52

52

Rating: You name it, we´ve got it - at some point in the story - as long as you don´t name children or animals. (Werewolves not considered animals)
Kids? Scram! Don´t like kinky, \"perverted\" sex? Don´t read. - In short: NC-17! Consider yourself warned.

Disclaimer: All Hail JKR! Everything recognizable belongs to her. The story though, belongs to us.
Posting of this story will go on for a year, (April 2005 - April 2006) and be - to our knowledge - the first (kind of) realtime FF written. Posting will be at least once a week. It is a birthday present for a beautiful (and kinky) young woman, Matilde, who only deserves the best. We´ll try to give her exactly that.

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6. Sixth week – May 15th to May 21st – Soft words and hard arguments

Minerva McGonagall was not one to be easily shocked, and even though other people might have reacted that way, shocked was not the right word for what she felt now. But she had been rocked a bit, and she had to take a while to figure out how and what to respond to the letters from her two friends abroad.

She felt closer to both of them than she had ever imagined herself being – the close correspondence, the fact that they had nowhere else to turn; it all made the three of them share thoughts and experiences they would normally never divulge.
It made her feel a sense of responsibility.

Regarding Tonks she was happily surprised that the girl cared so deeply for the people close to her; she often seemed so distracted and confused that Minerva had sometimes wondered if she saw more than the surface of others. Obviously she did, and that was good, but in a way presented it’s own problems.

Severus had always been a man of deep and hidden feelings. That he had chosen to let her in added to her sense of responsibility – to have the trust of one who hardly ever trusts is a heavy burden.
Perhaps this forced absence from the company of others would, in the end, do something good for the man.

She took up her pen; perhaps she could help both of them along.


Dear Severus

First of all, do not take off alone! It would be too dangerous and if something happened to you we would not know how and where to find you if you were alone.
To add to the emphasis of the above : We are not excactly sure where You-know-who is a the moment.
We have assertained that Lucius Malfoy and Mr. McNair are gone; we think they have left the country, and given that the pain of your mark is becoming worse, Dumbledore and I feel that he has probably gone with them.
So you see it is imperative that you stay with Tonks.

As for that young woman, she is perfectly capable of taking care of herself, and if she engaged in sexual activities with you it must be because she wanted to. I am absolutely certain that you would never be able to persuade her to do anything she did not want to.
You noticed yourself how decisive and capable she actually is.
If you will allow and old woman to say so, you do possess certain qualities that can be attractive to women; perhaps you should look in the mirror and try to see beyond the mark on your arm.
You hide yourself from the world, and both you and the world suffer from it. If there is anything you should learn from this experience, then perhaps it is to see yourself through the eyes of the young woman once in a while.

In answering your enquiry, I can let you know that Remus is doing fine. He and Hermione seem to have suceeded in brewing the potion correctly; they also seem to get along nicely, which is a relief for him, I am sure.

Speaking of potions and werewolves; how are your experiments coming along? We are most excited about your ideas, since any improvement to the current potion would be welcome. It would mean the world, not only to Remus but also to a lot of other unfortunatele people and their families.

Before I go I must imply you once again to stay with Tonks. If it gets too unbearable to stay in Romania, then tell her to come with you – she knows her duty and I know for a fact that she has an agreement with Charlie saying that there are no strings attached between the two of them since her asignment, and the war in general, would make any promises unreasonable for both of them.

Take care, Severus, you are in our thoughts and prayers.

Sincerely
Minerva


There. She hoped that would do it; it really was essential that he and Tonks stay together, anything else might prove fatal especially now when the Dark Lord seemed to have gone hunting.
Dumbledore had cautioned her not to jump to conclusions, but she felt that when both he and Malfoy had gone it had to be to go after Severus. Lucius Malfoy was undoubtedly the person in the world who knew Severus the best and therefore the ideal hunter.

Now to write Tonks; that girl really had a nack for getting herself into a mess – this time not so much in the litterary way, but she certainly had made her bed and was lying in it!


