Spinner's End

Chapter 3

Severus awoke slightly before sunrise on Sunday. He stretched his lean body out on the bed, rolling to the side of the bed; he got up and walked to the window, which over looked the street. The day seemed to be more clear than usual with only high, white clouds. It seemed that it actually might not rain. Severus really didn’t care all that much if it rained or not. He never found the weather a determination of mood for him. His dismal mood this summer was being effected by having to spend the entire summer in the company of Peter Pettigrew.

It was the Dark Lord’s wishes that Peter watch Severus. To Severus though this was almost laughable. Peter was not a very good wizard and it had been pretty easy for Severus to perform various spells on Peter to allow Severus more time to accomplish what he had needed. However, Severus did not think himself above the Dark Lord in many respects, therefore he was very judicious with the types of spells he had performed regarding Peter, also they had been few and far between. Severus had been walking the tightrope far too long to imagine himself above others or to act without caution. He knew that there was more than would meet the eye as to why Peter was sent to watch him.

Regarding caution, Severus’ thoughts again turned to the attractive lady across the street. Severus had tried to purchase the entire building across the street but one owner would not sell to him. Severus had chosen the location as best he could. The dead end road, the oppressive factory smoke stack, he had purchased all four units of the building in which he resided. His desire was to keep all muggles as far away from him as possible.

This brought Severus’ mind around to the young lady again. He had not given her much thought until yesterday other than to learn her routine and avoid her if possible. She had looked, to him, to be one of those odd Muggles that dressed in what they thought to be ‘witch-craft’ looking attire, he had assumed that she was probably the type to hold herself out as physic or mystic in some way. The brief mind probe of yesterday had told him, this was not the case. He had seen that she had virtually no personal possessions and had taken to wearing the voluminous skirts and large long shirts because that was really the least expensive clothing she could purchase. He had also seen that she had lived quite a different style of life only a short time ago and had worn very different types of clothes. It was this last brief glimpse that had made him suddenly look at her a little more closely.

He had thought her to be a very plain lady but as he had grasped her arm when she had the reaction to the Legilimens spell, he had noticed her startling green eyes and the black illial band, which separated the light green color from the whites of her eyes, adding an intensity that he found very interesting. Her hair which he had thought was a mousy brown color actually was a much darker brown and what he had thought was one of those horrible permanent curls that women sometimes do to their hair had in fact, as he could tell was all her own hair. He had thought that she might be a little on the heavy side but in grasping her arm, along with the Legilimens pictures he knew that he was wrong in that area also.

The Dark Lord truly didn’t care how Severus chose to amuse himself. Severus though knew that anything other than simple amusement was dangerous to him as well as any other person that he felt strongly about. Everyone was well aware how the Dark Lord had treated the loved ones of people he was angry with.

Severus could justify amusing himself with Raven, as he knew that in just a short while he would be back at Hogwarts in his position as the Potions professor. Long distance relationships rarely work out and he knew that the young lady could surely find another suitor in short order if she applied herself. He began filling the large ornate marble tub in his bathroom with a hot bubble bath. He could imagine Raven sliding into the bath at her own house. Of course Severus was able to make his apportions much more glorious than they would appear from the outside of the building. The bathroom was as large as Raven’s sitting room. Severus had conjured black marble and gold fixtures. His tub was a square, large enough for him to lie down in completely. He smiled as he slid into the warmth of the water, formulating a plan in his mind.


Raven awoke to what appeared to be sunshine coming in through the window. She could hardly believe her luck. She climbed from her bed and peeked through the curtains out over the street. She was happy to see that the day did appear to contain sunshine. This made her feel good. She had not painted at all yesterday and the sunshine would make the task easier and possibly warm things up so that the paint might dry more quickly. She pulled her hair up into a large ponytail, on the top of her head, donning the athletic tracksuit she had been wearing when Byron had thrown her from the high-rise flat; she went down stairs to get a quick breakfast and some tea. She wanted to get an early start on the neglected painting of the sitting room.

By mid afternoon Raven was nearing completion of her painting project, which had turned out to be more work than she had anticipated. She was also beginning to think that the color was possibly a bit too bright. Somehow the paint seemed even brighter and more bubble-gum-pink than when she had purchased it. She had only one small section of wall to do near the door to the kitchen and next to the doorway to the staircase left to finish. She had managed to keep most of the paint from getting on the athletic suit. There was just one thin line of paint that had ended up on the right leg of the pants. She was pouring more paint into the paint tray when she heard a knock on the door. She froze suddenly. She wondered who on Earth would be knocking on her door. Then the image of dark eyed, Severus jumped into her mind. She smiled outwardly as well as inwardly.

She looked out through the sitting room window. She could see that it was indeed Severus coming to see her. She looked down at her clothes as she walked to the door, thinking that his timing could almost not be any worse. She knew that she had to look frightful.

