips of his fingers. “You don’t mind?” He asked.
“Never,” she replied as he pulled her into his chiseled chest.

“Last night wasn’t just…”

She looked deeply into his dark eyes and shook her head. “No, I still want you as much as I’ve wanted any man in my life.”

“What about your display today with Lupin?”

She ran her fingers across his high cheek bone. “It’s obvious that you don’t like feeling on display and Remus enjoys the attention.” She stood on her tip-toes and kissed the tall wizard.

He kissed her back, pouring everything he’d been feeling into it. The hot water cascaded down their bodies as they pressed closer to each other. He grasped for the tap and turned the water off before breaking the kiss. “What will Lupin think?”

She stepped out of the shower and began to towel herself off. “I won’t presume to know what he’d think, but if you’d like, I can ask him.”

Severus grabbed another towel and dried himself off, not answering the question she didn’t ask. He turned her around to look at her shoulders and finding no sign of her fall earlier in the day, decided that more slave would be unnecessary. He dressed as she applied more of her ‘lust potion’ lotion. Before leaving, he pulled her flush against his body. “How could a perfect being such as you want a broken old man as I?”

With her head on his chest she answered, “Because even if you are as broken as you claim, you are still exquisite. You’re strong and proud, brilliant and graceful. You’re worth it.”

He leaned down and captured her lips in a gentle kiss, stroking her wet hair down her back. He pulled back and rested his forehead on hers. “I’m not.”

Before she could reply, Remus knocked on the door. “Leah?”

Severus jumped back a foot at the sudden noise. “I’m still in here, Remy. The door’s unlocked.”

Remus opened the door and stuck his head in. “Does she get the ‘all clear’, Severus?”

He turned and scowled at his childhood rival. In his best classroom voice, he answered, “Indeed she does, Lupin. Now, if you will excuse me, I have to get back to the dungeons.”

He nodded toward the young woman and pushed past Remus. When Snape was out of hearing range, the werewolf stepped into the bathroom and closed the door. “I interrupted, didn’t I?”

She shook her head. “He’s having self-esteem issues because of last night, I think. He’s convinced himself that no one could ever want him.”

With his brows furrowed in confusion, Remus replied, “But why? He’s perfect!”

Chuckling, the young woman answered, “That’s exactly what I told him.”

Leah shrugged on her dressing gown and Remus scooped her up. When they made it to his room, both noticed that the bed had not been transfigured back. Remus raised his wand and Leah stopped him. “Let’s leave it,” she said before adding, “Just in case.”

Her lover understood what she meant and smiled. He sat her down on the edge of the bed so she could remove her robe before she climbed under the cover. He pulled her close and they shared a languid kiss. Her hands stroked his chest and down his arms. Remus pulled back and looked into her different colored eyes. “Would you really have us both?”

She kissed his neck and nuzzled him. “In a heartbeat, but only if it were forever.”