Dear Tonks

My dear girl; I am sure you and Severus are not the first people in the world to explore the sexuality of the opposite sex through Polyjuice – nor are you the first to find you enjoy it.
That is hardly a reason to worry.

There is something to worry about in your letter, though, and that is you. You have such a warm heart, and you are confused and concerned about Charlie and Severus. I am not going to tell you what to do regarding any of them, but I will tell you to look after yourself first.
They are not unwilling or unwitting participants, they are consenting adults and you should not blame yourself for feeling something for both of them.
Make sure that you do not get hurt, most of all that you do not hurt yourself, and feeling guilty beyond what is reasonable would do that.

I do not think you need to worry much about Charlie; he is a very resourceful young man and he has a background and a network which will ensure that he is alright if you have to leave or otherwise choose not to be with him.

A word of caution though : If you find that you and Severus would like to explore further, in whatever way that might be, do take a moment to think about why it is that Severus has such a thick shell, such a heavy guard, around him.
Consider the real Severus Snape.
I know that he is very much worth knowing and I hope you will at least cultivate a friendship since he too would benefit a lot from having a friend, but if you find yourself harbouring deeper feelings for him then be very sure that they are genuine and will last before you let him know.

I wrote this to Severus as well, but in case you don’t speak much I will write it to you as well :
We fear that You-know-who is on the move. We do not have as accurate intelligence as we did when Severus was still able to act as spy, but we have lost track of the Dark Lord and at the same time we know that Lucius Malfoy and Mr. McNair are at large – we are fairly certain that they have left the country.
This may also account for the added pain from Severus’ dark mark – it might mean that he is getting closer.
You need to be extremely careful and best be prepared to leave at short notice if need be.

Take care, you are both in our thoughts and prayers

Sincerely
Minerva


She sent off the letters by seperate owls, imploring the animals to make sure the recipients were alone at the time of delivery.
As she saw the two birds fly south she wondered how all of this would affect the lives of everyone – especially how it would affect the lives of the two people she had just written to.

~ ~ ~

Tonks sat on her bed, her hand held the letter from Minerva. There was much to consider after reading that.
Severus seemed to have been avoiding her lately; she was sure that he was almost well again, Charlie regularly looked in on him and so did she when he slept – he still did that quite a lot.
She made sure he always had fresh water and food by the bed if he should wake.

In a way it was a relief not to see him; she still didn’t know how to handle it. Minerva’s calm words helped some, but she was not sure just how to act or react when the inevitable happened and they once more had to face each other.

And there was still the question of the full moon – what would happen then?
This news of the Dark Lord on the move was very disturbing too, she really didn’t like the thought of facing Death Eaters out here in the middle of nowhere. It would be best if they left soon, but it would be most convenient if they could postpone it till after the full moon.
Charlie was in the know about Severus’ possible condition, and he could help if the worst came to pass.
She could not handle that alone, especially because the thought of Severus turning vampire was such a painful one – he had suffered more than enough in his life.

She put the letter in her small pouch where she kept her correspondance. She wanted to be able to re-read those letters often, and had a thought about wanting to document this when it was all over – perhaps she could somehow make sure that the world knew about the sacrifices of Severus Snape.

When she exited her room she almost bumped into him. It was a bit of a shock after so long, to suddenly see him there.
“Oh, look where you are going” he snarled “you should at least be more careful around sick people.”

She was hurt by his tone, it was certainly not what she had expected; she had thought there would be some sort of change in their relation, for better or worse, but not just this, his sarcastic and condescending ways.
“Quite a change from being called a ‘pink angel’” she said, trying to make her voice sound light and joking.

He went pale. Another unexpected reaction. She suddenly realised that he probably didn’t remember calling her that, that he would now be nervous that he might have said more to her, perhaps more compromising things.
Minerva’s words about his thick shell rang true in her mind.

“Don’t worry” she said “I know you were only babbling. In fact, I don’t think you said much else that was in any way understandable.”

He looked a bit relieved, but didn’t respond directly.
“So where is the redheaded Prince Charming?” he asked, still sounding a bit sarcastic but not nearly as biting as before.