She opened the door anyway, with a bright smile on her face.
“Hello.” She said. “How are you on this bright day?”
She looked briefly at the man. She felt even worse for her mode of dress at the moment. He was dressed stylishly in some tan colored pants and a white cotton type of button-down shirt. His clothes looked very expensive to Raven. She wondered why she couldn’t have been opening her door while wearing a cute, short sundress and some sandals. She felt small and foolish suddenly.

“I am doing fine on this beautiful day.” He responded working off of her bright manner.
“Are you still painting?” He asked. “It must be quite a task for you to still be at it.” He said smiling ever so slightly, the smile reaching his eyes, as noted by Raven.

“Well, come on in.” Raven said and again thought how American she sounded next to his rich deep British accent. She opened the door further, moving back into the sitting room, allowing him to enter the room. He entered, taking in the room around him as he moved further inside.

“Very, um,” He paused briefly, “Exciting color.” He said, again a smile played at his lips.
“Thank you.” Raven said, very seriously even though she knew that he too was thinking the color was too bright. “I had actually picked this color.” She said picking the small sample card of the Devonshire, tan color from the pile of painting supplies lying on the floor. She handed him the little card. He took it from her and held it out at arms length towards one of the newly painted walls.

He turned towards her and with a serious air to his voice he said, “The color seems to be a bit off.”

Raven replied with an equally serious tone, “ I sort of thought so too, but I wanted to finish painting the entire room to be certain.”

Severus actually felt a real smile pull at his lips. He enjoyed someone with whom he could carry on some banter. The only other person that he was used to not being offended by his mode of communication was Minerva McGonagall, another professor from the school.

“I think you should return it and get your money back.” He replied.

Raven smiled at him and explained some of what had transpired. She didn’t explain though about how the other paint had been out of her price range. She made it sound as if it were more of a choice she had made. “ I really had hoped that it wouldn’t look as bright when it dried or covered all the walls or in certain light or something. I don’t really know what I expected it to look like.” She shrugged and walked across the room, further inwards towards the kitchen.
“ So now it looks like I live in a Fun-House or a circus maybe.” She added, as she surveyed the room around her.
“ Before I painted there were strips of wallpaper missing and paint showing through some spots and different wallpaper showing through in others. Except for being an almost hideous color, it has got to look better.” She finished resolutely.

Severus walked towards Raven moving to a position a little behind her, he turned surveying the room from a perspective similar to hers’, standing slightly next to and behind her, he gently placed his hand on her shoulder and said, “As long as you believe that.”

Raven chuckled. She thought he was rather funny. She thought the entire paint situation was rather funny. She also thought that she liked his hand resting on her shoulder. “ I really think that it will dry much lighter.” She said adding a tone of earnestness to her voice. “ I think it will be a tea-rose type color. “ She nodded. “Really.” She said sounding absolutely positive. In reality she felt like she was inside a huge, hideous, pink, birthday cake.

“I’m sure you’re right.” Severus responded just as seriously. Of course Severus also possessed the actual power to make the room any color he could think of in only a blink of the eye. He could not tell Raven this of course. However, he could help her dilemma without letting her know that she’d been helped. He smiled at the thought. Some people referred to it as Muggle baiting. To him, he thought of it as being nice to the poor young lady who possessed the hideously pink sitting room.

“ I am actually here to return your plate.” He said changing the subject, removing his hand from Raven’s shoulder. He concluded that his assessment of yesterday had been correct in that she was rather on the thin side as her shoulder was very small. “ It seems that it is from an expensive set, I didn’t want it getting broken.” He added.

Raven smiled at this observation. She wondered how he could possibly think that she owned expensive items, living as she did in this house and in this neighborhood. It occurred to her though not to make any disparaging remarks about the neighborhood to Severus as she didn’t know him and perhaps he had grown up here and didn’t see the neighborhood, as did others. She took the plate from him.

“I also wanted to ask if perhaps you would like to go to the café at the end of the block later today and have a coffee with me?” Severus ventured.

Raven looked at him as he spoke. She smiled inwardly, for it seemed as though he were actually a bit shy while asking her to go to the café.

“ Yes, That sounds very nice.” She responded. “I only have a little bit of painting left to do.“ She pointed at the still unpainted area.

“ What time would be good for you?” Severus asked. His eyes had strayed towards the floor, now he guided them back into Raven’s.

Raven had no idea what time it currently was. “Seven should be fine.” She responded, not knowing if she had given her self one, or five hours in which to finish up and get ready to go out.

“Splendid.” Severus responded, possibly a little too enthusiastically. He had wanted to have some time to go for a stroll on a certain coastal area of Italy that he enjoyed. Having almost four hours would give him the time he desired. “I’ll ring back by at seven then.” He gave a small nod of his head and even a little smile, “Have a good afternoon Raven.” He turned crossing the room towards the door.

Raven followed him towards the door. She had liked the way her name sounded coming from his mouth, with his deep, rich voice.
“ Yes, you have a good afternoon also.” She responded, closing the door behind him.