“Back at the dragon colony” she said “he will be dropping by one of the next days, but everything is still a bit chaotic over there and he has been here quite a lot – we took turns sitting with you for a while since you were so ill. We actually had to consider calling for help. It is very good to see you up and about now.”

She reached out and gently squeezed his arm – the right arm – as she said the last words, trying to let him know that she truly meant it.
She decided to not bring up their ‘encounter’ on the night of the dragon hunt, not unless he did.
She would not want to intrude on him or let him think that she would in any way put pressure on him.

“I made some soup yesterday, enough to last us a while, would you like some? It might be good for you to have some real food now...”
Her worry for him was there again, and he was actually a bit touched.
He had not been aware that he had been that sick; for them to actually sit with him was quite touching.

“I would like that a lot. Could you tell me what today is? I seem to have lost track of the days, I have no idea for how long I have been sick.”

She led the way into the kitchen.
“Today is Wednesday” she said “you were very ill Sunday to Saturday, and it was around Wendesday or Thursday last week that we considered calling in some kind of help.”
She disappeared down a ladder to the cool cellar and returned with a small cauldron which she heated a bit using magic.

“I am such a menace in a kitchen that I am quite happy I managed to make this – it actually doesn’t taste bad” she said with a smile “and now I wont risk burning it by heating it on the stove.”
She poured two plates of it and put one in front of him as she sat down across the table with the other.

“How are you feeling today?” she asked as they ate.
He was positively surprised that she was right about the soup not being bad, and the warm feeling from it did him good.
“I am feeling quite awful. My head hurts, my throat is closed and I feel as if I have been running for a week rather than sleeping for one.”

She looked at him with a touch of pity in her eyes.
“I am so sorry to hear that. I really hope you are better soon. Especially since Minerva tells me that You-know-who might be on the move...”
She looked at him, trying to judge his reactions.

“I know” he said “She wrote that to me as well. As if I could have been in any doubt – the pain in my arm clearly tells me that he is closer now. It is nowhere near as bad as it was when we were both in England, or even as it were in France, but he is nearer. And if it is true that he is hunting me and that Lucius is with him I am certain that they will be rather efficient in finding us – Lucius is nothing if not efficient.”

Tonks was surprised at the note of pain in his voice when he mentioned Lucius Malfoy. She would have to think about that later – right now she would not let him know that she had noticed anything, it would only embarass him.
“Let us hope we never have to find out who hunts us – if that is what they are doing. Perhaps the Dark Lord have more pressing matters to attend to.”

Severus looked at her with disgust.
“How can you sound as if that might be a good thing?” he said, scolding her like a child “The best we can hope for is to drag him away, to divert his attentions and perhaps thus put a spoke in the wheel of his plans. Silly girl! The world is at stake and you worry about yourself.”

His words cut her like a knife and she fought to hold back a few treacherous tears.
Fortunately he was sufficiently disgusted with her to get up and leave, she would have hated to give him the satisfaction of seeing her cry over something he said.
It actually made it worse that he had completely misunderstood her.
Thick shell or not, she suddenly didn’t feel any pity or warm feelings towards him at all.

~ ~ ~

She didn’t see him at all on Thursday and when he decided to show himself on Friday he did not mention their talk at all.
He only showed his face because Charlie was there.
He was still planning to go looking for a werewolf during the full moon – which would be Tuesday – and he wanted to ask Charlie for his help.
The object was to get a sample of werewolf blood during transformation, something that would greatly improve his chances of improving the potion werewolves took to keep their transformation at bay.

She got him to agree to take her along as well, even if he did go to a good deal of trouble to remind her that she was a menace to any endeavour.
She didn’t allow it to get to her, but all of his harsh words kept resurfacing later when she was resting in Charlie’s arms.
They also agreed to pack and be ready to rush out of there if the need arose; they would leave a sign for Charlie if they did.
A twig from a leaf bearing tree in front of the door if they left of their own accord, one from a needle bearing tree if the Dark Lord was involved and a flower would be added if they needed assistance of any kind.
At least they were prepared.